Come From the Holy Fire - JulyFlame (2025)

Chapter 1: Way by Moonlight

Chapter Text

There was a lone red and white uchiwa fan on the building ahead. Not right. Something in my brain caught on it, and I found myself slowing down, before I stopped entirely to stare. The light from the full moon above painted everything in sharp, looming contrasts. Not right. Even the door on the building I had stalled in front of was bigger than it should have been. Not right.

I held my hands out and looked at them. Not right. Not right. They were tiny, and especially pale in the moonlight. They weren't just childlike, these were the hands of an actual child; these were definitely not my own. Long black sleeved shirt, with a wide collar that I could feel fanning out around my neck. Looking down, I could see that I was wearing plain white shorts that ended above skinny knees, with wrappings on each leg that disappeared out of sight under the top cuff of study-looking ankle high boots with open toes. Being suddenly child-size aside, this was nothing I would ever wear.

I was dreaming, I decided.

Just like that, everything else fell into place. The unease and sense of wrongness that had been building up released, and I could feel myself, well, not feel any less off, but at least more sorted. I knew what was happening now.

I was asleep, dreaming that I was walking right into the Uchiha massacre's aftermath. And that I was Sasuke.

As far as mixing potentially shitty, embarrassing dreams and nightmares went, this was absolutely a masterstroke in my subconscious' continued war against every single thing I've ever done or had interest in, though to be fair in this case I practically asked for it this time. I was never mixing melancholy binge drinking of cheap, extremely questionable alcohol with nostalgic anime marathons again. I bet this is why that bottle had been priced down for clearance. I should have known better than to trust something on sale by that much.

Not that being aware of my follies helped me much, here. Or that I was dreaming, for that matter. For all that the idea of lucid dreaming appealed to me and was something my therapist even encouraged after I had brought it up once in counseling, the fancy, cool parts of lucid dreaming, where you could control what happened? That part was beyond me. I couldn't even persuade my own dreams or the figures in them to do what I wanted.

So, I was left with two options: I could either get out of Dodge, metaphorically speaking, and probably spend the rest of this dream effectively going in circles and just wait it out, or ram myself straight into and through the inevitable nightmare part and get it over with.

I kept walking forward, letting the little part of my mind that was still keyed into the dream lead me to where Sasuke was supposed to go. This was honestly not the smart choice, but, well. That was also something I was supposed to be working out in counseling. But as far as nightmares went, though, knowing this was just a dream defanged it pretty thoroughly. The dark, empty streets and occasional sign of violence were just stage dressing, and nothing said I had to play the role I was in. The Sasuke in the anime and manga might have been a scared little boy, but this was a dream and I wasn't Sasuke. I refused to be afraid of a nightmare framing itself like this.

Maybe if I kept telling myself that it would work.

After a while, and coming across more bodies than there definitely had been in the anime— thanks, brain— I entered the road in front of Sasuke's family home. The cracked uchiwa on the wall across from the front door was an ominous reminder of what set this off in the series.

I already knew where the confrontation would be and the tension was nearly palpable just from the lack of light, high shadows, and being so much smaller than the dream world, but it didn't stop the sense of curiosity swelling at the opportunity to take a look around anyways as I opened the front door and entered. The genkan was neat and tidy looking in the darkness, and nothing at all like a warning sign that murder most foul had happned within the house's walls. I opened the getabako against the wall out of curiosity. Sasuke's parents' own footwear for wearing outside of the house were inside the cabinet, just waiting as if they'd get used again.

Even though a little bit of myself protested against it— Manners aren't going to really matter here— I didn't bother to go barefoot, and instead pushed onward into the rest of the house, which was just as eerily silent as everything else had been since the dream started. The absolute stillness of everything was highlighted by what moonlight entered through the windows, and even though the horrific moments in the streets outside hadn't gotten to me, the splashes of blood, the occasional silhouettes of slumped bodies inside their homes, and the spray of kunai and shuriken in walls and on the ground hadn't done anything but make me remind myself that it was a nightmare, of course it was supposed to be terrible, and it would be better if I stopped letting myself look at every pool of blood I saw, that sensation of everything being permanently stopped was what made me feel truly uneasy.

Finally, I forced myself to go onto the engawa. It was a short walk from here to the solid looking double doors at the other end of the veranda. I paused right outside of them, before shaking my head. I already knew what was going to be on the other side, why was I hesitating? Before I let myself come up with any kind of stupid side-thoughts to answer that, I pushed both doors inward and stepped in.

Two bodies were sprawled over on the room's tatami, the pools of still blood beneath them meeting to join into one. A figure in armor stood on the other side of the room, just barely in the shadows, the hilt of his sword jutting above one shoulder. Itachi. A mix of sympathy and annoyance welled up in me. Everything about the two Uchiha brothers in the show had been tragedies based in wrong or manipulated decisions.

"Do you feel stupid and regret it yet?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. In Sasuke's young, clear voice the question sounded absurd.

Judging from the fact Itachi was only staring and hadn't started his torment of his younger brother yet, the whole dream wasn't exactly expecting that either.

"You aren't dumb. You could have bought more time somehow, even without Shisui, if you ignored Obito and Danzo," I rambled on. "But that's not really fair to you at all, I guess, huh? I mean, even for being a hyped up genius according to Kishi, being manipulated by a guy who's been gaslit to the point he's willing to destroy the world over a crush and dealing with someone like Danzo who's had decades of experience in pressing on people's weak points is a lot for a thirteen year old on top of the clan coup and your dad's expectations, isn't it?"

"How do you know that name?" I was no longer standing on the ground, but suddenly held up against the door, pinned high enough by his forearm that Itachi was looking me directly in the eye without looking down. It happened so suddenly I didn't even see him move, much less grab me. The force was enough that I actually felt winded, realistically so.

"Because this isn't really happening," I told him.

Itachi's eyes shifted, from their dark color to red, visible in the low light. The sharingan. And then, again so quickly I couldn't even see, I felt the sensation of blood welling from one hand. Itachi's loose hand was now gripping a kunai. I wasn't the only one bleeding. Did he think this was a genjutsu? I didn't get the opportunity to ask or wonder further.

"Mangekyō sharingan." Its distinct tri-pronged shape blossomed in Itachi's eyes, and he, and the surrounding room, disappeared. The light from the red full moon above painted everything in sharp, looming contrasts, dark and light inverted, all the color sapped except for the red.

The Uchiha district was no longer empty, but it was clear it was not going to stay populated by the living for long. Itachi was mowing them down with a heartless intensity, unstoppable. Even the fully grown ninja who could get to their weapons were nothing against him. Over and over, it kept going on.

But despite all of the disturbing aspects of it, the fact that this barely teenaged boy was showcasing these murders, with some of them pushed to the fore, over and over… I didn't feel the same connection to these people that he was expecting. This was an unsettling nightmare, but it wasn't a fine tuned nightmare for me. The high contrast of imagery and brutal violence only reminded me of every dramatic action flick and slasher film I had ever been dragged along unwillingly to see, a spectacle for the audience.

At least, I kept telling myself that. It made me feel off-balance, uneasy. Something in my head kept chiming in that this was what a real murder looked like when it wasn't an actor having to play pretend, that this wasn't the eased away and sanitary death of my grandfather in the hospital. My stomach roiled.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, it ended. My stomach didn't appreciate this as the scenery and perspective changed once more from standing and being forced to watch multiple gruesome murders in contrasting shades to being pinned.

I threw up, vomit splashing onto Itachi's armor, pants, and his feet.

Itachi grimaced, backing away, letting me fall to the floor. "Otouto..." In his shock at being vomited on, it looked like he had forgotten the facade he had been so determined to put up before this. This wasn't the sort of derailment I had expected. Neither did this dream version of Itachi, apparently.

"Sorry," I muttered, automatically. I couldn't remember if I had ever tasted the aftermath of puking in a dream before. Was taste even a thing in my dreams before? I wiped my mouth out as best as I could on a sleeve before I stood up, stomach still queasy. "Are you still going to try and pretend you did this just to become stronger?"

He stared at me. "You shouldn't know any of this."

"I already said, this isn't really happening. This is just a story. You convince your little brother you hate him and that he has to kill you to prove his strength because of what? Your own guilt and making sure he doesn't turn against the village? Between that and getting set to stake Akatsuki out you've set yourself up for more than you can handle. Passive suicide is still suicide, even with mind games included."

"What would you do, then?" The staring had eased into something more steady, less caught unawares. Like he was discussing something completely mundane, taking advice into consideration.

"Not get into it with Orochimaru. Maybe figure out how to prevent him from killing the Third? Actually get regular medical care to potentially prevent getting terminally ill?" That was simultaneously the stupidest and yet most sympathetic thing about Itachi right there, to me. "Not dying before everything goes to hell is probably a real good idea, too, since Kabuto goes nuts with the reincarnation technique," I couldn't help but add, after a moment. I couldn't think of anything else that Itachi had really been involved in directly. Mostly he had just been an ominous target for Sasuke, another example of Konoha doing its young geniuses wrong. A tragedy.

"I'll consider it." Itachi approached me. And then, unexpectedly— I should have known— he poked my forehead. "Get stronger anyways, Sasuke." The sharingan appeared in his eyes again, and then there was nothing.

I woke up sore and in pain, bleary and headachey, and still nauseated, with one hand in a death grip around my phone, sprawled over my couch in the most uncomfortable position I had been in since my accident. My shoulder throbbed, angrier than usual, the pain reaching down into my arm, all the way to my fingers, and radiating out into the rest of my back. I groaned as I pushed myself into a sitting position with my good side and rubbed the leftover sleep from my eyes.

The empty wine bottle on the coffee table stood next to a glass that was still about a quarter full. Besides the gentle noise of the table fan on the side table, it was quiet, and I was alone. My laptop was on the other couch, the ancient copy of No Country For Old Men I had subtly snuck from home sitting on top of it, the red sky of its cover mocking me.

The onerous responsibility of grading— recording, really— the online responses of freshmen taking a required beginning English class awaited. All I had to do was make sure a response was made, it was the length it was supposed to be, and it wasn't plagiarized. They either did it right or not. A simple task, acceptable for a grad student serving as a teaching assistant, and so far less tortuous than I heard from others in the grad association who were helping with math classes. While I didn't really have to get this done until Monday, it was going to bother me until I completed it.

Instead, I chose to ignore it in favor of getting something to settle my stomach instead. I didn't want to think about McCarthy's flair for writing violence right now, while mulling over the dream I just woke up from.

It lurked in the back of my mind the whole weekend.

Chapter 2: Hear the Bells, pt 1

Chapter Text

"Good morning, Sasuke," a cheerful girl's voice said. What, it can't be morning. And then the rest of me caught up. I blinked, and looked down at my hands, clasped. They weren't as small as the last time, but still pale, wrists covered by the blue ties buckled down to keep the white arm warmers from slipping. Another Naruto dream? Really?

And this time, it was the academy. I remembered this episode even, both from watching it the very first time it aired, and many times more during rewatches, most recently just last weekend. Was it something I ate? Did I need to adjust my diet? Go to counseling more?

My contemplations didn't help me any, because the chattering of increasingly angry preteen girls was only becoming louder. Sakura and Ino were at the front of a crowd that was starting to become all the girls in the room. And then, a light thud on the desk in front of me. I looked up. Naruto was squinting at me, way too close for comfort. Wait, no.

I was not into having a repeat of that dumb kiss as Sasuke. I moved to get out of the way, but it was too late, the kid in the row in front had already shouted, jostling Naruto and— our foreheads crashed together at the headplates. Hard. For being a dream, that hurt.

"Hey! What's the big deal?" Naruto shouted. The blond had fallen over, and was rubbing one hand to his forehead where he had shoved the hitai-ate up.

"Oh, Sasuke! Are you okay?" Ino. She managed to shove her way past all the other girls, slide in past the desk and pull me back into a sitting position. "Naruto, you can't just be on desks like that!"

"Yeah, Naruto!" Sakura had gone around to the other side. I was now stuck in place between both of the fangirls, and Naruto was sulking on top of the desk. The last time I had ended up in a situation like this was undergrad.

"I didn't even do anything!"

A disgruntled noise rose from somewhere behind us. "This is the last time we're going to be in here, do you really have to make it more of a drag than it already is?"

Ino twisted around to glare daggers at the speaker. "It's not my fault you're so lazy and don't have a romantic bone in your body, Shikamaru!"

On the plus side, my penchant for observing and overthinking to myself quietly wasn't being commented on. Everyone else was also too wound up in themselves.

"And you think Sasuke does? He hasn't replied to any of you." Shikamaru scoffed. Okay, maybe one person noticed. I looked back to stare at him. He had the audacity to look pleased with himself.

"He was probably knocked senseless by Naruto's big head!"

"Ehhh? Sakura, my head isn't that big! Is it?"

I felt fingers grip onto my head from behind. I twisted away from looking back at Shikamaru, raising an arm to bat away the offender. It only made it worse when I got poked in the eye by a slipping finger. "Gah!" Naruto. It had to be. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"I'm comparing the size of our heads!" Did he really have to shout so close to my ears?

"You just got me in the eye!" I kept trying to twist around and move to bat him off, but he was frustratingly clingy. Was this how he managed to graffiti the carved hokage faces? Climbing skills like this?

"I can't measure right if you don't hold still!" Knees dug into my sides.

"Get! Off!" The words were punctuated by my attempts to elbow him, and when that didn't work, smash him into the desk. Still no luck. Was he a limpet or something? Did he have a mountain goat in his ancestry? Was that the secret behind the Fourth?

"Nooo! That's his best feature! They're so deep and thoughtful looking!" Ino was fine with beating Naruto up with the other girls, but that was the best she could come up with when he had an active death grip on my head? Really?

How did this dream end up devolving worse than the actual show?

"Shannaro!" She wouldn't. I suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

Naruto's head smashed into the back of mine. I went over the edge of the bench, falling onto the floor. I couldn't believe she did it. The only upside was that Naruto had finally let go after Sakura's attack.

It was time for a tactical retreat, away from this nonsense. When I got up and brushed myself off, I ignored both of the girls' protests and Naruto, pushed my way out and walked away to sit somewhere else away from persistent fangirls. I ended up sitting next to Shino; of all the possible options in the room, he was the only one the preteen fangirls were staying clear of. Thankfully, none of them closed in. A few even whined.

"Great kunoichi they'll make if they're creeped out by a classmate," I said, under my breath.

Shino turned to stare at me. "You think they find me that off putting?"

I forgot he wasn't only close enough to overhear that, but how much hearing something like that would have sucked at this age. I also felt a vague sense of unease at the idea of trying to lie. "Probably, but they're all vain and self-centered."

"Good," Shino said, satisfied. And then he turned to look at the front of the classroom again.

...What just happened?

The door opened, and Iruka walked in, a clipboard in his hand. Team assignments. Even as I found myself wondering what the other names were that were skipped over for the sake of speeding the story along, looking at Iruka threw me. As a character, he was set up as a responsible adult, an experienced teacher and even a father figure of sorts to Naruto. But... he really was still baby-faced, even with the scar bisecting his nose. If he showed up as a student to the class I was a teaching assistant for myself, I wouldn't have blinked twice. But here, he was actually in charge of this rowdy bunch of kids. To them, he would count as old, which made me feel old. I had seniority on him, and maybe even Kakashi. It was a strange contrast compared to right now. Just the weirdness of a dream.

"Alright, alright, quiet," he finally called out, and there was a short scramble as people moved to be behind desks. Even from sitting near Shino, I could see Ino and Sakura's sour expressions as they realized they had ended up as deskmates with Naruto between them instead. The blond was too busy mooning over the fact he was sitting next to Sakura to realize neither girl was happy with the circumstances.

"As of today, you are all ninjas. To get here, you faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing," Iruka said, proudly, looking at all of us. I didn't even belong here and I felt pleased at his earnest praise. I could see the impact he had on the students here. All of the ones in view, even Naruto, were sitting a bit straighter, not wanting their sensei to be disappointed in them. For all I knew, though, Shikamaru was probably still slouching. "What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you're only genin, first level ninjas. All the genin will be grouped into three man squads. Each squad will be led by a jōnin, an elite ninja."

I could hear small gasps from throughout the classroom, particularly from the fangirls. Ino and Sakura were already glaring daggers at each other.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and weaknesses, so that's how we set them up. I will now announce the squads." As Iruka began to list team one, I gazed around to see what the various reactions were. None of these kids really showed up again after this in the show, but going off the threats Kakashi had made, about getting recycled back into the academy, that probably made sense, though I really didn't get the point behind throwing them back when they graduated. What would a genin even do if they were kept back? Naruto's own surprise had to have meant they weren't kept with the general student pool. Actually, just how big was the Academy supposed to be?

"...And now, team seven." Did I really just space out through the first seven teams, or was it something my head didn't even bother to fill in? "Haruno Sakura... Uzumaki Naruto—" A loud cry and a "Yes!" interrupted him briefly before he continued on, "—And Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura cheered as nearly every other girl in here wailed at their misfortune.

"What! Iruka-sensei, how could I end up with that loser!?" There we go. That was supposed to be after all of the squad announcements, but I guess not getting beaten into a pulp meant he was more willing to complain sooner. Naruto was about to get embarrassed in front of the whole class. Watching it on the screen was one thing, but I didn't want to even dream about being in the same room as that much second-hand embarrassment.

"Does it really matter?" I said out loud, before Iruka could explain the ranking for teams. Especially when while it might have been the reason Iruka was given, it probably wasn't the actual one. "We're still going to be on the same team as genin, whatever we do, so we're going to have to work together."

"Yeah, right! Like I want to work with you!"

"He's right," Iruka said. He nodded in approval towards me. "Whether you like it or not, you're going to be teammates. As ninja of Konoha, we all have to work together and that means learning in your genin teams is crucial to your future."

Naruto exhaled. "Fine, but it doesn't mean I have to like it!"

I let out a breath in relief. While it was probably impossible to prevent Naruto from making a complete ass of himself all the time, dream or no, it didn't mean I wanted to watch him get completely humiliated.

Iruka continued to read out the rest of the rest of the team assignments. Once he was finally finished, he looked relieved. Did he expect the other assignments to get the same amount of protest or something? "After lunch, you'll meet your new instructors," he finally told us. "You're dismissed until then." Before anyone could even ask him any questions, he left the classroom. Not so fast that he could be accused of bailing on us, but it was definitely fast enough that if anyone had anything to say to him we would have had to chase him down.

What surprised me was that before Iruka got out the door, Naruto was already swinging himself over the side of the desk to go after him. "Hey! Hey! Iruka-sensei! Wait up!"

He didn't wait. It was probably just as well that Naruto bolted after him, door clattering behind him. And then… A shout that was undeniably Naruto, but muffled enough that we couldn't make it out from in here. It had to be about the scores.

I didn't bother to wait. I found myself not wanting to stick around for whatever else Ino and Sakura would have in store, and quickly left the classroom. Not quite as fast as Naruto did in his desire to harass Iruka, but fast enough that I didn't see any of the others in the corridor before I went up the stairs.

It wasn't until I stopped that I found myself concerned. Did I just... I was holding a small wrapped bundle, which when I opened it revealed a cylindrical bento. And I was in the same spot Sasuke was in this part of the story. I hadn't meant to go anywhere in particular, this just happened. Was that going to be the norm with this kind of weird lucid dream that I was beginning to become worried was going to become a pattern?

I huffed, and decided that I didn't want to think about it too much for now. Even if I didn't want to assume that the rest of this dream was going to go like it did in the story, this was still a pretty nice place to look out from. It was a high enough vantage point that I could see the grounds out around the academy, and into the village some.

Looking out, I could see the newly minted Team Asuma (not that they knew it was going to be him) wandering out to sit outside on one of the stairwell platforms. Further below and beyond them on the grounds, Sakura. She was probably looking for Sasuke. For me?

I spied Naruto leaving the building and immediately approached her. I grimaced. I didn't expect it to turn out any way but how it did in the show, but I still watched anyway. Soon enough, he slunked off, completely rejected. Which meant that any time now he was going to come and invade my space up here.

Naruto on his own was too loud for my tastes. I didn't really mind kids, but earlier in the classroom had just reminded me exactly how loud middle schoolers were, and that they didn't fear showing it. And this bunch were able to carry weapons, which carried its own obnoxious factor. The only one of them that probably wouldn't drive me completely crazy was Hinata. Wait. No, that was a lie. She was sweet, but her fangirling was just directed towards Naruto instead. I didn't want to deal with that, either.

I leaned over the window sill. By now Naruto had disappeared from sight, which meant he was probably inside somewhere plotting. I didn't want to deal with him, but it looked like it was going to be inevitable. At least it was a nice day.

Finally, it happened. I hadn't heard him enter, but it was hard to ignore the sudden shout. When I turned away from the window, Naruto was lunging directly at me. I was entirely blank on what Sasuke had done when this happened. I dodged, twisting before he reached me and getting out of the way, only to watch Naruto go flying out the window. He shouted in surprise when he realized what was happening.

I managed to grab one of his feet, doing my best to brace against the wall to not go out through the window too, and was rewarded with a loud thumping crash from making sure I didn't find out how well he'd take a crash landing from this far up as he smashed against the outside wall. Holding onto him was a lot easier than I thought it'd be. "Were you trying to figure out if you could fly?" I couldn't help make the comment.

"That wouldn't have happened if you didn't move!" Naruto complained. His face bore the marks of the outside wall as he pushed against it to look up.

"What, was I supposed to let you knock me through the window instead?" I snarked. I immediately felt guilty. I was an adult. Not actually twelve. I was more mature than to get into a verbal fight with a twelve year old. Especially one like Naruto. Even in a dream. I could do a lot better than this.

"Just help me back up!" He swung his arms.

"What happened to not wanting to be on a team with me?" I couldn't help but ask. Even as I said that, it felt off. It was probably because even though I wasn't Sasuke, I couldn't imagine myself being too excited at being in the same team as Naruto either. I had never liked getting put on team projects with the loud ones, and he was a prime example of those kinds of kids at the worst possible age.

"Hey! You can't just leave me hanging here!"

"I could drop you," I threatened.

"You wouldn't!"

"You sure?" I did my best to adjust the grip I had on one of his legs. And then I let go of the other one. Even with that, it slipped a bit, and I was left holding onto the end of his ankle instead.

"Ah! Okay okay! Let me up!" Naruto panicked, flailing. "I give! You're such a jerk!"

"Yeah, well, payback," I said, muttering. I grabbed both legs again and started the surprisingly difficult task of pulling Naruto back up. It was harder than I thought it would be. Admittedly, it was for one big reason. "Stop wriggling around! What are you, a worm or something?"

"I can't help it, how am I supposed to not deal with getting my face scraped?" he shouted back up.

"By not trying to attack people right in front of windows!"

"Yeah, right! Didn't Iruka-sensei point out it was a good tactic?" he countered. I had no idea. Even so, it wasn't like I wanted to admit it.

"Probably not when you aren't expecting to go out of it!" I stopped, finally, once his legs were fully inside, and shoved so he'd be planted on the floor.

Naruto seemed to have different ideas on when was enough, because just as I did, he grappled the window edge and shoved inward. It was too much force at once, combined.

We crashed to the floor in a tangle. His already wild looking hair looked even crazier from his short time upside down and then this brief tumble. His cheeks bore some scrapes from smacking against the rough outside wall, mixing with the whisker marks. He looked ridiculous, and I ended up snorting in my attempt to stifle a laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" he said, pouting. Crossing his arms only made it harder for me to avoid laughing.

"You! You look all messed up, and this is what you're going to go back to the classroom looking like." I didn't need to bring up the reason why he'd probably not want it— Sakura would no doubt give him an even more frigid reaction if he inevitably tried to awkwardly flirt with her again.

He puffed his cheeks out in indignation, frantically combing his fingers through his hair, resulting in random flattened licks. My expression probably didn't help matters because he gave up with a final tousle that just barely looked better than it had before. "Agh! You ruin everything!"

"I was the one minding my own business when you came in here," I pointed out.

Naruto didn't look impressed at all by my logic. Which, honestly, could have been dream logic at work, or just Naruto being Naruto.

Either way, he was distracted enough that I didn't think I had to worry about his plotting, at least for now. I didn't really want to deal with thinking about the issues with getting tied up.

"Yeah, well, so!" A compelling argument, really. Anything else he was going to say was interrupted by an ominous gurgle and his eyes widening. "Ghhk!"

Oh, I knew what that was about. Dangling upside down out the window and all the moving around probably had sped it up. I had absolutely no interest in getting in the way of that mess.

He clutched his stomach, bolting to his feet. Before I could say anything, he ran for the stairs. I guess that was one way to get rid of Naruto. At least for now. That left the question of what to do next. I didn't feel like I was going to wake up any time soon. From where I was I could see Sakura sitting on a bench.

No. I refused.

I picked up Sasuke's lunch and went to the classroom instead. Sakura was just too much to deal with after the close-Naruto encounter. I didn't want to deal with more preteen drama. Not with this love triangle anyways.

Which seemed to invite only more issues. Not all of the students had left the classroom to eat their lunch or go elsewhere. Hinata was still in there, sitting near the front of the room, near her new teammates. Kiba was lying on top of one of the desks, knees pushed up and together, with Akamaru resting on top of his chest. Shino was barely finishing his lunch. And when Hinata saw me, she blushed. That wasn't a good sign.

"O-oh, Sasuke-kun," she began. "Do you know where Naruto-kun is?" Well, that was a power move for a shy girl like Hinata. I felt bad at even considering not telling her. The sense of guilt was just too strong. I caved.

"He didn't look like he was feeling too well," I said, hedging my bets with something vague that would still get the idea across. "He's probably going to be back in here later."

"Oh," she said, softly. She was clearly disappointed. "I hope he's alright. I wouldn't want him to miss his new teacher." Hinata's utter sincerity was powerful. And way too much.

"It's Naruto," I answered. "I'm sure he's fine." At least, in this case when it was just him drinking spoiled milk. I didn't think anything short of serious injury would really put him down at this point in time, and it's not like I was dreaming anything crazy. Before she could say anything more, I skirted around her to move on.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun..." However much I wanted to pretend to ignore that, I couldn't, and gave an awkward nod at her. That seemed to pass Hinata's standards, and she went back to Kiba and Shino, who had watched the whole conversation. Shino didn't seem to care, but Kiba was smirking, and I could tell he was already planning on teasing her.

Why couldn't I get away from the preteen drama?

"What do you want with Naruto, Hinata?" Kiba started, a fierce grin on his face.

I really didn't want to watch this happen. While Kiba wasn't a complete and utter jerk in the show, he was absolutely insensitive enough that this was just going to be embarrassing to watch. There was no way for teasing someone sensitive to go well. This was the only plus ending up as Sasuke: not dreaming about being Hinata.

"Don't you think that's her own business?" I muttered. I didn't mean to say that outloud. Kiba still caught it, however, and turned to face me, Akamaru jumping off his knees with a tiny bark as the boy moved to sit up.

"Oh, so it's your business to get involved?"

"She just asked me where he was and I answered," I pointed out. "You're the one who butted in. Are you going to really make this a bad footing for your team, too, when we haven't met any of the jōnin instructors yet?"

God knew that Team Seven under Kakashi was the kind of disaster that could only be put together on purpose. Team Kurenai wasn't nearly as bad but Kiba would definitely make it like that if he kept it up.

"Like you're one to talk," Kiba snorted. "You bailed so fast Sakura started looking all mopey."

"Maybe, but I'm not teasing her. You're the one who should be rethinking their behavior here, not me."

A glance in her direction showed that Hinata was blushing, and only getting redder in the face. She wouldn't actually die of embarrassment if this kept up, right? Or blow up or something? Actually, I didn't want to risk that. "Hinata, do you want to go and look for Naruto with me?" I was going to regret this.

"Ah- I..." She managed to flush even brighter red than she had already become. And then, so quietly I barely could hear her, "Yes. I'd like that."

Kiba's jaw dropped. "Wha- hey!"

Shino managed to give the most meaningful look at Kiba I had ever seen from someone whose eyes you couldn't even see.

I couldn't believe I was going to do this. I walked back over to the door, sliding it open, and tilted my head, waiting for Hinata to come over. "Shino."

"Yes?"

"Think you can get it through Kiba's head what not to say to people you're supposed to work with?"

Kiba looked flabbergasted. "What! You can't take his side!"

I rolled my eyes. "It's not about taking sides, it's about not being insensitive to other people's feelings." I didn't wait to see if Shino was going to actually give a response.

We left just as Kiba started sputtering. I closed the door behind us.

"Y-you really didn't have to say anything..." Hinata said, still flushing brightly.

"He'll get over it," I told her, as I started to walk.

"How are you so sure?"

"Because his head's as thick as Naruto's. He'll be fine," I reassured her.

"Are you sure?" she asked, again.

"Well, if you don't want him to be fine, I guess we could let his mom know. I'm sure she'd have some words for him."

Hinata's eyes widened for a moment in shock, before she caught on that it was a joke. "He was just teasing," she said, finally. She still looked more at ease than she had earlier, though.

"He could have gone about it better," I said, shrugging. The restrooms had to be around here somewhere... but I had no idea where. Was it because I was overthinking it?

"Thank you for speaking up," Hinata said, again so softly I don't think I was supposed to actually hear her.

I didn't really know what to say, so I shrugged.

We turned a corner, heading outside, and I smacked head first into Naruto for what was the third time in a row. Why did that keep happening? I staggered, and he wound up on the floor. He still looked off-color.

"What, you again?" He clearly felt the same way I did over the repeated head knockings. "Watch where you're going!"

I made a face. "We were both going around the corner, no one's at fault here."

Next to me, Hinata had gone totally silent, standing still. Right.

"Hinata was wondering where you were," I said, when it became clear she was doing her best statue impression. Or maybe not the best, because she made the tiniest 'eep' when I said her name.

Naruto was completely oblivious. This was hopeless. "Oh! I was fine! Doing stuff!" he said, as he scrambled to his feet. His posture was suspiciously good, probably from trying to ignore his stomach. I guess he didn't want to expose a perceived weakness like the runs, even if he was utterly clueless that the girl he was talking to had a huge crush on him to the point of it being debilitating. "Got to be prepared for my future ninja career since I'm going to be hokage!"

Hinata blushed. "You'd make a good hokage, Naruto-kun," she managed to say with limited stuttering.

"Believe it!"

This was becoming painful to watch.

"It's about coming on time to head back to the classroom," I said, lying. I didn't actually know when exactly it was supposed to be, but I knew I didn't actually feel like playing at dream matchmaking anymore. Not when it gave me the vaguely uneasy feeling that it just meant it was going to be sprung back on me in return. It seemed inevitable, between the fangirls and repeat headbashing after avoiding Naruto's lips.

"Oh, Sasuke!" I could feel my insides begin to shrivel as Sakura made herself known. Was this my brain twistedly punishing me for pretending to be better than the boy band fangirls when I was in middle school? That I didn't know the difference between N*Sync and the Backstreet Boys? It had to be. "I was looking for you earlier, but I didn't see you!"

"I felt like having lunch alone," I said, avoiding gritting my teeth. Not that I actually ate any of it, but still.

"Oh." Sakura actually looked crestfallen. "I was hoping we could eat lunch together, since we're going to be on the same genin team…"

"We were going to walk back to the classroom together," Hinata spoke up, shyly. "Why don't you join us?"

"Sure!" Almost immediately, Sakura bounced back to cheerfulness to stand next to me, close enough to make me feel uncomfortable.

I had no counter against that. As much as I didn't want Sakura clinging to me, I had even less interest in shooting Hinata down on what was a reasonable suggestion, especially after not quite intentionally giving her a confidence boost. If anyone needed it, it was her.

"Sakura, you can't really want to be next to that guy, do you?" Naruto really was oblivious, wasn't he?

"You're too loud and immature to understand why someone like Sasuke's so cool," Sakura sniped at the blond, as she clamped a hand on my arm. Did Konoha just not teach anyone about personal space?

"I don't think there's anything cool about just staring into space all the time," Naruto grumbled. "And I'm plenty mature!"

"As if!"

I didn't know where to start with breaking up the bickering. Was there even anywhere to start with that? I sighed. "Let's just go back to class."

I think the only one completely happy in the whole group while we walked back was Hinata. She was pleased with walking next to Naruto, who still looked slightly disgruntled at Sakura's attack on his own perceived maturity, even though he was at least able to walk next to her. Sakura's own pleasure at invading my personal space was muted by Naruto's presence. I was too busy being preoccupied by evaluating how much of a personal attack the whole dream was on my being to even contemplate happiness.

For what had been a quick trip out of the classroom, by the time we got back, it had already started to fill up again with its new graduates. It looked like people had moved around to sit near their new teammates. Even next to the room's door it was obvious that the main topic of conversation through the room was what everyone thought their new jōnin-sensei would be like.

Hinata peeled off to rejoin Shino and Kiba— who looked still put out from earlier— but not before she whispered a quiet "Thank you" to me. It was so unexpected I barely caught it.

I shrugged awkwardly in return, before heading for the back row. There was still an open spot near the back corner which would at least make it harder for more things to happen, and I refused to give my subconscious more openings than it had already found already. There was no way I was going to bring any of this up in counseling. Ever. Maybe I'd write it out and set the paper on fire like I used to as a kid. Then again, that would also be acknowledging I even dreamed this, so maybe not that, either.

Of course, this came with the unfortunate fact that it wasn't going to be alone; Sakura was still clinging to my arm, and her expression was daring all the other girls to try and make something of it. And where Sakura went, so would Naruto.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked, as loud as he ever was. For someone who was good at setting pranks and evading nearly anyone looking for him, you'd think he'd have a better concept of an inside voice. At least in a dream.

"Maybe you'll find out when you're older," I muttered.

"Eh? What's what supposed to mean!?"

"It means you're such a boy, Naruto. Right, Sasuke?" On the one hand, I was personally inclined to agree with her. On the other, I wasn't sure why she would expect Sasuke to agree with her.

I decided to just not answer.

It wasn't long until Iruka returned, with the first of the jōnin-sensei to show up. The conversations taking place throughout the room died off entirely, leaving only silence. To my disappointment, I had no idea who any of them were, besides Asuma and Kurenai. Apparently my brain couldn't eke out any of the other more prominent jōnin in the series as stand-ins.

Iruka was actually finessing the whole process, by calling the students down by name instead of team, and introducing them to their jōnin-sensei, and even breaking the ice conversationally a bit before letting their new instructors take them away. Considering how much concern he showed over this class's graduates in the series, it made sense he wanted to be involved in the handover, though it did bring into question why he wouldn't have stuck around when Kakashi appeared to be a no-show. It made me wonder what the Academy's normal procedures would have been if it was real: this sort of turnover like Iruka was doing, or just leaving the students to the mercies of their new jōnin-sensei? Probably the second.

Eventually Team Seven were the only ones left in the room, along with Iruka. He was starting to look annoyed.

Naruto couldn't contain his impatience for that long. He actually clambered up onto the desk again, in spite of how well that had gone over for him earlier. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, what's taking this guy so long?" he shouted.

I decided it'd be a good idea to move.

"Naruto! How many times do I have to tell you to not stand on the desks!?" I barely had enough time to process Iruka suddenly holding a chalkboard eraser before it nailed Naruto straight in the face. He fell backwards in a puff of chalk dust, coughing, landing in the spot I had just evacuated.

Sakura stood up and glared at him, fanning the dust away from her as she tried to get out of its slowly expanding range. "I wanted to look nice for our new sensei, Naruto! And we don't even know if they will be a guy! One of the other jōnin-sensei was a kunoichi!" She actually sounded enthused by the possibility. I guess guys— impressing Sasuke- weren't actually the only thing on her mind. She still did her best to pat herself down to get as much of the chalk dust out of her hair and clothes, though.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the fact that this dream was going that far in filling out the sort of person an anime character could be, so I resolved it by walking away to sit at the front instead.

Iruka sighed. His burst of temper at Naruto had vanished as abruptly as it had arrived."You are right though," he admitted. He stood up from his desk. "It's been almost two hours since your new sensei was supposed to show up. I'm going to go find out what's taking so long. Just wait here." With that, he left the classroom, but not without stopping and turning around at the door. "And don't you even think about pulling anything, Naruto!"

Naruto groaned. I turned back to look. He hadn't moved from where he had landed yet. One foot was just barely sticking up in view. "Alright! Just find him so we can finally do cool ninja stuff!" He finally righted himself.

Sakura slid onto the bench next to me, and invaded my personal space once more. "What do you think our new sensei is going to be like?" she asked, trying to flutter her eyes at me. She did it for too long, and her direct eye contact afterwards went from attempted 'gazing' into just becoming an unsettling stare.

"I think… we're going to have to get used to them being late all the time," I said, twisting away so I could pretend she wasn't still trying to directly stare into my eyes. Sasuke's eyes. Beyond the fact that I wasn't comfortable with a middle school aged child trying to flirt with me, the fact that twelve year olds didn't even know how to flirt well made this more unsettling than it had to be. Not that I wanted to meet a twelve year old who could flirt well, but still.

"Ugh, I hope not!" Sakura said, sounding frustrated. "What sort of elite ninja is late all of the time?"

"He's probably lame and stuff," Naruto said, flopping on top of the desk in front of us. Sakura's hope that Team Seven's sensei would be a kunoichi didn't seem to matter in the fact Naruto had already decided it must be a man. Not that he was wrong.

I still wasn't going to tell him, though. I didn't want to deal with being bugged over knowing, which I could tell would already be inevitable if I did. So I ended up resting my head on clasped together hands, and resigned myself to waiting until Kakashi did show up. It made me wonder exactly how long we were going to be waiting; I know in the manga and show it was for hours, and it actually felt like I had been waiting the nearly two hours Iruka had mentioned, but what did that actually mean it was going to be? Two? Three? Four? With how realistic this dream was being, it wasn't something I wanted to actually imagine waiting out for that long.

Naruto pulled a crumpled and balled up piece of paper out of one of his pockets and started to throw it up above him, trying to catch it, increasingly letting it get closer. Every once in a while, he would fail to catch it at the last moment, and get smacked in the face by the paper.

Eventually, Sakura sighed heavily. "Do you really have to do that?" she asked, annoyed.

"Do what?" Naruto asked, letting it fall on his face, before he sat up.

"That! Play with trash," she said, making a face. "Why are you even carrying that around, anyways?"

"It isn't trash!" Naruto answered, indignantly.

That just made me even more curious. "What is it, then?"

"It's my rent notice," Naruto told me.

Sakura looked surprised. "You live on your own already? I thought there was an orphanage."

Naruto twisted away, looking self conscious for a split moment before recovering and pumping his fist. "Yeah! I have my own place, and I can keep my cupboard filled with instant ramen, and it means I don't have to put up with anyone in my own space! I'm a free man!"

Sakura didn't catch it. If anything, she only looked unimpressed by it. "Ugh. It's probably all gross and stuff." Well, she wasn't wrong there. In the show and manga at this point, Naruto did live in a disorganized and messy sty of a tiny apartment.

I wasn't going to bring up my own living arrangements, with Naruto's taking attention right now. Or Sasuke's living arrangements? Did it really matter that much when they were effectively the same?

Naruto looked unfazed. "But it's cool, Sakura!" I really hoped he was talking about living on his own, and not how much trash he must have that he didn't have to bother to clean up.

I only rolled my eyes a bit.

We settled into another boring lull of waiting, with various levels of patience. Eventually, Kakashi had to show up. It was only a matter of time, but I wasn't impressed by how long it felt. This was realistic in the worst way.

Naruto sat up again, and darted over to the door, where he opened it to peer out. "Where is this guy? Everyone else had their sensei show up hours ago and Iruka's gone!" That was different.

"Iruka left to go look," I pointed out. Not that he'd find Kakashi, since the jōnin was probably somewhere in the building if this was actually 'on schedule' according to the show. That would still be a sight to see though, just the idea of Iruka getting on Kakashi's case for being late was tantalizing, given how many horror stories I had heard from other grads who were working as TAs and had ended up working under perennially late professors who no longer had any fucks to give thanks to achieving tenure sometime in the eighties. Shame it would never happen, and wasn't actually real in any event.

"I really hope Iruka-sensei shows back up, or our new sensei does," Sakura said, wistfully. Even her tolerance for trying to behave and be an obedient student was starting to fray.

"Maybe I should prank him!" Naruto declared. "This guy deserves it after making us wait for so long!"

As entertaining as it could be to see Kakashi get an eraser to the head, I wasn't sure I wanted to see it as a dream. Also, with the luck I had so far, I wouldn't put it past the dream to have something else happen in retribution. "Why not wait to prank our new sensei?" I suggested.

"Eh?" Naruto and Sakura both looked at me like I had grown a second head. In retrospect, it wasn't actually something Sasuke would normally say, was it?

"There's no way you can come up with a prank that would actually catch a jōnin unaware, in a classroom, when they have already know what kind of reputation you have," I said, doing my best to convey with tone how stupid the idea actually was. "There's no way they're actually going to be that dumb. You vandalized the hokage monument only a few days ago."

"Oh! Yeah!" Naruto actually beamed. "Between that and the whole thing with accidentally stealing a forbidden scroll there's no way they don't know who I am!" He actually sounded proud of himself.

Sakura stared at Naruto like he was the crazy one now, attention shifted away from me. "You did what?!"

"Yeah! I learned a cool new jutsu and saved Iruka-sensei and then Iruka said I could be a ninja and he gave me his headband and everything! I graduated just like that!"

That was the worst summary of the introductory chapter and episode that I had ever heard. It was actually impressive, in a twisted way.

"If it was forbidden, it was probably forbidden for good reason!"

"But it's so cool! Watch!" He brought his hands together, ready to form a seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Before either Sakura or I could say anything, the room was filled to the point of being uncomfortably packed with dozens of Naruto clones. With that whole lead-up, I should have seen this coming.

"Huh. Interesting." Kakashi's voice came from the doorway; he was only able to lean in and look into the room due to the sea of Naruto clones taking up every bit of available space. Of course he would show up now. "I think… I'll see you on the roof." He backed away and firmly closed the door.

I wasn't sure if that was better or worse than his reaction in the show.

Sakura punched a Naruto, who burst into nothingness. "I can't believe you scared our sensei away!" She pouted at the realization she hadn't even hit the original.

"What?! That guy?" A few Narutos shouted together. At least those ones were mostly on the same page. The rest were beginning to chatter aimlessly, making the room an orange-themed din.

"Who else is it going to be?" Sakura pointed out, pushing a jostled clone away. "He did just say to meet him on the roof!"

"Can you just dispel all of your clones already?" I said, not entirely sure where to direct this point. Two of them were making faces at me, perched on top of the desk. I didn't appreciate this.

"Fine! I was just trying to prove it was nothing bad, you know!" a Naruto shouted, before getting accidentally shoved by another Naruto. After a moment of squawking, all but one disappeared. I guess this dream refused to be anything but zero sum at a minimum where Naruto was concerned.

"I'm not sure being crammed into a room with dozens of you isn't bad," Sakura muttered, before trying to perk back up. "We should go meet him!"

Naruto pulled a face. "Eh? He's the one who made us wait forever and you want to rush right up there?"

"Do you want to wait any longer in this room?" I pointed out. I didn't want to, that was for sure. Especially not if this dream was going to continue to poke ass and go as slow as it was.

His eyes widened. "No!" And with that, he scrambled, running out the door.

I realized my error soon enough. I turned to see Sakura was staring at me, hands clasped together.

"We can walk up together, since Naruto left. That was so smart of you," she said. I could practically feel the intensity of her crush rolling off her in waves, and it took everything in my power to not physically cringe.

"...We should hurry up," I answered, and instead walked over to the door, opening it. I didn't close it fast enough to avoid seeing Sakura look visibly crushed, hanging her head at the failed attempt as she trailed after me. It made me feel like I kicked a puppy.

Again, this made me realize I didn't actually really know how to get around here. Just like earlier, I tried to not think too hard about where I was actually going, letting the dream steer me instead. Thankfully, it didn't get me— or Sakura, since she was following me with a hangdog look— lost, and we made it to the roof with no trouble.

After everything else, that felt like a minor miracle as far as this dream was concerned.

Looking at the roof from this vantage point was actually interesting, compared to how it was shown from only specific shots. The fact that it required someone to think planting trees on a roof was a viable design choice was something I had always wondered about— sure, it looked cool for something drawn, but could you use trees this big in real life on a roof, too?— and the large arches that were probably supposed to be for some kind of partial shade canopy were sort of fascinating, but from standing there, it looked different, and made it possible to almost forget you were a few stories up. I guess that was the point of the trees.

Naruto was already hassling Kakashi when we found them.

"C'moooooooon, who are you!?" he demanded, from his seat on the wide stone steps. Kakashi was lazily perched on the railing ahead of him, arms folded over his chest.

Kakashi's visible eye closed, crinkling in a smile. "You didn't want to wait for your teammates?" he asked.

"Well, they're here now!" Naruto insisted. Sakura sat down first, and looked disappointed when I sat down on the other side of Naruto.

Kakashi shrugged, unfolding his arms as he did to hold his hands palm up. "Why don't you begin with introductions?"

Sakura looked at him with wide eyes. "You want us to introduce ourselves? How do you mean?" She was taking it a bit too seriously.

"Oh, you know," Kakashi answered. "Things you like, don't like. Dreams for the future. Hobbies?" He cocked his head slightly for the briefest moment as though he was wondering if there was anything else to add. "That sort of thing."

"What? Hey! You should introduce yourself first! We don't even know who you are!" Naruto insisted. "I already asked!"

"Fine, then," Kakashi answered. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. And I don't feel like telling you what I like or dislike. I have hobbies."

"You skipped bringing up your future," I said, deadpan. I was pretty certain that he had at least brought up something about that in the show. "Or is that something you don't care about?"

"Hmm. You could say that." Well, damn. I wasn't expecting that sort of baldfaced admittance of nihilism. I was almost impressed. That practically made Kakashi an honorary millennial. Looking at the other two though, it seemed that Naruto and Sakura were more slightly horrified at the concept of not caring about having a future at this point in their young lives. "Why don't you go first, then."

"All you told us was your name!" Naruto interrupted.

"And mental state," Sakura muttered, under her breath. It was her turn to get stared at blankly. While I didn't disagree, Kakashi and Naruto apparently had no idea how to process that sort of commentary coming from the pink-haired girl.

The silence was starting to become awkward, and I felt obligated like I was increasingly obligated to say something. "You should already know my name, and if you don't have to say anything about yourself, I don't need to either." As I felt all the attention shift onto me, I realized that was probably pushing the bounds of what I should have said. It was too late to take back.

"...Right." I wondered how much this version of Kakashi regretted everything. "You then," he said, to Naruto, trying to regain control of the situation.

"I'm Uzuma—" Naruto cut himself off. "Wait. Is this some kind of trick? Is that why he didn't answer anything?" He looked at Kakashi suspiciously. "Are we being tested again!?"

Had I broken the introductions?

Kakashi laughed to himself for a moment. "Let's just… skip the introductions then," he said, straightening up. "You're right. There is another test."

"I knew it!"

I had broken the introductions.

"But this wasn't it." All the humor had dropped from his voice. "Of the twenty-seven graduates from your class, only nine will become genin. The other eighteen will be sent back to the academy. That means there's a sixty-six percent chance you'll fail."

Naruto's jaw dropped in shock. "Eh? But we worked hard to get here, didn't we!? What was the point of everything else if we have to do another test?!"

"Well, we needed genin candidates, didn't we?"

"What!?"

Kakashi shrugged aimlessly. "It's how it works. I decide if you pass or fail. Meet me at the designated training tomorrow morning at five AM with all of your ninja tools."

I started to hear ringing. Where was that coming from?

"Oh, and don't even think about eating breakfast in the morning. Unless you want to puke it all right back up." Kakashi pulled out a few sheafs of paper from his flak jacket as he walked towards us. "The details are all here. Don't be late tomorrow." I could barely hear what he was saying.

It was getting louder and louder.

"-that tough?!"

I couldn't hear anything else.

I woke up to the alarm on my phone beeping obnoxiously, which made me freeze for a moment as dread slowly filled me. That wasn't a good alarm. I slowly sat up, turned, and picked my phone up from the nightstand where it had been charging.

I had hit the point where my absolute last resort alarm was sounding off. If I didn't get moving now I wasn't just going to be late, I was going to be hideously late, on an exam day no less. I only had enough time to hurriedly get dressed, grab the papers I needed, my cane, and rush to my truck, shooting off a text to the professor I TA'd for to let them know I'd be late.

There wasn't enough time to eat breakfast, much less think of anything else.

Chapter 3: Hear the Bells, Pt 2

Chapter Text

I blinked at the unexpected early pre-dawn light, muted and gray, the beginning undertones of pink not yet reaching into the sky. Before me, Sakura was yawning and Naruto was mid-stretch, both with full bags on them. It was the training ground for the bell test. "Not this again…"

The last dream had only been yesterday night; I wasn't sure whether that was better or worse than having a longer gap, but what I did know is I wasn't a fan of the fact that this was apparently becoming a recurring thing. I wondered vaguely if it meant I should give in to my grandmother and tell her I actually needed her prayers for once, for these strange dreams (asking her to stop at all was out of the question, but it would at least redirect her away from my lack of a love life. The last time I had gone over there my aunt went out of the way to inform me the candles at the altar were for me).

"Right?!" Naruto said, far too loudly. "I can't believe he's late!" He shrugged his bag's straps off his shoulders, allowing it to fall onto the ground with a muffled clatter, and scuffed at the ground with the side of his sandal, before dropping onto his bag to sit on it. "How is he supposed to teach us if he can't even show up at the time he told us?!"

Sakura slowly slumped onto the ground. "I can't believe I woke up at three just to get ready and he's not even here…"

"You woke up at three?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I had to take a shower and do my hair," she said, sounding mulish even as she defended herself.

I actually exchanged a look with Naruto, though he looked more baffled than horrified. I just couldn't believe she decided to get up that early for that much effort for this . My own sleep hygiene might not be the best, but that was just excessive.

"Waking up that early just to do your hair is just going to put you at a disadvantage if you're exhausted," I said, trying to approach this delicately. "Did you at least go to sleep early enough to make up for it?"

Sakura blushed, and turned to look away. Right. I would have to take that as a no, then. "I double checked that I packed my bag with all of my ninja tools and made sure they were in good condition," she said, still pink in the face.

"And I practiced last night!" Naruto pumped a fist. "I refuse to go back to the academy, you know!"

I stared at him. I had no idea what Sasuke would have done the night before, but as far as I was concerned, the most important thing to do before any kind of test was to actually get sleep. Cramming was for the desperate and if you had to cram, you were probably screwed anyways. Then again, that seemed to be Naruto's general approach if the canon was anything to go by. And how the dream version behaved. This had to be some subconscious nonsense, though I couldn't possibly guess what it would mean in this context, disguised as anime and manga characters.

Right. I looked down at the packed bag hanging at my own side, and wondered what was going to be inside it. I couldn't remember right now what they made serious use of in the original version of the bell test, just that Kakashi's serious issue with Team Seven was based in the lack of teamwork. Kunai? Maybe some shuriken? At the same time though, I could swear that was just what they already had on them, instead of taking anything from their bags, probably because Kakashi was so severely above their skill level it meant the attempted fights were basically nothing. There were a few traps, but I might have gotten that mixed up with Kakashi's actions, since I was pretty sure he had showcased everything but summoning and sealing.

I ended up lowering into a sitting position, slipping the shoulder strap off and pulling it into my lap to actually take a look inside the bag's main compartment. It was surprisingly filled and well organized, with multiple arrays of shuriken and a few braces of kunai being the most obvious things inside, but there were also a couple coils of what I assumed was ninja wire, along with a few that were plain rope. I looked over at Sakura and Naruto. "What did you two bring?"

Naruto stood up, opened his bag, and then lifted it, only to flip it over, dumping its contents onto the ground. Dull or mismatched kunai that looked like they had been scavenged or bought at different times and uncared for shuriken with chipped edges and streaks of rust made up the majority of the weaponry he had brought with him, but the rest of the pile was more eclectic. Apparently he was used to using it for more than just ninja gear. The plastic bottles of paint were one thing, same with the thicker ropes that he probably would have used for successfully graffiting the hokage monument, and a few already previously used and rinsed out wide sash paint brushes… but I had no idea why there was a package of tofu in there, ominous green blobs floating under the thin plastic. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.

"Did… you bring rotten tofu?" Sakura asked, her color looking wan. The sight must have killed her appetite as well. " Why ?"

"Not on purpose!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "I must have forgot to take everything out of my bag! I think the tofu is from the last time I got groceries?"

I looked at the package of tofu with an unsure expression. There was no way that thing could have been in there for only a short bit of time. "How long ago was that?"

"Uh... Two weeks ago?" Naruto didn't sound particularly sure of himself.

The earlier wanness in Sakura's face started to take on a green tinge. I really hoped she didn't throw up. "That's been buried in your bag for two weeks!?"

Naruto crossed his arms, looking away from her, an embarrassed look on his face. "It's not like I did it on purpose, ya know!"

"How many times could it have gotten punctured or opened in the last two weeks!? You've been walking around with a— a spoiled food bomb while we've been getting ready to graduate!" That was starting to get into some serious hypotheticals.

"Not on purpose!"

I didn't want to think about how much growth was inside for it to be bulging the way it was. Or how it looked so ominously green even under the plastic top. The focus on the tofu was beginning to get to me, and I could feel my stomach begin to churn.

I tried to shift attention away from the deathly looking tofu. "Sakura, what did you bring?"

Her eyes widened, and she looked back at me, blushing again. I really wished she would knock that off, but I had the suspicion that as long as I was having these dreams it wasn't going to stop. "Oh! Let me show you, Sasuke," she said, her voice going higher as she tried to sound flirtatious. At least, I assumed that was what she was trying to aim for. That was actually worse than the blushing.

Unlike Naruto, Sakura carefully pulled everything out, laying everything down in orderly rows. She had brought mostly kunai, and not very many shuriken, but other than it being a thing of ratios, what she had packed was pretty much the same as what was in mine, except for the ninja wire. If this wasn't a dream, I would have guessed it would have been because the academy would suggest a standard list of gear to have and carry. Sakura was the type who probably followed the list exactly, regardless of actual needs. As far as Sasuke's gear went, all of the extra shuriken made sense, even though I could only make the assumption that it was because it was a specialty. At least as far as baby would-be ninja could have specialties. Naruto, on the other hand, was just Naruto.

"Since he isn't here yet... we could set the field up for our advantage," I said, thinking. It at least made more sense than what I suspected was going to happen as far as my perception of time went with this dream. I wasn't exactly looking forward to dreaming about being bored and feeling like it took hours.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Naruto squinted at me suspiciously.

"Oh!" Sakura looked eager. "It's a test, right? And he had us bring our ninja gear… Do you think he's going to have us fight him or something?"

"I think so," I lied, vaguely. The bell test was more Kakashi messing with them and gauging teamwork than a straight up fight, but I wasn't going to tell them that. I didn't want to deal with their questions any more than I did the last time I dreamed about them.

Naruto bounced on his feet. "Leave him to me!"

Sakura's eyebrows crinkled together as she looked at him. "You really think you can beat a jounin on your own? We just graduated! And you didn't even pass the exam!"

"No, but I beat Mizuki-sensei! I can do this!" He balled one of his fists in determination.

"What!?" Poor Sakura. Without context, none of this had to make sense. Especially not when it was combined with Naruto's somewhat disjointed way of telling stories.

"Yeah! That's how I saved Iruka-sensei! So I got his headband!" Even I was beginning to have a hard time tracking this.

"Whose headband? I thought you said you got Iruka-sensei's!"

"I did!"

I decided I should try to redirect the conversation before Naruto got any more confusing. "If we're supposed to fight him, we won't stand a chance if he takes it seriously, much less on our own."

"You think we should work together?" Sakura was staring at me a bit too hard, her hands clasped together. I don't think she was imaging the same sort of thing I was thinking. I moved backwards.

"Do we have any other choice?" I asked. As I asked, it occurred to me I had no idea how the dream logic was going to work, when it came to actually trying to fight. The haphazard various classes I took when I was younger sure as hell didn't apply to ninja stuff, but the last few times I had stopped trying to focus too much on anything in these dreams it was like I had gone on automatic. Would it work out like that again?

My question wasn't enough to discourage whatever Sakura was thinking, but it seemed to have triggered something in Naruto. "I'll be better than you at working together!"

I stared at him for a moment before I decided to just give up and accede to whatever he thought he was saying. "That.... doesn't really make sense as an answer, but alright then. Fine. Sure you will." I looked at the horizon, which was already hinting at the promise of a clear blue sky. "If he takes as long as he did yesterday, it's going to be a few hours until he even shows up."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait. We could have eaten anyways?!" He kicked at one of the wooden posts. I wondered if those were there only for Kakashi's test, or if they were a usual thing for the field.

I shrugged. It wasn't like I actually knew Kakashi's logic, even between the show and manga.

Sakura hung her head, when her stomach grumbled at the idea of eating. "I should have eaten dinner..."

I had honestly forgotten about that part, with her unhealthy diet scheme.

Naruto looked at her in shock. "What!? Why wouldn't you eat dinner?"

"Because I'm trying to maintain my figure!"

"What figure?" Naruto sounded genuinely baffled.

Sakura's eyes narrowed in Naruto's direction. "Shannaro!"

I dragged a hand down my face as Naruto got decked. "You can't just not eat... Besides, that's for-" What would make sense most here? Right. "-civilians who don't do anything and eat too much. If you don't eat enough of the right food while training or on missions, after a while your body's just going to start eating itself and waste away. That's not the kind of skinny you want to be."

"What, like a cannibal?" Naruto sounded horrified, staring between me and then Sakura. He had bounced right back from getting punched. "Sakura's going to cannibalize herself?" He stepped away from her, now. Funny how that made him more fearful than her fists.

"What!?" Sakura looked disgusted. "No! Ugh! That's so gross, Naruto! Eugh!"

Naruto levered a pointed finger at her. "You're the one who's gonna become a cannibal!"

I regretted ever speaking. I could always try to deflect, but I had a feeling that it would only get worse. "That goes for you, too."

"Eh?" The blond looked at me in confusion, now.

"Do you even know what a vegetable is?"

"Yeah! I do eat them, sometimes!" he said, huffily. "They're in my ramen!"

"You can't just live off of ramen, either," I pointed out.

Naruto gave me a suspicious look. "You're sounding like Iruka-sensei. Did he put you up to this?"

"When would he have done that?" Sakura was confused. She wasn't the only one.

I stared at him with dismay. "It doesn't change what I said, unless you feel like staying short forever."

Naruto looked scandalized at the suggestion. "There's no way I'm gonna be some kinda midget Hokage!"

"Then start diversifying your diet," I said, stressing the word, and then looking at Sakura, "and make sure you're actually eating what you need to be." I didn't sign up to play at giving advice in my dreams, but apparently that's how it was going to be. It also made me wonder if in-universe Sakura's parents would even know she was skipping meals or anything. Then again, it wasn't like tweens and young teenagers weren't crafty.

"I think I liked it better when you were just a jerk who kept to himself..." Naruto muttered.

Sakura looked away. I wasn't sure what to make of that.

I only shrugged.

Naruto's attention landed on everything we had laid out again. "Hey! Hey! What if we made a bunch of traps and stuff? That should work! Especially if he takes forever to get here! It's practically a prank!"

I suddenly felt an unexpected surge of sympathy for not just Kakashi, but Iruka as well, before I realized that Kakashi was the instrument by which I was being made to suffer from boredom in what could have been a far more interesting dream. Iruka had at least been inspiring. Kakashi, on the other hand, was Kakashi. Most of my sympathy for him evaporated. "Why not?"

Sakura looked at Naruto with one eyebrow raised, uncertainty playing on her face. "What if we get in trouble?"

"If he didn't want us to rig the field in our favor for whatever he's going to have us do, he would have shown up on time," was my reasoning. If he didn't want us to do certain things, he would have explicitly said as much. It probably didn't count as cheating, if it was all during the preparatory period he had accidentally left us. I was choosing to view this as being more like an open book exam, if it was like anything.

"And if we don't have to fight him?" she pointed out. On top of whatever nerves she must have had over the possibility of being sent back to the academy, I really must have ruined her mood, if she wasn't immediately agreeing with her 'precious Sasuke' in an attempt to score favor.

"Then we either take everything down after he leaves or we leave it all up as a surprise for whoever trains here next." Not that that was particularly ethical, but besides the fact I doubted it would be that lethal, it wasn't like it would matter in a dream.

Sakura made a face. "We're supposed to take everything down once we're finished using any training locations," she said, sounding like she was reciting something from memory.

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, again, ignoring Sakura's comment entirely. "We'll put up a bunch of traps everywhere, and then we'll beat him, and then he's going to have to accept us as his students!" He was way too excited for this time of morning, to the point where I was beginning to wonder if Naruto was actually a morning person. Could dream people even be morning people or night owls?

I had no idea where would be the best place or even where to start with trapping things to put Kakashi at a disadvantage, and everything about Sakura probably meant she wouldn't either. "You're the local menace," I said, looking at Naruto. "How should we do this?"

His eyes widened, and he inhaled as he looked at our surroundings with an expression that I couldn't quite pin at first, before I realized it was intense focus. It wasn't exactly the sort of expression you saw on most middle school aged kids, much less the kind that were full of energy and easily distracted. He took in the field we were in, the wooded area surrounding the field, and the river that was serving as a boundary. Finally, he exhaled. "Well, it's three against one so that means we're the ones who are gonna have to pay real close attention!"

Sakura stared at him as she tried to figure out what kind of logic Naruto was even using, and eventually gave up. I hadn't even bothered to try to figure it out. "Don't you mean... him? We're the ones who have the number advantage."

"No, no! Because see, if you're doing a prank, it gets more complicated with more people, see? See?" Naruto was really getting excited. "It's harder to keep track like that! That's why whenever the old man sends people out after me when I get in trouble on my own it's so easy to get rid of them! They get all mixed up and I can send them down the wrong direction and they all go running!" He started to laugh. "Even though they're all chuunin and even some jounin!" That explained some of his earlier unwarranted confidence, then, if he was equating his ability to evade much more experienced ninja in the village with meaning he could also fight them. "They have to keep track of everyone else, try to find me, not get mixed up with whatever anyone else is trying to do to catch me, and get all tangled up! All I have to do is not get caught!" That sounded a bit too simplistic, but I was starting to see where he was coming from. "I mean, it's harder if Kiba and Shikamaru are with me, but it's doable! We usually only get caught if Shikamaru gets bored of hiding and gives up."

"Because they aren't coordinating even though they're on the same task," I said, realizing. "They're just working in parallel." And in the story Konoha was known for teamwork… how, again?

"Yeah!" Naruto looked cheered on that someone had actually understood what he was trying to get at. "If we really want to get him good, we can't do that! It'd go faster if we split up, but then we wouldn't know who put what traps where, right? Which means any of us could set them off by accident instead of him!" On the one hand, it made sense that Naruto would know what strategy could be, considering all the trouble he was supposed to have gotten into before graduating. On the other hand, apparently he didn't know he even knew what strategy was if it wasn't in the context of making a nuisance of himself.

No wonder Iruka would spend so much time on him, if this was the sort of stuff he would come up with instead of focusing in class. He was trying to keep the village from going into full riot over one pint-sized delinquent prankster.

"I don't know about this..." Sakura said, hesitating. "What if it makes him unhappy with us?"

"He's the one who had us show up at five in the morning and isn't even here yet," I told her. "He has no room to talk."

"Yeah! If he didn't want us to use this extra time, he would have shown up!" That was a bit of a stretch on Naruto's part, but he wasn't really wrong, in that sense. All of this was on him, when it came down to it.

"Then, what should we do?" Sakura asked. She sounded reluctant to address Naruto, but I had basically put him in charge of this by prompting him in the first place.

Naruto looked at all of the gear and then the landscape again. "We don't wanna do this out in the open," he decided. "The trees will be better! He's a lot bigger than us, and traps don't work that great without some way to blend them in anyhow. We can at least hide and distract him a lot better in there, instead." He gave a considering look at the ninja wire. "I dunno about using the ninja wire for this though, it might be too risky."

"How do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Well, if you're not using it as a weapon on purpose, you've gotta be careful with it, right? It's really easy to cut yourself on it even by accident if you use too much force. And if you don't know where you've used it? You're gonna get caught in it! And like I said, we're the ones at a disadvantage so we don't wanna use something we could get tangled up in so easy," Naruto explained.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Naruto being able to actually use logic. "Won't using ropes stand out too much?" While what Sakura and I had wasn't that thick, I didn't believe for a moment that Kakashi wouldn't manage to spot them.

"Hehe, not if you do it right!" Naruto rubbed his hands together. That was ominous.

In the end, we packed everything back up and went into the woods, letting Naruto take the lead and dictate what kind of traps to use and where. The further from the grass we got, the more it slowly became apparent why Naruto's kunai and shuriken looked like they did; he had no qualms about using them.

Naruto wasn't afraid of abusing his weaponry. He was using his kunai to score marks into the trees or pin thinned and untwined pieces of rope into the trunks and branches of trees, and was driving them deep into the ground. Occasionally he would look around, before running off to stare at something from a different vantage point, and toss a kunai or shuriken from there to check something, or plant them in spots that were blatantly obvious compared to where he actually strung something or set things up to launch if triggered.

At one point he hauled himself into a questionable looking tree with yellowed leaves, only to balance precariously on a narrow branch that was barely able to hold his weight with one hand gripping an even more spindly one above him. He stood there and jumped until we heard a cracking sound as the branch threatened to break below him, before he leapt out of it and made the other tree branches look unappealing or blatantly look like traps. He had Sakura and I plant obvious tripwires on the ground below, making estimates on what would urge Kakashi into the trees at the right distance.

It was a bit terrifying to watch him go at it. He didn't even seem to be aware of how much thought he was putting into everything, just naturally making adjustments naturally based on whatever obstacle he had added before or would result in a forced course correction.

Eventually, Naruto looked satisfied with the level of preparation he had put into it. He had lightened his bag in the process, and made similar dents in the others.

"Won't he notice our bags look empty?" Sakura wondered, looking at hers and mine, before looking at Naruto's. His was practically empty, in comparison.

"Well, we can either stuff them with something, or just ignore it and see if he ignores it too," I answered. I wasn't entirely sure that Kakashi would ignore it if it looked suspicious enough, but he was apathetic half the time in the series, so in theory it could work out. Then again, he was making these dreams a pain in my ass, so maybe not.

"Oh yeah! That's easy!" Naruto climbed into one of the trees again, and before we could ask what he was doing, began to shake leaves, twigs, and other random debris left by birds and other creatures out. "Just put some stuff in there, and some rocks! He probably won't look inside unless you make him think something funny's up."

Sakura looked about as impressed as expected. "Ugh, I wish I was surprised. No wonder your kunai and shuriken look so awful!"

I couldn't believe what I was going to say. "No, it's because he's actually been using them outside of practice," I told her. "Did you see what he was doing the whole time?" His aim wasn't always the greatest when he had been doing this, but if watching him lay traps in the woods was any indication, my guess was that this dream's Naruto was actually used to using them like actual tools, and not just as school supplies. In the name of being a goddamn delinquent, apparently, but still.

Naruto suddenly stopped, mid motion. I didn't like the expression on Naruto's face, up in the tree. It wasn't like Sakura or Ino's expressions when they were looking my way, but it was making me realize I had made a serious miscalculation by defending him. It was too close to praise for Naruto.

"See? Even Sasuke can tell!" Naruto said. Forget dreams, I felt like I was going to have nightmares about this. I never wanted this.

Sakura flushed pink, pouting. "Well, still."

I sighed, and grabbed a few of the longer branches Naruto had dropped to twine them with loose bits of rope into a questionable basket frame, sitting down. It didn't have to be that large, since the bag I— Sasuke, not me — had wasn't that large, compared to Naruto or Sakura's bulkier things. I couldn't believe that this, the one thing I had ever learned and bothered to remember from attending a day camp, was getting used for a dream of all things. Even my mother hadn't appreciated the skill I had picked up. Then again, it wasn't like we had the room for baskets upon baskets upon baskets, and she was probably expecting something she could put on the fridge or put away with the rest of the things she insisted on keeping as 'memories'. The vast majority of my questionable baskets from that summer had ended up distributed to various aunts and uncles, and even a few cousins.

Naruto looked down. "What are you doing?" he shouted.

"I don't feel like stuffing my bag with all of that, so I'm going to make a basket frame so it just looks full," I explained.

Sakura looked intrigued. It had to be more appealing than bulking her bag up with random debris. "Can you show me how?"

"Hey! Me too! Me too!"

I glanced around to see if he had dropped any more suitable branches before I answered. It looked like there wasn't quite enough. "I guess. Grab some more thin branches that are about the length of your arm," I told him, looking upwards.

Naruto immediately snapped a few off and dropped to the ground. Even from the ground the damage was apparent. We had really denuded that poor tree. "Hey, hey, Sasuke! Show us now!"

I had not expected this to devolve into ninja arts and crafts, but here I was.

"Fine." I motioned for them both to come closer, and demonstrated.

It wasn't going to look pretty at all— I was half-assing it pretty strongly and if I was trying to make a real basket it probably would have fallen apart after too long— but for what I was trying to do, it just needed to stay in place, inside the bag. "You need to have at least two crossing each other like this, and then bind them at the center," I explained.

They had significantly less trouble picking it up with my rusty instructions than I initially had under the instruction of an eighteen year old getting paid minimum wage. Then again, they were also significantly less clumsy. Finger dexterity went a long way with something this fiddly. In between some vague corrections, we started to brainstorm on how to lead Kakashi into the trees if we did have to fight him.

It wasn't long before we had managed to carefully shove the questionably made skeletal frames into our bags, all of them held together with the barest amount of branches and rope tied together. My eight year old self would have been horrified at such haphazard work. It was still probably far more effort than needed to throw Kakashi off, but it was better than sitting around dreaming about being bored.

I still couldn't believe he hadn't shown up yet, but it was still relatively early in the morning, if not quite painfully so. After a short shakedown to reduce as much evidence of our plotting as possible— mostly on Naruto's part, considering he had what seemed like half a tree sticking out of his hair and the collar of his jacket— we ended up returning to the open part of the training ground.

We ended up sitting— or lying, in Naruto's case— on the grass again, looking out in different directions trying to see if Kakashi was ever going to show up. The sun had managed to trek further into proper daytime before the complaints started to kick in.

"I should have eaten dinner, I should have gone to bed early, I should have not woken up so early…" Sakura said, out loud.

"I coulda eaten breakfast," Naruto groaned. "I could eat so many bowls of Ichiraku's right now..."

I wasn't going to tell them I felt fine. They probably wouldn't appreciate it. "I can't believe we're still waiting." I paused, as a thought crossed my mind. I wasn't sure why it had bothered to show up. "Do you think we could petition for a different jounin?"

"Oh, you want to get rid of me already? We haven't even started the test yet." When the hell did he get here?

Naruto jumped to his feet with impressive speed, for starting from lying down. "What! You're the one who made us wait forever, again!"

Kakashi idly glanced at the alarm clock in his hand, only looking at the bells. "It's only what, a quarter past nine?" He also had a backpack on. I wondered what he had in there. If this was real, it would be his dirty romances.

"You told us to be here at five!" Sakura joined in, now.

"Did I?" Kakashi asked, casually. He was taking too much joy in this.

"Yes!" Naruto was fired up.

"Oh well." Kakashi shrugged effusively. "Let's get started." He set the clock down on top of the middle wooden post.

"The time on that says 10:08," I noted.

"I looked at the clock when I left," he answered.

Sakura's eyelid began to twitch.

Kakashi pressed down on the top of the alarm, activating it. "It's set for noon," he told us, as he lazily pulled the stringed pair of bells from one of his pockets. "This shouldn't be too hard for you," he said. The man was a goddamn tease. "All you have to do is take these bells from me before noon." He jingled them together, letting them chime. "Those who can't do it won't get lunch. If you can't, you'll be tied to those posts, and I'll eat my lunch right in front of you."

Naruto gripped his head with his hands and Sakura held onto her stomach. I was starting to wonder if I wasn't feeling hungry because it was a dream, or if Sasuke had cheated. Either way, watching this play out and not on a screen or on paper really amplified how much of a jerk move it was on Kakashi's part.

"You only have to get one bell. Since there's two, at minimum one of you will get tied up." Kakashi met all of our eyes in turn. "And whoever doesn't take a bell fails the mission. So someone's getting sent back to the academy regardless." As far as inspiring fear of failure went, he was succeeding in it where Sakura and Naruto were concerned, all while smiling. I wanted to be able to do that someday. For now, I'd have to just settle for vaguely worrying freshmen who only realized there were consequences to their illegal underaged drinking and sudden uncontrolled freedom with only a few heavily weighted papers and the final exam left and none of the reading done. "Or it could be two of you, or even your whole team. You can use all of your weapons, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to come at me with killing intent, you won't be able to take the bells."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Sakura asked, nervously. I guess she hadn't really mentally accepted the possibility of us fighting him, even with all of the traps we had laid.

"Yeah, you're so lazy you couldn't even get here in time!" Naruto said, trying to laugh it off.

"I've noticed that those who tend to complain aren't skilled enough." Wait. While that was intended to be a diss towards Naruto, didn't that comment apply to Obito, too? That was something he had originally said, wasn't it? Kakashi really did have problems. "Just ignore Dead Last here, and—"

Naruto pulled a kunai from his leg holster and readied to throw it at him, halfway into a lunge to give it proper thrust. Even with knowing what came next, I was still unprepared for how fast Kakashi cleared the distance between us, and soon had Naruto by the head in one hand, the other gripping the blond's wrist, angling the kunai at the back of Naruto's neck.

"Don't be in such a rush. I hadn't said start yet," Kakashi said, just slightly more quietly and slowly than he had spoken in before.

Naruto grimaced, trying to pull away, but didn't succeed until Kakashi finally let him go. The vague focus Kakashi had put on display vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared.

"You did at least come at me with the intent to kill," he commented, lazily. "So, I think I'm actually starting to like you guys." What a small mercy. "Get ready…. And start!" It wasn't until I was mid-leap that I realized I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

As much as I was confused by that autonomous response, I still headed straight for the trees. We had agreed upon a spot, but now I realized I wasn't sure if the other two were going to stick to the plan anymore. Sakura might— if she wasn't too rattled by Kakashi's insistence at us making a serious attempt at killing him— but Naruto was rightfully upset at Kakashi revealing that in front of everyone and making fun of him for it. That alone made him more unpredictable than he might have otherwise been. Then again, I was trying to apply serious analysis to fictional characters in a dream, so I was the real fool here.

I hauled myself into the tree we had decided on as a meeting point. To my surprise, Sakura was already in it, only a glint of pink spoiling her hiding spot in the leafiest part of the crown of the tree. I settled onto a branch below her, leaning against the trunk where it was slightly more shaded.

"Sasuke!" she whisper-hissed to me. "Did you see Naruto?"

I shook my head.

"Ugh. I hope he didn't go off to do his own thing…" she said, exasperated. "I can't believe he actually tried to attack our sensei like that!"

"He's trying to provoke us," I said, thinking.

"Naruto's always trying to be annoying," she said, trying to agree with me.

"Not him; Kakashi," I explained. "He's doing this on purpose. Telling us no food and making us get up early enough that we'd be hungry and somewhat tired by the time he even starts his test? On top of being late? Naruto just had the biggest button for him to push."

"You really think it's on purpose?" she asked, dubiously. She still wanted to place her full faith in adults and the educational system. Even I didn't place any faith in the educational system.

"Right now? Absolutely."

After minutes of tense waiting, I spied orange through the leaves, which coalesced into Naruto's shape coming in from the right. At least, I hoped it was him. I realized with a start that it could have been a henge. Naruto already knew where we were supposed to meet, and I didn't think he would be trying to come from the side with how much Kakashi had riled him up. He wasn't that subtle. This was seeking behavior, and neither of us were particularly well hidden.

I hadn't accounted for that possibility earlier.

"Hey!" The possibly-Naruto shouted, from the ground, before he joined us in the tree.

"Naru—" I motioned for Sakura to stop talking, and she cut herself off almost immediately.

"What?" The blond looked confused.

I looked at him suspiciously. "What did you do yesterday that Kakashi wouldn't know about?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Oh!" went Sakura. She had caught on.

"What did you do yesterday when we went to lunch?" I asked again.

A nervous laugh was the answer. "I had ramen! Why are you asking?"

"Nice try, but wrong."

Sakura's gasp was cut off by the pop of smoke as Kakashi ended the henge. "So much for research," he said, idly. The bells were in one of his hands, which he jangled at us.

Sakura bolted from the tree first, heading into the direction of the first layer of traps. I lunged at Kakashi's center of gravity, and even though I mentally prepared for him to dodge—

—he was out of sight before I even had a chance to finish the thought. The bells tinkled teasingly above me. "Ah, you weren't putting all of your effort into that. You're going to need to try harder than that," he said. "First in class means nothing out in the real world. Not with your brother out there."

I didn't really know how to respond to that one. At bare minimum it was actually a ridiculously awful thing to say to anyone, much less an assumed child.

"HEY!" Naruto's indignant shout saved me the effort of having to come up with anything beyond being vaguely dismayed at Kakashi's lack of social skills. "I'm not done with you, you bastard!" He was running through the treetops, a kunai in hand.

"You're kind of late," I yelled in his direction. Wait. I should probably arm myself too, shouldn't I? While I reached into my— Sasuke's?— leg holster, Kakashi dropped onto the same branch I was into a crouch, swinging his leg out in a wide and low kick that was intended to knock me out of the tree. Without entirely being aware of the decision, I leapt barely in time to avoid it.

"He kicked me into the river!" Naruto threw his kunai at Kakashi. There was a clink of metal against metal, and I realized at the same time that not only had Kakashi thrown something to deflect it, it was now angled in my direction.

I wasn't quite at the point where I preferred the bizarre repeat dreams about showing up to work late and discovering the whole campus had vanished and that I needed to cross country to find my advisor somewhere in the middle of Vermont on Pancho Villa's behalf, but we were getting there.

I dropped out of the tree. I didn't trust that going for Kakashi wouldn't just result in him kicking me back in the direction of the kunai's path. It seemed like the sort of behavior he would indulge in.

Kakashi looked down at me from the tree, not even blinking as the kunai whizzed past his head. "Not giving up already, are you?" he asked.

I briefly wondered how terrible an idea the fireball jutsu would be to use in an area like this, filled with trees, before I dismissed it. "Do you need a nap or something?" I returned.

"I'm not that old," Kakashi answered. It almost sounded petulant.

Naruto landed next to me. "Try not to give him ammunition next time, will you?" I said.

"It's not like I meant to!"

"You know…" Kakashi drawled, "I'm not sure how I feel about being talked under." He leapt down from the branch.

We scattered. Or at least, I scattered. Naruto tried to throw a kunai at Kakashi again, except from far too close. What was he doing?

Kakashi immediately deflected the kunai right back at Naruto— who disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The kunai pierced the rancid block of tofu, which squirted foul looking off-green liquid both in Kakashi's direction and mine before it fell to the ground, draining the rest of its mold-dappled liquid into the soil. I was just out of range, and could barely resist the urge to gag at the smell. My stomach roiled in protest. Kakashi fared far worse: the liquid got him right in the mask.

There was a brief moment as his visible eye widened, he made a gagging sound as he clasped his hands on his knees, actually dropping the bells, and I realized Naruto had made a serious tactical error, the reasons for which were slowly piecing together. If things weren't going to be wildly different before, they definitely were now.

I ran for the bells, skidding past Kakashi to grab them, and bolted in the same direction Sakura had earlier. "Run!" was the only thing I shouted, before I went into the trees.

Naruto joined me shortly after, laughing. "Did you see that!? We really got him!"

"You just effectively stink bombed a Hatake at point blank range," I told him, as everything came together. "They're supposed to have a good sense of smell!" I wasn't sure exactly what bit of the series I was remembering that from, but it seemed reasonable enough. "He was only toying with us before this!"

"Oh, yeah," Naruto went, his laughter cutting off entirely. "I really messed that up didn't I? We need a new plan, huh?" He started to take the lead as we approached the trapped section of woods. We had layered them too thick earlier to do anything but go single file. I wondered if this was going to backfire on us later. Probably. This was too much to get away with.

"Yeah."

"We should find Sakura and see if she has any ideas!" Honestly, that wasn't a bad idea.

"Sounds fine to me." I wondered how much of a head start we had over Kakashi. Assuming that his moment of weakness was more a combination of utter shock and being temporarily overwhelmed from the smell, instead of actually being completely incapacitated, I doubted it would last that long. This was not going to be a great time.

Something went off behind us. Naruto nervously laughed, and sped up, pushing further ahead with his next leap ahead. "How much trouble do you think we're in?"

"We aren't dead," I answered, "So maybe not that much?"

A tree ahead and to the right of us burst into flame, sending the shuriken speeding out from its trap in wild, unpredictable arcs.

I barely tore my eyes away from staring at it before I missed the next branch and lost all momentum. "I take that back." On the one hand he might not be aiming directly at us, but I couldn't come up with any positives to this.

"SAKUUUUURA! SAKURA!" Naruto started shouting. "WE MESSED UP! WE MESSED UP!"

"What? What happened?" Sakura's face peeked out from one of the few safe trees ahead, looking confused. "Wasn't I supposed to try and use genjutsu when he got in here?"

Within a few bounds, we reached the branch Sakura was waiting on, Naruto still speeding ahead. I was just surprised he was still able to remember where the safe path was. I grabbed at her wrist as we passed by, pulling her behind me, ignoring her surprised yell. "Naruto stink bombed him and now we're in deep trouble!" I looked behind just long enough to make sure she was still following.

In spite of her surprise and forced start, she was keeping up. "But you have the bells, don't you? Doesn't that mean the test is over?"

"Doesn't count! We pissed him off!" I really should probably hand at least one of the bells off, but I had a feeling losing momentum right now would be a bad idea.

The tension only built as we went through the trees, before Naruto came to a sudden stop, immediately turning around so quickly that I nearly clipped into him. "Wha—"

"Naruto!"

"The tree's wrong— the tree's wrong! Back back back back!" was the only babbling explanation we got.

"What do you mean the tree's wrong!? How can a tree be wrong!?" Sakura questioned. Even so, she was still at least taking Naruto's lead and was now ahead of me, just from having the advantage of that little bit of time to turn around sooner.

From the vague direction we had left Naruto's 'wrong tree' behind, we heard an exploding clash of metal bursting outward. That was definitely not a right tree. As far as I was aware, Naruto from the show wouldn't have been able to figure out genjutsu at this point, so it left the question of how he had figured it out, but— wasn't really the time.

It turned out that trying to make a giant trap against a jounin of Kakashi's level was a bit beyond the skill level of completely fresh genin, even with some smarts and teamwork added. Who could possibly have guessed?

After a while, I wasn't sure how long we had spent evading what were becoming increasingly close calls from our various traps being set off by Kakashi, but ahead of me, Sakura was beginning to flag. "Let Sakura take the lead," I called up ahead to Naruto. "We can't keep this pace up."

"I'm fine !" she tried to insist. She sounded breathy even with her protest.

"Huh?" Naruto looked back just long enough to glance at Sakura, before he turned back around. One of the shuriken traps ahead went off, with barely enough time for any of us to stop before we jumped right into the thickest part of its stream. We were forced to stop, even if it was only for a moment. "Sakura, you coulda said something!"

She huffed. "I can keep up!" she insisted. While I felt sweaty— and I didn't want to think how disgusting from sweat Naruto's jumpsuit could be from all of this— Sakura was absolutely drenched. She looked exhausted and worn down.

"For now maybe," I pointed out. "Take the lead."

"But Naruto was the one who laid all the traps!" she tried.

"And? You were paying attention, too, weren't you? It's not like you're dumb," I pointed out. "We're having too many close calls, Kakashi's playing with us, take the lead ." I shoved one of the bells into one of her hands.

She stared at me and then the bell in shock. "...Okay." She sounded a bit firmer.

I threw the other one to Naruto. He was too busy staring at Sakura, and barely realized it was heading towards him until the last moment, which sent him scrambling to grab it without falling out of the tree.

"Getting tired?" Kakashi's voice floated out from somewhere. He didn't sound lazy.

Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened. She steeled herself. "Right." Without any further hesitation, Sakura jumped in the direction of the stream of shuriken, which stopped just before she reached it.

Naruto had followed without a thought.

I kept up the rear. I could have swapped with Naruto, but the idea didn't sit right with me; he was too easily distracted and keeping him in the middle was better, since it was now obvious Kakashi had decided to change the terms of his test. We had turned them over entirely on our own, just by building what was now clear was an incredibly stupid death trap and stink bombing him, so it only stood to reason he would see it differently as well. Whatever the case was, we were probably going to be stuck at this until whenever it was noon. I realized with a start that I was getting way too invested in this.

Sakura's approach turned out to be different in a way I didn't expect from Naruto's. She hadn't just paid attention to the safe path we had made, but the spots Kakashi had already set off. Instead of sticking to the single route we had made, she was sometimes carving through these weak points and sometimes forcing us to go through sections that were still rigged to trigger. It was a bizarre combination of intelligence and brute forcing what was basically a giant puzzle.

"Is it just me or is this starting to get easy?" Naruto asked, mid-leap.

Before I could even tell him to not tempt fate, the branch Sakura had just landed on broke under her. With a shout of surprise, she fell to the ground, Naruto roughly landing right after her. I was the only one who had the chance to stop, and jump to join them.

"You really need to think before you say things like that," I muttered under my breath as I landed. It suddenly occurred to me that at some point in the last few seconds I had armed myself, a kunai in my off hand and shuriken in the other. I hadn't even noticed. Behind me, Sakura and Naruto were getting up.

"Interesting," Kakashi said, as he emerged from the trees. His thumbs were hooked into his pockets.

I experimentally threw a shuriken.

He caught it on a finger. I don't know what I was expecting. Sakura and Naruto walked over to stand next to me, taking defensive positions.

"You three turned out very different from what I was expecting." His gaze leveled on all of us. "From what I understood, I was supposed to be getting a loner prodigy," Sasuke. "An unfocused troublemaker," Naruto. "And a fangirl." Sakura. While technically right, I wondered if he was projecting again. Probably.

"In my opinion, none of you should be going back to the academy." Oh, I knew what was coming now.

Sakura and Naruto cheered.

"None of you deserve to be shinobi." There we go, that was the other shoe I was expecting.

"What!? Why?" Naruto protested.

Kakashi threw the shuriken behind him with a flick of his wrist.

A few seconds later, we could hear the thud of kunai driving into a tree.

"You completely flouted the parameters of the test." He honestly had a point. We had done our own thing completely without much consideration for what he had planned. And in my case, I had even known what he had planned, so it was entirely on purpose.

"Hey! We still got the bells!" Naruto protested.

"Did you, though? Sasuke was the one who grabbed them." He hadn't seen the hand-off, then.

I opened my empty hands, holding the palms out to him. "You never said that I had to keep the bells." As I said that, Sakura and Naruto pulled out the bells I had given to them.

"You didn't take the threat of being sent back to the academy that seriously, did you?" he asked me. "I can always recommend that you be completely dismissed instead and barred from becoming a shinobi. Unless, of course, you take the bells back, and I'll just tell the Hokage the other two should be stripped of their status instead." That would have gone a long way in fomenting distrust and actually ruining everything if I was actually Sasuke.

The other two gasped.

"Bastard!" Naruto was glowering at Kakashi rather impressively now.

"I don't need to be a shinobi if it comes down to it," I said, frankly. I definitely didn't and the whole series had underlined different avenues anyways, not that they really mattered.

"But, Sasuke-!" Sakura looked torn.

"I think the Hokage is at least supposed to be a ninja, though. Otherwise Naruto would be the most embarrassing one ever."

"What?" Naruto looked confused, but turned his attention back on Kakashi. "Hey, you bastard! You can't just make people pick like that!"

"Can't I?" Kakashi asked, lazily. Before I even had time to process it, he moved forward, and I was suddenly driven to the ground, dirt filling my mouth. It tasted like dirt, at least. "Sakura! Kill Naruto, or Sasuke dies." My head was held down at an angle where the only thing I could see was earth and Sakura and Naruto's feet.

"Ah!"

"What?!"

"Shinobi make hard choices," Kakashi said. "And they don't always have easy or obvious answers. Sometimes people will die based on your decisions. You three worked together today, but was it just from chance? Or because you were actually aware of the importance of teamwork?"

"You're a jounin," I said, spitting dirt out of my mouth. Kakashi helpfully ground me into the dirt again, making that earlier effort completely pointless. That had to be on purpose. He clearly held me partially accountable for the tofu incident. "We're genin. Any fight against you is going to be so ridiculously weighed in your favor by default to the point of futility together, much less on our own."

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Kakashi said, idly from above me. "And the two of you? What do you have to say for yourselves?" My eyes widened as I felt the tip of cold metal poke against the back of my neck. This was starting to feel a bit too realistic for my tastes.

"I think you're a real asshole!" Naruto's contribution was both completely indignant and useless.

"About teamwork," Kakashi elaborated, "But I'll take that into consideration… hm. Never."

"Naruto!" I could see the scuffle of feet, as one set stayed firm and another were dragged back from an attempted lunge.

"If you think teamwork is so important, then why are you trying to sabotage it?" Sakura asked. She sounded extremely frustrated. "What's the point of your stupid test anyways if it's set up so no one can pass it?" Oh, this wasn't just turning into a vent, this was an honors student style breakdown. This was starting to devolve for her from 'potentially separated from her crush' to 'first brush with failure for no real reason but the whims of another'. "Have you even ever passed anyone, if this is how you run your stupid test?! What's the point of a jounin instructor who doesn't want to teach!?"

"It's more of a required duty billet than a volunteer status," Kakashi said. He sounded slightly baffled that he was even explaining that to Sakura, whose voice had started to take on a shrill tone near the end. "Any other last words?"

"If you even think you're gonna stop any of us from being ninja, you're wrong!" Naruto insisted. "Believe it! I don't care how long or how hard we have to train, we'll make it! Even if I have to fight the old man over it! You don't get to play some stupid head-games and try and make us fight each other and destroy our dreams!"

"Hmm. Is that really how you feel?" Kakashi asked, languidly.

"Yeah!"

"Then, I guess… you pass." The pressure on my head and the small of my back let up, and I carefully sat up, after spitting out the second helping of dirt. Once I confirmed that Kakashi wasn't just waiting to give me a third mouthful of forest soil, I stood up.

"What!?"

"Huh?"

"That whole thing—" Sakura cut herself off, though I couldn't help but notice that both of her hands were balled into fists. I wondered how far Kakashi would have to push before she eventually tried to punch him.

"Was a test!" Kakashi's single visible eye crinkled into a smile. "You're the first ones to pass. Everyone else has done what I've said, neglecting or even sacrificing their teammates."

"I knew it," Sakura muttered under her breath.

"Ninja must be able to see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules are trash," Kakashi said, ignoring Sakura's comment and eying me, "But those who would abandon their teammates are worse than trash."

"What about the bells and alarm?" Sakura asked. The fact that the test she thought was the focus wasn't what it was about at all, after what she'd been put through today was apparently still getting to her. She wasn't letting him get off that easy, apparently.

"Oh, I'd like the bells back. And as for the time…" He gestured for us to look up.

Past the treetops, the position the sun was in was far beyond what it should have been for noon.

I groaned.

"What!?"

"Oh no…"

"You were running for your lives an extra three hours," Kakashi said, cheerfully. "Now, I'd love to let you all eat, but I didn't book this training ground for the full day and they issue fines if there's too many weapons and the like left over. You have… maybe an hour to clean up? Unless you want to start your careers as genin in debt, of course."

Naruto squawked in protest, and Sakura looked like she was giving serious consideration to shouting at Kakashi again.

"Oh, and I will say, you should probably do it as fast as you can. They might actually have to pay chuunin to dismantle those traps you put up. We'll have to do it again for training sometime, it'll be a good experience for you."

"Aagh! We get it, we get it!" Without giving us a chance to move, Naruto grabbed both Sakura's arm and mine, dragging us behind as he started running for the nearest still-armed trap.

The last thing I remembered before it started to fade away to warm sunlight was Sakura yelling at Naruto for triggering a burst of shuriken too close to her face.

I rolled over and stuffed my face into the mattress in an attempt to ignore the light coming in through the blinds, before I grunted reluctantly, peeling my face from the sheets to look at my phone.

It was edging past ten AM. While I didn't have any classes I had to go in for today— thanks be to God for Monday-Wednesday classes that did not also spill into Friday— I had still volunteered to help with a college-level open house for the department due to start at noon. The free food was a strong incentive, but right at this moment nothing was more tempting than to not move and indulge in this short, perfect moment of laziness.

Though...

If I showered and got ready now, I'd have enough time to grab and enjoy a coffee from the indie place across from campus instead of settling for whatever budget coffee resided in the dollar donation coffee urn in the departmental office or the heavily roasted nonsense sold at the cafe inside the campus library.

Before I could debate any longer, my phone rang, and I suppressed the urge to sigh when I saw the caller ID display on the screen. No avoiding this. It'd put off the shower, but I could still get everything else ready instead.

" Hola, mamá…"

Chapter 4: The Same Last Dream Again

Chapter Text

I stared in disbelief as Naruto wrestled with the large cat that was trying to escape from his grasp.

"I repeat: are you sure this is the target, Tora?" Kakashi's voice filtered into my ear.

I internally crushed the desire to swear as a mix of thoughts and memory metaphorically smashed into the back of my head, all around the efforts we had gone to towards catching this cat. 'We'.

"Yes," I finally answered through a clenched jaw, speaking into the headset.

What the fuck. While I was becoming resigned to these dreams, suddenly knowing what 'I' had been up to and even thinking right before this was... I resisted the urge to shudder. I wasn't sure why, considering that Naruto was busy struggling with the still-writhing cat and Sakura was trying to help without getting scratched herself. They probably wouldn't have noticed.

"Good. The lost pet 'Tora' search mission is complete," Kakashi responded. The headset crackled slightly. "I'll meet you at the rendezvous point."

Back to the mission desk, he meant. A small part of me hated that I knew that.

I looked over at the ongoing struggle between jinchuuriki and housecat, before I stepped over closer. "Here, let me take the cat, and then take your jacket off so we can wrap Tora up in it," I told Naruto.

Both the cat and Naruto stopped for a moment to stare at me in surprise, before the cat started fighting against Naruto even more, yowling.

"Ah!"

I reached in as quickly as I could, yanking the cat out of Naruto's arms and squashed Tora against my chest, doing my best to prevent the upset animal from pushing its legs out to try to shred me in turn. It really was a desperate cat, which made sense, considering what awaited it. "Naruto! Your jacket!"

Naruto had already sat back up, and was fighting with the zipper pull. Somehow, cat fur had managed to get stuck along the zip in the earlier struggle. "I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" he said. Not too long after, he managed to force it open, and he flung the jacket off, one sleeve turned inside out in the rush.

"Sakura, hold the jacket out," I gritted. Tora managed to force a paw out, and reached out to claw at my face. I pushed the cat away just in time to avoid it, and in the direction of the now waiting jacket.

After a short moment of flailing, we had the cat firmly and tightly swaddled in Naruto's jacket, only with the head popped out. Tora gave all of us a narrow eyed expression of feline displeasure.

"Wow, I can't believe that worked." Naruto grinned and wiped his face with the back of his hand, but not before I realized that there were a few droplets of welling blood mixed with the glisten of sweat. His face, on the other hand, showed no signs of scratching. Huh. It was also a bit weird to see him without the jacket. Underneath, he was wearing a blue t-shirt with his usual spiral, embossed in white in the front.

"I'd hope it worked," I muttered.

"That was so smart, Sasuke," Sakura said, fluttering her eyes at me. She looked a bit bedraggled, from her own earlier attempt at grabbing Tora before we had finally given up on separate approaches.

I couldn't believe this one cat had taken so much effort, but it made sense, if Tora was regularly trying to escape from Madame Shijimi. The daimyo had shinobi as well, after all, and it wouldn't have surprised me if some of them had ended up dragged into attempting to capture the cat at some point or another, slowly pushing Tora into developing enough evasion skills that the cat would rarely be able to be captured by anything but ninja. It was just Tora's luck to try and mount an escape in the middle of Konoha instead of the capital or any of the daimyo's homes.

I didn't like the fact that some of those thoughts had floated into my head like they were facts.

"Not really," was the only answer I gave Sakura.

"Now we can get Tora back and get a better mission!" Naruto pumped his fist. "No more of these stupid D-ranks!"

Sakura looked dubious while she picked up our balled-up cat captive. "Do you really think we'd get something better so soon?" Tora yowled piteously.

"Are you kidding? Kakashi-sensei's been murdering us with training! We're so far beyond this!" he declared. He started to walk, hands behind his head.

"I wouldn't bet on that," I said with a shrug, as Sakura and I joined him. "It still took us time to find a cat." One that had been inspired by unworldly forces, considering how long it took us to find her, but I didn't want to think about that or the fact I even remembered that. Was remembering things from inside a dream from before dreams started even a thing? How the hell would you even look something like that up?

The walk from this forested section within the walls to the administrative center that shared the academy's building didn't help my mood any.

Sakura and Naruto's chatter tried to pull me into their separate tracks of conversation a few times, but I ignored them.

Instead, I only found myself taking everything around me in. It was with an unpleasant start I realized that even with the rarer aspects where the anime or manga would pan or give focus to Konoha, it wasn't really comparable to this, as we walked down a main thoroughfare. Storefronts on the ground floor took the attention of most of the foot traffic, with the windows of the floors above providing hints to the people who lived inside. My head was just filling way too much in for it to be just the show. Was I going nuts? Retreating more and more into an imaginary mindscape in my dreams?

Even the size of the building— more of a grouped complex, with multiple added sections of slightly different styles and age— that housed the academy and what was the shinobi side of the village's administrative system was large, I realized. Much larger than it would need to be if it was just a single class of genin graduating every year.

Kakashi was waiting up ahead for us, just in front of the doors. He had his book out. Even from this far away, we could see the occasional civilian filter in or out, giving him a wide berth as soon as they realized what he was reading.

I pulled off the headset and clicked it off, as we reached him, scowling as I realized that I had known how to do even that unconsciously.

He tilted his head slightly as he took in the wrapped-up cat in Sakura's arms. "A bit unorthodox, but I can't say I'm surprised." He held his empty hand out. "Headsets, please. They took my name down for checking those out, and I'd rather not have to fill out more paperwork than I have to." There was a thoughtful pause. "Of course, I could teach you three to do the paperwork."

Sakura gave him a disgusted look. "You're the one who's supposed to do all of that! You aren't shoving your work onto us more than you already do."

"Ah, but it's not my fault the trap course you three came up with is so effective, is it? It's much better than anything I could have come up with," he rejoined.

I somehow doubted that, and I dropped my headset into his hand before taking the balled-up cat from Sakura so she could remove hers.

Tora seemed to realize deliverance was soon upon her, and was at this point yowling loudly.

Naruto eagerly pulled his off, dropping it into Kakashi's palm in a way that resulted in the wires getting wrapped around the rest. Kakashi's visible eye momentarily squinted into a wince. He deserved it. Maybe not whatever chuunin was inevitably in charge of the communications equipment Kakashi was going to return, but still.

I stuffed my fingers down past the gap we had left for Tora's head and grabbed at what scruff on her neck I could, before adjusting my hold to turn the rest of the cat around. "You should probably take the jacket off before we get accused of mistreating the Daimyo's wife's cat," I grumbled.

Naruto eyed the cat, and began to delicately untie the sleeves. Tora screamed.

I was really beginning to dislike this cat.

One jacket removal later, we finally entered and headed for the mission area, where we were immediately swarmed by Madame Shijimi herself, who immediately snatched the cat from my hands.

"Ohh! Tora-chan! My cute little Tora-chan!" She was completely ignoring the cat's increasingly desperate yowls and attempts to escape as she smashed her face against the cat's. I didn't quite feel guilty enough about returning the cat as I probably should have.

Once the mission completion was finalized and Madame Shijimi paid the chuunin clerk, we watched as she shoved Tora into the cat carrier she brought with her. "Thank you so much for the job your lovely genin did, Hiruzen-san!" she called over to the hokage, before she left. "Tell your son hello for me!"

Well, at least we weren't the only ones who got to have some residual embarrassment from that whole mission. Even Iruka, who was helping with the clerical duties, looked awkward at having to witness that one-sided exchange. Was he off from the academy for awhile since his class had just graduated, or was this just a part of some regular additional duties for him?

"Anyways..." The Sandaime managed to feign a cough around his pipe when we walked over. "The next missions on offer that your team is eligible for are..." he lifted a scroll, which was marked with a 'D' at the top. Existing in the context of being a Japanese series, that part made sense, but within the world itself, trying to think on it just gave me a headache. "An elder's grandson requires babysitters-" Leaving the question of exactly what sort of hell-child required three genin to watch it. "-shopping in one of the outlying villages-" Boring, but possibly not too bad, but could also be just as painful. "-Or to help with potato digging." To plant potatoes or to harvest potatoes? That one was clearly just manual labor.

"No! No more D-ranks!" Naruto protested. "I want to do something actually cool for once! Find us a better one!"

Kakashi audibly sighed and Sakura looked annoyed.

Iruka stood up and slammed his palms on the desk. "You're just genin!" he shouted. "Everyone starts off with simple duties and missions! You're supposed to work your way up from D-ranks!"

Naruto looked ready to burst. I figured now was as good a time to ask as any. "How does that work for you since you're an academy teacher?"

"I don't-" Iruka blinked as he realized he had started to go off on the wrong genin, expecting Naruto to respond instead. "Uh. It's my off-cycle?" he tried to answer. "We aren't immediately given a new class after our old one graduates, outside of extenuating circumstances. I wouldn't be a very good teacher if I didn't have a chance to do some work outside of the academy to refresh my skills," Iruka explained. "We all do some clerical work, missions, and rotate through a few different departments for a few months before we take on a new class."

The Hokage nodded in approval at Iruka's explanation. "Which is why D-ranks have the variety they do."

"They're still crappy missions," Naruto grumbled, though my question and Iruka's answer had partially satiated his complaints.

"They're supposed to give you time to develop your skills before moving on to more difficult missions!" Iruka swatted Naruto's head with the B-rank scroll.

"What do you think we're doing every day!" Naruto shouted, covering his head. "We go and train and risk getting caught on fire and hit with kunai because Kakashi-sensei decided our stupid obstacle course was a great idea, and then we have to go and catch cats and weed plants and shop for old grannies!?"

Iruka's attention switched to Kakashi. "Fire jutsu already? And you're throwing kunai at them!? They just graduated!" Iruka actually looked like he was seriously considering a throwdown against Kakashi.

"Technically they're throwing the kunai at themselves, since it's all trap based," Kakashi answered, lazily. "They came up with it; I just thought it was a good idea to keep up. Besides, they have an Uchiha on their team; they have to get used to a little bit of friendly fire."

I didn't know how I felt about that, besides mildly insulted, which I was also somewhat uncomfortable with being.

The Hokage pulled his pipe away for a moment. "Recently-graduated genin receive D-rank missions. That's the policy."

"Yeah? Well, maybe it's a dumb policy!" Naruto insisted. "We can do better! Give us the chance to prove it! You might think I'm still the same troublemaking brat I was before, but I'm not! I'm a ninja now, and so are Sasuke and Sakura!"

"Fine." The Hokage returned his pipe to his mouth and gave it a strong puff, sending an o-ring of smoke into the air. "I'll give you a C-rank."

While I was expecting this, Kakashi didn't seem to be. He actually slumped over.

"It's a protective detail." Hiruzen's eyes glanced down at the scroll of C-lists; I already knew which one it was, but apparently it was distinct enough that Iruka began to go through the paperwork on the desk in front of him without needing further details.

"Really?" Naruto jumped in excitement. "Who? Who? I bet it's someone cool, or- oh! Is it a princess?"

The Hokage snorted. "Calm down."

Naruto looked somewhat deflated, but to my surprise didn't argue back, if only likely because it'd defeat the point he just made.

"Let him in," the Hokage said, not to anyone in particular that I could tell.

The door on the other side of the room opened, and the gray haired bridge builder entered, already taking a performative chug from the bottle he had. My interest was piqued more by the fact that before the door closed behind him I was able to see that it was some kind of waiting room. It made sense to have some kind of waiting area.

"You're really saddling me with a bunch of brats?" Tazuna announced, louder than necessary. I wondered if he was actually drunk or just playing it up. If it was the second, he was doing a good job of it, and none of the experienced ninja nearby were giving any hint on their faces that they suspected it was otherwise. "And what's with the the short one with the stupid face? Are these kids even ninja?"

Naruto, interestingly enough, made a face immediately. "What!? I'm not short and I'm not stupid!" Apparently not, since something had changed enough for him to realize he was the one being insulted. "I just haven't got my growth spurt in yet!"

Sakura and I ended up exchanging a look over the blond's head. Kakashi clamped his hand down on Naruto's neck, warningly.

"I'm the master bridge builder Tazuna," he said, taking another swig. "I expect you to guard me with your lives until I return to Wave and complete the bridge I'm working on, even though you're all brats."

I half expected Naruto's temper to flare up this time, but instead after grinding his teeth together he met Tazuna's eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and if you think you're gonna get to me like that, you're wrong! We're gonna do our job, even if it kills us!"

"It's a C-rank," Kakashi reminded him, dragging Naruto back. "No one's dying here," he said, boredly. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, Tazuna-san, and these are my students. We will meet you at the gate in an hour."

Tazuna seemed satisfied enough by Kakashi's introduction and gave a brusque nod before he left the building.

"What a jerk," Sakura said under her breath.

The jounin gave a half-lidded look at the Hokage and Iruka. "Mission details?"

Iruka already had the full paperwork in hand. "Tazuna-san requested capable ninja for body-guarding for his return to Wave and for the time it takes to finish a bridge he is working on. Listed concerns are robbers and highwaymen."

"Robbers and highwaymen..." Kakashi repeated, under his breath. "It will do." He turned his attention to us again, letting go of Naruto and giving him a slight shove towards me. "Standard load-out for a week," he told us. "I'm not checking your bags; use your own discretion. I'll meet you at the gate."

Kakashi eyed the Hokage speculatively, and before the elderly shinobi could even say anything, darted over to one of the windows, opened it, and bolted out.

The Hokage sighed and looked at us. "Don't pick up his habits."

"I'd rather die first," Sakura told him.

He didn't seem to know how to take that response.

Naruto pumped his fist, doing a little stamping dance where he stood. "Yessss!" He stopped, stood as straight as he could, and tossed a sloppy two fingered salute towards Iruka. "Just watch, Iruka-sensei! We're gonna come back from this one experienced, and then you'll just have to give us more C-ranks! I'm gonna out-rank you in no time!"

Iruka laughed, sounding amused. "We'll see about that," he told Naruto, good naturedly. "Just make sure you pay attention and come back safely."

"Yeah!" Without any warning, Naruto dragged Sakura and I towards the door out, only stopping in the middle of opening it to turn towards the Hokage and shout, "That hat is gonna be mine soon, old man! Believe it!"

Even from this distance, I could see the Hokage's eyes roll before the door closed behind us.

Sakura heaved a sigh as she shoved Naruto's arm off her, before she started walking. "Since we're supposed to meet the client there in an hour, we're going to just have enough time to pack," she said. "I hope my mom is home. I don't want to just leave a note before we go..." Sakura looked thoughtful. She started to think out loud. "If we're packing for a week, and we're heading to Wave... Ugh, I'm going to need a couple changes of clothes... I don't even know how many kunai I should bring..."

Naruto scuffed the side of his sandal self-consciously at Sakura's comment. "You think Kaka-sensei's actually gonna show up on time?" he asked. "I mean, it's not like he's shown up on time for anything as it is."

"He can get away with being late with us," I said, finally speaking up, as we walked down the main street leading away from the building. "And with D-ranks, since genin can do those alone." After the first few, he had actually started to only show up roughly half the time we were supposed to meet for a D-rank. Again, creeping horror edged up the back of my neck at the fact that that knowledge and the annoyance that came with it had just come into being like that. "I doubt he'd pull it with a client that's going to take us out of the village, much less into a different country." I couldn't keep the frustration out of my voice.

"Sasuke's right," Sakura added. "Make sure you're actually packed properly this time, Naruto." She eyed him. "If we do this fast enough, we can at least double check each other's gear. Meet at my house?"

"Yeah!"

I silently nodded.

Despite my conflicting feelings and thoughts, as we split off in different directions, I found myself briskly walking, mostly on main streets and through the occasional side path, heading 'home', until I reached a sizable apartment building. It wasn't too far away from the academy, and also was on the same side of the village as the Uchiha compound was. Roughly halfway between both locations, I realized. Deliberate. It only soured my mood further, especially when I came to the door that I realized was supposed to be into 'my' apartment and immediately unlocked it without hesitating. Not mine. Sasuke's apartment.

I closed the door behind me and pulled the sandals off.

Inside, it had a sort of organized neatness to it I wouldn't have expected from most kids this age, much less a boy. It was actually in less disarray than my own apartment was, at this point in the semester. And yet... it was probably because of the sparse, almost empty feeling to it.

This was not a very lived in apartment, even for being a one room style studio. The desk near the bed was nearly bare, with only an organizer tray of pens and pencils, a single notebook, and sharpening tools.

An uchiwa in the clan colors was on the wall above the bed.

I inhaled, fell face forward onto the bed, and screamed into the mattress.

“Sometimes, letting it all out was supposed to help” was my counselor's advice. In this case, it did not make me feel any better that I was apparently losing my damn mind. For dreams.

I finally rolled over and stared blankly at the ceiling before I sat up.

I could just give up and wait until I woke up, but everything about the past dreams just told me that would be an interminable, potentially dreadfully long wait, and I had no idea how long this one would last. I hated this.

I walked into the bathroom, slipping feet into the slippers at its door and looked at the mirror. I had no idea what I was expecting. The features of Sasuke's face looked back at me. Pale skin, dark eyes, dark hair that was thick yet feathery enough that only the bangs at the front had enough length and weight to them to naturally stay down. Puberty had not yet widened the jaw of the face I saw reflecting back at me. I ran fingers across the engraved Leaf symbol on the hitai-ate. It felt cold.

"No," I said out loud. It was still the young undeveloped voice of a preteen boy.

Even alone, I was still Sasuke. I inhaled and stepped back away from the mirror before I punched it. It wouldn't do me any good. I left the bathroom and its slippers behind.

Why the fuck did it have to be Sasuke?

I breathed out. All I had to do was... just go along with things until I woke up, for however long. And maybe stop sleeping entirely? Or at least partially? I might not be able to pull 74 hours awake for papers or just because I could like I did back in high school and my first years in college, but a little bit of sleep deprivation couldn't backfire that badly.

Going along with things still meant I had to pack. Standard load-out... I walked over to where the gear bag was sitting on the floor by the window, and opened it up to take a look. It was filled the same as from Kakashi's test, but the kunai and shuriken within had seen much better days. The trap based obstacle course must have really been doing a number on everything. Some looked overly dulled from abuse, and there was even a surprising quantity that had that particular reflective quality of metal unevenly heated, some of which had scorch and soot marks. Most looked like they were probably in good enough condition to take, but there were enough that would need to be sorted out.

Instead, I turned the bag out and dumped all of its contents on the floor and went searching. If I used weapons that had a high turnover rate enough to warrant regular replacement, where would I store extras in here?

I found Sasuke's weapon stash the first place I looked, in a drawer under the bed. As useful as that was, I wasn't very happy that my first instinct was right. I pulled out a few still tied-together braces of kunai and shuriken, setting them on the top of the bed before I closed the drawer.

In less time than I had expected it to take, I ended up having everything laid out on the bed, ready for packing. A few changes of clothes, a medical kit I had found inside the closet that was far beyond what I would consider for normal first aid, weapons, and an ultra lightweight kit for camping. A short look through the tiny kitchen found rations, which I also had thrown into the mix.

Nothing seemed off to me, so I quickly went through what I had dumped earlier, separating out what was too dulled from abuse and would need time to be sharpened, and any shuriken that had been bent or warped enough to ruin their shape. Some of those I slotted right into the leg holster, rather than put with the rest.

Packing after that was, disturbingly, almost automatic. Practiced, and I wasn't consciously making choices as I put everything in. I eyed the filled pack with discomfort before I closed it up.

I wondered what it said about me, that I was giving into the details even with everything.

I pulled the bag up onto my shoulders. As I walked towards the door to the outside, I paused as I passed by the bathroom, staring at the mirror again. The face might not have been mine, but the sour expression was.

I left the apartment in a sulk, letting my— Sasuke's— legs take me to Sakura's, hands jammed into my pockets.

It was a slightly different route, and I would have preferred being on my lonesome, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen, because I heard excited shouting behind me.

"Hey! Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto's voice called to me.

I stopped and turned.

The blond boy hurried to join me. His bag looked overstuffed, and he had barely managed to close it shut. "Isn't this great? A C-rank! And we're leaving the village!"

I smiled wanly. "Right."

He was so excited that he barely seemed to notice. "We're going to show everyone! Do you think Sakura's finished packing? I bet she is, but then again she's got to make everything perfect but..."

I tuned him out as it turned into only rambling.

Eventually we came onto the residential street that the Haruno family lived on. Sakura was leaning against an outside wall, her bag not in sight. "There you are!" she said, when she spotted us.

Without warning, she stepped forward, grabbing me and Naruto by the wrists, pulling us towards her front door, and inside from there.

"Kaa-chan, Naruto and Sasuke are here!" she called, before removing her sandals and stepping away from the genkan.

Sakura's house was cheerily lit inside, with a lived-in atmosphere. From where we were, we could see into the kitchen, where Sakura's mother was, washing dishes. She stopped, and looked at us for a moment. While she looked cheerful, her gaze seemed to pause on Naruto, almost cautious, before she finally said anything. I could feel Naruto freeze up next to me, and saw him pause with one hand in the middle of taking off a sandal. "So you're her teammates!" she said, putting on a smile. "Sakura's said so much about you both!" She brought up a sudsy hand up to her face.

"It's nice to meet you," I said, slowly. I glanced at Naruto, whose earlier cheer seemed to have melted away. While Sakura's mother wasn't treating him with disdain or cruelty, that moment of caution still probably stung. I elbowed him.

"Uhm, yeah," Naruto said, not quite steeling himself. His usual confidence and boisterous had left him, leaving just the lonely orphan. "It's nice to meet you too! Sakura's a great teammate!"

"We're going to go check our gear before we leave!" Sakura announced. She put her hands on her hips, and looked at us. "I have everything in my room. If you've forgotten anything, I might be able to lend you something, but you better give it back!" She walked towards the stairs, turning slightly to beckon us over. Naruto darted immediately to follow, sticking close to her, and I trailed behind.

It was just enough of a delay that I heard Sakura's mother let out a small sigh as we went up the stairs. Her own caution over Naruto being inside her home seemed to have had an impact on her as well. It wasn't until I was at the top of the stairs that she called out "Leave your door open!"

"Yes, Kaa-chan!" Sakura called back, resigned, before she opened her door. Sakura's room, while small, was the essence of pre-teen girl, between the light colors, plethora of mementos, and the soft stuffed animals that rested respectfully at the top of the bed.

Her own bag sat on top of the bed, flap open. She had only half-packed it, to make it easier for double-checking.

"We'll switch, and double check," Sakura said, deciding without letting us have any input. "I'll check Naruto's, and you can check mine, Sasuke?" She barely turned it into a question, rather than a demand. She had been so close to her forgetting her crush. "And you'll check Sasuke's bag, Naruto."

I shrugged, and set my bag down where I was.

"Sounds good to me!" Naruto said. His voice was absent its usual cheer, but he was attempting to be louder to make up for it. He stepped back before he set his bag down, so there would be slightly more room for everyone. We walked past each other, and Sakura slipped over towards Naruto's bag, giving it a sidelong look before she opened it.

To be more precise, she at least attempted to open it. When she let loose the straps, the flap burst open on its own, everything inside no longer restrained. "Naruto, what's with all of this?!"

His bag was, if anything, overpacked . Besides a few shirts balled up that were the only evidence of any clothing, he had gone overboard on weapons, the giant folded Fuma shuriken catching my eye the most. I remembered with a sudden start that those had shown up in the story for this mission. Naruto had some, but so did Sasuke, didn't he? And I hadn't packed any.

"I want us to be prepared!" Naruto insisted.

"You heard Kakashi-sensei! It's a C-rank! We might not even have to fight!" Sakura tried to argue. She yanked one of the folded blades out, holding it up. "What are you even going to do with this?"

"Throw it at people?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed at him, and she lightly tossed it at him, casually aiming for his head. Naruto squawked, but still caught it, setting it down when he dropped into sitting cross legged on the floor.

Naruto began rooting through what I had packed. When he came across the medical kit, he squinted at it, holding it up. "Uh, isn't this a bit much to bring with us?" he said, as though he hadn't just been accused of going overkill himself. "You don't think we'll get hurt that badly, do you? Because this is one of those really fancy expensive ones and-"

"I want us to be prepared," I said, dryly, before he could keep on rambling. An idle look through of Sakura's things showed that again, she probably wasn't straying from whatever 'standard' meant in this case. Rations, gear for camping outside, tidily packed weapons, and just enough clothes. Exact and precisely packed and balanced.

He made a face at me.

"Ugh, boys ..." Sakura grumbled under her breath. She was only looking more frustrated at Naruto's bag. "Naruto, how are you planning on even carrying all of this if your bag won't even close properly? And instant ramen isn't a ration! Didn't Iruka-sensei dock you for this once?"

"Sure, it is! And he isn't our sensei anymore, and this isn't for a grade! It's fine!"

"We can redistribute things around," I said, before he could argue back. "It'll save us time and that way we don't have to leave anything behind." I looked at Naruto. "Except the ramen. That's not going to be enough unless you want to feel like you're starving half the time. Unless you plan on hunting for food on the way there and back?"

Naruto hung his head. "Fine..."

Sakura pulled out a full stack of instant ramen styrofoam cups- somewhat dented from how they had been packed- and set them on her desk, and then replaced them with ration bars. The bag looked less likely to burst at its seams now, at least, but still overfull. "How did you even manage to fill it up this much?" she wondered.

"Practice!"

"Pass me some of what he has and I'll put it in your bag," I said. "You still have room to spare."

Sakura nodded.

It didn't take long until Naruto's bag was less offensive to Sakura's sense of what was right and orderly, and her own actually looked more filled.

"Hey, Sasuke! Do you mind if I put this in your stuff?" Naruto held up the folded Fuma shuriken Sakura had tossed at him earlier.

"Go for it," I said. I didn't actually care that much.

Naruto's method of packing only left questions. Sakura's neat and organized approach hadn't actually managed to pare down on the worst of the bulk in his, and how I had packed shouldn't have left enough room for something that large. Naruto still managed to slip it in with everything else.

"If I ask you how you even managed to do that, it's going to be the same answer as before, isn't it?" Sakura asked.

Naruto beamed.

She sighed before clasping her hands together. "I think that's it?" Sakura asked, looking around, double checking everything. "If we leave now, we won't have to worry about being late."

"Sounds fine by me."

"Yeah!"

Grabbing our things and heading back down the steps, Naruto followed me to the door. Sakura went over to her mother, who embraced her in a strong hug. "Look at you! Already leaving on longer missions! It feels just like yesterday you and Ino were still playing with dolls! Soon you're going to be old enough to leave home!" Sakura looked self-conscious, even as she hugged back.

"Kaa-chan, that won't be for ages," Sakura said, when she stepped away, trying to be consoling. "I'll see you and Tou-chan when I get back first thing!"

"Please take care of my daughter," her mother said, actually directly looking at Naruto and me. She seemed to have resolved her earlier Naruto-related feelings, at least. "I'm sure your sensei's showing you everything you need to know!"

Well. "Sakura's skilled enough to look out after herself, too," I answered, in the middle of putting my sandals back on. Sakura flushed pink.

"Yeah!" Naruto seemed less out of his element, with Sakura being the topic. "She's great and real smart!"

"Oh, I see how it is," Sakura's mother said, looking amused. "Is this the boy-"

Sakura's blushing turned into a completely red face. She ran for the genkan, shoving the door open with a smooth action as she quickly picked up her own footwear and hooked her arms around ours with unexpected agility. "Bye Kaa-chan love you tell Tou-chan I love him too we're going to be late bye!" With that, she dragged us out of the house, letting the door close behind her. Whatever else her mother had to say would be a mystery. She sighed in relief.

"Hey, what was that about?" Naruto asked, looking confused. He still had one sandal in one of his hands.

Mine— no, Sasuke's — were at least on.

"Nothing," Sakura insisted, still red in the face. "Nothing."

The blond puffed his cheeks out. "Fine," he answered. "But next time give us a warning!"

"Hmph!" She looked away as she pulled her own sandals on.

I sighed. "Let's just get going."

From here, the gate wasn't that far away at all.

I ended up looking at all the buildings and everything properly this time, as we walked in that direction.

While the show and series had always only shown bits and pieces of the village, it had generally been enough to show that it was fairly built up, and its architecture unique compared to real cities, with the rounded off buildings, presence of ledges and walkways everywhere, densely packed.

My head had apparently added that up to realize it made the place a maze if you weren't familiar with its streets. While there were straight thoroughfares, not all of them were. Mixed with the blocks of buildings were pockets of dense woods, and some buildings had unobtrusive entrances on second or even third floors. In some areas, I wouldn't be surprised if the residents there would ever even need to come down to the ground level streets. The ninja certainly didn't, but this was all built with them in mind. Everything about Konoha— that I was seeing, at least— would be a free-runner or parkour artist's extremely nerdy dream. Then again, this was my apparently extremely nerdy dream that my unconscious mind had stuck its tenterhooks into and was refusing to let go of.

Soon enough we crossed onto the main street that ran from the gate area, and we were able to see Tazuna. He was being boisterously drunk at one of the gate guards on duty.

The guard was sitting at a table, near a building right at the inside of the gate, inspecting a small booklet in his hand, which he was looking through while ignoring whatever Tazuna was saying. After a while, he came to a page, and popped a metal cylinder out from one of his flak jacket pockets, and turned around to look at the inside, calling in to whoever was in there.

Another bored-looking guard exited, with a metal block in hand, and what looked like a closed compact. The first one set the booklet on the table, as his compatriot opened the compact- showing a bright red interior- and pressed the block against it, before pressing it onto the page. Even here, we could see the red symbol left on the paper. It was a stamp, then. Or a seal? The first ninja pressed his own into the ink as well, before superimposing his on top, and the second went back into the building.

"Huh. I wonder what that's about?" Naruto asked.

"Foreigners who don't live within the village have to present a passport with their credentials and be checked in and out of the village," Kakashi's voice answered, coming out of nowhere.

"Ah! Where'd you come from!?" Naruto startled, twisting around before he finally saw the jounin. He wasn't the only one.

"That's a long story," Kakashi said, deadpan. His backpack was slung over his shoulders, and was probably the only thing keeping him from being in a complete slouch.

Naruto stared at him. "That's not what I meant! Couldn't they just get a second passport or something?"

"They could, but it'd be difficult," Kakashi answered lazily. "Each country's capital handles them for civilians. As a system it's not just useful for us, but for the various daimyo's governments as well."

"What about for us?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi patronizingly patted her head, and she visibly bristled under his hand. "You won't have to worry about that unless you're going to another hidden village, and that won't be happening anytime soon."

"There you are!" Tazuna had finally noticed us. He slipped the booklet into a side pocket of his own pack and walked over towards us, bottle still in hand.

"Here we are," Kakashi echoed. I wondered if he was going to end up being bored enough to pull his book out.

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically. His momentary insecurities from earlier seemed to have vanished just by being near the gate.

Sakura gave him a quizzical look. "Are you really that excited for this mission?"

Naruto laughed self consciously, but it didn't remove his eager expression. "I've never left the village before. This will be the first time!" As if to underline this, he consciously stepped forward, stopping right at the demarcation line where the gates would close, and then stepped past that until he was clear of the wall's border entirely. He pumped his fist.

"We could have picked any kind of D-rank for that..." Sakura said quietly under her breath, staring at him in disbelief.

Tazuna gazed doubtfully at Naruto, before giving Kakashi a derisive look. "Am I really going to be safe with this brat?"

"I'm a jounin, you'll be fine." Kakashi flapped one of his hands, as though physically dismissing the older man's concerns.

Naruto glared, but, surprising me yet again, didn't burst into a full onset of temper. "Yeah, well, one day I'm going to become Hokage! And you'll remember saying all of this and doubting me, and you're gonna have to acknowledge me! Believe it!"

Tazuna scoffed. "Even if you did, I wouldn't."

Naruto made a face, but only grumbled under his breath.

After that, we walked, mostly in silence except for the occasional sound of birds and the rustling of wildlife in the trees beyond the road, rotating who took the lead. Occasionally Naruto would aim a squinting look at the back of Tazuna's head, which would result in Kakashi quietly grinding Naruto's hair into his head. After the third or so time, he stomped off to take point from Sakura.

Sakura gave Tazuna a considering look. "Tazuna-san, you're from Wave, aren't you?"

"And?" He took a swig from his bottle, giving her a challenging look.

Sakura turned her attention reluctantly to Kakashi instead. "Kakashi-sensei, does Wave have ninja too? I know they don't have a hidden village, but..."

He shook his head. "No, they don't. Most other countries do."

"You said that Konoha checks foreigners' passports earlier, right?" She waited for acknowledgement from him before she continued on. "Do we get that many people who come from other countries?"

Kakashi nodded, blasé. "Mission prices, distance, and reputation play a role in which hidden villages or even unaffiliated ninja clans clients will hire," he said, starting a bored explanation. "Konoha's reputation— and prices— mean we get plenty of clients who travel will travel into Fire, even if they have a hidden village or ninja clans nearer who might be more convenient." This had taken an unexpected turn.

Naruto twisted back to look. "Wouldn't it be easier to go to whoever's closest?" he asked, confused.

"Sometimes, but economic factors play a role, especially for merchants." Kakashi shrugged. "The various daimyo usually feel obligated to hire shinobi who live within their country's borders, but they're generally the exception, not the rule."

"What do you mean by economic factors?"

"The things that impact how people buy and sell things," Kakashi explained. "All businesses need to make a certain amount of money in the long term to survive, because the people who run them need to be able to eat and have somewhere to sleep too."

"Oh! Like how Ichiraku's costs more than instant ramen, cuz they have to make it there and pay for everything?"

"Sure," Kakashi said, "Like that." I felt like I could almost hear a piece of his already shriveled soul crack off at the comparison. "How things are priced are more complicated than that, but basically. Let's use the hidden village system as an example. Because Konoha is as large as it is, we can afford to send more ninja on missions, and charge less than other villages. While we aren't charging as much as we could, the amount of clients we get in return make up for it."

Naruto squinted, clearly thinking. "If we're getting all these missions, doesn't that make other people angry at us?"

"That's why alliances are important," Kakashi said. "Besides for other things. When war happens, trade slows down or sometimes stops entirely, but with an alliance or at least neutrality, it means we can usually guarantee some safety within those shared borders. Otherwise, merchants will decide it's too risky to take goods to and from our villages entirely."

"So... If we drop our prices too low and end up taking another village's missions from civilians to the point where they get desperate... they could get angry at us for being successful, but if we don't take enough missions, it's bad for us too, and if we end up at war... the civilians stop hiring anyone and the merchants stop selling things?" Sakura looked confused. To be fair to her, this wasn't exactly basic material. It wasn't like it was something most people really knew, even as adults. I had ended up working in financing in my last job before returning to school, and even most of the people I worked with barely understood it. "How does that help anyone?"

"It doesn't," Tazuna said severely, cutting in. "Trade is important for everyone, not just ninja. The bridge I'm working on will connect Wave to Fire and be important for my whole country."

"Hmm," was Kakashi's only response to that, giving the older man a lazy look. "I thought Water was known for its ships and sailors, being an island nation."

Tazuna, rather than answer, brought his bottle to his lips again and took a strong drink instead. Evading Kakashi's probing comment was probably the only thing he could do.

With that, the conversation lapsed into silence again, with Sakura and Naruto— mostly Sakura, from what I could tell— still trying to untangle Kakashi's explanation from earlier.

We walked past a puddle.

This part was impossible to forget, from rewatches, and both because of it and despite myself, I found my fingers reaching for the holster on my thigh. Kakashi was still in his half-slouch, though he had looked at it, and the other three hadn't paid it any attention.

The only real warning was the sound of something suddenly moving through the air before chains wrapped around Kakashi, before everyone sounded off in surprise at that and the two ninja who had appeared.

Even though I was finding myself concerned at the fact that all of this was becoming increasingly detailed, it was still a dream, and I wasn't sure how I felt about how gory it looked when the two ripped 'Kakashi' apart with their chains, besides queasy. I could have done without my brain deciding to make it look so graphic and realistic.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura screamed, and the Demon Brothers landed behind Naruto.

My mind blanked on what was supposed to come next. Sasuke had stepped in, but—

Naruto had originally frozen up, hadn't he?

Irrationally, a streak of preemptive guilt ran through me at the idea of accidentally letting the main series character get killed off, even though I was sure the dreams were just me losing my sense of reality.

Their chains shot out in Naruto's direction.

I lunged forward in a leap, half-aware that at some point I had ended up with a kunai and shuriken in my off-hand.

Naruto moved, twisting around in a hard skid that sent dust from the road into the air, kunai in both of his hands.

I felt like I was separated from everything as I threw the shuriken, watching it hit the middle of a link, and drive into one of the trunks of the trees, followed by the kunai driving it further in.

The moment ended as soon as it had begun, and I was left very very aware that I was now very precariously standing with one foot on each brother's head. I wound up grabbing onto their gauntlets by sheer chance, which unbalanced the two.

Naruto dove forward, running and then sliding below, slashing at the closest leg on each side. Unfortunately for him, they released the chain and burst free in unison. One of them struck out at Naruto, and he wasn't quite quick enough to block it, the metal claws striking his hand instead of his chest. They circled back towards Tazuna.

Sakura dashed directly in front of the old man, holding the kunai out in a defensive posture.

Before I could move, much less think of what to do next, Kakashi appeared in front of the two ninja. They ran right into the space he was now occupying, and were thrown off by their own inertia as he used it against them to clothesline them.

Surprise— and relief— flooded onto Naruto, Sakura, and Tazuna's faces.

"Good job, everyone," Kakashi said, as though he was entirely unaware he had two ninja flailing over his arms like particularly ungainly cats. "I'm sorry I didn't step in sooner and you got hurt, Naruto." A shift of his arms, and he smashed their heads together, and they went still.

It was different from what had happened in the show, and yet not.

The shock didn't last for long. Sakura glared at the jounin. "You played dead?!"

"Not right now, Sakura-chan," Kakashi said indulgently. He walked over to the closest tree; it was the one the chain was still connected to. "Priorities first. Their claws are poisoned. Naruto, don't move around too much. Stay still. We'll need to open the wound up and drain the poisoned blood."

"Ah! Those were poisoned?" Naruto looked down in alarm at the oozing cuts on his hand.

"Tazuna-san… We need to talk." Kakashi dropped them down by the tree, before reaching over his back and pulling out a coil of rope from a side pocket, which he started to loop around the tree. Soon, the two fended off attackers were tied down.

Looking over at him, Tazuna appeared visibly apprehensive.

Kakashi nudged their legs apart with the actual toes of one foot— a clear downside to the toeless ninja sandals— to look at the injuries Naruto had dealt, before deciding they could be left as is. "These are chuunin from Kirigakure," he finally said, speaking. Kakashi could have easily been talking about the weather from his tone. "Ninja from Mist are known for their tenacity." He eyed Naruto, who had his mouth open to begin to say something. "They keep fighting no matter what," he clarified.

One of them glared at him. "How did you know we were there?"

"The rain puddle." Kakashi said.

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed. "Because it hasn't rained lately, there shouldn't have been a puddle, right?"

"That's right," Kakashi told her.

"Wait, if you knew, couldn't you have just stopped them?" Naruto asked. He looked at Kakashi, and then at his bloody hand.

"Not without confirming something," Kakashi answered, cryptically.

Sakura gave him an annoyed look. "Which is…"

"Their actual target," Kakashi finally explained. "Whether they were after us— as Leaf ninja— or our client."

I looked in Tazuna's direction. He was looking far less anxious than I would have thought; Kakashi was going for a strong lead-up, after all.

"We didn't hear there were shinobi after you," Kakashi continued on, casually. "Your mission request explicitly states robbers and highwaymen. So, I— and whoever was determining the mission rank— would assume gangs, at the very worst, which are still C-rank mission items." It occurred to me that Kakashi was actually trying to teach with these explanations he was giving. "Opposing shinobi being involved would not just make it a B-rank, but dramatically increase the price. We can't protect you properly when we don't have all of the information."

The older man looked contrite, but didn't say anything in response. The main difference was that he wasn't meeting Kakashi's visible eye anymore.

"Sensei, are we going to head back to the village?" Sakura asked. She looked unsure of her question even as she asked it. "Naruto's going to need to see an iryo-nin for his hand, won't he? We're already a few hours away from the village, won't it get worse?"

Naruto's eyes widened, and he stared at his injured hand, clamping his uninjured one around his wrist protectively. "I hope not! They won't cut it off or anything, would they? I just started my career as a ninja! I can't lose a whole hand!" Losing a whole arm hadn't exactly slowed him or Sasuke down that much by the series end, from what I had heard— I had only seen clips of it, when it finally ended. This wasn't even his dominant one.

"Hmm…" Kakashi gazed at the three of us. He actually looked like he was thinking for once.

I suddenly remembered what I had packed. "Wait," I spoke up, finally. "I brought a medical kit."

Kakashi directed his full attention on me. "Did you?"

I nodded, pulling my pack off, setting it down on the ground in front of me. I opened it up, dug in, and offered Kakashi the medical kit. Kakashi, to my consternation, patted my head when he walked over and took it from me.

"I'm not a dog," I told him.

"Dogs, children," Kakashi said, vaguely, as he walked over to Naruto, opening the pack up and beginning to pull things out. "Sakura, Sasuke, come over here."

Sakura exchanged a look with me, but we walked over. Naruto eyed Kakashi warily.

"Ehehe, it'll be an antidote or something like that, right?" the blond asked.

"You're still conscious, so we'll just drain it," Kakashi answered. "Sakura, here." He dropped a long rubber cord into her hand. "Tie this around Naruto's bicep; you should know how to do a tourniquet from the academy. It'll help prevent the poison from travelling any further and will limit blood loss." Without any warning, he dropped a sealed off paper bag that was long and thin into my hands. It was light, but there was something in it. I opened it up out of curiosity. Inside was a scalpel. I guess that made sense, to have an actually sterile option instead inside of a kit. "And you'll make the incision, Sasuke." This was such a bad idea I was actually speechless.

It took about a second for what Kakashi was saying to fully sink in for the others.

"I did say 'we', didn't I?" Kakashi asked, rhetorically.

"No way! Gimme that!" Before I could say anything, Naruto had stolen the scalpel and had sliced across the top of his injured hand. Soon, blood welled out of it.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted in shock.

"Well. I can't say that… won't work, but you didn't need to make that big of a cut," Kakashi said, awkwardly, as though only now realizing it probably wasn't the greatest idea in the world to tell two twelve-year olds to perform field surgery on another when it wasn't actually necessary at all. "I think… I'll just take that from you, before you have any other ideas." The paper cover still in my hand and the slightly bloody scalpel in Naruto's quickly disappeared into Kakashi's hand, and then both were gone without a trace.

Naruto looked down at his bleeding hand, then at Kakashi. "Wait. You mean I didn't have to do that?!"

"Not really, no," Kakashi told him. "We only needed a small hole to drain from. Not a long slice like that. Then again, it was a scalpel. They aren't really stabbing implements," he said, thoughtfully. "That said, while we do have to work with what we have, doing it with something sterile and sharp is the best option if there's no one with medic training. You could die from sepsis if you use your field weapons for something like this and they aren't treated, and that's not a pleasant way to go." I found myself feeling concerned for Kakashi, in spite of myself. That was a hell of a tangent.

Naruto and Sakura were looking at him with something akin to horror. "If Sasuke hadn't brought that medical kit—" Sakura started. Oh, this was going to become ugly.

I interrupted Sakura. "I think," I started slowly, looking at Kakashi, "you need to stop talking."

"Fine, fine," Kakashi said, dismissively, popping out a wrap of bandage from the kit as he kneeled, taking Naruto's hand, and, somewhat questionably, tilted Naruto's hand to let the blood run off. "I'll just wrap… this..." Kakashi trailed off, staring at the cut. It was, slowly but surely, visibly joining back together in front of our eyes.

"Uh.. I'm going to be okay, right?" Naruto asked, not sure how to take Kakashi's reaction. I wasn't sure if it was because he was already used to healing this fast— and wasn't aware it wasn't normal— or if he hadn't noticed at all with being preoccupied from Kakashi accidentally terrifying him. "Right?"

"You'll be fine," Kakashi firmly said, and he quickly finished wrapping Naruto's hand up. He tossed the now slightly depleted kit back to me.

Sakura was still glaring at the jounin. I wasn't sure she had even noticed Naruto's abnormally fast healing, considering how annoyed she was by Kakashi's conduct.

Kakashi didn't seem to notice, but he met my eyes with his visible one before glancing back at Naruto's hand, meaningfully. I had no idea what he was trying to convey. Even dreaming— and I suddenly realized with a shock that for a while I had forgotten that entirely— with a version of him in front of me, Kakashi was impossible to read. Was it supposed to be a warning about what I saw? To see if I had noticed? I shrugged back at him.

He seemed to be satisfied— possibly even pleased— by whatever the hell that exchange was supposed to be, and set his hands on mine and Naruto's heads to leverage back into a standing position. It was completely unnecessary, which probably was why he did it.

"Agh! Hey!" Naruto swatted at Kakashi's arms ineffectively. "You're really weird, you know that, sensei?"

"Am I? I had no idea." Kakashi shrugged, back to deflecting everything again, but the sharpness that had shown when he took out the Mist-nin had returned. "Now… Do we continue on the mission or not?" he asked, looking at us, intently. "We don't know what's ahead of us, and it will likely become only more difficult from here. It won't reflect badly on you as ninja if we return to Konoha, especially with this being your first mission out of the village, and one that's turned out to be far beyond the parameters we were informed of."

"We won't always get to go back though, will we?" Sakura asked. Her question was so simple, but so serious, contrasting against the innocent expression she had focused on Kakashi.

What little of his face was visible looked tangled in how to answer that. "...No, you won't."

Naruto huffed out a breath, visibly steeling himself. "No way we're going back! You just said it yourself, we can't always cut and run! It might be okay this time, but it won't be later! I refuse to ever give up!"

"I don't want to head back either," Sakura said, decisively.

All eyes fell on me.

"Well, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

This wasn't real, I reminded myself. "We keep going."

"Well, it looks like we have a consensus." Kakashi looked over at Tazuna. "We're still accompanying you to Wave."

When I woke up, I rolled over and stayed that way, unmoving for long enough that I could see the light from the window track against the opposite wall. Eventually, I left the bed, but only long enough to grab the half-empty bottle of vodka from the freezer.

Chapter 5: It Comes and Goes Like Waves

Chapter Text

The fact that my head had very suddenly stopped throbbing was what made me realize it was this bullshit again. The fact I was standing on a foggy shoreline, with the rest of— no, with— Team Seven and Tazuna was a distant second.

I could vaguely make out that there was a smattering of buildings up past the beach. Out on the water there were small boats with nets cast out over their sides, barely visible, and there were some here on the sand, away from the tide. Some were ramshackle, others carefully taken care of, but all of them were on the old side, as far as I could tell. The overwhelming scent of fish— fresh, slightly old, and rotten— hung in the air. This was some sort of fishing village, then.

I wasn't sure I was willing to miraculously not feel the hangover if this was the result. I wasn't even sure how that would work, anyways. The smell was nearly bad enough to make taking the hangover worth it entirely on its own.

At least I wasn't the only one suffering from the odor. Sakura looked slightly green, and looking at Kakashi, I suspected he was actually breathing through his mouth instead, not that it was easy to tell. Naruto seemed entirely unaffected, which was a mild kind of horrifying on its own. Tazuna didn't seem to have a problem with it, but Wave's status as an island nation probably played into that.

"Your friend will be taking us across today?" Kakashi asked.

"Yesterday was too clear, but this is the right sort of weather," Tazuna answered.

"For what? Getting lost?" Naruto mimed looking around. "I thought this sorta weather was supposed to be dangerous? You can't see anything!"

"That's the point," Tazuna said, staring at the blond.

Sakura gave Tazuna a concerned look. Between Kakashi and now this, she was probably losing whatever faith she might have ever had in the belief adults were responsible. She'd probably be better off without it.

Eventually, a small boat emerged from the low fog, with only one figure visible in it. Tazuna looked tense, until it got closer and he was able to identify the man sitting at its rear, who waved at him. To my surprise, he was steering the boat towards the shore. At the absolute last moment, he cut the engine and tilted the propeller up out of the water, before he hopped out and pushed the boat further out of the water.

"Sorry about the wait, the engine was acting up," he said to Tazuna, before giving us a look over. Under his sugegasa, his narrow face looked tired. "These are the ninja you hired?" He sounded a bit dubious, which made sense considering that Kakashi was the only obvious adult, the other two were twelve, and my unconscious had decided that for this slow descent into insanity it only made sense for me to also look like a twelve year old.

"They're able to handle it," Tazuna said, which was a far cry from what I remembered from the series at this point.

"If you say so." He scratched the back of his head, and adjusted the hat. "I'm Kaji," he said, introducing himself. He didn't seem to be in the mood for making this longer than it needed to be, since he immediately followed it up with: "Get in, and I'll launch."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed together for a moment at stepping into the water— for good reason, given the occasional dead fish floating on the surf and onto the sand— but to my surprise, she was the first one to get into the boat, beating Kakashi. When he tried to pat her on the head in praise, she smacked his hand away.

I joined them next, and Tazuna followed after me.

Naruto was still on the shore, giving the water an askance look. I suddenly realized that at no point had he ever stood on any of the beach that was wet from the waves coming in.

"Naruto, hurry up!" Sakura shouted, as she unslung her backpack. She looked at Kakashi. "I thought the Uzumaki were originally from Whirlpool? Wasn't it an island?" She turned her attention back on Naruto. "Your ancestors lived on the ocean! Hurry up!"

Kakashi tried to disguise what was a painfully obvious wince as a smile. It seemed to have worked on Sakura, because she didn't seem to catch it. "Ah, yes, but you have to remember, Naruto was born in Konoha and is an orphan…"

Sakura didn't have any time for Kakashi's logic. She just glared at Naruto more. "Just get in the boat already!"

Naruto looked horrified. "But Sakura! FISH POOP IN THAT WATER! And there's a dead one right there!" There was indeed a dead fish floating on the water very close to the boat. Was this really what he had been thinking the whole time?

Kaji sighed.

Kakashi looked between the two genin, got out of the boat, walked over to where Naruto was standing, and, against all protests, tucked him into an under arm carry, before depositing Naruto in the front and getting back into the boat.

With a firm shove, the boat glided into deeper waters, and in a practiced move the man gracefully pulled himself over the side and on board, only the hem of his shorts damp from the water. He pushed off further with his oar, before lowering the propeller again and starting the engine.

"You're an Uzumaki? I thought they were supposed to have red hair," Kaji commented, once he settled into a comfortable position.

"Red hair?" Naruto screwed his eyes upwards and tugged on a hank of hair, as though he could actually get a look at it.

"You like to wear orange. You'd look awful with red hair," I pointed out. I set my— Sasuke's?— bag down next to me.

"You'd look awful with red hair!" he shot back. It didn't even make sense as far as retorts went, but I couldn't tell if that was due to the change in dynamics or because he was busy thinking about something else. "I wonder if one of my parents had red hair," Naruto actually said out loud while he dropped his backpack onto the deck. Something else, then. He and Sakura were too busy looking out at the mist-covered ocean to see the fleeting look of wished-for death cross what was visible of Kakashi's face.

He let the moment pass, but eventually he must have recovered, because he turned his attention back to the client. "Tazuna-san, you mentioned your bridge is supposed to help Wave get out from under Gato's power. How long do you think it will be until it's complete?"

"If we can keep working on it without interruption, about a month, maybe a month and a half if the weather works against us," Tazuna answered. "Most of the span leading from Fire is finished. It starts from that village we waited at."

Sakura turned, looking surprised. "It was that close? We didn't even see it!"

"That's because of the fog," Kakashi said, trying to sound lazy. "Water might be known for having constant cover year round, but Fire's eastern coast is heavily blanketed from late spring through the summer because of warm air drifting over the ocean. Starting it from our side wouldn't just help avoid the need to ship in resources, but would have ended up useful in evading Gato's attention until now. His company doesn't have any stakes in Fire yet." He fixed his eye on Tazuna.

"I avoided starting it on the Wave side until I had no choice," he answered. "While it wasn't intended, it worked out when Gato finally took over all of the ports and shipping companies."

Kaji spoke up. "Tazuna-san asked the village elders here on the shore of Fire for permission to use their village as the connection to Wave. They agreed. Between the third shinobi war and Uzushio getting destroyed, it's been slowly dying." He didn't sound grim so much as resigned. "There hasn't been enough trade to sustain it, so people keep leaving. You might be able to live off of fish alone, but if you can't sell anything you can't exactly pay taxes or replace things that wear out if you can't make them yourself. Since construction started, it's kept more people employed from there since before I can remember. If the bridge works out, it won't just help Wave, but them too."

"Couldn't they just do different things besides just fish?" Sakura asked. "Wouldn't that work?"

He shook his head. "It isn't that easy. A village grows into having all of those different things because there's demand in the first place. You can't just take a man and tell him he's a full time carpenter now, when there's nothing to build."

"Oh," she went, looking very thoughtful. "I guess that makes sense."

"As shinobi, we're tools," Kakashi told her. "We might be able to be the solution to some problems, but we can't fix everything in this world. It would be like trying to use a kunai to build a house." He was right that you couldn't throw ninja at every problem and expect it to be solved— military force rarely made anything better, after all— but a kunai wouldn't be the absolute worst option, would it? I barely resisted the urge to say something.

Unexpectedly, Kakashi met my eyes. "I'm sure you're trying to figure out how to prove my analogy wrong but please don't," he said, with what I could only call badly faked amusement. His eye closed, wrinkled into a forced smile. "The last time you did it sent us in a circular argument."

"I got a headache from that one," Sakura grumbled. "I didn't know Naruto could argue for that long, and he didn't even know what he was arguing about."

I simmered in this unexpected callout from my subconscious instead of responding to either of them.

For some time, impossible to tell without being able to track the sun or a watch, the only sounds were the motor running and the occasional choppy wave slapping against the boat's hull. It was interrupted by the boat suddenly rocking side to side, a loud 'PLUNK', and then splashing.

"Ah!"

While we were distracted, Naruto had somehow gone over the side.

Sakura gasped. "Naruto!"

Kakashi sighed, and, casually hooking his legs under the bench he was seated on, leaned over the side and fished Naruto out one-handed. He dropped the now-soaked blond into the middle of the boat.

Naruto sputtered and gagged, doing his best to get the seawater out of his mouth before he blew his nose. "I hate the ocean!" As if to punctuate this statement, when he unzipped his now sodden jacket, some slimy looking kelp and a small silvery fish dropped to the deck. He stared at it in shock before he made a horrified sound of disgust.

Kaji looked at Naruto and then gave Kakashi an unsure look. "Are you sure he's an Uzumaki?" Trying to combine his understanding of what the Uzumaki had a reputation for and where they used to live with the blond boy who was trying to help the fish out of the boat without touching it in any way was probably a difficult mental exercise.

It looked like that vague micro-expression I had categorized as 'I wish for death' was going to become a regular part of Kakashi's repertoire, because he was wearing it again. "Fairly sure, yes."

It occurred to me that Minato's name was also ocean themed. Naruto really wasn't living up to either legacy there, where the ocean was concerned, it seemed. Then again, it wasn't like he had any experience with it until just now. Rivers were entirely different.

Sakura's patience for Naruto's fishy hangup looked ready to end. "Naruto! Stop torturing the poor fish!" There it was. She shoved him away, before picking up the desperately flopping fish and dropping it into the water. It quickly disappeared out of view.

Naruto looked at her in horror. "Sakura, you have fish hands now."

"It's just a fish! Grow up already!"

"But the fish! And the water!" I had absolutely no idea what Naruto was trying to get across.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Fish do have some pretty nasty germs that you wouldn't want to get in any cuts…"

"What? Nooooo! SENSEI!" Sakura's earlier confidence immediately melted away.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Kakashi probably wanted to throw me off the boat now. On the plus side, I didn't hate myself so much that getting thrown into a dream ocean should be that bad. At least I didn't think I did.

Regardless, we probably weren't making anything approaching a good impression on the sailor, between Naruto's random and hopefully short-lived brush with thalassophobia and Sakura's sudden squeamishness over gross fish germs. Admittedly, the last one was entirely my fault, but still.

Kakashi's visible eye closed for a long, pained-looking moment, before he finally opened it. "Sakura, if you're concerned about fish germs, run your hands through the water over the side without falling in. Naruto, there is nothing in the water that you should be afraid of. Sasuke, please stop talking."

Considering how little I actually said, that was unfair, but I was actually surprised he tried. We must really have had him near the breaking point. I didn't even know Kakashi was capable of being competent with pre-teens, but apparently he could be if he was desperate enough.

Sakura made a face at him, but ultimately obeyed.

Naruto, on the other hand, only gave Kakashi a suspicious look. "How do you know? There could be sea monsters or something!" The closest thing to a sea monster was sealed in his stomach right now and I was pretty sure the kyuubi had no interest in large bodies of water. At least, as far as thought exercises went, I would assume so.

"There is absolutely nothing out here," Kakashi said, in a long-suffering tone.

Eventually the conversation lapsed into a peaceful quiet, the only sound coming from the motor, until Naruto spoke up again.

"Uh… should I be feeling itchy?" There was a nervous edge to Naruto's question, straining his attempt at sounding light.

I turned to look at him: even in the relatively low light from the all of the mist, there was an almost shimmery glint to Naruto. His unexpected trip into the ocean meant that as he slowly dried off, the salt was remaining stuck to his skin and his clothes. Combined with the mist, it meant he was slowly becoming not just itchy, but sticky as well. That was probably the worst combination.

Before I could say anything, Kakashi shot a warning glance at me.

"Ma, Naruto, go sit in the front," he said, waving his fingers forward.

I exchanged a look with Sakura, and shifted to move back. She gave me a confused look, but stayed where she was.

Naruto moved to the front of the boat, and then turned around. "Okay, now what—ggggk!" Before he could finish what he had to say, Kakashi had swamped him with a slow moving geyser of presumably fresh water, ignoring the shouts of surprise from the other adults. As far as I could tell, he was managing to make sure as little of the water as possible would end up in the boat, too. What an abuse of a jutsu.

"Is that better?" Kakashi sounded happier at least.

Naruto made a face at him, dripping onto the deck. "How's soaking me with more water gonna help!?"

"Ninja…" Kaji said quietly, shaking his head.

"You were feeling like that because of all the salt that was covering you," I answered, ignoring Kakashi. "Even with all this fog you were still drying off."

Naruto blinked. "Salt?" And then, as if on automatic, he raised his arm up and licked his wrist before he processed what he just did and what he had been thinking the whole time about the ocean. He immediately gagged and tried to desperately scrub at his tongue before he realized he was just exacerbating it all. I guess this was just inevitable from Naruto trying to think more.

This was apparently more than enough for Sakura to decide to no longer deal with any of us, since she turned her attention to the civilians. "Kaji-san, how long is it until we reach Wave?" she politely asked.

"We're almost there," the man answered.

"Really?" Sakura sounded surprised. "How can you tell?" I was impressed. The fog had only thickened as we got further away from shore.

He showed her a compass, before putting it away and placing his free hand on the fuel tank. "By going at a constant speed the way we are, and making sure we're staying on a straight course, it's easy. I know how much fuel the engine uses in these conditions, so I just have to keep an eye on the gauge if I want to keep track of time."

I guess that was one way to do it.

"We're almost close enough that I'll have to turn the motor off."

This comment attracted Naruto's attention. "Why's that?"

"Between the sound from the motor and the wakes we're leaving, it would make it easy for Gato's men to find us if they're out here," Kaji answered, seriously. "We need to be quiet."

Naruto cautiously moved to the back of the boat to look at the trail we were leaving behind us. "Huh," he went. "Those really are big, if you can find them. Do they last a long time?"

"Long enough to follow if you see them. I'm taking you all across as a favor. I have no interest in becoming another missing sailor after a 'friendly' visit from his thugs," Kaji said bluntly. "There's enough of those, these days." If that was the incentive to stay low, it said a lot that he was willing to take Tazuna and us across.

Naruto's eyes widened, before his expression turned serious and he balled his fists up. "We're not going to let that happen!"

"Good luck there." Kaji said it without any rancor to his voice, but it was clear he didn't believe Naruto at all.

Kakashi reached over, and gripped Naruto's head, pulling the boy back towards the bow. "Try not to make so many impossible promises, hm?" he murmured. It was quiet enough that I could barely hear it from where I was sitting, and Sakura looked like she had picked it up as well. Neither civilian— when had I started thinking of them like that?— showed any sign they had heard it.

Kaji finally cut the engine, and switched to his oar.

The new silence in the fog was eerie. I refused to think about it. While things were staying relatively true to the series, I had absolutely no interest in seeing if thinking too hard would end up with a surprise shift from weird anime dreams to horror.

Naruto had learned his lesson about not leaning too far over by now, and instead was keeping his center of balance firmly inside the boat even as he tried to peer ahead. The only thing he would find staring like that was going to be eye strain. The fog was just too thick to make anything out until it was too close. If anything, it was thicker than when we had left Fire's shore, in spite of the fact we were supposed to be nearing land.

It seemed to have put Kakashi on alert. "Get your bags ready," he told us, quietly but firmly. It wasn't a suggestion, but an order.

Naruto turned around and looked as though for a moment he was going to protest, but after looking at everyone and seeing that Sakura and I were doing what Kakashi said, visibly swallowed and pulled his bag's straps back onto his shoulders.

Sakura saw it first. "Whoa."

The bridge had very suddenly come into sight— or to be more accurate, its concrete piles. We weren't that far from it at all, probably twenty, maybe thirty feet. The bridge itself loomed high enough that its supports faded into the fog, its actual structure barely visible as a vague form above in the white-grey fog.

"I had no idea bridges could get that big," Naruto said, his voice filled with amazement.

I did, but it was strange to come to the realization that such a normal bridge to me absolutely wouldn't be to any of them. Even Kakashi was quietly looking up at it, and it probably wasn't due to his bridge-related trauma. At least, I hoped not.

"This will be my best achievement in life if I can complete it," Tazuna said. "My daughter and grandson will be able to have better futures because of it. If I don't, and Gato kills me, they'll mourn me, forever hating Konoha, and my grandson will probably not live to see adulthood." I guess he couldn't resist getting that jab of guilt inducing pressure to remind us of our job.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Kakashi said, though he didn't sound like he was trying to be particularly reassuring.

Sakura made a face, but only after she made sure Tazuna couldn't see. It struck me that being a ninja with how it was in the series was mostly customer service. Just with added weapons.

"We're almost there," Kaji promised, after some time. "We'll be going further inland, where it isn't as open, just in case Gato's men are out here."

Land slowly came into view, hazy in the fog. Naruto leaned forward suddenly, far enough that all three of us tried to grab for him just to not have a repeat of his earlier splash. Kakashi bashed into me, and we ended up glaring at each other— insomuch that he could glare with one eye— as Sakura hauled Naruto so far back by the straps of his backpack that he rolled back onto it, leaving him flailing for a moment before he sat upright again.

"Naruto!" I was impressed at how Sakura had managed to compress shouted frustration into a conversational volume. She was taking the warning about being quiet seriously. "Are you trying to go over the side again!?"

He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Eheh, no, not really. Sorry! Thanks for the save, Sakura." Naruto beamed at her.

"Eugh." Sakura rolled her eyes at him and huffed, but eventually smiled back. "Think next time, okay?" This was compounded by her looking at me and Kakashi still eying the other and then muttering something indistinct under her breath that sounded rather like 'Boys'.

That was interesting.

Land edged into view and soon, to accompany it, the fainter shape and color of trees took form in the fog, the line between land and sea broken by a series of smaller arched bridges that ran along the shore.

"Yay," said Naruto, quietly.

I snorted. Apparently he could make it clear he was happy about things without being at a dull roar.

He twisted back at me to make a face. "Hey! Don't laugh!"

I shrugged.

"Keep it down," Kakashi reminded us. At some point he had pulled his book out, in spite of being in front of clients.

Naruto eyed Kakashi, stuck his tongue out at me, and turned back to watch as we approached.

Kaji oared the boat towards the bridges. "We've been lucky so far, but we'll take the route with vegetation just in case."

"Are there really other routes?" Sakura wondered.

"This side of Wave is covered with mangroves," Tazuna said, "but they aren't everywhere. It's easy to get lost in them if you aren't good with direction or familiar with the area. Gato's tried to clear some of them out, but he's found out the hard way why you shouldn't do that."

"Why's that?"

"Mangroves prevent erosion," Kakashi boredly answered. I wondered if I should point out that he hadn't been flipping pages. "I imagine if he's built anything in cleared out areas he's found the foundation washing out from under him."

"He's wasted plenty of money and resources on buildings that aren't going to last another year." Tazuna sounded affronted, but then again, he did build things. I didn't know anyone from the engineering college who would be that happy either at their work washing away so quickly.

"Ma, he really is rich, isn't he?"

"If he's so rich, why is he still making so much money? How're people not just taking it from him?" Naruto asked.

"That's called taxation," I said— at the same time as Kakashi. We stared at each other.

Sakura ignored the two of us. "Remember? If he's doing all this criminal stuff like Tazuna-san says, he's probably making a lot of money illegally, too."

I absolutely did not remember that. I could only assume that it had to do with Tazuna owning up and that it probably went the same way as the story. Hopefully. So much about these dreams was just stupid. Especially the part where I didn't even seem to get to have original jokes without them being given to Kakashi.

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said, obviously lying.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

We approached the bridge, and entered one of the tunnels. As we emerged from the other side, Naruto spoke up. "Wow."

I could see why. The village on the other side stretched out ahead, split up by clusters of mangrove trees. Every building in sight was built on the water, their connected decks several feet above the surface. I wondered if it would be the poverty or weather that contributed to their worn looks more. Some of the buildings looked rougher than others.

We went past the initial groups of buildings, and past the mangroves, until we reached more buildings that bordered actual land, somewhat secluded from the rest.

Probably to Naruto's relief, we stopped at an actual dock. "This is where I leave you. Good luck," Kaji said. He glanced at Naruto, who had immediately flung himself onto the wooden dock and was doing a small dance of happiness to himself at not being on a boat anymore, before looking at Kakashi. "And... maybe teach the kid how to sail? If you can? It's sad to lose your heritage."

Well, he wasn't wrong.

Kakashi, who was just about to step up, slumped over. Sakura shoved at him to get off the boat. The jounin rolled with it, as though the momentum from Sakura wouldn't have thrown anyone else off.

"Thank you," Tazuna told the sailor, once he was on the pier. It was probably the most sincere he had been the whole time.

Kaji gave a short wave, restarted the engine, and motored off.

"Now! Get me home safely."

I guess things really were about to kick off, weren't they?

Kakashi made bored agreements to placate him as Sakura and I watched Naruto speed off ahead of us to finally be on real ground again.

"Ugh. Naruto! Slow down!" Sakura called. "You don't have to take point all the time!"

"But it's fun!" Naruto turned around and shouted back.

"You're not a very good point if you're looking at us!" she yelled at him.

Judging from his expression, he had forgotten that. He immediately turned around, so fast it was accidentally a spin. He at least was facing the right direction when he stopped.

Naruto was taking it seriously, but not overly so. At least, I thought so. I don't think he was seeing this as some weird competition to prove his worth, at any rate, though eventually we closed the distance between us and him.

Sakura, if anything, seemed to be more nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She immediately blushed. I regretted asking. "Oh!" she said, only turning more pink. "I was just thinking..." Sakura drifted off, looking the other direction. "It's nothing important."

I sighed. "Drop the false modesty. You shouldn't pretend it isn't." It was annoying enough to see in freshmen girls who were still trying to cultivate some kind of persona before they realized it had an impact on their GPA. I didn't want to suffer through more of it while asleep. "What are you thinking?"

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Oh. Uh." She obviously hadn't expected to actually have to put her thoughts into words. "It's just everything about this mission. If Gato's hiring ninja too, it means this is going to be more dangerous, isn't it? But at the same time, since Tazuna-san says this bridge wouldn't be just good for Wave, but Water and Fire too, and probably other countries, why would they work for him? Wouldn't that go against their interests, too?"

I felt a hand grip into my hair and head, and saw its match anchor onto Sakura's head. "Not all ninja are loyal to hidden villages or their countries of origin," Kakashi said, his voice coming from behind and above us. "Some are actually very short-sighted and only care about money. I approve of you trying to think over this, by the way. It's important to understand the underlying situation for more complicated missions."

Sakura tried to elbow him in the gut, but he let go and stepped back out of reach before she could even wing his flak jacket. She huffed, unhappy. "Well, wouldn't it be good for them, too, if it'd make things cheaper?"

"Not everyone sees prosperity as a goal," Kakashi answered, angling to be in step next to Sakura. "For Konoha, we see it as a reward and as something that helps the village as a whole, much like Fire does. Other hidden villages aren't so lucky."

I wasn't sure whether to ignore him for being so nosy and clearly trying to fish for getting us to ask what he meant, or just to indulge him and ask, which would only reward this behavior. Either way, it was weird to think of Kakashi as the sort of person who used providing random relevant information as a social interaction. Most desperate 'gifted' kids outgrew it.

Sakura had no such compunctions. At least not anymore. "Get to the point, sensei," she demanded.

"No patience?" he asked.

"No," she said, glaring up at him.

He feigned a put-upon sigh. "Some villages rely on things like fear and desperation to keep their ninja in line. Those are the currencies of despotism."

There was no way he came up with a phrase that sounded that good on his own. I squinted at him. "Did you get that from your book?"

Kakashi ignored me; the only sign he had heard me at all was that his Icha Icha novel suddenly disappeared from view. "Villages like that only foment—" Had he forgotten he was talking to children? Probably. "— rebellion and tend to produce missing-nin in larger numbers. Like Kiri. The Demon Brothers are a product of that kind of system. They're revolutionaries. Missing-nin like that tend to work in clusters. Ideologues tend to put everyone else on edge."

"Huh," Sakura went. Her brows furrowed together. She was clearly putting a lot of thought into what he had said. I wondered how much of it she actually understood.

Naruto had wandered further ahead again, presumably from not wanting to waste any of his brain power on this conversation. I couldn't blame him; it probably would have been a slog for him to try. Even Sakura was visibly trying to put it together in a way she could understand, and she was an intelligent actual twelve— no, thirteen, something in the back of my head corrected me— year old.

In front of us, Naruto's body language shifted into something more alert; how much of it was actually conscious I didn't know, but from one moment he had gone from half-playfully ambling with his hands shoved into his pockets, to staring into the vegetation off the side of the road, to suddenly pulling a shuriken out and throwing it.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, when she realized what he had done. "What gives!?"

The older man looked stressed. "You're supposed to protect me! Not give me a heart attack!"

"There was something there!" he insisted.

Kakashi was already walking into the brush, not bothering with any of them. Not wanting to bother listening to the stress-induced sniping, I followed him.

This part had stayed the same. A white-furred rabbit had collapsed beneath the shuriken Naruto had thrown, shaking from fear.

Sakura and Naruto must have trailed after us, because I heard a noise of surprise from Sakura, shortly followed by Naruto scooping the rabbit up to inspect it. Both of them looked horrified at the rabbit's near-death experience. It had always struck me weird in retrospect that in the series that they had been so affected by Naruto almost killing a rabbit, considering they were supposed to be ninja, but it was very different looking at a small, innocent and very cute-looking fluffy creature that was terrified out of its mind.

Kakashi was still looking out past the road while the rabbit kept their attention absorbed on it.

His countenance changed more suddenly than Naruto's had minutes before, eye focused and everything about his body language suddenly on sharp alert. "Get down!" he demanded.

We barely had time to process it. I tackled Tazuna over, trying and failing to remember how this had gone in the show, while Naruto and Sakura dropped flat on the road only a few feet away. From the angle I was at, I couldn't see Kakashi.

Something passed above our heads, whirling.

I stood up once I no longer heard it. The other two were still on the ground. Kakashi was already standing when I looked towards him, looking up at one of the trees.

Zabuza Momochi was already standing on top of the hilt of his sword, the blade embedded in the tree, looking back and down at us, the dramatic fuck. As cool as it looked, I found myself realizing that his entrance was extremely impractical on multiple levels. Then again, he wasn't the one toting children and a civilian around, so maybe he felt like he could afford to show off.

Kakashi's expression hadn't lost the complete alertness he had displayed just moments ago, but he was a quarter of the way into his normal slouch, thumbs looped into his pockets. Were they both trying to show off? Was that what jounin did? "Ah, the Hidden Mist's missing-nin Momochi Zabuza..." He swung an arm out and back towards us, warningly. "Get back, all of you."

I looked over at Naruto and Sakura instead. The two of them had their attention entirely on Zabuza, which was fair. Sakura was frowning to herself, and Naruto actually looked focused. Zabuza's entrance had been more dramatic like this than it was in illustrated or animated form, even if it was over the top to the point of being unrealistic. There really was a serious commitment to posing going on here, for someone who was supposed to be an assassin. I wondered what it said about me that my dreams weren't even trying to bother to 'correct' that part.

On the one hand, things were still mostly unfolding according to how the story had played out. On the other, changes were gradually accruing with each dream, to the point where each interaction was beginning to impact others. Naruto wasn't so quick to act on his impulses and was more actually sure of himself when he did. The differences in Naruto barely held a candle to Sakura, though. The mostly blind trust she had held in Kakashi and willingness to let her teammates be in charge apparently had never taken root in this dream version, because of the bell test going so off-track. She was much more willing to question things and ask to make her own decisions, instead of assuming that Kakashi actually knew best. At least I assumed that was the case, and not some kind of subconscious favoritism on my part. It made me curious about how it would continue to play out, if I kept having these dreams.

"'Sharingan'? What the hell is the 'sharingan'?" Naruto's voice interrupted my thoughts. At some point when I wasn't paying attention, Kakashi had pushed his hitai-ate up. Did I really zone out of a whole dream conversation? Again? Apparently so.

I didn't particularly feel like volunteering to explain. Not only did I not want to— even in the privacy of a dream it felt embarrassing to admit to myself I hadn't forgotten what the Sharingan was, ever since the first time I had gotten my hands on the manga— I wasn't even that sure I was up to giving an explanation that wouldn't be too in depth.

Fortunately, it seemed Zabuza was more than willing to show off his knowledge. "Heh. Your brats don't know?" His head tilted, mockingly. "I suppose it doesn't matter much, when the Uchiha clan is all but extinct."

I tried to ignore the fact that both Sakura and Naruto had swung their heads quickly to stare at me. A part of me couldn't resist letting the thought bubble up that it would actually make this harder if Zabuza thought there was a second Sharingan user involved. I did my best to squash it down.

"It's one of the three great doujutsu," Zabuza continued on, as though he hadn't noticed. He had turned to look down at Kakashi, still standing on the hilt of his sword. I seriously doubted that it had somehow passed him by, when he actually had a full view of all of us. "Immensely powerful, and it's supposed to be able to read and defeat all jutsu. Of course the scariest ability is the one he's known for best... isn't it, Copy-nin? The handbook I kept when I was part of Kiri's assassination squad had plenty of information on you. You were known for having copied over a thousand jutsu before I went rogue. How many must it be now?"

"More than enough to deal with you, I think," Kakashi answered. There was an almost deceptive sort of casualness to his tone of voice, in direct contrast to how he was standing.

"I think that's plenty of talk." Zabuza crouched.

"Wait!" Sakura shouted. "If you're a missing-nin from Kiri, why are you working for Gato?"

Naruto and I turned to stare at her. "Uh… Sakura… I dunno if right now's the time to be asking questions like that," he said, nervously. "Eheh."

Zabuza snorted. "What the fuck sort of question is that?" His attention turned towards Kakashi for a moment, one thin eyebrow visibly raised at the other jounin even from this distance, before refocusing his attention on Sakura. "I don't work under a village. I still need to eat and make money, too, little girl. Can't kill the Mizukage on an empty stomach or with an equally empty purse."

"That's not what I mean!" I was beginning to think that Sakura had lost it. "You work with the Demon Brothers too, don't you? And if you're all revolutionaries, why are you working for someone that's just going to make it harder for you?"

What. Naruto's eyes met mine. He looked completely confused.

"Ah... Sakura-chan..." Kakashi spoke up. There was a hint of strained lightness to his voice. "We aren't supposed to be encouraging revolution against foreign governments... Not like this, anyways. Please do me a favor and forget that, Tazuna-san."

Behind me, I could hear the old man swallow.

Zabuza stood back up. "What makes you think this would make things harder for me? If this bridge of his gets built, it will end up sending more trade to and from Water."

"Yes, but…" Sakura hesitated for a moment, clearly trying to decide how to phrase what she wanted to say. "Kakashi-sensei said that in places like Kiri, they don't really care about regular money. That it's fear and desperation they use as their currency, that keeps their ninja under control. Wouldn't a bridge make it harder for that to work?" She was looking increasingly more confident as she spoke, standing a little taller than she had when she first tried to stop the fight. "The man who took us across said the bridge wouldn't just help Wave, but also the coastal village in Fire we left from. If Tazuna-san's bridge is going to improve that many people's lives, wouldn't it have an impact in Kiri, too? If it's so bad there, but they know it's better elsewhere and it's easier to leave, wouldn't they? A hidden village needs people for it to be a hidden village."

Judging from the way his shoulders were slouching more and more, Kakashi hadn't expected to be dragged into this that way.

No one spoke for some time, long enough that soon it wasn't only the breeze in the trees we heard, but the slow sound of birds resuming their activities, too. It was a bit specious.

Zabuza and his sword disappeared from the tree, and just as suddenly, we heard what could only be laughter before he dropped into a landing, right in front of Kakashi. I was vaguely aware of kunai suddenly being gripped between both my hands again, and Sakura and Naruto armed up as well, the three of us backing up to create a closer perimeter to Tazuna. It was only a half second later when Zabuza hadn't attacked that I realized that Kakashi hadn't bothered to move at all.

"You read that shit? And bring it up to children?" He was still laughing. Apparently he had recognized Sakura's butchering of Kakashi's reference for what it was. This 'rich inner life' was starting to get seriously bullshit.

"You know, you just admitted to reading them too," Kakashi answered.

"Fuck." Zabuza stopped laughing.

Naruto edged up to my side. "Psst. Hey. Sasuke," he started. It was actually in a whisper range.

"Hm?"

"Do you know what just happened? Because I don't."

I seriously hoped he was talking about Sakura's intervention working. "I'm not really sure, but it just kept us out of a serious fight," I said back, quietly. "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Sakura looked at the two of us, her eyebrows crinkled together in a mix of confusion and concern, before she rolled her eyes. She ended up stomping off towards Kakashi and Zabuza, leaving the two of us to our own devices. Presumably to still guard Tazuna.

"Don't question it too hard," I explained, feeling just as confused as Naruto looked now.

Ahead, the two jounin were having, as far as I could tell, a surprisingly serious and civil conversation, considering that minutes ago they were more than ready to go at each other with the intent to kill to ensure their respective missions were accomplished. They had also stepped away to not be as easily overheard. At some point Kakashi had pushed his hitai-ate back down over his Sharingan.

I watched as Sakura approached them. The moment she was near, their attention turned towards her, and Kakashi patted her on the head again, tousling her hair. She actually tried to punch him this time. Zabuza's laugh was loud enough for us to hear from where we were when Kakashi casually side-stepped it. He reached over her head, grabbed the top handle of her gear bag, lifted it and her and turned her around, before giving her a light push to send her back.

Sakura stomped back towards us, visibly angry with both fists still clenched.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I can't believe him!" she started to vent. Sakura was looking visibly angrier with each passing second. Next to me, Naruto took a step backwards, and then another. "He said I don't need to know! And then—!" Sakura cut herself off, huffed, closed her eyes, and then breathed out. Eventually she opened them back up, smiling once again, like she hadn't come close to having a full rage meltdown. She turned towards Tazuna. "Tazuna-san, are you alright?"

Tazuna eyed her warily. "Uh, yes, thank you for asking."

A loud bird call cut through the air. I couldn't tell where it came from, or if it was even supposed to come from somewhere. Naruto twisted around, trying to figure out its origin.

"Ah!" Naruto's eyes widened, looking behind Tazuna.

I turned to see what he was looking at.

Even with my angle of view blocked when Tazuna turned as well, I could already tell who it was supposed to be from my brief glance of dark hair, a bun holder, and a green haori. He was down on one knee, head partially lowered.

"You called for me, Zabuza-sama?" a soft voice enquired.

"There's a change of plans. We're breaking our contract with Gato. Instead, we're working with Leaf-nin for the time being."

"Hello, my name is Haku." Haku stood up, and approached us. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Naruto didn't just look elated, but had the same mushy expression he sometimes still directed towards Sakura when she wasn't paying attention. Again, it grated on me that comparison came unbidden.

Any decision I could make on whether or not to tell Naruto Haku was actually a boy dropped in priority as I felt my head pulse and everything faded away.

I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. I had forgotten to close my blinds, and my poor, hungover head got a full dose of late morning sunlight smashing through my eyes. I crammed my pillow against my face until it stopped feeling like I was being stabbed in the face. "Fuuuuck." Everything still felt like it was swimming.

I fucked up.

I slowly scooted up in bed, before turning, and with my eyes still closed, grabbed for the rod attached to the blinds and rotated it until I could no longer see the bright light through my eyelids. I flopped back over, after that.

After a few minutes passed, I grappled for my phone, and squinted at its screen. Half-blurred, I could at least make out that I had no messages or missed calls, but I was still going to have to peel myself out of the bed for my afternoon class and a meeting with my advisor.

I dry-swallowed the painkillers I had set down on the nightstand, drained the glass of water next to it, and rolled out of bed to deal with the day's self-induced suffering.

I only tripped and nearly fell over once on my way to shower, and tried to not think too much as the bathroom filled with heavy mist.

Chapter 6: I Drank a River of Blood

Chapter Text

I found myself very suddenly falling from a height, the wide trunk of a tree speeding upwards in front of me.

I landed with a heavy thump on the ground that knocked the breath out of me. What the fuck, that actually hurt.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?" Sakura's voice called out from somewhere above. She sounded concerned.

I was too stunned and out of breath to say anything. I half-lifted an arm weakly before I decided it was too much effort and let it fall back down.

Kakashi's face loomed into view, his mask obstructed by his book. He nudged me with the side of his foot, before apparently deciding everything was fine. "You know, it helps to break your fall if you're going to suddenly stop. Something to take into consideration for next time."

"Great advice," I managed to say.

"I'm glad you think so." There was a loud thump not too far away, and the sound of Naruto swearing. "Ah. I should make sure he hasn't broken anything…" Kakashi ambled off, slowly and apparently without much concern in his step.

Sakura walked into sight from the side, and kneeled, offering a hand up. I took it, ignoring the fact that she blushed when I did. Once I was sitting upright, I shook my head, and looked up at the tree I had fallen from. I was able to recognize the branches I had first seen. That was not a short distance. Over to the side, I could see Naruto glowering and clutching his head, in what looked like a one-sided argument with Kakashi.

"You almost had it that time," Sakura said, trying to be encouraging. The worst part was she wasn't actually wrong.

I stared up at the tree. Apparently tree climbing was still the plan regardless.

Naruto's shouting interrupted my thoughts, and Sakura and I ended up staring in his direction. "Yeah?! I might be dumb sometimes, but you're still stupid, too, ya know!" With that parting remark, he sulked over to where we were, still clutching the crown of his head with a grumpy expression.

Kakashi did not look chastened in the least as he wandered off.

Sakura made a face as he departed. "He's such a jerk."

"Right?" Naruto grumbled. "Sakura, we've been doing this for ages now. How did you figure it out so fast?"

She gave a light shrug at the question. "I'm not really sure," she admitted. "I was always good with the practice exercises we did in the Academy, but I still really had to work hard at practicing for the ones we needed to do to pass. I could perform them, but I couldn't make the clone or henge last at all and it took forever before I could even substitute anything that wasn't right next to me."

Naruto's eyebrows crinkled together. "Really? But you were a natural at them when Iruka-sensei made us do them in class!"

Sakura looked half-offended. "Yeah, because I practiced so much at home! What did you think, that I just knew how to do them!?"

Naruto laughed, nervously. "Uh…"

"You did, didn't you!" The near-offense turned to horror. "Is that why you were always so bad at everything? Didn't you study anything!?" Even as she was saying it I could tell she was refusing to believe it.

"Uh… Kinda? Near the end?" Naruto took a step backwards.

"How did you even pass in the first place? How did you make it through the whole Academy without bothering to learn?"

Naruto was looking increasingly concerned. "The old man said I couldn't become Hokage if I didn't pass, so... I had to? I tried to take the exam early to graduate twice because it wasn't like I was learning anything cool."

There went the rest of Sakura's faith in Konoha's education system. First Kakashi had ruined her faith that the system would always reward hard work with success, and now Naruto was proving you didn't even need hard work to pass at all. "That isn't how it works! We had classmates who dropped out of the academy because they didn't think their scores were high enough and you're just telling me you— you— Agh!" She gave up, sputtering.

I debated on whether to say anything or not, before giving in. "The fact that you had to practice so much probably helped."

"That would explain her refined chakra control," Kakashi mused, dropping down from the tree above us.

Naruto and Sakura yelled in surprise. "STOP DOING THAT, SENSEI!" Sakura's shouting was much more coherent, over Naruto's.

Kakashi waved it off. "The fact that she doesn't have the same reserves as either of you do is the factor here. Her chakra control is much better for it, but… compared to, say, Naruto… hm. She's like a puddle. Sakura-chan will need to work on expanding her reserves, if she wants to keep up. The two of you, on the other hand..." He eyed the progress marked on the trees. "Naruto, you need to send more chakra to your feet if you want to stick at all. Sasuke, you're doing better than you started, but you're still using too much for the trees to withstand. That's why the bark is breaking the way it is. You're using so much to try and stick that it's pulling the bark off the wood."

All three of us stared at him.

"Uh… Did you actually try to teach us something useful for once?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi stared back. After a moment, he finally spoke. "Hm, so I did." He vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind a log and the lingering suspicion on my part we had just experienced more of Kakashi as a person than he was comfortable with being aware had been experienced by others. I could relate.

"Why is he like this?" Sakura looked at the substituted log with exasperation.

"I don't know. Maybe he's a perfectionist with anxiety issues?" I speculated as I stood back up. If Kakashi was serving as a terrible reflection of myself from my subconscious, that was the answer that went the farthest, if I was being honest.

Sakura and Naruto eyed me, before looking at each other and apparently deciding to not say anything.

Sakura sighed. "He at least told you both what you're doing wrong, but how am I supposed to expand my reserves? I don't want to be a puddle!" She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at Naruto.

"If you don't mind, I could help you train," Haku's soft voice said. The teen stepped into view from the foliage beyond. He was dressed in his pink kimono, an empty basket hanging from his arm. Zabuza hadn't been injured this time, so I wondered what he was doing.

Naruto grinned widely, dropping his hands from his head. "Haku!"

"I thought you both were getting your things?" Sakura asked. "Isn't that what you said?" She wasn't quite looking at him.

Haku looked at us through his eyelashes. "Not yet. Zabuza-san is negotiating for new lodging first. The woods here in Wave have some useful plants. I'm planning on leaving Gato's men something to remember me by. But I can put that off for now." He smiled gently.

I firmly reminded myself that Haku had just told us he was probably going to poison multiple people, presumably for revenge that may or may not be rooted in pettiness. Appearances were deceptive. He was absolutely capable of being an asshole.

"That would be great!" Naruto answered. "Especially since Kakashi-sensei just took off like that."

"He's so useless at times," Sakura grumbled. She was still not looking directly at the older teen. "We'd really appreciate it." She blushed.

She was crushing on him. I had not seen that coming— and yet, it made so much sense. Fangirls loved Haku, and he was one of the series' very many, many dark haired serious youths. In that context, it made absolute sense that Sakura would find him attractive. She had a crush on me— no, Sasuke, I refused any acceptance on my part, that was just weird and awful— after all.

Haku's eyes widened for the briefest of moments, and he shifted his footing somewhat, his grip on the basket tightening just the slightest. He didn't seem to know how to react to that at all. I wondered if it would have been from him actually being a normal teen in that respect, or if his time with Zabuza meant he wasn't even exposed to that kind of thing usually. Considering in the show that he had basically sought out the most friendly-seeming member of Team Seven as soon as he could, and then with this dream he had again gone out of his way to interact with us when he didn't have to, I suspected I was interpreting Haku as being lonely. He directed his attention towards me. "Sasuke-kun, why don't you try first?" he suggested, with a smile.

I hesitated for a moment before I nodded. It occured to me, belatedly, that I had no idea what to do. I didn't know how to use chakra. A part of me screamed that I did, in fact. Presumably it was the bit of my subconscious that was actually getting filled in on everything I would otherwise have no business knowing. Whether I did or didn't, I sure as hell wasn't going to admit to it. I picked up a kunai from the ground that, I could only assume, was the one Kakashi had handed off to Sasuke to score the tree with.

I looked up at the tree. While bullshitting was a skill I did have, I didn't think I could bullshit so well that I could fool my own subconscious. Regrettably, I decided to listen to the bit that was insisting that it did in fact claim it knew what to do.

It was complete bullshit. I dismissed it completely.

Gripping the kunai, I ran for the tree. One, twothreefour— I was already losing momentum and I wasn't even nearly close to the middle of the score marks on the tree. While a fall from this height wouldn't be as painful as the one I had started this dream with, it didn't mean I wanted a repeat at any height. I slashed out with the kunai in frustration and pushed off with the final step, landing several feet away from the tree on my feet. It wasn't nearly as impressive as the multiple flips that Sasuke could do in the show. Of course, said flips wouldn’t even have been possible from that meager distance, so the point was irrelevant. I couldn't resist glowering at the tree.

"Wow, Sasuke, that really sucked!"

I huffed out a breath. I refused to fail against an imaginary tree. Or lose to a child, for that matter.

I reluctantly decided to give some credence to the dream logic that was telling me what to do. Not all of it, though; the part that was insisting on full press with everything for the most effect was stupid. Instead of pushing on the metaphorical gas pedal, I needed to just use it better. Like driving. Spinning your tires did nothing. It also unfortunately aligned with Kakashi's remarks before he had realized he was being helpful.

I inhaled, and after stealing a glance at the other three— Sakura biting at her lip a bit, split between looking at me and frowning at Naruto, Naruto still looking way too amused at my abject failure, and Haku's impassive expression— I backed up until I had much more clearance.

If chakra could be used to attract, then it could be used to repel, too. I tested that with my first few steps back towards the tree, internally shoving that not-quite sensation I had been ignoring through the last several dreams through my legs and out of my feet. Push. Not pull. I rocketed. Any more and I would have tumbled ass over head. I pulled some of it back before I humiliated myself any further.

I barely had time to shift those concepts around in my head as the first foot hit the bark of the tree, and then the next. I could already tell there was a difference from before— which before?— only further aided by the burst of momentum that gave me the chance to make more changes before I ravaged the tree further.

I heaved myself into one of the upper branches.

This was some serious bullshit.

I looked down.

Sakura was clapping, and Haku was looking directly at me with what I could only cautiously peg as an intrigued expression on his face. Naruto's face, though, made me snort, because it was quickly transitioning from open astonishment to being crowned with the realization that he was now the only one who hadn't succeeded at tree climbing with chakra yet.

Naruto started to wave his arms. "Hey! Hey! Sasuke! How'd you do that!?" he shouted up at me.

I had no damn idea. I shrugged.

"That was an impressive turn-around," Kakashi's voice said, from above and behind me. "Maybe I should try giving advice more often."

I dropped from the tree in surprise. On the plus side, the drop was far enough that I was able to land with dignity, albeit with the use of further dream ninja bullshit. I scowled in the general direction I had heard him in.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"Kakashi's up there," I answered. There wasn't really any point in not answering.

Sakura squinted up at the trees. "Sensei! Stop being weird!"

We were probably making a terrible impression on Haku. Then again, he had voluntarily exposed himself to all of this. He had no obligation to stick around. Like that, what sympathy I had for him dropped slightly.

To my surprise, Haku's attention was focused on me. While Sakura busied herself shouting at the canopy of leaves, he spoke, so quietly I almost missed it. "You were running quite fast, before you reached the tree."

I had, hadn't I? Sasuke had done something similar in the series— but not until he had tried to fight Haku one on one. It was a surprise to Zabuza and Haku there, so it wasn't that shocking that that was something Haku would have focused his attention on, especially if he was used to being one of the fastest in a given fight.

"It came down to the same thing as the tree climbing," I said, ignoring the intensity of his gaze. His wasn't even close to some I had seen, so it wasn't even that bad. "I used what I gathered in my feet to push against the ground, instead."

Haku made a thoughtful sound. "Naruto-kun, could you try doing that? It might be easier to do it that way, first, if Sasuke-kun made such a vast improvement that way." With that, I had the new certainty that things were about to become interesting, if not on purpose. Haku, like Kakashi, was a prodigy. Haku, also like Kakashi, absolutely had no experience trying to teach. Unlike the jounin in question, however, Haku seemed intrigued by the idea of teaching others. All three of these things, combined with no real supervision from someone who knew what they were doing, meant I was going to be very disappointed if something hilariously unexpected or crushing didn't happen.

Naruto looked taken aback, but resolve soon set in on his face and straightened his back. "Yeah! I can do it!" He made a fist. "Believe it!" He gazed around the small clearing we were in, probably mapping it in his head, before taking off at a run. The first few seconds showed no real difference from how he normally ran, the only change being his face scrunching up with focus and frustration. Then, with no real warning, on his next step, his eyes widened when he bounced. He must have panicked, because the next time one of his feet touched the ground it rocketed him far into the air. The three of us watched as Naruto tumbled higher and higher.

There was no way to tell how far he would have actually gone, because Kakashi leapt out from the trees and caught Naruto midair before he had the chance to gain any more air. He broke his own momentum by landing against a large tree on the other side of the clearing, before dropping down and giving Haku what was probably intended as a look of reproach. He let Naruto go, not bothering to watch him fall to the ground. "Consider finding yourself some different children to experiment with instead?"

"My apologies," Haku said, actually sounding contrite. I imagined he probably actually was, considering there was no way for him to expect that would have been the result, and the fact that what might have been his first attempt at trying to help others train had ended up like this. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I should have tried this myself first." I really doubted that would have prepared him anyways, when it came to Naruto.

"Are you kidding?" Despite the ungracious release from Kakashi's grip, Naruto didn't seem to mind too much. He sat right back up, a look of wild glee on his face matching the extra unruliness of his hair. "Did you see how far up I went!? That was great!"

I wondered how many months or even days this would shave off of Kakashi's life expectancy. What was visible of his face looked even more long-suffering than usual. "Please don't try to do that on purpose. There's a reason we don't regularly launch ourselves into the air."

"Why's that?" Naruto asked, though I thought the answer was pretty obvious.

"People tend to die if they land wrong from a few hundred foot drop," Kakashi flatly answered.

"Oh."

Kakashi didn't seem particularly enthused by receiving that kind of flat-footed reaction, but it didn't stop him from looking like he was coming up with something anyways.

Sakura eyed him, and stepped over to stand next to me.

"You know… what I have noticed is that the obstacle training has done wonders for all of you," Kakashi casually said. I tried to ignore the confusing pit in my stomach that was developing as he spoke. "Maybe Naruto just needs some extra incentive to learn faster."

"Since you've insisted so much… I've decided to change my mind. Don't worry, you won't have to set anything up." The smile that reached his visible eye didn't match his tone. "They came up with a very interesting and effective method of training their first day under me," he told Haku. "You'll be on their side. For today… hm. You're a valid target unless you're in the act of tree climbing using chakra." A valid target for what, he didn't say. "You have to the count of ten before I start. Oh, and no standing in place, that's just cheating. Now. One. Five."

Naruto yelped the second Kakashi skipped to five. "That's not fair!"

Sakura wasn't even trying to complain this time. "Less talking, more running!"

"Your sensei isn't very conventional, is he?"

I didn't bother to say anything. I was already running.

It turned out that Kakashi's vague threats— mixed with the nature of the 'training'— worked much better to get Naruto to learn than just setting him at the task. Or at least it did after the first several times he got ambushed after increasingly frantically trying to run up any given tree. It probably helped that Kakashi had no compunctions against picking off the harder targets when he got bored with attacking Naruto, either. Even Haku, who was fast enough that I rarely saw him not scaling one of the trees, ended up struck out of the sky at one point when he was trying to escape Kakashi's notice. Eventually it got to the point where Naruto was consistently managing to run up the trees with or without a running start.

It only stopped when Sakura went from running to the next tree to suddenly collapsing. Kakashi dropped down next to her, holding up a hand to motion for everyone else to stop as he checked on her.

Naruto, sufficiently distracted, fell from the tree he was scaling, only barely managing to use a kunai dragged against it to slow himself down before he was able to move into a controlled jump. "Hey! Is Sakura okay?"

"Why am I so tired? I can't move," Sakura half-wailed. Her voice sounded reedy from fatigue.

After a moment, Kakashi turned to look at everyone else, still crouched by Sakura's prone form. "Chakra exhaustion. Oops." He didn't sound apologetic or surprised in the least. "I think that's enough for today."

Haku landed neatly near me. In spite of however long it must have been— the shadows that earlier had only been the thinnest slivers against the noon sun were by now stretching in the late afternoon light— he still looked as put together as he had when he had shown up. The only difference was that the polite almost-smile from earlier had disappeared, replaced with a much fuller sincere one. "That was enjoyable. Thank you for allowing me to join in, Kakashi-san."

After all of that, I felt like I was going to wake up exhausted. The fact that Haku didn't seem remotely tired at all was unfair.

Kakashi flapped a hand in Haku's direction before he scooped one arm under Sakura's knees and the other under her back to carry her, before he stood up. "Maybe we should call you Sakura-hime, if this ends up happening more often," he joked.

Sakura looked up at his face, listless. "Sensei, I'll bite you."

"Ah, what a cute joke."

Naruto looked over at Haku, who had gone back to his earlier polite not-smile in the face of this. He sidled over to us. "She's not really joking," was his helpful input, in a half-whisper.

At least Haku was amused. He looked up at the sky for a moment. "I should go. I still have things to do before I meet up with Zabuza-san," he said, before giving another sincere-looking smile. He collected his basket— miraculously untouched— from where he had set it and began to walk away.

Naruto enthusiastically waved at the older teen's departing figure. "Bye, Haku!"

Kakashi led the way to Tazuna's house, Naruto and I trailing after him.

I still felt worn out from however long that training had taken, but Naruto was already looking chipper again, even under his now-dirty face. A couple twigs hadn't yet escaped from his messy hair, though he was cradling his head with his hands weaved together. "Hey, hey! Sasuke, wasn't that great?"

"Yeah, sure," I said. I didn't feel bothered enough to try and feign enthusiasm.

Sakura managed to peer at us from Kakashi's shoulder. "Why are they still fine?" Sakura had recovered enough to not sound as worn out. "This isn't fair."

"I did say your reserves were like a puddle compared to Naruto's," Kakashi answered mildly. "And puddles dry up much faster than the ocean. Besides, being a ninja isn't fair. If you plan to keep up with them, you're going to have to work on your reserves, just like they'll have to work on their ability to control it."

"Fine!" Sakura said hotly. She really wasn't taking being called a puddle well, especially like this. "Then I'm going to work hard and become the strongest kunoichi I can be!"

"Good luck there," I said. It wasn't like that was much of an impossible declaration, especially based off of the anime.

Sakura took it much more positively than I had actually intended. "See!? Sasuke thinks I can do it!"

"Try to not get too ahead of yourself," was Kakashi's response. Tazuna's house came into view. "Sasuke, you'll keep an eye on her while Naruto showers. Naruto, once you're done, switch off. I don't expect trouble just yet now that Gato no longer has ninja on retainer here, but I'm going to go into town to gather more information."

"If you don't think there's gonna be trouble, why are you having us guard Sakura?" Naruto squinted at the back of Kakashi's head in confusion. "Shouldn't we be keeping an eye on the old man and his family instead? Even the brat makes more sense, doesn't he?"

"None of them should be in danger yet. As for Sakura-chan here, I said 'keep an eye' on. Not guard. There's a difference. We keep an eye on injured comrades. Even something as simple as chakra exhaustion can end up being dangerous if the person suffering from it pushes themselves, and it's more likely to happen with first timers who don't know their limits. Since she's young and has small reserves, she should bounce back quickly." For all of his usual blasé attitude, he was taking this seriously.

"Wait, you mean Sakura could die from this!?"

"Yes," I said, at the same time that Kakashi went "No." He turned around to stare at me. Sakura was staring at me in horror as well.

"Sensei…." she began to wail.

Kakashi inhaled. "Yes, but barely anyone dies from chakra exhaustion," he said. "It takes talent and idiocy to achieve that. Just be a good little obedient genin, don't move until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and I won't have to explain to the Hokage how I managed to let a genin die of chakra exhaustion of all things."

That at least got Sakura to quiet down, if possibly because the potential of such an ignominious death wasn't one she wanted to contemplate.

We entered Tazuna's house, where his daughter politely asked after Sakura's well-being while Naruto and the kid glowered at each other, before we made our way up to the room we were staying in. Kakashi only stuck around long enough after setting Sakura down on a futon to make sure Naruto actually left to shower before he left.

I ended up sitting cross-legged on the tatami, staring at the wall. This dream already felt like it was much longer than all of the others so far, and yet it showed no sign of ending, no matter how much I willed it to do so. I eventually gave up, sighing heavily.

"I'm sorry I'm so boring," Sakura quietly said. She barely managed to turn her head to look at me.

"It's not because of you," I said, shrugging. "I'm just thinking about dreams."

"About dreams? What do you mean?"

I didn't have the chance to reply, because Naruto entered the room once more, freshly scrubbed and pink from the shower's heat. "Your turn, Sasuke!"

"Maybe I'll tell you later." I stood up, and soon found myself annoyed at everything again when I realized I had drifted automatically through the process of grabbing everything I would need and even finding the bathroom, when I ended up staring at the shower tap in the tiny wet room.

I tried to not think too hard as I washed myself down, using the coldest water I could. Even the sharp chill didn't do anything to shock me out of dreaming, and only left me in a fouler mood.

I returned fully irritated and chilled to the bone. By then, the sun had fully set. Naruto only took one look at me before making the active decision to not engage, continuing instead to chatter at Sakura about something or other. I didn't care enough to pay attention beyond to notice that the subject kept changing.

By the time Kakashi finally returned, it was late. I ended up falling asleep inside of my own dream.

I woke up to Naruto snoring in my ear.

The dream hadn't ended.

Kakashi was already awake, sitting against the wall by the door, partially out of his uniform. His flak jacket and hitai-ate were off, but the scarred eyelid was shut closed on the Sharingan, leaving his original eye focused on Sakura. "Ah, you're awake," he said, quietly.

I clamped down the urge to scream, yell. Something. Instead, I clenched my hands into fists tightly, until I felt the nails bite into the skin.

He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything as he stood up, lazily stretching, getting whatever kinks out of his muscles and joints that he could in the process before he picked up both hitai-ate and flak jacket. He shrugged the flak jacket on, and then started speaking. "You're on Sakura-duty, today," he said, matter-of-fact, as he zipped it up. "If she feels up to it when she wakes up, help her over to the shower. The hot water will help, but it isn't necessary. She should be back to normal by the end of the day. When Naruto wakes up, send him downstairs to escort Tazuna to the bridge."

"What are you doing, then?"

"I need to send a message to Konoha to let them know the mission parameters have changed. The closest messenger relay station is back in Fire. I'll be gone until after nightfall." Outside, it was just barely beginning to be light out. I wondered how serious he thought this mission had become, if he was willing to leave his genin basically to their own devices even for a day during an expected lull.

"And if something happens while you're gone?"

"Zabuza's apprentice will be on the bridge as well. If anything happens while I'm gone, listen to the missing-nin." He sounded like he suffered just by saying that. Considering how different this was ending up in comparison to the original story, I had no idea whether or not that was as awful as it actually sounded to me.

"I'll let Naruto know," I said.

For how still he went in response to that, I could only imagine it was trying to repress a shudder at the idea of telling Naruto— who even with a slightly improved impulse control in this dream was still Naruto— to listen to someone who wasn't considered just a threat to his original village, but to the others, too. Another nugget of information I didn't really want, even though it was at least also implied from recently watching the show. Not for the first time in the last couple of weeks, I regretted that shitty bottle of cheap wine.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," was what Kakashi finally came up with in response. He pulled on his sandals and left through the window.

I reluctantly put away the futon and bedding— knowing how to fold them without thinking about it— and geared up. The fact it was all muscle memory meant that by the time I was done and sitting in a spot where I could watch the window my— Sasuke's— palms were covered in half-moon indents, some of them still fleshy red and deep. Not quite cuts, but still damage.

It was fully mid-morning by the time Naruto woke up. "Wow, Sasuke, you're already up? Where'd Sensei go?" he asked, as he stretched his arms up.

"He's sending a message back to Konoha," I said. "He's going to be gone all day. You're escorting Tazuna to the bridge." Before Naruto could ask, I added, "I'm supposed to stay here with Sakura."

He squinted at Sakura, who was still soundly asleep, even with how loud he was being. "Sure we can't switch?" he asked, at half of his usual volume.

"Kakashi said Haku will be at the bridge, too."

It was ridiculous how fast he changed his mind at being told that. "Really? Cool. I wonder if he can show me anything really neat..." While still musing on it, Naruto started getting ready to head out.

I shrugged half-heartedly.

It wasn't long until he left, heading downstairs. I could pinpoint when he encountered Inari based on the short burst of unintelligible shouting.

It ended up waking Sakura up, who groaned and shifted to one side, ending up facing me. Her eyes opened. "Oh... Sasuke." Her eyes fluttered for a moment, before she slowly struggled into sitting. "Where's everyone else?"

"Kakashi's running errands," I said, flatly. "Naruto's just left to escort Tazuna. We're on our own until he comes back." I didn't feel like specifying which one.

She listened to that, blushed, and then carefully lowered herself back down with what could only be called a whining sound. "I'm never pushing my limits like that again... I can't even enjoy this."

The rest of the day passed without anything interesting happening.

I slept again as Sasuke.

And again the next day.

And again.

Ad nauseum.

Nothing I could think of worked to wake myself up.

After the first few days, I began to notice that Kakashi started to keep me paired up with at least one member of Team Seven— usually him, if whatever separate schedule he was keeping himself on allowed for it. It was never alone with Haku, much less Zabuza. In comparison, Kakashi was actually encouraging, however reluctantly, Naruto's friendship with Haku to the point of sometimes changing whatever meagre pattern there was to the rotation he had figured out with the missing-nin.

I had no idea what the hell that could possibly be about.

After over two weeks of this— sixteen days, fifteen nights of false and dreamless sleep— I felt impossibly trapped. This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. The longer I was stuck, the more I found myself mulling more and more over what I remembered of this arc from watching it, and only found myself at a loss.

Kakashi had Sakura and I in position in the village on that sixeenth day.

However much of a bad mood I was in from the fact that I couldn't wake up— I knew my brain was rattled, but was it rattled enough for this?— I could still tell there was something different about the general atmosphere in town. It wasn't just me. Sakura looked alert and on edge whenever I looked in her direction.

It was too quiet for this time of day, with barely any people out in the open. Those who were looked more withdrawn than they usually did, hurrying to whatever their next destination was. Even the remaining shops that hadn't yet been pushed out of business were still closed, and any windows with shutters had them had them closed. It was more unsettling than the sullenness and desperation from before.

The most concerning part was that it said they knew something we didn't. It dragged out an old memory from when I was much younger, when we were with a tío, coming back from a visit to extended family. Even though we needed it, he refused to stop at the gas station in one of the last small towns for miles, instead buying some off a farmer with an ancient truck nearly an hour away. It wasn't until after he pointed it out that I realized that it was because the area was all but dead, even the gas station.

This was the same kind of scenario, I realized. While violence could happen any time and anywhere, with or without warning, these were the actions of people expecting it to happen soon and were trying to limit how much direct harm they would experience. You didn't go about your day pretending things were normal when there was trouble waiting to happen.

Naruto was guarding Tazuna's family. In the original story, Gato's swordsmen had shown up to take a hostage. While they weren't up to fighting Haku, I wasn't sure how it would work out for Naruto alone if they got to either civilian first. I couldn't see that part of the story changing. He would need help, just in case. I would feel too guilty, even with this being all in my head.

I turned towards Sakura, who looked surprised, since I had barely made the effort to respond to any of them, much less start talking, in the last week. "Sakura. Run to Tazuna's. There's going to be trouble."

Her eyes widened in realization. "Tsunami-san and her son. Even with Naruto there, he might not be enough." She ran, much faster than she had been at the beginning of this dream.

Soon enough, she was out of sight and it was just me, left to belatedly realize that outside of a dream, this would have been a very stupid thing to do. Even with it being a dream— or coma— it was still really dumb of me.

I heard footsteps come too close from behind, and the delay right before something swung through the air was just enough for me to react. Not fast enough to completely dodge— I had waited too long— but enough to completely regret not moving earlier. I jumped backwards, hissing in pain as I gripped my left shoulder. Again, like everything else, that had hurt. It was also far more painful than anything else I had tried or allowed to happen before this to try and wake up.

I was not nearly masochistic enough for seeing how many dream injuries it would take to wake up.

I looked up at the hulking figure that had clubbed my side. Nothing about him, from the way he was standing to the way he was dressed suggested he was a ninja, or even somebody used to actually fighting, since he had to stop moving before he even took a swing at me. He didn't even have a real weapon, it was a two-foot piece of iron rebar. He was just bulky— not actually hulking, it was that I was small— and cruel looking. The sort of person who was used to beating the shit out of someone in unfair fights.

But he's not a person, is he?

I dropped my hand from my aching shoulder, and in one smooth gesture went from pulling a kunai from the holster to launching it in the air. He didn't even move. The kunai flew true, driving deep into his left eye, until only the ring on the handle was left exposed.

There was a not quite final breath out, the iron rebar dropping to the wooden walkway as the muscles in his hands relaxed, and he collapsed.

I yanked the kunai out, foot on his head as leverage, just as the next thugs came out, shouting in protest and anger at what I had just done.

It went like a blur.

None of them were actually good at fighting— even by real standards, it was the sort of thuggery that relied on numbers and mobbing, if they decided to get into a fight, and it was still the kind of shit most bouncers could clear out. And all they had were disadvantages, trying to attack me in this part of the village, where most of the buildings were on stilts with wooden walkways bridging them above the water. There wasn't enough room on the wooden walkways here for them to use sheer numbers.

I was small enough that I could maneuver where they couldn't.

I was fast, much faster.

And I was armed with a bunch of long range weapons, with very, very good aim.

I only vaguely heard the shouts to head to the bridge from one of Gato's men as the remaining ones retreated.

The only tells I had that time had passed was how hard I was breathing— along with how tired I felt, and the fact that the top of my arm where the first thug had got a hit in felt stiff from bruising setting in— and the fact that there were well over a dozen dropped bodies nearby.

It looked too real. My stomach churned in protest. I ignored it.

I collected the various kunai and shuriken I had used from still bodies. One was still desperately trying to breathe, hands clamped on his neck, when I pulled the shuriken out from his throat. I tried to not think about it, cleaning the blood on the shuriken and my hands off on his shirt before I stood back up.

If this was how many people Gato had sent to the village, which would have no real value to him as an actual threat— he couldn't actually operate here if he got rid of everyone— just how many would he have sent to Tazuna's house, or to the bridge?

I wondered if Kakashi had been expecting something like this. He was at the bridge with Zabuza and Haku today, and the village was something of a middle point between Tazuna's home and it. With Sakura and I here, it would have made it harder for more of his men to make it to Tazuna's without being noticed. The men he had left here hadn't been that hard to deal with, probably intended to frighten the villagers instead of anything more. I figured Sakura and Naruto would be able to deal with however many had gone after Tsunami and Inari, if it was just more than the original two. In the story, though… there had been a full mob of thugs on the bridge, and much better armed.

I pushed chakra into my legs— by now it was practically second-nature from evenings of practice— and ran for the bridge, still ignoring the roiling of my stomach.

By this time of day, the fog was low, and I didn't have to worry about visibility being reduced naturally. If Zabuza used that jutsu of his, I wasn't sure if I would see what I would come across in time. Thankfully— or not?— there was no sign of it as I got close to the current end of the bridge. In the distance, I could see a bulky looking ship was connected to the end of the bridge by a metal wired gangway that was hooked up to the railing.

It was already a battlefield by the time I reached them, and not a promising one. Zabuza's sword was visible from the middle of an immense crowd of armed men, it only occasionally dipping out of sight. Once in a while there was a streak of bright red— visible even from here— would splash in the air, from an upwards slice of his massive sword.

Further ahead, Tazuna and two of his workers were against the rails of one side, Haku standing in front of him in a defensive stance, dealing with another group. There was a semi-circle of prone bodies a dozen feet away from him. The rest were just outside of that distance. Most of Gato's men seemed to be short-range fighters, if they were unable to engage Haku at all, without hoping he didn't catch them in time.

I couldn't see Kakashi.

If he was dead, I had no idea how the rest of these dreams would end up going. Would it end up being Yamato, this early, or someone else?

"SASUKE!" Oh, that's where he was. Kakashi's voice had come from where I had pegged Zabuza as being. They were working together, then. I wondered how he had managed to see me, before I remembered that not only was he much taller and had a better vantage point by default, he was also probably using the Sharingan. "Where's Sakura!?"

"I sent her to help Naruto!"

"I'm happy you decided to care about your comrades, but you should have gone with her!" That did not sound particularly hopeful.

My opportunity to reply was cut off; several of the mercenaries had peeled off and were coming my way, now. They were not only better armed compared to the thugs in town, but covered up, as well. Their faces were still visible, though, and from how they were holding their weapons, they weren't expecting me to do anything. They looked like full grown men, after all, and I looked like a small child in comparison.

I didn't move, whether to back away or go head on.

I waited until they were closer.

The first several kunai flew true.

As the initial bodies dropped, kunai visibly lodged through their eye sockets or exposed throats, the ones that were behind them stalled.

Still targets were much easier.

My accuracy dropped when they began to defend themselves, trying to swat kunai and shuriken away with their weapons away or trying to move; the kunai and shuriken usually ended up lodging into the skull when the mercenaries tried that, sending streams of blood down their faces. Most of their reaction times weren't actually fast enough to actually knock either off course or move out of the way in time, when they were blocked in on either side. The only ones that saw real success were the ones that broke off, preferring to take their chances with the two jounin instead.

I was too far away from them.

I didn't have that many kunai left. If I kept this up, I was going to end up running low on shuriken as well.

I decided it would be an acceptable risk.

I walked to the closest body and using my foot as leverage, yanked the kunai out, doing my best to keep an eye on the edge of the battle ahead. The ones that went through bone were too hard to dislodge without making myself a target. By this point I was doing a pretty good job of ignoring the strong and still growing nausea.

I had collected about half when a hand gripped tightly around my wrist, stopping me from pulling a kunai out from the throat of a gurgling, shallowly breathing figure. I looked up.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Kakashi was breathing hard, staring at me with both eyes. His mask was torn on the right side, revealing a pale cheek. Splattered blood— both fresh and dried— dotted his face, mask, and was matting strands of his hair together.

"I'm keeping myself armed."

He stared at me for a moment, the hard breathing gradually slowing. He swallowed before he finally spoke again.

"Go relieve Haku."

He didn't give me the chance to respond, only letting go of my wrist right before he shot back into the reduced fray, letting loose a spray of kunai and shuriken while he did. They all hit their targets.

I managed to run past the throng without issue by sticking close to the rail, though I couldn't resist throwing shuriken into the midst, where they were the densest packed. In the last few minutes, despite their mob tactics, they had been thinned down considerably, and I could see Zabuza and Kakashi near the center, their backs to each other.

Again, I was struck by how well they were working together. A good deal of it was probably because of Kakashi's Sharingan, but still. He couldn't see through the back of his head with it. With the number of enemies, the relative density, and location, both of them were seriously hindered. I could only assume the lack of visible jutsu was because it.

I was met with a dilemma that I realized once I was on the other side. How the hell was I supposed to 'relieve' Haku when he was surrounded?

"Sasuke-kun," Haku serenely acknowledged me with a nod of his head. He was standing on the railing now, which gave him more of a height advantage than he would have had otherwise. He looked unruffled, but the closest any of Gato's men had gotten to him wasn't nearly near enough for it to be an actual problem. Below him, Tazuna and the two workers that had been caught up in this mess didn't look like they were having as easy a time.

"Kakashi wants me to relieve you," I called to him, once I was on the farthest side, with the mercenaries positioned by Haku between me and the main fight. I didn't want to risk being snuck up on again. I didn't want to find out how a sword to the side or through the back would feel in this dream, after the shoulder blow. "How should I do this?"

"Hmm..."

There was a sudden glint in the air of metal reflecting sunlight, and the remaining men around him went down.

I uneasily stepped past the newly downed mercenaries, until I was in front of Haku. "...If you were able to do that, why did you wait until now?"

"Sometimes the best decision to make is to stand your ground," Haku answered, seriously. "I could keep them at a distance, but only in certain numbers."

"You didn't want to risk getting overrun," I realized.

He nodded. "I was told to guard Tazuna-san with my life. Attracting more attention would only make it more likely that I would fail." Haku turned his gaze towards where Zabuza and Kakashi were still fighting. They were beginning to show signs of flagging, and even from here I could see that one of Kakashi's sleeves had been torn loose. It swung in ribbons from his wrist as he moved. He gave me a small smile. "Your showing up was lucky. I'll actually be able to help, now." Still balanced on the rail, Haku started running in the direction of the fight. Zabuza's laugh ripped through the air when Haku jumped off of it, landing on a man's shoulders.

I guess this was my position, now.

Tazuna looked at me with a worried, tired expression. "Tell me, kid, do you know if my family's alright?"

"Sakura went to help Naruto before I ran over here," I said, feeling strangely guilty. It was just another thing to disturb the tempest that was my stomach right now.

His shoulders loosened, some of the worry leaving him.

I wasn't going to try to play cool by standing on top of the railing— that seemed like just a bad idea— so I stood in front of them, watching as the fight continued playing out.

Even with Haku's aid, the two jounin were showing signs of struggling more and more, even though by now there were probably more bodies on the concrete than there were still alive. Or at least uninjured enough to keep fighting. A short glimpse of Kakashi facing this direction showed he had pulled his hitai-ate back down over the Sharingan. I wondered how bad a sign that was; I couldn't remember any point in the series where he had stopped using it in the middle of the fight.

Everything came crashing to a sudden halt with a shout. "HEY! HEY! SENSEI!" Naruto's loud, obnoxious voice heralding his presence couldn't have come at a better time. "LOOK! I BROUGHT HELP!"

Naruto, Sakura, and Inari were standing in front of men gathered from the village. The two genin looked significantly more beat up than they had when I had last seen them— even from here, I could tell that one sleeve of Naruto's jacket had a huge tear at the shoulder hem, and Sakura seemed to be sporting a large bandage around one arm— but they had shown up. All armed.

"IF YOU TRY ANYTHING ELSE, WE'LL STOP YOU OURSELVES!" Inari shouted. A roar rose up from the men behind him, shouting similar things.

It seemed to give the mercenaries pause for thought, enough for them to step backwards, dropping their weapons.

The screech of straining metal on metal filled the air from behind me, and I turned around just in time to see metal gangway snap in half as the ship began to shear its side against the side of the bridge. The concrete crumpled where the very top of the hull bashed against it, steam angrily pushing from its sides and its smokestacks. There was a splash of water as one of the recently set piles fell into the ocean, parts of its concrete falling across the ship.

It belatedly occurred to me I hadn't noticed if Gato— living or dead— was on the bridge earlier.

I sure as hell knew where he probably was now. A bridge; just not this one. The kind that was found on ships.

"No!"

Tazuna was the first to react, actually stepping in the direction of the damage; I was still too busy staring and trying to process the fact that the main bad guy from this arc was trying to personally kill us all with a ship. It had to be. This was too stupid to be anything else.

I tried to shake myself back into concentrating.

We were on the opposite side from the ship, thankfully, though even from here we could feel the bridge shake and shudder from the stress and damage it was sustaining. Cracks were already running through the concrete to where we were standing.

At least one of the workers had more sense than I did. He gripped Tazuna's arm, trying to pull him back. "Tazuna, we need to get going!"

"No! He needs to be stopped! He can't do this!"

The other worker grasped his other arm. "He is, and we need to move! You said yourself earlier, the concrete over here still needs time to finish setting! We can't repair the bridge if we're dead! Let the ninja handle this!"

"How are the ninja supposed to stop a ship!?" Tazuna shouted, as they started to pull him to safety.

I had no idea how the ninja were supposed to stop a ship. Even something like this was still a few hundred feet long. That, along with how wide it was across meant it was probably rocking some serious power, which was why it was able to bash against the concrete pillars like it was nothing.

There was another large splash as the ship smashed yet another pillar into the sea.

I was forced to focus a bit more closely when I felt my bruised shoulder get shaken. "Sasuke, we need to move." I looked up at Kakashi's face. "We can't fight a ship."

No, ninja couldn't stop a ship. Sailors could stop a ship. We just had to stop Gato.

"We have to get on the ship," I said, still staring at it, as it struggled to turn to take out the next concrete pile. Some of the mercenaries, backing too close to the rails on the opposite edge, fell backwards and into the water as another massive shudder ran through it.

"What. I might have given you the wrong impression from the trip over here, but I'm only well-read and definitely not on anything that mechanical. I don't actually know everything. I don't know anything about ships or how to operate them."

Unfortunately for Kakashi, his goal of trying to get me to move was made more difficult by us being joined by the rest of the ninja.

Despite everything going on, Naruto had a wide, almost manic grin on his face, probably powered by adrenaline. Thin rope crossed over from one shoulder to past his hip, and the large blades of a Fuma shuriken poked just into sight from his back.

"Sasuke-kun! You're okay!" Sakura didn't just have a bandage around her left arm, but one applied to her right cheek. "I was so worried, when we went to the village to get help we heard there were a bunch of dead bodies in the area by the river, but we didn't have enough time to look…"

"We need to get on the ship," I repeated, to Kakashi's now much obvious exasperation. It was amazing how much easier it was to read him with a large chunk of his mask missing from one side, the torn portion folding down against the side of his jaw. "We don't need to stop the ship ourselves. We just need to stop Gato."

"How do you even know he's the one we need to stop?" Kakashi asked, staring at me intently.

"Who else is going to try to destroy the bridge by ramming a ship that expensive into it repeatedly?" I pointed out.

"Zabuza?" Naruto guessed.

Zabuza laughed, though it was haggard sounding even compared to before. This close up, it was noticeable how many small cuts and slices were running down his exposed arms, and there was a slow-oozing gash in his right arm, where something hadn't quite succeeded in taking a chunk of him with it. "I wish."

"Something that big isn't able to be run by just one person. There's got to be a crew." There was another ominous shake, as the ship finally took out a third pile. "Ships have bridges, places to control them from, so Gato's probably there. It should be near the front," I tried to insist.

Kakashi gave me a tired look. "I'm running on empty," he said, frankly, before looking over at Zabuza, who shook his head.

"This shit isn't worth a suicide run, which is what it would be if I tried right now."

"I'll go," Haku spoke up.

A tense moment hung in the air, beyond what it already was from the destruction happening near us.

"You better fucking come back," was all Zabuza said.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura. You three will join him," Kakashi said, half reluctantly. "This might be your idea, Sasuke, but he's in charge."

Haku nodded, and began to head for the other side of the bridge. Sakura looked between me and Naruto, as though for confirmation, and then started to follow him, the two of us trailing after her.

While it hung precariously without the concrete supports beneath on this side, creaking and groaning, this section showed no sign that it was going to collapse just yet. We weren't that far off from the next remaining pile, which was probably helping. At least as far as I could tell it wasn't going to collapse. It'd be a hell of an end for the dream, though.

Naruto gulped as he looked over the edge at the churning waters below. The ship's propellers were violently disturbing the water and the resultant wake of white water— choppy and uneven— was smashing against itself and the piles. "Uh, how are we planning on getting onto that ship? That's kind of a long way down, and if we miss..." He laughed, nervously.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Haku said, kindly. "We're not jumping."

Sakura looked down at the ship as it tried to maneuver for its next target. "What are we doing, then?" The doubt was clear in her voice.

Haku gave her a reassuring smile. "We're going to wall-walk down the side of the bridge. Since you've all already managed tree climbing, this will be easy. We'll walk over and down the next pillar, and jump when the ship approaches." Haku set jumped over the railing, before he put one foot and then the other against the side, and was standing straight horizontally on the side of the bridge.

Naruto gulped. "Easy, right." He set his jaw, and hopped over the side as well, though he gripped one of the poles as he set his feet against the side. It was only after he was convinced he wasn't going to suddenly unstick and fall to his death that he let go of it.

Sakura and I went over the edge at the same time, but she looked more confident about it than I did.

It was only after that that Haku began to run, and so Team Seven followed.

Haku had lied. Running against the side of a bridge was a hell of a lot different from the tree climbing from before. Up and down were simple enough to handle, and even when gravity managed to exert control from a mistimed step or the incorrect amount of chakra, there was some time to fix it.

This time, there was only a few feet of concrete between us and empty air above the water. This was a serious disparity where the consequences of failure were concerned.

The first trouble came when the ship finally smashed against its next target just as we reached the pile in question. Naruto, caught mid-stride, wasn't anchored enough by chakra to not be dislodged by the resulting shockwave. He dropped with a shout of surprise, just barely managing to grab onto the closest thing, which happened to be one of my ankles around the upper end of the sandal.

I found myself slowly skidding down from his added weight until I pushed enough chakra to my feet to stop and the concrete cracked under them. I felt his nails dig into the skin as he gripped tighter. I gritted my teeth.

Sakura skidded to a stop, Haku a few paces ahead. "Naruto!" She turned back, and helped me haul Naruto back up and get his feet back under him. I felt a seeping sensation, and when I looked, I could see blood welling.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked Naruto.

He nodded shakily, looking almost ashen under his tanned skin.

This appeared to satisfy Haku enough to push on. "Follow me."

He gracefully made the jump down to the side of the cracking pillar, and began to run down, giving us no choice but to run after him while it was in the middle of collapsing under our feet, the concrete cracking apart, falling into the sea and onto the ship. Halfway down, he made the jump to the top of the ship, with a much smoother landing than we did. Naruto landed unevenly on a jagged block of concrete, barely missing the iron rebar that had once reinforced it. Mine was shaky, threatened by my now injured ankle. Sakura, who had taken up the rear on the final stretch, dealing with a barely controlled descent the whole way down, ended up rolling, stopping herself with barely enough time to not fall off.

My head tried to insist that evading the giant chunks of falling concrete that occasionally dropped alarmingly close to us was simple, after Kakashi's training. Like my still-nauseated stomach, I ignored it.

Haku quickly figured out where the ship's bridge was. He turned back towards us, standing at the very edge, seemingly ignorant of the danger. "Sasuke-kun, you know fire jutsu, don't you?" Zabuza had definitely figured it out, then, though it was a bit of a leap in assumptions. "I'd like your help after I'm done."

None of us had the chance to ask what he was doing before it was made clear; a thick sheet of ice spread across the top of the ship, and flowed down the front windows, to the next deck and down the hull until it reached the water, where the ice immediately broke apart from the churn.

I had a sudden suspicion that Haku was expecting us to use science. I suddenly felt very betrayed by myself. I had no idea what to expect from adding a fireball to frozen glass and metal, and had a suspicion I was about to remember something from high school.

Haku moved back.

As I stepped forward, even though it wasn't quite wanted, the hand seals floated to the top of my mind, fingers following along. Horse. Tiger.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

I blew out an immense fireball that engulfed my vision entirely. Mixed with the sound of its blaze, I could hear the cracking of once frozen metal becoming superheated from direct contact with the blaze along with the bursting of exploding glass just out of view.

Oh.

When the fireball finally diffused, down to a wispy fire that was uncomfortably heating my forearms with its proximity, even through the arm warmers— which I now suspected were actually to help protect against that kind of heat, instead of being to keep me warm— Haku didn't waste any time, dashing forward, leaping down, and then out of sight as he presumably went through one of the now-blasted windows.

Naruto and Sakura ran after him, Sakura sparing a quick glance behind her to make sure I was still coming along.

I started to move.

I dropped in through a window that didn't even have any shards of glass clinging to its frame, and ended up sliding down some kind of front console that had navigational charts on top of it, that I ended up stepping on when I was on the floor.

The inside of the bridge was a utilitarian thing, light gray paint and modest flooring, with large metal boxy consoles for controlling the whole thing. The only sign of pride was a tall chair mounted on one side, its leather upholstery now shredded by glass. Cowering before us were three cut up men in partially shredded white uniforms— crew members— who looked like they had taken the vast majority of the blow from the glass shards. They weren't who we were here for.

Gato stepped out from behind the station that took up the middle, striking at the closest sailor with his cane. "I don't pay you to cower! Stop them!" The ship heaved a moment later, at a sharp angle that made everything tilt.

Naruto yanked the Fuma shuriken from his back, one in each hand, and grinned as he began to make a declaration. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! We're here to stop you from terrorizing the people of Wave and making sure Tazuna's bridge can be built!"

Gato sneered. "You're just a bunch of brats."

"No, we're shinobi," Haku said, quietly. He looked at Naruto. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but I can't let you do this just yet."

Naruto looked at Haku with wide-eyed confusion. "Do what?"

Haku moved, so fast there was barely any continuity between where he had been and where he now was, standing in front of Gato.

There was a gurgle, and before any of us could react, Gato's head fell to the floor, where it rolled until it hit the outer wall of the room, the rest of the body collapsing at the same moment backwards, out of our sight.

My alarm jarred me awake, the time and date staring at me in the face. It was Tuesday. All of that had been in a single night. All of the days, and the deaths. A long-lasted dream, a bad nightmare, uniquely awful and violent.

Reminded of it, my stomach finally began its rebellion, and I rolled out of bed, my knee giving out on me momentarily before I shoved myself back into standing, and ran for the toilet without even bothering to stop the alarm.

As I heaved the remnants of last night's dinner out into the bowl, my phone's alarm still blaring for attention, I couldn't get the images out of my mind, no matter how much I told myself it wasn't real. There was no blood actually on my hands.

It wasn't real. It wasn't real. Maybe if I kept telling myself, it'd sink in for long enough for the images to get out of my head.

I skipped breakfast before I headed to campus after that, and I was queasy the whole day, unable to keep the images of dead men with ruined eyes or shredded throats out of my head.

Chapter 7: It's in My Head

Chapter Text

"It ended up being behind schedule because of Gato, but we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for helping the Great Sakura Bridge get completed," Tazuna said. He sounded and looked grateful, a hand clapped on his grandson's shoulder. Inari's face was ruddy from tears, though he looked relatively happy.

We were on the bridge. Team Seven was facing Tazuna and his family, while Zabuza and Haku were standing off to one side.

I tried to resist the urge to groan, but it came out sounding more like a half-cut off grumble. I didn't want this. None of it. Not when I had such a hard time falling asleep in the first place, struggling to get last night's nightmare out of my head. And here I was, dreaming it all yet again.

Naruto nudged me in the side with his elbow, giving me a sly look as he did, completely unaware of my suffering. At some point the tear in his jacket's shoulder hem had been sewn back together. It was barely visible, especially with the straps of his pack resting on his shoulders. Tsunami fixed it.

"Hey, hey, isn't it cool Sakura got something named after her?" he tried to whisper. It was still loud enough to get attention from Haku." And we're just genin! I wish it was me, but I guess she did stop the whole fight with Zabuza and Haku in the first place…" His voice was a mix of admiration and envy.

Standing right next to Kakashi, Sakura's face was a bright red, probably from all of the attention. Having a giant bridge named after her was probably not on the list of things she wanted to accomplish or be known for.

I looked away from him to get a better idea of what was going on now. We were standing at the other end of the bridge near Fire. With how clear the day was, it was possible to see just make out Wave in the distance. A short distance down the coast here, where the cliffs eventually abated, I could see the fishing village we had started out from. It really wasn't that far at all.

"Konoha will be sending another team in two months to work on an agreement for a payment plan," Kakashi said, clearly suffering. As much as I didn't want this dream to be happening, he apparently wanted all of this even less. "The village understands that it will take some time for Wave's economy to recover, and is willing to work with you."

"Thank you," Tazuna said, once more. "It might be awhile, but I've already been told to report to Wave's Daimyo. I've heard he's planning on seizing all of Gato's assets that are in this country."

Kakashi nodded, and then unsnapped one of the pouches on his flak jacket, letting a thin message scroll drop into his hand, still bound and unread, before he turned towards Haku and Zabuza. Everything about his body language radiated serious unwillingness.

Zabuza snorted. "What is it, Kakashi?"

"Because of his skills, unique kekkei genkai, and official lack of affiliation with any hidden village, I was instructed to offer Haku the opportunity to join Konoha. If he does, it comes with a year long probationary period as a chuunin before he's offered the chance to be promoted to tokubetsu or full jounin status, as well as a plot of land within the village walls," Kakashi said, completely tonelessly, as tension rose palpably in the air. Zabuza's hand clutched onto Haku's shoulder. "This is a great honor, coming directly from the Konohagakure council itself and approved by the Sandaime Hokage."

Haku gave Kakashi a polite smile. "Please let them know that I'm flattered, Kakashi-san, but my place is by Zabuza-san's side. He has plans I believe in and want to help achieve." His tone at the beginning didn't quite match his words.

"How terrible. I'll be sure to mention it in my report." Kakashi chucked the scroll over his shoulder. Considering it was made of paper and there was a strong breeze, it was impressive that it made it past the railing, where it fell to the sea.

Naruto's face fell. "You won't even think about it?"

"Sorry, Naruto-kun." Haku shook his head. "It might be your home, but it wouldn't be able to be mine. The people precious in our lives have different paths and directions. I could always write to you. I'm sure we'll be able to meet again in the future." Haku's smile this time was more earnest.

"Yeah! You could visit someday!" Somehow I got the feeling that the whole bit about how missing-nin worked had failed to fully get through Naruto's head. While Haku apparently didn't count as one, he still worked with one.

"I promise," Haku told him.

Both of the jounin shifted awkwardly on their feet, and I tried to look away.

Kakashi feigned a cough. "Anyways…" He trailed off for a moment. "We should get going." He self-consciously nodded to Zabuza, and turned away. He didn't even bother to wait and check that we were following before he began walking.

Naruto finally realized that this meant we were actually leaving, and tears momentarily brimmed at his eyes. He immediately wiped them away on his sleeve. "Yeah… we should… Bye Inari! Bye Haku!"

Sakura's face was only beginning to recover from her intense blushing earlier. "We're glad to have helped Wave, Tazuna-san," she said, with a short bow. "And um… it was nice to meet you, Zabuza-san, Haku-sempai." Her face flushed pink again, and before anyone could reply to her, she bolted.

I couldn't even pretend I had anything to say. I shrugged, and looked at Naruto contemplatively. He showed no sign that he was going to move on his own if he wasn't prompted to leave his new friends. I grabbed his arm, and started to pull him along with me.

Even though we were trailing with an increasing gap behind the other two, he still turned around to wave goodbye, digging his heels in. I started to drag him in response.

Zabuza started laughing, and it only began to die down by the time we reached solid ground.

It wasn't until Naruto started to move under his own power that we began to catch up to Kakashi and Sakura. When he finally turned around, he wiped his face away with his sleeve again."I'm glad we didn't have to fight Haku," he said to me.

"Mmhm," I went. It wasn't until Naruto began to chatter at me more that I realized I even responded to him.

"Hey, hey, Sasuke, do you think he'll really write to me? I hope he does, he said that because of Zabuza trying to kill the Mizukage and the whole missing-nin thing they travel around a lot, but that'd mean I wouldn't be able to write back to him, huh? But then again he did promise..."

Eventually, we caught up to the others, catching Kakashi mid-lecture. Or, to be more accurate, at the end of one, cut off because of our arrival.

"...which is what led to the events of the Second Shinobi World War. And that is why we don't try to interfere with foreign governments, hm?"

Sakura's eyes looked almost glazed over. "Why didn't we go over any of this in the academy?"

"Probably to not give any ambitious idiots stupid ideas," Kakashi said, all too frankly. "That and genin aren't really supposed to know." He looked at his fingernails.

"Then why did you tell me?"

"Well, not knowing certainly didn't stop you, did it?"

"What were you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing for genin," Kakashi said, brushing the topic aside entirely. "You two took your time to catch up."

"I wanted to say goodbye!"

"That's nice," Kakashi said, doing his level best to sound thoroughly uninterested. His expression and tone took a change for the serious. "Now that we're actually on our way back, this is a good time to debrief on our mission, to get some things across properly that I wasn't able to explain when we were there.

"I want it to be as clear as possible that not only was that mission not normal, but that it was a failure in multiple ways. It was a failure of intelligence: missions from potential clients from foriegn countries are supposed to be checked against our knowledge of the region to make sure they're not misrepresenting or even lying. If even one person had paid closer to the situation in Wave beforehand, it would not have been an available mission that morning, much less for a fresh team of genin.

"There was a failure of training." Kakashi looked directly at Sakura. "Sakura, you tried to intervene between two jounin. I didn't think I had to make that an explicit order, but it looks like I was wrong. You're lucky he listened. That barely ever happens. If he hadn't, you would have made yourself a target. Momochi is known as the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'. Do you know why?"

Sakura mutely shook her head.

"Until relatively recently, the various ninja academies had very different standards. Kiri's used to require combat to the death. Their students had to kill at least one other person in order to become genin. Momochi Zabuza killed a whole graduating class." Both Sakura and Naruto looked at him in shock.

"What!? But he seemed—" Naruto cut himself off, scrubbing his face as he tried to search for the words he wanted. "Uh, not nice I guess, he was kinda a huge asshole, even to Haku, but he didn't act like a demon or a monster." There was a lingering thoughtfulness to Naruto's words as he considered everything.

Sakura looked like she was still processing what Kakashi was implying. "Why didn't you tell us this until just now?!"

"Because as funny as it might have been, your actions meant they were working with us and I couldn't risk you doing more than you already did by opening your mouth in the first place. None of you are remotely capable of holding out against a jounin, much less one of his reputation. I was under the impression the three of you would actually trust me enough to keep you safe and follow orders meant to keep you out of danger. I was wrong."

"Uh… why would we? All we've done for training is either getting kicked around or avoiding getting hit by kunai and fireballs," Naruto asked.

"And when the Demon Brothers showed up you played dead." Sakura was increasingly looking fed up.

"I wasn't aware any of you had managed to forget your training from the academy so quickly," Kakashi said, ignoring Sakura's comment entirely.

Kakashi's comment only incensed her further, and it looked like Sakura was at her boiling point. "I was doing what you said!" she shouted, before I even had the chance to weigh if I wanted to respond to Naruto or not. "You're the one who said we have to 'look beneath the underneath'! I did! You're the one who said 'those who break the rules are trash but those who would abandon their teammates are worse than trash'! Isn't that supposed to include you, too? Or are you just as big a hypocrite as you act like all the time!?" The bell test and his speech hadn't been forgotten, and combined with her temper she was throwing it in his face. She was friends with Ino too long to not pick up tricks like that. I mentally shoved the intrusive thought away.

I stepped to the side, dragging Naruto over with me. He didn't resist, eyeing both Kakashi and Sakura with alarm. "This is getting ugly, huh?" he whispered to me.

What was visible of Kakashi's face stilled for a moment into something almost sullen, his shoulders taut, before it disappeared. "And if I am? It doesn't matter. My priorities, as the jounin in command of this team, are to keep you all safe where I'm able and train you all to eventually become chuunin. Your actions were a gross overreach and impacted my ability to do that duty."

This was too much for Naruto. He ran ahead to stand in front of them, stalling us entirely. "You're both being dumb and this is dumb, you know?! You didn't tell us everything you could have! It isn't Sakura's fault you didn't! She was just trying to help! Yeah, maybe it could have gone real bad, but wasn't it going to any way in the first place if you fought him? We all saw Haku show up! And maybe she's been bossy and stuff, but it's not like you've done much to make us know you're actually gonna do what you said!

"And Kakashi-sensei's trying, Sakura! It's not like we're back in the academy, with Iruka-sensei, or even Mizuki-sensei." Naruto made a face, but pushed on. "We're not the only ones new to this, yeah? He said we're the first team he's ever passed, so how's he gonna know how to teach and stuff? We all have to trust that we're gonna try to do the best thing for everybody, yeah? I mean, I know it's not that easy, like it's gonna happen just because I said, but we need to try! We can't let one mission gone wrong stop us!" He laughed at himself, self-consciously, and the moment broke.

Sakura no longer looked as heated, and she ducked her head down for a bit, her expression momentarily hidden when her hair cascaded around her face. When she looked back up, her face was set with a determined expression. "You're right, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes lit up as his smile widened, no longer looking as self-conscious as he had just seconds before. "I am? Uh, yeah! Of course I am!" It turned into a full grin.

She looked up at Kakashi. "When we get back, I'm introducing you to Iruka-sensei. He knows how to actually teach."

Kakashi looked taken aback. "There's no need for that," he answered, holding his palms up like it would ward her off. "He was the one at the mission desk, wasn't he? I wouldn't want to bother him..."

Naruto moved to walk next to me, now that the tension had broken, and gave me a sly grin, before he leaned over to almost-whisper, "That was close!"

I indulged him by nodding. "Yeah." I didn't want to think about how effective his little speech had been, when it came to stopping the argument.

While I was distracted by Naruto, Kakashi seemed to have recovered his metaphorical footing. "We'll debrief properly when we're in Konoha. There's more that we have to cover. I'll need all of your input for the full mission report." He idly looked upwards. "Without a civilian to escort, we'll be able to make better time to Konoha, but only if we actually start moving. Sasuke, take point."

Trying to ignore the confused thoughts of my head— the ones voicing a protest that was normally Naruto's position— I shrugged and moved ahead of them, breaking into a run. I was left alone with the increasing mire of my own thoughts.

Every single one of these dreams were just shoving more and more thoughts into my head, and I was starting to, terrifyingly, find it harder to recognize which were originally my own and which were from filling Sasuke's role in them. That wasn't normal, was it? Or was I wrong? Until this started, I had never had these many lucid dreams in a row, much less with them mostly running one from the other. I had normal dreams where just 'knowing' things happened, but for these… I didn't know. Not when they were refusing to fade away. I forcibly shoved it all down, instead trying to think about anything else. My thesis. The book my advisor suggested looking into. Trying to remember if I had all of the ingredients for dinner tomorrow.

At least I was able to admire the trees and occasional fields. Everything was the sort of vibrant green color that came from regular rain before summer hit, not the sort of constant patchy greens and browns I was used to. It made me realize that the last time I had gone anywhere this remotely green had been over two years ago. Spring break was coming up, and I suddenly felt tempted by the idea of spending it out of town.

I dismissed it for something I actually should think about, and was lost completely in thought over my thesis for when I realized Naruto had run up next to me, but only after tapping my shoulder. "Sasuke! Kakashi-sensei says we're going to stop to eat soon. There's a village up ahead."

Time to stop running, said one of those invading thoughts. I shoved it to the side, and managed to grumble something out loud to reply to Naruto as I slowed down, until the two of us were walking next to Sakura and Kakashi again.

"Why are we stopping this early? Won't it take longer for us to get back?" Sakura asked. Her tone was fairly neutral, especially compared to the usual frustration she had from talking with Kakashi for too long.

"If we keep going at the speed we were earlier, we would arrive in the middle of the night and you all would be worn out," Kakashi answered. "I'm not interested in dealing with that while we get checked in by the gate guards. We're still going to make good time. There's no reason to run the whole way back."

It occurred to me that the series had never really gone that into how long this trip had taken— at least the anime hadn't. Or if it had, it had glossed it over entirely. It made more sense that Wave would be farther away than just a day's trip, especially with escorting an older man like Tazuna, if Fire was supposed to be as large as it was.

"I was also asked to stop here on the way back." Kakashi sounded disgruntled over this part, but resigned. Was it to do with the fact he had been running for messages during the whole mission? That was the only thing I could think of. "You three should take advantage of it to eat lunch and relax before we start running again."

We came up to a fork in the road, and Kakashi guided us down one path, ignoring Naruto's questions all the while. It wasn't long at all until the village in question came properly into view, when before it had been partially shielded at the angle we were coming from by the trees.

The village ahead wasn't tiny, but it was still on the small side, since even from here we could make out where it started and ended. The only things that really stood out were a bathouse that seemed too large for the population of a village like this on the main road and a traditional-looking inn that was slightly set off apart from the rest of the village further ahead. The fact it had both of those things was at odds with how small it was, until I realized something. The road stretched further into the distance from here, heading north. The village was benefitting from being near a crossroads. Of course it'd have more than enough travellers to support things like that against its actual population.

While Sakura and Naruto seemed happy enough over even a short break, now that he had given the reason, Kakashi was just slowly slumping over more and more, especially once we were actually we were past the buildings on its outskirts.

As we took in our surroundings, Sakura's expression suddenly changed into one of pure rage.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at Sakura cautiously, before he apparently saw whatever it was, and started to look indignant as well.

I looked in the direction that had caught their ire, and groaned.

A figure was scaling the side wall of the bath house. I would have cared far less if it weren't for the fact that even from this far away, it was impossible to deny who it was, between the long ponytail of spikey white hair and the large scroll nestled in the small of his back.

A glance at Kakashi showed he had seen and identified the man as well. Somehow, he didn't look as disgruntled as he had before.

Sakura was still staring in anger. "What sort of pervert is that shameless?"

"The sort that I think is the contact I'm supposed to speak to here," Kakashi answered, as he started to walk down a side alley between two buildings, presumably for a more indirect approach.

"That guy?!" Naruto looked shocked. "You have to talk to a weird pervert like that? I mean, I guess it makes sense considering..." He looked at Kakashi, with a meaningful expression on his face.

Kakashi ignored Naruto's comment entirely. I couldn't blame him. I would have too, except for the fact I would never read anything remotely smutty in public. Even the novels I had to read for school or college if they approached being remotely risque I would put them down immediately out of sheer embarrassment. I just didn't have the bandwidth for that sort of lack of shame.

It wasn't long at all until we reached the back end of the bathhouse. By now, he was on the roof, leaning over it and looking into the walled-in open-air baths.

I wasn't the only one unimpressed by this.

"HEY! YOU PERVERT! YOU SHOULDN'T BE SPYING ON PEOPLE BATHING!" Sakura shouted.

Screams and shouts of rage, anger, and embarrassment started up from beyond the wall, and Kakashi pinched his nose as he sighed.

Jiraiya looked up in alarm before he spied us, and fled the roof— by jumping off of it and landing in front of us with his hands splayed. It would have been very dramatic, if his expression didn't immediately change from a wide grin to a crushed one from the generally unimpressed looks on our faces. Sakura had her arms crossed over her chest and Naruto's eyes were narrowed in suspicion and disapproval.

Naruto turned, and tugged on Kakashi's sleeve. "Sensei, do you really have to talk to this weirdo pervert?" he stage-whispered.

It was loud enough for Jiraiya to hear, and he slumped over with a groan, before he straightened up, jabbing his hand in Naruto's direction. "Look here, brat! I'm the holy hermit of—"

Kakashi sighed again, barely audible as Jiraiya spoke, and he cut the other man off. "This is Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, and a member of the Sannin."

Sakura's eyebrows wrinkled together. "One of the Sannin is a pervert who peeks at naked women bathing?"

"Uh, who're the Sannin?"

Jiraiya's intended response to Sakura's comment turned into a huffed exhalation from surprise and shock. He glared at Naruto before turning his gaze on Kakashi. "Are you messing with me?"

Kakashi set his hand on Naruto's head, ruffling his hair, and steadfastly ignored the resulting protests and wriggling attempts to escape. "Naruto-kun doesn't know very much about history," Kakashi said, almost too mildly. "This is my genin team. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura-chan is the pink one," he added in a deadpan, as though it really needed to be said.

Jiraiya erupted into laughter, crossing his arms over his chest. It was enough that it made Sakura glare at him and Naruto look between him and Kakashi in confusion, presumably from trying to figure out what the older man was laughing about, while still trying to get out of the jounin's grip on his head. I had taken a step back when the laughing started, and only realized when he met my eyes that both the wide-toothed grin and laugh weren't entirely meeting his eyes. He was observing all of us, and hiding it behind his laughter. Soon enough, he let it subside. "They finally landed you with a team after all, Kakashi-kun?"

Kakashi looked like he was trying his best to ignore the diminutive. "It looks like it." He finally released his hold on Naruto, who immediately stepped away to scowl at the two men. "You three go have lunch. I'll meet you all in—" he glanced at Jiraiya, who flashed fingers at him quickly enough I didn't quite catch them , "—two hours in front of the ryokan."

Feeling strangely unnerved, I reached over to grab onto Sakura and Naruto's wrists and dragged them off with me in the direction of the main road. Neither protested, thankfully; I assume they didn't want to wait around and see if anyone from the bathhouse was going to rush out. I wasn't sure what it was about Jiraiya's expression when his eyes had met mine, but I was unsettled enough that I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could. He hadn't just looked at me. It was like he had gone a step beyond that.

"I can't believe someone that perverted is one of the Sannin," Sakura grumbled. To my consternation, she managed to get out of my hold and tried to slip her hand into mine. I let go of Naruto's arm and shoved my hands into my pockets in response, steadfastly ignoring the look of dismay I got for it.

"He can't be that important," Naruto said, scoffing. He stretched his arms back, cradling his head between his fingers as he looked up and down the road. "They've got to have a ramen stand here, right?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He's a war hero. The Sannin were all the Hokage's students."

"Oh, that's why he's a pervert, then," Naruto decided, nodding to himself. "Hey, I think I see a stand over there…" He began to walk off.

Sakura eyed Naruto, mouth pursed as she looked at him dubiously. "What does that— wait, I'm not even going to ask, I don't want to know. And we're not having ramen!" She reached and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back before he could go any further and make the decision that way.

He grinned at her, sheepishly. "I don't hear you coming up with any ideas."

I tuned their squabbling out as I looked around myself.

The road going through the village was relatively busy, for midday. There were some who were clearly travellers actively stopping through to eat or rest, still wearing backpacks or clothes dusty from time on the dirt roads here. It was supposed to be a waypoint, and a popular one.

It occurred to me that I should have no idea what the small row of food stalls— yatai, something insisted— ahead were offering and yet, I did. The only one I knew I had known for sure before was the ramen stand. I looked away, biting the inside of one cheek, half in thought and frustration. I immediately stopped from the unexpected pain. It was still tender and even somewhat raw from biting on it from before, trying to see if the pain and blood from that would wake me up. This, like all of the other dreams I had this past week, was absolute bullshit.

Those weren't the only places we could eat, and at this point I would refuse any of them.

Instead, I looked at the restaurants that had entrances with real doors, before I decided to point at one at mostly random.

"Why not there?" I spoke up, interrupting the two of them.

Sakura and Naruto looked over at me in surprise, before they turned to see where I was pointing.

"A yakiniku place?" Sakura looked thoughtful. "That'll be more expensive, but it isn't like we've really spent that much money out here... Even with how expensive rice and vegetables were in Wave, it wasn't that bad compared to if we ate out all the time..."

I turned to look in the direction I had pointed in. By sheer chance, I had managed to pick the most expensive option of the options. Again, I felt some annoyance at that I knew it, despite the fact that I shouldn't have; even the knowledge that this was a sensible thing to come to the conclusion of from it being a barbeque place didn't particularly help me there.

Naruto made a mixed expression. "But why not ramen? It's cheap!"

"You can't live off of cheap food forever," I pointed out.

Sakura's eyes gleamed with a sudden idea. "If we get ramen here, we're not getting it in Konoha the next time we get lunch."

"What! No way, some random stall isn't going to hold up to Ichiraku's." Naruto tried to give the two of us puppy eyes. "How can you guys make me choose like this?"

"It's easy," Sakura said. "Since you always pick ramen. I'm with Sasuke-kun; barbecue actually sounds great right now." It looked like she was decisively the tiebreaker, and she began to already walk across the road.

I started to walk, sparing a glance at him. Naruto's shoulders slumped in defeat, but he pulled out his wallet, and gave it a sad pat. It looked a little deflated, but not so bad that he should be making dramatics over it. "I'm sorry, Gama-chan... I'll make sure you get fed soon."

Sakura stopped and looked back over her shoulder when she realized she was left waiting by the restaurant door. "Naruto! Finish up with being stingy already!"

He pouted, but jogged over, and we went in.

We ended up at a table in a corner of the restaurant. Naruto slung himself into the seat across from me. Sakura looked between the two of us for a moment, before finally sitting next to Naruto.

I idly listened to their chatter and occasional attempts to draw me into their conversation.

When the server brought the platters of raw meat and vegetables over, my stomach suddenly recoiled at the sight of it.

It refused to calm down even as Naruto reached over Sakura despite her protests and started to drop a few thin slices onto the grill itself.

I shoved myself up and away from the table, managing a muttered "Back later" before I rushed off, finding the restrooms just barely in time to shove the door of the tiny room close and retch into the sink.

I looked up at the mirror while I let the water run to wash it all down the drain.

The face staring dully back at me looked awful. Twelve year olds weren't supposed to look this tired, even if it reflected how tired I felt from spending so long trying to fall asleep. As pale as I remembered Sasuke looking in the mirror a few dreams ago, this was a different kind of pallor, a shade or two lighter and almost sickly under this light.

I splashed the face reflected back at me with water to try and look less awful. It didn't work. Giving up with a sigh, I wiped it dry and left the bathroom.

Naruto was standing outside, looking worried— and then momentarily surprised. "Hey! Sasuke, you uh, went into the women's restroom by mistake, y'know? Are you feeling alright?"

I managed to grunt in his direction, heading back for the table. He followed after me, silently.

Sakura gave me a concerned look when we got back, moving to let Naruto back in. She had kept the meat he had placed on the grill from burning; it was already on the dish in front of him. "Are you okay?" Her eyes darted to look down at the table instead of meeting mine. "You've been quieter than usual, since..." she trailed off.

"I'm fine," I insisted. "It's just a dream..."

She looked unconvinced, if sympathetic. "You should talk to Kakashi-sensei if you aren't sleeping well. He might be useless at times, but he has to have some ideas for helping there, since he's a jounin…"

I laughed bitterly.

They looked at each other, unsure what to say or do in response. Sakura finally ended the moment by dropping slices of eggplant on the grill top. "Let's eat."

We ate in silence. I didn't touch the meat.

Everything was tasteless, anyways.

While they were finishing up, I slipped away with the receipt while the other two were distracted. I was already at the register with my— no, Sasuke's— wallet out and paying for everyone when Sakura and Naruto caught up. Sakura didn't seem sure on what to say, if anything.

When Naruto saw what I was doing, he turned red, one side of his mouth puckering in.

"Wha— hey!" he protested.

It was already too late; the older woman at the till was giving me the change. I put the coins in the wallet, flipping it around a moment to give it a look and before I put it back where it belonged. It was a nice dark blue color that I actually liked, altered to have a uchiwa emblem embroidered in red and white on one side. I probably appreciated it more than I would have otherwise just on the basis that it wasn't shaped like an animal like Naruto's.

I looked at them again wordlessly before I slipped out the door and into the street.

Naruto followed right after, and nearly barreled into me, before he stopped himself. His fists were clenched, and his face was still flushed. "What's the big idea? I could have paid for myself! Sakura too!" Sakura entered the street just after this, pausing just in front of the door.

It was because of the money. Even though he had been talking to his wallet, he had either realized or noticed I had seen him do it.

"Then you can pay next time," I answered. "It was just easier to do like this. We still need to meet Kakashi soon, don't we?" I was trying to deescalate an argument with a twelve year old anime character in one of the stupidest dreams I ever had. I had never done anything to deserve having such embarrassing dreams, much less as an adult.

He blinked in surprise, fingers loosening at his sides. "Huh? Uh, sure, I guess." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, looking like he wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself anymore.

Sakura looked at me, unimpressed. "Fine, but I'm paying after Naruto. And we're both going to pick something similarly expensive so we're all even after this, okay? It would have been fine if you asked instead of just going and doing it without us." Naruto's pride wasn't the only one I had squashed, then.

Naruto blanched at the idea, but didn't argue.

"Alright," I said, giving in.

"We don't need to go wait for Kakashi-sensei just yet," Sakura said, decisively, as she walked over. "We can probably look around for a bit before we do. I want to get something as a memento for this trip."

"Why didn't you get anything in Wave?" Naruto asked.

"I couldn't afford anything," Sakura said, blushing lightly. "The prices for everything were ridiculous, probably because of Gato… Even a stationery set would have been a week's pay for us."

His jaw dropped in horror. "What?! But isn't that just fancy paper?"

"Apparently too fancy."

Naruto was the one who found a small storefront that had a stationery set cute enough by Sakura's standards. In the same shop, he managed to find a pen with a toad-themed cap, and after some obvious deliberation, decided to buy it. I wound up shamed— how, I wasn't entirely sure— into getting something as well: a thin notebook with a pine forest theme on the front.

Sakura carried everything in a small bag from the shop, looking pleased with herself. While we waited for Kakashi, she separated the goods, carefully putting the stationery set into her bag. I barely managed to shove the notebook into mine, and Naruto didn't even bother to open his to cram the pen in.

Eventually he and Jiraiya came into sight, and began to walk over to us. Again, I felt a vague unease. He was looking at me again, specifically, and at one point I locked eyes with him. It was only once he was closer that his gaze shifted, and he grinned freely, like it had never happened at all.

Being disturbed like this by a character like him who was supposed to be lighthearted didn't make me feel any better about these dreams continuing.

"Hey, Sensei, is the pervert coming with us, too?" Naruto asked. It was loud enough to attract the disapproving attention of other people on the road.

Jiraiya made a face at him. "I'm not going to Konoha, but we'll be travelling in the same direction for awhile. You should feel privileged!"

Judging from Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto's expressions, we were four for four for not feeling privileged by this.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, skeptically. "You agreed to this?"

Kakashi was already in the middle of beginning a slow decline into a deeper slouch than usual. "That seems to imply I had a choice." Jiraiya clapped him on the shoulder, hard enough that it was not just loud, but shocked Kakashi back into standing straight once more. He glared at the older man in return.

"You're still a stick in the mud like you were as a brat, huh?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto looked between the two men. "You knew him as a kid?"

"Yes," went Jiraiya, at the same time that Kakashi went "Not really." Kakashi directed his single visible eye at Jiraiya, before he turned back towards us.

"We'll be going at a run from here for now. All of you have the stamina by now that it shouldn't be a problem, but if it is, let me know. Don't just fall out," he told us. I wondered what had changed his mind from before. "I'll let you know when we'll stop to rest. We should arrive in Konoha before noon tomorrow, as long as there aren't any surprise storms."

"There shouldn't be any from here going west," Jiraiya added idly. "I haven't heard anything."

"Good to know," Kakashi managed to say. He really didn't seem pleased that Jiraiya had decided to tag along, but said nothing more as he led us back to the road we would be taking towards Konoha.

It wasn't until we were out of sight of the village that he gave the order to start running.

Naruto tried to speed ahead to take point. But before he could get too far away, he was called back. "We don't need you to do that right now, Naruto," Kakashi told him.

Naruto slowed down, turning to look at Kakashi with confusion, before he was once again keeping pace with the rest of us. "What? Why?"

Jiraiya laughed. "This is as safe as it gets, brat! It's good practice, but you're better off close by, at least until we part ways!"

He was willing to be annoyingly chatty, it turned out. I managed to tune him out, at least most of it. It was harder to stay distracted when Naruto, and then Sakura, began to interrupt his commentary and little stories to ask questions, which he usually readily answered or laughed off entirely. The poor first impression he had made on them didn't get a chance to stick.

I didn't ask any, even when I was tempted.

Eventually, the shadows started to deepen and the color of the sky changed as it approached evening, and before the sun fully set we came to another crossroads. It was here we slowed down, coming to a complete stop.

"I'm heading north from here," Jiraiya said, as he pulled a scroll out. He offered it to Kakashi, who slipped it into one of his flak jacket's pockets. He tilted his head towards us lightly while he looked at Kakashi. "Think about what I said."

"I'll keep it in mind," Kakashi answered, though it sounded more unenthusiastic than he usually did.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, squinting for a moment in thought, before he spoke up. "Are you ever gonna visit the village anytime soon?"

Jiraiya took a step back, looking surprised at the earnest question. "I haven't stepped foot inside Konoha for a long time at this point," he responded, rubbing the back of his neck. "I have a lot to do and places to go, you see? I'll… think about it."

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned, apparently taking this as a win.

Jirai'as eyes landed on me again. Unexpectedly— since I hadn't said anything to him at all— he spoke to me. "Think about writing it down. Sometimes it helps."

I could only look at him in confusion, before I looked away. I didn't know how to react to unexpected vague therapy advice coming from him, of all options.

"I'm going to… get going now. Good luck with everything," Jiraiya fake-coughed into his arm, and turned, and walked off.

"Bye, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto yelled, waving, disregarding the fact that the man wouldn't be able to see it.

Jiraiya stopped, his head ducking for a moment before he turned around to glower and shout. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Naruto laughed.

Jiraiya grimaced, before snorting and turning around once more, raising an arm up in farewell. As he walked off into the darkening evening, he started to sing loudly, just slightly off-tune.

We could still hear it as we started to run again, well after he was out of sight.

It was fully night and had been for awhile, the moon long having passed beneath the treeline, when Kakashi finally stopped us to rest. We ended up setting up camp out of sight of the road, and decided who would have what watch. While establishing a campsite was something I actually knew how to do, I still felt mixed over it. The last time I had gone camping was on a weekend trip in my junior year of college. A few years ago, by now.

Like the last dream, trying to sleep resulted in fleeting nothingness. Sakura sleepily woke me up to take my turn, and I spent those hours staring at the stars before I shook Naruto awake, and passed out to nothing again.

Breakfast was unappealing ration bars, before we started running again.

Since Jiraiya's departure, there had barely been any conversation. Something about Kakashi's attitude had left the other two silent, and reluctant to chatter.

The sun wasn't quite at the midpoint of the day when the village walls loomed in sight ahead, and Naruto wordlessly cheered.

"Finally," Sakura said, with a sigh of relief. "I'm ready for a real bath."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "I'm excited for my bed, and Ichiraku's."

"You aren't dismissed just yet," Kakashi said. "We're still outside of the gates. I'll let you all go once we're past the guards, but I want to make a few things clear before that."

"Huh? Like what?" Naruto looked up at him. "Is it because of how the mission went?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, with a sigh. "I'll debrief everyone tomorrow, but in the meantime, don't tell anyone about what happened on the mission. We'll be giving the Hokage an oral report tomorrow before we begin on the written one. He'll decide what its new classification is, but you should probably assume that it's going to be high enough that talking about anything that happened on it will get you in serious trouble, do you understand?"

Naruto squinted. "Is it because of Zabuza and Haku? Or..." He trailed off, glancing at me.

"All of that, yes. I mean it." He actually sounded serious.

Naruto swallowed. "Got it."

"That goes for you too, Sakura."

"What?" she protested. "But I wouldn't say anything!"

"Your involvement," he clarified.

Sakura's eyes darted to look at the ground for a moment, and she gripped one of the straps of her bag. "Oh, yeah."

It wasn't until we were cleared to enter the village and all on our separate ways that I realized that since this dream had started, Kakashi had barely said or directed anything at me. At 'Sasuke'.

I let the weird and unwanted subconscious knowledge vaguely guide me to Sasuke's apartment, taking a longer route. I ended up cutting across the edge of a small training field, and paused momentarily to look. Team Ten were practicing within its grounds, and both Shikamaru and Choji were fighting against Asuma in hand, Ino on the other side of the field, but still not that far. Gauging from Asuma's expression, he wasn't that impressed or happy.

"Hey! Ino! Hurry up already!" Shikamaru shouted. He sounded annoyed.

"Ugh! Fine!"

I got a brief glance at her arms held out, fingers pressed together for a seal. She made a surprised sound when she realized I was nearby, briefly turning to look. I stared in momentary alarm before I decided I was probably safe since they were mid-practice, and began to walk again, picking up my pace.

I was still in close enough range to hear Shikamaru shout again. "Ino! I can't believe she missed again…"

Ino opened her eyes to a dark room, confusion, and pain. Did I get the jutsu wrong again? I thought I thought I had it for sure this time! If only I didn't let myself get distracted by Sasuke! She sat up, frowning, even as a pang of pain radiated out from one shoulder. Ugh. Did I fall wrong? Even in the darkness, she could tell this wasn't her room, and it didn't look like a hospital room, either. Cautiously, the young kunoichi looked around. A modern digital alarm clock provided just enough dim lighting that she could tell there was a lamp next to it, which she fumbled with for a moment before she found and turned its switch. There was a pair of glasses resting next to the alarm clock.

But the big issue was that her skin was way too dark to be hers. "What—" She cut herself off almost immediately in shock. That wasn't her voice. The mind body switch technique worked then, but who was this? She stood up and away from the bed, almost losing her balance when one of the knees of whoever this was nearly gave out on her.

"Ugh, great." Her own sense of curiosity was too strong to resist, though. Waking up in a mysterious body was too strange to not figure out. Looking around blurrily, before she grabbed the glasses and put them on showed that the bedroom was all part of the new modern style that was slowly becoming popular in Konoha. A full raised bed and mattress with sheets and bedding in a dark blue, with matching nightstands and a large dresser. She passed a hand over the bedding, finding herself somewhat surprised at the slightly slippery feel of the fabric. So weird.

There was even carpeting in the room, rather than rugs. The closet got a "tsk" from her. Outside of a few brighter jewel-toned blouses that worked with this skin tone, everything was boring, in somber or neutral colors. Dark blue, black, or white, with one cream-colored abomination that looked like it was hidden on purpose. Besides being surprisingly soft to the touch, nearly everything in there was so thin and flimsy she couldn't imagine wearing them herself. They'd tear way too easily for just a regular day's work and training even as a genin. "Ugh… Whoever this is, she's really not into fashion, is she? She doesn't even have a mirror in here!" she said out loud.

"And these clothes are so plain. Even her nightwear is boring!" Ino looked down at the blue t-shirt and black capri leggings she was currently in. The t-shirt was at least thicker than what was in the closet, but it was still thinner than any she had seen in Konoha, and definitely wasn't ninja-grade.The leggings were actually worse, since they already had a tear at the bad knee from the fabric just giving out. "No weapons anywhere in here, either, so this has to be some civilian." Another throb of pain wracked the body she was borrowing. "And a wrecked one, too."

She pulled open the bedroom door, coming into a tiled hallway. Snooping around, the two doors further down the tiny hallway opened into an office and a bathroom, before leading into the rest of the living space. The bathroom took priority, and Ino immediately flipped on the lights so that she could look at the mirror.

Even though she couldn't say she knew what every civilian in Konoha looked like, the face staring her back in the mirror didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen in the village. Black bangs framed the sides of a woman's face, the rest of her hair falling past the shoulders in a mix of thick waves and some curls that lifted in unruly licks from sleep. The arched eyebrows showed signs of being groomed, but not too much. Beneath them were dark almond shaped eyes that were bridged by a nose that Ino felt was too strong for a woman's face. It was only slightly balanced by full lips, strong high cheekbones, and a somewhat pointed chin. With those features and the olive skin, this woman would stick out like a sore thumb, even in her boring clothes.

While there were some families who had darker skin, especially if they were regularly outside in physical labor, the woman whose body she was controlling didn't show any signs of being a laborer or even an outside person. Most of the tops she saw in the closet were long sleeved, and there weren't any obvious tan lines. This woman was just naturally browner than most people in Konoha, but not like anyone from Cloud.

"She's so old," Ino said, making a face. "She's got to be like Asuma-sensei's age." She sighed, before she looked around the bathroom. "Weird bathroom…" she muttered.

The countertop the sink was in was taken up by face products, and a small hanging basket suctioned to the mirror held expensive looking electric-powered hair tools. A cursory look made it clear that everything came from brands she had never heard of.

Ino swept out of the bathroom and poked her head into the office. Like the bedroom, the desk and chair were modern, with a full to bursting bookshelf but… "No way. Is that a laptop computer? It's so sleek looking!" She sat in the chair and opened it. After a moment of poking around, she finally found the power button, and pressed it. To her disappointment, when the surprisingly vibrant picture on the screen popped up and prompted a log in for an 'SU', it was password protected. She sighed. The stack of books on the desk were weird, too. They were all hefty and serious looking titles she had never seen before, all in yokogaki, spine on the left side.

She walked out and headed into the rest of the mystery home, switching on light switches as she saw them. The kitchen was strangely set up, with so many things taking up counter space and a full oven under the range. The modern style dining table and chairs right next to it were unimpressive just because they were downright normal in comparison.

The main living area was what made her borrowed jaw drop. "There's no way that's a television!" It was so big and flat. The bulky looking sofas— both in tasteless, boring brown— didn't merit any particular attention. "No knobs or buttons… Maybe there's a remote?"

Looking around, she soon found one, and after testing some buttons, she figured out the one to turn the TV on.

The screen bloomed into white and grey, with a colorful banner at the bottom that showed different squares that looked like movie posters, with different categories. One section, titled 'Continue Watching', caught her attention.

"What the— is that supposed to be Naruto?"

Hesitantly, and after figuring out what buttons did what…

She hit play.

I woke up, and fear gripped me as I took in my surroundings. I was on the living room couch.

I hadn't fallen asleep here.

The TV was on, the screen mostly dark with the exception of the text asking if I was still watching Naruto.

I didn't remember doing this.

Chapter 8: Nothing Gives Easy

Chapter Text

I opened my eyes to the ceiling above Sasuke's bed. I had fallen asleep only to wake up as him. Not even segueing into anything happening. I rolled over and screamed into the mattress until I could feel my— his— throat start to feel ragged and hoarse. Am I going insane?

Nothing about this was fair. I had fallen asleep early, exhausted. I hadn't remembered waking up and heading to the couch yesterday night, or watching more of the stupid, stupid anime, but apparently I had, bingeing through enough episodes to get a decent amount into the Chuunin Exams arc. I had stopped watching that first night midway through Wave, before all these dreams started and hadn't touched them since. By now it was over a week since it started.

After a while, I sat up, resigning myself to taking everything in. Going from the light streaming through the window, it was mid-morning. Somehow I knew that Team Seven was supposed to meet up this afternoon, with no 'morning' training, even though Kakashi rarely showed up that long before noon. Great, I can spend that extra time feeling sorry for myself.

I rolled out of bed, half-guiltily enjoying the fact that outside of actually getting hurt in these dreams, I didn't feel any of my usual chronic pain at all. No need to be careful with which leg I set down first, what hand I used to grab something heavy, or how to sit and stand to avoid aggravating my shoulder or knee. It was only half because it also annoyed me— no, scared me.

I let habit take over, making the bed and pulling clothes out from the wardrobe with some dismay. He really didn't have that much of a variety, mostly the same kind of wide high collared shirt in dark blues or black, though that was probably due to my own imagination being limited on what he would wear. The one piece outfit I remembered for the Chuunin Exams arc was also in there, carefully folded. That was new.

It was still slightly more varied than I knew some real guys wore, if not by much.

I ended up picking one of the black shirts, and changed as quickly as I could, fiddling with the clasps on the arm warmers. I eyed the rest— the leg wraps and kunai— with some ambivalence, before I sighed and got that over with as well.

I left the apartment, after grabbing Sasuke's gear bag, at a loss for what else to do.

In the end, I decided to wander the village. By complete chance, after almost a full walk that had me returning in the direction of my— Sasuke's— apartment I ran into Team Eight, absent Kurenai, in the middle of eating near a cluster of ground-floor eateries with outdoor seating.

I really didn't have the opportunity to decide whether to ignore them or not, because Kiba stood up on his chair, and waved at me with both arms, before finally shouting to get my attention with a laugh. "HEY! Uchiha! Where's ramen-for-brains? Shouldn't you be with your team?" Nestled in his jacket, Akamaru barked along with him.

For lack of anything better to do, along with the fact he was probably going to keep this up if I tried to move on, I walked over.

He got yanked down by Shino and Hinata before he could say or do anything else. Hinata looked flushed with embarrassment because of the attention Kiba had attracted when she looked around. Shino just looked inscrutable. Akamaru, on the other hand, took his cue from his partner when it came to the use of distractions, and the dog jumped out and onto the table, stealing a skewer of kushiyaki from Kiba's plate before hopping off and hiding under Hinata's chair to eat it.

Kiba stopped laughing, diving off his chair, going after his ninken partner. "Hey! Hana says you aren't supposed to have any of that! She already chewed us out the last time you got into sugary stuff!"

Hinata quickly sat up from her chair, avoiding being jostled off of it when Kiba bumped his head on the underside of the seat with excellent timing.

I decided to pretend the dog versus boy scuffle on the ground wasn't happening. So far, Akamaru looked like he was winning. "We have the morning off," I said, directing my answer to Shino and Hinata instead. "We aren't supposed to meet up until the afternoon."

"Interesting. Kurenai-sensei gave us the morning off as well," Shino commented, thoughtfully.

"Sasuke-kun, I heard your team was on its first C-rank outside of the village?" Hinata started. Though it was phrased as a question, she didn't stop there. "How was it? Did everything go alright?"

I suddenly had the feeling that all of Shino's attention was focused on me, despite the sunglasses and high coat collar. "How did you get a C-rank so fast?"

"Naruto happened," I said, feeling more pressured than I expected or even thought possible under the circumstances. "It turns out the Hokage will give in if there's enough pressure, even if it's from a genin." After saying that, I had the sudden feeling I had just given out some terrible information. Middle school aged kids didn't need the knowledge that even unrelated adults in positions of power were susceptible to being pressured into giving in if they didn't know it already. I tried to reassure myself that this was fine.

"Naruto-kun convinced the Sandaime?" Hinata asked. She lightly blushed.

"Yeah," I answered. I had the feeling that while I was getting away with not answering her questions for now, it wasn't going to last— especially not with Shino standing right there. At the same time, in spite of wondering how it would turn out, I didn't feel like spilling the secrets around the Wave mission. "The mission was just escort and guard work. If we weren't doing that, it was training," I ended up going with. It wasn't wrong, and it didn't touch on the fact it had been reclassified at all. "We learned how to walk up trees."

Hinata visibly relaxed; I hadn't even noticed that she had been tense in the first place. "Oh, that's good. I thought I had heard..." Her voice went quiet, and she trailed off, looking away.

I didn't have the chance to ask what she had heard, because there was a thump and a swear as Kiba smashed his head against the underside of the table, before he bounded back up to stand again, holding Akamaru against his chest with one arm, and a now-chewed and meatless wooden skewer in his free hand. The dog looked as smug as was possible for a dog to be. Kiba set the skewer on the table, pouting. "If you have diarrhea inside the house again, forget about Hana, Kaa-chan's gonna kill me."

Akamaru barked.

"It's not my fault!" Kiba protested. He must have noticed my staring, because he turned and looked at me reproachfully. "Don't judge me."

"You're the one who got outsmarted by a dog," I pointed out, before deciding to ignore him. I returned my attention to Hinata. "What were you saying?"

She looked surprised."Oh, um, it doesn't matter, really," she answered.

Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Yes it does," I said. "You must have heard about it from somewhere. Unless you're the kind of person who makes things up?"

Hinata blinked in surprise, looking unsure. It was a bit mean of me to box her in like this. "N-no…"

"I thought so," I said, sounding more confident than I felt with Kiba and Shino staring at me. Even the dog was giving me a dirty look, now. "What did you hear?"

"I…" she faltered, before restarting. "My cousin mentioned that your team went on a month-long C-rank, when he asked why we didn't have one yet…"

"Your cousin's an ass," Kiba said, loudly. "You heard Sasuke, the only reason they even got one was because of Naruto. "

Hinata looked uncomfortable, possibly of Kiba's declaration— even though it wasn't wrong— but continued on, pressing her fingertips together nervously. "He, um… His jounin-sensei gave them the morning off today, too. Otou-san and all of the jounin in the clan left early this morning…" I was wrong, then.

Shino shifted on his feet, glancing around, before speaking. "Tou-san was already gone when I left this morning…"

The grin slid off of Kiba's face as he looked around our surroundings.

I felt a distinct sense of unease, one I couldn't place. That couldn't be for the chuunin exams, could it? I looked over at Shino, who looked back at me.

"I think it would be wise if we stopped talking about this," Shino said, slowly and gravely, coming to the same conclusion as me. "Enjoy the rest of your morning, Sasuke."

It was as clear a dismissal as they came. I nodded at him. "You too."

I walked away. As I did, I noticed that the streets were slightly emptier than they should be. The knowledge hung over my head, dangerous. I didn't want to acknowledge it, and yet… It was hard to not, now that I let it sneak in.

I let myself drift, and eventually wound up near the training grounds that my head knew were the ones we were using lately. In spite of the fact that it was too early for meeting up— a couple hours ahead of the dictated time, which meant it would only be even longer before Kakashi would show his mask— Sakura was already there, sitting in one of the taller trees that was part of a small copse straddling the path that served as a boundary between this one and the one on the other side. Her pink gear bag rested at the foot of the trunk.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called.

I looked up. She was waving to help get my attention— even though she really didn't need to, sticking out like she did with all of the leaves behind her— and while normally Sakura looked happy to see me—I don't need to know that, why do I?— today she didn't.

I joined her in the tree after dropping my bag next to hers.

"Ino stopped by my house to tell me there was something going on," Sakura started, awkwardly, as I sat down on the branch. "She said she saw you talking to Team Eight, on the way."

"Did she?" I hadn't seen her. I was fine with not having to deal with another girl with a crush on a one on one basis. Hopefully she hadn't taken up stalking, but I guess she had moved on.

"Mmhm," Sakura nodded. "I haven't spoken to her since we all graduated. I didn't think we were ever going to talk again." That was some middle school hyperbole, but I could tell what she actually meant. The thought of losing a friend over something as dumb as a boy eventually stung, if it didn't in the first place. She swung her legs, looking down at them and the ground below.

"Hinata said all of the jounin in her clan left together for somewhere this morning," I said finally. "Shino's dad, too."

After a while, Sakura wrapped her arms around herself, and turned to look at me. "I think we really messed things up," she said, biting on her bottom lip.

We sat in uncomfortable silence, and it stayed that way until we could make out Naruto running this way. Even from this distance, I could tell he had his backpack with him, and it was bouncing on his shoulders with each step he took.

Sakura stood up, trying to get a better look. "Why is he running?"

I shrugged.

Eventually, we could tell that he was shouting and waving at us. Whatever it was, it was unintelligible from his flailing and how far away he was.

"We can't tell what you're trying to say, Naruto!" Sakura shouted, once he was closer.

Naruto stopped running to laugh at himself, self-conscious. From there, he ambled to the tree, and dropped his bag next to Sakura's before he walked up it.

"There's stuff happening," he announced, as he dropped into a sitting position, next to me.

Sakura leaned forward to look across at him. "What do you mean, 'stuff'?"

"I went up to the Hokage rock when I woke up, and there were a bunch of people in the stadium," Naruto answered. "All lined up."

"What were you doing up there?" I asked.

Naruto ducked his head, as though he didn't want to entirely admit the reason, but answered anyway. "I like to go up there and think sometimes, yeah? I don't know what was happening," Naruto admitted, "but I don't think it's a good sign."

"I think so," she whispered back. "Before we were reported to the Sandaime, he told us to let him take the lead. He only let us talk if it was something he wasn't there for."

"Yeah, the only thing he didn't lie about was, uh, about how many people Sasuke killed." It wasn't until after he said that that he realized he said that out loud, and gave me a look that was a combination of horror and embarrassment. I tried to ignore it, wiping my hands on my shorts.

Sakura's lip quivered, and tears actually started to well up, filling me with a sense of alarm. I barely managed to deal with people who were upset enough to cry when I was awake. I didn't deserve it in a dream, too, especially when it was a crying teenager. "Do you think he's in trouble because of me?"

"Uh—" Naruto began, but before he could say anything, I pressed my hand against his mouth, ignoring his muffled protests.

"If he is, he's the one who made that decision," I answered. Naruto licked the palm of my hand, and I was unable to resist making a face of disgust as I pulled it away. I aimed a light kick at Naruto's closest ankle before I wiped his saliva off on his jacket. "He didn't have to."

"He said his priorities were to keep up safe and to train us to make chuunin," Sakura said, sounding stricken. The tears were beginning to make their way down her cheeks, in fat drops and splotches. "Did he throw his career away on me?"

Considering that in the series, Kakashi didn't get in trouble for how Wave turned out— or at least enough for it to matter— I doubted it. At this point, I decided my brain was just doing its best to fill in what could have happened after Wave and before the exam arc started. "Someone like him? No." I briefly tried to imagine Kakashi the way he was in this dream and in most of the story as a missing-nin. The idea fizzled immediately.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, nodding. "And he's famous, right? Zabuza was all 'I know all about you from my handbook', and Haku said Zabuza left years back, yeah? There's no way every jounin from a village is well known enough for that kinda thing. There's too many of them! So since he's probably still been doing missions and stuff, it's not like the Hokage can just throw him into the trash, right?"

The actual answer to that was actually that yes, he could, and there were even plenty of characters who he had done just that to or let it happen to, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. That wouldn't solve the problem of dealing with a crying girl, it'd just make it worse.

Sakura sniffled. "I hope you're right."

Naruto did his best to give her a grin. "If both of us are agreeing, it's gotta be, yeah? Believe it."

She gave him a watery smile. "Yeah." While not great, at least she was no longer crying.

We stayed in the tree, quietly hiding from everything else, until it was about time for when training was supposed to begin.

In spite of the fact that there was really no sign that he was going to show up on time— especially with what we were guessing was going on on top of his usual tendency towards tardiness— Sakura stood up, squaring her shoulders with determination, and dropped down from the tree first.

Naruto and I looked at each other, before he shrugged and followed suit, leaving me alone in the tree until I jumped down as well.

Sakura looked between us, clearly thinking about something, before she pointed a finger at Naruto. "I need to get better. We all do. Fight me."

"What?" Naruto's eyes widened. "Why me? Sasuke's the best at taijutsu."

"He's also the one better at making calls, since Sensei's not here," Sakura pointed out. "You get distracted the second you're bored."

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto admitted. He grimaced, not looking particularly excited about fighting Sakura, even with it being a friendly practice match. "I need to practice, anyway. Just taijutsu?"

She nodded.

Still not looking all that enthused about this idea, Naruto approached her. They looked at me expectantly.

Not exactly sure what they were expecting, I nodded, hoping it would be adequate enough.

They each brought a hand up in a two-fingered sign— the Seal of Confrontation— and shot off.

Their faults became obvious, very quickly, even to my relatively untrained eye.

Naruto's sloppy and broad movements broadcast every single punch and kick he tried to aim, along with the ones I eventually realized were him trying to not hit Sakura after he did land a hit.

Sakura, on the other hand, kept pulling away at the last second. While her technique was fine… Her followthrough was completely ineffective. She was more likely to end up getting hurt like this.

Watching this ineffectual back-and-forth with neither of them showing any evidence of either of them actually taking this seriously— in spite of Sakura's own declaration— was beginning to drive me nuts.

I finally lost it when Naruto purposefully threw a punch right past her and Sakura veered away from taking advantage.

"Will you two get over yourselves already!? Naruto, how are you supposed to become Hokage if you can't even hit a girl?" I shouted in frustration. I had no idea what sort of incentive would work for Sakura but… "Sakura! STOP MESSING AROUND AND KICK HIS ASS!"

Both of them stared at me in disbelief for a moment. Sakura's expression hardened, and Naruto had just enough time to process this radically new development with barely enough time to go on the defense.

Sakura had taken my words a bit too close to heart.

I couldn't really blame Naruto for being put on the backfoot; he was still busy processing her new aggressive approach. "I thought this was just supposed to be a spar!?"

Sakura's punches were beginning to show serious carry-through now, and while Naruto was actually doing his best to block them now, tightening up his defense— his blocks were now more precise, abandoning the sloppy movements of earlier— he had stopped returning attacks at all.

"SHANNARO!"

I watched as Sakura belted Naruto in the gut, dropping him.

"What a display of Youth!"

I turned to face the direction I heard that come from.

Team Gai I had expected, hearing that. Kakashi ambling along next to Gai with his hands in his pockets, in his usual slouch, was not included in those expectations.

Sakura looked embarrassed, ducking her head to let her hair fall around her face. She offered Naruto a hand up, and they hooked their fingers together, formally ending the spar.

"Wow, Sakura, you really got me," Naruto said, wincing as he rubbed his stomach, before turning towards the newcomers. "Hey! Sensei! Who are these weirdos?"

Only one of the aforementioned 'weirdos' looked like they took serious offense at Naruto's lack of tact. Then again, it would have been hideously out of character for Neji to be anything except offended by a comment like that, at this point, I supposed.

Kakashi didn't look particularly shamed by Naruto's behavior. He lazily raised a hand in greeting. "This is Maito Gai and his genin team."

"So you're Kakashi's genin team! I can see why he must be proud of you!" Gai beamed.

I took a step back, towards Naruto and Sakura. There was a difference between reading or watching him be overwhelmingly optimistic and then experiencing it in some way or another. And in that sense, I felt that dreaming counted for this. At least half-way. I couldn't imagine being around real strangers who were this high energy and exuberant like this. Right now it was barely tolerable and only because Sakura and Naruto also looked dubious of him, though that was probably because of Gai's proclamation.

"Uh, thanks?" Naruto said, looking between Kakashi, Gai, and then us. He dropped his voice into an attempted whisper. "He really is a weirdo."

Sakura wasn't even trying to correct Naruto. "It's... nice to meet you, Gai-sensei?" She looked at Kakashi, clearly wondering why he had decided to inflict this on us, while trying to give Gai a polite smile.

Kakashi shrugged.

At least Team Gai— well, Tenten and Neji; Lee was looking on in admiration— looked embarrassed at having to witness this as well.

"I've known your sensei since before our academy days," Gai said. He jutted his thumb at himself and then Kakashi. "People consider us 'Eternal Rivals'."

"Only you say that," Kakashi said, almost immediately. "We're training with Gai's team today."

"Right now, we're perfectly tied. Forty-nine wins, forty-nine losses." Gai gripped one hand into a fist.

Sakura's smile started to grow desperate, and she turned towards the other genin. "I'm Haruno Sakura, it's nice to meet you all."

Tenten, at least, immediately caught on to the attempted change. "It's nice to meet you too, Sakura-chan. I'm Tenten." She lightly elbowed Neji, who was only looking more annoyed as time passed.

"Hyuuga Neji," he said, shortly.

Naruto squinted in Neji's direction. "Hey, are you related to Hinata? She was in our class."

Neji's demeanor managed to become stiffer than it already was. "We're clan members."

Tenten gave Neji a sidelong look, before sighing. "You're the kid who vandalized the Hokage Monument not too long ago, aren't you?"

Naruto grinned widely. "Yeah! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to become Hokage!"

Neji scoffed, but not loud enough to be actually heard over the "YOSH!" that erupted from Lee's mouth. "What a wonderful dream to have! My name is Rock Lee! I can't wait to see what you achieve!"

Gai clapped a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee! You're such an inspiration!"

"No, Gai-sensei, that's you!"

As they embraced each other, Kakashi idly spoke up. I didn't catch what he said; I was too busy staring at the free show.

"I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to train you as part of my genin team!"

"Gai-sensei! You're the one who made this happen!"

It occurred to me that Lee's name made no sense.

Tenten's eyes met mine. "Lee goes by his family name," she explained, carefully, before she clearly mouthed 'I don't know either'.

Everyone's attention drifted towards me, and I realized I was expected to finish the round of introductions. I shoved my hands into my pockets. "Uchiha Sasuke."

Both Neji and Lee's gazes lasered in on me.

"Wait," Sakura went. She stared at Kakashi. "You were put on what?"

"Ah, you caught that? I was put on probation," Kakashi explained, as though it wasn't important in the least. "For the near future we'll have supervision from another jounin during training."

"But not on missions?" Naruto asked, sounding confused.

"Ninja on probation don't get assigned to missions," Kakashi said, examining his nails. "I suggest you three carefully budget your expenses against the minimum monthly stipend for genin."

Naruto swallowed. "Right. We can do that." He did not actually sound sure of himself, as he looked between me and Sakura.

"Gai decided to join us for today. He's kindly offered to lead today's session if you're willing to accept," Kakashi continued to explain. Without changing his tone at all, only shifting to straighten up and raise an eyebrow, he managed to convey how he felt about that idea. Unseen by her sensei, Tenten shook her head, motioning with a chopping motion across her neck.

"We could spar," Neji said, staring directly at me.

"What an excellent idea!" Lee agreed, also looking at me.

I wasn't used to being looked at like a piece of meat like this. It was off putting in a new and different way, and I wasn't the only one who felt this way, from the looks of things; Sakura, Naruto, and even Tenten looked unimpressed by Tenten's teammates.

"Hm," went Kakashi, unfolding to his full height, as he observed me and the genin.

"We usually set up and run an obstacle course," I said, doing my best to sound casual.

"Yeah!" Naruto said, enthused. "It's great."

"Why not this? We set it up, and you run the course with us," I suggested. "Last team still in the trees decides what we do after. If you hit the ground because of a trap or someone else, you're out. If you win, we can spar one on one."

"It sounds fine to me if they're up for it," Sakura said, as Naruto nodded in agreement.

Tenten looked at us with a thoughtful expression, and opened her mouth to speak. Before she could, Neji interrupted her.

"We'll do it. It can't be that hard."

Lee crossed his arms, and nodded. "Not after our training with Gai-sensei!"

Tenten sighed. "I guess we're in. How does your obstacle course work?" she asked, sounding like she regretted the fact she didn't have the chance to ask earlier.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "It's trap based! We set up a bunch of rope triggers and now ninja wire ones even though that was before we left for a month along to trigger shuriken and kunai and normally Kakashi-sensei chases us through it for a few hours so we have to evade both him and everything while we run through the course and sometimes he kicks us out of trees if he catches up on us and sometimes he'll throw in a fireball jutsu and other stuff which kinda sucks since you can't always tell if they're real or just genjutsu and..." Naruto's volume gradually lowered, before he ran out of air and had to breathe again.

Tenten stared at Neji as she untangled what Naruto was rambling on about.

"We've had to pay fines for chuunin who have been caught by left-behind traps a few times," Kakashi commented. "They've gotten better at dismantling the whole thing."

"Amazing," Gai said. "Their teamwork must be incredible already! We've mostly worked on team exercises and sparring. I'll be excited to see how my wonderful genin do."

Tenten's expression looked increasingly horrified. "Sensei, you haven't had us do anything with traps yet." She shot a betrayed look at Neji.

"I have faith in the ability of my Byakugan," Neji defensively answered.

"Yosh!"

Tenten made a strangled noise, and dragged her hands down her face. I really couldn't blame her. Soon enough, she straightened up. "If you're the only ones who know where the traps are, it isn't really fair. We can pair up," she said, apparently deciding to work with the situation as best as she could.

"That works," Sakura replied.

Tenten looked between her team and us, before speaking again. "I'll go with Sasuke-kun," she decided, which I absolutely had no problem with. "Lee, why don't you work with Naruto-kun, and that leaves Sakura-chan with Neji." Tenten was putting obvious effort into trying to limit any problems from developing, which was more than could be said for either of her teammates or even Gai, who seemed to be ignoring the brewing tension and desire for a fight from Neji and Lee.

"Fine," Neji answered.

Sakura seemed distinctly unimpressed by Neji. I was starting to wonder exactly what her standards were. Was it black hair? Then again, she showed active antipathy towards Lee's crush when he announced it to her in the series, so appearances clearly played a huge factor. On the other hand, attitude problems didn't seem to be a problem for her.

Naruto looked like he had far more mixed feelings. He was clearly thriving off of the sheer wordless enthusiasm radiating from Lee at working with something new that was arguably one of Naruto's favorite things. At the same time, Lee was definitely one of the 'weirdos' by Naruto's standards. Eventually, he shook his head, and gave Lee a wide grin. "Let's get started!"

Lee punched a fist into the air. "Yes! Show me this talent you have such Youthful passion for, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto laughed.

I shrugged at Tenten. "I'll go grab my bag. Everything's in there."

She nodded.

Sakura and I ended up walking to the tree our bags were together. "I can't believe he thought he could just slip that through without actually telling us," she said quietly. "The only plus side to this is we're going to get experience training with other people ahead of time." She looked over at me. "Are you going to be okay, Sasuke-kun? Both of those boys look too ready to fight you."

I shrugged. "They were a whole year ahead of us," I said. I wondered why that particular phrasing felt important to specify before I decided to ignore it. "They must have run out of easier targets."

"You'd think they'd go after older genin, then," Sakura grumbled. "I've heard about the Hyuuga boy. He's Hinata-chan's cousin and is supposed to be some kind of genius. Some older girl actually tried to give him a graduation gift when his class became genin and he made her cry." That was impressively callous, even for pre-teens. Between this and the conversation earlier with Hinata's team, I was beginning to suspect not very many people liked Neji.

When we reached the tree, she slung her bag over her shoulders and sighed. "It figures Kakashi-sensei would be friends with someone like Gai-sensei and get us roped into something like this."

"Hey, hey, think we could get them to take us out to eat if we win?" Naruto asked, as he loped over to us. "Idunno about you two, but without any missions for however long, I'm gonna be broke." He made a face.

"Is the stipend that low?" Sakura asked. "I thought it was supposed to be enough for a single genin to live off of if they were independent."

Naruto looked at her in surprise. "Oh, yeah, you live with your family," he said, as though that hadn't come into consideration. "You can live off it, yeah, but barely. That's how much I used to get, after I was moved into an apartment. At least since it's warm out cold showers aren't that bad right now an' I can just keep a window open until it gets too hot for that." He looked thoughtful. "Do either of you know how much electricity a fan uses?"

Sakura gave him a baffled look. "What?"

I shook my head.

"I'll just have to find Iruka-sensei and ask him," he decided.

Sakura sighed. "Tell Iruka-sensei hi for me if you do, I guess. We should get going before they accuse us of collaborating or something." She started walking back.

Over with his team, Neji was staring at us.

I grabbed Sasuke's bag and followed after her, Naruto trailing after me, speculating out loud on what he should try to stock up on for the time being.

Tenten split from her teammates to join me before I actually reached them. "Your sensei's still making you guys haul everything around like that?" she asked, taking in the bulky bag. "Using seals for storage is more effective."

I didn't know how to answer that particular question, so I shrugged. "Does it matter for this?"

"It can," she answered, though she didn't look entirely sure how to explain it. As we reached the beginning of the treeline, she looked over at me. "You're the one who came up with doing this. How do we start?" In spite of her teammates overriding her before she could counter the idea in the first place, Tenten sounded actually interested in learning. It made sense that she would be, since she actually used weapons on a regular basis. It at least ran parallel to her specialty.

After we were entirely under the canopy of leaves, I looked around, scoping things out, not entirely aware I was doing it until I realized I was slinging the pack off my shoulders and pulling rope and kunai out in one continuous flow of motion.

"Naruto's the best at this," I found myself saying. This wasn't actually wrong, and I let myself just go with the actions instead of trying to fight it.

"After his explanation and your sensei's comments, I figured," Tenten replied, sounding amused. "But I bet you must have picked some of it up besides the academy basics if your team's doing this often enough."

I let myself nod, and got to work.

Like before, I ended up listening to the thoughts that had opinions on what to do and how, and after the first couple of snare traps to catch at unwary arms or legs, I became confident enough to diverge from the suggestions of the dream, and started to try adding things I thought would work, Tenten watching carefully.

After I started to experiment, Tenten began to ask questions, mostly to do with the intent or goal of the various ones I had already set; they were all surprisingly focused on the 'why' rather than 'how', but she must have gotten a good enough idea of that while watching me set them up.

Soon enough, she joined me in setting a few up, and we began to stretch it out further and further from the original part of the woods we started, until I was starting to very carefully edge ours into where I could tell Sakura and Naruto had their own up. I could occasionally hear Naruto and Lee shouting enthusiastically.

The first time we heard them, I looked at Tenten, whose first reaction was to shrug in return. "They sound like they're having fun," she said, thoughtfully, after awhile. "Lee usually likes training no matter what, though."

I shrugged back, trying to ignore the utter silence from the trees Sakura would be in with Neji. She didn't seem to like Neji's behavior, and Neji had only shown serious contempt for all of Team Seven up to and including Kakashi, so it was probably a good thing that it was quiet, instead of filled with shouting and yelling.

In the end, we had ended up creating a series of traps of increasing complexity weaved between the branches, with mostly-safe paths that frequently led to dead ends or would result in zagging suicide runs that ran the risk of being dangerous without enough sustained momentum. For someone who had shown doubts at first and claimed they hadn't done this much, Tenten had caught on quickly. I could only guess that it was because she was supposed to be familiar with most ninja tools by this point, even if in some cases it seemed like some of it was just theory.

I motioned to Tenten to signal that it was the last of what was in the bag, and dropped down from the branch we had wound up on. She followed right after me.

Looking straight up from the ground, it was possible to see the occasional glint of metal among the treetops as the leaves occasionally swayed in the day's warm breeze, letting the sunlight in.

Tenten's smile stretched into a grin as she looked up at it as well. "If this goes well, I'm going to see if I can convince Gai-sensei to let us do this on our own, too. This will be a great way for studying arc movement and practicing blocking with some rigging." She sounded like some of the engineering grad students I knew, right before they were going to try something that had a higher than usual chance of blowing up, breaking down, or destroying itself. By now I recognized the more destructive ones on sight and tried to avoid sitting near them at events, even if free food was on the line.

Maybe Tenten was not so reasonable after all.

We left the cover of the trees. In the time we had spent, the sun had moved across the sky, and Kakashi and Gai had moved to be under the trees covering the path. Kakashi was leaning against one of the tree trunks, facing this way. Conspicuously absent, a stray thought trailed through, was the usual book, before I dismissed it. Sakura and Neji were already ahead of us.

When we joined them, Sakura was seething and Neji gave us a dismissive look. Thankfully, Naruto and Lee emerged from the trees just as we reached them. Neji's hostility was weirdly palpable for a dream.

"You should consider setting some terms," Kakashi said, once Naruto and Lee were close enough to hear him without the need to shout.

Naruto gave him a confused look. "Terms? Huh?"

"Taijutsu only," I said, looking directly at Neji. "Nothing else."

He snorted. "You haven't unlocked the power of your doujutsu yet, have you? Fine. Taijutsu only."

I felt a sudden surge of desire to wipe the smugness and sense of superiority out of him entirely before I did my best to tamp it down. It made no sense to me. Neji wasn't that obnoxious.

Tenten slumped for a moment. "Aw. There goes my ideas. I agree to it, too."

Lee patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry! I am sure we can try them out in the future!"

"Taijutsu's fine with me," Sakura said, through gritted teeth. Neji had apparently really rubbed her the wrong way.

Naruto nodded his head up and down. "Yeah!"

"What a wonderful example of cooperation," Gai said.

Kakashi flapped a hand in Gai's direction dismissively, before he went over everything. "Right. All of you will be going through the course. Three against three. Taijutsu is allowed, but nothing else. The only requirement is to have the last man still in the trees. Landing on the ground puts you out. Gai and I observe to make sure nothing too dangerous happens. Did I miss anything?"

He only received heads shaking at him.

"Well, in you go, then," he said, before standing up from his leaning position to shoo us towards the trees.

We split up back into our original teams and headed for the trees, with a healthy distance between the two groups.

Sakura clenched her hands into fists as Team Gai jumped into the trees a moment before we did. "Ugh. He's actually worse than all the gossip says."

"Who? Neji?" Naruto asked, just before he landed on the first branch.

"He's awful!" Sakura answered. "He's so stuck up! He started asking me about my family and then right after said he didn't understand why I was bothering to waste Kakashi-sensei's time! Because I don't have any 'true' potential." She followed Naruto.

That was impressively galling, but letting her get too keyed up would not help.

"Sakura, take the lead," I said, looking ahead. Everything ahead was trapped.

"What? Why? We just started! Both you and Naruto still have more stamina, if I take the lead now, I'll just slow us down in the long term."

"They're older than us, bigger than us and are more experienced; if it comes down to time they're going to win. We don't need stamina, we need smarts, now move," I said, before I lightly shoved her forward, to force her towards the next branch ahead; I was reasonably sure it wasn't trapped, at least that I could see.

I turned out to be wrong, and Naruto let out a yelp as he quickly lunged to follow Sakura, just barely being missed by a shuriken that shot past the two of us.

I heard a shout of triumph that could only be Lee in the distance, which meant they had crossed their first trap as well.

Sakura immediately started leading us in the direction of Lee's shout.

"Wait, hey, why are we heading right for them?" Naruto asked.

"We need them to see us if we want to try to lure them in," Sakura answered, as she ran down the length of a branch. She leapt across, and ran up the next tree's trunk, just avoiding ninja wire that shone in the light a moment that was almost too late. "They're going to be hunting us, so we need to see them first."

It wasn't long until we crossed paths, and it became clear how much being in the trees was actually in our favor.

The moment they saw us, Lee sped ahead of his teammates and ran straight towards us without bothering to take into consideration anything else, and was clipped across the thigh by a triggered kunai for his effort.

Gai might have needed to beat teamwork into his genin and all of that training meant they would have the advantage for sparring, but we had spent time being chased around, kicked and otherwise thrown out of the treetops by Kakashi while dodging sprung traps, the occasional fireball, and doing our best to avoid getting flattened by the jounin.

"Lee! Are you okay?" Tenten shouted.

Lee immediately jumped backwards, eyes widening. "Yosh!" He turned back towards Neji and Tenten. "I'm fine! I see why they suggested this obstacle course now! It's a true challenge!"

Sakura motioned to me and Naruto to fan out.

Lee turned back, just in time to see her give the command. "Beautiful Sakura-chan! After we win, will you go out on a date with me?"

Sakura did her best to not grimace. "Sorry, I'm not interested in you!"

Lee hung his head. "It was worth a shot."

Without warning, he propelled himself upwards, grabbing onto and shoving up from increasingly thinner branches that cracked and strained under his weight. Finally, he reached one that started to break entirely. From the branch I was standing on, I could see the brief moment where actual annoyance and frustration crossed Lee's face. It was a bit hard to not see his eyebrows crinkle together.

Before both he and the branch dropped, Lee closed his legs tightly together and shoved down from the branch at an angle, pulling his arms tight around him. He was aiming right in my direction, and he gained speed, alarmingly fast.

So far these dreams had been particularly awfully realistic where pain and violence were concerned, and the moment in the show where Lee dropped his weights flashed into my head. Dream or not, I did not feel like getting mildly splattered or squashed.

I bolted just in time.

Lee's momentum, combined with the weights he wore, turned out to be slightly too much as he sheared through the branch I had been on just barely a second ago and ended up making a hard landing on the ground below. Leaves, other forest detritus, and dirt blew upwards around the small crater that formed under him.

Lee stood up, looking staggered and shocked. "I missed?" He looked upwards. "Well done, Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto stared in horror. "What the fuck."

Sakura's eyes widened, and she shouted down at Lee. "Hey! This is supposed to be friendly!"

Tenten groaned.

Neji looked down at his teammate with a contemptuous expression on his face.

"We can still win!" Lee shouted back up to them. He gave them a thumbs up.

Tenten glanced over at Neji, who focused his attention back on us. In spite of myself, I was beginning to want a go at him. I didn't like holier-than-thou attitudes in anyone when I was actually awake, and I sure as hell was getting tired of pretending to tolerate it even barely in something as stupid as this, even if it was from a dumb teenaged boy.

Below me, Sakura and Naruto exchanged nervous looks, before Sakura visibly steeled herself.

Before Tenten or Neji could do anything, Sakura started running again, heading right into a thicker section of traps, leaving Naruto and I to follow after her as she did her best to weave through them all.

I turned back to take a look as we twisted around one tree. In spite of our lead, Neji and Tenten were quickly gaining on us. They didn't have to spend the time to be careful about navigating if they just made sure to follow the exact path as us, and they were faster.

"They're catching up on us," I warned.

"I know!" Sakura shouted. She was taking this seriously, now.

We reached a small gap in the trees, just large enough that the sky was visible above and the sunlight was bright on the grassy ground below, centered on a large fallen log in the middle of the tiny clearing.

Sakura suddenly stalled, frantically motioning for us to stop.

Ninja wire glinted in the light, strung through the whole thing, before it disappeared invisible into the trees.

"Whose idea was this death trap?" I asked.

Naruto laughed. "Whoops?"

"Naruto, we just barely started working with ninja wire!" Sakura half-wailed. "You take lead, I'm not risking it."

"But I thought we were supposed to be learning how to work around this sorta thing since it's an obstacle course for training," Naruto said.

"Right now we're trying to win!" She shoved Naruto forwards to make him jump before Tenten and Neji could close in on us even more than they already had.

With a shout of surprise that midway through turned into a laugh, Naruto let himself fall down to the branch below, before turning around and heading towards the remaining members of Team Gai.

Sakura then shoved me ahead as well, and I was still processing it when I landed.

Why was she taking the rear?

Naruto ran to the very edge of the branch he was on, before he dropped off the branch to hang off of it, making it bend dangerously. He let go, launching himself with a laugh to land against the tree's trunk. The branch swung upwards immediately, once more freed from his weight, and must have triggered something, because shuriken launched outwards, making Tenten and Neji stop, just barely in time.

The brown haired girl swore as we sped off.

"Didya see their faces?" Naruto asked, laughing, as he zigged and zagged on top of and the underside of the branches, occasionally ricocheting off the sides of the tree trunks or running up them. Every now and then he would purposefully shake a tree branch or make one sway, setting off another trap that would force the other two into taking a new route or stop entirely. How he knew where he was going, I had no idea. It was terrifyingly chaotic.

Finally, their luck ran out. I turned when I heard the unexpected sharp ping of ninja wire snapping. It was just barely fast enough to see what happened.

Neji had triggered a trap by trying to brute force a shortcut. I could only guess that he had at last given in to the impatience and frustration at consistently being evaded. Tenten, just behind him, barely had time to dive out of the way, coming to a rolling stop on the grass below. Lee, who had been watching from the log, helped her up.

"That's another of them out," Naruto said, gleefully. "We've got this!"

I wasn't so sure of that. Neji's temper looked like it had completely blown, and he was still gaining on us, no longer caring about whether he was springing wires or not.

It was becoming very clear that the only thing that had kept him at a distance earlier was his teammates. Neji was no longer having to care about their limitations or accidentally causing collateral damage to them, now that Tenten was out of the picture. Instead, all of his focus was on us.

The nightmares where you were hunted by some indomitable force were the ones I disliked the most, and it was not actually helped by that particular creeping horror being disguised as an asshole ninja child with magical eyes. Instead, it was actually a bit worse. He wasn't even a creepy child. The eyes didn't really count.

"I don't think so," I said, when it was becoming clear that even with Naruto having a concerningly intimate understanding of how to navigate this wire-filled hellscape, we just weren't up to the task of keeping away from the angry teenaged Hyuuga coming after us.

We jumped, following Naruto to bound off the side of one tree to reach another one, to make a sharp turnaround. I had just reached the other side when he finally caught up to Sakura, who was still in mid-air.

"Sakura! Watch out!" Naruto shouted in alarm.

It wasn't enough. Neji's open palm shot out, striking Sakura's leg. She shouted out in surprise and pain, and hit the trunk of the tree instead of landing against it, crumpling as she started to fall.

Naruto all but blasted away from the tree he was in, shooting towards Sakura with more speed than he should have had on his own. He had shoved himself off with chakra, I realized. It was the same repelling trick from Wave, which had worked out so poorly for him then. He reached Sakura and wrapped himself around her, right before they hit the ground, tumbling and skidding in a tangle of limbs before they finally stopped.

Neji looked directly at me, his eyes meeting mine. Despite the distance between us, the bulging veins on each temple were visible. He had activated his Byakugan. His lips were contorted into a cruel looking smirk of triumph. The terms of this training game no longer mattered to him.

I wondered if they ever had.

He wasn't the only one capable of being a complete asshole. This was just a dream. Even with the rolling consequences carrying on from dream to dream, they really didn't matter. Neji was an easily solved problem.

My fingers moved from one seal to the other, and I blew out a stream of fire.

He barely moved in time to avoid the full blast.

Before I could turn to keep it directed on him, I was dragged out of the tree, the interrupted flames sending me coughing and sputtering.

"Enough," Kakashi said, before he dumped me on the clearing ground, right in front of the fallen log.

"Fine," I muttered, after I finished hacking up my lungs and stood back up. It was uncomfortably similar to the one and only time I had tried smoking.

"What do you mean, 'enough'?" Naruto asked, angrily. He was supporting Sakura, his arm under one of her shoulders, helping her over to us. "Didn't you see what that jerk did to Sakura?" The two of them had leaves and twigs in their hair still from the rough landing, and Naruto's face was smudged with dirt. There was something wrong with the leg Neji had hit. Whatever he had done, not only did it look like she couldn't put any weight on it, she didn't seem like she could hold it up to keep it from dragging on the ground, either.

"No, he's right," Sakura said, wincing from the pain. "If Sensei's on probation, it's not just going to be him they're paying attention to, is it?"

"The choices we make have consequences," was all Kakashi said in response.

Sakura glanced at me uneasily; no doubt the conversation from earlier was coming back to mind.

Across from us, just outside of the clearing, it looked like a similar conversation was playing out just out of hearing range. From here, it looked like Neji's hair had taken the brunt of the heat, and he showed no sign of contriteness in spite of the serious expression on Gai's face as he spoke to the teenager. Tenten and Lee both looked actively unhappy with Neji.

"What? But that isn't fair! He hurt Sakura-chan, but because Sasuke retaliated, we're the ones who can get in trouble from this?"

"Our lives aren't meant to be fair." Kakashi looked over at Team Gai. "Help Sakura sit down. Make sure that leg is extended and has as little weight on it as possible. Sasuke, come with me."

Naruto and Sakura gave Kakashi a wary look upon hearing that, but he helped Sakura over to the log, where he slowly lowered her down to sit.

Kakashi started to walk to the trees, stopping at the nearest one so he was still in sight of everyone else.

I followed, and ended up standing in front of him. He leaned against the tree.

For what felt like an agonizing length of time, he said nothing, instead staring around at everything: the sky, the ground, the trees, the shuriken and kunai that pierced the trunks and littered the ground. Finally, he pushed his hands into his pockets.

I gave in. "Are you going to say anything?" I finally asked.

"I'd rather not," he answered.

I was completely bewildered. What the hell was that supposed to mean? "Maybe next time, you should figure that out." I turned, and began to walk back towards Naruto and Sakura, neither of whom were paying attention to us, since Naruto was busy fretting over Sakura to the point that she was beginning to look frazzled. Team Gai had also made their return.

Kakashi's hand shot out, faster than I could see, latching onto my arm. Apparently he did have something to say after all. "You need to be careful." That was it, and he let go. He looked awkwardly self-conscious as we walked back; I could only guess that this attempt at a talk completely failed to meet his own expectations, whatever they were.

Sakura and Naruto were bickering by the time we reached them, Sakura trying to force Naruto out of her personal space. It wasn't going so well for her.

"Naruto, you don't need to hover! I'm fine!"

"He killed your leg! What if it spreads upwards?"

"Wha—? I just need to go to the hospital, I'll be okay!" Sakura made one last attempt to shove him away. Her limited range thanks to the lack of mobility meant that Naruto was able to duck barely out of range.

"There probably won't be any permanent damage," Kakashi spoke up.

Gai walked over, giving Sakura a look over before turning his attention to Kakashi. "It's unfortunate this ended with a small training accident," he said, at his usual volume. "Sometimes genin underestimate themselves."

Sakura and Naruto stared at Gai as they realized what was playing out in front of them. While they didn't know what sort of reputation Gai had, it was obvious they were aware that none of this was normal.

Naruto opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Sakura determinedly leaned forward, and yanked him backwards towards her by the waist of his jacket, and slammed a hand over his mouth as she forced him to sit down next to him. His protests were completely muffled, and she kept her hand there until he stopped trying.

Now I was wondering what Gai's talk at his team— at Neji— had actually consisted of.

"Sometimes," Kakashi echoed.

"I'll take Sakura-chan to the hospital," Gai continued. "Unfortunately, it means we'll have to stop entirely, because of the Sandaime's orders." He looked back towards his team. "Consider yourselves dismissed for the day. We'll meet early tomorrow at three to make up for the lost time today. Make sure to rest well!"

As Gai spoke, I vaguely noticed my left arm was starting to feel cold.

Kakashi looked at me and Naruto. "I'll handle the teardown. I'll come for you all the next time we train." That was uncharacteristic.

Neji stared in my direction one last time, eyes narrowed, and then left without saying anything to anyone, walking away into the trees. Soon enough, he was out of sight.

Lee and Tenten walked over.

"I hope you recover quickly, Sakura-chan," Tenten told her, apologetically. "I'd like to spar with you in the near future. Your team seems... interesting." She glanced at Gai, as though to confirm what she said was alright. He gave her an affirmative thumbs-up.

Sakura managed a wan smile. "I think I might have to pass for now, but I'd like that."

"Me too!" Lee added. "If you don't mind, I would like to stop by the hospital to check on you before they close for the night, in case you're still there!"

Sakura blinked, clearly surprised. "Um, sure. I hope I'm not stuck there overnight, but that's okay with me."

Lee grinned, and started to head off, before he turned back. "It was nice to meet you, Naruto-kun!" There was a brief pause, before he added, "And you too, of course, Sasuke-kun." He didn't sound very convincing. He and Tenten left.

Naruto stood up, and looked between the two jounin. "Sakura's going to be okay, right? Is that why you're taking so long?"

"Of course she will be," Gai told him.

"He can't take her to the hospital until the two of you go," Kakashi said.

"Why's that?"

"I'm not supposed to be alone with any of you while I'm on probation."

"...Oh." Naruto's face fell, and he looked between Sakura, Kakashi, and then me. He was visibly torn over what to do.

"We could go to the hospital, too," I suggested.

Naruto immediately perked up, and looked at Sakura. "You won't mind?"

Things faded away in pain.

I woke up slumped over on the couch again, my shoulder completely stiff, out of position, and burning in pain from the inside out. Where the shoulder pain stopped radiating in my upper arm, it shifted over to cold numbness. To add insult to old injury, my head was beginning to throb from the lack of sleep, too.

The television was on again, the screen still black.

My phone was next to me, only half charged. My main alarm hadn't gone off yet; it wasn't supposed to for another half hour. The pain was what had woken me up entirely. Going back to sleep wasn't an option.

I shoved myself off the couch, and limped over to the kitchen. Like my shoulder, my knee was also stiff and throbbing. I set the coffee maker to run, adding more grounds than I usually did, and left to shower, dry-swallowing painkillers when I set out clothes for the day. When I got out, I poured the newly-brewed coffee back in to brew a second time.

It wasn't until the class I TA'd for was done that I actually unlocked my phone to open my school email. The internet browser was filled with dozens of different tabs from the Naruto wiki.

I picked up a fifth of Jack on the way home and slugged half of the bottle before I went to sleep.

Chapter 9: Time to Raise Hell or Walk

Chapter Text

"—think this was their village, with those attitudes," Ino complained.

I barely avoided crashing into Naruto. I had gone from being spinny and light-headed from drinking too much in too short a time, on top of bone-deep exhaustion, to being completely sober and well rested. Combined with the sudden bright late-morning or early-afternoon sunlight and people suddenly around me wasn't the most disconcerting sensation ever, but it was up there.

"Whoa," Naruto went as he stepped out of the way and turned to look at me. "Hey, Sasuke, are you okay?"

"Got lost in my thoughts," I answered. It wasn't entirely a lie; if dreams didn't count for that, I wasn't sure what would. But it still gave me enough time to fully take in my surroundings as I shook my head to reorient myself.

For whatever reason, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were with us. 'Us'. When did I start thinking of myself as part of the same group as Naruto and Sakura?

"Maybe save it for when we aren't on a main street," Shikamaru muttered. He was slouched over, his hands in his pockets.

Sakura looked between him, and me. "Things have been kind of tense since..." She drifted off, meaningfully. She clearly meant Kakashi ending up on probation— and the apparently dramatic way it had been packaged up— but it wasn't clear why she was reluctant to speak up about it until we passed by a group of men and women, some of whom were in uniform, who, when they got a good look at us, exchanged glances between themselves.

After we had passed them by, I could pick up their voices as they spoke, half indistinguishable.

"...Hatake's genin, aren't they…?"

"Of course he'd turn out like his old man..."

"You don't think..."

I wasn't the only one, gauging from the reactions. Naruto's hands clenched into fists, and he bit into his bottom lip, half-frowning. He obviously wanted to say something.

Chouji shook his head at Naruto. "You can't yell at every adult we see," he said, before he pulled out a handful of chips from the bag he was holding.

Sasuke and tomatoes. Chouji and potato chips. I wondered for a moment where— no, not where, how— the geography would even work for those to exist. It didn't really matter, but it was still interesting.

"Watch me," Naruto grumbled, though he didn't push the matter. "I could almost understand why they hate me, but Sensei's supposed to be well-known and has a reputation and all that and they still started acting like this?"

"It's like in the academy," Ino said, sounding thoughtful.

Sakura looked unimpressed. "I thought we were supposed to 'grow out of it' when we got older?"

"What, being hypocrites?" Shikamaru asked, glancing between the girls. "I overhear Tou-san talking to Kaa-san about this stuff sometimes, when he thinks I'm not around or paying attention. A lot of the jounin are just as dumb as the younger academy students sometimes, the way he talks."

Chouji and Ino made faces at this discovery. For Sakura and Naruto, exposed to Kakashi's peculiarities and then Gai's, this was nothing new.

Sakura looked thoughtful at Shikamaru's comment. "Your father's the Jounin Commander, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but don't ask me anything about it or what he thinks or whatever. 'Things the Jounin Commander complains at his wife about' doesn't actually tell you anything interesting and I'd rather not get murdered by my mom if she found out I was saying anything," Shikamaru answered, with an exaggerated shiver. At least, I assumed it was.

"It's boring when they talk work, anyways," Chouji said, half-complaining. "We aren't really supposed to know, but they talk about it anyways, but since we don't know what they're really talking about it's just boring and doesn't make sense. You'd think if they wanted to talk about work so much, they'd just go and do it and leave us alone."

Ino looked frustrated. "Well, maybe they're just trying to spend time with us while they can," she said with surprising heat to her voice. "We're lucky they work in the village, but things can still happen."

Shikamaru looked taken aback, making a face at her. "Don't talk like that," he muttered, sounding unsettled. "It's such a drag."

Naruto looked between me and Chouji, trying his best to convey… something.

I shrugged.

"Why are we talking about this, anyways?" Chouji asked.

"Don't look at me. Ino's the one who made it turn all serious," Shikamaru told him.

"What?" Sakura frowned. "It was already serious before, wasn't it?"

"Not like that." Shikamaru snorted a breath through his nose. "Let's just forget it."

The conversation trailed into silence. At this point I was wondering if we were even actually heading anywhere, or if we were just aimlessly wandering.

"Uh, why don't we grab some store bento and have lunch?" Naruto awkwardly suggested, which ended up answering the question. "We can eat in a park somewhere."

"Sounds good to me," Chouji answered.

"Since when is your go-to idea a store bento?" Ino asked, not quite scoffing. She sounded more baffled, than anything.

Naruto scratched the back of his neck, grinning self consciously. "I'm broke, and if we go to this one mini-shop near the park here up on one of the walkways, they usually have some old bento that are at least half-off. Just avoid the fish ones. The jii-san who runs the place doesn't have a good nose for when the fish has gone bad." The grin transformed into a cringing expression at that, which said more than anyone needed to know. "He's alright besides that, though."

Everyone, myself included, made faces of disgust at that.

"Anyone against Naruto's bento idea?" Sakura asked.

"Fine with me," I said, as Ino shook her head.

"I don't care," was Shikamaru's answer.

Naruto ended up taking the lead, heading up a stairway against a nearby residence that led onto an upper level walkway, only a short rail keeping it from being a steep drop-off on one side. The other was against upper level homes and the occasional storefront, with the rare steep staircase that led to even higher and more rickety levels that looked like they had been added on as an afterthought. Occasionally there was a bridge crossing above the street, connecting the precarious levels to other built-up sections.

There were more people up here than I would have expected, but I wasn't that fond of heights.

Our route ended up being cut off by a trio of teenagers up ahead, in the middle of what appeared to be an argument, or worse. They actually seemed to be surrounding someone, going from the closed off circle they were in and the vague outline of a figure between the breaks between bodies.

Naruto squinted. "Who are those guys?"

"Those are Kiri hitai-ate on their heads. What are they doing here?" Sakura wondered.

"Kiri-nin? Should they even be in the village?" Chouji sounded— and looked— concerned. He had closed his bag of chips entirely. "We should turn around."

Before we could get any closer or anyone had a chance to ask what they were doing, whoever it was in the middle of the cluster of bodies made their move, attacking the brown haired boy closest to the outer railing. All we could make out from our vantage point was them being pushed back, probably from being punched, and then a sandaled foot striking out that sent them toppling over the railing and then down to the street below.

There were cries of alarm from the ground.

The mystery fighter didn't stop there, however; he or she moved right from that to evading an attempted grappling from the teen that was right next to the building wall. Water briefly glistened in the air before there was the sound of a body smacking against liquid— a harsh slapping noise— that forced that one into a hard spin from the force. It was followed by a sharp knee right into that teenager's groin that had all of the boys wincing in sympathy.

"I told you to fuck off!" That was a particularly aggravated teenaged boy's voice.

Instead of waiting for an actual reply though, another flurry of movement— still blocked by the remaining standing figure of the three who had been the original aggressors— dropped the final teenager, who fell over with a moan.

As if to punctuate his point, the remaining teenager— white haired and angry looking— pulled a water bottle from off of his belt, chugged it, and then smashed it onto the last fallen teen's head before looking at us. A Kiri hitai-ate was tied loosely on top of the belt, hanging slightly from his hip.

"What do you think you're looking at?" Houzuki Suigetsu asked us, still scowling.

"A real asshole," Naruto answered.

Sakura looked a mix between impressed and affronted.

Chouji didn't look that happy at the fact that we had his attention. I could only imagine that the fact we watched him lay out three other people single-handedly without any real apparent effort had to do something with it.

"Foreign nin aren't supposed to be fighting inside our walls," Shikamaru answered, sounding annoyed; it was probably at himself, for attempting to be responsible. "Who are you?"

Suigetsu scoffed. "If I didn't, they were going to start it anyway. I'm Houzuki Suigetsu. You're just lucky I didn't actually finish them."

Ino made a face. "You kicked one of them onto the street. You could have killed him."

"So?" Suigetsu leaned over, and ripped the hitai-ate off of the teenaged boy that was collapsed against the wall. He then chucked it over the side, where we could see it hit his first opponent square in the forehead.

He screamed. "Fuck you, Houzuki!"

"See? Still alive," Suigetsu said. He looked like he was trying to be more flippant than he actually was. In spite of his words and actions, he was still eyeing us, gauging our reactions. It was all a show.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm Nara Shikamaru, and this is Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino."

Ino crossed her arms, straightening to stand at her full height. She didn't look that happy at either Shikamaru deciding to do their introductions or Suigetsu now knowing her name.

"Oh, you're a genin team," Suigetsu said, sounding unimpressed. "You three actually spend time together willingly?"

Naruto made a face. "Hey, my team hangs out when we're not training, too."

"Fine, the Leaf is filled with over-friendly brain-dead idiots," Suigetsu snarked.

"Compared to aggressive brain-dead idiots?" Sakura asked, getting angry. "You're the one asking for trouble. You can't even put up with your own comrades in a foreign village."

"They aren't my comrades," he shot back.

Naruto gave him a confused look, before glancing at everyone else to see if we had any idea of what that was supposed to mean. We were just as at much of a loss, if not more. Then again, Kiri was pretty messed up in the series and Suigetsu did get snatched by Orochimaru somehow. So maybe that played into it.

"If you keep throwing tantrums like this, you're going to end up getting attention you don't want," I said calmly. "We're going to grab food and eat in a park. Why don't you join us, before you get yourself thrown out the village gates."

Suigetsu looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon and got smacked in the face with a rolled up newspaper at the same time.

I felt somewhat awkward as I realized the others had their attention split between me and him, waiting for a response. It was unexpectedly tense.

"Whatever," he said, though the anger from earlier had fizzled out, leaving only defensiveness. "It isn't like I know where to get food here that won't charge me extra because I'm not from around here."

"The hitai-ate and pointy teeth kind of give it away," I said, blandly.

"Wait, he has pointy teeth?" Naruto suddenly said. Without warning, he rushed over to Suigetsu, stepping over the still-groaning Kiri genin on the ground between us, and tried to stick his hands in Suigetsu's mouth to check, getting far too close for comfort for the other shinobi.

"What the fuck, get off of me!" Suigetsu said. Or at least that's what I guess he was trying to say. He was trying to fend Naruto off with far less poise than he had shown with the other Kiri-nin.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

Shikamaru dragged a hand down his face and groaned. "Why..."

"It is kinda funny," Chouji said, watching.

Naruto yelled as Suigetsu bit him on the hand. That had taken far longer than it should have. I could only guess that pride— or maybe some unexpected sense of hygiene— had some role to play in Suigetsu not biting down sooner. It was probably one thing to have weird teeth, but perhaps it was another to use them. Maybe he had no idea what to make of an obvious genin who was willing to stick his hands into a foreigner's mouth. Then again, I couldn't actually remember seeing any of the ninja from Kiri in the show who had sharp teeth actually biting anyone.

Naruto backed away, shaking his hand and sending droplets of blood into the air before he gripped it with his other one in an attempt to staunch the blood. "They really are sharp!"

"Sorry about our idiot," Shikamaru deadpanned.

Suigetsu spat onto the floor and glared at Naruto. "Keep your hands to yourself, you weirdo!" In spite of this unexpected assault, he didn't seem angry enough to kick up another fight.

"We should probably get going before all of us get in trouble," I decided to say.

Ino looked over the railing. "I'm surprised no one's shown up yet. That kid's still down there."

"You first," Suigetsu said, eyeing Naruto cautiously.

I ended up walking over, trying to not step on the unconscious teenager on the floor, and grabbed Naruto's wrist, pulling him past Suigetsu, who eyed him cautiously. "Food was your idea," I reminded him.

"Oh yeah," he went, willingly being dragged. "We aren't that far away."

"Sorry about Naruto," Sakura said, looking at Suigetsu. She had rebounded back into being apologetic, despite Suigetsu's continued attitude that was more reminiscent of 'wet cat' than anything else. "I'm Haruno Sakura, and those two are Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hi," I said, flatly, after I could feel his stare boring into the side of my face. I decided to ignore it.

"I'm going to become Hokage someday," Naruto announced. "Believe it."

"With what survival instinct," Suigetsu grumbled under his breath. "You'll be lucky to survive to make chuunin if that's what you do to strangers."

"I don't know," Ino said, lightly. "Naruto can be pretty convincing at times. He could really do it."

I— and everyone else— turned to look at her at that comment. In my case, since I was still pulling Naruto by the wrist, it was so quick that Naruto ended up tripping, barely saving himself from stumbling entirely. Even he looked a bit confused that someone else from the academy was saying it.

It still didn't stop him from beaming though. "Really? Thanks, Ino!"

That only made the doubt on everyone else's faces deepen.

Ino made a face, before tilting her head up. "Fine, don't believe me." Somehow, it came off as more definitive than Naruto's usual exclamation.

"Whatever," Shikamaru said.

We finally came across the mini-mart Naruto had talked about, and I was mildly surprised by its appearance. It reminded me of the tiny neighborhood shops a block away from one of my uncles' houses, where someone's tia or abuela usually hocked cheap candies and snacks from either a window or a side room with its own door to the outside to the local kids. Sometimes with the latter they had a muggy looking fridge for cold drinks and food.

In this case, it looked like the latter. The door and large window showed obvious signs of being added later, and the small room— packed mostly with shelves of snacks and small sundry goods, one wall given up for freezers and fridges with glass doors— had an archway that was partially hidden by the cloth divider hanging over it. There wasn't even a real counter space; instead there was an elderly man, balding and leathery from a life in the sun, lightly snoring behind a rickety table with a cash-box behind him. There was no register in sight.

It probably wasn't even running legally, but I doubted the owner— and anyone who stopped here— actually cared.

As we filtered in through the door, everyone except Naruto was giving the place unsure looks. I let go, and he immediately made a bee-line for one of the fridges in the back.

"Hey, hey, I brought people with me, can I get a discount since they're buying stuff?" Naruto asked, loudly.

The old man startled, and for a moment there was a kunai in his hand, before he fully roused, looked at us, and set it on one side of the table, which immediately tilted. "No discounts," he answered, just as loudly, before he nodded right back off again.

It was honestly impressive.

Stopping at one of the fridges, Naruto pouted. "It was worth a shot," he grumbled, before he opened its door. He crouched, and started to look at the packaged food containers that were at the very bottom, their fronts labelled with red stickers.

"How'd you even find this place?" Sakura quietly asked, seeming to not want to wake the old man until it came time to pay.

"Ducked in here to evade some chuunin when I got them with a prank one day," Naruto said with a grin. "They didn't even think to check."

There was a crinkle of plastic as Chouji investigated one of the middle shelves. "I didn't even know some of these flavors existed," he said. For someone who enjoyed food, he didn't sound like he was actually thrilled by this. He held up a bag of potato chips to show to Shikamaru.

"Coffee flavor?" Shikamaru read out loud. "Chouji, those are three months past their best by-date."

Suigetsu made a face. "That sounds gross."

"I'm going to buy them," Chouji decided.

Ino made a sound of disgust.

"I need to know," was his only answer. "Hey, should I get the peppermint or Iron Country Spice flavored ones too?"

"What's 'Iron Country Spice' even supposed to be?" Naruto asked, comparing two bento.

"I don't know," Chouji answered. "Maybe spicy?"

"Don't get either," I spoke up. The idea of peppermint potato chips was too horrible for me to want to think about, and if the second was a mystery it seemed too risky. I yanked a random bento out from a stack above Naruto's head, and backed away to let any of the others look if they wanted.

Eventually, everyone had managed to pick something or other up, and we ended up paying the old man, who loudly counted the change out where it was necessary. At the sight of Suigetsu's hitai-ate, he loudly proclaimed, "No refunds!" That was interesting on its own.

Suigetsu looked extremely tempted to say something, but apparently decided to hold off, instead choosing to dump the money on the table for the bento and giant bottle of green tea he had picked out, and tried to edge out of the building as quick as he could; it was probably in the event the proprietor decided to change his mind about selling to a Kiri-nin.

"You forgot your change!" the man shouted just as Suigetsu reached the store's threshold. He froze, eyes widening and then narrowing as he turned around just barely in time to catch the coins thrown at him, juggling the tea bottle in an attempt to not drop anything.

"Are you really going to drink all that on your own?" Sakura asked, giving the large bottle a skeptical look. Unlike Suigetsu, who was the only one who had actually been menaced, she had a paper bag to hold what we got. Sakura and I had combined our purchases with Naruto to get food and one of the larger bottles of tea to share as well, before we subtly and wordlessly dumped extra change back on Naruto, who hadn't noticed that we had given him more than he should have gotten back.

"Yeah," he answered, defensively.

To my personal horror and disgust— and everyone else's as well— Chouji had ended up buying all three bags of potato chips. I didn't want to think about how any of those would taste.

After that, we returned down to the street on the ground.

Chouji's questionable chips had ended up becoming an ice-breaker, since the others— Suigetsu included— were arguing with increasing heat over what other terrible flavors could possibly exist. Chouji was getting flustered at some of them.

"Strawberry flavor," Shikamaru said, with some thought.

Sakura shook her head. "No, it's okay as a fake flavor, it couldn't be that bad. Maybe nattou?"

"Strong, but it'd be an old people flavor," Ino said, dismissively.

"I know," Suigetsu announced. "Naruto flavor." He nudged what he was carrying towards his chest to be able to point at Naruto directly.

Naruto puffed his cheeks out. "What! Just because narutomaki is an ingredient," he said, making sure to emphasize the full name of the food in question, "it doesn't mean I'm food!"

"Then why'd you stick your hand in my mouth!?"

"I wanted to look at your teeth!"

"You didn't have to put your hand in my mouth! That's not normal! Is there anything actually in your head?"

"It's mostly just thoughts about ramen," I spoke up, before Naruto could defend himself.

"I'm not that bad," he grumbled.

"Yes, you are," was echoed back at him in some form or another.

Naruto didn't have a chance to retort, because something down the side street we were crossing caught his attention, making his eyes go wide. He waved both his arms, as his face broke into a wide grin. "Hey! Hey! Look! It's Zabuza! And Haku! HEY! Sensei! What are you doing with them!?"

Sakura and I twisted, turning to look in that direction, which only led to more questions.

That was Haku, yes, smiling in our general direction, giving a much more sedate single-handed wave in return to Naruto's enthusiastic one. And that was Kakashi, with everything about his body language and what was visible of his face was all but screaming how much he did not actually want to be doing… whatever it was he was doing. And that was Zabuza, too. But what had me staring was the fact that he was wearing the blue and white hat of the Mizukage, and a white haori over his clothes. His immense sword was strapped over it, resting on his back.

I had no idea how the hell that had happened. It didn't make sense. This wasn't something I could possibly come up with; just like that, I came back to my senses.

I had completely forgotten this was a dream.

Suigetsu was staring at Naruto in disbelief. "You know them? How?" he demanded, as he shifted the bottle of tea under one armpit and the bento into the crook of that side's elbow to free up his hands. He swept the now completely freed arm out in emphasis.

Shikamaru had one eyebrow raised, looking between Suigetsu and Team Seven, and Zabuza, Haku, and Kakashi. "I don't want to know," he said, finally. Chouji was looking at Ino with some visible concern, since she looked far more flabbergasted and confused than Shikamaru. If anything, her level of confusion was at least matching mine.

"Ah, there you are," Kakashi said, trying and failing to fill his voice with his usual apathetic levity when he was about to dump something on us. "As you can see, I'm no longer on probation. It seems you three have ran into our current mission by chance. We're in charge of assisting the Kirigakure delegation from Wave while they are here for the chuunin exams. I'm sure you remember Zabuza-sama." This last part was said through gritted teeth, as though he didn't want to say this out loud at all. It was probably only remnants of whatever professionalism Kakashi had that even made the words come out in the first place.

Sakura, unlike Naruto, was not taking this well, her earlier smile frozen on her face rictus-like, staring at the hat. It was only that that reminded me of what she had actually said that ended up stopping the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza from happening in the first place. She was clearly remembering it herself. Hidden villages needed people to be villages, or something along those lines. And Kakashi's mention of them being a delegation from Wave…

That, combined with Suigetsu's angry comments when he insisted the Kiri-nin he had ended up fighting against weren't his comrades... everything fell together.

Sakura hadn't just accidentally encouraged revolution. She had, entirely without meaning it, inspired Zabuza to declare a splinter government. A second Kiri. It was still a revolutionary action, but very, very different from trying to directly usurp power. And by showing up here, wearing that hat, he was claiming legitimacy in a way that was impossible to ignore at all with the upcoming chuunin exams.

The swordsman standing in front of us was clearly revelling in the chaos of this conversation happening in the streets, given the amount of doubletakes from both passing chuunin and jounin and those that were shameless enough to stop either in the road or on nearby rooftops, balconies, and walkways. The amount of people who had just overheard this alone meant there was no way it wouldn't spread.

It was grade-A shitstirring on Zabuza's part, only made more blatant by the fact that Haku, standing by his side, appeared completely unaffected by the obvious staring going on.

"I see you've met Naruto-kun and his friends, Suigetsu-kun," Haku said, smiling placidly. "I hope he's had a chance to show you around his village."

Suigetsu's expression immediately turned into one of fury the moment Haku addressed him. "That idiot stuck his hand in my mouth!"

"Yeah? You bit me for it!"

Kakashi let out a quiet sigh as Naruto and Suigetsu escalated into bickering, but didn't even bother to make any comments about it, sly or otherwise. Instead, he went with a reprimand. "Naruto... please treat the foreign ninja with respect while they're within our walls."

Naruto actually shut up, looking sheepish, before he apparently circled back to Kakashi's earlier words, beaming at Haku and Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama, Haku-sempai, these are some of our former classmates from the academy," Sakura said, still looking a little dazed, but trying to follow some kind of social convention. "Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Chouji Akimichi."

None of them seemed to know exactly what to do with being introduced like this; Shikamaru scuffed the side of his sandal on the ground, and Ino's confusion was still evident, not even hidden under her attempt at a smile. Chouji was actually the only one who seemed to be handling it, holding a hand up in greeting, and even that was awkward and self-conscious.

Haku smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you all," he said, while Zabuza said nothing, only observing them.

Naruto seemed to have finally processed what Kakashi had said earlier, bouncing lightly on his feet as he grinned. "Hey, hey, wait, you guys are here for the chuunin exams?"

"I decided it would make a good entrance," Zabuza said, overly casual. There was a gleam in his eyes, though. "Haku was never actually a genin of Kirigakure before I left Water. I decided it would make sense for him to earn chuunin by merit, because of this. It'd look bad if I decided to just give him a promotion on my own." He put two fingers to the brim of the hat, almost mockingly.

"Zabuza-sama gave me one of his hitai-ate when he decided I was fit to join him in battle," Haku said. I wasn't sure if it was the presence of Team Ten or Zabuza's apparently self-given promotion that warranted the suffix upgrade. He had done it the first time, when Zabuza had called him in to introduce himself, but that had been showing off.

"Suigetsu-kun will be one of my teammates when the exams begin." If it weren't for the three-member team requirement, I imagined that Haku would be able to easily blitze the whole thing on his own. He wasn't a genin by any sense of the word. Zabuza looked in Suigetsu's direction, who immediately bristled again. "Where is our third team member?"

"I left him behind in our room at the inn, Haku-sempai," Suigetsu said, looking sulky. He didn't seem to like Haku that much, but unlike with us, or even the Kiri-nin from earlier, he wasn’t willing to cross into outright hostility. Then again, even without taking into consideration just how skilled Haku was, it was a particularly demented Pokemon set-up. Water-types were weak to ice-types. Or was it the other way around? Whichever it was, I was pretty sure that if it came down to a fight between them, Haku would be able to turn Suigetsu into a particularly cranky paleta.

Zabuza waved a hand dismissively before Haku had a chance to answer. Haku was actually looking slightly unimpressed by Suigetsu over that reply. It seemed like they were having some teamwork issues, to put it mildly. "Choujuurou shouldn't need to follow the Houzuki kid everywhere."

"I'm old enough to look after myself, Zabuza-sama," Suigetsu gritted out. "I'm not a kid."

"No, you're a little bloodthirsty demon all on your own. It just can't be inside this village."

Suigetsu opened his mouth to make a retort, but looked like he thought better of it.

"So you weren't supposed to be beating up other Kiri-nin?" Sakura asked, putting her hands on her hips. She seemed to have mostly recovered from her earlier shock, if she was willing to be disapproving like that again.

Suigetsu stared at her with a mix of upset and rising anger, but before he could speak up, Zabuza began to laugh.

"No more temper tantrums because your nii-san isn't around to help you clean them up?" Zabuza asked, still laughing. "As long as you keep it non-fatal, I won't have a problem. We're not trying to be the 'Bloody Mist', after all." Normal aggression was completely fine, though, it seemed.

Suigetsu's hands curled into fists. "Understood, Zabuza-sama."

Apparently deciding to ignore all of this, Kakashi spoke up. Probably to try to defuse the situation, I could only guess. "I might as well tell you three now. I nominated Team Seven for the exams. I'll give you the paperwork eventually."

Shikamaru looked at Kakashi, and then at us, with an expression of extreme doubt on his face. He wasn't bothering to voice it— in front of Team Seven's jounin-sensei and then the foreign-nin— but it was extremely clear what he was thinking.

"You guys? Really?" Chouji asked, holding the bag from the mini-shop close to his chest. "Aren't they supposed to be dangerous sometimes? If you three are going to be in it, did Asuma-sensei nominate us, too?"

Ino was biting down on her lip, looking between Chouji and Kakashi. She almost looked like she wanted to say something, but was holding back for whatever reason.

Kakashi held his hands up, to forestall any more questions from them. "They can sometimes be dangerous. As for your team, I'm not the one to ask. Only the jounin-sensei of the genin teams in question are supposed to be the ones announcing whether they were nominated or not." That was oddly vocally normative for him, but we still had a large audience, and Kakashi was probably on thin-ice to begin with when it came to creative interpretation.

Shikamaru sighed. "This is too troublesome. C'mon, let's go," he said, to Chouji and Ino. "So much for a 'morning off' and 'easy day'," he groused.

"Huh?" Ino went. She blinked, before she turned to look at Shikamaru. "Yeah, sure." She didn't sound particularly enthusiastic. She held a hand up, to give a small wave goodbye. "It was nice to meet you, Suigetsu-kun. Stop by the flower shop later, Sakura?" She eyed Zabuza and Haku awkwardly, apparently unsure of what to say or do. Meeting a foreign kage— especially one who was self-anointed but somehow had enough people with him and backing to warrant being dealt with on a political level instead— and their student was probably beyond even Ino's mien to handle.

"Oh, sure," Sakura answered. "I hope your team got nominated for the exams, too."

Ino gave a thin, unsure-looking smile. "Me too."

Chouji gave a shrug. "Thanks for showing us that shop, Naruto," he said. "We should stop by there again and try a bunch of the weird flavors together."

Naruto beamed. "Yeah! Just not that weird peppermint one you got." His smile faltered at the idea. My stomach fluttered uncomfortably at the idea of actually eating it.

"Nah, I'll make Shikamaru try it with me."

"What? No way. I'm out of here," Shikamaru said. "Bye." He left, going at a fast paced walk. Probably to get away from the peppermint potato chips.

With that, the rest of Team Ten left, before they could manage to lose Shikamaru to him speeding ahead for what was probably the first time in their lives.

"Now that we've found my genin and one of your lost ninja," Kakashi said, very carefully, "why don't we return to the inn your delegation is staying at?"

"You don't like the show?" Zabuza asked, snorting, as he motioned at the onlookers. His words travelled far enough to successfully shame a handful of ninja on a balcony overhanging the street, who exchanged glances with each other before leaping off in the opposite direction.

"Not really," Kakashi said, toneless.

Zabuza shrugged. "Works with me. Your Hokage would probably feel better with me off of his streets." He sounded amused. "I should probably make sure the rest of them know you'll be our point of contact while we're here. We don't want more 'incidents'."

Suigetsu didn't look too happy at the idea. Neither, for that matter, did Kakashi or Sakura.

Naruto cast a longing glance at the paper bag with our lunch that Sakura was still holding. "Could we join you later? We kinda got food and I'd really like to eat first..."

Kakashi sighed. "Fine," he said. Kakashi was clearly suffering more than he usually did. It was kind of fascinating to watch, in a masochistic sort of way.

"Zabuza-sama, do you mind if I join them?" Haku politely asked, looking up at the older ninja. "While I'm sure Suigetsu-kun would be able to lead them to where we're staying, it would be nice to catch up with Naruto-kun and his friends."

"Go," was Zabuza's response.

It sounded more like an order than a real answer, but the polite smile Haku had been wearing most of the time turned into a more genuine one, just slightly more upturned at the corners of his mouth and reaching his eyes. Haku didn't waste any time in moving to stand by Naruto, who immediately beamed upwards at the older boy.

Suigetsu's shoulders slumped, and he sucked in one cheek in obvious annoyance. Someone's plans had been ruined, I guessed.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, enthusiastic and earnest. I had a strong suspicion that today would be a high-ranking one for Naruto, if he was the sort to do that. Food— even if it wasn't ramen, since Kakashi off probation meant he wouldn't have to scrimp as much for the near future— and friends. Including a new one, though I think if Suigetsu was aware that by being willing to stay in Naruto's vicinity he was signing up for that particular friendship he would have bolted at the start. As it was, it was probably already too late for him.

Now that that was settled, Naruto took off, happily chattering to Haku and Suigetsu about different things about the village that managed to be informative but completely useless for hostile or sinister intent at the same time. It was mostly to do with what places had good prices for cheap foods, the different flavors of cup ramen he had found at one shop, the time he had accidentally bought a whole fish because of some misunderstanding— which made Sakura shoot him a look of confusion— and various stories of times he had skipped out from the academy or had pulled a prank on unsuspecting members of the village, whether they were ninja or civilian.

Suigetsu was looking increasingly baffled as to how Naruto had earned his hitai-ate in the first place.

Sakura kept shooting what were supposed to be discreet looks at Haku and Suigetsu, before she finally pulled me off to the side, following the others from a short distance.

"Did we—" she cut herself off, before she actually finished her sentence, and waved vaguely at Haku and Suigetsu, a plaintive expression on her face.

"I think so," was all I said.

Sakura gave me an alarmed look. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

I shrugged back.

She made a sound of frustration, and lapsed into silence.

"Hey, why are you guys back there?" Naruto asked, turning his head towards us, as he led us down another street. "We're almost there, it's right around—"

"Naruto, pay attention to where you're—" Sakura attempted to warn.

"You think Konoha wouldn't just leave their trash lying around," a disdainful teenaged boy's voice said, speaking up.

I turned towards the sound of the voice. Whatever else was going on with this dream, it was almost reassuring to see the Sand siblings show up, if not in the same way as the series. The only odd part was Baki was with them— or at least it was until I realized that they were in front of a storefront that had posters up saying it sold 'Authentic Konoha Goods', with some tables and a shopkeeper out in front. I wasn't sure if the idea of some of them souvenir hunting made more sense or less, until I noticed that only Temari and Baki actually looked like they had done any kind of shopping. Gaara was staring at us— no, Haku and Suigetsu, I corrected— unnervingly and unblinking. Kankurou looked like a very typical grumpy teenager forced into an unwanted shopping trip, even with all the facepaint.

"You shouldn't be so impolite to other genin," Haku said, smiling, as he offered a hand up to Naruto, who took it and got back up on his feet. It didn't meet his eyes. "We're all here to participate and foster good relationships between our villages, aren't we? It'd be a shame if you managed to fail at that single-handedly."

Kankurou's eyes darted to look at the symbol on Haku's hitai-ate. "Since when was Kiri participating in this exam?"

"We arrived with the Mizukage early this morning," Haku answered serenely.

"Wait, where are you from?" Naruto asked. He looked at Kankurou with a momentary grumpy look on his face, before he looked back to where Temari, Baki, and Gaara were. When his eyes set on Gaara, a rare and dangerous expression lit up on his face. Naruto was thinking. It almost immediately shifted into an eager one of delight, and Naruto suddenly started to move in Gaara's direction, only to be blocked by a suddenly angry and fearful looking Kankurou.

"What do you think you're doing!?" he half-shouted, as she shoved Naruto back.

"Hey! Hey!" Naruto yelled over Kankurou's shoulder. "You! With the red hair! What's your name?"

Gaara only stared at Naruto, his expression having not changed at all. There was the faintest sound of sand shifting, and the lightest touch of grit as sand pulled itself from the road and the sandals I was wearing. It was like the initial flutter of movement that sometimes came before the first blast of a spring sandstorm, but the lack of a breeze only made it feel unsettling.

I wasn't the only one who noticed it, it seemed; Temari shifted, moving out of a neutral standing position as she looked at Gaara warily, and Baki, his face hard, stepped forward. Sakura yanked Naruto away from Kankurou. Suigetsu was looking at the Suna-nin with poorly-disguised alarm written on his face. Haku appeared perfectly calm.

To my surprise— and everyone else's— Gaara replied to him. "Gaara."

Naruto looked visibly disappointed. "Just Gaara? Oh. I heard that Uzumaki usually had red hair and that's my family name and…" He left the sentence drift off, a rare bout of self-consciousness boring down on him. "I just thought…"

"Sunagakure is a very long way from where Uzushio used to be," Baki spoke. His words sounded carefully picked and neutral, especially with the tension in the air in mind. "It's doubtful any member of that clan would have travelled that far."

Kankurou stared at Naruto for a moment. "You actually thought—" He burst into slightly hysterical laughter, unable to finish what he was saying.

A hand slapped onto his shoulder in warning made him stop. "Stop taunting the foreign-nin, Kankurou," Temari said. "I'm Temari, and this is our jounin-sensei, Baki. Who are you all?" She blushed lightly.

I immediately decided to at least pretend it was Haku who had caused that.

"Houzuki Suigetsu," Suigetsu answered shortly. He was still looking at them with concern— Gaara most of all. At some point in the last couple of minutes he had gone from being near the front of the group to standing behind Haku.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said, managing to scrape most of the cheer that he had lost back into his voice. "And these are my teammates, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke."

I was beginning to really get tired of the repeat staring that brought. Unfortunately for me, Temari only blushed even more at finding out 'my' name. Considering she was actually a teenager and a few years older than Sasuke, it just added another layer of weird to the whole thing.

Haku looked at the Suna-nin with some consideration on his face. "You're the Kazekage's children, aren't you?" Temari looked startled at the comment; apparently that connection wasn't supposed to be made by most people here. Even the casual way Haku had mentioned it had resulted in attention on this street suddenly focusing even more on us than it already was. "My name is Haku; Zabuza-sama—" he caught himself, "the Mizukage— and I are supposed to meet with your father when he arrives here."

Baki's expression immediately shifted into one of consternation, frowning, despite the fact that he had shown no sign of being put off just moments earlier at the possibility of Gaara being set off by Naruto. "You're part of the missing-nin group that's appeared in Wave."

Haku only smiled. "We are fully sanctioned and funded by the Daimyo of Wave with his blessing instead of operating by force. That is more than Karatachi Yagura can say of his village in Water."

Baki looked like he regretted making that comment.

"I think that makes us more deserving of calling ourselves Kirigakure, don't you? I hope we will be able to find allies in both Konoha and Suna's leadership." His smile showed teeth this time.

Temari looked uncomfortable at the comment, shifting uneasily where she stood, and exchanged a glance with an unsure-looking Kankurou before finally speaking. "I'm sure O-tou-san and your... Zabuza-sama will be able to have a long conversation." She seemed reluctant to actually call Zabuza Mizukage; whether it was more a fit of impoliteness because Haku had outed them like that or not wanting to accidentally affirm Haku's claims from what could end up being seen as validation from the Kazekage was the question.

While Haku didn't seem to be thriving off of it in the same way as Zabuza, he was still showing skill in saying the exact sort of things to push buttons and catch attention. It was supposed to, I realized. They were probably aiming not just to make as many people know before the chuunin exams actually started, but between actively putting to words not just the ability to question the validity of Yagura's rule and the original Kiri's legitimacy but put it into people's heads in the first place… It would be, in reality, incredibly risky politics to get away with. I wondered exactly how good at understanding politics most ninja would actually be, before I decided that it was a dumb thought to even have in the first place, dreaming about it or not.

Regardless, he was putting the Suna-nin, with the exception of Gaara, into a position where they were only looking more and more uncomfortable looking with the maneuvering he was using.

"I'm bored of this," Gaara announced, which startled his siblings into actual nervousness. "There's no point to talking about any of it."

"Uh, yeah," Kankurou said, in what had to be the most interesting combination of frayed nerves and actual relief that I had ever considered. "You're right."

"We were already done here anyways," Temari said, her attention split between looking at Gaara and Haku; she clearly wasn't entirely sure of what to make of the other teen. "We were going to return where we were staying, weren't we, Baki-sensei?" With that, she smoothly shoved responsibility onto the only adult.

"If any of you are taking part in the chuunin exams, I wish you the success you deserve," Baki said, which Gaara seemed to take as a cue for being able to leave, forcing his siblings to follow in his wake.

This was at least something Naruto could actually understand. Or at least partially understand. "Yeah! We're gonna be there! And we're gonna win!" Naruto shouted at their retreating figures. He dropped his voice to be slightly quieter. "This is something we can win, right?"

The last thing we could hear from the Suna-nin was Kankurou loudly asking, "How the hell did an idiot like that get nominated?" before they turned down another street, and were completely out of view and hearing.

"Can we quit before it starts?" Suigetsu asked, still staring at the spot we had last seen them. "There's something wrong with that red-headed kid."

"Yeah, he was kinda weird," Naruto agreed. "Maybe he didn't get enough sleep or something. He looked kinda tired, didn't he?"

"Weird isn't the right word," Suigetsu grumbled.

"We're not quitting," Haku answered, voice firm. "He is someone to watch out for, though, I agree. They might have a jounin leader, but Baki wasn't the one making the decisions. Their focus was on keeping him placated. When Naruto-kun approached them too quickly, the jounin's attention was focused on Gaara."

"I didn't agree to this to get killed by some Suna creep…" Suigetsu leaned over in a slouch, voice sulky.

"Do you really think he's that dangerous?" Sakura asked, looking between the two of them.

"They can't really do anything if they're here for the exams, can they? And c'mon, if we keep stopping like this, we're never going to get to eat." Naruto shrugged, and started to walk again. "I'm starving, I skipped breakfast." As if to underpin it, his stomach actually gurgled.

"We were told before we left that the chuunin exams can be fatal," Haku explained. "It's not always due to the other genin, but Zabuza-sama made selections for who would come with that in mind. The original Kirigakure wasn't planning to send anyone to this season's exams in order to prepare for a stronger show in the next one, but since they've found out we were coming..." Haku smiled. "Any genin teams they send this time will be either unprepared or will be chuunin young enough to easily pass as genin."

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Why would they send chuunin?"

"Because of us," Suigetsu answered. "That and to spy on everyone else, but mostly us. If they beat or kill us, they think it will eliminate most of the threat we pose." He snorted at the idea.

"Suigetsu-kun is actually the youngest member of our delegation, but he's already very skilled. His older brother used to be a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist alongside Zabuza-sama."

Naruto's attention immediately became directed at Suigetsu. "Hey, hey, you have a brother? Is he cool like Zabuza?"

The white-haired boy stiffened, and, glowering at Naruto, icily said, "My brother's dead."

Naruto grimaced, and held his hands up in apology. "Sorry, sorry. He must have been, though, right?"

"Just shut up," Suigetsu snapped.

All conversation died off, and Naruto didn't say anything even when we finally reached the park.

I woke up the couch again, with my phone on my chest.

I stared at my phone, trying to force my brain into thinking. Friday. I didn't have to do anything today. No class. Nothing for the English department. Nothing for the college. Not even any grad events.

I clawed the fuzzy blanket that hung over the side of the couch down, not even bothering to sit up, and immediately went back to sleep, occasionally waking up from the work being done near my building, and when the sun shifted and hit me in the face.

I napped until late afternoon, and even then was still exhausted.

Chapter 10: The Wolves Are Watching

Chapter Text

"This is my fourth year." There was something about that delivery that made me angry that was the first thing I had to hear this time. Maybe it was the way it reminded me of the stuck up senior undergrad in the class I TA'd who casually tried to use his few years advantage to show off that he actually had no idea what he was talking about or something else, but it irked me entirely. The fact that Kabuto was a ridiculously impactful villain in the series barely made a difference.

The exam hall was crowded, filled with enough bodies that I couldn't help but imagine how warm it would be if it was real. In a hall this size, without anything but the most powerful air conditioning, even a winter day would become uncomfortably stultifying from the heat. I had a hard time believing that a ninja village would have effective air conditioning. This was the first time I wanted a refund on these dreams for less dramatic reasons, but it also reminded me that I probably should fish out my portable unit when I woke up if I was actually dreaming about overheating. It was starting to get warm for real, and my apartment complex, to my eternal woe, didn't check the built-in units and turn them on until late April.

"Are we supposed to be impressed by that?" I asked. Next to me, Kiba barely stifled a snort. Even with everything that had gone off course so far with these dreams, it looked like the gathering of the rookie teams was inevitable for this exam. While most of them looked nervous to some degree or another, Ino looked like she was holding back on something. She wasn't trying to get into my space, so I was more than willing to accept whatever it was.

Kabuto looked taken back; given that he was a good several years older than the 'Rookie Nine', he probably hadn't expected any kind of blow back or commentary on his own capabilities. Not with such a significant age difference. "What? I know about most configurations of the exam for the last four years as it's been held by not just Konoha, but the other villages."

"Then why are you still here?" I looked up at him. The gray hair didn't exactly help me pin how old he actually was supposed to be and I never cared enough to remember most of the ages the characters were supposed to be. "You're what, twenty? If the average academy graduation age is twelve, and this is your fourth year of taking the exams, then that's another four years before you were even considered to be nominated, isn't it? Is your advice actually going to be that useful?"

My comments were changing the reaction he was getting. "Wow, even Iruka-sensei made chūnin faster, and he kept talking about how hard it is to make it an' stuff," Naruto said loudly. That seemed slightly unfair to Iruka, considering I doubted he was teaching as a genin and by all indicators had been in charge of Naruto's class since they were originally matriculated. "You must suck."

Laughter tore through the rest of the room, with mentions of Kabuto's name occasionally loud enough to hear. "Even the Leaf rookies know he's a joke!" someone shouted from nearby.

Kabuto flushed red. With some anger radiating from his body language he reached into the pouch hanging from his back and pulled out his deck of cards. "You don't think it's that useful? Let me prove it. I already know who you are, Uchiha Sasuke."

"That's kinda creepy," Shikamaru said, under his breath.

"These cards of mine have information burnt into them using chakra. I know how many genin are here, from what villages… among other things. Only I can reveal it." He quickly shuffled them, before plucking a card out, seemingly at random. If it weren't for the fact that this was such a basic trick, it would have been more impressive. "Here you are." Kabuto held it up for all of us to see, visibly pulsing chakra into it.

The tiny photo of Sasuke on the card wasn't scowling per se, but his expression was still somewhere in the range of 'resting bitch face'. In some sort of alternate universe, it would have necessitated school photo retakes. I was very familiar with that kind of misfortune.

Shino pressed a finger to one side of his sunglasses, just slightly tilting them downward to get a better look at the card. I still couldn't see his eyes. "Genin teammates and jōnin leader, known mission numbers, estimated ability for taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, ninja tools, and kekkei genkai…" He looked up at Kabuto. "Do you have these on all of us?"

"I have a card on every single genin in this room," Kabuto said with a smile.

Shino pushed his sunglasses firmly back up on the bridge of his nose. "I see. May I take a look at the card?"

"Of course," Kabuto answered. He reached out with it towards Shino.

Instead of taking a hold of it, iridescent blackness emerged from his sleeve, spreading down to Shino's fingertips and crossing the short distance between his and Kabuto's hands. Kabuto shouted in surprise, and stepped back in shock, but it was to no avail. The card disappeared under the kikaichū as they first covered it, but it soon became apparent they weren't going to bring it to Shino; instead, they went from covering its rectangular shape to sinking down in a mass. The card no longer was extant and the insects quickly flowed back to their owner, no longer in sight.

The whole thing had happened in the span of seconds. "Thank you," Shino said.

For the briefest of moments— easy to miss— an ugly expression crossed Kabuto's face.

Shino looked at his teammates. Kiba looked disconcerted enough that Akamaru was trying to comfort him, nuzzling against him from the puppy's position in his coat, and Hinata was pressing her fingertips together nervously. "Let's go sit down," he said. At no point had Shino's tone ever changed, and before anyone had the chance to speak, he walked away.

"Yeah, sure," Kiba said, staring at his teammate's retreating figure. "Good luck, or something." He sprinted to catch up.

Hinata's eyes darted to look at Naruto. "Um, good luck, Naruto-kun. Oh, and everyone else, too…" she said, before trailing off to join the two boys.

Kabuto was still staring at me.

"So you have cheat cards," I said, looking right back at him. He actually flinched at the word. "How much does it actually help? Just because it's written down doesn't mean it's going to do you any good if you aren't able to actually synthesize the information correctly, much less understand it in the first place." I flicked my eyes back to the deck, the memory of Shino's bugs at the top of my thoughts. "Especially when you're trying to quantify things that can't necessarily be quantified. Unless you're comfortable with making things up to justify whatever biases you have."

Somehow, that got Shikamaru's interest. "Ninja in the field aren't like shogi pieces," he said, though it sounded more like he was repeating something, and suddenly squaring it against what was playing out in front of him. It would figure it would be how it would apply to game strategy. "Maybe it could work with genin, but I think we're seeing what the answer to that is."

"A resounding 'no'?" Ino asked. She looked unsettled, but then again, Shino's use of his bugs had been mildly disturbing just now. Chōji had put his bag of chips away.

"I'm sorry I offered to help you all out, then," Kabuto said, frostily. "I hope you don't end up regretting it."

"Yeah, yeah," went Naruto. His attention had never completely settled on Kabuto's attempt to show off. "Hey, I think I see Haku near the front. Let's go say hi." He ambled off.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but glanced at Kabuto. "Thank you for your offer anyway, Kabuto-san." It was her usual politeness, but just barely.

With the shortest of farewells to Team Ten, Sakura and I caught up with Naruto, and just barely in time. Despite how short the walk was, he stopped suddenly, staring in the direction of someone or something on the other side of the room.

Sakura immediately caught hold of his elbow. "Oh no you don't, we're not going through this again," she said, testily. "Once was bad enough!"

I turned to see what it was.

The bright red hair stood out even from here. Karin. She was supposed to be here originally, wasn't she? Either way, the fact all three of us were looking in her direction ended up catching her attention, and she stared back. Karin was soon blushing a red that was bright enough to match the color of her hair and eyes before she ducked away from looking at us. The attention was apparently too much.

"Ugh, see what you did, Naruto?" Sakura said, smacking him lightly on the shoulder. "That poor girl's embarrassed now because you decided to be weird. Not every single person with red hair could possibly be related to you."

"Yeah," he said, after a while, still staring at Karin's hair. "I guess you're right."

We didn't have the chance to get any further, because the lights in the ceiling dimmed and then were blacked out entirely. I looked up and immediately regretted it. The light fixtures were covered by a shimmering, moving morass that soon covered the ceiling, which left the windows against the one wall as the only light source. It was nightmarish and I wasn't even afraid of insects.

Shouts of surprise broke out.

"What the fuck?"

"Who turned off the lights?!"

Someone screamed; he or she didn't sound just scared or surprised, but gripped by primal fear. Similar shouts and screams were also happening, if not to the same level of sheer and utter distress.

I suddenly became aware of a creeping, crawling, tickling sensation running up my legs and upwards. Given what was happening on the ceiling, I decided I did not want to look down, forcing myself to look at Sakura and Naruto. They looked spooked and unsure as they turned to look around at the other genin in the room, who were largely growing increasingly panicked or upset. "Don't look," I said. "Really, really don't look."

Sakura took in a deep, shuddering breath, and closed her eyes to concentrate better. "It's not a genjutsu." She sounded unhappy at coming to that conclusion.

Naruto was staring at my head. "Uh… There's a—"

"I don't want to know."

There was a burst of smoke in the front of the room, which only sent more cries of surprise up. The chūnin proctors looked the same as far as I could tell; I remembered the one with the face bandage and his bandana-wearing partner at least, though their names escaped me. Even when I used to, I could never tell which was which between them. The jōnin in charge was not the same.

The high collared coat was a tip-off— along with the swarming mass of insects in the room— that he was an Aburame, but I couldn't see him properly from where I was. I leaned around Naruto to get a better look, which at least gave me a better idea.

I was at least able to recognize the hair and sunglasses as being sort of unique. Shino's father seemed to be in charge now. I wondered what it meant that he was here instead of Ibiki. I was also completely blanking on his name, but I knew I knew it.

"My name is Aburame Shibi," he announced. "I will be the examiner in charge for this first test to determine your potential selections as chūnin."

So that was it.

"If you'll reach into your sleeves, pockets or pouches, you'll find a tab with your assigned seat number. After everyone is seated, the proctors will pass the exams out." As he said that, I realized the crawling sensations had mostly diminished and there was something in my right arm protector.

The chūnin behind him all held up large envelopes.

Naruto squawked in protest and looked between me and Sakura. "What am I supposed to do? I suck at paper tests!"

"Stay calm," I told him. I shook the foreign object out into my palm, and flipped it over. '16' was on it, engraved onto a white tile. "Panicking will just make it worse. You're not that dumb."

Shibi raised his arms up, and a buzzing noise slowly arose. The floor was soon covered in insects, moving downward from the crevasses of the desks and seats, emerging from folds of clothes, all moving in waves towards him. The ones that had covered the ceiling lights just flowed down, twisting and twining around the man's arms.They slowly disappeared down his sleeves, if they didn't move to go down the collar of his coat or the gourd that was resting against his back.

Someone started to audibly sob behind us. This final mass of insects was apparently the last straw for their ability to hold it in.

No one moved.

"The test," Shibi said, in a louder voice, "will begin when you are all seated, whether voluntarily or otherwise." A tendril of kikaichū rose from the gourd on his back.

After that, there was a frenzy of motion as everyone quickly tried to make their way to their assigned seats without actually clambering over the desks and seats. It seemed no one was all that interested in seeing exactly what it would look or feel like to be carried around by however many insects that would take. I didn't want to take chances on finding out either; that just spelled a bad nightmare. I ended up sliding into the assigned seat, which was in the first row, right by the windows. At least it had been easy to find.

To my dismay, the person sitting on my right ended up being Neji.

I thought that he had completely escaped the impact of the fireball, but I was wrong. Neji's hair was now as short as Hinata's, the main difference being the lack of forelocks to frame his face. Instead, a few short locks of hair hung over the top of his hitai-ate. He glowered at me when I sat down.

I decided to ignore it.

As if to make matters worse, one of the Oto-nin ended up sliding into the spot on the left. His name completely escaped me, but I remembered that the one with the faceplate was the ruder one of the two boys, so of course I got saddled with him.

Maybe I shouldn't have ignored Neji after all.

"What are you looking at?" the Sound-nin said.

Before I could answer, Neji spoke up. "Are you really the best your village was able to send? Otogakure must be desperate."

Whatever his name was, he scowled.

I turned to look around instead of letting myself get dragged into this. I had lucked out by being closer to the front and with a more obvious number to find. There were still plenty of others looking for their seats. To my amusement, Sakura had ended up sitting next to Karin, who had turned red again. Naruto was still looking for where he was supposed to be, and the rest of the Konoha Eleven were scattered throughout the room.

Angry shouts broke out from the right, which luckily distracted Neji and the Sound-nin from the increasingly sharp and rude conversation they were having around me that was more insult-filled than anything else.

The Kiri-nin were at it again. I recognized this one from the encounter with Suigetsu; he was the one who had been thrown into the street. He also had a bandage plastered in the middle of his forehead where Suigetsu had thrown one of his cohort's hitai-ate at his face.

"I refuse to sit next to this traitor!" he shouted. He was standing up in protest.

What was unmistakably Chōjūrō was sitting next to him. I wasn't sure what surprised me more; the fact that he was apparently a genin still, or that he already had his sword, which was leaning against the desk, bandaged up. He was staring at the other Kiri-nin in what was undeniable embarrassment, face flushed from the accusation.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Suigetsu called from somewhere in the back of the room. "Do I need to throw you out of one of these windows, too?"

Smackings of laughter— some of it nervous— filled the air again, if not as much had happened for Kabuto.

Shibi turned his head towards the two teenagers. "The seat positions were randomized. Your protests are acknowledged but it will not change matters. If you continue like this, I reserve the right to eject you and your team from the room and you will not progress."

An idea sprung to mind, and I stood up before the moment passed. "I wouldn't mind swapping with him, if that's allowed."

Shibi's attention shifted towards me. I felt the urge to squirm, but did my best to stay still. There was something undeniably unsettling about not actually being able to see his eyes or even be able to guess what was playing through his head, his expression neutral.

Finally, he spoke up. "I acknowledge your willingness to assist with keeping the peace, Uchiha-kun. You may switch places with examinee number three. I see no way that this will result in being beneficial to taking the exam for anyone." He turned his head to gaze at the whole hall. "

I slipped out of the row, passing by the Oto-nin, who tried— and failed— to trip me. I raised an eyebrow at him when I walked in front of the desk. He visibly simmered. He wasn't the only one. Neji's glare turned into an uglier look than it already was, and there was audible grumbling from the rest of the hall. The Kiri-nin squinted at me when we crossed, apparently unsure what to make of the fact I had volunteered and it had been granted. At least he was getting the same ugly looks.

I sat down next to Chōjūrō, who was visibly relieved, but wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Before any of you think I am being lenient, any further protests in a hope to improve your seating arrangement will result in an immediate removal from the room," Shibi said. "You have one more minute to make your way to your assigned seats."

In exchange for the special treatment, I was getting to have a target on my back. Delightful, though in retrospect I wasn't actually that surprised. Shakespeare's Shylock would be able to learn a thing or two about favors and demands from shinobi.

The chūnin proctors under Shibi dispersed, taking spots alongside the walls.

Shibi spoke, again, stepping back towards the chalkboard, where he picked up a piece of chalk. "I will now explain the rules of this exam." He started to write. "To begin, all examinees start with ten points. There are ten questions, worth a single point each. Unlike any tests that you may be used to, this one uses a subtraction system. Each incorrect answer results in the deduction of one point. Additionally, this will be by each genin team, rather than individual scores. Whether you pass or fail will be determined by your team's combined results." Shibi turned his gaze back out onto the crowd. "The final rule is the most important. Any genin who is caught cheating will have two points deducted per offense. Any team with an individual who loses all points will be escorted from the room. Any team with an individual who fails to answer any questions will be escorted from the room."

Shibi paused, staying silent as murmurs of fear and disbelief rippled through the room. Once it subsided, he motioned at the proctors, who opened their envelopes and began to pass the exams out. "Do not turn the test over until I give you permission," he intoned.

Eventually, all the tests must have been passed out. "You have one hour. I will announce how much time is left in fifteen minute increments. You may begin."

Filled with curiosity, I turned the paper over, trying to tune out the now-hiccuping sobbing that was still happening a few rows somewhere behind me.

A code puzzle, trigonometry and algebra questions, and a critical reading question were on the other side. Most of them were just ninja-flavored, but the core was there. While my math was rusty where trig was concerned, nothing on the page looked absurdly difficult. Then again, I was a few months short of turning twenty-eight. I had a bachelor's degree under my belt and a handful of years of working finance spreadsheets working in a job field that was completely out of my degree. I was even doing graduate level courses for my master's right now. The vast majority of the test takers in this room were closer to ten than they were to twenty. None of them even had the advantage of an education that was probably much beyond middle school material.

Of course, if all else remained the same, it wouldn't really matter; the tenth question was what was going to actually determine this exam. I vaguely wondered if Naruto would end up making the same passionate speech as he did in the series. While he was different— just a little more deliberate, just a little more willing to think through his actions, and what those of others might mean— he was still passionate about his goals and pushing others towards their own. The question was more if Naruto would feel riled up by Shibi. He didn't seem to have the same delight in being an asshole to children that Ibiki did.

"Examinee number eighty-six, please stop crying. You're distracting the others."

Even with trying to get someone who apparently had entomophobia to calm down he wasn't going full asshole when it would have been extremely easy to do so.

I idly tapped the end of the pencil against the paper for a few moments as I tried to decide what to do. Ultimately, none of it really mattered. Or at least, didn't matter to my real life. Mostly. It was impossible to deny that the dreams were changing. Even if it didn't make me particularly happy, and gave increasing cause to doubt my sanity.

If nothing else, I was curious enough to at least try.

I started to scribble the half-remembered math formulas I thought I might need on the margins of the paper, trying to forcibly remember what I could from my last math class, almost eight years ago.

The whole time, occasionally examinees were called out for using up all of their chances, getting themselves and their teammates evicted from the room.

It wasn't long until a commotion started up. I turned to look back, just in time for him to get held up against the wall by a chūnin whose eyes were covered by bandages and his hitai-ate. As best as I could recall, it was the same guy who protested in the series. I guessed that even in this dream, he was still an idiot.

I ended up turning the paper over with thirty minutes still on the clock, still not entirely sure about the trigonometry question.

Next to me, Chōjūrō quietly groaned at the fact that I had finished ahead of him. The proctor against the wall nearest us snorted in amusement.

I laced my hands together, palms up, and stared at them.

Sasuke's hands were different, from the fingers that were still partially childish but showed the promise of becoming slender to the lines on his palms that weren't like my own. There were calluses, from very different kinds of activities. I didn't have any these days. Even the ones I had the longest from learning- and then playing— the guitar had long faded. All I had these days were the occasional stubborn ink stains, from taking notes and writing, and sometimes a scribble from a pen that refused to work the first time.

It was sobering to think about.

Eventually, the forty-five minutes passed, and Shibi looked out at the whole hall, instead of having his attention focused on one spot or another like I had noticed earlier. "It is now time for the final question," he announced. "There are additional rules for this question that did not apply earlier."

All of the attention in the room was now focused entirely on him, and it was as quiet as any filled room could get.

It was quiet enough to hear the door open. "Examinee number one hundred twenty-two, please take your puppet and sit down."

That must have been Kankurō, trying the same trick that he originally used in the series.

"You all must decide whether or not you are willing to answer this question or not. If you choose not to, all remaining points will be eliminated, and you fail, along with your teammates. You will remain genin, and nothing changes in your lives."

"If you take it, however, you open yourselves to fates worse than death." That was new. Maybe Shino's dad wasn't so mild after all.

A murmur rose through the room. There were no outbursts of confusion or anger. Shibi didn't seem to have the same flare for the dramatic that Ibiki did, and it was resulting in different reactions, even with the volatile personalities I was aware of in here.

"If you do not wish to continue, please raise your hand. When a proctor calls out your number, you and your team will be dismissed."

I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like people stood up faster than they did for Ibiki in the anime. None of them were Kiri-nin, I noticed. I wondered if in the case of the ones who still gave their loyalty to the original it was because they were already used to that sort of situation.

Naruto, still predictable in at least this sense, stood up. He was all the way in the back, almost in the last row. "I refuse to be afraid! What's the point of being ninja if we're so afraid that we stay genin? They aren't just gonna look at us an' decide to take it easy on us just because we're genin. I won't run, and I won't back down! If I give up like this, there's no way I'll ever be able to become Hokage!"

Shibi said nothing, but his attention was clearly focused on Naruto, as was everyone else's.

"I will never go back on my word. That's my nindō."

The clock on the wall ticked away. No more numbers were called.

Eventually, the full hour finished.

"Well done on passing the first test," Shibi said, finally.

"What?" That was Sakura. She sounded more shocked than anything else. Turning around, I was able to see that she was several rows behind me.

"That was it?! What sort of bullshit is this?" Suigetsu. In his case, somewhat angry seemed to be his current baseline, and he liked to complain, so I doubted he was actually that upset.

"There were two purposes to this test," Shibi answered. "The first was to determine your capability to gather information as a unit. Whether you cooperated, delegated, or did your best to minimize what negative impacts you could have on your teammates, there are a variety of strategies that suit different units as they operate in the field.

"The questions on this test were selected in order to be past what the average genin or even chūnin would be able to answer, and encourage cheating. Embedded among you were chūnin who knew the answers. There were also a number of you who were capable of answering on your own."

The chūnin against the wall closest to me snorted again.

"This also happens on missions. Sometimes, you will discover one of your comrades will have the information you need by chance.

"The original proctor for this exam no doubt intended for this to be an object lesson on intelligence being more important than your own lives will be. I prefer to see it as one that explains the value of each member of a unit. As chūnin, you will be put in the position of having to decide whether the sacrifice of a person or your team is worth a mission's success, or if its failure is acceptable."

"There will be times ahead of you as chūnin where your own knowledge or abilities will sometimes be worth more to the enemy than the information you were sent to extract. Failure to make the correct decision then and there will result in a fate worse than death.

"Occasionally, there is no right answer except for being able to make a decision. Crucial intelligence can change the tide of war or if war will begin in the first place, but the loss of a comrade can be a significant boon to the enemy due to their skills being vital for village efforts or possessing a valuable kekkei genkai or ability.

"Knowledge does not always remove fear. Possession of ignorance does not guarantee safety. If you are unable to push ahead and make a decision from the knowledge you possess, even when it informs you that there is no good choice, you do not have the qualities required to become a chūnin."

Even though I half-expected it, at no point did Naruto speak up again to loudly congratulate himself or otherwise interject that he knew all these things. Was he really that different? I suppose he had to be.

"As you progress past this first test, you should keep all of this in mind for your futures, not just for the duration of the exam." Shibi turned towards the board, and stepping past the section where he had written the rules prior to this, started to write.

Not wanting to be surprised, I looked towards the windows, but disappointment was the only response. There were no broken windows, no Anko speedily rolling in with a banner to dramatically display.

"The next portion of the exam will begin tomorrow morning," Shibi said, as he turned around again to face us. "You will report at the village gates at ten. Any hostile action taken against your fellow examinees between now and that muster time will not only instantly disqualify you, but result in serious consequences."

That part was probably just as well.

"When your numbers are called, you are dismissed."

They ended up going in numerical order. Chōjūrō, several ahead of me, turned towards me with a grateful expression on his face. "Thank you for volunteering to swap earlier, Sasuke-kun. I appreciate it."

It made sense that he would know Sasuke's name, I decided, between Kakashi's mission and the fact that Team Seven had been included, even though I suspected that with the exam that part was probably on pause. "You're welcome," I answered, with a shrug.

When his number was called, he stood up, picking up his sword. He didn't bother to holster it, instead resting the wide bladed sword over his shoulder. I watched him leave, and noticed that Suigetsu was visibly angry— no, upset— when he watched the blue-haired teen pass by. It was different from his reactions to the Kiri-nin. They were only frustrating to him. Watching him as Chōjūrō left, however, showed a whole raft of conflicting emotions visibly flow over Suigetsu.

Shortly after that, my number was called. I left the room, looking over who was still present. The Konoha Eleven were still here, except for Neji. The Oto-nin had made it through, as did the team from Kusa that Orochimaru had used to get into the second test in the show. There were a surprising amount of sour-looking Kiri-nin in here still besides Suigetsu.

I tried my best to ignore a furiously blushing Karin at one of the seats closest to the door when I exited.

To my surprise, Kakashi was outside, leaning against the corridor wall, reading. Chōjūrō stood not too far away from him, his sword holstered. The teen was standing up against the window, looking out into the village with some interest.

Kakashi shifted in a move that I'd almost call awkward if it wasn't him as he unfolded to stand, lowering the book away from his face. It wasn't his usual Icha Icha this time, but I didn't get a good look at the cover before he put it away.

"Well," he began. "I see the three of you passed."

"Were you waiting out here the whole time?" I asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he stretched slightly. "I'm here as an escort. There were a few… incidents this morning with both groups from Kiri."

Chōjūrō straightened, self-consciously. "The guy who was sitting next to me before you swapped is angry because his sensei decided to join Zabuza-sama," he said. He was so subdued sounding I could barely hear him. "His team has no choice but to join us now, if they don't want to be considered missing-nin once they leave here." He looked guilty over that, even though he really had no reason to.

That was harsh. Then again, Kiri.

"They probably wouldn't last that long on their own as missing-nin genin," I said, as the door opened behind me.

"Shut your mouth, Uchiha," the aforementioned Kiri genin spoke up. "I have family to worry about besides myself."

That was probably supposed to hurt.

"If you're so worried about consequences, why are you wasting your time fighting people here about it instead of sending a message home before it gets back that you've defected?" I asked.

The genin stared at me, visibly gobsmacked for a moment before he turned and started to harass Kakashi. "Hey! You! Jōnin-san! Can we do that?"

Kakashi looked like he regretted my existence again. Just this time there was no ocean to think about dumping me into. "I'll look into it," he answered. "For now though, you and your teammates are supposed to accompany me."

The genin looked visibly relieved at this, but not enough to be polite enough to thank Kakashi.

As genin continued to stream out of the room, one by one, Kakashi occasionally stopped some of the departing Kiri-nin, forcing them to wait along the corridor.

A pattern began to develop. The ones who were originally part of Zabuza's contingent seemed to already be aware of this planned escort, and walked to where Chōjūrō was standing, occasionally shooting glances at the other Kiri genin who were now part of their number, if unwillingly.

Then there were the ones who were now part of it whether they liked it or not, lumped in with bandage-head. Two of them were clearly his teammates, making them the set who had tried to hassle Suigetsu and got their asses handed to them. They were clearly resentful of not having any choice in the matter.

Then there was the third group, one I hadn't realized would even be a thing at all. The first one was lanky teenaged boy who gave the slowly accumulating second group a smirk that was poorly disguising the pity in his eyes. Kakashi held an arm out, blocking him from going any further down the hall. "Tomomi of Team Yosuke? Your circumstances have changed."

"What?" The look of bravado dropped entirely, replaced by fear. "No. No. We were in there for an hour! What do you mean, changed? You're lying. You have to be. This is some kind of twisted plot from you Konoha-nin."

"It means," Kakashi slowly said, staring down at the teenager with his one visible eye, "you have two choices. You can leave on your own and go off to the fate you would expect would come to a genin-level missing-nin without any protection. Or you can wait here with the others, leave this building under my protection, be able to collect whatever things you brought with you, and relocate to the lodging the Wave delegation is staying in. You might even live through the whole of the exams. It's your decision."

Tomomi swallowed, and slunk off to stand off on his own a distance away.

The rest of the Kiri-nin who were from Water became obvious after that, because they visibly shied away every time one of them entered the corridor and saw Tomomi and, once they joined him, his teammates. Tomomi's teammates were not the only ones to end up like this, with a second team joining them.

Sakura left the room after a few others, and after giving Kakashi a cautious look, went to stand by me, to watch the slow acquisition of Kiri-nin. She flicked her eyes at Kakashi meaningfully when she made eye contact with me. His poor mood was obvious to her, too.

After a while, I started to notice something. Chōjūrō looked to be the oldest of any of the Kiri-nin I had seen so far who were here as genin. In the series he had already been a jōnin when he showed up after the time skip, and he was clearly being treated as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by the other Kiri-nin right now. Even Zabuza seemed to have accepted him as one, thinking back to the last dream. The fact he was still a genin stunk of politics and implied some ugly things about why his self-esteem was somewhere below ground. It was easier to keep an impressionable teenager tied down and dependent if they didn't think they were good enough to succeed on their own, even if everything else spoke to the contrary. It didn't have to be true, they just had to believe it.

Suigetsu seemed to have no sympathy whatsoever for any of the newly-and-unwillingly defected, considering that it seemed that none of them had had any for him in return before this. Haku did a much better job, going so far as to actually introduce himself to the various clusters of Kiri-nin taking up space in the corridor.

The reaction from the other examinees, including those from Konoha, varied.

Some of the Konoha-nin had swallowed the Kool-Aid, and eyed Kakashi suspiciously, especially when he was paired with the increasingly growing assortment of Kiri genin lined up in the corridor. None of the Konoha Eleven were part of that group, though Ino when she came out looked at the assorted Kiri-nin with wide eyes as she went down the corridor. Then again, she already seemed pretty dazed when she came out of the exam hall before she actually noticed them.

Kankurō left right after Ino; like most of the other genin from Suna, he gave the various Kiri-nin unsure looks, compared to Temari's carefully muted reaction and the lack of one at all from Gaara.

Seeing the Kusa-nin and their lack of reactions as they walked out, I tried to remember exactly when Orochimaru had replaced them in the show. It didn't really matter either way, but the thought niggled at me.

Naruto was one of the last to straggle out, his beaming expression cut short when he saw Kakashi. "Uh, yikes," was all he said, before he immediately cut over to join me and Sakura. "What's wrong with him?" he tried to quietly ask.

Kakashi did not seem particularly amused by this. "We're waiting for one more person," he said, at a completely normal speaking volume. He didn't need to speak any louder. All the Kiri-nin had silenced immediately the second he began to speak. It seemed he had been keeping track mentally. "Once he's released, then we depart."

No one in the corridor tried to say anything to dispute or question this.

When we finally left the building, besides Team Seven, there were eight other teams. Twenty-four others that Kakashi was in charge of, which probably went a long way in why he was in such a foul mood. Only three of those teams had even been with Zabuza in the first place, going from who had been near who in the corridor.

It was also indicative of a huge jump in how many were going to end up in the Forest of Death, at this rate. I wondered how this was going to end up playing out. Anko had been annoyed at how many had passed in the series in the first place, hadn't she? I couldn't remember how many there were originally, but I suspected that with how many other Kiri teams there were that had passed it was going to be far beyond that.

I doubt she was going to be that happy at this many extra people, if she was even in charge of that section still.

The whole walk was tense and silent.

It wasn't until we reached the place the Kiri-nin from Water were staying in that I realized something. The only member of the Konoha Eleven I hadn't seen leave the exam hall was Shino. It was probably because his father was there, but at the same time, Shino had seemed to be fairly serious where ninja responsibilities were involved. He didn't really strike me as the sort to hang around if his father was actually working.

Then again, maybe I was trying too hard to analyze a fictional teen in my dreams. Even if they were recurring, this was probably going a bit too far.

Outside, we were split up. "If you don't need to go in to grab your things, stay out here," Kakashi said. "Sasuke, Naruto. Come with me. Sakura, stay with Haku."

Sakura looked like she wanted to say something, but stayed quiet, though she looked reluctant to stay behind.

Naruto and I ended up trailing behind the six Kiri-nin who needed to go in. They were the ones whose jōnin-sensei had gone over to Zabuza's side while they were gone.

Inside, barely restrained hostility hung in the air. It seemed more like a hostel than like any kind of inn or hotel, but I reserved judgment until we went up to the second floor.

Naruto was already looking like he was barely repressing any questions he had.

When one of the newly acquired Mist-nin— a girl with muddy green hair in a tight braid that ran from the top of her crown— unlocked the door to the room they had been in, it opened up to reveal a tightly arranged room with three bunks and a set of lockers against one wall. The room was small enough that it was possible for me to make out everything in it from the corridor.

There was a black-haired sulky-faced teenager on one of the top bunks who drew a wicked-looking kunai out, but paused at seeing Kakashi.

"Try and see what happens," Kakashi told him.

The teenager very slowly and deliberately lowered the kunai.

The Mist-nin who unlocked the door scowled at the teenager on the bunk, before motioning for the other two on her team to enter.

As they gathered their things, Kakashi stood in the middle of the corridor, making sure he was obviously in sight. He wasn't slouching; instead, he was standing almost to his full height, head tilted slightly, the thumb of one hand hooked into his pants pocket on that side.

Somehow, in spite of his visible eye remaining half-lidded, everything else about him screamed menace.

"I hope the hunter-nin carve you up," the teenager on the bunk told the girl.

Even from out in the corridor I could see her scowl and stop packing her bag. She pulled a scroll cylinder from the depths of the locker, and pulled its contents out. She unfurled the scroll inside with a sharp whipping movement, and released its contents. A grey Kiri flak jacket and a white mask with a lavender crescent painted on emerged.

The teen on the top bunk froze entirely at the sight of the mask. With Kakashi he had still been willing to move, but no longer.

The other two on her 'team' followed suit, unsealing flak jackets and masks as well.

The masks went into their bags. The flak jackets they put on instead.

The now-revealed hunter-nin looked up at him. "Learn to keep your mouth shut, Mikuri, and you might live through all of this. Then again, you couldn't even pass that first test, so maybe not." She threw the room key at him, before they exited.

Kakashi said nothing.

Tomomi and his teammates exchanged unsure looks at this discovery. Whether it was supposed to be at the realization they were far out of their element skill wise, the fact that hunter-nin had defected, or something else, I couldn't actually guess.

The room Tomomi's team was assigned to was empty, but just as densely furnished.

Naruto's sense of curiosity finally outweighed his current caution. "Why is this place so tightly packed?" he asked.

"Barracks-style temporary lodgings like this are common in all of the large hidden villages," Kakashi answered, not moving to look at Naruto. "While they're frequently used for events like the exam, they're present for allied troop movement. When exams aren't being held, they usually end up used by frugal travelers. Newer traders and migrant workers tend to stay in these rooms. If you ever go to any of the shinobi villages and it's not as part of a large group, you'll stay in a regular inn instead."

Tomomi and his team didn't need much time to grab their things. In the time it took Naruto to ask his question and Kakashi to answer it, they had taken their bags from the lockers and pulled them on over their shoulders.

When we left, Kakashi stayed to the back until we reached the street and where everyone else was.

Like the teenager in the bunk room, all of the Kiri-nin except for Haku momentarily paused at the sight of the three in flak jackets, but it wasn't paired with the same fear the failed teenager had. Probably because without the masks, it only signalled that they were at least chūnin instead.

The girl who seemed to be acting as their leader for the moment looked at the assorted teenagers, then at Kakashi, and came to a clear decision. She looked back at the jōnin once more. "Instead of joining you the rest of the way, my team is going to correctly register ourselves with your gate security. I'm sure this will take a few hours, between the paperwork and potential interrogations, so don't worry about us." She didn't wait for an answer, and instead departed, going just fast enough that her two companions had to quickly move to catch up.

I realized around the same time as Kakashi— going from his body language, at least— that the hunter-nin had just ditched us in preference of paperwork over the possibility of supervising genin.

For what were, I was sure, supposed to be good reasons, Zabuza's group was staying on the other side of the village. In practice, it made for a walk with a group of silent and mostly sullen morale-depleted teenagers. It became very obvious why the hunter-nin had escaped the moment they did before the halfway mark.

It was in one of the medium-sized buildings in a more dense part of the village, where proximity to one of the main thoroughfares and administrative buildings made it clear that they had started building upwards from a need for it. The building looked like it was constructed with the same idea in mind as the other one that had reminded me so much of a youth hostel, but with slightly more prominent visitors in mind.

"Well, there you are," Kakashi said, looking at the sorted Mist genin.

"You're not escorting us in?" Tomomi asked, looking between the front doors and Kakashi suspiciously.

"You have allies who can confirm it is a safe location," Kakashi said, ignoring the teen's tone. "You're better off going in on your own anyways. The radio-nin who's been assigned to handle the front desk for the duration of your stay doesn't particularly like me. Something about returning broken equipment too many times."

Tomomi cringed at hearing that. "You don't need to tell me twice," he grumbled. He and his team went for the door first, which resulted in the rest breaking off shortly after, eventually leaving only Haku, Suigetsu, and Chōjūrō behind.

Haku gave Kakashi one of his polite smiles. "I appreciate your escorting us, Kakashi-san."

"Some of the jōnin in your delegation will be taking you all to the muster point in the morning," Kakashi answered. While he didn't seem to be particularly happy, Kakashi was no longer screamingly obviously displeased, from his tone or from how he was standing.

Naruto took this for the chance it appeared to be. "Yeah! We'll see you there! Good luck, Haku!" He paused and tilted his head. "And you too, Suigetsu, Chōjūrō!"

Suigetsu gave Naruto a forced smile." Yeah. You too."

Chōjūrō just looked surprised at getting wished well by anyone. "Thanks, Naruto-kun. I hope your team does well at whatever this next test is."

"Good luck!" Sakura managed to give Chōjūrō and Suigetsu smiles. When it came to Haku though, it turned into a horribly self-aware rictus grin, and she turned around and hid behind Kakashi, blushing.

The only one who didn't completely ignore it was Suigetsu, who looked completely confused by what just happened. He glanced around, before finally speaking up. "…Is she okay?"

Chōjūrō looked at Haku who was suddenly very interested in examining the hem of one of his sleeves before developing a panicked expression of his own. He directed a pleading look at Kakashi.

"I need to take these three to grab some things," Kakashi said, grabbing onto mine and Naruto's heads. "You all should rest while you can." With that, he forcibly steered us away at speed, in spite of all attempts to escape. At least on Naruto's part. I didn't want to stick around for anyone trying to explain girls to Suigetsu either.

"Bye!" Naruto shouted, when he realized he wasn't going to be able to escape this time.

The last thing I could make out before they were completely out of hearing range was Suigetsu irritatedly complaining, "Is anyone going to tell me?"

A block away, Sakura broke into a wail. "I keep looking like an idiot in front of him!"

"I dunno, I didn't think so," Naruto said, when he was finally able to yank himself free.

"So," Kakashi said, with something that almost approached real cheer after earlier. It was several feet away still from being a good impersonation, but it was no longer the several miles away in the realm of 'irritated to the point of being intimidating' that it used to be. "What would you three like to get for take out? It's on me this time."

"What's the catch?" Sakura immediately said, twisting to look up at him.

"Ramen," Naruto answered at the same time. Before Sakura or I could question the complete lack of guile, he added, "The explanation can come second as long as you feed me."

"Ramen it is," Kakashi agreed.

"Naruto!" I couldn't tell whether Sakura was more annoyed at the fact that Naruto had undercut her attempt to get information out of Kakashi, or that he had won out on deciding on the meal.

"Look, you're the one who gave up your chance to say what we should get," he actually reasoned. "Whatever's happening for him to feed us out of his pocket's gotta be pretty bad."

"I hate how much sense that makes," I said.

"Free food's either because something bad's gonna happen, and he's breaking the news to us, to get us to behave if he thinks we're not gonna like something, or because we did something good. I can't think of anything for the last one, so we might as well enjoy it while we can," Naruto declared.

Kakashi squinted down at Naruto for a moment. "How often did that academy sensei of yours bribe you with food?" he asked.

"A lot, why?"

Kakashi sighed. "It was just a question."

Naruto happily led the way to Ichiraku's.

This time, without Kakashi's earlier foul mood and the Kiri-nin to be distracted by, I noticed that there was something different in the atmosphere that didn't seem like it was related to just the exams. There was an undertone of preparation happening that neither Sakura nor Naruto seemed to be picking up.

Even though it was early afternoon, there were closed storefronts and the smattering of restaurants we passed by seemed to only have civilians or the youngest of ninja present as customers.

To my disappointment, Kakashi ordered for all of us, preventing me from having the opportunity to see what the other options were. "Four orders of miso ramen with chashu pork to go, please," Kakashi said, after the owner greeted us.

"Four orders it is, with extra servings of noodles," he answered back.

Kakashi blinked in confusion. "No, that's not—"

"The extra noodles are free," the man insisted, "For my best customer. Business is doing well with all the foreign ninja in the village and a few mentioned Naruto by name. Let me pass it on, Hatake-san, since you're his jōnin-sensei."

Kakashi pulled the money from his wallet, looking uncharacteristically self-conscious at receiving something for free. He didn't seem used to it, at all.

Naruto cheered loudly. "Isn't Teuchi-ji the best?" He spent the whole wait for the food happily chattering, filling the man in on the events of the first exam and the to-him entertaining ongoings of the Kiri-nin along with exaggerated descriptions of the various genin he had run into over the last few days mixed with loudly asking about the business, how Teuchi and his daughter were doing, along other frequent customers, and if Iruka had stopped by at all recently.

Kakashi just looked mildly bewildered at the enthusiasm and knowledge Naruto had of and for this microcosm of the village.

"Thank you," he said quietly, when the food was ready and bagged up. Kakashi seemed lost in thought.

"Come by some time on your own," Teuchi told him. "It'll be a free bowl on me."

"Hey, hey, what about me?" Naruto asked, hopping up and down.

"Come back from this next test first, and then we'll see!"

Naruto laughed.

With a call of "Good luck," we left.

Naruto eyed the bags Kakashi was carrying with a hungry look, licking his lips, before he realized something. "Hey, wait, you ordered it to go. Why? Where are we going?"

"We'll be staying at Sasuke's apartment for the night," Kakashi said. "I took the liberty of collecting things you and Sakura-chan might need earlier."

It took me a moment to process this. "What?" I asked. Dream or not, suddenly discovering I had no say in my space being invaded wasn't one I was pleased with. Even if it was imaginary.

"You packed for me?" Sakura asked, looking horrified and embarrassed differently from her earlier reaction to Haku.

"Your mother picked some clothes out for you," Kakashi answered, actually sounding aghast. "I had her put them in your gear bag. I didn't touch anything."

"That's almost worse…" she mumbled.

"Why are we staying at my place?" I asked. This was both not what I was expecting at all and something I was feeling weirdly offended by.

"Naruto's apartment is a hazard, Sakura-chan lives with her parents, and I don't feel like letting the three of you know where I live," Kakashi answered. It came out too quickly and practiced for my tastes.

"You came up with those reasons after you decided," I concluded.

"Yes." It would have been nicer if I could have come up with a dream version of Kakashi with slightly more shame. At least he suffered to make up for it.

I felt strange and self-conscious on the immediate walk up to Sasuke's apartment door and even opened it to let them in. It wasn't mine, but I still felt the same way I would if I had sudden uninvited guests decide to crash at my own apartment.

At least Sasuke was a tidy person.

Kakashi immediately put the take-out bags on the small kitchen table, with barely a pause from slipping out of his sandals at the door, with Naruto following in, hopping around awkwardly on one foot and then the other as he peeled his own off.

Sakura, on the other hand, was slowly turning pink in the face and hadn't budged.

"I'm not going in until you do," I said.

"Oh!" The blush became stronger and she rushed in, taking her footwear off with more dignity than Naruto. Not that that was that hard to achieve.

I removed my own after I closed the door, chewing my bottom lip as I did.

When I looked up, Naruto had wandered to the other side of the apartment, looking around at everything, lingering near the desk. The pine cover notebook from the trip back from Wave was lying on top of it. Naruto spied it, and began to reach for it.

"Don't touch that," I said, surprised at my own terseness.

Naruto yanked his hand back, and looked embarrassed. "Sorry," he said. "I was just curious. I didn't think you were gonna actually use it."

Sakura and Naruto's gear bags were set next to mine— next to Sasuke's— by the foot of the bed. Kakashi's own was set apart from the others, by the wardrobe. Why did he bring a bag?

This wasn't how the story went at all.

I looked at Kakashi suspiciously. "What aren't you telling us?" I asked.

"I was hoping to put it off until after we ate," he admitted.

"Just spit it out."

Naruto quickly moved over to the table before Kakashi could answer. "Uh-uh, no way. Food first, bad news later," he insisted.

Sakura looked between me and Naruto, and then at Kakashi. "…I agree with Naruto," she said, finally. "We can hear what Sensei has to tell us after. It won't change things if we do it in that order, will it?"

"No," Kakashi answered.

Since there weren't enough chairs— and I immediately nixed the suggestion from Naruto of eating soup on the bed— we all ended up eating on the floor, except for Kakashi, who leaned against the wall instead. That seemed more awkward than being on the floor with us or even using the chair available at the table, but that was what he decided to do.

At no point did any of us ever catch him actively eating, but he finished regardless.

At least I knew how to use chopsticks. Overall, I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about the taste— or to be more accurate, that I could taste anything to begin with, even if it was good. A sense of pain. Temperature. Smells and taste. Things that weren't that common in dreams I had before this.

Sakura ended up finishing last, partially between her own slow paced eating, and also the fact the two of us had stopped to stare when Naruto dumped his extra noodles into his remaining broth only to shove it all into his mouth the moment they were wet. I recovered sooner.

"Well, now that that's done," Kakashi said.

We stared at him expectantly from the floor.

"You're supposed to actually explain when you start off with something like that," Sakura said. She didn't sound as exasperated as usual when dealing with him.

Kakashi looked down at us, before he stepped away from the wall, pulling the lone chair out to sit on it, setting his hands on his knees. "There's been a serious security breach in the village." Just like that, the earlier foul mood returned in the full intensity of before; it seemed that it had never left in the first place, he had just shoved it down until it was time to talk.

Sakura frowned.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, staring up at him. "I mean, it's obviously bad, but…" he frowned, unsure of what exactly to ask or even say.

"We have reason to believe a missing-nin by the name of Orochimaru has infiltrated Konoha."

I blinked. That I was not expecting.

"Why would he want to come into the middle of the village if he's a missing-nin? Wouldn't that be a bad idea 'cause of the exams and all the foreign ninja who are here?" Naruto asked. His face was screwed up in serious thought.

"That would be the case with most fugitives, yes. Orochimaru is a special case. He's a former student of the Sandaime, and a member of the Sannin."

"Like Jiraiya-sama," Sakura realized.

"Jiraiya is the only one of the three currently serving the village," Kakashi explained. "Orochimaru fled from punishment for crimes against the village, and the other member, Tsunade, quit active service decades ago."

An uncertain expression crossed Naruto's face. "Uhmm. Jii-jii doesn't have a good record, does he?"

Kakashi, probably for the better, didn't bother to address that particular thorny question. "Orochimaru is extremely dangerous and there's reason to believe that the chūnin exams taking place are his target. That's why the second test was postponed to tomorrow, among other things, then. The hope is to find out if there is anyone in the walls assisting him and if possible flush Orochimaru out."

Things like escorting all of the Kiri-nin with Zabuza to their lodgings. Or this impromptu sleepover. No wonder Shino had stayed behind, then. While we had made up such a large group that we were nearly the last to leave, I somehow doubted most of the other genin— if not all of them— had left the building on their own.

"Why wouldn't they cancel the exam?" Sakura was looking increasingly concerned.

"This is the first time since his disappearance that his immediate whereabouts are actually known," Kakashi said. I wondered if we were even supposed to know that, before I decided probably not. "Orochimaru doesn't just know village secrets, he's powerful enough to destroy countries on his own."

"We're supposed to do this next test with him just out there?" Naruto asked. He was looking between us all, as if still trying to decide how worried he should actually be.

"I tried to withdraw you all from the exam when I found out. I wasn't allowed." That went a long way in explaining Kakashi's earlier mood. Even as he said it, the words were icy.

It wasn't hard to put together. "We're supposed to be bait," I surmised.

"That's right," Kakashi answered. He wasn't pulling back at all on this.

Sakura flinched at the confirmation.

"What?" Naruto got up from the floor, balling his hands into fists. "We're just expected to— to do whatever this next part is and roll over and be easy pickings? Or were we supposed to be clueless?"

"Their plan involves," Kakashi said in a way that made it clear what he thought of using that word for what he was describing, "keeping all of the genin who passed the first test in the second one where possible. The idea is that it will be too irresistible for him to ignore, even though by now he must be aware we're looking for him. Orochimaru was discovered performing human experimentation, including on kekkei genkai before he left the village." As he spoke, he was looking directly at me. "The expected loss of multiple genin to this plan is supposed to be outweighed by hopefully catching and killing him.

"I refuse to let any of you be sacrificial pieces if I can help it." Kakashi's voice was quietly serious. Grim, more than anything. "These exams aren't supposed to be a slaughterhouse, much less a suicide mission."

"The way people have been talking about it's made it sound so serious, though," Sakura said, looking worried. "I thought people died in them all the time?"

"Death is impossible to prevent in even the most tightly run exam," Kakashi told her. "Under normal circumstances, there are usually one or two from carelessness or from genin being pushed beyond their ability to be in these exams in the first place. Genin who can be considered for chūnin are supposed to be experienced enough that they can defend themselves against most enemies for at least long enough to be able to cut and run if necessary and be able to understand those risks. Understanding your weaknesses and limitations is an important part of your development as a shinobi. You can't succeed without it." Kakashi was being impressively informative for him.

"You give us such a hard time and you barely teach us anything, but you thought we were ready to become chūnin?" The skepticism in Sakura's voice was obvious.

"I don't make recommendations lightly. You're the first team I accepted," he responded. "If I didn't think any of you were ready to become chūnin I would not have put the three of you forward. But that's for normal circumstances. If you are in Orochimaru's way, or he comes for you and decides you are not what he wants, none of you will survive."

"Then what are we supposed to do then, huh? You said you couldn't pull us out. Would whoever's running this one let us quit if we say we chicken out?" Naruto looked frustrated at even asking.

"Probably not, no."

"Isn't there some way for us to disqualify ourselves? Or just not show up tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

"After I tried to have you removed myself?" Kakashi shook his head. "Not anymore."

Sakura bit her lip.

"The next test is supposed to be over the course of five days in one of the training grounds outside of the village walls. Training Ground Forty-four is known as the Forest of Death," Kakashi said.

Hearing this only made Sakura look more ill at ease. "Are you supposed to be telling us this?"

"No, but I don't care," he told her, frankly. "If any genin enter that training ground tomorrow completely clueless I would be very surprised."

"But—"

Kakashi cut her off before she could say anything further. "No. Listen very, very carefully to me. The second test in these exams is a free-for-all in a hostile environment. Our village favors an elimination system that's designed to thin out as many teams as possible. Killing your opponents is usually allowed, but most genin tend to not be at that level." Naruto and Sakura eyed me at those words, but said nothing. "They were discussing forbidding killing this time, but I don't know if they came to a conclusion. I expect you'll find out tomorrow.

"The second test is traditionally two-fold. I don't expect them to make any changes to it. One component is to travel to a specific end-point within a predetermined time limit. For the Forest of Death, it will be to or from the tower at its center. The other is the utilization of two scrolls. As a team you'll be given one of a pair. In order to pass the second test, you'll need to arrive at the end-point with both scrolls by taking the one you're missing from another team. Do not, under any circumstance, open either of those scrolls unless you've reached the end, do you understand? The proctor should tell you to not open them, but it is important that you don't."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"The scrolls are supposed to summon someone to you. Under normal conditions, they're under orders to knock anyone nearby unconscious and leave them in that state until the exam is over if they are opened singly or in the forest. That being said, we don't know what Orochimaru's plans are or what assets he might have in place within the village." There was almost a kind of reluctance to Kakashi's voice as he brought that up, as though he didn't want to expose any of us the idea that the village's ideals were this compromised and its people not as loyal as they were supposed to be thought of being. Especially not when it was in the face of Naruto's unflinching optimism, which was taking a visible beating from this whole conversation.

Naruto screwed his face up, putting effort in trying to break down what Kakashi was actually saying. "So what you're saying is you think one of those guys could end up being traitors, too? You really think he might have people in like that? Wouldn't it be a bad idea to open 'em even if we do make it to wherever we're supposed to?"

"That's what I'm saying, yes," Kakashi said to Naruto. "The difference between the forest and the tower is that there is an electronic surveillance system in the latter in the event they can't be trusted."

"We're supposed to rely on some video cameras? I barely paid attention in the academy and even I remember being told how to evade them! I do it all the time!" Naruto threw his hands up. The frustration that had built up was finding its outlets, as Naruto was beginning to be physically agitated to the point of pacing.

"But Iruka-sensei said that avoiding them only works for certain situations," Sakura pointed out. She had slowly been pulling herself in, hands around her calves, shrinking to gradually take up less space as Kakashi spoke. "Because active surveillance can still notice if something is wrong based on how other people are acting in the shot or if anything happens. Right?" She was actually looking at Kakashi for reassure now.

"It isn't a fail-safe, but in this situation it can make a world of difference for how quickly someone can get to you," Kakashi said. "Response time will make a difference if it comes down to it."

"The difference between being almost dead or just dead," I said, under my breath. "You can try to fix 'almost dead.'"

"Right," Naruto said, with an angry laugh. "Because all we have to do is not just catch some other team and get their scroll if that's what we're supposed to do, yeah? But either get into somewhere or out of somewhere somebody decided to call the Forest of Death. And avoid an evil shinobi that's so out of our league the village is fine using all of us as bait in hopes to maybe catch him? So we just have to hope none of us are what he wants? An' just in case he's got extra help we can't expect help except maybe in one place? This is gonna suck, isn't it?" Naruto took a deep breath, collecting himself. "I didn't expect trying to make chūnin to be the hardest part of the road to becoming Hokage."

Some of the tension that had been beginning to suffocate everything unwound itself in the room. Kakashi's shoulders loosened just the slightest, showing just barely some slack again, and Sakura let go of her knees, less hunched in on herself. I couldn't stop myself from quietly snorting.

Kakashi closed his eye for a moment. "Do your best to get to the end-point as quickly as you can. Don't let yourself get mired in fights away from the outside perimeter or out of view of the tower if you can help it. There will be jōnin units stationed outside the training ground boundaries and in the tower itself, but there will be limited personnel within the forest itself."

His gear bag. It didn't make sense for him to have one with him if he was going to be part of the units that could get replaced. "They're actually going to let you be in the forest while we're in there too?" I had to ask, because that seemed off.

"I may have traded some future favors," Kakashi answered, remarkably toneless.

"Couldn't that get us disqualified?" Sakura asked.

"At this point, I doubt that anything short of dragging the three of you out of the country would result in your being removed from this portion of the exam. For a variety of reasons, I would rather not resort to that," Kakashi commented. "While I'll be in the forest, it's large enough that it doesn't mean I will be able to find you or get to you in time if anything happens. Or anyone else, for that matter. As far as I'm concerned, your mission is to survive."

"We can do that," Naruto said. It wasn't loud, or that enthusiastic. Even Naruto found it lacking, repeating himself in a firmer voice. "We can do it. Believe it."

I woke up on the couch to a dead phone, and my painkillers and a mostly empty glass of water on the coffee table. I was just as exhausted as I had woken up to being the last few days, but the TV was off and I could tell the painkillers were still working. At this point, I would take what I could get.

I plugged my phone in to charge and dozed off again.

At some point after its battery was full, I turned it back on and canceled the therapy appointment I was supposed to have on Monday.

Chapter 11: Discord in the Garden Tonight

Chapter Text

I barely avoided missing the next branch, which was impressive, because of just how large it was. Naruto was ahead, moving with surprising speed and determination. Sakura, ahead of me, turned, the serious look on her face softening with concern. "Sasuke-kun, are you okay?"

"Fine," I answered, as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

Sakura wasn't wearing her usual clothes; instead of the usual dress and shorts, she was wearing an olive green jacket and matching cargo pants. Even from a distance away, I could tell they were more rugged and hardy looking than her usual outfit was. Occasionally as she jumped or landed, the jacket flared out, showing a black shirt underneath. It was extremely practical, and not delicate looking in the least. This must have been why she wasn't thrilled at finding out her mom packed for her.

This had to be the second test, obviously, but beyond that...

I didn't even know what direction we were going in, or what the plan was, if there was one, or who had the scroll and which one of the two it was. You're carrying the Scroll of Heaven, dummy, my thoughts directed at me.

Somewhat less of a total loss, then, but not enough to make me feel that much less directionless.

We kept going, silent.

The idea that Naruto could stay quiet this long was weird. Almost unnerving. Not quite impossible, but just strange that this twelve year old who generally showed little in the way of self-control could actually stay focused on a single task.

Then again, maybe not so much?

He had to have had some, just to figure out the shadow clone jutsu, after all. And that was for something he thought would get him to become a ninja.

In practice his own survival probably ranked much higher in terms of things that would keep his attention span going. I couldn't see Kakashi's warnings being ignored so easily when they were so serious. At least, I hoped so.

I tried to shove the uncomfortable question of when I started to get attached to imaginary dream children away.

Ahead, Naruto briefly turned his head to look at us. "Sakura-chan, are you holding up okay?"

"You don't need to check every five minutes, Naruto," Sakura answered, sounding not quite exasperated. "It's not going to change from the last time. My knee's fine. The medic-nin cleared me at the hospital after it happened for full duty, remember? That was weeks ago."

"Yeah, but, he said you gotta do exercises and stuff to make sure it recovers fully, didn't he? Doesn't that mean it's still bad?"

"And I've been doing them! Ugh. Just because you might slack on things doesn't mean other people do, right, Sasuke-kun?"

"Right," I said, just choosing to echo. I suddenly felt very guilty. I realized I didn't even know where the folded up print-outs of the knee stabilization exercises I was supposed to do went, much less the ones for my shoulder. I hadn't kept them up for long after I had gotten out of physical therapy. They were probably gathering eraser dust or something in one of my desk drawers.

"Yeah but..." Naruto drifted off, apparently not wanting to share more than he already had. "Nevermind. We'll just keep moving unless someone needs a break, yeah? And hope we don't get caught…" The last words were quieter than the rest.

He was worried. Not just worried, actually afraid. As far as Naruto was concerned, we were in danger of being tracked down by Orochimaru because of him. The only reason why he hadn't attempted to split off on his own was probably of being severely warned by Kakashi that we stick together. I resisted the urge to shudder. That thought had floated into my head on its own. Kakashi had said that this morning. A morning I knew nothing about, except, it seemed, for that.

I redirected my attention to the surrounding forest.The gargantuan trees reached high into the sky with so many vast branches it was difficult to properly see it. Trees really had no business being this large. Redwood forests were already highly suspicious to me. These hulking beasts didn't even have the excuse of being pine trees and mostly going in an upward direction. These were the plant world versions of freaks of nature, completely impossible.

Being indignant about trees made me feel a bit better, but it didn't last long.

For however many other people were supposed to be in here— between genin teams and jōnin on standby— the forest was quiet in a natural way. No sounds of fighting at all. That was almost spooky on its own.

It said to me at least that everyone in here was preoccupied with the proverbial elephant in the room. The snake in the forest. This was a very, very different game of survival than the one any of them expected they had signed up for, except for the ones who were here because of him. I doubted they would mind it very much.

And Orochimaru wasn't even the only danger in here. There were the Sound-nin, as well.

My personal concern, outside of Orochimaru, was not wanting to run into Gaara.

I didn't want to be the one to find out firsthand he didn't have enough self-control to not kill even when it was a direct instruction, which unfortunately answered the question of if that had been forbidden or not.

I decided to do my best to just stop thinking before anything else slipped into my thoughts, unwanted.

The peacefulness of just running didn't last for long.

Naruto tried to come to a sudden stop on the next branch, a long sloping length extending upwards in the direction we were going that luckily for him gave him enough space to skid and tumble— made particularly rough by the presence of his gear bag— before he got back up to his feet, pulling a kunai out from his holster. Sakura and I, further behind him, had just enough time to slow down and land less clumsily.

It was obvious why Naruto had stopped when he had, when we dropped down to join him.

A bright red spray of blood was apparent against the wood, with kunai and shuriken embedded in this branch and some of the other branches nearby. The scent of smoke from burnt wood lingered in the air, heralding the occasional scorch marks in the trees around us. A fight had taken place here.

Something about it made me tense up.

Sakura gasped, before pressing her hand to her mouth to cut it off. "We need to leave," she said, as quiet as she could.

Naruto was still looking around with the kunai gripped in his hand, eyes squinted in concentration.

"What is it?" I asked.

She pointed upwards, without a word.

Naruto exchanged a wary look with me.

I regretted looking up.

Pinned above our heads to the overhanging branch were two bodies, both in flak jackets, one with an obvious neck wound, blood still seeping down. The other showed no sign of injury at all, but neither showed any signs of life.

Too realistic.

Blood splashed down onto the branch we were standing on, staining the bark.

It was only when I met Sakura's eyes that it occurred to me that it hadn't dripped before that. That had to mean the bodies had just been pinned up there right before we got here. It was new. Same as the spray of still-bright blood earlier, and the smell of smoke.

Naruto jumped ahead, only to be swallowed whole by the giant snake that suddenly lunged down from above, descending to the ground in a way that was horrifyingly silent except for the snap of its jaws. It disappeared from sight.

Sakura screamed. "NARUTO!"

I couldn't help but approach the edge to stare downwards, trying to figure out where the fuck the snake went. With all the other sensory nonsense with these dreams, I absolutely did not want the experience of being eaten by a snake.

"I'm surprised you're not running," a voice said. I twisted around to find out where it was coming from, temporarily meeting Sakura's eyes.

A figure dropped down from the branch the corpses were pinned to, landing without a sound. Their dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, a Konoha hitai-ate tied to their forehead. Dressed in a collared track jacket, and with a sash crossing over one shoulder, nothing about the clothing remotely screamed menace, but there was something chilling in the half-mocking smile directed at us.

Sakura pulled out a kunai, even as she took a step backwards.

"Would that even do anything?" I asked. "It's obvious who you are. Are we supposed to be stupid enough to assume that would work?"

Triggering that kind of nightmare sequence never went well in dreams gone bad for me before, and I didn't think it would turn out any different with one featuring Orochimaru. I really, really did not think that Sakura and I would be able to out-run Orochimaru in a nightmare, even when he was dressed non-threateningly like that. He was still wearing someone's face over his own, after all.

There was no point, which annoyed me.

"You Uchiha... for all that you enjoy being dramatic yourselves, you can't stand anyone else having the same opportunity, do you?" He laughed. "And here I was, ready to play pretend for you."

Sakura stepped backwards, until she was on the very edge of the branch before it no longer offered standing ground.

"I don't need this anymore, even to pretend to check against yours, then." He mockingly pulled out the scroll for the exam. The Scroll of Earth. Unlucky us. He opened his mouth, and I could pinpoint the moment that it was past where a normal human would be able to extend their jaw. Orochimaru's tongue extended out from his mouth, wrapping it around the scroll, pulling it into his mouth before he swallowed it whole.

His throat bulged as it slid down. A stupid thought crossed my mind, despite the horror and tension of the moment: I wondered how it would even come out, or if he would even bother, if this hadn't been a dream. There was no way it was going to get past his stomach.

"So much for games. Let's see how you deal with fighting for your life, when it's futile."

Like the dream with the Tsukiyomi before, terrible images of death smashed through my head. Not of the Uchiha clan, but of Sasuke's. My stomach roiled threateningly.

I shook my head, trying to ignore it even as my breathing went shallow. Breathe in. Breathe out. Deep breaths to fight off the panic and fear that was trying to grip me.

Sakura let out what barely counted as a noise as she dropped to her knees, the kunai clattering out of her hand and onto the wood. Uncontrolled tears began to stream down her face.

"Sakura, get up," I said, grabbing her arm. I pulled her up, shifting her to provide more support. "This isn't real."

She whimpered. I nudged at one of her feet to force her to try and support herself more.

Something flashed in Orochimaru's eyes— a greedy look directed entirely at me— and the terrible mental images and fear began to dissipate. "How are you able to ignore it, Sasuke-kun?" The condescending derision of earlier had disappeared entirely.

I couldn't quite convince myself that an intrigued Orochimaru was better to deal with. It probably wasn't.

"Sakura, we need to move," I whispered, voice urgent. "Close your eyes and get a hold of yourself. Breathe." She did, almost immediately steadying.

"Is there something wrong with you, to inhibit what should be a natural fear for someone targeted as prey? Or is there something else?" Orochimaru's smile was taunting. "Do you think you're also a predator, Sasuke-kun?"

I glanced back at Orochimaru, unable to disguise how unimpressed I was with the heavy-handed metaphors, and then grabbed Sakura around the waist, throwing us both off the side of the branch, clapping a hand over Sakura's mouth when she opened it to scream in surprise. It ended up muffled against my palm, her breath warm. We tumbled down, rolling and smashing against different branches on the way. The air was completely knocked out of me by the time we were on solid ground.

Sakura got up first on wobbly legs, giving me a hand to help stand up.

From down here, we couldn't even see the branch we had been on. I hadn't realized how far up that had been.

Sakura armed herself again, if shakily. "Sasuke, are you alright?" she whispered. She pulled me towards the nearest tree we were next to; immense like the others, its roots were partially lifted above the ground, creating nooks to hide in.

"Yeah," I answered, distracted. There was no sign of any snakes— actual or figurative. I wasn't sure how we'd come across or get Naruto back if we were this lost. I guess we'd have to hope he'd figure it out on his own, otherwise he'd be lost.

"Those bodies… They were wearing flak jackets. They had to be some of the jōnin trying to capture him. What are we supposed to do? He knew your name." Sakura's voice quavered, even with how softly she was speaking. She was trying to avoid attracting any attention to where we were.

I couldn't remember the entire sequence of events or reasonings from the show; Naruto had been swallowed by one of Orochimaru's snakes in there, too, but was giving the seal to Sasuke always Orochimaru's goal from the start or had that been a change of plans?

How much did Sasuke's Sharingan play into that? Had I even unlocked it in these dreams? No, I hadn't. Sasuke's lack of trauma was unfortunate there, I guess.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought over the options. "If he knew mine, it means he doesn't care about you. Go. Find Naruto or someone." I had a strong suspicion I was about to find out how important an active Sharingan could be to Orochimaru's interest in Sasuke. He had given up on even pretending he was in here for the exam when confronted.

"What?" Sakura sounded insulted, it overriding her current fearfulness. "I'm not going to leave you behind! How can you suggest that?"

"Easily," I answered. "He came in here for a reason, and that's me. If he decides you're a nuisance, he'll just kill you. Those jōnin didn't stand a chance. What makes you think we will?"

She looked at me, worry in her eyes. "Sasuke-kun… the last time I left you behind…"

"Does it matter?" I was beginning to wish we hadn't fallen all the way to the ground. It would have been easier to lose Sakura.

That turned out to be the wrong thing to say. Her eyes narrowed. "Don't say that kind of terrible thing," she hissed. "I felt awful when we heard there were bodies and we couldn't even stop to see if you were one of them. I am not going through that again when I don't have to, especially with both of you at the same time!" It seemed like Sakura had ended up with the lion's share of the trauma from Wave, then. I didn't count my new squeamishness around raw meat.

"How touching," Orochimaru's voice said, from above.

Sakura jolted, and we looked upwards.

He was wound around a thinner branch, one arm hanging loosely down, straight. It was a terrible contrast against the rest of his body, warped as it was to wrap around the wood.

I was not looking forward to having normal nightmares if those ever happened again, because I couldn't see my mind not reusing that in the future.

There was a sudden rustling.

Sakura and I barely dodged out of the way as another massive snake— not so large as the one that had managed to swallow Naruto whole— darted at the spot we had hidden in, its jaws wide, showing its dripping fangs.

It barely occured to me afterwards that I had let loose a flurry of shuriken when I had split away from Sakura. Blood was visibly running from the side of the snake's I was facing.

On the other side, Sakura had not gained such a wide clearance, and red covered her right sleeve, before it slowly turned to flecks on her shoulder and face. She was breathing hard, her eyes wide. The kunai was missing, but her hand was red and damp, with a small chunk of flesh clinging to her fingers. If either of us could put more claim to the snake's death, it was her.

My stomach turned again. I tried my best to ignore it. Throwing up now was an awful idea. Then again, it had worked to distract Itachi, hadn't it? I wasn't sure I wanted to try to throw up on someone in these dreams on purpose, though, even Orochimaru. Once was bad enough.

"Both of you are more interesting than I expected," Orochimaru mused. "Are you planning on surpassing your brother, Sasuke-kun? Should I bother to ask your comrade's name?"

"Will it get you to stop with the predator and prey nonsense?" I asked, in spite of myself.

Before I could even process it, he had moved from the branch to the ground, and was holding me up by the neck at arm's length, looking me in the eye. A bit too closely in the eye. My jaw didn't take long to start aching from where his grip was positioned, legs dangling uselessly.

"You haven't awoken the Sharingan," Orochimaru concluded. "Even with all that loss… Are you unwilling to acknowledge it, or is it something else? I can't believe it's because you don't possess it at all." The pressure on my neck shifted. "Even the most elite of jōnin react to my killing intent."

Can't breathe, can't breathe…

"Sasuke!" Sakura's shout did nothing. Why would it have?

He stared at me impassively as I finally began to thrash when my vision started to fade to black around the edges, trying to breathe. Was this really what it would feel like?

It was getting harder to move or think, and my eyes started to shutter close.

The grip on my neck moved again, the pressure no longer on my windpipe.

I gasped, before I sucked in fresh air.

"Too slow again," he noted. "But not involuntary."

"LET GO OF SASUKE, YOU ASSHOLE!" Naruto's shout came just before he dropped into sight, smashing down into Orochimaru from above, knocking the Sannin down, and me out of his grasp.

There was a pearlescent mucousy sheen covering Naruto, thick enough that his hair was sticking up in hard spikes where it wasn't slicked against his skull. It was disgusting, and absurdly made me wonder how he got out of the snake. Then again, I probably didn't want to know.

Naruto grinned at me as he stood up. "Hey, hey, did you see tha—"

He was knocked into a tree by a swift kick as Orochimaru righted himself.

"One cautious, one reckless, and then there's you, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru said.

Naruto struggled to his feet, eyes narrowing. "Hey, you bastard! We're all Konoha-nin here! Why are you going after us?"

"Is that what you think is going on?" Orochimaru laughed to himself.

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized. "Naruto, don't! That's Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru's attention shifted again, this time directed onto Naruto, clearly putting things together. "The Kyūbi brat?"

Naruto froze, eyes widening with fear and worry.

"So you do know what you are." Orochimaru smirked, drawing closer to Naruto. Despite the slow, deliberate walk, Naruto didn't move, his eyes dilating as he switched between looking at me, Sakura, and Orochimaru. Naruto's breathing was visibly labored by the time Orochimaru was standing in front of him. The fear that gripped him was different from the one that Orochimaru had triggered in Sakura before. "Hiruzen-sensei must have constructed this team with a hope of keeping you under control just in case something happened... Hatake Kakashi must be your jōnin-sensei, then," he concluded out loud.

There was something terrible and fascinating about watching him reason all of this out just from one single clue.

"'Kyūbi brat'?" Sakura questioned, her voice small.

Orochimaru laughed. "Your teammates don't know, but you do?"

It was like throwing a switch.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, and he snarled. "Don't you dare tell them!"

"The Yondaime Hokage sealed the Kyūbi into a newborn infant and died in the process. This boy."

Sakura gasped.

Orochimaru's smirk turned even more mocking. "This whole team was likely never meant to be a legitimate one from the start. The single remaining Sharingan user in the village, one with the possibility of possessing a full set, and..." His eyes lingered on Sakura. I tried to dismiss the idea that his gaze seemed almost sympathetic. "Probably an intended sacrifice or distraction? The Sandaime isn't afraid of wasting his shinobi as long as they aren't precious to him."

Naruto threw himself at Orochimaru, the blue of his eyes bleeding into a red visible from here, the whisker marks on his face darkening and broadening. "I SAID! DON'T! TELL THEM!"

His hand clawed across Orochimaru's stolen face, and it tore, peeling apart where Naruto had struck him. The skin hung in tatters, getting in the man's eyes, revealing the near-white complexion beneath it.

Orochimaru didn't seem to have expected that to happen so fast, striking Naruto away with one arm, before the other reached out, stretching far beyond what a normal arm should have been capable of. He gripped Naruto's jacket collar to hold him up, like he had scruffed an unruly pet.

"LET! ME! GO!" Naruto's shouting devolved into something more terrible and primal, as he clawed and kicked out into the empty air. Whatever reason and kind of cleverness Naruto usually possessed had completely abandoned him.

Using his free hand, Orochimaru tore the ruined skin from his face, pulling it up from under his chin and through his hair, where he finally reached his fingers through the hair tie, loosening his hair from the bun it had been in, all in one smooth motion. Bits of tattered skin hung in his hair. He approached Naruto, letting his arm shorten to a more normal length, passively observing his struggle. His gaze soon drew down to Naruto's stomach, Naruto's thrashing making his jacket and shirt shift upwards, exposing his belly.

"So the seal is visible when you get riled up… Emotions affect the body in such interesting ways... " What looked like purple fire suddenly appeared at Orochimaru's fingertips.

This was so much worse to watch than in the show.

I wasn't aware of arming myself, but I must have, for there to be a cloth-strip covered Kunai gripped between my teeth as I rushed forward, the joints between my fingers already occupied with more. Metal wire led away, knotted around the loops at the end of the kunai, tied around even more kunai and shuriken that swung behind me as I rushed forward.

We had rigged up for laying traps on the fly if need be, with ninja wire attached to our kunai and even shuriken.

This time, knowing didn't bother me.

I threw the first handful in an arc, twisting to avoid getting caught by the weapons attached to the wires at the other ends, with much more grace than I really possessed. Sasuke did, though.

Orochimaru's eyes— their true color visible now— widened in surprise, barely dropping Naruto in time to be able evade the first wave of kunai.

It wasn't quite fast enough for the second wave. A shuriken that was tied to one of the kunai from before clipped a visibly large hank of his hair at the midpoint as it swung through the air. I didn't need the Sharingan to predict Orochimaru's moves. He just needed to be unable to predict everything heading at him.

The one in my mouth still remained, and my fingers moved on their own, molding just enough chakra to set the cloth aflame. I flung it at Orochimaru's feet.

Sakura's eyes widened, and she yanked a kunai from her own holster. There was an exploding tag attached to it. It would possibly buy us enough time—

or just make things worse.

"Naruto! Move!" I shouted, just as Sakura threw it.

Naruto looked up from where he had been on the ground, his eyes still wild looking and red, even from here.

I had a sudden bad feeling about this.

He launched himself at Orochimaru, instead of heading for safety, with a wordless scream, fury still painted on his face.

"Naruto!"

Orochimaru jammed his hand— the ominous purple flames still dancing on his fingertips— against Naruto's belly.

Naruto let loose a terrible yowling sound before he bonelessly collapsed to the ground.

Sakura's kunai hit my lit one, and an explosion went off, blasting dirt and smoke upwards, making everyone else disappear from sight.

The last thing I saw was Orochimaru's face, fangs extended from his mouth suddenly lunging at me from the smoke.

Being bitten in a dream did not hurt any less than being bitten in real life, which was absolutely unfair.

"All teams, this is Team Sarutobi. Clear over here," the radio piece fed into Kakashi's ear as the last jōnin pair checked in at the quarter hour mark. Its volume was turned down to be as low it could be to avoid unnecessary sound, since the earpieces leaked noise. It meant that any comms were only half distinguishable.

Quarter hour many, Tenzō signed to him, when they began to move again to patrol their portion of the forest. The former Root agent had even thrown in the unnecessary downward drag that was supposed to inflect disapproval. At first, Kakashi noticed it only among a specific subset of Anbu— Root agents in the wild— but before long it has spread to most of the others, who had thrown more modulating movements in. Only captains and exasperated trainers kept it out of their signs, now.

Negative, he flicked back behind his head, and shot ahead. Tenzō would have to take the lead or get next to him to continue that 'argument', as much as it could be considered one. Despite how few hand signals there were— however much rumors liked to state it was the case, Anbu tactical signs only had a few extra beyond the standard Konohagakure list, it was no true language— Tenzō was adept in arguing and even complaining in it all the same. He hadn't missed it.

Besides the limited radio use, they were running silent; it was the only option that made sense, being ordered to limit their interference in the test as much as possible. Otherwise, they would attract too much attention from not just the participating genin, but the wildlife as well, outside of Orochimaru and whoever else he had managed to get into the examination.

Konoha's intel team had already identified one team, extracting them inside of their gate before they could get any further. Doing so earlier would have provided hints to anyone else. The genin from Otogakure were likely being dealt with by Torture & Interrogation as Kakashi patrolled. Even with everything else going on— enough that reserve forces were being activated to help with everyday operations, much more than normally happened for the exams— it was too time sensitive to have them wait in a cell.

Orochimaru did not have a reputation for doing anything by halves; a single group of teenagers who could be immediately subdued by a single Anbu— in spite of their attempt at a fight— only put them all more on edge. There was no possible way that was it. Kakashi refused to let his guard down.

Killing intent flooded over him, followed by a scream from far ahead and below. Without bothering to signal behind him— Tenzō would figure it out— he dropped several feet down, pushing chakra into his legs and ran until he could get a more thorough look, pushing his hitai-ate up to uncover the Sharingan.

It isn't very often that Kakashi came across a murder scene where there weren't even body parts remaining.

The scent of blood was heavy in the air, enough to permeate his mask, and there were dark wet splatters on the ground. Uneven, radiating from a center point in a clearing.

Three Suna genin— the Kazekage's children— were standing on one side of the bloodshed. The killing intent was emanating from the youngest one, who was splattered with blood. It would be more unexpected if he hadn't investigated ahead of time, when Naruto had babbled about meeting a red-haired boy who, unfortunately to Naruto, was not family. Gaara of the Sand was already a killer of repute, an internal issue of serious concern for Suna. Most jōnin couldn't give off enough killing intent for it to spread as far as that had. The vast majority of genin could barely exude it at all.

On the other side, two Kusa genin, who were staring in clear horror, standing utterly still. The girl of the two had bright red hair of a shade he had only seen on one other person, almost thirteen years ago. A matter for another time.

It wouldn't impact the mission, he decided.

Tenzō joined him a moment later, standing ahead enough in front of him that it meant Kakashi couldn't pretend to ignore his hand signs. Eight, he signaled. Three Konoha. Engage query, disprove.

Out of sight, then. If they had any sense, then those genin would leave the moment they were given the opportunity.

To Tenzō's clear dismay, Kakashi dropped into the clearing. They didn't need two unstoppable forces rampaging through the forest, after all. Not when the younger one could be used to the benefit of the other. The change in rules allowed the jōnin to remove any identified killers from the forest, at least.

The killing intent radiating from the youngest Suna-nin retracted with a baleful look directed at him.

"Jōnin-san, this was an accident," the eldest of the three siblings tried to tell him, her words rushed. She raised her hands placatingly.

"Fuck off!" a bush shouted. It rustled for a moment, with hushed whispers, before a boy pushed out to stand in front of it, the red fang markings on his face telling Kakashi he was an Inuzuka. The small dog, quivering in the Inuzuka's jacket, was just additional confirmation. Two others emerged to stand next to him, an Aburame boy and a Hyūga girl. Part of Kurenai's team, then. "That bastard just went off and killed someone! You're just gonna lie about it?"

This was a worse situation than Kakashi had expected to deal with.

"Don't talk that way about my younger brother!" Temari shouted, as the middle sibling cringed.

"He killed Shigeri in cold blood!" The dark-haired Kusa boy retorted. "You stood there and let it happen! You were going to let him kill all of us!"

"You were the ones who attacked us first! It's not our fault! You started this in the first place!"

"We didn't expect that we'd get fucking murdered!"

"So? It's not our fault the rules changed! We had to show that we understood we could potentially die during the exams before we left our village, didn't you?"

The red-headed girl burst into silent tears.

It was almost enough to make Kakashi consider leaving the clearing and allow the genin to fix themselves instead, but it was too late. He had already made the decision to intervene the way he had. He was beginning to regret this new habit that he had developed in the last few months. Allowing genin to talk was a mistake; he should have known better from his experience leading Team Seven.

"Both of your teams are disqualified and no longer part of this exam," Kakashi said. "Team Kurenai—" the Inuzuka and Huuyga both reacted in blatant surprise at the fact he knew who led them, the Aburame less so— "Unless you feel like joining them, leave."

His declaration only started another uproar of protests, between the male Kusa-nin, the two older siblings from Suna, and the Inuzuka boy.

"Why are we disqualified—"

"—it was an accident—"

"We didn't even do anything!"

"-even know-"

"Why are we getting in trouble?!"

Sand shifted, skirting across Kakashi's toes. He decided to ignore it.

"Will you all shut up," Gaara rasped.

The genin went dead-still, silent enough to hear the wind in the branches above.

Gaara stared at Kakashi. "You're Naruto's sensei."

"How does he know Nar—" The Inuzuka was silenced as his teammates pressed their hands over his mouth, pulling him back. Kurenai had mentioned her concerns about her team; he would have to mention to her that the Hyūga girl's survival instincts outweighed the anxiety Kurenai had thought would be such an issue.

Wonderful. It stood to reason that Naruto would manage to make himself memorable to the most dangerous genin in the exam. "Yes, I am." There was no point in bothering to deny it, the information was easily accessible, especially during the exams. He had probably put the connection together from when he and his team had left the exam hall when Kakashi was waiting for the various Kiri-nin that had fallen under Zabuza's banner.

The boy stared into his eyes, unblinking. "If he lives past this… I want to talk to him."

"We'll see," Kakashi answered. He wondered how much ramen it would take in the form of blatant bribery to make Naruto avoid the red-haired boy. From how much his blond student enjoyed both ramen and making terrible friends, he suspected it would empty his savings. He'd leave that tactic to Asuma. "Team Kurenai. Leave."

This time, they finally left, the Inuzuka dragged away forcibly by his teammates. The dog had more sense than his human partner.

Once they were acceptably out of range, Kakashi spoke once more. "Take out your scrolls and open them."

Temari eyed him warily, more so now that her younger brother had said anything. "I thought we weren't supposed to open them unless we reached the tower?"

"You are no longer part of this exam. Open your scrolls."

The red-headed Kusa-nin haltingly pulled out the scroll for her team, tears still streaming down her face. Kankuro— the cynical comments on the intel report about how the boy was only a few years away from being able to be used as an easy body double for his father the Kazekage weren't that far off at all— reluctantly pulled the one he was holding out.

Both had the Scroll of Earth.

Kankuro waited until the girl started to open hers up to do so himself.

Smoke began to disperse, and out of alarm and caution the genin threw the scrolls out and away. At least that showed neither were as senseless as the earlier dramatics suggested.

Two chūnin appeared from the smoke, the only thing stopping them from immediately attempting to knock the genin out being Kakashi's presence.

To Kakashi's internal surprise, both were women; one he vaguely recognized as one of the many instructors at the academy, a curly haired woman in glasses that he only knew of having the unique reputation as being a germaphobe in spite of working with children. The other, unfortunately, he knew well by sight if not personally, though it had been years since he saw her in a flak jacket.

Things were not going well in the village if Nara Yoshino— the Jōnin Commander's wife— felt the need to volunteer herself for active duty again. She must have forced her way into taking one of the opened roles, after yesterday's reorganization happened. It was no wonder now that Shikaku— normally adept at keeping annoyance off his face— had looked particularly frustrated when they were planning out the general area each jōnin team would patrol this morning.

"The team from Suna killed someone and are disqualified from the rest of the exam. The Kusa-nin no longer have a full team as a result and can no longer continue," he informed them, keeping his voice as casual as he could. Yoshino had already noticed the girl's hair. The other woman showed no sign of making any kind of connection. "Both need to be escorted to the tower."

"We still have to go there anyways?" Temari asked in disbelief. "We're closer to the gates out than to that building!"

"You entered and signed the release form," Yoshino said, folding her arms under her chest. "Do you really want to be found out as the first team that failed entirely because you couldn't follow basic instructions?"

Temari's eyes narrowed. For being outnumbered by Konoha-nin that outranked her in a non-combat situation, she was holding her ground. In spite of her youngest brother— or because of him— she was doing her best to try to exert as much control as she could over the situation. Kakashi resigned himself to mentioning that. "Fine. Are we going to have to stay there until the second exam is finished?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered.

"Thank you for alerting us in the first place, but we can take over from here," Yoshino told him.

The other woman nodded slightly. "Thank you, Hatake... san." Kakashi ignored the delay.

It wasn't the first time he was so firmly dismissed by chūnin, and it certainly wouldn't be the last time. While with Yoshino it was probably just how the woman was— going from gossip, along with the fact she was trying to firmly reassert herself after years inactive— the hesitance of the academy teacher wasn't anything new from the past several weeks. The fact she had even made the attempt at being polite at all meant that his reputation was slowly recovering in spite of itself.

Either way, it meant these genin weren't his problem anymore. All the better for him.

Kakashi gave a lazy one-fingered salute of acknowledgement before making the tiger seal, disappearing out of their sight with a plume of smoke before running. He stopped on a branch overhead that still had enough clearance beneath it to watch, just in case. He lowered his hitai-ate back into position.

Tenzō landed silently next to him, the only tell being the other man's weight making the branch dip lightly.

The earpiece crackled. "All teams, this is Tower. Check in requested, over," Gai's voice said.

Kakashi pressed to transmit, answering. "Tower, Hatake. All clear."

Tenzō gave him a look of disapproval as the other teams answered. Likely over the blatant lie over the comms. "You should have just knocked them out and let the assigned chūnin handle it."

"There's something off about the Kazekage's youngest son. Not just the killing intent."

Tenzō frowned. "You could have let me know instead of throwing yourself into it without warning."

They watched as the chūnin and genin below took off in the direction of the tower.

"Didn't matter."

While the killing intent and chakra emanating from Gaara had carried implications, especially when paired with the boy's reputation... The expressions and reaction of the red-haired boy reminded Kakashi of one of his own charges instead, and not in a way that boded anything well.

Uchiha Sasuke concerned him.

Normal genin did not react so little to death or treat people like they were afterthoughts or frustrations that could be carved or pushed through, even in battle. While the boy's reactions after he had carved through a swath of Gato's mercenaries were normal after a first kill— throwing up, an avoidance of bloody meat, and nightmares— it was everything during it that worried him.

Even experienced jōnin did not shut themselves off like that. Even prior to the annihilation of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke's older brother had not. For all that shinobi were tools and soldiers, they were still people. In spite of all the death the genin had been exposed to by now, and the way Kakashi had seen Sasuke's first kills haunt the boy's sleep, there was no sign of the Sharingan.

What did it mean that the surviving child was able to surpass his elder brother in such a terrible way?

And yet, in spite of that, outside of that mission and the altercation with the Hyūga boy the one and only time they trained with Gai's team, Sasuke appeared… not normal, Kakashi had no idea what counted as normal for almost thirteen year old children and didn't like what insight he was beginning to gain there, but the boy acted with enough maturity to counterbalance the other two and seemed to at least respect that the people who surrounded him on a daily basis were people as well. He was mostly quiet.

Even so, the only thing that kept Kakashi from dropping Sasuke off at the Intelligence Division's main building was Jiraiya's urging for him to keep his worries to himself, after he had brought up his concerns to the older man when Jiraiya had met them in Kōsaten-mura on their return to Konoha. While he had done so, it didn't mean he wasn't baffled at the fact that Sasuke had somehow 'passed' the psychological screening after their mission anyways. If it weren't for the fact that he needed to avoid any further trouble for the foreseeable future, he would have infiltrated the hospital to look through Sasuke's medical records. Making a formal request would only alert someone to the fact that he felt the need to look through them.

Yoshino and the others vanished entirely from sight. He could only assume that Gaara was assenting entirely to the escort, then; there'd be no need for a direct intervention on his part.

Giving in to Tenzō's better nature, he held the transmission switch down. "Tower, Hatake. Two chūnin and five genin are on their way to the tower." The numbers explained what happened well enough.

"Team Hatake, Tower. Roger that." In spite of the fact it was only Gai's voice being transmitted, the tone of Gai's voice all but outright said that the man was probably directing a thumbs up out at the forest from where he was positioned.

Tenzō seemed placated by the better adherence to procedure, and he laid off the annoyed-inflection motion when they exchanged information in tactical signs for the next few hours.

It was late afternoon when one of the check-ins had a failure.

"Team Aramaki, Tower. Nothing heard, over."

Kakashi and Tenzō stopped on the next branch, long enough to exchange looks. According to the plan laid out, they were nowhere near the general area that that team was supposed to patrol.

There was no way for them to know what had happened unless that pair either checked in late somehow or someone closer investigated.

Even though there were five teams that could investigate easily, the comms stayed silent.

Silence was not always cowardice. Not all sacrifice was meaningful.

Jōnin did not run headlong into death without thinking; however valiant the idea was made to seem to small children and academy students, and rushing headfirst to investigate when two jōnin had possibly died in less than fifteen minutes from the last check-in was the definition of recklessness. Reckless ninja did not live to be ninja for very long.

"Team Hyūga, this is Team Yūhi, over," Kurenai's voice broke the silence.

"Kurenai-" Asuma's voice broke from procedure, before ending the transmission entirely.

"Team Yūhi, this is Team Hyūga. You have a plan in mind, over?" The crisp words carried over with practice and no tension in the Hyūga's voice.

"Team Hyūga, Team Yūhi; we're requesting your team to join us to investigate."

"Team Yūhi, this is Team Hyūga. Wilco out."

Kurenai and her partner for this were on one of the inner patrols ringing the missing team. The Hyūga team's patrol area didn't border the missing team's, but Kurenai's. With the Hyūga clan member's assistance, it would approach something less than a total death trap. At least, in theory it would.

Two jōnin dead in fifteen minutes or less. Whatever Orochimaru was planning, at least some of it was in this forest filled with genin after all.

With only a meaningful glance, Tenzō shoved a bamboo water canteen into his hands before he began to move again, momentarily leaving Kakashi behind.

Kakashi took the moment for what it was. He pulled his mask down, uncovering his lips for long enough to drain the canteen of its contents. He pulled it back up into place and shoved the now empty canteen into his bag before he rushed to catch up.

There was only so much they could do.

Whatever the Hokage thought this would achieve, it was looking increasingly certain that capturing Orochimaru would not happen. Not without plenty of jōnin dying for the sake of attempting to get one man.

Whatever secrets Orochimaru had, what value they could hold this many years after his crimes and departure... it left questions. Kakashi was unable to fully shove the probably-dead jōnin out of his concern. There were very few things in the forest that likely held any interest to Orochimaru, and Kakashi was supposed to be in charge of two of them.

The shadows were deep, and only becoming deeper as the sun set.

However useful that would be for Shikamaru, it didn't explain why Ino was forcing them in the same breakneck pace they had been since entering from their gate.

"Ino, we can't keep going like this," he finally protested, coming to a complete stop. "Either we stop together, or you're going without us."

"No-" Ino turned around, her ponytail swishing and fanning out. The fight momentarily drained from her, as she looked between him and Chōji. "You're right," she said, shoulders slumping. "We should find somewhere to set up camp."

Chōji sighed with relief.

It would have to do for now. For the last several weeks, Ino had been in an almost constant frenzy, for lack of a better description. While she had always been annoyingly bossy, it had switched into being closer to bullying, taking training with their parents and with Asuma-sensei suddenly more seriously than she ever had before. It would have bothered Shikamaru less if it hadn't been for the fact that he and Chōji were getting dragged into it, whether they liked it or not.

Being harangued by Ino was actually worse than being harassed by his mother; Kā-san at least asked how he was doing instead of just trying to make him miserable. She was even beginning to become concerned at how forceful Ino was being lately with trying to force him into doing things. It was starting to make him have to readjust his evaluation where his mother was concerned.

Hanging out with Team Seven in their spare time was one thing; Ino's resurrected friendship with Sakura was the least annoying change as of late, even if he had no idea what the hell Naruto was getting up to, to somehow end up friends with missing-nin revolutionaries. Sasuke at least kept his mouth shut usually and didn't expect much.

Her suggestions for them to train with Team Eight, however… Shikamaru had no idea what that was about. Ino had mostly ignored Hinata the whole time in the academy, and her interest in flowers meant that she wasn't exactly thrilled by Shino or Kiba, between the insects and the dog. It was only made worse by the fact that Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei had agreed to the idea. He had no idea what that was about, either, for that matter.

The whole thing was a drag.

Shikamaru looked over their surroundings, frowning. It was already becoming dark enough that the shadows on the ground were becoming meaningless; even his own barely stood in contrast, and he couldn't see it improving, considering the sun hadn't even fully sunk yet. While Chōji's techniques were best suited for being on the ground, if they stayed down here his own techniques were going to be almost useless. The current phase of the moon wasn't going to provide nearly enough light to reach down here. He wasn't skilled enough to work in near-darkness; not yet, at least. That required not just more chakra control than he currently possessed, but more chakra and much more experience than he had.

"We need to get higher," he said.

While it would be better for them to get to the tower as quickly as they could, none of them were— or at least should be— in more danger than they would normally be for this exam. At least, that was what Chōji's father had tried to imply to them.

Orochimaru's experiments had been with kekkei genkai. All of their techniques were hiden. As long as they just managed to avoid crossing the path of an legendary S-rank ninja who according to Chōza was powerful enough to have once been considered a candidate for Yondaime and had fended off Anbu and the Sandaime off to escape from the village, they would be fine.

They just had to ignore everything else, like the fact that Ino and Shikamaru had been escorted from the main academy building to Chōji's house in the middle of the Akimichi clan compound to spend the night at Chōji's for the first time in years and their mothers had dropped off mission-ready gear bags. That Shikamaru's mother was in uniform when she had done so, wearing a flak jacket he knew she had earned but he had never seen her in. That when they had woken up this morning, Chōza had shown no sign of sleeping that night, and was dressed in his armor.

Everything would be completely fine, if he was the sort of person able to ignore the evidence in front of his eyes.

Shikamaru looked at Chōji, whose worry was visible on his face.

"Yeah," Chōji said, reluctantly. This was the longest any of them had seen Chōji without a bag of snacks of some kind in his hand. "If anything happens in the middle of the night down here, it'd be no good. I can take the middle watch," he offered.

"Okay with me," Ino answered. "I'll take the last one."

It would leave Shikamaru with the one where he should have at least some ambient light to work with just in case.

They managed to find a tree that was decently higher than the ones surrounding it, and set up to rest in the highest possible branches. It was just tall enough that with a bit of climbing and chakra, it was possible to look out over the treeline. Like this, the tower in the middle didn't seem so far away.

He spent the hours of his watch staring out into the rest of the forest. The occasional plume of smoke from the impact of a fire jutsu could be seen, and at one point someone out there must have started a true fire. It didn't last for long.

Shikamaru turned over to Chōji before too long, and slept fitfully. He woke up to the grey light of a cloud-covered twilight sky when Ino gripped his shoulder. The diffuse light would be almost as useless as darkness was, but the clouds were fast moving, heading west as though they were fleeing the sun, and looked like they would be gone soon.

They descended halfway, eating ration bars Shikamaru suspected they weren't supposed to have. Then again, this test had turned too real. While skilled shinobi could live off the land if needed, an experienced one shouldn't have to. Not being prepared or having a plan could kill the strongest and most powerful ninja. Tests like this always had fake parameters and didn't really matter, usually.

They set off again, Ino forcibly taking the lead once more.

Unlike the first day, where they had by complete chance not encountered any other teams, this time they skirted the battle between two other teams— from Kiri and Ame, an ugly match up with few specific advantages to either— and came upon the remnants of another, kunai and shuriken littering the ground. It was only going to get worse as time passed and they got closer to the tower.

Around mid-afternoon, with the bright summer sunlight streaming down in ways that created full shadows, they came across a team from Suna, poorly hidden in a tree hollow. The girl who was supposed to be on watch among them had dozed off. Even Shikamaru wasn't that lazy.

Shikamaru held a finger to his lips to the other two, before he crept closer, brows furrowing together in concentration. His shadow stretched forward slowly and clumsily, poking its way around as he tried to search for their scroll. He was still working on practicing Kageyose no Jutsu with his father.

Extending his shadow was increasingly becoming second nature, and he could even manage to control others with Kagemane no Jutsu by now, if only for short periods of time, but actually pushing his own shadow into being material enough to manipulate things was more difficult than he had expected it to be when Tou-san had first explained it to him. The fact the movements to control it weren't a simple one on one like with Kagemane were a pain.

It was still less troublesome to try this than to do an outright fight, even though if they were dumb enough to fall asleep like this they probably wouldn't be that difficult of a fight.

Ino brought her hands together for one of the Yamanaka techniques. Shikamaru's eyes widened before he narrowed them at her, the other end of his shadow wriggling from his nerves.

"Ino!" he hissed. "I can handle this!"

Her eyes shut, and Chōji had barely enough time to catch her before she slumped to the ground.

One of the sleeping bodies in the hollow woke and slowly sat up, patting himself down, eyes meeting Shikamaru's. He smirked in the way Ino did when he found the scroll, holding it up for Shikamaru and Chōji to see. It was the Scroll of Heaven. They were lucky. With that, they could go directly to the tower from here.

The body Ino was possessing slowly lowered the scroll down to set it right in front of Shikamaru's shadow, motioning for Shikamaru to grab the scroll and for them to leave, before it went and laid back down.

Shikamaru carefully pulled the scroll out, doing his best to keep it from scraping across the dirt. Any additional noise would be too much.

Ino in the Suna-nin's body motioned for them to move again.

Exchanging a concerned glance with Chōji, Shikamaru slipped the scroll into his bag as Chōji lifted Ino's body up, hefting her over his shoulder. They ran.

Ino's mind didn't return for several nerve-wracking minutes. Well beyond what they had ever had to wait before, even when she had missed.

Her use of that technique had never lasted this long before. Even accounting for however long it would take her mind to return to her body at a distance, how had she managed to at the lowest estimation more than double how long she could use it in a matter of weeks?

They stopped for just long enough in the branches of a tree for Chōji to set Ino down.

Her eyes gleamed, a giddy expression crossing her face, and she swept her hair back into place. "Did you see that?" she squealed. "They didn't notice at all!"

Shikamaru sighed, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "I had it handled, Ino. By moving around in that guy's body you could have woken the other two."

"Well, I didn't and it's not like you've got the fine control down with that technique anyways," she said, heat rising to her cheeks in a flush. "If it wasn't for me you probably would have botched it. Right, Chōji?"

Chōji's eyes widened as he looked between the two. "I... Ino, I don't know about that... I mean… Do we have to argue over this?" he asked, half-pleadingly. "Do we have to do this, right now?"

Shikamaru shut his eyes. "Chōji's right. Let's get a move on. If we keep going and do our best to avoid any of the other teams, we'll make it to the tower easily."

Ino huffed out a breath, but relented. "Fine."

She took the lead again, waiting only long enough for Shikamaru to hand the Scroll of Heaven to Chōji; keeping them split up until they reached the tower was the better strategy, as tempting as it was to give both of them to Chōji.

As a gambit, few people would expect that the powerhouse of their team would have both scrolls on him, and would target Shikamaru or Ino first, but it was too still too risky.

Tests had fake parameters.

They pushed ahead, slowly continuing their push deeper and deeper into the forest.

While they weren't running into anyone— Ino was making sure of that— there was something off and he couldn't figure out what.

It frustrated Shikamaru.

How was he supposed to strategize when he couldn't see everything in front of him?

It was beginning to get dark again, the muddy oranges of a sunset coloring the light, when Ino suddenly veered wildly off-course, heading away from the tower with a sudden burst of speed, leaping into the trees.

"Ino!" Shikamaru raised his voice as much as he dared to; she didn't respond, but to his annoyance only moved faster. She had heard him, she was just ignoring him. "What is she doing?" he muttered to himself.

Chōji slowed down for just long enough to match his pace with Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, I've got a bad feeling about this," Chōji said, worriedly. "Should we stop her? What's she doing? We're going the wrong way."

"Stop her from doing what?" Shikamaru asked, frustration in his voice. "I don't know what she's doing either, Chōji. I'm just as confused as you are."

Chōji swallowed.

Ino stopped on the curve of an immense tree trunk, as suddenly as she had bolted. It gave him and Chōji just enough time to catch up with her, as little distance and time as it had been.

Beneath them, there was a clearing where giant roots from the surrounding trees had risen above the earth before sinking back down, leaving tunnels that were wide and high enough that multiple grown men would be able to go through them. There were three figures just barely in sight taking shelter under one of them, preparing their camp for the night.

Shikamaru barely had time to recognize them as Konoha-nin before Ino pulled out multiple shuriken from her pouch, launching them at the other team with a wide curving throw that would make it less obvious what direction the attack had come from. Two of them wore their hitai-ate on bandanas that covered their hair with cloth masks covering most of their faces. The other one he recognized as the strange older teen with the info cards that Sasuke had verbally cut down in front of them right before the first test. Kabuto.

Shikamaru stared at Ino in shock. "What the hell are you doing? They're from our village!"

Cries of alarm and pain rose from below. The other genin left their shelter, now armed as they looked for their attackers. One of the masked ones— glasses over narrowed eyes squinting to look around, possibly incorrect prescription— yanked a shuriken from his bicep, letting it fall to the ground. That was too casual a move for genin, even ones that went through this exam as many times as had been claimed.

Apparently luring them out was what Ino had wanted, because she pressed her forefingers and thumbs together again, and Shikamaru didn't even have enough time to shout at her to not do it before her body slumped over. Shikamaru didn't know what he was expecting, but the way they almost immediately directed their attention at the trunk they were on was alarming. They had already been spotted.

"They have a Yamanaka with them!"

He barely dodged out of the way, dashing for the top of one of the raised roots below when the first wave of kunai sped through where he had been standing, and Chōji dropped to the ground. The angle from below and the trunk's towering height meant that Ino's body should be safe from any ranged weapon attacks.

Dread blanketed over Shikamaru as fear pulsed through him when he landed.

There was killing intent in the air.

Only a couple weeks ago Asuma-sensei had exposed them to it for the first time, under the watchful eyes of their fathers. It was better for them to experience and recognize it for what it was in a safe, controlled scenario, rather than being hit by it by surprise on a mission, he had explained. Training had been short that day.

Either these guys wanted them to think they were willing to kill them…

Or they just wanted to kill them.

Because Ino's opening attack had taken everyone by surprise, Shikamaru wasn't willing to bet on the non lethal option.

That and the fact that the killing intent had only begun after one of them realized Ino was a Yamanaka…

While some people were cagey about the clan of mind technique users, outright hostility wasn't the norm. An intent to kill wasn't normal— unless something you knew and didn't want discovered was at risk. For allies the worst would be embarrassment, not nearly enough cause to want to kill, which meant…

In spite of the spiral marked leaf symbol engraved on their hitai-ate, these were not allies.

This was worse than a total drag.

Shikamaru threw out an arc of kunai, causing the three opposing shinobi— the one Ino was possessing as of yet unidentified— to scatter, giving Shikamaru enough time to jump backwards to get a better idea of his next move. He had no idea how to counter them at all, what to do. There was no strategy.

Chōji was frozen where he was standing.

"Chōji!" Shikamaru shouted. He resisted the urge to swear; that had never done anything helpful for Chōji in the past regardless of who it came from, and he doubted it would in this life or death situation Ino had dropped them into without warning. "Fight through it! This isn't nearly that bad!" A half lie. The killing intent was not nearly as bad as what Asuma-sensei had made them experience, but their fathers had been there to assure them it was safe. That had been controlled exposure. This wasn't.

The encouragement wasn't enough; if anything, Shikamaru had miscalculated. It had only put focus on Chōji.

Though Chōji finally began to move, reaching for his kunai holster, the masked one with glasses lunged for him. To Shikamaru's disgust, the man's body started to stretch, and his limbs coiled around Chōji, prying his arm away from the holster with one twining arm. Chōji shouted in surprise, trying to wrench himself free.

Ino's initial 'advantage', completely planless, was failing her. It was failing all of them.

The other masked one pulled a kunai out, throwing it at Kabuto, who narrowly blocked it with a thrown kunai of his own.

"Shikamaru, do something!" Kabuto— no, Ino in Kabuto's body— shouted. Ino stepped back, barely avoiding a close strike aimed at Kabuto's chest.

Shikamaru had no idea what to do.

Ino-Shika-Chō.

Ino-Shika-Chō.

They had formations for a reason.

He didn't need to come up with anything new; he needed to not overthink it.

Shikamaru twisted to look in Chōji's direction. His hands were close enough together; the enemy was trying to constrict around him entirely.

"Chōji! Use Baika no Jutsu!" he shouted, as he pressed his hands together for the rat seal. His shadow slinked forward as he directed it to stretch itself towards the body Ino was possessing and the other enemy nin. He latched his shadow onto that of Ino's attacker, and threw his arms backwards, giving Ino a moment of reprieve. In the short time he had hesitated, the dark-lens wearing shinobi had closed the distance that Ino had been trying to maintain.

From the corner of his eye, Shikamaru saw Chōji balloon outwards. There was a cracking noise and a shout as the shinobi with the bizarre technique untwisted himself as quickly as he could from Chōji, slumping to the ground. They could do this.

The moment of confidence disappeared with a realization.

His chakra was draining far more quickly than it should have.

"Your shadow techniques must be just solid enough for chakra absorption to work," the restrained ninja commented, vicious amusement in his voice. "Who would have guessed? I wonder how it affects Yamanakas."

Ino's borrowed eyes widened behind the glasses.

"Ino! End the technique!" Shikamaru broke his shadow away, letting it retract. In a matter of seconds, his chakra had been almost entirely drained. "Chōji! Get to her body! Get out of here!"

He couldn't see if Chōji followed through or not, his attention was too focused on what was happening in front of him.

To his disbelief, in spite of his warning, she wasted time to pull out another kunai instead, holding it backwards. She extended that arm, before testing it, flexing it inwards once, then wider for stronger momentum. Was she going to try to force a suicide move before leaving that body? If Ino timed it wrong—

The remaining enemy's fist shot out, grasping that wrist just before the kunai got close enough. The glow of chakra flared around it, temporarily made visible.

Synchronized screams tore out from not just Kabuto in front of him, but behind as well, from Ino on the tree trunk. Blood trickled out of Kabuto's nose, before he collapsed, and the screaming stopped entirely, leaving only silence.

The last ninja on Kabuto's team stood up, letting Kabuto drop to the ground.

The killing intent had never ended.

Shikamaru didn't have enough chakra left to fend him off in a fight and flee. If the other ninja was left alive, he couldn't guarantee the other two would be able to hide from him or escape, if Shikamaru ran to join Chōji and Ino. So much for his hopes and dreams of becoming a salary ninja and all that. He'd have to haunt Ino for this. Dead before thirteen. It didn't cheer him any.

At least there were good enough shadows.

He heaved a breath of air.

A senbon sped through the air, just barely glinting in the remaining light, piercing the enemy's neck. He toppled over.

Shikamaru fled for the trees, not bothering to wait to see if it was a rescue or someone poaching.

Chōji was running ahead of him with a visible limp that was getting worse, carrying Ino with one arm, his other swinging uselessly at his side. Even now, from where Shikamaru was, he could tell Chōji was already beginning to slow in spite of the fear that was fueling him. Blood was flowing from Ino's nose, just as it had from Kabuto's. She showed no signs of stirring.

He had no idea what had just happened, but nearly everything that could go wrong had.

Chōji's leg gave out after a half mile of running, and Shikamaru was barely able to prevent him from crashing entirely.

Ino was still unconscious. The blood had stopped, leaving a dried crust that traced her upper lip.

Shikamaru was so tired. He had never trained to reach this point in his life. At some point, tears had started to well up in Shikamaru's eyes, and he wiped them away with a balled up fist.

"I don't think I can walk like this," Chōji told him through gritted teeth. Tears stained his face, creating ugly blotches of red that partially blended in with Chōji's cheek markings. Now that they had stopped, he could see a worrying stain of blood soaking through the bandages of Choji's right leg. "I don't think I should have ran on this, Shikamaru."

Unconscious Ino. Brink of chakra exhaustion Shikamaru. Injured Chōji.

Ino-Shika-Chō.

What a winning combination.

Shikamaru laughed, brokenly, cutting it off before he started to cry for real.

The tower was so close and yet so far.

He wrestled his bag off of his shoulders as he dropped to his knees, shoving it open to dig for the exam scroll. All of the running had shifted the contents around.

Chōza-ji had told them what would happen if they opened the scroll ahead of time.

Tests had fake parameters.

The 'glory' of becoming a chūnin wasn't worth this. He didn't care anymore.

The pressure of a hand made itself known on his shoulder just before he could open it.

"You don't need to resort to that," a soft-toned voice said.

Shikamaru slowly turned around.

Naruto's friends from the rogue Kirigakure faction stood behind him, Haku's hand pulling away. The one with the sword tilted his head in greeting towards Shikamaru, his back mostly to him. The sword was unwrapped, both of the blue haired teenager's hands around its handles. Chōjūrō. That was his name. The meek expression he had in the exam hall was gone, all of his focus on making sure no one stuck up on them from behind.

"You're Naruto-kun's friends," Haku said. In spite of it being the second night, the older teen barely looked ruffled from being in here for so long.

"Yeah, friends," Shikamaru replied dully.

"We heard the screaming," Suigetsu told him, from behind Haku. "Would have been nice to have a real fight for once if someone didn't decide to use senbon." His eyes flicked at Haku.

"I was hoping that we could meet up with Naruto-kun before entering the tower, but we haven't seen his team," Haku told him. "If you don't mind accepting it, we can help escort you the rest of the way. It isn't that far."

Shikamaru stared. "Really? Why?"

"Zabuza-sama instructed me to make sure we gain allies," the older teen told him. That was more to the point than Shikamaru had expected.

Suigetsu snorted. "He told me to stop being an asshole. Neither's going to happen."

"We should say yes," Chōji whispered. Shikamaru couldn't tell if it was from the pain or from Chōji trying to be discreet.

"We accept," Shikamaru said.

Hopefully Ino would wake up.

I woke up feeling confused and thirsty, dappled light filtering through weaved together branches that still had leaves on them. They had been tied together using strips of olive green cloth, anchored down by kunai that had been driven into the ground. It was the same style of basket weave I had shown them, just scaled up.

I was still Sasuke.

I slowly sat up, barely avoiding scraping my head on wood. It smelled vaguely musty, and the space was cramped. My neck ached like I had slept wrong, and my lips were parched. I must have been unconscious within the dream, but I was exhausted, not rested at all. I felt light-headed, almost floaty. I hadn't felt this awful since… since… I shoved the thought away.

"Sasuke!" Sakura whispered. She sounded relieved, despite the low volume. Sakura twisted around to look at me with worried green eyes. The jacket was gone, presumably sacrificed for camouflage. An armor mesh undershirt was visible under her black shirt, peeking out and covering her elbows. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty," I said, trying to swallow. Sasuke's voice was hoarse; it actually hurt to talk.

She leaned over, reaching into one of the packs, and pulled out a water canteen, which she handed to me.

I opened it and wet my lips before I started to chug it.

"You've been asleep for nearly two days," she told me. That was longer than it had been in the story, wasn't it? "You had a fever and you wouldn't wake up… I was so scared. It didn't break until this morning."

I finished draining the canteen, letting it fall into my lap, but it didn't land the way I expected to.

Looking down, Naruto's jacket was across the top of my legs. It was half folded on itself. It must have been covering me before I had sat up. "Where's Naruto?"

"He went to go get more water," she said. "That canteen you finished off was the last we had."

"Oh," I went.

"I didn't know he was the demon fox…" She looked down, her hair draping to hide her face. "He's been in the same class as us the whole time… Iruka-sensei's parents died when it attacked the village, did you know? I heard some of the teachers talking about it, once. I didn't know why…" Sakura looked up. She wasn't meeting my eyes. "Do you think all the adults know? Is that why they've always looked at him like that? I thought the reason nobody liked him was because of all his dumb pranks… I didn't… Do you think we're just supposed to be there to keep him under control just in case?" Her eyes welled up. "Or to be a distraction?"

"I don't know," I said.

There was a rustling of branches and leaves.

"Please don't hate me," Naruto said. He shoved his gear bag in first, before he crawled in. With all three of us in here, the space was cramped. His voice cracked. "I'm not the Kyūbi. I'm not. Even Iruka-sensei said—" he choked. "It's just sealed in me, there's a difference. I swear." Tears were gathering in his eyes, too.

I was so unprepared to deal with this on multiple levels.

"I—" Sakura faltered. "You're dumb, goofy, loud Naruto. You couldn't even pass the final exam at the academy with the rest of us the right way. How can there be something that awful inside of you?"

"I don't know," Naruto said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't have any parents or any family. The Yondaime needed a baby and chose me to seal the Kyūbi into. Maybe they died when the Kyūbi attacked the village. Maybe they're alive and don't want me anymore. I don't know. They didn't even want me at the orphanage, and they take just about anybody."

I refused to tear up over how sad and pitiful Naruto looked.

"You're not allowed to talk like that," Sakura said, finally crying. "You're— you're supposed to—" She cut herself off forcibly, instead sniffling and wiping her face across her forearm. "What are we supposed to do?"

"You can't tell anybody," Naruto insisted. He had finally started to cry as well, when Sakura had started.

Fuck.

I reached out with both arms, and dragged them in for a hug. I felt extremely awkward about it, but two crying middle schoolers in close quarters was too much.

It didn't really work, anyways; the sobbing just got worse, the attempt at physical comfort triggering another onslaught of tears.

It lasted for several minutes, at the end of which we were all damp.

Naruto pulled his shirt up, and blew his nose into the bottom hem, before looking at both of us again. "Are you sure you don't hate me?" he asked.

Sakura laughed. It was weak, unsure, and partially strained from being forced, but it was still there. "How are we supposed to hate you? You're our teammate." She gave him a watery smile.

Naruto started to cry again, though at least this time it was paired with a smile.

The tension that I didn't even know until just now had been in this cramped space disappeared.

I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what we needed to do. The dreams so far seemed to expect certain moments to be hit, at least, and if this was going to be like Wave… Sitting around in an animal's den, hiding from the rest of the forest, wasn't going to make it end anytime soon.

"We need to find the other scroll we need and get to the tower," I said.

"Oh, uh, we already got the other scroll," Naruto said. He leaned forward, opening Sakura's bag to reveal the Scroll of Earth, nestled on top.

I felt oddly disappointed. Confused, too. "How?"

"After I dragged you both in here, I put a perimeter of traps around the area," Sakura said, looking a bit sheepish. "I didn't know how long either of you would be unconscious and since Sensei said we shouldn't risk opening the scroll unless we had to…" The encounter with Orochimaru had shook her.

"I added another layer when I woke up," Naruto added. He ducked his head, looking down. "It caught one of those jerk teams from Water and they had the scroll we needed, so I took it." That was one way to distinguish between the different Kiris, but I was more surprised that in spite of the fear they both had just exhibited from Naruto's secret being revealed— if for very different reasons— they had been able to work together so well. Then again, not wanting to die was probably a powerful motivator on its own.

As weirdly disappointed as I was at the fact we weren't going to have to fight for a secondary scroll at all, I was still relieved. I didn't want to fight. Even in a 'the children aren't allowed to murder each other this time' edition of the Chūnin Exams arc.

"Oh." I didn't know what else to say.

"You should at least drink more water before we leave," Sakura told me.

The mention of water made me realize something terrible: After shifting around, I needed to pee. At least in Wave there had been toilets. It was a lot harder to ignore when the best option in a forest was a bush.

I pushed Naruto's jacket off and leaned forward until I was on my palms to crawl out.

"Uh, where are you going?"

I felt my ears burn red. "I… need to go."

"Need to go?" Naruto's brows furrowed together, before he realized what I was saying. "Oh! I need to piss too, I'll go with you."

I felt a portion of my soul leave my body. Oh, God. "No!"

Sakura made a face. "Naruto! I don't want to hear you talking about that!"

"But Sakura! I really need to piss! And if Sasuke's got to piss too, he shouldn't be alone after he's been passed out for so long, should he?"

It hadn't taken that long for the normal dynamic to return, if at my expense.

To my horror, Naruto's argument actually won Sakura over.

I did my best to keep the moment from scarring itself into my mind forever by closing my eyes and ignoring Naruto the whole time.

The den was below a fallen tree, a wide and thick thing that kept this spot in the forest clear enough for there to be a gap in the tree cover, letting light pour down unfiltered from the leaves. It had been there long enough for shrubs to start growing around it, with larger young trees pushing upwards from its remains. The weaved together screen of branches was dense enough that it neatly blended with the bush that was right next to it, partially obstructing the slope that led down.

It was silent except for the occasional cawing of birds, high in the trees. Even Naruto was quiet.

"We're about a hundred feet away," Naruto said. It was half-whisper, and he didn't quite meet my eyes as he pointed out in the direction I assumed was where the encounter with Orochimaru had occurred. "I went and looked."

I shrugged, not sure what to say. I didn't want to think about what the remains of the snake would look like— or smell like— after this long.

Naruto seemed to accept it for now, and we made our way back in, where Sakura forced me to drink two canteens worth of water before she decided it was enough.

It was past noon by the time we left.

We kept to the highest parts of the trees, as far up as we could, Sakura taking point. I was kept in the middle, with Naruto behind me. Occasionally he would lag behind, from setting a trap to limit how easily we could be followed. For some reason, I couldn't get rid of the nagging sensation of feeling bothered that they were keeping me in the center, like they thought I needed to be protected.

Somehow, confusingly and bizarrely— this feels too easy— we made it to the tower, without having seen any other genin. It made me feel unsettled. More teams had gotten through the first exam, but we hadn't encountered anyone except Orochimaru. Or, I hadn't, at least.

Then again, there would probably be more caution because of Orochimaru; I somehow doubted Kakashi would be the only one to let that knowledge leak. Would have been. At least, I couldn't see many theoretical jōnin-sensei particularly wanting to let the genin they had been in charge of for however many years die from cluelessness in this kind of situation. I wasn't even a real teacher and I was slowly becoming fond of the freshmen in the class I TA'd for. At least some of them.

Exchanging uncertain looks, we entered one set of doors.

"It's empty…" Sakura commented.

Naruto craned his head up, looking at the balconies above. "You think there'd be somebody here..."

The large sign with its missing words was on the other end of the room, and we stopped in front of it, pulling the scrolls out, and opening them, dropping both the moment the smoke started to emanate.

I half-realized that in the short time that happened, not only had I slipped shuriken into my hands, Sakura and Naruto had armed themselves as well.

Iruka appeared in the smoke, arms folded over each other, a grin on his face.

"Hey, you three—" he started.

Before he could finish, Naruto dove at him. "Iruka-sensei!" The words were half-choked out, as Iruka half-instinctively reared back before he realized what was happening. Naruto sobbed against the chūnin's chest, the kunai that had been in his hand moments before dropping to the tiles with a clatter.

Next to me, Sakura started to cry again.

Iruka looked completely bewildered for a moment, wrapping an arm around Naruto, his expression turning to one of concern and worry. "What? Are you guys okay?" This had derailed what he was supposed to say entirely. Naruto somehow managing to get through to this point was supposed to be a happy moment filled with congratulations; instead, Iruka got to experience two of his students having breakdowns in front of him.

I had the sobering suspicion that the fact that we didn't have any other encounters outside of Orochimaru had ended up leading to this breakdown. The other fights in the show itself had been mostly in the range of Team Seven's abilities, basically serving as proof that they could handle themselves.

Instead, I had dreamed about us getting thoroughly and utterly beaten down, not even worth being finished off. Nothing to serve as a reinforcement or a confidence boost.

There was movement on one of the balconies.

I jerked my head up to look.

The ninja that Orochimaru had stolen the face of in the series was in mid-jump off the balcony, aiming directly for me, a double-ended kusarigama swinging towards me, the other sickle in their hand.

"Sasuke! Move!"

I had barely enough time to process Iruka running towards me, pushing me out of the way with palm, his arm fully extended. I had just enough time to see the chain wrap around Iruka's forearm before I hit the ground. Blood splattered into the air.

A shout.

"Iruka-sensei!"

That was his hand on the floor. It was no longer attached to his arm like it was supposed to be.

Far too late, I threw the shuriken in my hand.

I woke up damp and sweaty, chilled through even with my blankets. My t-shirt and leggings were soaked through. I sneezed, setting off a terrible ache in my neck as I shoved myself up and out of bed, shivering. I felt less exhausted than I had the last few days, but that wasn't saying much.

It would figure I would get sick.

I trudged into the bathroom, where I shoved the drain stopper in, and ran the tap, as hot as I could tolerate.

I wound up falling asleep in the bathtub, only waking up when I accidentally went under.

Chapter 12: See What You Do Next

Chapter Text

I barely avoided tripping over my own feet.

Another dream.

"What were you gonna say?" Naruto asked.

While he didn't look anywhere near as upset and miserable as he had at the end of the last dream, Naruto didn't look as peppy as he had in the previous dreams. Iruka still being in the hospital, along with Chouji and Ino, must have been weighing on him.

"It doesn't matter," I answered, trying to squash annoyance at that knowledge down.

Naruto made a face. "Fine, you don't have to tell me how training with Kaka-sensei's going if you're gonna be like that. You lucked out. He's probably teaching you all sorts of cool stuff," he complained guilelessly.

"And you're not?" We were in the village, which along with knowing that Ino and Chouji were in the hospital meant that this had to have been after the prelims- no, no preliminaries.

The knowledge I didn't want said those had never happened. All in all, only sixteen people of those who arrived at the tower in time were willing or able to fight. Since that meant there would be only eight matches to begin with, between that and the attack inside of the tower, they had canceled having preliminaries entirely. There would only be the main tournament.

Eight matches, that would go down to four, then two, then one final.

I wondered how many of those they'd manage to get through, with the invasion. They hadn't gotten very far in the original, from what I remembered.

Naruto looked annoyed. "No!" He huffed. "Ebisu and Ero-sennin both blew off teaching me anything super cool I could use!" Naruto mimed pushing up glasses. "'You should take this as a chance to work on your foundational skills since you won't be winning your match,'" he said, in what was probably supposed to be a mimicry of Ebisu's voice. "And then! And then! They're both making me work on learning kanji and stuff! Can you believe it? Ebisu is giving me homework! He actually shoved a bunch of dumb worksheets at me!" He grumbled under his breath something I couldn't quite make out. "It's awful because Ero-sennin agrees with him!"

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing?" I wasn't able to avoid squinting. Weren't those needed for being literate if we were supposed to be speaking and reading Japanese?

"Why do I gotta learn that kinda thing? I can mostly get by fine," he complained. "If it's real important they have the hiragana on top or I can figure it out, mostly. The only reason I'm trying is because Ero-sennin says he might teach me fuinjutsu if I make an effort and I guess it might be kinda cool? Tenten from Gai-sensei's team showed me her storage seals while we were waiting for the last exam to finish and if I learn how to do that then Sakura wouldn't be able to complain I'm bringing too many ramen cups on missions. I don't know why Iruka-sensei told them I struggled with kanji anyway! How could he do that to me? I've been taking him ramen and even other food into the hospital!" Naruto seemed very aggrieved at having a higher level of literacy forced on him than he cared about having.

If he was hoping that I was going to side with him, he was shit out of luck. Higher comprehension skills from reading would only help him. "Won't you need to know more kanji if you become Hokage? That's a lot of paperwork to deal with." I definitely remembered that in Shippuden it hit the piled-up paperwork level of 'I have tenure and I no longer give a damn' of some professors' offices, at least.

Naruto physically cringed, before he made it clear he refused to back down. "Then I guess I'll have to learn some… But maybe I'll just have more people do the paperwork for me! Then I won't have to read as much!"

That was honestly a better solution than Tsunade's in the show.

"You'd still have to know what they're doing the paperwork for in the first place," I pointed out.

"You don't need to take their side," he complained.

"Is it really such a bad thing that they aren't training you for your first match the way you want?" I had to wonder who it was he was supposed to be facing off for the first one that no one thought he would have a chance, even with a month of training.

"It doesn't mean I want to look like I suck fighting against Haku! How am I supposed to make chūnin if I don't have anything cool to show really off?"

Well, that made sense, and I had to agree with them. Naruto was nowhere near Haku's level, a month of training or not. I doubted the only things being rammed into Naruto's head were reading and writing skills, but to him it probably didn't feel that way if everyone else had decided he had no chance in his match.

Even though it was completely true by any standard. I also couldn't see Haku deciding to throw his match to let Naruto win. Not in a 'friendly' match. It wasn't like they would have to fight to the death.

"You can make shadow clones," I pointed out. "Which you learned illegally, didn't you? It can be cool on its own if you don't end up tripping over yourself and get into arguments with your clones."

Naruto pouted. "Sometimes I just wanna complain sometimes, you know. You don't have to be so serious and so 'mature' and 'responsible' all the time." From the way he was saying it, he'd probably heard the last two thrown around.

It soon became obvious where we were going; the stall for Ichiraku's was in sight.

Naruto, however, frowned as we approached. "Where's Sakura? She said she'd be getting here before us." He looked around, clearly hoping she would suddenly materialize just by saying it.

I had no idea. I shrugged.

We waited outside of the stall for several minutes, Naruto looking increasingly impatient. I was more surprised that we were actually waiting, instead of just going ahead and eating without her.

Thankfully, Sakura straggled into view. Even though she had never had her hand forced into cutting her hair in the forest, it was still a surprise to see it was still long, somehow, made stranger still by the fact that her hair was plaited into a tight braid. Exhaustion was all over her face and etched into her body language, but so was a mix of determination and delight.

"Hey! Sakura! Hurry up!" Naruto shouted.

She did, but not the way he was hoping for; instead, she grabbed us both by the wrist and started dragging us away. "This is no time for ramen, Naruto. When I got home from training, my mom said Ino woke up! We're going to go see her!"

Naruto yanked his arm away. "That's great but uh, I still told Iruka-sensei I would bring him something to eat." He looked abashed. "The time I forgot I got scolded by a nurse since he had already turned down their food."

Sakura's expression softened for a moment, before hardening again. "Then we can grab him a bento from somewhere on the way!"

With that, she gripped onto Naruto again.

I figured it was easier to just go along with it.

Sakura at least lessened Naruto's complaints about not bringing Iruka 'real' food by paying for it, picking out a larger bento with a hearty helping of beef in it that had Naruto giving the price sticker a nervous look even after as she was handing the money to the cashier.

I wasn't sure what I expected. The inside of a dream magical ninja hospital smelled just like… a normal, real hospital. Overly clean and antiseptic in a way I was never going to feel comfortable with again, that I would prefer to forget entirely.

The receptionist in the hospital lobby ignored us entirely entirely as Sakura walked straight to the stairs, which was different. While there were two elevators nearby, there was no one waiting for them and they didn't seem to be in use, no light indicating they were moving between floors. Then again, I supposed that most ninja would be uncomfortable or just not used to using an elevator; the stairs would be much faster unless someone actually needed it.

We exited into a hallway, and Naruto immediately beelined down one way, forcing Sakura and I to follow; presumably Ino was also on this floor, since Sakura looked down the other and hesitated before going after Naruto.

Naruto came to a sudden stop at an open door, and I barely stopped in time to avoid running into him. Over his shoulder, I was able to look inside.

Iruka was in a black t-shirt and loose pants, sitting on the hospital bed inside of the room with one elbow propped up on a metal cart as a medic-nin wrapped up what was clearly a nub. There was a peek of flesh forced together by stitches before it was covered up by a thin cloth— almost see-through— that had something in ink written on it. There was another roll of bandage on the cart next to Iruka's elbow that looked much thicker.

He caught notice of us. "Oh, hey, you three." He looked up at the medic-nin. "I can wrap the rest of it once you're done with this one, Yuzuri-san," Iruka said. He managed a grin. "It's not that hard one-handed." He actually waved with the mostly-bandaged arm.

Naruto stifled a half-choked sound.

Sakura at least managed to say something, after a couple seconds had passed."Iruka-sensei… that's really not funny."

I thought it was funny. At least kind of.

The medic-nin, a serious looking woman with long brown hair in a braided bun, frowned deeply at him. "Umino-san, if you want to stay on the active roster like you insist, you have to follow the recovery plan, which includes me doing both layers of bandages."

"'Recovery plan?'" Sakura echoed. She slipped into the room past me and Naruto. Naruto followed her in. I stayed at the door frame. "You're going to stay active? Iruka-sensei, you lost a hand!"

"My non-dominant hand," Iruka told her, as Yuzuri finished wrapping the thinner cloth up, tucking it neatly in under itself and moved on to the normal bandage. "It'll take some work, but if I can learn how to manage seals with one hand it'll be fine."

"That's if you don't try anything until your arm's finished healing," the medic-nin said sharply. "That attack managed to cut through a tenketsu point and if it's not permanently sealed off, you'll risk blowing the rest of your arm off."

"What?" Naruto barely avoided squeaking. "He got his hand chopped off! How does that mean he can blow up?!"

"That can happen?" I wasn't able to resist asking.

"It's incredibly rare, but possible," Yuzuri answered. "Umino-san was fortunate there was a Hyūga medic in position. Tenketsu can be disabled, but if they're partially damaged it can be explosive if any chakra is actively molded. The inner bandage is a temporary suppression seal."

Naruto took a step backwards.

"It wouldn't be actually explosive, Naruto. I don't have enough chakra for that," Iruka told him.

"Yeah but… if it's temporary… doesn't that mean the seal on the inside is degrading?" Naruto's brow was crinkled together. "That was the word Ero-sennin used."

"You shouldn't call Jiraiya-sama that, Naruto."

"'Jiraiya-sama?'" Yuzuri repeated.

"Yeah! He's teaching me stuff," Naruto said. He seemed completely unaware of the impact those words had on the medic-nin, who straightened slightly.

"Jiraiya-sama's the best fuinjutsu user Konoha has," Yuzuri murmured, under her breath. She shook her head a bit, refocusing on her task, and soon was done, this heralded by a soft glow of light emanating from under the top bandage before she released her hold on the end of what remained of Iruka's arm. "There you go, Umino-san. It's healing well, so we should be able to apply the permanent seal without any problems soon."

"Thanks, Yuzuri-san," Iruka said to her earnestly. Iruka was a surprisingly good patient, even down a limb. Then again, Iruka was always a pretty positive character.

The medic-nin left, sparing one last glance at Naruto, who didn't seem to notice. He walked over and took the bento out, setting it on the side table. "We brought you dinner!" he said cheerfully. "It would have been ramen but Sakura-chan didn't want to wait."

"You heard Ino woke up?" Iruka asked Sakura, who nodded. "Chōji let me know. I haven't gone to see her yet since the medic-nin came in right after that. Why don't I go with you three?"

Naruto squinted at him. "Are you allowed to do that? I know you're not allowed to leave the hospital…"

Iruka chuckled. "Yes, Naruto, I'm allowed to walk around and visit people inside the hospital. It's not a prison." He looked around, before grabbing a sling that was on the end of the bed, and, with some awkward adjusting, his movements clumsy and slow, Iruka pulled it on and put it in place, before nestling his arm in it so it would be cradled against his chest. The fact he was missing a hand wasn't immediately obvious with it on. To my embarrassment, he noticed I was watching. "I don't want to shock her, Sasuke. It can wait."

He pushed his feet into the sandals sitting right on the edge of the bed, before standing up.

The walk to Ino's hospital room wasn't very far at all, but Naruto alternated between sticking right next to Iruka and dashing ahead the moment he heard anything. He glowered at anyone else who came too close to Iruka, which meant nearly everyone in the way. Naruto seemed to have decided 'too close' was anything closer than the other side of the very wide hospital corridor, at least nine feet away.

At least Iruka seemed amused by it.

Sakura hesitated a few steps away from the open door I assumed led into Ino's room. From where I was standing, I couldn't see the inside, but the room curtains didn't seem to be drawn.

The hesitance bothered me.

Before I could think about it anymore, I stepped forward, and grabbed her by the shoulder. "She's going to need her friends," I said, and before she could respond, I pushed her forward. "That's you."

Sakura had no choice but to go ahead, since Naruto broke away from Iruka to stand with me behind her. She stepped inside.

The inside of the room was crowded, but my attention was focused on Sakura, and the bed's occupant.

Ino's hair was down, and she was wearing a hospital gown, unlike Iruka. The bed had been adjusted so she could sit up, and she had torn her attention away from one side of her bed to look at us. It was a bit too intently for my comfort, but after a moment she spoke, her voice almost wobbly and unsure. "Sakura?" As though she wasn't actually sure who we were supposed to be.

The determination that Sakura had shown up until this point completely melted away, and barely choked off with a sob. "Ino!" She dashed over to the side of the bed, and pulled Ino into a hug.

As I entered the room, I looked around, averting my attention from Sakura and Ino's tearfilled reunion. Chōji, to my surprise, was in a wheelchair, by the foot of the bed, and Ino's parents were on the other side of the bed by the window. Chōji looked awful, with one leg and an arm in a cast. Neither of Ino's parents looked like they had been getting that much sleep, for that matter. Inoichi was dressed in a grey uniform like the proctors for the first exam had been, and looked exhausted and worn out. He spared a nod towards us as we entered, but his attention was more focused on Iruka.

Inoichi walked around the edge of the bed, and over to Iruka. "Iruka-sensei. I hope you're doing well."

"Inoichi-san, Suzuka-san, I would have come by sooner, but…" Iruka wordlessly tapped the slinged arm with his remaining hand. "Medic-nin don't appreciate their appointments being skipped."

"No, they don't," Inoichi agreed.

Without saying anything further, both men departed from the room, Inoichi closing the door behind him. Whatever they were going to talk about was clearly not meant for the kids to overhear, then.

Naruto eyed the door, and then the bed, before deciding to go and stand by Chōji. "Are they gonna let you out so you can go watch the tournament?" he asked. His voice was pitched slightly quieter than he usually managed.

Chōji sighed, and shook his head. "No. I'm not allowed since they think I might hurt my leg again. I won't even get to have anything from the concession stands and I heard they're gonna be making special food from Water and Wave." It occurred to me that I had no idea where Ame was supposed to be, but from Chōji's perspective it didn't seem like it mattered when it came to food.

Naruto made a face. "No one can bring you anything?" He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Kā-san's gonna be busy working and so's Tou-san. And all of you guys are in the opening matches," Chōji said glumly.

"Uh… if I don't win my match I can try to send a clone with food," Naruto answered. He sounded reluctant to even admit the possibility.

"Clones can't do that," Chōji replied. He sounded skeptical. "Besides, you weren't even able to do them in the academy."

"I learned a real cool version!" Naruto insisted. "And they're solid and stuff, too." He actually began to raise his hands up.

I grabbed one of his arms. "We're in a hospital room," I reminded him.

Naruto looked sheepish. "Oh yeah. Even if it's just a few it'd get crowded in here, heh."

Chōji's eyes widened. "So you can? I'll make sure I give you a list of food to look out for!"

Naruto swallowed. "Uh… A list?"

"I'll pay you back!"

I looked back over towards the bed. Ino and Sakura had by now mostly calmed down, and the only sign that Sakura had been crying was a bit of puffiness under her eyes. She and Ino were holding hands.

"I'm happy you're alright," I said, not entirely sure of what to say. I shoved my hands into my pockets. Sasuke's pockets. I did know that from my own extended hospital stint that it had been terrible and isolating for people who claimed to be close to me to not show up at all. At least with this absurd dream scenario I was able to encourage Sakura to make what was the right choice. That I knew what the right decision to make was. Words, on the other hand…

"Thanks," she said, giving me a weak smile.

"Will Ino be allowed to go to the tournament, Suzuka-ba?" Sakura asked.

"Hey, yeah, she should be able to go!" Naruto added, only now realizing the overly emotional moment had ended at last.

Ino's mother shook her head. "Ino-chan still needs time to recover." While she wasn't nearly as frosty as Sakura's mother had been towards Naruto, she was still very reserved. I couldn't tell if it was just how she was or because of Naruto.

Naruto squinted at Ino, before he approached to examine her closely, an almost cautious expression on his face as he did so.

Ino only looked back at him with a mildly confused expression on her face. I realized that at no point had she really looked— or acted— like her usual confident self, if she wasn't reacting to Naruto being Naruto. It wasn't just having woken up that was the cause, then, but something else?

"Uh… you didn't hit your head or anything, did you?" he asked, confused.

She shook her head. "I was using one of our techniques when something happened," Ino said, frowning in concentration. "Tou-chan says I won't remember anything from after I started it, and that it's going to take time for me to remember everything else."

"Do I need to tell you who I am?" Naruto looked completely baffled at this point.

"Um…"

Naruto took that as a yes. "We were classmates! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be—"

"-Hokage," Ino cut him off. She was staring at him, all of her focus aimed at Naruto. "You're going to be the Hokage."

It was intense enough that it was off-putting, and I wasn't even the one being stared at.

"Yeah," Naruto said, after awhile. "I wanna be." He was clearly unsure how to take this specific kind of validation. I couldn't blame him. It was different from the last time Ino had backed him up on it, somehow.

There was an awkward silence, eventually broken by Chōji. "Why don't you tell Ino about the training you guys are doing?" he suggested, clearly grasping for a subject.

"Oh!" Sakura said. "We're not just training with Kakashi-sensei for the tournament."

Ino's eyebrows furrowed together. "You're in the tournament?"

Sakura nodded. "At least for the opening round! We made it, and so did Hinata's team. There's also a team from Ame and Haku-sempai's team."

"Um, and Shikamaru, too," Naruto said, looking at everything else in the room except at Ino.

With that, a brief moment of tension breached the surface. Chōji was in here, and so were we, but the mention of Shikamaru had Chōji, Sakura, and Naruto looking away from Ino for a moment.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei actually has friends, can you believe it?" Sakura said, her voice a bit strained with the attempt at making light gossip to keep Ino updated. "We're still doing some training with him, but he asked for help with me and Naruto. Tenzō-sensei's nice but strict. He's teaching me some kenjutsu and even jutsu!"

Tenzō. Wait. Yamato?

"He can make a creepy face," Naruto muttered. "And his eyes when he does it…" He shuddered, just slightly overdoing it.

"Kenjutsu?" Ino asked. She sounded surprised.

"Mmhm. I don't think I'll keep it up after this for real, but between my first match and then there being a kenjutsu user in the tournament, Tenzō-sensei thinks it's a good idea that I have a grip on the basics there. Apparently it isn't that common for chūnin, but a lot of tokubetsu and jōnin have some skill at kenjutsu and it's better to have some practice sooner than later, if only to know how to fight them." Sakura sounded like she had given deep thought on this.

Kenjutsu… I had, for a stint in college, done fencing. The saber was somewhere in my coat closet, tucked out of the way. Not for the first time, I felt the strong sting of annoyance at myself for giving up that hobby for my ex. I had the gear, but not the ability to do it anymore. The boyfriend hadn't bothered to stick around. Maybe I would have been better off sticking to the fencing club and not giving him the time in the first place.

"You know who your first match is?" Ino's voice shook me out of feeling sorry for myself. Sanity aside, it was probably better to be focusing on all of this, especially since it wasn't like hoping for alcohol was going to help me here.

"We all do," Naruto said, before Sakura could. "The proctor said we weren't gonna do any preliminaries at the tower 'cause of—" he caught Sakura's warning look and the free hand balled into a fist— "—all the stuff that happened especially since there weren't too too many people, but they still told us who got who for the first matches. Sakura got this jerk from Amegakure who couldn't stop talking about how cool and awesome his village is, Sasuke's match is gonna be against Chōjūrō, and I got Haku." Naruto made a face.

"That team who are a year ahead of us, with Hinata's cousin, they're in the tournament, too." Chōji added. He reached into the bag of potato chips he had, before pushing some into his mouth. After he was done chewing and swallowed it all, he started to speak again. "Asuma-sensei said this is the first time in ages so many recent Konoha genin made it this far, the last time he visited."

"You all did an amazing job, getting as far as you did," Ino's mother spoke up. Her eyes were focused on her daughter, hands clenching her knees. "Even if this exam had been normal." Her voice sounded almost choked.

"Kā-san…" Ino's voice sounded wobbly.

There was a moment of nerves in the air that was centered around Ino and her mother; a twelve year old girl crying was one thing, but I realized that Sakura, Naruto, and Chōji were wary of if Ino's mother was going to start. Twelve and thirteen year olds were still young enough that the idea of adults crying was significantly more uncomfortable and unsettling than anything else.

I scrambled for the first thing I could think of.

"Here's something interesting. Naruto's finally being forced to learn everything he skipped out on in class," I said, casually.

It worked. The moment vanished when Ino's mother let out the lightest breath of a laugh.

"What? Hey, that's no fair," Naruto grumbled, though he seemed to realize what the goal of that subject change was; he wasn't protesting as loud as he might have otherwise.

"Naruto has two people trying to train him and he's completely clueless about how much time it means is being put into him," Sakura said, taking it and going with it.

Chōji's eyebrows crinkled together. "How'd you end up with two?"

Naruto's eyes lit up at the opportunity to tell a story. "I ran into this annoying brat of a kid who turned out to be Jii-jii's grandson! Konohamaru is actually pretty okay though, I'm gonna teach him everything I know."

"Konohamaru? You like him?" Chōji sounded surprised. "The one time we met him he tried to ambush Asuma-sensei by jumping off a staircase."

"That sounds like him," Naruto agreed. "And yeah! He's a kinda dumb kid but he wants to be Hokage too! He's at the academy and has a private sensei, too. An' his private tutor, Ebisu, turns out to have known Kakashi-sensei when they were in the academy. Which figures, 'cause he's a lunatic when it comes to training, too. He thinks the best way to do water walking practice is to make me avoid cooking myself in the hot springs!

"He kept makin' me do that over and over until I looked all boiled red and he called it quits for the day an' when we were leaving we ran into Ero-sennin—"

"Jiraiya-sama—" Sakura interrupted, as an explanation.

"—Ero-sennin fleeing from the bathhouse, an' he had dropped a notebook he had been writing in, and it had a bunch of kanji in it I couldn't read but both of them looked ready to drop dead when I was looking at it, especially when Ebisu figured it was Ero-sennin's!" He stopped to laugh at that, before cutting it off promptly, to make a face. "So 'cause of that Ebisu thinks I'm illiterate and 'would be an embarrassment of a chūnin' but he also won't tell me what most of those kanji even meant. So they're both perverts," he concluded. "But because of my match they won't teach me anything really cool, but I might get to learn fuinjutsu if Ero-sennin decides my reading skills don't suck anymore."

Ino's mother coughed lightly. "Jiraiya-sama is a… very respected member of the village," she said. I was pretty sure that wasn't what she actually wanted to say.

"Fuinjutsu," Ino murmured to herself. Her attention snapped onto Naruto with the same slightly too intense focused look as before. "Both the Nidaime and Yondaime were known for their fuinjutsu," she said. "I think the Sandaime is good at it too, since he's Jiraiya-sama's sensei and was taught by the Nidaime."

"Eh?" went Naruto.

"Most shinobi aren't very skilled at fuinjutsu, but the ones who are and are able to use it in fights are rare and stand above their peers," Ino's mother explained, looking between her daughter and Naruto. "Yondaime-sama was infamous because of it. He was known as the Yellow Flash."

"What?!" Naruto's eyes widened. "I could have been asking him for cool stories about the Yondaime the whole time?"

"And Jiraiya-sama," Ino added, still staring at Naruto. "He's supposed to have taught the Yondaime."

"Really?" His voice managed to crack, squeaking near the end, which made me look at him with caution. Naruto was beginning to look giddy and overwhelmed. He was starstruck, I realized, having a fanboy moment. "The Yondaime's my favorite," he announced to everyone.

Sakura glanced at Naruto with an impressive side eye, an unsure quirk to her mouth, before she finally spoke. "Naruto, calm down, we're in a hospital."

"But Sakura!"

This was apparently enough for Ino's mother to lay down the law. "Ino-chan needs to rest, before she has any more visitors come in. She's not supposed to get too stimulated." Her lips pursed together.

"Oh," Naruto went, deflating a bit. He rubbed the back of his neck, giving her an embarrassed grin. "Sorry." He turned his attention towards Ino and Sakura. "Sakura-chan, we'll leave, so you can stay with Ino, you know?"

Sakura looked torn, looking between us and Ino. "Are you sure? We haven't really spent that much time together since we all started training for the tournament."

"Stay," I said, much more sure than Naruto. "Ino needs you."

"Yeah!"

Sakura gave us a grateful look, at not being forced to choose. "Alright. I'll see you both later."

"Get better soon, yeah, Ino?" Naruto directed at her.

Ino managed a smile. "I'll try."

"I'll go with you guys to the stairs. I'm supposed to have therapy soon anyways," Chōji said, folding the top of his chip bag over and tucking it against the left arm of the wheelchair. He made a face. "I'm barely allowed to walk, but they're still making me exercise!" He waved to Ino.

I opened the door, as wide as it could go.

In the hallway, Iruka and Inoichi were still speaking, a distance away from the door, but they stopped and turned immediately.

"Leaving already?" Iruka asked.

Naruto grinned, almost self-conscious looking. "I'm too loud."

"Ino's being all intense like she's been getting since she woke up and Suzuka-ba's getting emotional again," Chōji elaborated. "So's Sakura."

"I should go check on her again before I have to leave," Inoichi said. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes, massaging at it briefly.

"You said it yourself, she'll be fine with time," Iruka said, setting an assuring hand on the older man's shoulder. "Between Chōji and me, we can keep her company so you and your wife can get some actual rest. You shouldn't be spending every moment not working here."

Inoichi managed a smile, slight as it was over all of the fatigue. "And it's saying something if I'm getting lectured by an Academy sensei, right." He looked over at us, and tilted his head slightly towards Iruka. "Even once you become chūnin, remember that Academy sensei are picked for a reason."

"How hard is it?" I wasn't able to resist asking.

"It's a very different set of standards from making jōnin, but it's much harder to become a sensei at the Academy than to become a jōnin," Inoichi explained.

"I wouldn't say that…" Iruka rubbed the back of his neck, and both it and his embarrassed grin were exactly the same as Naruto's earlier, I realized with a start.

"Because they can have a large influence on their students?" I asked, looking between Iruka and Naruto.

Chōji tried to cover his mouth to hide the snort. He had caught it too.

Naruto looked around at everyone, completely confused. "Huh? What's so funny?"

Inoichi must have put it together as well, since he was looking slightly upwards, his face carefully still with the practice of someone used to not laughing at children.

"Maybe you'll figure out when you're older," I said.

Iruka stifled a laugh now, pulling his arm away from his neck. "You don't need to tease him, Sasuke. But yes, we're held to much higher standards, in some ways." Just like real teachers and the certifications and background checks they needed, but I doubted Iruka had to shell out for all of that. At least I hoped not. That would just be too depressingly realistic. Or would it be.

Naruto made a face at me, but brightened up immediately. "Really? Then why aren't you a jōnin yet?"

Iruka mouthed 'yet' to himself, before shaking his head. "It's different standards, and most of us at the academy don't really have the chance to work on our skills enough to make jōnin, if we were even able to make it. I'm more than fine being a chūnin. Besides, I'd need a hand for that." He managed to force a grin.

Naruto groaned, and dragged his hands down his face. "Stop doing that! It isn't funny!"

Chōji grimaced slightly.

It was still kind of funny.

Inoichi seemed to find it amusing, too, at least a little, but this little gathering in the hallway was beginning to attract disapproving glances and staring from a few medic-nin and nurses, and he coughed lightly. "You two should get going," he said, to me and Naruto, before turning to Chōji. "Thank you for waiting with me earlier, Chōji-kun."

Chōji gave an abashed look, before looking away. "Tou-san says we're supposed to be there for each other, and it's Ino, and…"

"Shikamaru will figure things out eventually," Inoichi told him.

"He's gotta get being stupid out of the way, first," Naruto said with confidence. It wasn't even that wrong, kind of. "But yeah! Bye Chōji! Bye Iruka-sensei! Bye Inoichi-ji!"

Naruto sped off to the stairs, giving me just long enough to catch Inoichi's reaction before I followed; he looked completely caught off guard by that sudden appellation being given to him.

"Bye," I said, feeling self-conscious. I quickly escaped down the stairs.

Naruto was bouncing on the balls of his feet, impatiently waiting for me at the stairwell level for the ground floor.

"Hurry up, I'm starving," he said, exhaling finally.

"Then why didn't you get yourself something to eat when we had the chance?" I asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Because it was important to Sakura-chan!" His stomach growled, loudly, and his eyes widened. "Also I didn't think about that, earlier," he added.

I shook my head slightly. "Fine, let's get food."

He cheered, and we left the hospital, only to suddenly come to a stop just outside.

Gaara was standing in front of the hospital, staring intently at Naruto. Temari and Kankurō were there as well, looking extremely awkward.

I glanced at them, and then Naruto, who looked slightly quizzical, before he grinned.

"Gaara!"

"Naruto-kun," Gaara responded, still staring. "You were in the hospital."

"Yeah, we were visiting people," Naruto answered, walking over. "What are you guys doing?"

What the hell was this about?

I looked at Temari and Kankurō, as if they would somehow have any answers for this unexpected turn, but I was left at a loss. Both looked unsure of this, uneasy.

"We're supposed to be meeting our father and Baki-sensei," Temari said. "Remember, Gaara?" There was a half-wheedling note to her voice, tinted with repressed frustration. After years of watching people between time as a university student and my old job, I had become very familiar with the sort of tone people had in their voices when they were trying to not reveal to the person they were speaking with the fact they wanted to scream because of them.

"I wanted to see Naruto-kun," Gaara answered, dismissing what she said entirely.

"Yeah, it's funny we met each other out here, isn't it?"

I really doubted this was coincidence. Not when Gaara had all of his attention on Naruto.

"Were you stalking him?" I asked.

Kankurō suddenly stepped back and to the side, grimacing even as he shook his head up and down in confirmation; Temari also similarly split away, creating a bubble of space that left Gaara, Naruto, and me at the center of it.

Gaara's attention snapped onto me, eyes intensely locked on mine without blinking. "Why does it matter to you?"

I felt sand grit lightly against my toes. There wasn't any wind.

"He's just trying to be friendly, Sasuke." Naruto sounded put out.

"Stalking people isn't 'friendly' behavior," I said, keeping my attention focused on Gaara. It felt important to not let myself get distracted and look away. "Whatever it is you want, you're not going to get it acting like this. Unless you think making Kankurō look like he's about to piss himself whenever you do something is going to make you friends."

"Hey!"

"I don't care about him," Gaara answered. "I want to know more about Naruto."

Naruto's fidgeting brushed against me. "Uh… isn't he your older brother? Why wouldn't you care about him? You have a family." Naruto's confusion was mixed with an edge of longing.

Gaara's attention, so weirdly piercing, switched to Naruto.

"Why should I care about him? I could crush him right now."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could make out Kankurō slowly backing away more than he had already.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should," I told him, folding my arms together. I felt like I was having to explain things to a toddler. One with more capacity for destruction than real toddlers had. "Saying and showing you don't care about people isn't going to get you real friends. It won't let you keep any for long, anyways."

Gaara blinked.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "There's a bunch of people who are awful jerks! It felt like for ages everyone was mean to me for no reason and treated me like I was a monster. I was alone. No one was allowed to play with me when I was a kid," said the twelve year old child. "But there were still a few people who were nice to me, like our Academy sensei. And I've even been making friends since I became a genin. It's great!"

"A monster…" It wasn't quite a whisper, but Gaara was still saying it to himself, eyes fixed on Naruto.

I had no interest in letting this become any more potentially depressing than it already was. "You're also a brat," I told Naruto. "That doesn't help."

"What? I've gotten better!"

For a moment that felt like it stretched out, no one said anything, the only thing preventing it from being completely silent was the ambient noise of everything around us, the occasional passerby focusing on their own lives. Even in a dream I couldn't pretend that the world would stop for a bunch of kids.

The terrible edge of dread slowly dulled, Gaara's attention shifting from predatory to something else, if just as hungry in a different way.

"I… want to be friends," he said, the words coming out slow and unsure.

Naruto's stomach let out a loud growl of protest.

I had not expected this to end up with us eating ramen with the Sand siblings, but that was how it turned out, somehow.

The seating arrangement turned out interesting, in a dumb way. Because the stall had been empty when we showed up, somehow Temari and Kankurō had managed to finagle it for Gaara to be seated against the wall, Naruto more than happy to sit next to him. I couldn't tell if it was out of a sense of guilt or protectiveness, but Temari sat on Naruto's other side. Kankurō had skipped that seat entirely, leaving me between him and his sister.

I couldn't exactly blame him, after earlier. He kept shooting furtive glances down the counter at Naruto and Gaara, as though he wasn't entirely sure what had just happened.

Naruto was happily chattering at Gaara— with winding explanations I could occasionally make out about why something was something you were supposed to do for friends or how Naruto had made a friend or saw others making friends— when the noren separating the inside of he stall from the outside was pushed open, letting in a stream of outside light.

"Kazekage-sama, we found them!"

Temari and Kankurō froze mid-action, Kankurō sputtering on his noodles, and Naruto stopped talking. After a second, Temari slowly set her chopsticks down.

On the other side of the counter, Teuchi paused in checking something I couldn't see.

The noren pushed aside again, and I turned.

Green hat with the kanji for 'wind'. Robes. A fringe of messy auburn hair just barely visible, and an expression that was more resting bitch face than anything, though it clearly held expectations of being ready to be disappointed on his face. He looked like both of his sons, to a degree that made me realize how much Kankurō's makeup made it less obvious. The Sand Siblings' father— whose name I was completely blanking on— didn't strike me as much an imposing figure as being a stern one already expecting people— in this case, his children— to fall short of his demands.

"I was expecting to present the three of you to the Hokage," the man said, narrowing his attention on Temari. It was the same gaze Gaara had just before.

Temari shrunk in on herself for a moment, just the slightest, but didn't cringe, before composing herself again. "Chichi-ue," she started, "Gaara made a friend."

"Gaara made a friend," the Kazekage repeated after her, and his eyes swept over us again, eyes first pausing on me, before they reached Naruto. He apparently hadn't entirely processed the seating order, or who was in here, all of his attention immediately on his eldest child.

"Yeah. Me. I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said; his shoulders were set in determination, eyes squinting upwards at the new adult in the same space as him with suspicion, the same look as he had given pretty much everyone at the hospital he had deemed strangers. For all his bravado and occasional cluelessness, Naruto was mostly distrusting of adults. Being a kage apparently didn't exempt the Sand Siblings' father automatically. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday."

"The Uzumaki boy Baki mentioned," the Kazekage said out loud, half to himself, as his eyes fell on me. "And the last Uchiha that Konohagakure can claim for itself. Your final teammate, and your jōnin-sensei must be elsewhere. It isn't very often that genin from one village become notable enough for the leaders of multiple hidden villages to be made aware of them."

The tension in the small space ratcheted up a few notches as I tried to untangle that. Multiple. Was I overthinking this— the whole dream was an exercise in how much my poor head could force itself into making things more and more complicated— and the importance of choosing that word? The third Hokage. Zabuza. Him. Few enough that just saying three would suffice. Unless it was more. Could it be?

"Yeah, well, like I said," Naruto said. He was refusing to back down, like usual.

No one said anything.

The silence was broken by Teuchi. "Kazekage-sama, would you like to take a seat? I would be honored if you did. The first bowl is free, for you and your children."

The Kazekage looked at all of us for a long moment, before turning to speak over his shoulder, presumably to one of his people. "You're dismissed. I will see you all at the inn." He removed his hat, and sat down next to Kankurō, who looked like he regretted his choice of seating now.

Even with food to serve as a social lubricant, it didn't make it much less tense, or awkward. If anything, it made it moreso, as it still took time for the Kazekage to receive his order.

Naruto seemed to take the Kazekage's presence as a challenge to ignore him, and instead continued to chatter— more almost viciously happy than with his usual cheer— at Gaara, who listened to him intently. Kankurō looked miserable and Temari ate with her back ramrod straight.

Noodles did not solve everything.

Even Naruto couldn't make this drag on, and he looked sulky when we exited; at some point he somehow had decided he needed to keep himself between Gaara and the Kazekage even after they were no longer seated inside the ramen stall. Gaara's siblings and father seemed to be at a loss at how to even take that.

"You're gonna be here until after the tournament is over, right?" Naruto asked Gaara, who gave only the barest nod. He eyed the Kazekage. "I wish we could spend more time together, but I've still got a bunch of training…"

"I'm surprised you're not suggesting a sleepover," I muttered.

Naruto's eyes widened, and I immediately regretted that. "Hey! Hey! Yeah! You can spend the night at my place!"

"Are you trying to—" Kankurō started to choke out, and Temari looked alarmed.

The Kazekage cut Kankurō off, staring at Naruto as though that would give him any insight. "He is supposed to stay with his siblings."

"I don't mind! They can stay too!"

Gaara ignored his family entirely, focused on Naruto. "Okay."

The strangled wail Kankurō made merged into the noise of my alarm going off.

I swiped the alarm off on my phone with a groan. I felt awful, but not as bad as I did the other day. Nothing I hadn't dealt with before, but just as well. While my first class on Mondays wasn't until later, and my advisor was supposed to be off at a conference so we wouldn't be meeting until Friday, there was still going to be a speaker giving a lecture on oral storytelling and how they were changed by being written down that I was interested in attending, and that was going to be this morning, as part of an all-day event hosted by the Chicano Studies program. Maybe I would go to some of the other panels, after my class was over, since I wasn't going to therapy today.

I felt more alive after showering, though the ache at the base my neck still hadn't worked itself out. Still on one side, it meant I was probably going to have to see if I could massage it out later. Rather than deal with my blow dryer or straightener, I brushed my hair out and put it up into a bun, the professional solution to getting away with being lazy.

I was able to put the dreams out of mind entirely, and felt actually happy and content by the time I left the library basement auditorium. I had a nice coffee from my favorite place, I had even eaten a burrito for breakfast, I got to have a second, free coffee, and even a free muffin to enjoy while I occasionally jotted down notes from the speaker's presentation.

"Hey, Socorro!" someone called, before I reached the elevator.

I turned to look. Awkward, gangly white boy in his mid-twenties, in the plaid button-down shirt and khaki pants that was practically a uniform for the self-conscious. It took me a second to pin him down before I remembered who he was; a first year grad student, like me, but he had started this semester. While he wasn't in the English department, he was with Classical Studies, and had told a very long, rambling and boring story about how he had discovered his love for Latin and the classics through anime, somehow. I had tuned most of it out and had forgotten his name by now.

Apparently he hadn't forgotten mine.

I made an attempt to smile. I knew for a fact I had grabbed everything I had with me, thrown out my trash, and had shown approximately no interest in his plans as a grad student or human being before this. I had no idea what he wanted. "Hi?"

"I didn't know you were interested in anime," he started, leaning slightly back on his heels.

"Huh?" I felt very intelligent right now. What had prompted this? If anything, as far as I knew, I should have the opposite reputation; I had gotten a good chunk of the university's anime club kicked off of campus after I found out a bunch of them who were actually from the community college were harassing and stalking a girl a few months ago.

"Well, your tattoo," whatever-his-name was said. "At the base of your neck. It looks like, uh… Because of Naruto, right?"

I didn't have tattoos. I had exactly a single piercing in each ear and had never bothered to get more. Even my makeup was tame. I was reasonably sure that if I even thought of getting a tattoo my abuela would die of shame and then I'd get disowned by my mother, or similar, nevermind actually getting one.

"Uh, no," I said. I resisted the urge to reach for the spot my neck hurt. I was suddenly, horribly aware that the spot that ached was the same that got bit in the dream the other night.

"Oh," he said, sounding deflated. "So, um, I don't have anything to do for awhile and I was wondering if, you know, if you didn't either, if you'd like to go get a coffee or lunch or something…"

"Sorry, I'm busy," I said, before he could continue embarrassing both of us. "I'll see you at the next association meeting. I've got to go."

I left as fast as I could, leaving his awkward farewell behind me.

Inside the basement level women's bathroom— tiny, cramped, and only meant for a single person— I dropped my cane and pulled my phone out, trying to get a look at the back of my neck in the mirror without twisting around too much. I yanked my shirt collar back.

The reflection in the mirror, using the phone's front camera to get a look, showed three tomoe marks. Freshly black against my skin. Rubbing and scrubbing at it water and soap with my hand, and then with the crappy brown paper towels from the dispenser, did nothing except make the skin grow slowly angry and raw.

I didn't have tattoos, except, apparently, I did.

This was impossible, except, apparently, that didn't matter anymore.

Was I going insane?

It had to be pen, or Sharpie, or something. I was already missing hours, waking up and not remembering.

It had to be.

I skipped class.

Chapter 13: This Mind is Not Mine

Chapter Text

There was a sword swinging at me.

I need to get out of the way.

A stupid-looking sword that was still wrapped up in bandages was swinging at me.

This, again.

I burst into laughter. I couldn't help it anymore.

"Sasuke!" I could barely make out Sakura's shout.

That wasn't me, that wasn't me, that wasn't my name, I wasn't Sasuke, I couldn't be—

In front of me, Chōjūrō's eyes widened, and he twisted his arms, his grip on the hilts of his sword moving around.

I got smacked with the full flat side of the sword and fell over, the laughter and breath knocked out of me, but not for long.

"That's it?" I managed between laughs. It hurt. "That's all you're going to do?" I got to my feet, laughing and ignoring my aching side as peals of pain rippled through me with each laugh.

Chōjūrō took a step back. "'That's it?'" he repeated, sounding bewildered. "You didn't move! I could have killed you!"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" I felt lightheaded. From laughing too hard? From the fake pain? "What sort of shitty ninja are you?" I giggled to myself. I took a step towards him. Chōjūrō retreated once more. I took a second step, and he did it again. I laughed harder, even as it made breathing more difficult. "Afraid?"

Chōjūrō's eyebrows crinkled together in concern and confusion, and he glanced around, the tip of his sword still pointed in my direction.

I followed his gaze.

Chōjūrō was giving the third person in the arena a pleading expression. Brown spiky hair. An ugly raised scar on the bridge of his nose and reaching into his cheek. Another what's his face.

The proctor brought his hands up before Chōjūrō could say anything. "I'm only supposed to call the match in the event it becomes apparent one of you can no longer go on and prevent any killing blows."

Chōjūrō looked horrified. "Raidō-san, he's lost his mind!" Oh, that's what it was.

Raidō shrugged. "That's not against the rules."

This was so, so stupid. None of this mattered, and yet he was so upset and concerned. Part of me felt bad for him but at the same time…

I burst into laughter again.

The aching in my side became more painful, enough that things started to no longer seem so funny, in a terrible, hideous sort of way. My chest heaved as I started to breathe more and laugh less.

Going hysterical right now wasn't really going to help me.

The pain in my side was actually really fucking awful, up there with my shoulder on its worst days, at least. I briefly imagined what would have happened if I took the edge of the blade, even wrapped, and decided I didn't want that mental image in my head at all.

Chōjūrō was still watching me, cautiously. This wasn't real. This wasn't real. It was dumb of me to feel sympathy for a dream character, and yet… I still did.

Just not enough to be willing to throw the match.

I wasn't Sasuke. I was a grown adult.

But between games and competitions with no mercy from my older cousins— and even some of the tíos and tías— when I was much younger, and then at school….

I wasn't a sore loser. I was just used to trying to win, even if it meant beating a six-year-old at a board game. Chōjūrō was neither real nor six. It'd be fine.

I was very good at trash talking.

Chōjūrō's self-confidence was somewhere below ground.

He could deal with it. He was what, sixteen?

Of course, if he couldn't deal with it, that'd certainly be one way to die. Then again, with how much my side hurt… Dying in my dreams still did not sound appealing. More like a path to making everything worse than it already was. On the other hand, Sasuke, accidentally sliced in half or smashed to bits by Chōjūrō, of all people.

I laughed, only stopping when an even sharper jag of pain hit me.

Chōjūrō looked like he was regretting this match-up.

I took a step towards him. "You can't be afraid, can you?"

He reinforced his grip on his sword. "Sasuke-kun, you're not in your right mind. You should forfeit. I don't want to hurt you when you're acting like this."

I wasn't Sasuke. I wasn't Sasuke.

"Isn't that what this is for, though? A big show for the masses with a bit of blood sport thrown in? Do you have a case of nerves when it comes to things like this?" I focused my eyes on his sword through the pain. Such a dumb shape for a sword. Fish sword. Edgy dual-wielding optional fish sword. The kind of stupid design you could only see in an anime or J-RPG. Or one of those dumb mall stores that inevitably had teenaged boys and clueless college-aged men in them to buy shitty knives that were more likely to accidentally stab them the first time they held them. "Afraid of living up to the expectations of swinging around that stupid sword?"

"Hiramekarei is a masterwork," Chōjūrō said, heat entering his voice.

"What about you, then?" I asked, singsong. "Are you worth carrying your masterwork fish-fish sword?" Fish-fish. Ha.

His eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

Was he going to rise to the bait?

Chōjūrō looked over at Raidō. "I refuse to continue this match. I forfeit."

Raidō looked between us. "Winner, Uchiha Sasuke of Konohagakure!"

Chōjūrō looked at me, something satisfied in his gaze, and carefully holstered his sword. He turned his back and walked away, heading for the stairs.

As the pain got steadily worse, I was having a hard time finding the humor from earlier. I wasn't sure it was even that funny, now.

I gripped my side, and followed after him, for lack of any other options.

I got swarmed by Team Seven by the time I got to the stairs.

Sakura was bandaged up and her clothes had puncture marks. Other than that, she looked fine, besides seeming worried. "Sasuke, you could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Yeah, what was that about?" Naruto asked.

Before I could say anything, Kakashi poked the side I had gotten hit with. I doubled up from the pain, gasping for air.

He hefted me up in a carry while I was unable to protest. "Go back to where the other genin are waiting for their matches," he told the other two. "I'll make sure Sasuke gets patched up."

Sakura stared at him, before latching onto Naruto's wrist, and dashed off, only giving Naruto long enough to go "Hey, what—" before he got yanked after her.

"Smart shinobi don't let their ribs get cracked or worse," Kakashi said, voice so flat that he almost sounded more bored than usual, as he carried me. "And they certainly don't stop in the middle of a fight to start laughing at their opponent, even if it manages to work out in their favor."

I stared at the concrete walls instead of answering. I was going insane. I had a mark on my neck that didn't belong. I was dreaming about being Sasuke. I was having dreams that hurt, right up until I woke up from them. I was missing hours of my life that were passing when I should have been asleep. Nothing made sense. And on top of that, I was dreaming about being lectured by fucking Kakashi, as though he had a sense of self-preservation.

The only way it could get worse was if the little bubble of magical ninja make-pretend in my dream cracked, and he started to lecture me for my alcohol consumption or lack of a boyfriend.

After several samey-looking corridors and a handful of staircases, he brought me to an infirmary, where there were a few medics waiting, and carefully set me on the bed that was the furthest distance from the entrance.

"He has cracked ribs on the left side at minimum and has another match ahead," Kakashi told them, completely ignoring me. "There shouldn't be enough damage to make it too complicated to heal with chakra, and this will be his first time being healed with jutsu."

I wasn't able to resist asking, even though it came out wheezy. "That's a thing?"

"Lift your arms slowly," one of the medics said as he approached, and I obeyed, looking at them both warily. He reached down, and I felt the cool metal of a zipper backing as it was pulled from the side hem of the leg of one short and up to the armpit before it was pulled upwards. I was left feeling very exposed. I had never particularly wanted to figure out how this one-piece outfit worked, and there was something particularly unsettling about feeling cool air on a bare chest.

"Besides being difficult to do, there's only so much externally caused accelerated healing the human body can take over time without causing more damage than it solves," Kakashi said, eye sweeping over my aching side. I twisted my head to look down. It was already beginning to look mottled and bruised over Sasuke's pale skin. "There's a reason so many elderly former ninja are always bandaged up. Without any other factors involved, overuse and improper healing can cause the body to stop maintaining itself in the long run, especially where old injuries were quickly healed."

I wasn't able to resist looking at the bandages wrapping both arms and legs. How did those line up with what he just said then?

The medic chuckled. "I'm not going to do anything about any shin splints or other microfractures you might have from training. Hold still."

The pain slowly subsided in favor of an awful tingling sensation that grew steadily stronger and stronger from within, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck prickle in response. I shuddered.

Kakashi clamped a hand down on the shoulder opposite of the side the medic was working on. "You're sensitive to healing chakra," he noted. "If you don't want to deal with it in the future, you should consider avoiding getting hit."

"Great advice," I muttered, trying to focus through the feeling that had totally consumed my side. By now, it felt like my insides there were itching, and horribly. "I'll keep that in mind for next time."

The medic pulled away. "That will do for now. You shouldn't be in any danger of your lungs getting punctured as long as you don't do anything foolish."

The itchiness faded away back into the tingling and soon stopped entirely. Everything still ached and felt sore, but at least I could breathe without that being agonizing. I eyed both the medic and Kakashi, before reaching for the side zipper and pulling it back down.

"Say thank you to the nice medic-nin," Kakashi said, eye boring down at me. He hadn't let go the whole time.

"Thanks," I grumbled.

"Good luck with your next match, Uchiha-kun."

At least Kakashi let me leave the room under my own power.

"Try to not get this injured again in your next match," he said, after we were in the outside corridor. "The only reason you were able to get patched up is because we think Orochimaru will be making his next move soon."

I didn't respond, and he didn't try to make me. Instead, he walked.

This time, I noticed that the corridors weren't completely empty. I hadn't been paying attention before. Two ninja were idling just around the other corner from the infirmary on our way out, and once we left this level, there were more at every exit that led out to the different sections of the stands.

Eventually, we reached the endpoint of this short trip. Behind another set of stairs was an exit to a smaller box of stands, an unimpressed-looking Hyūga with a severe expression blocking the way until he saw us.

Sakura and Naruto bolted past him, and Kakashi set his hands on both of their heads this time. I was perfectly fine not getting tackled into by either of them.

"Not now," Kakashi said, "He still has another match coming up."

"Yeah, Lee just beat the crap out of his opponent," Naruto said. "He got hit by even more senbon than Sakura did and kept going anyways. Fighting him's gonna suck."

"He probably won't go that hard against another Konoha-nin," Sakura added. "I'm sure it won't be that bad." She looked up at Kakashi for hopeful confirmation.

"Gai doesn't believe in holding back, so yes, he will," Kakashi corrected.

Sakura's smile turned into a grimace. "Oh. Never mind, then."

"Thanks," I said, voice flat. Even knowing that Lee as Sasuke's next match wasn't a good matchup for Sasuke, along with the fact that I wasn't exactly interested in fighting, I still felt weirdly insulted.

"You all should go back in, they'll be bringing you lunch soon enough," Kakashi said. He decided to change the line of discussion. "Naruto, Sasuke, try to not eat too much. It won't look good on either of you if you end up throwing up in the middle of your matches." His brow furrowed slightly. "And if you do, try to not throw up on your opponent."

"Would something happen if we do?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi stared at Naruto for a moment, clearly trying to formulate a response. "Generally speaking, people don't appreciate being puked on. If you absolutely have to, save it for when it's actually an enemy combatant," he ended up going with.

"That's disgusting." I had no problem with sharing that opinion, considering Sakura looked at least as grossed out as I felt at that idea.

She gave Kakashi a concerned look. "Do people really do that?"

"It's been known to happen." He shrugged slightly. "People also don't really like seeing it happen."

"I'd hope not!" Sakura looked very scandalized.

"Or like to step in it." Kakashi paused for a moment. "At least, I don't like stepping in it. Bisuke vomited in my spare sandals once. I didn't find out until I tried to put them on."

Sakura and Naruto made disgusted noises before Naruto started to look confused. "Wait, how did you not notice? Doesn't it smell? Aren't you supposed to have a good sense of smell?"

"Ah, that's a story for another day," Kakashi answered suddenly before any more questions could occur, and he grappled my shoulder and Naruto's, squeezed Sakura between us, and started to direct us towards the competitor's box. "Go back in, good luck, don't overeat and puke on anyone, and don't get hurt."

He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Every time we start to find out more about him," Sakura grumbled, as we went past the Hyūga guarding the archway.

Even though I was already sort of aware of who should have been competing, I hadn't realized that the ninja from Ame who had gotten this far were the ones that I was pretty sure Gaara had crushed to death in the show. Did those guys even have names?

Pretty much all the ones who were in the tournament were keeping to themselves or their teams, for the most part. Neji and Tenten were on the other side, where Neji made it very clear he was not paying attention to me, visibly straightening up and speaking just slightly louder to Tenten. Chōjūrō gave me an unimpressed look, before returning his attention to talking to Haku. Shino nodded towards me in acknowledgment, and Hinata smiled— at least up until Naruto grinned back. Kiba sniggered until Shino said something too quiet to hear, at which point he shut up. Shikamaru was noticeably alone, leaning on the railing, looking out at the rest of the stands.

"How do you not notice dog puke?" Naruto was still baffled. "I mean, Kiba let Akamaru puke in the classroom one day right when we were all leaving and Iruka-sensei wasn't there so nobody cleaned it, and it was still really smelly the next morning, and we all got yelled at for leaving it there."

Kiba looked over. "I didn't let him do anything! Akamaru got sick from eating something he wasn't supposed to. It's not my fault he didn't tell me he puked!" Akamaru, resting on Kiba's lap, barked.

Sakura grimaced. "We're going to be eating lunch soon!"

Naruto looked thoughtful, which I doubted would lead to anything good. "Hey! Hey! Haku?"

Haku looked over. Suigetsu took the chance to stick his tongue out at Haku, which got him smacked by Chōjūrō. "Yes, Naruto?"

"Uh, how hard are you gonna go during our fight?"

Haku considered for a moment. "I won't be trying to kill you, but I'll still be doing my best to win." He returned his attention to his conversation with Chōjūrō.

Naruto blinked, looked between us, and made a face of his own. "Okay then, no lunch."

Sakura squinted at him suspiciously but didn't ask.

I decided against asking as well; I wasn't interested in the contents of Naruto's stomach in any capacity, fictional or dreamt up. Or—

I shut that thought down entirely. I refused to think about it.

Instead, I went and sat in the corner of the stands, tucked behind the entrance, Sakura and Naruto following me even though they had no need to do so.

Lee and an Ame-nin— presumably the one he fought against— entered the space. Lee's jumpsuit was slightly peppered with holes, like Sakura, but he was grinning. The Ame-nin didn't look pleased, head hanging low as he sulked over to where the other two were. It was obvious who won from that alone.

Tenten still hopped up from where she was sitting to excitedly go, "Lee! That was great!"

Lee stayed where he was standing, and gave her a wide grin. "I am sure your match will go well, too!" He scoped around before his eyes settled on me. "Sasuke-kun! You may have used cunning tactics to get through your first match, but they will not work on me! I hope you are ready for a full fight in ours!"

Oh, I was screwed. There was no way Sasuke was able to win against Lee normally. Dream Sasuke had no Sharingan, as far as I was able to tell, and no one had said anything about the seal— No, I wasn't thinking about that. I refused.

I was just going to be resigned to a Sasuke pancake. Uchiha roadkill.

Sakura's quiet, nervous laugh with a whispered "Oh no" didn't help.

Neither did Naruto, who was squinting at Lee, when he went, "Uh, Lee? Are your wraps supposed to be bleeding? 'Cuz they are."

Lee brought his hands up to look at them and his arms, flexing his fingers back and forth from an open palm to fist. They were fully wrapped, but pinpricks of red were starting to show through the top layer. "Oh! They are! Thank you for letting me know, Naruto-kun! The medic-nin in the infirmary told me that the senbon punctures aren't that serious."

Sakura's wide smile was halfway between that and a grimace. "There are a lot of veins in the hands, so they can be pretty bloody. Maybe you should… stop flexing them? Give them a chance to scab? Or something?"

"Oh, it'll be fine! I'm used to it! I don't want them to scab over just yet, it'll make it harder to punch." Lee gave her an encouraging smile, which wasn't, and went to sit down with his teammates.

Sakura turned to look at me, her expression still faintly horrified. "Um, Sasuke?"

I was feeling mildly grossed out. "Don't say anything." I did not want to think about the inevitable, horrible rapidly closing future of this dream, which was apparently going to involve my ass getting beaten by Lee with his still-bleeding fists. Unfortunately, this one was much harder to shake because I wasn't able to stop myself from repeatedly glancing in Team Gai's direction and the growing pinpricks of red that were Lee's wrapped hands.

There was movement and slightly muffled speaking from the other side of the Hyūga at the entrance way, and a group of three kids that looked roughly the same age as the rookies came in, followed by a somewhat older bored-looking guy in a flak jacket who looked roughly college age. The only thing that really stood out about him was the tattoo on one cheek. He was carrying a large portable drink dispenser and a plastic sleeve of paper cups in his arms. The kids were carrying bento boxes. Lunch had arrived.

Sakura tensed up next to me the moment the one, a girl with purple hair, entered.

The purple-haired girl distributed the bento boxes she was carrying to Team Gai and the Ame ninja before she swung over towards us. The slight smirk on her face and the way her eyes narrowed at Sakura made me suspicious. Wasn't Sakura supposed to have had bullies in the academy, or something?

"I heard you lost your first match, Forehead," the girl crooned. She fluttered her eyes at me. "I'm sure you're going to make chūnin, Sasuke-kun."

Oh. Before Naruto or Sakura could say anything, I spoke up. "Who are you?"

The girl's expression faltered. She wasn't expecting that question. "I'm Ami, remember? We were classmates."

"I didn't realize you passed." I looked over at the oldest member of the little group she had come in with. "He must be really good, to teach a genin team this young." I was pretty sure that he was probably just a chūnin. He looked bored out of his mind, if tense.

"He's a chūnin. My jōnin-sensei failed our team. We just got done with the extra courses. I'm working in Supply, now." Ami's expression was slowly turning to one of upset. I should have felt worse about messing with what was effectively a middle schooler, but like real ones sometimes did, she was behaving like a little shit and was under the assumption she would be able to get away with it. I might have been losing my mind, but I refused to put up with what was in most ways a particularly uppity seventh-grader.

"So, you don't have a jōnin-sensei," I started. Ami nodded hesitantly. I could tell she knew that somehow this had backfired on her, but wasn't sure how to fix it. "I'm sure you're learning plenty of things in Supply. Kind of strange that you're trying to give Sakura a hard time. She's the one who's got this far. So, again, who are you?"

Ami looked like I had slapped her.

I opened my mouth to start again, but before I could, Sakura cut me off. "Sasuke, stop." Her words were surprisingly sure. She gazed at Ami, setting her shoulders. "I don't know why you're trying to do this, but just leave me alone, okay? We aren't in the academy anymore." Sakura's expression grew self-conscious, and she pressed splayed fingers together. "Ino told me that you got assigned to Supply after you were done with the remedial classes at the Academy since you weren't able to get a jōnin-sensei a second time, and she thought I'd like to hear it since you kept bragging and all when we were in school, but you know what? It didn't make me feel happy."

"It didn't?"

"No. It made me feel kind of sad for you. But I thought that once we were all finished and stuff, that well, I didn't expect that we could be friends or anything, but I thought that you'd just move on." Sakura's eyes narrowed even as it was obvious she was doing her best to stay calm. "We've already had to fight for our lives, but you're still trying to push me around and be mean like we're eight still. Don't you think it's time to grow up, already?"

Ami's face turned red and looking around, it was clear that whether or not Sakura wanted it, everyone in hearing range was paying attention. "Yeah, well, you probably only got this far because of Sasuke!" Ami turned on her heel and fled, pushing out and past the guard.

The chūnin with the water dispenser sighed and rolled his eyes. "Nichika, can you go run after her?"

One of the other genin nodded and ran off.

A few minutes after, Sakura giggled, barely audible but with an edge of panic to it. "I can't believe I did that! I can't believe I said that!" Her sandaled feet pattered on the ground as she lightly kicked them. Even though she was trying to calm herself down from what was a big deal to her, Sakura seemed more dazed from this than the first encounter with Zabuza or any of the changes that had come from that. Then again, thirteen-year-olds weren't known for having reasonable priorities when it came to things or how they impacted their feelings.

"Yeah, well, she deserved it," Naruto said. "She's a jerk and used to pick on anyone she could. She used to tell people I was a smelly orphan and no one wanted me because I didn't know how to shower or do anything right." While there was a veneer of casualness to Naruto's words, he wasn't meeting Sakura's eyes, instead looking up at the ceiling. Considering that Naruto hadn't been all that smelly in these dreams so far without good cause, and Naruto's reaction just now, that had been meant to hurt without any regard for being true.

"She used to say that? That was from her?" Sakura looked shocked.

"Well, it's not like you would have heard it from her since she was always mean to you, too," Naruto answered.

"Don't bother thinking about her," I said. "She's not worth it." Suddenly I felt like I hadn't gone far enough, which was absurd. I was more than twice their age. I was better than revenge bullying even a figment of my imagination.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sakura answered. Her eyes flicked to meet mine. "Um. Thanks. It means a lot." Her words were a bit quieter than they had been before.

"You're welcome." I had no idea what else to say.

Instead, I looked at the bento out of curiosity. I didn't know what to expect. The box was sort of cute, in a plain way. I had always had school lunches as a kid, except for the rare school field trip when I got to buy delicious, terrible junk like Lunchables. I had given up on bringing my own lunches when I was in college when a container of spaghetti opened up in my backpack during my very first semester. I opened it up.

It had been more appetizing when it was left closed. The rice inside was… concerning. Half of it was visibly crunchy looking, and the other half was partially overcooked and looked almost slimy. It was matched with a bed of sad-looking, overcooked vegetables, and slices of breaded chicken that had absorbed some of the moisture from the rest of the food and was equally sad and soggy on top of it.

I poked at one of the slices of chicken with my finger. It left a mushy indent in the breading.

Naruto leaned over to look and grimaced. "Are you really going to eat that?" he tried to whisper. His eyes flitted up to look at the chūnin who was staying here for the foreseeable future. "Because that looks really gross."

"It's not my problem if you don't eat," the chūnin said. "It's still better than field rations if you're gonna complain."

Sakura opened hers up. It didn't look any more appetizing at a slight distance.

Naruto leaned over, and before I could think to stop him, poked his own finger into a different slice of chicken and patted the whole layer of food. His hand came up with bits of rice and the breading stuck to it. "Wow, gross. Even I can cook better than this."

"Hey!" I smacked his hand away. "Give me yours now, I don't know where your hands have been." I drew the line of the indignities so far at letting Naruto play with something I was supposed to eat. Even if it was a dream, that was just slightly too gross. My life was terrible enough as it was without consuming Naruto's germs in what was a delusion. If it wasn't—

If it wasn't, I didn't want to think about that, but it was even more reason to not suffer Naruto's hands on my food.

He made a sulky expression but handed it over.

I shoved the one he had touched at him.

I was at least experienced enough in eating questionable food, but I still went and got a flimsy cup of water to go with it. It was easier to choke things down with something to drink.

It was interesting to look around to see who was or wasn't eating.

Tenten and Neji weren't, but Lee was. Tenten seemed too antsy to eat, occasionally standing up to pace. Chōjūrō and Haku were, but Suigetsu wasn't, instead just drinking water. He wasn't bothering to hide his disgusted expression whenever he looked at the open bento balanced on Chōjūrō's knee. At one point, I thought I caught Chōjūrō rolling his eyes. All of the Ame team were, without any sign that they were unimpressed. Hinata also wasn't, but she had given hers to Kiba, who had mixed up some of the rice and chicken for Akamaru. Shino had his open but seemed to be contemplating it. Shikamaru hadn't even bothered to open his.

Sakura made attempts at nibbling but had pretty much given up on it, in favor of asking the chūnin questions about working in Supply.

Kokage, the chūnin, wasn't usually in Supply, apparently. He had returned from a long-term mission— nothing serious, just gone for over a year in some village— and after some time off, had been reassigned to work in Supply for the next several months to give him time to recondition and train before he went on missions outside of Konoha again. After a few months of shorter-term missions, he'd be up for longer ones again.

It felt like the time went faster than not, and soon enough the bento— whether still full, half-eaten, or empty— were all collected by the single remaining genin and they left. The water dispenser was left behind, along with the stack of flimsy paper cups.

Naruto was bouncing in place by the time it was obvious the matches were going to start again, and Sakura leaned over to try to squash him down.

"If you keep up like this, you're going to be tired before your match even starts!"

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

The next match was between Kiba and Suigetsu. Neither of them seemed to be taking the other that seriously, and both had a little swagger to them as they got up to leave. Typical teenaged boy kind of nonsense.

"Good luck," Hinata said before Kiba got to the door.

Kiba laughed and gave her a toothy smirk. "He's the one who's going to need the luck!" Akamaru barked.

Suigetsu glared at him. "You're the one who can't even fight on his own."

As if to punctuate this, instead of bothering with the long route, Suigetsu swung himself off the railing, landing on the ground far below.

Kiba seemed to have no interest in being outdone because he jumped right after.

Okay, teenaged ninja boy kind of nonsense. I wasn't sure even the dumbest and most foolhardy of the boys I knew in middle school or high school would have done that, and I knew someone who had broken both of their legs jumping off the second story of another friend's house in their attempt to bounce from a trampoline into a pool in the summer between eighth grade and freshman year.

I resisted getting up from where I was to go stand at the rails. I could see fine from here, but even so, something niggled at me. I could get a better view if I stand.

I decided to ignore the temptation.

Below, the fight began.

Suigetsu started with being an asshole right off the bat. I wasn't surprised, but at the same time- actually, no, he was a little shit. It wasn't beyond him at all to be making jeering comments about whom— or rather, what— Kiba's mom was willing to sleep with.

Then again, Kiba had started it by asking which of Suigetsu's parents was the fish fucker.

He just hadn't been prepared for Suigetsu to be the bigger asshole.

Suigetsu was keeping the upper hand, but it didn't look like it was staying that way for long. Kiba shouted an order to Akamaru, and the dog disappeared into a cloud of smoke and a second Kiba appeared. Both of them were visibly snarling at Suigetsu before they charged at Suigetsu, twisting around each other, sending up clouds of dust. Occasionally I could make out glints of metal.

Before they reached Suigetsu, water surged out of nowhere, sweeping them away.

"What!?" Naruto's eyes widened. "I thought he was just, you know, bragging about that."

I shrugged.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, most of it disappeared, a stream of water returning to Suigetsu, extending from his arms.

One of the Kibas disappeared, turning back into Akamaru.

Kiba threw the dog into the air, and Akamaru tumbled in the air, sticking a leg out.

Sakura made a disgusted sound, and Naruto laughed. I just stared in disbelief as the pee flowed in the arena below, hitting the water.

Akamaru landed.

Suigetsu screamed in outrage.

I looked away. I wasn't the only one. Hinata had ducked her head, and Shino was shaking his. Haku's expression was carefully neutral. Most of the others seemed to be a mix of grossed out or amused. The shortest Ame-nin was sniggering.

"Kiba, don't you dare!" A woman's voice shouted, surprisingly loud enough to make out without any problem. Even the rudest comments from Kiba and Suigetsu had barely carried.

I looked to see and made a face.

Kiba had approached Suigetsu, his hands definitely on his pants zip.

Suigetsu leapt at Kiba and Akamaru with too-large fists, clubbing them down so hard that neither got back up. Akamaru's yelp of pain had carried up enough for us to hear.

I winced.

"Winner, Suigetsu!"

What's-his-face— Raidō?— still had to grab Suigetsu around the chest to pull him away, disappearing out of sight and reappearing the next at the exit from the arena's ground.

"Oh man, Kiba got his ass kicked," Naruto said.

"He shouldn't have had Akamaru pee on him. Or tried it himself." Sakura's lip was still curled in disgust. "No one deserves that."

"It was a bad move," Shino said, voice serious.

There was a moment of quiet. Below, medics entered and took Kiba and Akamaru out.

"Hey, Suigetsu can turn himself into water and stuff, right? And Akamaru's piss hit the bit of water that was going back to him, yeah?" Naruto asked. His brows were scrunched together in thought. "Does that mean—"

Sakura slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth. "Don't even finish that question; no one wants to think about— eugh! Naruto!" She pulled her hand away, and immediately wiped it on Naruto's pant leg. "Someday you're going to lick a paralytic or something if you keep that up," she grumbled. "I would have been able to use one if it weren't for the rule changes…"

Naruto squinted at her, before he stuck his tongue out and flipped his jacket's collar up, and pushed the fuzzy white part of it up against his tongue, rubbing it against it. He made a gagging noise and coughed when he finally closed his mouth, spitting out some white fuzz.

"If she did have any traces of poison on her hands, I don't think cleaning your tongue off like that would work…" At least, I didn't think it would.

Sakura looked incredibly off-put at the suggestion of sloppiness, or something, on her part.

Shikamaru slouched his way out to the stairs, and Hinata followed. Shikamaru looked like he would have preferred to be anywhere else, in a tired and hollow sort of way that didn't look right on a kid his age. Hinata looked like a bundle of nerves.

"Hinata," I called out, on impulse.

She stopped before she reached her clan member guarding the door. "Sasuke-kun? What is it?"

"You'll do fine, just relax a little."

She loosened up a little bit, enough to almost begin to smile, when Naruto spoke up, enthusiastic. "Yeah! You've got this! Kick Shikamaru's lazy ass!"

Hinata fled, but didn't escape before a blush started to flood her face.

"Huh. Wonder why she ran. It's not like they're gonna start the match without her and Shikamaru takes forever going anywhere anyway. She's really weird sometimes," Naruto commented.

Over his head, Sakura mouthed 'How is he this hopeless?' at me.

I shrugged.

Suigetsu sulked past the entry. He was still visibly angry, a glower set on his face.

Naruto straightened up. "Hey, hey! Suigetsu!"

Suigetsu looked over. "What?"

"Hey, since you turn into water does that mean—"

"Shut up!" Suigetsu's voice cracked, his indignance making him screechy. "I don't want to think about it!" His face was slowly turning pink.

"But—"

"Please be nice to my teammate, Naruto-kun," Haku spoke up.

Suigetsu stomped past us to go continue sulking against the back wall.

Below, Hinata and Shikamaru had finally reached the ground.

It was pretty boring. Instead of either of them doing anything, they were circling, facing each other, Hinata having opened the distance between them. Shikamaru was barely doing anything besides making sure he was staying focused on her.

"Ugh," went Sakura. "I don't know why Hinata's not going for it. Shikamaru's bad at taijutsu…"

Hinata finally started to get into striking range, and at the same time she did, Shikamaru's shadow stretched towards her.

So much for wishing Hinata luck.

The shadow reached Hinata, and Hinata was stilled.

Shikamaru's messed up. Wait, no. Is he trying to lose the match on purpose?

Hinata started to move again, and Shikamaru's shadow snapped back. He stumbled backward a few feet.

The distance closed. Hinata's moves were cautious, and Shikamaru was avoiding them, but not doing much to try to attack her. Even from where I was I could see they were talking, just barely audible from up here. This time I couldn't resist, I went up to the railing. Sakura and Naruto joined me.

"…not fighting?" Hinata asked. It was just loud enough to hear, barely.

I squinted. Shikamaru was speaking, but not quite loud enough for me to make out everything he was saying. "…to try? I thought… …not that good… …want me to take it easy since you're just a girl."

I winced. Shikamaru was vaguely sexist, wasn't he? At the same time, this was… This was definitely stupid. Impressively stupid. Offensively dumb, even.

Hinata started to beat the shit out of him, which he deserved, after whatever that was supposed to be. Gentleness only went so far, and it seemed that Shikamaru's attitude had pushed past the limits of what Hinata was willing to accept from others.

Shikamaru was forced onto defense, repeatedly barely dodging Hinata. Even then it was obvious that Shikamaru wasn't on the same level as she was; Hinata's moves flowed from one into the other, almost mesmerizing, until she got a quick hit that took out one of Shikamaru's arms. The boy tried to use it to block the rest as he backed away.

Sakura winced. "What did he even say to her? Hinata's really going for it."

"He tried to frame it that he was taking it easy on her because she's a girl," I answered.

"Wait, really?" Sakura made a face. "Get him, Hinata!" she shouted over the side.

Another strike to a leg sent Shikamaru down on one knee.

Shikamaru forfeited, and Hinata was declared the winner. Shikamaru was taken out on a stretcher.

I had not been expecting that.

I glanced in Neji's direction. He didn't seem all that happy about Hinata's win, but that wasn't a surprise, considering all of his own issues there. Without his big fight against Naruto, Neji was probably going to be stuck with them unresolved and still bitter if they somehow didn't get straightened out with age. If he was real, I doubt they would be able to; Neji wasn't just filled with righteousness, he was also skilled enough and smart enough to generally not have anyone be able to smack sense into his head. I knew people who had been like that in high school who had never grown out of it, so unwilling to take the chips out of their shoulders that they refused to change. Unfortunate for him.

Tenten and one of the Ame-nin got up and left; their turn then.

Hinata and Kiba- with Akamaru- entered. Kiba was carrying what looked like an ice pack and had the start of a black eye.

"—can't believe I missed you winning," Kiba said.

"Hinata had to do a good job, after you embarrassed us," Shino spoke up.

Hinata flushed slightly and looked at the ground. "It was just luck."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Don't talk about yourself like that. Luck plays a role, but you're the one who still did everything."

She only turned pinker. "I still could have done better."

Kiba rolled his own. "Yeah, yeah, but you won, and the rest of us didn't, so you better win against Suigetsu for me and Shino, okay?"

Hinata scuffed her foot across the floor. "We'll see…"

On the other side of the room, Suigetsu scoffed, but didn't say anything.

Below, the next match got underway.

The ninja from Ame pulled out his umbrella and aimed it at Tenten, who had a scroll which quickly was unfurled in her hand.

Sakura made a noise of shock. "He can't seriously be aiming that directly at her! Why isn't the proctor doing anything?"

It became obvious soon enough; the dense volley of senbon was getting sucked into the scroll and being sealed into it. The Ame-nin shouted.

Naruto grimaced. "That's expensive…"

"Yeah, especially for something like this," Sakura agreed. "I don't think they're going to make Tenten give them back."

Tenten tossed that scroll to the side, pulling out another. A polearm with a blade popped out, and she swung it at her charging opponent, who had decided to approach with another umbrella. The umbrella handle got sliced in half.

It was almost comedic; he kept trying to get through Tenten's defenses, but Tenten would deflect him, pop out a scroll, and use the next set of weapons that came out.

"How does she know how to use so many weapons?" Naruto said out loud.

"Tenten wants to be an expert with all ninja tools," Lee spoke up, stepping over towards us. "A lot of our work with Gai-sensei has been for our teamwork skills and conditioning, but because Tenten wants to have such a wide specialty, she regularly does even more training without us with other ninja in the village who do have weapon specialties." Lee's voice was filled with admiration. "Everything she makes goes right into her weapons fund."

"That has to add up," Sakura said, wide-eyed. "My parents are making me put most of my pay into savings. I only get to have a bit more than my old allowance was. She's lucky she gets to spend it however she wants." There was a tinge of envy to her voice.

"Savings?" Naruto looked between me and Sakura, eyes slightly squinting in confusion. Instead of saying anything more, he sidled off to lean on the rail, still squinting in thought.

I decided I didn't want to know what that was even supposed to imply.

In being distracted by Naruto and Sakura, I had missed part of the fight below. At some point in the last few seconds, Tenten had pulled a spear out. The Ame-nin's hat had been knocked off his head, and the spear aimed at his face.

Tenten won.

The dance she did, obviously bouncing up and down for a bit in excitement, was cute, especially when followed by the immediate rush to collect all the scrolls and weapons she had littered around the ground.

Naruto swallowed, loud enough to hear.

He straightened up and immediately forced a broad grin on his face. "Look! It's my turn now!" Following his moment of nerves so obviously, his bravado wasn't as believable as it might have been.

Haku walked over, directing a smile towards Naruto. "Are you ready, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto laughed, loud and much harder than necessary. "Yeah! Of course I am! Are you?"

Haku nodded.

Naruto managed to shuffle himself out of the competitor stands, eyes wide with the sort of expression I remembered from middle school performances and high school presentations, back visibly steeled.

Haku at least looked more relaxed as he exited.

"Naruto looked nervous," Sakura said, eyebrows slightly furrowed with concern. "I hope he doesn't let it get to him."

"He'll probably be fine as long as he doesn't puke from nerves when the match starts," I decided. I had had classes from fourth grade until I graduated from high school with a boy who, every year without fail, needed to throw up before any class presentation or performance. It wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact we were both on violin in orchestra together. I stopped playing in high school because the thought of spending another four years, with even more performances, of him having to constantly throw up was too much.

Guitar had been far more enjoyable, especially without the haunting specter of Jaime threatening to throw up.

Tenten did a happy little twirl when she came back in, before coming over to join Lee and us at the railing. Her opponent just looked glum.

Naruto and Haku's match started.

Of course, Naruto started by pumping out dozens of clones.

Haku went from standing still to running full speed, running back and forth through the clones, striking down the ones that attempted to take him down or tackle him.

I didn't know shit about strategy, but even I could tell that Naruto was using his brain down there— or at least trying to. Haku just obviously had the upper hand, even with all of Naruto's clones. Eventually, they were whittled down to just Naruto and Haku again, and the extended loop of Haku blocking and dodging all of the Naruto clones suddenly took a detour.

Naruto rocketed into the air, up well past the upper heights of the stadium walls and stands.

Sakura laughed in surprise, her own concerns mostly forgotten.

"What's he doing?" Lee wondered.

"He's not dumb enough to launch himself into the air like that without someway to land safely, right?" Kiba asked. "It's Naruto but… He can't really be that dumb, can he?"

"Naruto's not dumb," Sakura spoke up, defensively. "He's awful at a lot of academic stuff, but he's not that stupid. No one goes around calling you stupid, and you almost failed the graduation exam, too."

Naruto's arc through the air was impressive, and as he sped back down towards the earth, he created more clones, using those to hurtle himself at the walls, where he started to run around them, just beneath the stands.

Haku was just standing in the middle of the arena, probably out of a combination of surprise and limited options, if he didn't want to risk injuring the crowd by chance or severely hurting Naruto.

A flash of blond hair sped right beneath us, and a moment after that, laughter. Naruto jumped from the wall, visible from under the closest set of spectator stands, aiming right for Haku.

Sheets of ice immediately began to close around the two of them. Haku's ice mirror attack, I realized, just as Haku disappeared into them, multiple reflections of him facing Naruto.

The match ended not long after that, Haku jumping out from behind Naruto, putting the younger boy in a hold, a shimmering shard of ice held to Naruto's throat.

Kiba forced himself over, intruding on my personal space. "Since when did Naruto get that good?" he demanded.

Shino moved to join us, which did not make it any better. There was a slight tip upwards of Shino's head, probably meant as a visible context clue that he was rolling his eyes. "We've all improved since the academy," he commented. "It only makes sense that Naruto would too, especially with everything that's happened around his team in the last few months. Besides, he still lost."

"Only 'cause there's no way his opponent is 'just' a genin," Kiba pointed out. "The only reason Haku's even in the exams is probably to rub it in everybody's nose and make it obvious those guys aren't gonna be rolled over so easy." He glanced over at Chōjūrō and Suigetsu, and made a rude gesture.

"Fuck off," Suigetsu muttered under his breath.

I looked around. No one was showing any sign of going anywhere, and I could see that the stands for the audience were emptying the way they had earlier.

"I still can't believe they're stretching it out so much," Sakura said, stretching her arms out. "A whole hour until the next set of matches start…"

"At least after these we'll be done for the day," Tenten said. "I know they made it two days because there are so many of us, but it's still nerve-wracking." She let out a laugh. "I'm not sure if I want to win my next match or lose. The idea of a second day of all of this is too much!"

"Aren't there supposed to be even more people watching tomorrow?" Chōjūrō spoke up finally. "I heard your daimyo is supposed to make an appearance."

"He is?" Hinata's voice slightly squeaked.

"Oh, ugh," Sakura went, exaggerating a shudder. "I think I'm happy I lost my match, now…"

Naruto sprung in, bouncing. "Hey, hey, you guys saw that, right? Right?" All of his earlier nerves had worn off.

Haku trailed behind him, looking very amused. "It was a very surprising tactic, Naruto-kun. I wasn't prepared for that."

"Yeah! And you still won but!" Naruto punctuated his words with excited bouncing. "I went up! So high! I could see most of the village! Like I was up on the Hokage monument!"

"Yeah yeah, we saw," Suigetsu said. "You better not spend the next hour talking about only that."

I peeled away from the railing to go sit in the back corner against the wall, leaving Sakura to talk with Tenten.

With the first round out of the way, the team divisions looked like they had dissolved. Probably because they didn't matter as much at this point, now that half of the people in this space knew they weren't moving on.

Shino and Hinata drifted over to sit by me, Hinata managing to give me a small smile as she did.

"The tactics you used against your last opponent won't work again," Shino said, in what seemed like it was supposed to pass as a conversation starter. "Have you thought about what you're going to do for your next match?"

Get squashed.

I shrugged. "Should I?"

Shino made a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat, before speaking again. "True, you're probably going to lose whatever you do. He's older than us, had an extra year to train, focuses entirely on taijutsu, and his pain tolerance seems to be obscene. You've already been injured, and he took a whole volley of senbon without flinching. You'd have to take drastic measures in order to win against him, and those would likely be against the rules we're supposed to be following. It wouldn't look good against another Leaf-nin," Shino said. His voice had a meaningful tone to it, and he glanced at Neji with enough of a disapproving look that it creased his brows together. "You should still fight, but you should just hope it ends as painlessly as possible for you."

Wonderful advice. I was screwed.

Hinata pressed her fingers together, looking down. "I'm sorry Neji-nii-san's attack caused so much harm to your colony, Shino…" Her words were soft.

Oh, that would explain it, if Neji did something to Shino's bugs.

"He's the one who did it, not you."

"Yeah," I seconded. "You shouldn't be apologizing."

Hinata didn't seem very convinced, but she didn't try to insist.

Shikamaru entered, followed by his dad, whose hand was on his shoulder. His arm and leg were bandaged up now, after his fight. Shikaku— I was pretty sure I was remembering that one right— looked amused when Shikamaru faltered for a moment, looking at Hinata with a cautious look. Shikaku released Shikamaru, but not without a slight push.

"Hinata-chan?" Shikamaru started.

Hinata turned and looked up, frowning at the sound of Shikamaru's voice. That was new. "Yes, Shikamaru-kun?" Her response was almost frosty by anyone else's standards, but for her, it was impressively cold.

Shikamaru trained his eyes on the wall behind me instead of looking at Hinata. "I'm sorry I tried to frame throwing the match as a favor to you because you're a girl." He was visibly cringing. "If I didn't want to fight, I should have said as much before the match started, instead. You still earned your win, because your techniques can overpower mine."

Wow, how incredibly embarrassing. Everything about this screamed parental intervention. Poor Shikamaru. Dreaming about being Sasuke was a step up from what Shikamaru was being put through right now.

Hinata didn't say anything for a few seconds, just observing Shikamaru without any nervous habit occupying her hands or taking over her body language. Eventually, she spoke. "I accept your apology."

Shikamaru managed a muttered thanks and went off to sit by the rails, letting his legs hang over the side.

The moment Shikamaru had turned around and was sufficiently far away, Hinata had let out a small wordless noise and her shoulders immediately slumped down from all of the tension in them being let go of in one go. Much like Sakura, it seemed that Hinata hadn't thought she had had that in her, either.

"Thank you for accepting Shikamaru's apology, Hinata-chan," Shikaku told her.

She turned pink and mumbled something that I couldn't quite make out.

Shikaku, if nothing else, looked amused. He pushed his hands into his pockets and looked around at all of the kids. "You all should be proud of yourselves for getting this far," he said.

Kiba made an unimpressed noise. "We were told we only got to this point because they would have run preliminaries but canceled it." Akamaru let out a bark.

Shikaku snorted. "Being eliminated from the tournament this early or even from the second exam wouldn't necessarily prevent you from picking up chūnin."

Shino tilted his head upwards to look at Shikaku. "Nara-san, how often do genin get promoted? The attrition rates we've seen from the exam so far do not hold up to how many chūnin there are within the village, or even for the villages of the ones who arrived to take it."

A smirk played on Shikaku's lips. "You picked that up, did you?"

It was kind of hilarious to see how suddenly the attention of all of the genin in the room shifted to Shikaku and Shino. Even Shikamaru.

"Well, you all have already gotten this far, and it's not like you won't figure it out eventually," he began. "Do you want it ruined for you?"

"You can't just say that and not tell us!" Tenten pleaded.

"The chūnin exams aren't the only way to be promoted, even though we tell you it is. That goes for the other villages as well."

It was no longer 'kind of', but fully hilarious. The Ame team seemed to be the only ones entirely unsurprised by this. Chōjūrō also seemed aware, but Suigetsu was staring at Shikaku with his mouth agape.

"This horseshit was optional the whole time!?"

"No," Shikaku corrected, firmly. "You still need to be considered eligible and nominated for the exams at all to be promoted in the first place, at least in Konoha. The mission requirements for entering the exams are considered the absolute minimum floor of experience needed for a chūnin. Being entered in the exams is still important to every participating village, and it's vital to take it seriously."

"Still have to remind people you're around and useful if you want their money," I wryly commented. At least, I assumed that was the main logic.

"What? But that's dumb," Naruto said, wrinkling his nose. "Why would we need to do that?"

"Because it's easy to ignore us when they don't need us," Shino said. He tilted his head up to look directly at Shikaku, presumably seeking confirmation, though he looked like he wanted to say more. Shikaku gave him a small nod. "Fire isn't at war, and neither are any of the countries that border us. There haven't been any natural disasters either."

"That's right," Shikaku confirmed. "While Hidden Villages are able to provide ninja for missions to whoever is willing to hire us, there are still limits on how far that can go or even how much money that brings in, like your little mission to Wave." Shikaku's eyes met Naruto's and Sakura's, and then mine, clear amusement in his eyes. "We're much more dependent on the Daimyo's court and government than we cover when you're all in the academy."

Which made sense. It wasn't like we expected the average middle schooler to have a firm grasp on government or economics. It was just unfortunate that there were plenty of people who had never bothered to learn more than the basics covered in sixth-grade social studies.

Naruto squinted up at Shikaku, visibly trying to think. "So… we're risking our lives for… what?"

"Probably shit like electricity, plumbing, and roads," Suigetsu said. He was looking at Shikaku as well, visibly frowning. "Everything here is nice. There hasn't been a single power outage or water notice since we've been here. In Kiri, all of that's unreliable if you don't live in one of the important districts or buildings."

"Oh. What's a water notice for?" Naruto asked.

Chōjūrō spoke up. "It's what they send out when you shouldn't be drinking the water because it's unsafe for some reason. Like if the water pipes have broken and taken in sewage. Again."

Sakura eyed the Kiri-nin with concern in her eyes. "How often does that happen?"

"Enough," Chōjūrō said. "You're better off just buying water instead of using it from the pipes unless you want a side of sewer gunk."

The rippling reaction of disgust included even the Ame team.

"No wonder Kiri has so many missing-nin," the one Gaara had squished in the show said. "That would never happen in Ame. We wouldn't allow it." The tone of righteousness was impressive.

"Wonderful for you," Suigetsu muttered. "What the fuck doesn't Ame have?"

Shikaku coughed, probably trying to not laugh. "The money we receive from Fire's government does go to things like the village's infrastructure in return for us providing people to the capital in return and other things, you're right. In times of peace, like right now, it's easy for them to begin to forget. Even with the security concerns going on right now, it was decided that the consequences of canceling the tournament portion would be greater than continuing with it at this point."

I had to reluctantly agree that it made sense, in a sort of twisted way. Orochimaru fucking shit up would help prove the case that they deserved to be funded, and probably not just for Konoha. They were gambling on the ability to protect squishy civilians in the event it was going to be needed.

Sakura looked unenthused, even as she was putting all of this together. "Is it always going to be like this?"

"The further up the ranks you get, the more you're going to be impacted by and have to deal with this sort of thing in your time as an active shinobi," Shikaku said. "You're all already experiencing it to a much more personal degree than is usual for genin, but by the time any of you become tokujō or jōnin, you'll have seen more of it than just once. Unfortunately, you'll have to get used to it, especially as a jōnin. It's why leadership skills and showing that you can think your way out of situations that can't just be solved with jutsu is important, and why those things are required for becoming a chūnin."

The quiet that took over the whole space was one I was familiar with; it was that of a whole group of teenagers suddenly contemplating whether they really wanted to go on the career path they were seeking after all. Usually, it was a bit older, though, since the first time I had seen it was senior year of high school, with the SATs, ACTs, trying to cram in those final AP exams, and all the scholarship and school applications. And then of course the regular internal death of college finals.

Kiba spoke up first. "Do we have to?"

"It's statistically unlikely that you'll stay a genin, and even if you quit you'll still have to deal with this sort of thing anyway. It's a part of growing up."

"Oh," Kiba went. "Gross."

Suigetsu made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, which I could only guess had to do with Kiba's choice of words.

Most of the kids didn't look all that thrilled anymore at the idea of being promoted at the discovery that it would only make their lives more complicated.

"You all did ask," Shikaku said, sounding amused.

"I think I was fine not knowing," Sakura muttered. "Every time money comes up, I regret it."

Hinata made a small noise in agreement with that.

"It's been a few years since we've had so many rookies make it this far," Shikaku said with a shrug. "Most of the genin who get to this point usually have the chance to learn these things from experience."

"It's interesting to hear all of this outright from a jōnin," the shortest of the Ame-nin said.

"We normally don't have to explain it." Shikaku shrugged. "Under the circumstances…"

"It's still horseshit," Suigetsu grumbled.

Shikaku laughed, and for a moment, the tension I hadn't realized he was carrying disappeared before it piled right back on. Despite the casual affect he was putting on, the man was stressed. That was distressingly realistic. "I still have other things to take care of while the tournament is happening, and those of you with matches probably don't want to spend this time talking with me after hearing all of that," he said. "Good luck, and try to not get too carried away with thinking about anything I said too hard. Even if any of you do make chūnin, you won't get thrown into the deep end of things immediately."

There was enough obvious skepticism at that last bit for him to wave it off, and he left.

"Why does it seem like every time we learn something new, it sucks?" Naruto asked.

"Adulthood sucks," I summarized.

"Ugh," was all Sakura had.

There was a brief moment of contemplative silence before the idle chatter began to pick up again from trying to push the thoughts of all of that away.

Naruto couldn't keep still and kept flitting around, going between us and Haku's team, occasionally stopping to bug Shikamaru. Mostly, he kept commenting out loud on his hopes and expectations on dinner, which for Naruto just meant ramen.

Sakura drifted off to talk to Lee, who had gone out of his way to engage the Kiri-nin in conversation while he wrapped his arms in fresh bandages. Suigetsu seemed to have no idea what to make of him, and Chōjūrō only a bit more. Haku just looked extremely awkward, which wasn't that surprising. This was probably nearing the limits of socialization for him; I doubted he would have had many chances to interact with other people while traveling with Zabuza.

Tenten was trying to talk weapons with the Ame-nin, with mixed success.

Below, people had entered the arena grounds and were gathering the remaining scattered weapons left behind.

On the plus side, none of Team Eight was trying to engage me in conversation after Shikaku's questionable attempt at a career pep talk.

Eventually, Naruto's flitting around stopped, and he went to gawk through the archway that led to the stadium interior. "Hey! Hey! Shikamaru! Your mom's here! I think it's gotta be your mom; she makes the same grumpy face you do!"

It wasn't even the least tactful thing Naruto had said in any of these dreams, but the expression on her face when she entered was definitely Shikamaru-like.

I didn't remember her ever being in a chūnin uniform in the series, though. That was new, though I supposed it made sense that she could have been a ninja. She stared back at me, giving me a look in return, before walking over to where Shikamaru was sitting. Despite Naruto's words, he hadn't bothered to look over.

Naruto was trailing behind her, looking between both her and Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru," she started. "Look at me."

Eventually, Shikamaru looked up, sullen.

His mother put her hands on her hips, with an unamused expression on her face. "Let's go and talk." She turned to look at Naruto. "I can talk to my son alone, right?"

Naruto turned a bright red that clashed against his outfit. "Hahahaha, yeah, sure!" With that, he fled, going and sitting next to Haku, on the other side of him, using the teen as cover, to Haku's clear confusion.

Shikamaru's mother held a hand down to him, which Shikamaru eventually took to be pulled up into a standing position. He immediately shoved his hands into his pockets to look down at the concrete floor, but let himself get guided out of the stands by his mother.

The moment they were out of sight, Kiba sat up, letting Akamaru slide into his lap. He looked over at Hinata and Shino expectantly.

Shino shrugged.

"We shouldn't try to spy on them…" she said.

"C'moooon," Kiba started. "You know he's been all… like that since the second exam. Besides, he was an asshole to you enough for you to kick his ass."

Hinata resisted, but soon enough gave in.

The veins on Hinata's temples bulged as she activated the Byakugan. She frowned in consternation for a while and half-mouthed words to herself, before suddenly stopping. "Oh—" she cut herself off and deactivated them.

"What's wrong?" Kiba questioned.

"We shouldn't spy on them," she said, decisively.

"He was still an asshole," he responded.

Akamaru barked, and Kiba made a face at the dog, who yawned at him in return.

"Fine," Kiba said, with a whine to his voice. "It's not like it's probably anything interesting anyway."

Hinata glanced down to her lap instead of responding.

I rolled my eyes. "She's allowed to not want to be a jerk to people in return."

Kiba rolled his eyes back at me.

Shino made a noise that I couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be in agreement or disagreement.

Hinata gave me a smile. It wasn't even one of the meek ones. Cute.

Eventually, Shikamaru wandered back in, and came and sat down near us.

"Um. Hey," he started, self-consciously.

"Hi," Hinata went softly.

Kiba made a scoffing noise but otherwise didn't say anything.

The idle chatter slowly started up, carefully touching on everything except for the tournament. It paused when suddenly Naruto abruptly stood up from where he was still sitting with the Kiri-nin, and started to pace around near the archway. To my surprise, Shikamaru's mother showed up again, just barely visible from where I was sitting.

Naruto stepped out towards her.

"Try to not lose your wallet, Naruto-kun," she said, audible from even here.

"Uh yeah sure thank you for bringing Gama-chan back!" he babbled, and then he sped off, heading towards us, throwing himself to sit down next to me, toad wallet clutched in his hands. Hinata's eyes widened, since this meant that he was sitting directly behind her.

I could only give him a look.

"I promised to get Chōji stuff from the food stalls, remember," he said, in what was a surprisingly passable whisper from him. "I sent a clone off with my wallet, but uh…"

"You forgot how you'd get your wallet back," Shikamaru surmised.

"Yeah," Naruto admitted. "At least your mom's a real nice lady."

Shikamaru looked at him for a moment. "Yeah, I guess," he finally said. He stared at his feet. "Thanks. For getting Chōji food."

Naruto beamed. "Yeah! It's no problem! It sucks that he's not allowed to leave the hospital even though he was looking forward to the food stalls and stuff."

"That was very nice of you, Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke up.

"You're still stupid since you didn't drop your wallet off at your apartment," Kiba added.

Naruto stared at Kiba for a moment in shock and then laughed.

Soon enough, the stands I could see from where we were sitting began to fill up again, and it was time for the next match.

Wonderful.

Neji and the oversized Ame-nin left, apparently the first match for this round.

I had no interest in watching this if I was being honest with myself. Neji was obnoxious and smug, and so was whatever his name was.

Even despite that lack of interest, I still found myself heading to the railing this time, partially because Naruto and Sakura had gone over to it. We were joined soon enough by Team Eight, and I tried to not look too amused at the fact that Kiba and Shino had not-so-subtly shuffled around so that Hinata had ended up standing next to a still-obvious Naruto. Sakura gave me what was supposed to be a significant look, and I shrugged.

Naruto didn't notice.

Below, Neji almost immediately went for it, but his opponent was already wise to him, pulling out one of his umbrellas to use that to stave Neji off and attack. He wasn't bothering to try actual hand-to-hand combat against him. Probably just as well, given what Neji was supposed to be capable of.

This was worse than watching boxing matches at my tío's for family gatherings. At least those had time limits, breaks between rounds, and it was possible to sneak off to the yard or kitchen.

Neither showed much sign of giving an opening or creating one by force.

The Ame-nin created a surge of water that sent Neji jumping backwards in an attempt to keep his balance, following it up by throwing senbon at him. There were enough that even from up here it was visible.

"A lucky strike," Shino commented. "It looks like he hit a nerve; he's stopped using one of his arms." We didn't even have a good view of Neji, and Shino had pointed it out before the two fighters below had rotated slightly, showing that he was right. Neji's unbandaged arm was hanging loosely, instead of up and ready to use for striking and blocking.

Kiba snorted. "Looks like Hinata's cousin got a taste of his own medicine." He glanced at Sakura. "He got an unfair hit in on you when your teams were training a while back, didn't he?"

"Yeah," Sakura said with a slight frown, visibly remembering it. "We weren't supposed to be going for any kind of attacks like that."

"Sasuke nearly fried him for that," Naruto added.

"When his sensei dropped Neji-nii-san off at the compound, his hair was cut," Hinata said, voice soft. "Some of our clan members have mistaken him for me from behind a few times."

Oh, I doubt he would have liked that.

I was unsurprised that Neji was pressing harder after that, and even from up this far, I was able to watch with some disgust as the bandages on his good arm turned red with an edging of pink as he bled into it.

"Neji won't be able to keep it up much longer if the match doesn't end soon," Tenten spoke up. Looking over, she was clenching the railing hard enough that her knuckles had gone white. Lee was next to her, his attention rapt.

Another wave of water appeared, matched with senbon, but Neji whirled in place, spinning so quickly that it was hard to make him out. Both the water and senbon got blown away.

On the other side of Naruto, I was just vaguely aware of Hinata looking away.

Neji stopped, but not enough to not take the force of momentum with him as he ran towards the Ame-nin, skidding hard enough his feet were digging into the ground. He struck at the older teen's legs with a sharp snap of his good arm, and the Ame-nin went down.

"Winner, Hyūga Neji of Konohagakure!"

"Damn," Kiba went.

"It's for the best that he won," Hinata said. She didn't look all that happy, though.

"Because of the technique he used, right?" Sakura asked.

Hinata nodded.

Wonderful. It was time to get my ass kicked by Lee. I glanced towards him.

Lee threw a thumbs up at me and a wide grin.

I didn't appreciate it.

Naruto gave me a tooth-clenched smile and leaned towards me. "Please don't end up in the hospital; it'll probably make Kakashi-sensei mad." I wondered how I should feel about the fact that Naruto was getting better at whispering.

Sakura choked back a laugh. "I think that's on Lee," she managed to say.

I trailed behind Lee to head to the arena grounds.

The fact that I felt pain in these dreams was the worst part of all of them. And so was being Sasuke. And the fact that Kakashi was concerned about 'me' like he had a leg to stand on when it came to mental health. And the cursed—

I exhaled and did my best to shut off that line of thought.

I had enough self-discipline to be able to focus on the current immediate important but not serious problem. It was just a dream. If nothing else, I needed to at least make it through to spring break before I allowed myself to have a complete mental breakdown.

I just needed to keep myself together for three more days.

The problem was that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep myself together for three more days. Not without another trip to the liquor store, at least.

Lee was at least quiet on the way down, focused on the match ahead. I just wished he wasn't in such an obviously good mood about it.

I'm not going to forfeit. I refuse.

I was absolutely going to lose and had no interest in trying to stretch out the suffering, but it didn't mean I was going to just give in before that. I still had my pride. It was under several layers of embarrassment and suffering right now, but I hadn't let go of it yet.

The proctor— Raidō, I wasn't going to forget his name this time— raised an eyebrow at me with an expression I could easily interpret. One that was 'Don't make his job harder than it has to be with already having to deal with a bunch of teenagers.'

I let the rest just fall into place:

Stand several feet away from Lee.

Ignore the overeager expression on Lee's face.

It was time to suffer.

Raidō called the match.

I found out almost immediately that while it hadn't been seriously hurting anymore, my side where Chōjūrō had hit me with his dumb sword was still sensitive and did not like the amount of physical movement needed to not get further pummeled.

I internally cringed when one of the jabs I threw out at Lee was blocked, and after we had pulled apart, there was a fist-sized imprint of blood seeping around the area I had just hit.

Disgusting.

I was reluctant to hit him far more after that, if he was just going to continue oozing blood like that.

I only had enough time to have half of a second thought of regretting all of this when Lee sped towards me, fist aimed for my head.

I chucked my phone at my closet when it woke me up, alarm blaring. It neatly spun and landed in the middle shelf of the closet organizer I kept my sweaters in. At least I had woken up in bed.

I had just enough time to groan in realization at the fact I hadn't swiped the alarm off before it aggressively beeped at me again. Against my will, I rolled out of bed. My head hurt. My neck was still sore. At least my shoulder and knee were mostly behaving, but I wasn't convinced this was a fair trade.

I started the coffee maker with only my usual obscene amount of grounds put in before I lumbered into the bathroom. While I had gotten sleep, I still looked like shit, between the circles under my eyes and the general exhaustion that I hadn't fully dislodged itself yet. Horribly, I was pretty sure that was a stress pimple forming just above my left eyebrow. It was almost more insulting than the impossible mark that was still at the base of my neck, hard to see without manhandling myself or using a second mirror.

I turned on my straightener and unbraided my hair with one hand while I checked my phone.

My best friend had, in true obnoxious form, managed to spam my phone with over fifty messages from about five AM my time on. Scrolling through it, most of it was just GIFs and emoji spam. Even with being two hours ahead that was still fucking awful of Xoichitl, but it wasn't like she had ever respected my need for sleep before. The vast majority of it was Disney spam, followed by a final message of 'in town Friday for weekend. Drinks???'

I smashed an angry face followed by the heart emote back at her, followed by a 'yes'. The last time I had seen her was over Christmas; normally she was out in Boston. I probably didn't need more alcohol in my system than I was already planning, but I could at least have a bitch fest with her. Cling to normality.

I washed my face, brushed out my hair, straightened it, and put on makeup before I left the bathroom to change, looking slightly more alive, even though I wasn't sure I wanted to face reality. Even though the weather was already supposed to be in the low seventies this week, I pulled out a turtleneck. I was going to have to go get tattoo concealer or something. I couldn't have my mother's side of the family going into hysterics over me somehow having a neck tattoo. I would never escape the gossip.

By the time I had enough caffeine running through me to give the average naive freshman the shakes, I felt secure enough to try and satisfy my curiosity.

Pulling up a private browser tab, I looked up the Ame-nin from the night's dream, the big one.

Shigure. Of course he'd have a name and birthday on the wiki. Why the fuck wouldn't he?

I closed the screen.

Chapter 14: Lost in the Thick of It

Chapter Text

My head was killing me, and the sounds of shouting weren't helping. The smell of smoke was in the air like something was on fire.

Shouting?

I cracked my eyes open, reluctant to do so.

The view swam, dizzy. Concrete floors and walls just blended together. Ceiling? I was standing. When did that happen?

I reached out an arm to try and brace myself.

It didn't work so well and I stumbled. Staggered. I felt drunk. When did that happen? Did that happen?

"Hey!" Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me up, steadying me. That was too much movement, too fast.

I thanked them by retching onto their feet.

I was pulled up again back into standing, much more gently and slowly this time.

I looked up at what was visible of Kakashi's face. His hitai-ate was up, both eyes looking at me. The red and black of his Sharingan bore down on me.

"Sasuke. Listen very carefully to me," he said, voice slow and even.

I stared. "Uhuh." I tried to spit the remnants of bile out of my mouth.

"You have a head injury," he said.

"Oh." Something about all of this seemed off. I turned to try and look around.

People were still shouting in the distance.

We were outside, not inside at all.

That was probably it.

"Orochimaru's invading," I said out loud. It was slurred, but that sounded about right. That was what was supposed to be happening, right?

"Yes, which is why you should have stayed in the arena infirmary." He grabbed my hand, and yanked a kunai from it. I didn't know I had that. Why did I have that on me? Kakashi gave me a look, and without asking— which was rude— he hoisted me onto his back, so my chin rested on one of his shoulders. "Hold on," he instructed, voice curt.

He didn't seem very happy about this for some reason.

I hung on.

Kakashi went fast.

It hadn't ever occurred to me how fast Kakashi could go.

The hospital came into sight, and Kakashi slowed down. It didn't last. A window on one of the higher floors shattered from the inside. Bodies careened out, dropping to the ground. I could hear faint shouting from the broken window. There were still figures going up the side of the building.

Kakashi's muscles tensed, and before I could ask, he spoke. "I am taking you in there with me. Whatever is going on, you will stand by unless I give you an order. The only thing you are to do is defend yourself if it's necessary. Do you understand?"

Defend myself? My stomach churned. "Yes."

Outside seemed safer than the hospital, but I wasn't sure I wanted to argue with him.

He ran up the wall, forcing me to hang on tightly more than I already was, and jumped in through the broken window with a smooth motion that cleared the leftover glass.

My stomach didn't like that. My head didn't like that. Everything was spinning and whirling more than it was earlier. I dropped to my feet and slid into a sitting position as I tried to keep what remained of lunch down.

Lunch?

There were two thuds— three, four— by the time I looked up. There were bodies on the ground. A musical note was on each of their hitai-ate. Why did that strike me as weird, again?

Kakashi pressed a kunai into my hand and pulled me back into standing. He had just taken it away earlier, why did he give me one now?

I strained until everything stopped spinning as much. This was one of few parts of the corridor on the floor Ino and Chōji were on where there were windows. Why were there Sound-nin here?

One of the nurses was leaning against the opposite wall, chest heaving. A gurney was overturned next to her, bits of glass embedded in its padded mattress and the metal frame scratched up and slightly bent and dented in places.

"You broke the window open with that?" Kakashi asked.

She nodded. "The stairs are all barricaded and elevators are locked down but they're trying to come in from the outside. I got the first bunch but not all of them. I don't know where the chūnin who are supposed to be on guard duty are..."

He flipped a kunai to her. She yanked it out of the air with a firm grip around its hilt. "Keep the window clear." He moved down the corridor, kunai in both hands.

I trailed after him. He didn't say to stay behind.

As I followed, I realized the hairs on the back of my neck and arms were prickled and that it wasn't just dizziness making my stomach lurch. Kakashi was leaking killing intent. Thankfully not at me.

There was a sudden movement, faster than I could process before there were another couple of thuds at the doors of one of the rooms just ahead of us. Ino's room.

"They must have infiltrated the hospital at some point..." Kakashi murmured, just loud enough for me to hear. He sped ahead faster, forcing each door open as he went until he found one that wouldn't give. He left it, investigating the other doors down the corridor before returning to it.

"I'm a jōnin of Konoha," he announced. "Hatake Kakashi."

"Say something only he would know," a woman's voice said, muffled through the door.

"Gai and his team used me to distract your husband to try and cut his hair because of a challenge from Chōza-san when we were children," Kakashi said, a tinge of longsuffering entering his voice.

The door opened.

Ino's mom had a sword on her. That was new.

Inside the room, the window was barricaded, bed upturned and pushed against it, and besides Ino and Chōji, there was a nurse, along with other patients that must have been on the floor. Unlike last time, Ino was in her own clothes now, a t-shirt and skirt.

Kakashi turned, twisting out of the way just in time to avoid the kunai that sailed through the air where he had been just moments ago, shoving me into the room with the same motion. "Stay there!"

The nurse inside had the same face as the one Kakashi had spoken to moments ago.

Oh. That probably wasn't good.

Kakashi was forced back slightly, and it was just enough to get a glance of his opponent in the hallway. Dark lenses concealed his eyes, and an Otokagure hitai-ate was tied around his forehead. His clothes were the same as Kabuto's.

Chōji's eyes widened. "Watch out! That's the guy who can absorb chakra!" he shouted.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed from where we could see him in the corridor. That also probably wasn't good. I wasn't sure for who. He disappeared from view of where I was standing.

I got pushed back away from the door with the long hilt of Ino's mom's sword. "You heard him, stay in the room."

I wobbled from the movement. It was enough to make my stomach threaten to come up again.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" Chōji shifted his attention from the door to me, brow furrowed with worry.

"Kakashi says I've got a head injury," I muttered, trying to not throw up. "Probably from getting punched in the head by Lee." I swallowed. "Don't think I like this. It's like a bad dream." Bad dream?

"Kā-san, can't you do something to help Kakashi-sensei?" Ino spoke up.

"Not without giving up my position," her mother said, voice steady. "You shouldn't be doing anything unless it's absolutely necessary, and neither should Chōji-kun or Sasuke-kun. If I move, everyone else in here would be defenseless. It'd be a bad idea for both of us to fight in the same space because of my nagamaki. He's a jōnin, we have to trust that he'll succeed."

Ino frowned.

The clash of fighting grew closer, and Kakashi and his opponent pushed into sight just enough for me to see the younger man's fingers come together for hand seals— only for Kakashi to forcibly ram into him with his shoulder to cut off whatever technique he was trying to use before he was able to mold the chakra.

His opponent did his best to grapple onto Kakashi only to get swiftly kicked away. Kakashi heaved a breath, taking the opportunity to pull out kunai from his holster.

Kakashi wasn't a close-distance fighter, was he? Most of the ninjutsu he had shown were big and flashy, or at least not the sort that would go well with being used in a corridor, even one as large as the kind they had in hospitals. Especially not if he was trying to avoid causing any damage to anyone or anything else.

Even with the danger posed, Ino's mother didn't move to try and close the door, staying in place with her sword.

"Ino!" Chōji spoke up, and I turned to look. It made everything spin for a bit. She had her hands together for her mind swapping technique but was already beginning to slump over, eyes closed. "Suzuka-ba, I think she used the Mind Body Switch Technique!"

I grabbed her to pull her up, but she was already starting to blink awake as I did.

"Did you miss?" Chōji asked.

She straightened up, eyes focusing. "Huh? Oh, right. Yeah."

"Ino!" Her mother's voice was sharp. "You haven't been cleared for duty! You're still recovering!"

"Kā-san, let me try!"

She stepped away, hands prepared again for the seal.

Kakashi's opponent forced himself forward, clashing against him, trying to get a grip.

Ino tilted forward again, and I grabbed her again, letting her chin rest on my shoulder.

Just outside the door, Kakashi's opponent suddenly stopped moving, holding his hands up. "I've got control of his body!" Oh. Ino.

Kakashi stopped himself just barely in time, stepping back. He looked in at the nurse who was still against the furthest wall. "Where's the closest supply closet?"

The nurse pointed.

He quickly disappeared, just as quickly returning with bandage rolls that were probably supposed to be used for… I had no idea what he was doing. "Ino-chan, sit down with his ankles close together and push his wrists together so his palms are facing out. We're going to restrain him before we do anything else." He tossed a roll to Ino's mom, who grabbed it with one hand and sheathed the sword she had held with the other.

Ino nodded, and sat down. The position Kakashi told her to get into was awkward looking; the man's hands ended up right under his chin in order to have the backs of his wrists against each other, fingers splayed.

"You are in so much trouble once you're released from the hospital," her mother told her. She was helping Kakashi by tying the possessed man's ankles together to prevent him from moving easily. Her expression was severe. "You know your father told you you shouldn't use any clan techniques until he's sure your mind's reconstituted itself and won't continue to peel apart."

"Kā-san, I couldn't just stand there and not do anything!" The whiny intonation of a preteen girl coming out in a grown man's voice was strange.

"You're still getting grounded if we're lucky." She gave a strong yank and tied it off. "I'm done here. Ready?"

"Ino, release the jutsu," Kakashi ordered. His eyes were narrowed on the traitor.

"Look away, kids," Ino's mother said. She moved a bit to block the doorway, without moving too far from her position in front of the man's knees.

Chōji cringed and looked away, blocking his ears with his hands.

I didn't.

I regretted it when I heard the undeniable sound of multiple bones breaking from being crushed, paired with anguished screaming.

Ino stood up under her own power, looking as out of it as I felt.

Chōji looked at me with a sympathetic expression when he looked back over. "You looked," he said.

"I looked."

"Suzuka-ba used to specialize in retrieval in the field before she went into Interrogation," he explained, making a face.

Outside, the two adults quietly spoke to each other for a moment, ignoring the sounds coming from the man on the ground. It ended with Ino's mother grabbing him by the leg of his trousers and pulling him out of sight. That probably wasn't going to go well for him.

Kakashi entered the hospital room. The beginning edge of exhaustion was beginning to show in his shoulders and how he held himself, but he still looked more alert than he usually bothered with. "He's going to have a hard time escaping with broken hands and feet, but he's not the only danger here." He looked between Chōji and Ino. "The hospital is likely a target because of Ino-chan," he said, flatly.

Ino's eyes widened as she looked up at Kakashi. "Because of me? But— I'm—"

"You made yourself a person of interest with your actions during the second exam," Kakashi told her. " You might not remember, but they do. That was Akadō Yoroi, one of Yakushi Kabuto's teammates. All three of them are traitors who were working with Orochimaru, and he was on this floor when we arrived. They're focusing on this floor. There were no other signs of forced entry. They know where you are and they're trying to get to you for whatever reason."

Ino opened her mouth and then closed it, swallowing.

"What are we supposed to do?" Chōji asked.

"Their attack is spread too thin for them to focus too much attention on the hospital without gathering a larger defense force here," Kakashi explained. "There should have been teams on site already." His attention focused on the nurse. "He was disguised as you, and you're the only medical staff I've seen on this floor. Where are the others?"

"I wasn't supposed to be working today but I got called in to help with Tomoharu-san since he came in for an unscheduled checkup," she said, paling. "I was in the middle of changing his bandages when everyone got called to one of the other floors for a code. Then the attack happened and they sealed the building."

"Even the hospital, then…" Kakashi muttered. He looked at me, and then Ino. "Neither of you can stay here."

"But you beat that guy, didn't you?" Chōji looked worried.

"If they knew what her schedule was supposed to be and were able to get as many medical personnel off this floor as possible, the hospital is at least partially compromised. In times of high alert, there are supposed to be teams guarding the hospital because it's important in emergencies. The fact that there's been no response to this incursion so far is a bad sign."

I guessed that made sense.

Ino's mouth twisted before she turned to look at the upturned hospital room. "But—"

Ino's mother came back to the doorway. Were her hands wrapped before this? I couldn't remember. "No. You're leaving with him."

"Kā-san, you aren't—"

"I'm staying here," she said, expression firm. "I might be a bit rusty these days, but there needs to be someone here just in case."

"Why can't Kakashi-sensei do it?!" Ino's voice had an edge of worry and desperation to it.

"This isn't up for debate," Kakashi told her. He turned his attention towards Ino's mother. "Is there anything I need to keep in mind about her current limitations?"

"She's still having the occasional episode, but usually only when she's waking up, which is why she's still here in the hospital. She can use chakra but she shouldn't be using any of the clan's techniques."

Kakashi nodded. "Sasuke, give her your holster. Once that's done, we're leaving."

I stared at my hands and then at the holster. Did I know how to take it off? I had to, didn't I? I've known how to for— for— For some reason, I couldn't remember.

Kakashi stared at me, inhaled, and walked over, to get down on one knee and unstrap it himself, leaving the wrappings under it alone, uncinching and loosening the fastenings. He then tossed it over to Ino, who sulkily strapped it on.

Ino bit her lip, looking between her mom and Chōji. "Stay safe?"

"I'll take care of everything here, Ino, don't worry," her mother assured her.

I didn't think Ino was very consoled. She didn't look like it.

"Has Asuma taught your team tree climbing yet?" Kakashi asked.

Ino nodded.

"Good. Follow me. Sasuke, stay in the middle."

We left the hospital room, Kakashi leading us back down the corridor in the direction we came from, back to the window that had been broken in.

Again without asking, he picked me up to carry on his back and swung out of the window to land feet first against the wall before he started heading upwards for the hospital roof. The air outside was acrid, smokey.

That was where— that was where— my head started to hurt even more than it already was and I gritted my teeth, but I couldn't keep from letting a sound out. That was where what?

"We're almost to the top," Kakashi said. "I'll try to make sure we avoid more of this where we can later."

"If Sasuke's hurt, why isn't he staying behind? Why are we going to the top of the hospital?"

"He's as much a target as you are. We're heading to the roof because I need a better idea of what our current situation is like before we head anywhere else."

When Kakashi finally reached the top and swung over the side, he froze, which allowed me to slide down to stand.

I wobbled on my feet.

Ino moved to steady me before her breath caught.

I looked in the direction they were staring in.

The sky was filled with rising plumes of smoke and dust from fires and the fighting going on.

There were also two giant creatures within the village walls.

Giant snake. Giant… tanuki?

The snake was in the direction of the Hokage monument. Too close to the academy and administration building.

The tanuki, though...

Ino let out a hysteric giggle that she cut off with her hands. "Isn't that near where Naruto lives?" she finally managed to say. Her voice was filled with horror and disbelief.

"It is," Kakashi answered.

"I hope Naruto's plants will be okay," I said.

Both Ino and Kakashi looked at me before Ino looked at Kakashi with a worried look.

"He'll be fine," Kakashi said.

"Okay. That's good." I said.

Ino didn't look like she believed him. She must have heard from Sakura that Kakashi was unreliable.

"Gate was attacked," Kakashi murmured. "But they aren't going after as many high-importance buildings as they would be if they had the manpower. This should be beaten off soon enough."

A third massive creature appeared, a toad, near the snake. That was— It was— Why was that wrong? But that wasn't. "What?" The snake launched itself at Gamabunta almost immediately, only being struck away at the very last moment with the toad's sword.

Dust rose up into the air as a building was crushed beneath them.

"Gamabunta," Kakashi said, voice relieved.

"Kakashi-sensei, is this- is that actually a good thing?" Ino asked. "If they're both fighting within the village walls, that's going to destroy even more buildings..."

"Manda eats people," Kakashi told us. "Those are more important than buildings."

"Oh. Right," she said, voice weak.

Kakashi twisted just barely, kunai in his hands again.

A man in Konoha's uniform— hitai-ate, flak jacket, and all— jumped onto the roof, coming from the wall below, followed by another three people.

"We saw the broken glass, where's the team that was supposed to be here?" the man asked. He looked tired until I realized it was because he was wearing what looked like heavy eyeliner. Black and green.

"Compromised," Kakashi answered. "They weren't here. We found at least one Sound-nin inside. There might be more."

The other man frowned. "Because of Ino-chan, you're thinking?"

Kakashi nodded.

"You have somewhere in mind to stow her and the Uchiha kid?" he asked. How many people knew?

"Still trying to decide," Kakashi told him. His eyes flicked over at the giant-sized creatures that were currently destroying parts of the village.

"I won't ask, but if you need somewhere that's away from the fighting, I think the Nara compound's been left alone." The man turned to the other ninja with him for a moment. "Go in through the broken window, we'll start a sweep. Good luck," he said to Kakashi, before moving to follow the others.

"Wait!" Ino said. Worry had crept into her face again.

"What is it?"

"Ensui-san, can you make sure my mom stays safe?" she asked. "If anything happens— I—"

"I'll do my best," he said. "Don't let yourself get distracted by worrying about her."

Ino nodded lightly.

Ensui went off the side of the roof.

I was staring at the water tanks, trying to figure out why, when Kakashi set a hand on my shoulder.

"Sasuke, did you hear me?" he said. "We're leaving."

I had not heard him.

I looked at him warily. "Are you going to carry me around again?"

"Yes. You've been wobbling in place for the last several minutes."

"Oh." That explained why everything felt unsteady.

I reluctantly allowed myself to get hefted onto his back this time, not that I had the choice.

"Try to not throw up again," Kakashi advised.

We moved, and I felt my stomach churn as we descended. The occasional bobbing in and out of view from the side of Ino's blonde hair didn't help.

Trees.

Building.

Roof.

Building.

Above-ground walkway giving way to roof giving way to open-air back to rooftop sudden turn away from rubble through a tree a log falling shouting smoke tree ninja leaves fresh air—

No more movement.

We stopped, and I was let go, dropping to my feet and stumbling off to throw up on a neglected-looking and overgrown bush that was next to an ugly-looking rusty metal shed. It might have been painted once, but now it was just rusted over.

Kakashi unlocked its door and steered me inside. It was cramped, with barely enough space for the three of us within. There were piles of rusted gardening tools, more rust than metal at this point, the bulky shape of a push reel mower covered by a tarp. The light didn't reach inside all that well, and it wasn't helped when he closed the door behind us once we were inside. The only light coming in was from the cracks.

It wasn't bigger on the inside— why would I think that?— but Kakashi shoved the mower and tarp out to one side, revealing a hatch set in the concrete floor. He lifted it. There was a ladder heading down into the darkness.

"Ino, go down first," he said. "There should be a battery-powered lantern on a shelf next to the ladder. Turn it on."

She swallowed, and headed down, disappearing from sight.

"Kakashi, you smell," I mumbled.

"You threw up on my feet earlier."

I had forgotten. "Oh. Like the bush?"

"Like the bush, yes."

A light flickered on down below.

"I got it!" Ino cried upwards.

Kakashi made eye contact with me. "Sasuke, listen to me."

"Okay?"

"When you're going down the ladder, do so carefully. If you're moving a foot down, don't let go. If you're moving your hands, keep your feet on the rungs. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

There were suddenly two of him, and he took up more space than Ino did. It also made the unpleasant smell stronger. One of them went down the ladder.

The Kakashi that was still in the shed with me gently pushed me towards the ladder. "Now you, Sasuke. Try to not look down."

I got on the ladder.

I immediately looked down.

Clinging to the ladder, everything spun and whirled around me, worse than it already was when I was standing on the ground.

I regretted it.

"Don't throw up," Kakashi called. "Close your eyes and move slowly."

I swallowed but refused to close my eyes. I managed to make it down, and the moment I was on solid floor, I dropped down to sit on it. I started to lean against the wall behind me, but something tickled at the base of my neck enough that I immediately twisted towards it, sending everything spinning even more.

Cobwebs.

Above, the hatch dropped back down with a heavy thud, hiding the ladder again.

I forced myself to look up and around.

Wherever this was, it was dusty and cobwebs covered the walls and strung out to the few pieces of furniture inside like it had been forgotten for years.

"Where are we?" Ino was holding the lantern up, looking over everything in the space.

"It's an old safe house." Kakashi went to a cupboard that was across the room, opening its doors. Old ration packets and filled glass bottles of water lined its insides. He pulled out a few bottles, opening one and pouring it over his feet, which rinsed off the remaining bits of mess before opening another one. With a flurry of one-handed seals, the water in the newly opened bottle flowed into the one he just emptied. When it was done, he walked over, pressing the refilled one into my hands, before going over and repeating the process with the one he had just emptied. "The emergency food rations and soldier pills should still be good, but don't touch the old water. It needs to be purified to be safe."

Ino stepped back, suddenly. "Whose safehouse?" She looked over at us from where she was standing. A length of fabric, coated in gray from dust, was hanging from a hook. Bits of red and white and the character for 'four' stood out from where Ino must have touched it.

Four.

"That doesn't matter right now," Kakashi said, voice short. "The two of you need to stay here until I come to get you. If it's not me, I'll send Raidō."

"What if anything happens?" Ino asked.

"They might have interest in the two of you, but they're already being pushed out. There's a futon in the corner. It's probably full of dust, but try to not disturb it too much if Sasuke needs to lie down. He's allowed to sleep."

Before Ino could say anything else, Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke. A clone.

Ino let out a wordless sound, before dropping down onto the ground. She cut off a sob, before rubbing at her eyes with her hands.

I looked at her cautiously. After a while, I finally spoke up. "Ino?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

She looked at me and set her shoulders, tossing her hair back. There was still wetness rimming her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"My head hurts, everything keeps spinning, and it hurts to think." I blinked, trying to focus on her. "I don't think Kakashi likes me, and I threw up on him."

Ino let out a shaky laugh, and stood up, pushing off from the ground with her hands. She looked at them and made a face, before rubbing the grime off onto her skirt. "I think this used to be the Yondaime's... It must have been left alone."

"He used to be Kakashi's jōnin-sensei," I mumbled. "I guess that's why he knows where this was." I heaved myself to my feet, after pushing the water bottle to one side. My palms were coated with dust after, and the spot of floor I had been sitting on was partially cleared, revealing wood flooring under it all. I laughed to myself and traced my hand against the wall, which only let more build up on my fingers. I was as much dust as I was Sasuke.

My fingers found a light switch in the dimness, and I toggled it. Nothing. I pushed it back.

Lights in the ceiling momentarily flickered but gave up. Just as well. It hurt my eyes.

When I looked back at Ino, she was staring at something just out of sight on the other side of the cupboard. I wobbled over.

There was an array of three-pronged kunai hanging from that side, a few hooks there empty. There were characters written on the wooden handles. The ink had faded and seeped further into the wood. I peered at the writing on the handles. It was sloppy to the point of being indecipherable, and it wasn't helped by the ink having gone blurry.

The Yondaime must have had horrendous handwriting. It was as awful as Naruto's.

"A cloak, kunai…" Ino said, looking around the space. "All of this was just forgotten." Her voice had a tinge of amazement to it.

I fought back a yawn.

It caught Ino's attention. "You should lie down," she said, sounding worried again.

I couldn't come up with any reason to refuse.

I went and laid down on the futon after getting as much dust off it as I could without sending it into the air.

I woke up to my phone buzzing in my face, and I flailed at it to answer while I tried to wake up from whatever the hell that last dream was. It was already fading away.

"Coco!" Xochitl. She knew I hated that nickname, but couldn't resist using it every once in a while.

"Wmgh?" I swallowed. English wasn't working. I tried Spanish instead. "Mande?"

"Almost noon and still asleep? Look how lazy you've gotten, going back to college. Someone could break into your apartment while you're sleeping like the dead."

It took a second for me to process. I had a key. My mother had a key. Xochitl had a key.

I sprang from lying in bed to out of it, narrowly missing falling on my face when my knee protested the sudden weight and scrambled out of my bedroom for the living room.

Xochitl was sitting on my coffee table, a smug expression on her face. Her hair had changed again, an obnoxious orange bob with a blue side shave. Very new.

"You bitch!" I couldn't help but screech before it turned into a laugh. "Get off of there before you break it with your ass!"

She laughed at me, before getting up and pulling me into a hug. "Someone has to have one, considering you didn't get any!" She smacked my butt when she stepped back, hard enough that I yelped. "Also what the hell is wrong with you, aren't you hot sleeping in all that?"

"No," I said, unable to keep the sulkiness out of my voice.

She laughed again, before shoving a Starbucks cup into my hands. "Wake up and get showered, and then we'll go day drinking. My cousin's working, he can add extra shots."

I made a face. "Who, Tito? He works at an Applebee's.You seriously want to go drinking at an Applebee's?"

"Triple shots in the drinks," Xochitl pointed out, singsong. "Besides, it'll be cheaper."

"Fine, fine." The coffee was already cool enough to drink; she must have timed it. Xochitl was to blame for my descent into coffee-drinking to begin with, between keeping me up until four AM on school days and the donut shop that was on the street across from our old high school. "As long as you pay. I'll tell you about these stupid and awful dreams I've been having…"

Chapter 15: The Story Thus Far

Chapter Text

Chapter One:

Our MC comes to awareness as Sasuke entering the Uchiha compound the evening of the massacre, sure it's a nightmare.

When they enter the room where Itachi killed his and Sasuke's parents, the MC tells Itachi that this is just a story and that he had been used by Obito and Danzō.

Itachi's attempt to utilize Tsukuyomi on the MC does not work right; the MC throws up instead. Itachi ends up asking the MC what he should do, leaving after being told to keep himself healthy, not die, and attempt to prevent Orochimaru's eventual attempt to kill the Sandaime.

When the MC wakes up, we learn that they are a graduate student who is a TA for a freshman-level English literature course.

Chapter Two:

The MC comes to as Sasuke on the day of team assignments in the academy.

They avoid the kiss with Naruto, instead bashing their heads together, experiencing pain inside the dream for the first time. Naruto ends up causing further commotion when he grapples onto Sasuke's head to compare skulls. The MC retreats, ending up sitting by Shino to avoid the fangirls. They share a moment.

Iruka's entrance and then team announcements get thrown off by Naruto's complaints about being on a team with Sasuke, but the MC prevents Naruto from embarrassing himself in front of the whole class before they've dismissed for lunch.

The MC winds up retreating to Sasuke's lunch spot, where they stay until Naruto tries the same tactic as in canon. Naruto ends up going out the window and the MC barely manages to keep him from falling, pulling him back in.

The MC gives up on lunch and returns to the classroom, where Hinata asks if Sasuke knows where Naruto is. Kiba teases her, but the MC rebuffs this and offers to help Hinata find Naruto. The MC and Naruto run into each other again, and Sakura comes across them. Passing on the favor to Sakura, Hinata invites Sakura to walk back to the classroom with them.

After Naruto has an outburst due to waiting so long, Iruka leaves to figure out where their jōnin instructor is, leaving Team Seven alone for the first time. The MC prevents Naruto from pranking Kakashi. Instead, Naruto gives them a poor explanation of how he ended up graduating, ending with him showing off the Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu and filling the room to bursting with his clones. Kakashi enters to this, leaving without pinning an initial judgment on the children. On the rooftop, the MC derails the introductions.

The MC wakes up late with their alarm ringing through the end of Kakashi's talk; in their world it's revealed they use a cane.

Chapter Three:

The MC comes to before the bell test. While they wait, the MC proposes using Kakashi's lateness to swing thing to their favor for the test. Naruto suggests using traps, and the MC realizes that Naruto understands strategy, if in a very Naruto sort of way.

Naruto takes the lead in setting traps in the trees of the training field, and they finish not long before Kakashi shows up. Between conversation and setting things up, Naruto develops a better liking of 'Sasuke'.

Kakashi gives his explanation of the bell test, all while pressing their buttons, toying with them until the rotten tofu Naruto brought along gets pierced; the liquid gets Kakashi in the mask, temporarily overwhelming him. The MC takes advantage of this to steal the bells. This poor choice results in Kakashi dialing it up before stopping them and putting them through a different test; Kakashi's figured out they're cheating.

Having thrown them off and now able to see more sincere behavior, Kakashi decides to pass them— and then sends them off to take down all of their traps before this training ground is used by others with the threat of fines hanging over all of their heads.

When the MC wakes up, more of their life is revealed: their schedule, coffee tastes, and a phone call with their mother shows they know Spanish.

Chapter Four:

The next dream starts during the Tora mission. They notice that knowledge is beginning to actively seep into their thoughts; this combined with the fact that their 'dream' Konoha is more fleshed-out and larger seeming than from the series makes them uneasy.

When they return to the mission desk, the MC asks why Iruka is working there; it's because Iruka still needs to refresh his skills before going back and teaching a new class. They get the Wave mission with Tazuna as expected, and split up to pack.

In Sasuke's apartment, the MC screams out their frustration and discomfort with the dream before packing. On the way to Sakura's, they cross paths with Naruto, who happily joins them for the rest of the walk; Naruto is on better terms with this Sasuke.

At Sakura's the initial caution from Sakura's mother peels away Naruto's usually confident facade. While checking each other's gear, the medical kit the MC included causes some consternation from Naruto, and they get rushed to leave before Sakura can experience more embarrassment from her mother in front of her teammates.

After leaving the village, Sakura ends up prompting a lesson on economics and how that mixes with the hidden villages from Kakashi, which lapses just before the Demon Brothers attack.

Unlike in canon, Naruto reacts, but still gets poisoned. Kakashi confronts Tazuna, and also attempts on-the-job training with Team Seven with a little bit of casual field surgery. It doesn't go well. They end up deciding to continue with the mission, with Sasuke the last one to agree.

When our MC wakes up, they leave their bed to grab a half-empty bottle of vodka from the freezer before returning to bed.

Chapter Five:

The MC comes to being Sasuke waiting to begin the crossing to Wave. When the boat arrives, Naruto doesn't want to get into the water.

Naruto discovers from their ferryman that Uzumaki were known for their red hair; Sakura learns more about economics. Naruto also develops a dislike for the ocean after falling into it. They also get a side lesson in climate and erosion from Kakashi, proving he's well-read beyond his smut.

Off the boat, Sakura's musing on the economic issues that have been explained so far lead her to, after being encouraged to go ahead with it, ask why ninja would also be opposed to the bridge Tazuna is building, since from what she understands it would benefit all of the countries nearby, including Water, where the Demon Brothers are from. Kakashi's explanation that the hidden villages don't always have the same goals to work towards and that how some are governed results in ideologues and revolutionaries like the Demon Brothers as missing-nin.

Zabuza's arrival stays the same, but Sakura ends up asking why Zabuza is working for Gato when Tazuna's bridge would help his goals to overthrow the Mizukage, to Kakashi's dismay.

Zabuza ends up standing down, deciding to work with Team Seven instead, with the dream ending just as Haku arrives and introduces himself.

The MC wakes up to still being hungover.

Chapter Six

The next dream starts in the middle of the tree-climbing exercise. Sakura discovers that Naruto hadn't put any effort into studying or practicing things until the end of their time in the academy; it partially puts Sakura's chakra control into context for Kakashi, and makes Naruto realize how much of Sakura's skills so far are from practicing. Kakashi vanishes after offering advice.

Haku arrives and offers to teach Naruto and Sasuke how to tree climb; the MC also realizes that Sakura has developed a crush on Haku.The MC eventually figures out using chakra, using it to push off faster against the ground before managing to use it to stick the right amount for tree climbing.

Haku suggests that Naruto try practicing the repelling trick first; Naruto ends up rocketing into the air high enough that Kakashi has to save him. Instead of allowing Haku to accidentally kill his genin, Kakashi proposes a sort of game to help give Naruto incentive to learn. Naruto eventually figures it out, and it ends when Sakura falls over from chakra exhaustion.

In Tazuna's house, Kakashi tells Naruto and Sasuke to watch Sakura while he's gone. The MC, is unhappy the dream hasn't ended, and goes to sleep within the dream in a foul mood. They wake up again without experiencing sleep, agitated at this. Kakashi tells Sasuke to stay with Sakura and to tell Naruto that he is ging to be Tazuna's escort while Kakashi returns to Fire to send a mission update off to Konoha.

The MC becomes frustrated at the fact that they're unable to wake up, experiencing multiple days in the dream. They notice Kakashi is keeping Sasuke paired with a member of Team Seven, never leaving Sasuke alone with the Kiri-nin, while Kakashi reluctantly encourages Naruto to develop his friendship with Haku.

Eventually while in the village with Sakura, the MC realizes that something is off, sending Sakura back to Tazuna's. The MC gets attacked by one of Gato's thugs.

Dismissing the thugs as being people at all, reasoning that it's a dream, the MC easily kills them before heading to the bridge where they kill more of Gato's men in spite of growing nausea from the repeat killing. Kakashi stops them from retrieving a kunai from a dying man, sending the MC to relieve Haku from defending Tazuna.

Against the mass of mercenaries on the bridge and limited by working together in close quarters, Kakashi and Zabuza can only do so much, but opportunities open up with Haku's aide, buying time until Naruto, Sakura, and the villagers arrive. This heroic moment is cut short by Gato's ship ramming the bridge; Gato's decided that since getting rid of the ninja with mercenaries isn't possible, destroying the bridge all of them are on is the next best thing.

The MC, who is beginning to spiral into a breakdown from all the murder they just did, comes up with an idea to stop Gato, though Kakashi initially balks. Both of the jōnin are on the verge of chakra exhaustion, reluctant to commit to it. Haku volunteers, and is put in charge of the genin. Haku and Team Seven make their way onto the ship. Haku shows basic knowledge of science by mixing an Ice Release technique with a fireball from Sasuke, which gives them a way onto the ship's bridge. Haku prevents Naruto from fulfilling the final step of confronting Gato by killing the man himself.

The MC wakes up and has to throw up from all of the violence they committed as Sasuke, unable to get it out of their head

Chapter Seven:

The MC comes to as Sasuke, right before the return trip to Konoha. To Sakura's embarrassment, the bridge has been named after her. Konoha's going to work with Wave for payment; the Daimyo of Wave has seized Gato's assets for Wave.

Kakashi, visibly against his will, offers Haku the opportunity to become a chūnin of Konohagakure, which would include land and being fast-tracked to promotion. To both Kakashi and Zabuza's relief, Haku declines it.

Naruto reluctantly leaves with the MC to catch up with Sakura and Kakashi, who explains how abnormal that mission had turned out and that it was a failure. Kakashi's comment about their lack of trust in him results in an outburst from Sakura. Kakashi has his words about the importance of teammates thrown back at him and is called a hypocrite; Kakashi's response is that his priorities are keeping them safe and training them to become chūnin.

Naruto breaks it up before it can go further, another small sign of early changes that have begun to work their way through. Afterwards, Kakashi sends Sasuke off to be point, a position normally taken by Naruto, leaving the MC alone to their thoughts.

They stop in a small crossroads village where a contact waits for Kakashi.

The contact is Jiraiya, who appears to be spying on a bathhouse. Sakura raises the alarm at his actions, and Jiraiya's introduction falls flat. The MC notices that Jiraiya's boisterous and obnoxious behavior is hiding the fact that he's carefully observing all of them, especially the MC, which unnerves the MC.

When Kakashi dismisses them so he can talk with Jiraiya alone, the MC takes the opportunity to pull Naruto and Sakura with them to get away from Jiraiya, heading for the village's main street in order to figure out what to eat.

They end up going with a yakiniku restaurant instead of Naruto's preferred ramen, but when the platters of raw food is brought out for them to start cooking, the MC's stomach rebels against the sight of the bloody meat, and they flee for the restaurant's restroom, where they throw up and see that Sasuke's appearance in the mirror is exhausted and slightly sickly looking.

When they leave the restroom, Naruto comments on the fact that Sasuke went into the women's restroom by mistake, and Naruto and Sakura express concern over Sasuke due to the events on the bridge.

Without much appetite, the MC steals away near the end to go pay for the whole table, instead of separately, which causes consternation and upset in not just Naruto, but Sakura as well, until it's deescalated with the promise that they'll take turns paying for the next few times.

Team Seven ends up going souvenir shopping to commemorate their first mission out of the village with the MC reluctantly picking out a notebook before they return to wait for Kakashi and Jiraiya, who announces that he will travel with them for a short bit before they split.

Jiraiya, over the course of the several hours spent with Team Seven, manages to win both Sakura and Naruto over to the point that Naruto is sad to see him go and asks if Jiraiya will be going to Konoha any time soon when it's time for him to split off. Jiraiya also reminds Kakashi to think about what he said. To the MC's surprise, Jiraiya also gives them the slightly vague advice to write things down.

Team Seven spends the night outside resting before they continue running back to Konoha. Before they reach the gates, however, Kakashi tells them to not say anything about the mission until the full debriefing happens, and makes it clear that Sakura especially should not say anything about her involvement in why the mission turned out the way it did.

After they split up, the MC realizes that Kakashi had barely said anything to Sasuke in this particular dream. Walking back to Sasuke's apartment, the MC comes across Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji training with Asuma, which by all appearances isn't going too well.

The chapter shifts to Ino's POV, confused at waking up to darkness after using her Mind Body Switch Technique. She realizes that she is in someone else's body, in a bedroom that she doesn't recognize. Ino discovers that she's in the body of a woman in her late twenties, in an apartment filled with technology more advanced than what she's used to, and in her curiosity to check out the very fancy television, discovers the Naruto anime.

The MC wakes up on the couch.

Chapter Eight:

The MC wakes up as Sasuke. Unhappy at this, they scream into the mattress again, before reluctantly getting out of the bed and getting dressed, choosing to go on a walk rather than stay in Sasuke's apartment.

In the village, they come across Team Eight. Hinata has heard about Team Seven's C-rank from Neji, and a moment of unease falls across the group when they realize that all of the jōnin-sensei they're aware of have given their students the morning off, and that the jōnin who are part of their various clans left for somewhere earlier in the morning. The MC ends up leaving after Shino concludes it's better for them to stop talking and for Sasuke to leave.

They eventually wind up in the training ground Team Seven is supposed to use, finding Sakura is already there, sitting in a tree. Sakura reveals that she's made up with Ino, and that she is aware something is happening, but not sure what.

Naruto arrives not long after, telling them that the stadium within the village was filled with people— likely the jōnin. Sakura immediately worries if it is connected with their mission, revealing that during the debrief to the Sandaime, Kakashi had put all responsibility for the events of the mission directly on himself, leaving Sakura's involvement in the formation of their temporary alliance with the missing-nin out entirely. Sakura is worried that Kakashi threw his career away on her, and both the MC and Naruto do their best to comfort her that Kakashi will be fine.

Sakura, once she feels better, demands that they start training so that they can all get better, demanding that Naruto fights her. This does not go so well, between Naruto being unwilling to hit his crush, and Sakura not wanting to hit Naruto, until the MC tells Sakura to kick Naruto's ass. Naruto's ass gets kicked.

Team Gai and Kakashi show up, with Team Gai present to train with Team Seven. While introductions happen and the kids are distracted, Kakashi attempts to slip past them the fact that he is currently on probation; until he is released from it, their training sessions will have to be supervised by another jōnin and they will be undertaking no missions.

Rather than sparring, Team Seven and Team Gai elect to construct an obstacle course in the trees, with the first team to have all three members touching the ground losing. Due to Team 7's greater degree of experience with traps and obstacle courses, they pair up, one genin from each team to set up traps before beginning. After they return to their actual teams, Sakura comments on Neji's casual cruelty and behavior towards others, emerging with a strong dislike of the older boy. Both teams agree to taijutsu only while running the course.

In the trees, Lee gets taken out first, and Neji sacrifices Tenten in his attempt to hunt Team Seven down faster, his temper boiling over between Naruto's antics and not having the advantage. Neji ends up breaking the agreed upon rules, using both the Byakugan and a chakra infused strike to injure Sakura's knee, setting her up for a potentially dangerous fall. Naruto jumps for Sakura, leaving only Neji and Sasuke in the trees.

The MC attempts to set Neji on fire. Kakashi yanks Sasuke out of the tree and chastises him; Naruto is angry because of Neji, but Sakura realizes that due to Kakashi's probation, their negative behavior reflects on him, and all of them are under scrutiny. Kakashi tries but fails to give Sasuke a talk, while Gai lectures his team. Gai audibly dismisses it all as a minor training accident, and Kakashi reveals that he's not allowed to be alone with any of the genin on his team before the dream ends.

The MC wakes up again on the couch, aching and in pain to their TV on and discovers Naruto wiki tabs on their phone browser. The MC drinks themself to sleep after they get home from their university.

Chapter Nine:

The MC comes to as Sasuke once again, unexpectedly very sober, discovering that Team Seven is hanging out with Team Ten in the village. It soon becomes obvious that Kakashi's reputation— and theirs— has dived due to Wave, and that Naruto's unhappy about it. The kids discuss adults' hypocrisy, and when Shikamaru complains about his parents, Ino comments that they should be grateful their parents are around.

Naruto ends up suggesting that they get bento for lunch, rather than his preferred ramen since he's broke with Team Seven unable to do missions.

On their way to the shop Naruto suggested, they encounter foreign ninja having a fight; all of them turn out to be Kiri-nin, the victor an angry Suigetsu. Suigetsu gets talked around into joining them, partially out of practicality.

After buying bento, the group encounters Kakashi, released from probation in order to escort the self-declared Mizukage Zabuza and Haku around the village during the Chunin exams. This splinter Kiri was inspired by Sakura's questions during the wave arc.

Shikamaru decides that this is too much trouble for his tastes, and speeds off without his teammates, who follow him soon after, leaving Team Seven, Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, and Suigetsu behind.

Team Seven, along with Haku and Suigetsu, leave Kakashi. They encounter the Sand Siblings and Baki. Taking notice of Gaara's red hair Naruto approaches him and asks if he's related to the Uzumaki clan, Haku correctly identifies them as the children of the Kazekage, leading to a tense parting of ways.

Haku and Suigetsu identify Gaara as a serious danger and that there's something wrong with him, and Haku explains that the original Kirigakure is also sending ninja due to the group Zabuza has brought with him in hopes of eliminating as many as they can under the pretense of the exams.

When the dream ends, the MC immediately returns to napping due to waking up exhausted and on the couch again.

Chapter Ten:

In a foul mood from their ongoing dreams and lack of actual rest in their waking life, the MC undermines Kabuto and insults his intelligence when the latter attempts to impress the rookie 9. When Kabuto shows off his card of Sasuke, Shino's kikaichū tear it apart and take it away.

Naruto takes notice of Karin this time, but is stopped by Sakura from trying to approach her after their encounter with Gaara.

The proctor of the first exam is Shino's dad, Shibi, who introduces himself with swarming masses of kikaichū which unnerve many of the genin. Iinitially placed between a now short-haired Neji and a Sound genin Sasuke receives permission to swap with an unhappy Kiri-nin who refuses to sit next to Chōjūrō.

The MC discovers that, between a full bachelor's, a math-filled last job before returning for their master's, and being at the comparatively wisdom-filled age of twenty-seven, they have an excessively unfair advantage compared to the vast majority of genin attempting to take the test and finish the test early without cheating.

Shibi's approach to the tenth question and philosophy is much different than Ibiki's, and he instead stresses that while bringing intelligence back and protecting it is important, that the human element and what every member of a team has to contribute should also be taken into account, along with the fact that sometimes there are no good decisions.

Instead of being released all at once, the genin are let out one at a time; when the MC leaves the room, they're surprised to see Kakashi waiting in the corridor outside, with a few of the already-released Kiri-nin. Kakashi is meant to be escorting all of the Kiri-nin that are with the Wave faction back to where Zabuza's cohort are staying, which includes a few whose jōnin-sensei have changed sides during the course of the exam itself. Some of the Kiri-nin who have just changed sides turn out to be hunter-nin, who choose to deal with Konoha's bureaucracy rather than help Kakashi out with the angry genin. The MC realizes that Shino does not emerge from the exam hall.

Once they have dealt with the Kiri-nin, Kakashi announces that he'll buy them dinner; Sakura realizes there has to be a catch. Naruto chooses instead to seize the opportunity for claim free ramen, but is still aware that there must be something going on. Kakashi orders it to go, and reveals that they will all be staying at Sasuke's apartment overnight.

At Sasuke's apartment, once they're done eating, Kakashi reveals to them that Orochimaru has infiltrated the village and appears to be focused on the exams. He wasn't allowed to withdraw Team Seven, there is no way for them to disqualify themselves or otherwise avoid it without taking extreme measures, and instead tells them how the second exam usually works, and gives them as much advice as he can.

When the MC wakes up exhausted again on the couch, but with painkillers, water and a dead phone, they give up again, spending their whole Saturday mostly dozing with a short break to cancel an upcoming therapy appointment.

Chapter Eleven:

In the Forest of Death, the MC almost causes Sasuke to miss a jump between the trees. The MC is unnerved by the overly large trees and further disturbed when Team Seven discovers fresh blood and corpses hanging above them. Trying to flee, Naruto gets eaten by a giant snake, and Orochimaru appears, disguised as a Konoha genin.

The MC proves somewhat resilient to Orochimaru's killing intent, which intrigues him. In an attempt to escape, the MC grabs a paralyzed Sakura and throws them both off of the tree.

Sakura ends up killing one of Orochimaru's snakes. Orochimaru finds them both interesting, and wonders outloud at what factors are involved in making Sasuke's Sharingan not manifest as he holds Sasuke up by the neck. Naruto comes to the rescue just before the MC blacks out completely from a lack of air.

Orochimaru identifies Naruto and reveals his status as jinchūriki of the Kyūbi, alongside speculating on the rationale for the team 7 composition. Naruto loses control, clawing at Orochimaru's false face. The MC and Sakura end up trying to rescue Naruto and flee, but Orochimaru plants his own seal on top of Naruto's and bites Sasuke.

Elsewhere in the forest, Kakashi is patrolling with Tenzō. While being short on manpower, the village has determined that the genin from Oto are a threat.

Detecting killing intent, Kakashi and Tenzō discover that Gaara has murdered one of the genin from Kusagakure. Hinata, Kiba and Shino are also present. Since killing is not allowed in the exam and teams of two cannot pass, Kakashi disqualifies both teams and tells Kurenai's team to leave or also be disqualified. Recognizing Kakashi as Naruto's teacher, Gaara expresses his interest in Naruto. Kakashi also notices Karin, setting her aside as an issue for later.

The Sand Sibs and the Kusa team open their scrolls, revealing that Nara Yoshino has returned to active duty. She and the other chūnin escort them to the tower.

Kakashi's concerns about Sasuke are revealed; he is unsettled by Sasuke's abnormal behavior in combat between the events on the bridge and in reaction to Neji. He wonders what Sasuke's behavior spells for Sasuke's Sharingan and what it means, compared to Itachi. It's also discovered that Jiraiya convinced Kakashi to not take Sasuke to Intelligence and to keep his concerns to himself.

Kakashi's section ends with the discovery that one jōnin pair has failed to check in during their most recent status report, and Kakashi wondering what Orochimaru knows that's worth the risks of pursuing him.

POV shifts to Shikamaru, who alongside Chōji successfully convince Ino to rest for the night instead of continuing to push. Shikamaru muses on the recent changes in Ino's behavior, including her determination to hang out with teams 7 and 8 alongside an almost manic focus on training.

The next day, after grabbing the scroll they need from a lax team whose person watch had fallen asleep, Shikamaru is unnerved by the fact that Ino's skill with the mind body switch technique has suddenly jumped far in capability, and that there's clearly things going on that he is being left out of the loop on.

Though they're not far from the tower, Ino changes directions, sending them straight for a team that turns out to be Kabuto's. She sends out an volley of shuriken, luring them out, which confuses Shikamaru, since they have no reason to go after other Konoha-nin. Ino takes over one of the other team's bodies.

The other team identifies them as having a Yamanaka and exude killing intent. Shikamaru realizes that they aren't allies; Chōji initially freezes and gets constricted by one of the hostiles, leaving the other to figure out Ino is in Kabuto's body, going on the attack. Shikamaru figures out a plan; Chōji breaks the body of the ninja wrapped around him with an Akimichi technique and Shikamaru uses shadows to keep the remaining ninja away from Ino-in-Kabuto's body.

That ninja is revealed to be able to absorb chakra; Shikamaru's chakra is almost entirely drained in a matter of seconds and he is forced to pull back; instead of ending the technique, Ino attempts to use the momentum of stabbing towards Kabuto's chest to attempt a potentially suicidal move. It takes too long, and the chakra absorbing ninja grabs onto Kabuto. Both Kabuto and Ino start screaming at the same time, and Kabuto collapses.

Shikamaru readies himself for a last stand so Chōji can escape with Ino, but is saved by a surprise save and flees. Team Ten has to soon stop because of Chōji's injuries, but luckily for them, it turns out to be Team Haku to the rescue.

The MC wakes up as Sasuke again in a small den that Sakura found and brought them to after their encounter with Orochimaru. Sakura is still upset at the discovery of Naruto's jinchūriki status, which Naruto ends up overhearing her talk about, and both kids end up in tears. Sakura comes to grips with it and assures Naruto she doesn't hate him after they've both calmed down.

The MC discovers that while unconscious, Sakura and Naruto got the second scroll they needed, and once Sakura's decided that Sasuke's recovered enough, they make their way to the tower with better time than Team Seven made in canon.

In the tower, when Iruka appears and congratulates them, both Naruto and Sakura break down into tears again from being with someone perceived safe, after everything that had happened in the forest. The dream ends right after Iruka's hand is sliced off when Iruka gets in the way of an attack meant for Sasuke from the Kusa-nin who Orochimaru had originally stolen the face and identity of in the canon version of the second exam.

The MC wakes up feeling ill.

Chapter Twelve:

The MC comes to to Naruto complaining about the training he's been getting from Ebisu and Jiraiya, who have been working on improving Naruto's foundational skills. They are supposed to meet up with Sakura to eat, but plans change with Sakura shows up to drag them to the hospital; Ino's woken up.

At the hospital, they drop off food for Iruka, who has survived, but is permanently down a hand. In spite of the loss, Iruka still plans on staying as an active ninja. Naruto has turned the tables on his former teacher, acting like a concerned mother hen where Iruka is concerned. Naruto is also too focused on Iruka to realize that the medic-nin in the room's reaction to him changes when he mentions he's learning from Jiraiya.

Sakura is nervous about going into Ino's hospital room, but the MC pushes her in, revealing that the MC knows from their own experience with a hospital stay that Ino will need her friends.

Inside the hospital room, the newly awakened Ino is slightly off from how the MC is aware Ino is supposed to act. Chōji is also a surprise to the MC, due to Chōji being in a wheelchair with a broken arm and leg. As Sakura and Ino talk, Naruto ends up promising Chōji that he'll get him food from the stalls that will be set up fo the tournament, since Chōji won't be getting released anytime soon, and neither will Ino. After it is revealed that Ino's mind was impacted by the disrupted jutsu and she doesn't remember everything, the conversation moves on to the tournament.

Besides Team Seven, Team Eight, Team Gai, and Shikamaru have made it into the tournament, along with a team from Ame and Haku's team. Sakura reveals that she is training with Tenzō, who is teaching her how to use a sword. Over the course of conversation, Naruto finds out about the connection between Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Minato, along with the fact that many of the Hokage had skill in fuinjutsu.

Naruto's enthusiastic reaction results in him and the MC leaving the room since that's too boisterous for Ino while she recovers, where they come across Inoichi and Iruka still having a conversation.

When they leave the hospital, they discover Gaara and his siblings in the front of the hospital; Gaara has been stalking Naruto. The MC calls Gaara out on this behavior, pointing out that stalking will not get Gaara the apparent friendship he is seeking. Naruto's input ends up breaking the tension before it can get worse, and Gaara admits to wanting to make friends with Naruto.

Naruto ends up dragging the Sand Siblings and the MC out for ramen at Ichiraku's, which is where the Kazekage comes upon them. Naruto shows his distrust of adults, and Rasa identifies Naruto and Sasuke as being subjects of interest; their whole team has reached a level of notoriety genin usually do not get. Rasa ends up joining them for a meal after Teuchi deescalates the situation.

Afterwards, the MC sarcastically offers a suggestion which Naruto jumps on; the dreams ends with Kankurō horrified at the idea of having a sleepover with Gaara at Naruto's.

After the MC awakens, we find out her name: Socorro. She also discovers that the curse mark that is supposed to be on Sasuke is actually on her instead.

Chapter Thirteen:

Socorro comes to as Sasuke during his fight with Chōjūrō. They proceed to have a breakdown, getting hit in the side with Chōjūrō's sword. They end up taunting Chōjūrō, who decides he would rather not fight someone who is clearly unwell, and forfeits the fight.

Kakashi drags Sasuke to the stadium's infirmary to get treated, where he notes that Sasuke is sensitive to healing chakra. It's also revealed that overapplication of healing chakra can damage the body's ability to heal itself in the long run, even when a medic-nin is involved.

When Kakashi returns Sasuke to the waiting area, Sakura informs them that Lee beat his opponent. Socorro is resigned to becoming an Uchiha pancake when Lee returns, enthusiastic about fighting Sasuke.

When the team from Supply enters the waiting area with lunch for the competitors, one of the genin is Sakura's former bully, Ami, who tries to get up to her old tricks by being mean to Sakura and attempting to flirt with Sasuke. Socorro both rebuffs her attempts and cuts her down verbally, but Sakura interjects, wanting to defend herself instead. Ami ends up running off, embarrassed.

After the unappetitizing lunch the next match seen is Kiba against Suigetsu. The fight is ends up being a crass one between the two boys, getting quickly ended with prejudice by Suigetsu after Kiba orders Akamaru to pee on Suigetsu when Suigetsu is using his Hydrification technique.

In Shikamaru's fight versus Hinata, Hinata ends up winning ater Shikamaru unwittingly insults her.

Tenten's match against the Ame-nin who is her opponent results in her winning handily after showing off her weapon skills and use of sealing scrolls.

Naruto's match against Haku ultimately goes to Haku, but Naruto puts on an impressive fight that shows how much he's improved from training under Ebisu and Jiraiya.

In the wait between the first set of matches and the next, Socorro notices that the tensions between the different teams has worn off; Shino gives his thoughts on Sasuke's upcoming match against Lee, and Shikamaru finally returns from the infirmary, Shikaku tagging along. Shikamaru apologizes to Hinata.

Shikaku talks to the genin, and Shino takes the opportunity to ask about the advancement rates, since there are far more chūnin in the village than would be possible to promote through the exams as they're done. Shikaku tells them that the exams are not the only way to be promoted, but they must still be eligible for them and that the exams are still important; Shino notes that it must be because the tournament portion helps remind the civilians that the ninja are around and valuable to them; Shikaku further points out that even with missions, the various hidden villages are dependent on their respective civilian governments for funding,something which Suigetsu realizes is connected with infrastructure and with how nice Konoha is compared to Kirigakure.

Shikaku tells them that comes down to what is basically politics, and that they'll have to get used to it whether they stay ninja or not because it will continue to have larger impacts on their lives as they grow up.

Shikaku leaves the kids to their own devices, and later Yoshino shows up in uniform, something that surprises Socorro. She leaves for awhile to talk with Shikamaru, before they return and she leaves, only to return with Naruto's wallet, which he had sent off with a shadow clone to buy the promised snacks for Chōji.

The next round of fights starts up, and the first is Neji against the tall Ame-nin Gaara had killed in the series. Neji wins in a close call.

The next match is Sasuke versus Lee, which Socorro does not appreciate. Socorro reluctantly fights Lee, the dream suddenly ending with Lee punching Sasuke in the head.

Socorro, when she wakes up, discovers that her best friend is planning to be in town during the weekend. Slightly cheered by this and having gotten sleep in the last few days, she actually looks up something from the dream on the Naruto wiki.

Chapter Fourteen

Sasuke is very confused and suffering from a concussion in the middle of Orochimaru's attack on Konoha. Kakashi comes across them, and Sasuke throws up on Kakashi's feet as thanks.

Kakashi takes Sasuke to the hospital, which is in the middle of an incursion on the floor Ino and Chōji are on. Kakashi takes out several Sound-nin, saving a nurse before doing a patrol of the corridor, rooting out any intruding ninja before heading for the remaining locked room on this part of the hospital floor.

Guarding the door is Ino's mother with a sword; further inside are Ino, Chōji, other patients from the floor, as well as a single nurse, who looks exactly the same as the one Kakashi just helped.

The fake nurse in the corridor turns out to be Yoroi, one of Kabuto's teammates, who is able to absorb chakra. Because the limitations of the hospital corridor prevents Kakashi from putting on a strong attack, the fight worries Ino and Chōji; Ino seems to miss with her first attempt at the mind body switch technique before possessing Yoroi's body the second time.

Ino's mother and Kakashi restrain Yoroi with Ino's assistance, and after Ino returns her mind to her body, Ino's mother breaks his feet and hands to make sure he's incapacitated and won't be able to escape as easily. They realize that the hospital itself must have been infiltrated before the attack; not only is Sasuke at risk due to Orochimaru's interest during the second exam, but Ino is as well. Kakashi ends up taking Ino with them.

On the roof, they see that Manda is wrecking the village, as is the One-Tailed beast. They also witness Gamabunta being summoned before another team of Konoha-nin approaches, there to secure the hospital. Sasuke finds himself staring at the water tanks there, unable to process why. After a short exchange in which the Nara compound is offered as a safe place, they leave again.

Kakashi takes them to an abandoned shed; Sasuke throws up for the fourth time in the fic so far, because this is that kind of story. The shed is a secret entrance to a disused safe house that Ino realizes once belonged to the Yondaime, filled with emergency supplies, old cloaks, and Hiraishin kunai. After making sure that they will be fine to stay in there, Ino and Sasuke are left alone; the awareness that her actions have put people close to her at risk and in danger more than they were in the story weighs down on Ino, something that both Socorro and Sasuke are unaware of.

The dream ends when Sasuke goes to lie down.

Socorro wakes up to discover that her best friend has entered her apartment, in town early.

Chapter 16: Can't Change Into A Person I Don't Wanna Be

Chapter Text

"You need to get up."

I woke up to Kakashi's masked face looking down at me in the dimness of Sasuke's apartment, and the events of the last dream flooded back into me. I tried to resist wincing as I sat up.

My— Sasuke's?— head didn't feel as scrambled as last time, but I still felt more muddled than I liked from both waking up as him and from waking up in general.

"What time is it?" It was dark, and Kakashi was blocking the desk, so I couldn't see the alarm clock that was supposed to be there.

"A bit after three." His voice was just above a whisper.

I didn't bother to resist not making a face at that. "Why?"

"You and the others are taking a little trip out of the village. Pack like you did for Wave."

When I got off the bed and reached for the desk lamp, he stopped me from turning it on, shaking his head.

"Oh." I put it together. "No one's supposed to know."

"Not until you're all outside of the village walls."

In the dark, with only street lamps from outside the window providing any kind of light, it was weird, more dreamlike than most of this had been so far. I grabbed a black shirt and a pair of shorts from the wardrobe, yanking more clothes out to stuff into the bag. The one piece outfit was nowhere in sight. I tried to not feel weird about changing out of Sasuke's pajamas in front of Kakashi. He stopped me from strapping on the holster, instead shaking his head and motioning for it to go in the bag with everything else.

Not entirely sure why, I lingered over the souvenir notebook before I gave in and stuffed it in the bag along with a pen. Kakashi didn't say anything, but I could feel the weight of his stare.

Once I was done, Kakashi checked it over and tossed a small bottle from the desk on top of everything else. "Don't forget those," he murmured. Painkillers.

He had us leave through the window.

Outside, the streets appeared to be as empty as it got. It seemed like even ninja didn't particularly like being up at this hour. Occasionally, I saw signs of fighting I could only assume must have happened, but the route we were taking seemed to be relatively untouched. It was only the occasional sight of a bit of rubble in the distance that proved it happened.

It was only once we passed what my head told me were the streets to head towards Sakura and Naruto's homes that I began to wonder. "What about the other two?"

"They'll be there."

It wasn't obvious until we were closer to the village's exit that I was able to see the tops of the wall; the whole section where the gates would be under was missing, broken wood exposing the stone and earthen core at the top, a bit of metal railing hanging off from one corner that managed to stay in place. Looking at the damage left behind, it made me feel uneasy for some reason.

As we came onto the main thoroughfare that led to the gate itself, the damage was far more obvious. It wasn't completely gone, but the top of the wall that the gates were usually in was completely demolished, the doors themselves awkwardly leaning against the interior side of the wall that hadn't been destroyed. The doors hadn't escaped being damaged either; the top beams of both were almost completely reduced to splinters. I could see pockets of rubble on both sides, and the small gatehouse where ninja had checked Tazuna's papers was gone. Probably flattened.

We weren't the only ones here. Ahead, guards were standing watch by the ruined entrance. Even from this distance they looked tense and alert.

Before we reached them, though, Kakashi pulled me off down a small side street, and then to a particularly questionable looking door. From there, we went inside.

The room was cramped and filled with people, the only lighting provided by a bare bulb with a pull-string. There was another door on the other side, but just past someone's elbow, I could see that it looked disused, dried paint filling the cracks between the door and its frame from the other side.

Everyone inside already turned to look at us.

Jiraiya sort of made sense; he had taken Naruto out of the village to find Tsunade in the series, and there was Naruto right next to him, smothering a yawn from where he was leaning against the wall, and then Sakura, doing her best to rub sleep from her eyes.

The others though, not so much. Inoichi and Ino were in here, Inoichi's face tightly drawn from stress and exhaustion, and Ino didn't look that much better, her hands tight around the straps of her backpack. Shikamaru looked half asleep. Shino and his father were also in the tight little space, his dad's hand on Shino's shoulder. Who knows what they were thinking? The gourd his dad had with him during the first exam was thankfully not present; with it, the room would have been an even tighter fit.

This was… definitely not what I was expecting. None of the kids were dressed in their usual outfits, or at least the usual components, leg holsters and any of their usual wraps missing. Naruto's jacket was the most blatantly absent, instead in a blue t-shirt that wasn't completely tucked into his pants.

"Here he is," Kakashi said, voice tired. "Where's Shikaku?"

"He just left," Inoichi answered, sounding just as worn out. "He has a full day ahead of him. He couldn't stay any longer."

Jiraiya snorted. "Well, that's all of them, unless you're planning on springing any more surprises on me. Give the fakes to the kids; I'm not going to be carrying them around."

As I looked around, it was clear that the only ones who were leaving with Jiraiya were going to be the kids. None of the other adults had bags with them.

Inoichi reached into the pocket of his coat, pulling out a set of booklets which he carefully distributed. "Don't lose these."

The cover was mud brown, with a complex seal embossed on it.

Naruto opened his up first, before he looked at Inoichi with wary eyes. "This is a passport from the capital."

Inoichi's eyes looked over at Kakashi for a moment, who shrugged. "You've already learned the difference, have you?"

"What difference?" Ino looked between her father, Naruto, and then at everyone else, frowning.

"The six of you will be officially travelling as civilian children," Kakashi said. "Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, give me your hitai-ate."

"What!?" Naruto spun towards Kakashi, shoulders setting in place. "But we earned this, these are what prove we're ninja!"

"We aren't taking your rank away," Inoichi told him. "Only the Hokage can do that."

I yanked Sasuke's off and stuffed it into Kakashi's outreached hand, the knot still in place.

Heavy silence took up the room, and Naruto hunched in on himself, taking his hitai-ate off but not letting go of it. Sakura had reluctantly untied her own, bangs sweeping over her eyes for a moment before she shoved them back and handed it over.

"Like he said, you'll be officially travelling as civilians. We don't have the manpower or ability to keep all of you safe if there's another incursion right now," Inoichi explained. "All of you are of potential interest to Orochimaru or Otogakure in some way. We need time to identify and root out as many foreign agents he might have in the village as we can."

I looked at Shino, trying to figure out— it hit me almost immediately. Kabuto's card on Sasuke. Oh.

"But why as civilians?" Ino asked. Her arms had wrapped around her.

"Because it's all documented," Shikamaru said, eyes flicking between the adults for confirmation. "But they won't be expecting us to leave the village pretending to be civilians."

"We don't track civilians the same way," Shibi confirmed. "If there are any spies who are paying attention to departures, they will be focused on the active mission list."

"It will give us at least a day or two," Kakashi said. He narrowed his eye at Naruto. "Naruto. This isn't a mission for you."

Naruto heaved a breath, setting his shoulders, before finally handing it over. "Don't get it mixed up with theirs, okay? Iruka-sensei gave me his."

"I won't," Kakashi promised.

"Mine has a scorch mark on it anyways," Sakura murmured.

Though Naruto gave his hitai-ate up, the tension in the small room didn't vanish.

After a slight nod from Jiraiya's head, Kakashi opened the door out again, and prompted by Inoichi nudging Ino forward, we left. Shino's father stayed behind.

Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan as we approached the opening in the wall, Inoichi beside him. Jiraiya was disconcertingly sharp-looking, standing at his full height with a sort of intensity to him that he didn't bother to usually show.

The guards said nothing, even as they stamped each passport, not showing any sign of recognition or acknowledgement of what they were doing besides going through the motions.

On the other side of the remnants of the gate, Kakashi kept his head still turned towards the guards.

Genjutsu?

"I'll wipe their memories once they've left," Inoichi murmured to him. I had the distinct suspicion I wasn't supposed to hear that, because Kakashi raised an eyebrow at me, and flapped his hand, motioning for me to move ahead towards Jiraiya and the others.

I walked away.

The children did not look all that excited at being outside the village bounds without easy access to weapons. I was hard pressed on who looked the most disgruntled, any of the kids or Jiraiya, who didn't exactly appear thrilled either.

Jiraiya's eyes flicked towards me, eyes squinting slightly in the darkness. "You're getting a jacket at the first shukuba," he said.

"What?"

"Even civilians can recognize the Uchiha mon. We're not going to be out of the village long enough for it to be worth you getting a new wardrobe. You're getting a jacket."

This didn't answer what a shukuba was supposed to be, and I couldn't figure it out from context. There was no little answer waiting to ambush me either, this time.

"If I knew I could have lent Sasuke my jacket," Naruto grumbled.

I resisted making a face at that idea.

The weight of a hand pressed on my shoulder, and I jerked as I looked over, which made me almost lose my balance. Kakashi. Inoichi was next to him, not quite out of sight in the darkness.

"You're still supposed to be taking it easy," he said, voice neutral. "Listen to Jiraiya and try to not draw attention to yourselves. You should treat this like a mission. He's in charge."

"You just said it wasn't a mission." Naruto crossed his arms.

"It's not one for you." Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "I'll make sure no one's brains get scrambled any more than they already are."

"We'll try to keep the talks drawn out as long as we can," Inoichi said, "but I can't make any promises."

Kakashi looked more long-suffering than he usually had in these dreams.

"Reveal the plan if you have to. That should be enough."

"What if—" Inoichi began, but Jiraiya cut him off with a heavy snort.

"'What if' what? Hiruzen-sensei's councillors don't have the final say, it's the daimyō. And I've already sent his court a little message."

Even in low light, it was obvious that Kakashi stiffened. "What—"

"They're not going to settle for anyone else without a solid no." Jiraiya's teeth were visible in a wide, shit-eating grin. "Don't reveal that bit, though." He wagged a finger. "Just follow the plan. There shouldn't be any fancy robes in your near future."

Kakashi slumped. "Fine."

This was definitely off-script, and there was something broadly hilarious about the fact that none of the kids had any idea of what was playing out in front of them.

Inoichi and Kakashi left us after that, returning for the inside of the village.

"Here, hold." Jiraiya swung his pack off for a moment, and rummaged through it, eventually pulling out a small battery powered lantern which he turned on, and tossed over to Naruto, who scrambled to catch it without dropping it.

Naruto made a face at it. "A lantern? What do we need that for?"

Shikamaru squinted at it. "Isn't that going to ruin our night vision?"

"That's the point," Jiraiya said, which only gathered further consternation from all the kids. "It's an obvious tell. Any civilians that travel at night carry a light with them because it makes them feel safer. Shinobi don't."

Ino looked at him with an unsure look on her face, eyebrows crinkled together. "But what if we need to-"

"You won't."

"I didn't even get to finish what I was saying," Ino muttered.

Without letting any of them have another chance to start, he started walking, forcing us to follow him.

Without the hitai-ate, in mostly normal-looking clothing, and looking awkward and unsure of themselves, they all looked more like particularly disgruntled middle schoolers than they usually did. Children on a field trip they didn't want to go on. It made me nostalgic for a moment until I remembered how much the one overnight trip I did in eighth grade made me annoyed.

The awkward quiet lasted for however long until Sakura broke the silence.

"You made it sound like we're going to meet someone," she said. Her words were careful.

"We are." Jiraiya's voice was serious sounding, to the point. "With the Sandaime dead, they need to select a new Hokage. I have someone in mind."

"Someone not currently in the village?" Shino asked.

Jiraiya laughed. "You could put it that way. I know my sensei's old comrades; they like to keep things simple, all in order. All of you are either related to important people or are going to end up shoved into important positions on your own if you live long enough."

Judging from the fact that Sakura's face turned red, visible from the yellow glow of the lantern's bulb, she had figured out what Jiraiya was implying. Nepotism. She didn't exactly seem a fan.

"The Shodai and Nidaime were brothers," Jiraiya began, in a tone I was familiar with from years of lectures that were starting off with basic facts. "And the Sandaime was taught by the Nidaime. I was taught by the Sandaime, and taught the Yondaime."

"And the Yondaime taught Kakashi-sensei, yeah?" Naruto confirmed. The gleam in his eyes suggested that he saw where this was going.

"I'd eat the hat and everything that comes with it before I ever put it on, and your sensei's not exactly in good repute right now, even if he was willing to take it."

"Who does that leave, then?" Sakura asked.

"I'd guess maybe Asuma-sensei, but he's in the village." Shikamaru made a face even as he suggested it. "And there's no way he would want to be Hokage anyways."

Ino grimaced.

"My other old teammate, Tsunade," Jiraiya said.

Naruto tilted his head slightly. "I thought she quit or something? That's what Kaka-sensei said, right?" He looked to Sakura for confirmation, and she nodded.

"It's not as simple as that, but she's been gone for a while, yeah."

"Tou-san's mentioned her," Shino commented. "She's been gone from the village since before we were born. Even if the jōnin and daimyō were willing to confirm her, would she want to?"

Jiraiya laced his fingers together, and bent them backwards, letting them pop audibly. "Oh, I think she would. As for the jōnin, you kids might have noticed—" he took a glance at Naruto and course-corrected— " at least some of you might have noticed that they've been unhappy for a few weeks."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Jiraiya. "I'm not dumb. Even I've noticed they were the only ones still okay with Kakashi-sensei," he grumbled.

"They'll be more willing to take someone who's not been involved in any of the political garbage going on after everything that's happened, and she's the granddaughter of the Shodai and great-niece of the Nidaime. As far as the daimyō's concerned, she's a ninja princess," Jiraiya cracked. "Which is why I sent them a message about reaching out to her to be the Godaime Hokage. If she's not where she should be, it'll buy time."

On the other side, Ino looked wan, probably from the yellow light washing her out.

The conversation petered out from there; the painfully early morning wasn't exactly the best time for conversation, and everyone except for Jiraiya was occasionally yawning, trying to fend off being tired as the sun slowly rose ahead of us. Eventually, Jiraiya took the lantern from Naruto, turning it off and putting it in his bag again once it was light enough.

I was used to doing things exhausted, or at least, normally. Normally didn't seem to count for these, though, because my head was starting to pulse. It wasn't until I stepped on a rock and almost lost my balance that I realized how bad it actually was.

Jiraiya yanked me up by the shirt collar before I could actually fall over, which I grimaced at.

"Alright, time for a break," he said. He veered for the side of the road, leaving it entirely.

Shikamaru covered his mouth as he yawned. "Fine with me."

"We haven't even been walking for that long." Naruto's complaint didn't have much heart to it.

"Sasuke is still concussed," Shino noted. "Since he's recovering and we're not operating under known time restraints, we're supposed to operate within the restrictions of the weakest member of a squad." His head tilted towards Jiraiya.

"Clinical little thing, aren't you?" went Jiraiya in response. He continued speaking, ignoring the slight buzz that started from within Shino's coat. "You're right, though if I had it my way I wouldn't be dragging a genin with a head injury along for the trip, much less this many of you."

Sakura glanced in my direction. "Sasuke-kun, are you doing alright?"

I shrugged.

Jiraiya looked at me for a moment, expression considerate in a way that unsettled me, before continuing to walk, dismissing whatever it was he was thinking. "He'll be fine."

He didn't stop until we were deeper into the trees, the road and anyone else who might be on it no longer in sight, hidden past a thick panel of bushes. "This will do," he said, unslinging his pack and the giant scroll holder from his back. "We'll stay here for about an hour, give the ones who need it time for a nap, and then continue moving. We'll probably stop again around noon."

I let myself drop onto the ground, pulling my- no, Sasuke's- gear bag off with more care than Jiraiya had just shown, and poked it cautiously. It wasn't packed dangerously, and the mention of a nap had sounded good, even though sleeping in any of these Sasuke-dreams only spat me out on the other side of them. I hadn't realized how suddenly fatigued I felt until he suggested the idea of resting in the first place.

I carefully laid down, resting my head on the bag, in order to use it as a particularly lumpy pillow.

The last thing I was aware of was Naruto bugging Jiraiya about something.

In what was beginning to become alarmingly frequent for it, Kakashi's head was beginning to pulse threateningly again, the warning signs of yet another headache from the last few days' events, and it was only the start of his own morning, one he had put off as long as he possibly was able for the sake of sleep. It didn't even have the decency to wait until he had left his apartment, already throbbing while he woke up. It wasn't nearly enough rest, not to make up for the last few days. Five hours the night before the tournament and attack. Two hours the night of, and another three just now. Barely tolerable for running combat with strategies worked out ahead of time, but not nearly enough when he had to think.

He finished off the glass of water he had grabbed before knocking out earlier, throwing back a couple of headache pills, and after a second's consideration, a caffeine pill as well before he shuffled himself into his bathroom to shower, leaving the door open to let some of the light in.

The whole block his apartment building was on was without electricity, which meant not only no lights in his windowless bathroom, but no heated water, either. It was also considered low-occupancy, low priority because not only were most of the people living in his building ninja, they were one-room studios. The buildings with families and the elderly were prioritized for regaining power if they had lost it.

Kakashi got soap in Obito's eye in the middle of rinsing off when the water suddenly gave out. He had to leave the shower to grab the water pitcher to irrigate the eye and wet a towel to finish the job as much as possible, trying to not trip over the pair of sandals he had been wearing during the attack in the process. They still smelled vaguely from Sasuke's vomit, among other things. The water was still off when he left, the back of his neck slightly itching from unrinsed suds and eye still irritated under the hitai-ate.

Standing in the rain at the memorial only made the sensation creep further down his back after the water slowly soaked his hair and through his funeral clothes.

The funeral for the Sandaime was a somber affair, enough that not only were the whispers that were still following him in the last month silenced, but no one asked out loud about the noticeably missing genin, either. Only his team's Academy sensei's eyes met his in curiosity at their absence. Kakashi ignored it.

The water was running again when he returned to his apartment. He poured the remaining water from the pitcher into the pot of a plant that he was mostly certain was one of Naruto's since it was salvaged from the debris of the blond's apartment building, refilled it, and threw himself into the shower again to get the remaining dried suds off. The remaining soap in his hair washed into his eye.

He swallowed a second caffeine pill before pulling his mask on when he got dressed in his uniform. His clean pair of sandals squelched when he pulled them.

Kakashi made it roughly halfway to the Kirigakure of Wave's lodgings— it took longer than it normally would, due to the occasional pockets of rubble and detours he didn't bother to ignore for once, along with taking his time—before he got pelted in the head with a small, green walnut that bounced off in front of him. He grabbed the second one out of the air before it could hit him in the face.

Tenzō dropped from the tree next to him, a disapproving expression on his face before he prodded a cold can of coffee and a bento at Kakashi's stomach. "How much sleep have you been getting?"

"Enough." Kakashi took the coffee can, opened it, and with a trick he practiced and learned when he was ten and particularly stubborn and obnoxious, chugged the whole thing in less than six seconds. It wasn't one he was planning on showing off in front of any of his genin, lest Naruto get it into his head it was an idea to learn. No one had been particularly impressed with the resultant gassiness when he had mastered it as a child, and it would not be any cuter from the far more obnoxious and older Naruto. It was easier with non-carbonated drinks, anyways.

Tenzō didn't seem that convinced, and fell into step next to him when forcing Kakashi to take the bento didn't work. "They still have you on the diplomatic mission?"

"Momochi Zabuza thinks it's funny," was Kakashi's response. He shrugged. "He refuses to deal with anyone but me until a Godaime Hokage is selected. When did you get back from your mission?"

"This morning."

The rest of the walk was in silence. Despite Tenzō's recent interest in his genin— to the point of offering to help train Sakura for the tournament— Tenzō didn't ask after them or where they were today. It wasn't something that would have been easily noticeable to any observers.

The only sign that might have been was when they passed a few blocks from where Naruto's apartment used to be and Tenzō's eyes looked in that direction questioningly. Tenzō must have done a brief reconnaissance of the village, then.

"Ah, Naruto's staying with Jiraiya," he said, shoving his hands into his pocket. "He has running water and electricity. My apartment is small and only has water," which led to a brief phantom itch on the back of his neck, though he had fully scrubbed and rinsed it off, "Sasuke's is without either—" and the boy refused to stay anywhere else in spite of it, even while concussed— "and Sakura-chan's family has water and a generator, but her parents have civilian relatives from the capital staying with them."

Tenzo just nodded in response.

That had made it both harder and more vital to have Sakura leave with the other two; while she wasn't necessarily an attractive target in and of herself except for her connection to the boys, any incidents in front of those relatives would have only spread things Konoha didn't need spreading in the months to come.

It was better for all three of them to leave with Jiraiya, under the current circumstances. Being pushed into being the one representing Konoha in the talks with Zabuza's Kirigakure meant that even in spite of his current reputation, Kakashi was forced into a position where he had more say than he usually would have, and had to take part in meetings. If they remained in the village, Kakashi would have had to run himself down into nothing to make sure nothing else happened.

Tenzo followed him all the way to the Mist-nin's lodgings, and even inside, where it was pleasantly cool, unlike most of Konoha's buildings in the summer.

The front desk right inside the doors was positioned in just a way that allowed whoever was at it to have an advantageous view of the building's ground floor lounge and the walk from the street. Whenever the building was provided to the ninja of other villages, it was meant to be manned by a chūnin of the Leaf. Otherwise, if it was rented by civilians, they had to provide or hire someone themselves.

Today, and like nearly every other day since Zabuza and his people had arrived, it was manned by the same radio-nin that didn't like Kakashi, enough that Kakashi suspected it was also intended as a punishment detail for the chūnin.

The man at the desk was, like the rest of them lately, also overworked. In his case, it meant that when Kakashi and Tenzo entered, he was in the middle of messing around with the interior of a larger radio, screwdriver in one hand, a bracelet around the other wrist with a cord trailing down out of sight from. There was a pile of others next to him: some larger and meant for more stationary fieldwork for mobile bases along with the much smaller handsets. The chūnin's face wasn't quite visible, looking deep in the radio's casing, only a short crop of brown hair visible.

"Good morning, Shinju," Kakashi said.

Shinju jolted, smacking the top of his skull against the metal case with a satisfying echoing thud, and sat straight up to glower at him. "Hatake." Kakashi ignored the sweared insults. He had been on this particular chunin's bad side for about three years now, and if anything, Shinju barely seemed to have noticed the crash of Kakashi's reputation. "Momochi's got a new guest or something; they're up in the fourth floor meeting room."

Kakashi eyed the radio-nin from curiosity, but he had already returned to working on the radio in front of him, visibly ignoring Kakashi. Trying to extract more information from the chūnin would be an exercise in frustration; Shinju had no issues with getting mouthy or tight-lipped depending on circumstances in the past and had provided technically enough information for Kakashi. Whoever it was wasn't immediately identifiable to Shinju then, but was a known entity to Zabuza, and someone the self-proclaimed Mizukage has taken up to the simultaneously more private— and therefore carefully bugged— spaces on the upper levels.

He passed the Demon Brothers, who were sitting in the ground floor lounge, on the way to the stairs. Gōzu and Meizu had been released to Zabuza the day after his contingent had arrived in Konohagakure. Their faces were exposed, rebreathers and paired gauntlets sitting on the table before them. They were not-so-subtly guarding the ground floor, then, since there were no other Kiri-nin around.

The talk between the two stopped when the shaggy-haired one sat up straighter than he had been, and looked at Kakashi before he reached the stairs. "Hey! Hatake!"

His brother's eyes widened. "Gōzu! Don't you dare!"

Kakashi turned his head enough to look. "Yes?"

Meizu elbowed his brother sharply, giving Kakashi a sharp-toothed grin. "That girl at that ramen stall the Uzumaki brat keeps dragging people to, what's her name?"

This was the newest low of everything to have come out of the mission to Wave for Kakashi, and almost too much. Not allying himself and the Leaf by implication with a dangerous missing-nin, or the side-effect of the prices of certain goods becoming expensive even on jōnin-level pay while others became obscenely cheap and everyone in the village was aware it was due to him, or even the diplomacy work that was slowly and inexorably dragging Kakashi slowly away from fieldwork and towards a life with only paperwork ahead of it. It was the fact that he was now being sought as assistance for the love-life of someone he tied to a tree a few months ago.

He decided to ignore them until he was halfway up the stairs. "Ayame-chan is only fifteen," he lied. Kakashi was at least able to savor the flustered shouting and laughing that echoed up the stairway after him. Tenzō at least wasn't able to give him a disappointed look until they reached the landing for the next floor.

When they reached the landing for the fourth floor, the door handle was visibly frosted, and Kakashi used the palm of his hand to push it down and enter the corridor beyond.

Tenzō's breath fogged in the air next to him. The corridor itself was near-freezing, empty except for a sulky-looking Suigetsu who was standing outside one of the doors. The boy was in an oversized and dated sweater that must have come from a local second-hand shop if the decorative collar with the spiral-leaf pattern was anything to go by, hands shoved into his armpits.

He gave Kakashi a glowering look as though it was his fault he was out here, reluctantly pulling one hand free to open the door to call inside. "Hatake's here! And some other Leaf-nin! Can I leave already instead of standing guard over this damn door? I'm hungry."

Zabuza's head poked out not long after, bandages loose from his face and around his neck, and the man gave him a smirk that told Kakashi he was probably going to be having a headache today regardless of however many painkillers he took or glasses of water he drank. "Good, you're here. It was too hot for my guest, but Haku got a bit overambitious in solving the problem." It was an awful lie even by Kakashi's standards. Zabuza glanced at Suigetsu. "You're staying and guarding the door."

The damage from a sudden and severe freeze would be enough to knock out any hidden cameras, nevermind what moisture would do to any microphones meant to pick up on conversation that were only rated for domestic spying. This was now going to be Kakashi's problem to report— to Shinju, since technically the chūnin on duty was responsible for anything like that breaking— and his problem in general, since this didn't appear to mean that Zabuza wasn't planning on including him in whatever was happening to begin with.

Tenzō gave him a look he didn't deserve and shoved the bento that was supposed to be Kakashi's into Suigetsu's hands. He suddenly regretted not eating it when he had the chance, because Tenzō giving food that was originally meant for him away meant that he was going to have to do something eventually if he didn't want Tenzō to be bothering him over it for the next several months.

It was made more galling by the fact that Suigetsu, who had proven to be a more petulant and violence-inclined brat than most genin, gave Tenzō a thankful look before beginning to cram the contents down his throat as they entered the meeting room.

Inside, Haku was standing directly under the ventilation grate, which was lightly coated in what appeared to be a slow build-up of frost caused from the snowflakes that were slowly being sucked in.

But Zabuza's apprentice wasn't the one that gained Kakashi's focus.

That was the man sitting at the table in a way that allowed him a view of both the door and the room's window. Half sprawled in his tilted-back chair with the black robe he was wearing open, Hoshigaki Kisame stared at Kakashi with a shark-toothed smile, the giant sword that must be Samehada leaning against the wall right next to him. The missing-nin who was known for assassinating daimyō and being a near-unstoppable force showed no sign of concern at being in the middle of a foreign village.

"Hatake Kakashi the copy-nin… isn't this interesting?"

Kakashi felt his head begin to throb.

Ino was staring at me when I opened my eyes, and I wasn't able to resist making a face. Her face turned bright red and she hastily turned away, looking towards everyone else instead.

I had no idea what that was about and didn't want to ask; it seemed that while Sakura had mostly toned it down in these dreams, Ino had not. Not for the first time, I regretted being reminded so vividly of middle school and early high school relationship drama, especially after yesterday's lunch with Xochitl when I had admitted to having these dreams to her.

I wasn't so sure these were stress dreams or came from some terrible, hidden desire to return to the feral experience that was middle school. I hadn't pursued a teaching certification for a reason. Her attempt at some kind of sympathy and advice hadn't stopped her from asking with wagging eyebrows if I thought Kakashi was hot anyways, or prevented me from smacking her with my cane afterwards.

Kakashi, especially in his role as sensei to Team Seven, was about as hot as a flaming compost pile. I still felt better about everything when I went to class after, enough that when I got home I even had dinner. Two meals in a day.

Deciding to ignore Ino being an awkward twelve year old girl for now, at least, I sat up all the way, feeling annoyed that the extra rest had helped. Then again, Sasuke did have a concussion. I vaguely remembered that rest was supposed to help with that sort of thing for recovery.

A bit further off, Jiraiya had the other four paying rapt attention to him. I wandered over.

Jiraiya was crouched down in front of a clear patch of dirt, drawing in it with a stick. There were plenty of weird-looking squiggles around a central spiral pattern, but from the fact that Sakura, Shino, Shikamaru, and even Naruto didn't look confused, it apparently made sense.

Jiraiya looked up, and gave me a toothy grin. "Sleep well?"

I made a face at him.

He laughed, and stood up, taking his time to do so with his hands on his knees. "That's enough of a break for now."

"Hey, you didn't show us how to finish it!"

Jiraiya prodded Naruto with the stick, and Naruto swatted it away before snatching it. "I showed you enough. Why don't you see if you can finish this one? Use what I taught you."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya, doubt clear in his eyes.

"Jiraiya-sama, if he finishes this seal incorrectly, what could happen?" Shino asked.

"It probably shouldn't explode or anything," was his answer. It was too evasive.

Sakura met my eyes, and we both backed away to stand behind the next ring of trees out, Shino and Shikamaru joining me behind the tree I picked.

Naruto made a rude gesture, before dropping into a crouch and adding more to it, tongue sticking out in concentration as he did.

Naruto straightened up, a determined look on his face, and presumably did that.

Nothing immediately exploded, and for a few seconds, it was silent. Shino yanked Shikamaru back behind the tree when the other boy was about to step out from behind the shelter we had taken.

It was a wise decision because all of a sudden, a giant gust kicked up coming from the ground where the seal was, strong enough that it sent dirt, leaves and twigs into the air, Naruto and Jiraiya's clothes billowing and the older man's hair straight up until Jiraiya dragged his foot through it all, cutting the seal off.

"Next time," Jiraiya said, after spitting dirt out of his mouth, "use less chakra."

Naruto rubbed his tongue on the bottom hem of his shirt. "Okay. Got it."

I helpfully pulled a missed twig out from Shino's hair after combing a hand through mine to get rid of the fallen tree bits that had gotten in it. Shikamaru took his hair out of his ponytail to try and get the debris out.

Sakura ended up pulling her brush out of her pack. She and Ino had been a bit closer to ground zero, and had more hair.

By the time we got back to the road, Sakura had brushed her hair out, had helped Shikamaru with his, and was now in the middle of brushing Ino's, walking in sync a few steps behind the blonde.

Jiraiya was still fighting with his own hair, running a hand through it going from the very bottom. He had a long way to go, and I did not envy him.

"I bet Sakura-chan would let you use her hairbrush next," Naruto suggested.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes slightly. "I'm not borrowing a twelve year old girl's hairbrush."

"I'm thirteen!"

"Fine, thirteen. Still not."

Even when we stopped for further breaks, there were no further practical lessons, though Jiraiya was still explaining— if slowly and having to sometimes repeat himself or break things down further— to a mostly-interested Naruto. Sakura and Ino listened in as well, but any interest Shikamaru had seemed to disappear with the fact his hair needed to get brushed, and by Sakura, since she refused to relinquish her hairbrush at all. That probably played a role in Jiraiya's refusal, if I was guessing. The road we were on gradually went from large, to small, and then larger again as we took different routes that slowly took us eastward.

It was early evening, the sun about to set, when we finally reached the boundaries of a small village, surrounded by a wall. It wasn't gated, but it was narrowly built, none of the buildings that I could see from our direction stretching out past the road itself. They also looked much more dated than anything else in these dreams, except for maybe some of the buildings in the village where we had come across Jiraiya in the first place.

Jiraiya looked pleased, presumably at the prospect of shaking himself off children for a while. "We're staying here for the night."

Shikamaru, on the other hand, not so much. "Here? I thought we were trying to lay low."

"We will be. Places like this see constant travelers, since they're funded by the capital. As long as none of you try to pull off anything big or get too loud—" he glanced at Naruto— "no one's gonna remember any of you. Especially not during this time of the year."

"Why this time of year?" I asked. By all appearances, the kids weren't going to ask.

Jiraiya gave me an unimpressed look.

I ended up putting it together, to my own dismay, about ten minutes later, when Jiraiya shoved me into a general store just on the inside of the walls with the reminder to find a jacket, Sakura and Naruto trailing in after me.

The inside of the general store was crawling with children. Most of them were accompanied by what were probably their parents, but it was still enough that even Naruto was giving the whole interior a side-eye, probably because he was the one used to being the loudest in a room. While none of the kids in here were being bratty, there were still enough of the under-ten crowd for it to be mildly overwhelming.

In the far corner, they sold clothes, separated by a shelf from a toiletry section which was mostly filled with travel-sized goods or products that were easy to pack away. It wasn't particularly big, or stocked with a wide variety of things, just giving me more of an impression that this store was meant for travelers more than anything else.

Out of spite for the demand of it being a jacket, I ended up picking out a short-sleeved haori in a charcoal grey. I had to drag both Naruto and Sakura out of the short aisle of books and magazines, but not after grabbing a 'Updated Maps and Geography of Fire Country' out of sheer curiosity.

It took longer to wait in line for the cashier than it did to actually choose anything, which was probably why the others waited outside. The store itself wasn't uncomfortably crowded, but it was close enough to not want to come in if you didn't have to.

We were led to an inn after that, and up to a single large room. It had bedding stowed away against one wall, enough for a group this size, and not exactly a new experience after dreaming so long about the Wave mission, but what was fascinating to me, at least, was the CRT TV on a low stand on the other side of the room. I had 'inherited' our old one back when I was in high school— my mom wasn't so willing to throw out something that was still working, especially when it meant carrying it out of our second story apartment back then— but these days it was lying in state in my abuela's garage, occasionally trying to break toes.

What kind of channels did ninja world television have?

Jiraiya unslung his pack by the door and after casting a glance at Sakura, yanked a hairbrush out of it, and ran it through his hair, getting out the worst of the snarls from Naruto's brief adventure with fuinjutsu.

"Right," he started, after he shoved it back in, "I'm going to be waiting to meet a contact at the izakaya at the other end of the street from here. You don't need to stay here, but I don't want any of you going in there."

This gathered a mix of expressions, ranging from doubt on Shikamaru's, to utter disbelief from Naruto.

"If you don't want us to follow you there, why are you telling us?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's actually women, isn't it?" Sakura let out a small noise of disdain.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "No, it's not women. I still have work to do and I don't need you brats gumming up my work unless there's an emergency. If something happens, send the Aburame."

Shino didn't look particularly happy at being set up for this.

Naruto squinted his eyes at Shino, and then looked up at Jiraiya. "What if something happens to him?"

"Then send Sakura if you have to. Get some food and sleep, because we're leaving in the morning." With that, he left.

Shikamaru looked around at everyone and without saying anything, pulled one of the futons out from where they were stacked, and fell face forward onto it with an impressive flop.

"That's not very hygienic." Shino walked towards the window, where he set his own bag down and began to pull things out.

"Shikamaru!" Ino grabbed one of his arms and attempted to yank him upwards. "At least go take a shower first!"

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, that's gross."

Sakura stared at Naruto, probably over the idea of him calling anything gross, before shaking her head. "I'm going to go find somewhere to eat," she decided.

In the end, those turned out to be the magic words to get everyone to leave the inn, including Shikamaru, though in his case Ino had to roll him off of the futon first. I reluctantly pulled the haori on when we left, with a last look at the TV, though I took the map book with me.

Thankfully, the assortment of magical middle schoolers I was stuck within these dreams were just at the right age where they were beginning to find other, slightly younger children obnoxious or preferable to avoid, which meant that we ended up inside a more casual sit-down restaurant rather than a ramen stall that had a loud toddler at it, right next to a window that looked out onto the road.

While we waited for the food, I pulled out and unfolded the large map. Somehow to my surprise and not, Konoha wasn't just labeled on it, but had its leaf symbol as a marker, surrounded by dots for towns and the lines that indicated different kinds of roads. Not exactly a Hidden Village.

A brief glance of black and red outside the window tore my attention from the map, especially as the kids started to talk about where they had gone before this, and where they wanted to visit.

I woke up still exhausted but feeling better than I had for the last several days. It seemed I had forgotten that attempting to take care of myself— by way of eating food and drinking water— helped me feel like less of a complete raging trashfire. Funny how that worked.

I closed the still-concerningly-multiplying tabs of Naruto-related internet content on my phone, admired the photo of Xochitl's mother's obese 18-year-old Chihuahua, toothlessly drooling in a Cowboys jersey themed dog sweater, and left my mother on read when I saw her text about brunch this weekend with Abuela until I looked up where to buy tattoo concealer before I left for campus.

TA a class. Attend my grad level course. Buy tattoo concealer.

That was all I had to do today, and with that, I could mostly melt into a puddle for the next week. I just had to survive the next few hours to make it to spring break.

Chapter 17: No Such Thing as Time to Kill

Chapter Text

I closed my eyes and pressed a hand to a temple as my head pulsed.

"Sasuke-kun, are you alright?" Sakura asked. She gave me the look she had given me the other day— yesterday? It had to be— when they had come to check up on me.

I resisted making a face. "I'm alright," I grumbled. I reached into my pocket— and was reminded that I had forgotten the painkillers in my pack. I gave up and made a face anyway. "I forgot my pills."

"Oh. Do you want me to go get them for you?"

Naruto looked cautiously between the two of us, which only made everyone else start to focus on our conversation, since he couldn't even manage to do that without drawing attention somehow.

"No," I answered, trying my best to not grit my teeth. I knew she was just trying to be nice but... "I can go get them myself."

"Oh, right." She flushed slightly, and it just made me feel worse than the threatening headache and itch of something did.

"Thanks though," I muttered. "I'll try to come back." I looked over everyone else. Ino was still Ino, and while Sakura had eased off, I had the suspicion Ino had been stalking me. Sakura was out. I didn't want to send her mixed messages. Naruto was antsy when it came to anything that involved taking money from others. I couldn't trust Shikamaru to not fall asleep. I focused on Shino. "If I don't come back, see if you can bring my food back to the room?"

He nodded, which was good enough for me.

I grabbed the map book I had bought on a whim and left, trying to not feel off. My head had felt mostly okay since Kakashi woke me up this morning, and it was annoying that it flared up now. I hadn't even done anything to cause it. I could still see Sakura's concerned face from the window when I walked away.

As I walked up the street to our inn, I tried to not feel too sorry for myself. I was better than that, but it was hard not to. Everything since our mission to Wave…

Kakashi still looked at me sometimes like he expected me to snap. He had trained me one on one for the tournament, and Naruto and Sakura gave me envious looks over that— Sakura when she thought I wouldn't notice— but even Naruto had learned new things from the people who had trained them for the tournament. He got trained by one of the Legendary Sannin. I just got to be bitten by one.

I had nothing to show for any of it except even more paperwork stuffed into my medical folder and a concussion they refused to touch because of everything else in that dumb file. It wasn't that serious, according to the medic-nin, even though I didn't remember a lot of the tournament or the attack because of it. I would just have to recover the natural way, without the help of chakra.

Maybe I could have tolerated being an invalid if I hadn't been packed off with the others to join Jiraiya of the Sannin. Then again, when I had tried to sneak off and train yesterday, I had thrown up immediately because I got dizzy from trying to run, so maybe not.

I saw the black and red again ahead of me, slowly heading for the izakaya Jiraiya had told us to stay away from, just ahead of a group of people. Red clouds on black fabric. I recognized it, I knew what that was, which meant—

My head only throbbed more in response, and—

I lost the thought.

The headache was from the concussion.

The thought escaping me wasn't.

Whatever I knew about that pattern was related to whatever happened the night most of the clan died. It was related to my brother, somehow. It had to be. It had that same feeling of getting too close and slipping out of my grasp, like every time I tried to think about that night.

I went up the inn stairs as fast as I could and went into our rented room, going straight for my bag. I pulled the bottle of painkillers out and dry-swallowed two, before shoving it into one of my pockets and yanking out my journal and pen, drawing the cloud design I remembered as best as I could on a fresh page.

I wondered if I could blame the concussion on how bad the cloud came out, but I was never that good at drawing. Trying to draw without putting the journal down on a surface meant that the cloud looked more like one of the poop doodles Naruto liked to put on any paper he got his hands on in the academy. Just lopsided. I labelled it as 'Red clouds?' before stuffing it back in with the map book and closing the bag.

Jiraiya didn't want us to go to the izakaya. He even told us he was meeting someone there. He specifically picked two people for if any of us had to go for him in the first place. Was it connected?

I tried to go over what I knew and could actually think about.

Naruto was loud and could be kinda dumb, though I wasn't sure I was in any position to be calling him dumb right now. Apparently plenty of people knew he had the Kyūbi sealed into him, but I wasn't sure if that would be enough of a reason for Jiraiya to not want him to go get him if something happened. Ino was loud and bossy, but not as much since she ended up in the hospital. She was more weird these days, but was apparently a target. Shikamaru looked like his dad. I was… Orochimaru wanted me.

All of this meant… I had no idea. Sakura was with Naruto and I when Orochimaru showed up and Shino was apparently also at risk. I didn't know.

I left the inn.

By now it was mostly dark, and all of the lights along the street were on.

I headed for the izakaya, only barely stopping myself from turning to enter it at the last moment.

I wasn't in the village, and I didn't have my hitai-ate. Post towns like this were run by Fire's government and were supposed to be more stringent, since safe travel depended on them; without an adult or proof that I was a ninja, I'd get shooed right back out, even if I wasn't going to try to order alcohol on the sly. Minors weren't supposed to go into bars. I wasn't even sure I wouldn't get thrown out even if I did have my hitai-ate.

I wasn't supposed to be exerting myself, but transformation jutsu weren't that hard to do. They didn't count.

I went down a narrow side road, and once I made sure I couldn't be seen, I ran through the seals, transforming myself so I looked like a civilian man around Kakashi's age. Old enough to go in without being asked questions.

I made it a handful of increasingly uncoordinated and unbalanced steps before I had to stop moving and retch into the grass.

A concussion combined with a different size and shape from being transformed was not a good idea then.

I ended it.

I was going to have to try and remember this so I could look up why trying that ended up being Puke Jutsu instead. I was tired of throwing up. I was also not ever going to call it that outloud, at least near Naruto.

I ended up settling for staking out the izakaya from the across the street, where I tried to not be too obvious. There were a bunch of food stalls set up with seats, and I chose the one with a few civilians my age hanging around it. I was fine with takoyaki, and I needed something, between throwing up and missing dinner.

I don't know exactly how long I lasted, but I wasn't able to wait anymore. Jiraiya didn't show any signs of coming out soon, and if I took any longer, the others were going to realize that I wasn't in the inn room.

I entered the izakaya.

To my irritation, no one said anything. I couldn't begin to guess if it was because they didn't care or because it was late enough for them to expect kids to go looking for their adult companions, or something. It wasn't like I had ever gone into any kind of bar before.

Inside, it was dimly lit and smoke-filled, and more crowded than I expected at tables in the front, a stretch of enclosed booths stretching back. There was also a set of stairs, with more booths overlooking the main room and bar area.

It was busy and I couldn't see Jiraiya in here. No one wearing black with red clouds, either. Maybe he was in one of the booths?

"Are you looking for someone?" a civilian woman asked. She had an apron on over her clothes.

"I'm looking for an old man with long white hair," I said.

"You're looking for your grandpa?"

I resist making a face. "Um, yeah." I wasn't entirely sure that Jiraiya was that old. I also didn't want to imagine being related to him. "He's kind of a pervert."

"Oh," she went, in a way that didn't say very much but still did. "He's in a booth upstairs with his friend, all the way at the end."

I felt very stupid going up the stairs.

I had waited for no reason.

There was also the fact that I was willingly heading towards an unknown situation, unarmed, and if I exerted myself too much I was probably going to throw up bits of takoyaki.

Up here, the booths were more like small rooms, all with doors. A few of them were empty, doors open, but most of them were closed, the people inside barely visible silhouettes, unless they were trying to get attention for new orders.

I approached the end of the upstairs booths.

This was dumb. This was very dumb.

But the red clouds on black meant something, and I didn't know why.

The woman had said the booth at the end.

From the outside, one of the shadowed figures was bulky. Almost doubled.

Maybe there was more than one person…? These booths were large enough for several people, after all.

Before I could push myself into action— whether to open the doors or to leave— the doors opened.

Jiraiya looked at me in surprise.

The other figure was dressed in a black robe, red clouds on top. His thin black hair was pulled back in thin rows that exposed his scalp, tied back so they fanned back up his head, and his lower face was covered by a black veil. Obviously ugly in a way that made our guesses about what was under Kakashi's mask seem tame in comparison.

His eyes focused on me, rising from his seat, an arm shooting out at me so quickly that I was barely able to process it— only for it to be blocked by Jiraiya, who had moved just as quickly.

I don't know what I expected.

Jiraiya's head twisted towards me; he was clearly unhappy. "Back off, brat." He turned his attention back towards Sasori, wagging a finger. "Are you trying to get the attention of the whole place or something?"

Sasori let out a sound of irritation. "Don't play with me, Jiraiya."

"Who's playing?" Jiraiya shrugged, flapping a hand. "You saw how busy it was outside and in here. All those civilian families traveling with kids while their schools are out. We're a few hours away from Konohagakure for any ninja worth their hitai-ate. Do you really want to start something in a civilian area like this?" Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "You know as well as I do that won't further your plans. Leave the kid alone and go. You got more information out of this meeting than I did. Maybe you'll find our mutual 'friend' first." Jiraiya's grin, showing all his teeth, wasn't that friendly looking. It was like the first time I saw him.

The silence was more than uneasy.

Sasori gave in. "I suppose this is over for now."

As he trudged past, something flicked outwards towards me, and Jiraiya blocked it again, arm guard against the flat of a blade.

A metal tail had whipped out from under the robes faster than I could process.

"Do you really want a go?" There was a sharp, almost-frightening edge to Jiraiya's voice. Kakashi had said Orochimaru was supposed to be strong enough to destroy countries alone, and if Jiraiya was supposed to be on the same level…

A fight in a place like this wouldn't go well for anyone not Jiraiya.

The bladed tail retracted. "Next time I decide the location."

Jiraiya didn't let his guard down until Sasori went all the way down the stairs and disappeared out the door.

He lifted me up by the front of my shirt and dropped me inside of the booth he had just been in, on the side Sasori had been sitting in. "Sit." He closed the booth doors behind him, and slapped a sealing tag down the middle where they met. He had dropped the grinning, goofy, and dramatic behavior entirely, and was staring down at me seriously. "I expected something this stupidly impulsive from Naruto, but that concussion is probably scrambling your brain, isn't it?"

I stared down at the table instead. All the dishes, sake bottles, and both sake cups were on Jiraiya's side. There was even a half-empty beer glass. I didn't know what to say. "I had to know."

"Know what?"

"The red clouds…" I muttered. "I thought—" I cut myself off, and tried again. "It doesn't matter. I didn't know it'd be Sasori."

I heard Jiraiya shift in the seat across from me, and I felt a hand grip my chin. He forced my head up, looking me in the eye, "How do you know that name?"

I blinked. "He—" No. "You—"

"We never said his name, Sasuke. Where'd you pick it up?"

"I don't know."

"You're a fresh genin. Sasori was a big name back before you were born. He's an S-rank missing-nin. Most people don't even know he's still alive." His eyes narrowed. "How do you know?"

"I already told you, I don't know!" I pulled back from him, retreating to the corner. The tag had to be to keep the door closed. I was stuck in here with him unless I forced my way out somehow, the booth was made of wood—

Jiraiya yanked my hands apart before I made it halfway through the seals. "Don't do anything stupid, brat."

"I don't know, I didn't know who you were meeting up with until I saw him, I just knew his name…" My head pulsed, and I winced.

Jiraiya stared at me for a while, before eventually shaking his head. "Your whole team must be driving Kakashi out of his damn mind. If his hair wasn't gray already, he'd probably be heading that way because of you three. Sakura-chan's innocent little words might have us heading for war, Naruto's made friends with Sand's murderous jinchūriki, and then there's you…"

It didn't make me feel any better that whatever it was about me he wasn't saying, Jiraiya felt comfortable comparing it to those things, and I didn't know how to feel about the fact that he apparently knew more about what happened on the mission in Wave than anyone in the village did. Kakashi had to have told him. I eyed him cautiously, before testing a question that didn't have anything to do with what I really wanted to ask. "You really think we're going to go to war?"

He shrugged. "We might, we might not. The whole thing with Mist is a mess that'll probably screw up the political balance in the east whatever happens. Did you even eat?"

I didn't answer, but he shoved the bowl of edamame at me. It was already half picked over. I ignored it.

Jiraiya pressed the tips of his fingers together, flexing them as a bridge, looking at me over them. Whatever he was thinking, he didn't say, but eventually he yanked the tag off the doors, leaving bits of paper still on the wood. There were more mismatching bits under those. He must have used another before.

The waitress from before came up not long after. "Will there be anything else?"

There was no sign of the deadly serious man he had been when I came across them earlier with her appearance. Suddenly, his face was looking flushed, and he was visibly leering at her in a way that made me feel more uncomfortable than anything before had. "That's it! Just the bill! The kid came to bring me money!" He laughed, loudly.

Under the table, I curled my hands into balls, nails pressing into my palms, trying my best to not protest. I knew what he was doing. I had thrown off whatever he had been doing and nearly put not just myself, but everyone in danger, including civilians. Being forced to pay for it was probably the least of what I could expect as punishment.

The woman's eyelids lowered, unimpressed, and she left, presumably to get the receipt.

The moment she did, Jiraiya tilted his head a bit at me. "Not going to argue?"

I scowled. "I'm not dumb."

He laughed more, and my stomach grumbled. The takoyaki hadn't been enough, after throwing up.

I looked over the plates still present on the table and snatched the karaage next to his elbow, since that showed the fewest signs of being picked at.

Jiraiya stopped laughing. "Hey! That's mine."

I hunkered over the dish protectively. "No, it's mine now, you're making me pay for everything and I'm hungry." Before he could steal it back, I resorted to something I vaguely remembered from when I was younger from other clan members who also had siblings, and more recently from Naruto being just generally obnoxious; I picked up the plate and licked it.

He made a sound of disgust, which meant I won on this front, at least.

I still had to pay his bill anyway.

Shino was waiting outside by the red lantern.

"You didn't bother to go in?" Jiraiya asked.

"I decided to wait when I checked and discovered Sasuke was with you. Everyone else is at the inn."

Jiraiya gripped his temples with one hand, shaking his head for a moment. "You'd think with this many of you, you'd think a bit more. Not act like you have half a brain combined."

With that, he started moving, taking long strides that forced both me and Shino to walk quickly to keep up behind him. He was quiet the whole time, both on the street and inside the inn, all the way to the room door.

"Sasuke-kun! You're alright!" Sakura went, right before she stopped speaking, eyes widening at Jiraiya. Shikamaru, Ino, and Naruto eyed him, too.

He nudged both Shino and me into the room in front of him, and closed the door behind him. "The only one with an excuse right now for acting like an impulsive idiot is the Uchiha," he said, folding his arms in front of his chest. "The rest of you let a concussed comrade wander off on his own."

I tried to not glare at him over what I was mostly sure was supposed to be an insult.

"He said he was heading back to the inn!" Naruto protested.

"And you believed him and let him go alone."

"Were we supposed to not trust him?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Not when he's still recovering!" Jiraiya rubbed at his face and sighed. "What the hell do they teach you in the academy these days?"

"Iruka-sensei taught us all basic emergency aid," Ino sounded defensive, and looked offended on Iruka-sensei's behalf.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Concussions aren't a joke. You won't see them that often in the field in serious conditions because enemy ninja usually don't go for headshots like that, but they can wind up more deadly or cause more problems than anything else, especially if they're not noticed. It might be harder to fight with an injured arm or leg, but you can still think." He tapped the side of his head with his knuckles. "Get your skull smashed hard enough to make your brain rattle around in there, and it's not the obvious stuff like being off balance that's going to be a problem. It's going to be when you wander right into an obvious trap or give a bad call that gets everyone killed." His eyes focused on me. "Kakashi told me about your little adventure during the attack. Why don't you tell your friends what you did?"

I felt my face and ears begin to heat up as everyone's attention moved to me. "I left the arena clinic to try and help," I said through gritted teeth. "Even though I wasn't in any condition to do anything." I felt better now, but mostly it meant I felt dumb and embarrassed over my actions, because I could tell I hadn't been in my right mind at all.

Ino nodded. "He wasn't really acting like himself."

It didn't make me feel any better to hear that from Ino, who up until the day before the tournament had still been acting weird, like she was seeing through everyone.

"He's lucky. We've figured out a lot about those kinds of injuries by now, so after a few weeks he'll be fine, unlike some of the older ninja who got their heads smashed up during the first war and beginning of the second one." He looked over all of us. "You probably recognize the type, even if you never put it together. Bitter, ugly tempers that seem like they boil over for no reason. Most of them don't work or take missions even though they don't seem to have anything wrong with them physically."

It was an uncomfortable moment because I did, and it looked like everyone else did, too; even Naruto was ducking his head to look at his feet instead.

Jiraiya heaved another sigh. "I think I've got the point across. Stick together, don't let Sasuke wander off to get himself killed or worse because he can't think things through. At least wait until you're all back in the village for that and it won't be my responsibility. I'm not gonna say anything about this to anyone in the village. This is the sort of mistake even experienced jōnin make, there's no point in letting a bunch of genin get penalized for it, especially when some of you are still up for promotion. Got it?"

Our responses were mostly half-hearted, if relieved. I don't think any of us were really that excited about the chance of making chūnin, after how these exams turned out and everything else.

After that, Sakura and Ino left to shower and change, leaving the rest of us alone for a bit longer. The girls had their act together already.

Naruto kept shooting looks at Jiraiya before we went, but I was too busy washing off the grime and letting my muscles properly relax from the water to want to try asking him. Between the tournament, concussion, not wanting to leave my apartment even though it didn't have running water and then a long day on the road, I didn't feel clean. At least at a travel stop like this I didn't stick out.

He still looked deep in thought when we had returned to the room; Jiraiya, with all that hair of his, was still showering.

Shikamaru had spent almost the minimum amount of time in the shower that he needed for washing up and then drying himself off, and gotten back before the rest of us. He hadn't bothered to stay up, and was flopped out on the futon he had pulled out earlier, already dozing off.

I was completely exhausted by the time Jiraiya came back, enough that I was having a hard time focusing on anything. There was no way I was writing in my journal tonight.

Sakura took one look at me and set up a futon for me. I managed to mumble thanks.

Before I passed out, Naruto finally asked whatever it was he had been thinking about.

"Hey, Ero-sennin, you sounded like you know a lot about medical stuff, earlier. Are you able to do that, too?"

Jiraiya laughed, but it didn't sound put-on, or even like he actually found Naruto's question that funny. It was mostly just tired. "Nah, I don't have the chakra control for medical ninjutsu or genjutsu. You just pick up some things if you're around the same people long enough. Everybody does."

"Medical ninjutsu…control, too?"

I drifted off.

Chapter 18: Your Grace is Wasted in Your Face

Chapter Text

"—while I'm out, got it?" Jiraiya was standing in front of me, arms folded.

Not just me, but the kids as well; their expressions were more exasperated than anything else.

"We know!" Naruto insisted. "You've told us every day! We're genin, you don't need to repeat yourself that much!"

"I thought I didn't, except that turned out wrong, didn't it?" Jiraiya immediately shot back.

We were in another hotel room. This one was larger than the one from the last dream, but it was still tatami, the bedding put away for now. I couldn't tell how long it was supposed to be since the last one, but could only guess that Naruto had probably gotten up to something, going from his and Jiraiya's back-and-forth.

Jiraiya finally left, and Naruto grumbled. "We're in a real city, and we can't even go out and look around."

"He probably wouldn't have let us go out even if nothing happened anyways," Shikamaru said with a lazy shrug. "Asuma-sensei says they're different from even the towns near Konoha. They're all just civilians. We'd really just get treated like a bunch of dumb kids. Too much hassle when there's six of us and one of him."

"It's really easy to get lost in a city," Sakura spoke up, which gained her everyone's attention.

"Wait, Sakura-chan, you've been in a city before this?" Naruto looked shocked.

She nodded. "Mmhm! Before our class started the academy, we went to visit my dad's relatives that live near the capital. Konoha's a lot nicer. Everything was all built up or covered over in concrete, even the river." She made a face.

"Urban civilian areas tend to be," Shino commented. "They don't like nature that much. Tou-san and I traveled to one once. He told me to make sure to keep my hive closeby because of pesticides."

Shikamaru nodded, before flopping down onto the tatami. "Give me a forest and some deer any day."

Ino reluctantly nodded. "They might have a bunch of different things to do," she said, voice somewhat wistful, "but the older cities are just really ugly."

These were some wildly assertive opinions for imaginary middle schoolers to have.

"I thought there'd be more people who never left Konoha before we became genin... Am I really the only one?" Naruto made a face. "Wait, Sasuke! What about you?"

I shrugged. I had travelled a lot, and I vaguely remembered that Sasuke probably had, but I didn't feel like trying to say anything.

"Ah! That's not an answer!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. Besides," she gave a meaningful look at me, and then at Naruto, "he probably doesn't want to."

"Huh?" Naruto looked between us, before eventually figuring out what the meaningful look was for, apparently. "Oh! Ohhhhhh. Oh. Yeah."

That could have been over anything from the assumed head trauma to the massacre to Naruto being Naruto.

Shikamaru tilted his head slightly, arms under his head. "Unless we're going to do anything, I'm going to sleep."

"Shikamaru, it's not even nine yet," Ino pointed out.

Shikamaru didn't look particularly convinced by that. If anything, he only stretched out further on the mats, making me wonder if he was going to bother to even get up to grab bedding or just fall asleep like that.

"Oh!" Sakura went. "We could see what's on the TV. The reception clerk said they have cable."

Just like that, every head turned towards her again. The looks on their faces suddenly threw me back to being a child, at my tío's during the peak of summer when it was too hot to even go outside. A whole pack of us cousins, and only one television we were allowed to use.

"There's supposed to be a documentary channel that we don't get back in Konoha," Shino started, contemplatively.

"All the movies we get come out months late," Ino said. "I bet some of those might be available. There's this one romance I read about that I want to see..."

Naruto made a face. "Anything but romance!" He took a step towards the television, only to get stopped by a small buzzing swarm in front of his face. "Agh!" He ducked the kikaichū, and grabbed the remote from the low sitting table.

A three-way scramble for the television remote commenced. I wouldn't have really thought that this sort of thing would play out between Shino, Naruto, and Ino, but while I was curious, I wasn't that particularly interested, Shikamaru was apparently unmotivated for that, and as for Sakura...

"I regret saying anything."

The scuffle migrated over Shikamaru, and in an attempt to avoid Ino's grasps and the bugs, Naruto stepped on him.

"Ow! Hey!" Shikamaru sat upwards, clenching his stomach. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry!" Naruto tripped backward, narrowly missing Shikamaru's head, and let out a wordless shout as a shroud of insects covered the hand gripping the remote. He dropped it.

Shino scooped it up.

Ino's shoulders slumped. "Fine," she started, "but after that, I want to see what they have for the pay channels."

Naruto pouted.

Documentary channel it was, then.

I had no idea what to expect, and judging from the fact the kids settled down nearly immediately to watch— Shikamaru had even moved around to face the TV— it looked like they weren't so used to watching TV that they weren't going to not watch something they didn't want to choose in the first place.

The documentary was a nature one, following several naturalists and an increasingly furtive and stressed-looking ninja who was clearly uncomfortable being taped at all, stress compounded by the fact that the naturalists were either incompetent at avoiding danger or overly confident in his skills to keep them alive.

It became very clear why they had a ninja with them when the footage segued into the group coming across a giant monitor lizard the size of a truck that was not happy about humans showing up; for whatever reason, the people in charge of editing it hadn't cut it out, so there was the documentary voiceover talking about the lizard and its habits, which apparently included occasionally eating people at that size, interspersed with the naturalists yelling at the ninja to not kill said man-eating lizard.

Naruto had his eyes partially covered through this whole portion. "I hope he doesn't kill the poor lizard!"

"He's under contract," Shino pointed out, attention glued to the screen. "Since he's at least a chūnin, he should be able to subdue it without any issues, but if the civilians don't get further away he's going to have a hard time."

"His hitai-ate means that he's from Takigakure," Ino commented. "I didn't even know any of the hidden villages took missions that would have their shinobi get recorded."

"Waterfall is supposed to be small, isn't it? They might have different standards. Haku-sempai said that he and Zabuza-san took plenty of missions they normally wouldn't have if they were part of a village. It might be the same way with the smaller villages." Sakura looked thoughtful. "For all we know, their hired ninja doesn't look like that, and he hasn't really done anything that looks like an obvious specialty."

"I dunno, I think it'd be cool to be on TV," Naruto said. "Maybe not like that, though."

"You're too obnoxious for that," Sakura told him.

Ino made a strangled sound, and I wasn't able to resist snorting.

On the screen, the ninja finally knocked out the lizard.

After that, the documentary became more normal, though it was obvious what footage was probably shot after that because the camera became more focused on keeping the ninja in view any time they came across another animal in some of the footage, while in the beginning, it had mostly ignored him.

Eventually, it ended, and Naruto moved to grab the remote. Unfortunately for him, Ino already had it and had found the TV guide that was in the room, too.

"Sakura, look!" Ino said, voice eager. "There's a whole block of pay channels that have Forest First Kiss! We're not even supposed to get it in Konoha until October! It's supposed to be three hours long!"

Shikamaru groaned.

Sakura let out a delighted squeal and pushed past Naruto to look at the guide. "How much is it? I'll split it."

"Ooh, come down to the reception desk with me, they had some snacks and drinks for sale, too."

I did my best to tune out the overly excited planning, with limited success; this was giving me concerning flashbacks to being invited to a middle school sleepover for Titanic; I had fallen asleep during the middle of the third time we watched it, and woke up to it going for a fifth time. We had managed to keep it going for over fifteen hours.

Sakura and Ino left the room a few minutes later, after promising to bring things back for everyone else.

Naruto dragged his hands down his face. "We're staying somewhere with cable TV and I didn't even get to choose anything to watch… I didn't even have a TV before my apartment got destroyed."

"Why not?" Shino asked.

"I like ramen more than TV," Naruto said, with a shrug. "TVs are expensive, and so is the license. If I really wanna watch something I usually go to the movie theater since it's cheap and it's nice there." He made a face. "Except for when we couldn't go on missions and it was hot. That sucked."

"They aren't particularly worth it," Shino replied. "Especially if you are unable to pick what to watch."

Naruto gave him a skeptical look. "I live alone," he pointed out, before blinking. "Or at least used to?" He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm staying with Ero-sennin, but I dunno if I'm gonna stay there." Naruto's nose wrinkled. "It's kinda weird, living with someone."

Shikamaru shook his head, slowly standing up and meandering over to the open shelving where the blankets and things were stacked. "I'm laying my bedding out before they get here so I can fall asleep," he decided. "You guys should too if you know what's good for you."

"Why?" Naruto asked. "It's just a movie. Are they going to care if we do that while they're watching it?"

"That's not the problem," Shikamaru grumbled, yanking things out. "Ino always gets all soggy over the emotional parts of any movie, and that was before she wound up having her jutsu backfire on her. Her dad said it's going to take a while before she has more control again because her mind is still redeveloping." Someone wasn't exactly thrilled.

I exchanged a look with Naruto, who also didn't look very excited at the prospect of dealing with weepy girls, at least when it was over a movie.

We all got the bedding out and mostly laid out by the time Ino and Sakura returned, both girls looking giddy and eager, with a bag in Sakura's arms which she unloaded on the table. Already sweating glass bottles of soda were joined by a medium-sized bag of popcorn and other packages of different snacks I wasn't quite sure about.

While Sakura handled that, Ino grabbed the remote and changed the channel to one that was already showing ending credits. "It's supposed to start playing again in five minutes!"

Shikamaru only looked at us meaningfully, as though this was supposed to prove what he was saying earlier.

I just shrugged. Even I couldn't resist the occasional mindlessly sappy and questionable romance movie. Just not three hours of one.

Naruto dug around in his gear bag, before pulling out a pen, a cheap but newish-looking pad of paper that was already showing use, and, to my confusion, one of the three-pronged kunai his dad used to have.

Shino frowned as Naruto set the pad of paper and kunai on the table, next to the drinks. "Does Jiraiya-sama know you have that yet?"

Naruto pouted. "No. Don't tell him yet! I think I got it figured out, maybe."

Shikamaru scoffed. "You haven't figured out anything yet. You've just been copying everything on the handle over and over again the last few nights. That's not figuring things out." His eyes flicked over at Ino. "She shouldn't have given that to you to begin with."

Ino shifted around before scoffing. "Well, it's not like anything can happen with those, right?" She didn't sound very confident despite the attempt at posturing.

"I don't think Naruto's going to blow us up, even if he should tell Jiraiya-sama," Sakura said. She grabbed Ino's arm when the other girl opened her mouth to say something and tugged her over toward the TV, in front of the table. "Stop arguing with the boys, let's watch the movie instead."

"Okay," Ino acquiesced.

Shikamaru speculatively eyed her, but gave up without saying anything, and instead left the room to change, coming back in pajamas. He promptly flopped over, pulling his blanket over him, but didn't close his eyes just yet. "Save me one of those sodas for tomorrow."

"They're going to drink it all if you go to sleep now." Shino experimentally poked him with the side of his foot.

Shikamaru grunted at the prodding and rolled over. "Fine. Then they drink it all."

Out of a lack of better ideas, I sat on the other side of the table next to where Naruto was focusing on trying to copy what was on the kunai's handle down on his paper.

As much as I was secretly curious, I couldn't concentrate on the movie. The nature documentary had been easier. Losing focus on it just meant that I didn't lose track of what was going on with that, because the voiceover was constantly explaining what was going on. Losing track of the movie meant that I was only vaguely sure that the long-haired man in red on the screen was supposed to be the leading actress's love interest and that the other long-haired man in green was supposed to be the one she was expected to marry.

Or was it the other way around?

At some point, Shino shook his head at everything and went to sleep.

It didn't help that the editing effects made everything a bit too bright and washed out, and that was starting to give me a headache whenever I looked at the screen for too long, which just reminded me how dumb all of this was.

After a while, I began to notice that Naruto kept looking between me and his concerningly overdrawn paper. "What is it?"

"Oh!" He was startled and said that loud enough to earn a "Ssh!" from Sakura. He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed, quieter. "Do you mind if I try doing something?"

I squinted at him. "Try what?"

"It's fine, it's dumb anyway." He visibly deflated, and I resisted the urge to wince. I didn't mean to sound dismissive. I didn't want to take my grouchiness out on kids, imaginary or otherwise, and unfortunately for me, the dumb magical ninja children were growing on me. Mostly.

"No, it's only dumb because you're not even telling me," I pointed out.

He held up his… whatever the hell it was supposed to be. I could sort of make out what I thought was supposed to be from the kunai's handle, but it was layered with a bunch of other random things I had no idea about, made more complicated by the fact that Naruto's handwriting was sloppy. Something about the whole thing gave me the impression of 'drunken generic Asian-inspired tattoo ideas'. "Can I draw this on you?"

I didn't like that my impression was a bit too on the nose, except for the drunken bit. I wasn't exactly thrilled by the idea, but there was something about Naruto's expression that made it clear that he was expecting to get shot down and dismissed entirely. That made me feel a weird amount of guilt mixed with something else I couldn't pin down. "I don't care. Do whatever."

He managed to cheer quietly rather than attract attention from the girls again and scrambled for his bag, where he pulled out to my confusion a small plastic bag, lumpy with toilet paper. Setting it on the table, he pulled out and unwrapped a bottle of black ink.

Naruto pouted when he looked at me. "Don't look at me like that, it's to make sure it doesn't leak and ruin my stuff."

"Uh-huh."

Sakura and Ino were completely focused on the movie, a fast-paced scene of something going on, with fancy choreographed fighting. At this point, I was totally lost on what was supposed to be happening in it, but it was very eye-catching. A jab, a dodge, a strike, dramatically falling from a rooftop while still fighting midair even though I was pretty sure it shouldn't have taken that long…

Naruto poked me. "Uh, Sasuke? Were you even paying attention to what I said? Take your shirt off."

What. I choked.

"Not like that!" he hissed, eyes darting towards the girls. "Ew!"

"Then don't say it like that!"

"I didn't say it like that to begin with! You weren't listening!" His eyes widened and he covered his mouth with both hands before letting them drop. "Oh no, is this what Iruka-sensei felt like whenever I messed around in class?"

"Probably."

"Ugh." He let an exaggerated shudder rock his shoulders.

"Just get it over with," I grumbled, and I flipped the back of the shirt up over my shoulders. It felt a bit too weird to just take it off entirely.

I felt a finger poke my back with something cool and liquid. I felt it drip. I straightened up. "Are you using your hand?"

"I don't have a brush," Naruto muttered. "Don't move too much, I don't want it to drip on the tatami. That'll really get us in trouble."

Sakura turned around, eyes narrowed. "Naruto, Sasuke-kun, stop being weird, you're distracting us and this is a really good part." She immediately turned around. Sakura's crush on Sasuke apparently didn't extend grace that far. I certainly wasn't going to complain.

As Naruto drew on my back with his hand, I slowly started to wonder how smart this was to do. Probably not very, but I still felt more guilt than I reasonably should have over the fact that Naruto was resorting to questionable art since he couldn't go out and explore a 'real' city. Clearly guilt on my part for not being a good older half-sister, or something, even though they stayed with me in the summer to visit dad's side of the family.

This was still probably less dumb than cutting more than a foot of my hair off in a girl's bathroom at school right before my freshman year photos, though. My mother was still regularly reminding the rest of the family about it, and if she wasn't letting up now over a decade later, I didn't think she ever would.

There was a weird tingling sensation that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on edge. I twisted around. "What was that?"

"Chakra. Nothing bad! Ero-sennin didn't tell me how to do the thing with chakra to begin with yet, just how to add it afterward. It should be dry now?"

I squinted at him, trying to remember why that was raising alarms before it occurred to me. I yanked Sasuke's shirt back down. This wasn't dry at all, and now the shirt was plastered against me, partially wet in spots. "This is just like with the dirt."

"That was only one time," Naruto said with a sulky pout. "I did it better every time since."

"I'm going to sleep," I decided. I wasn't interested in dealing with Naruto's antics anymore, especially with the growing headache I could feel, and that was the quickest way to skip dealing with anything from what I had figured out. No dreams inside the dream. Just instantly knocking out and waking up until it ended.

"Yeah, I should change, too," he agreed.

I stood up and tried to ignore the headache spiking from moving too fast.

Naruto gathered his pajamas, toothbrush, and toothpaste and got to the door first, opening it, stepping outside, and then quickly rushing back in and scrambling for the bottle of ink left on the table in a way that got Ino and Sakura's attention. "Ero-sennin's coming back!"

Before any of us could ask what he was doing, he took a panicked look at the door, pried off the lid, and chugged the ink, stuffing its container and the kunai down his shorts. The sheet of paper he had originally put the design on got shoved into his mouth, and he began to chew it. Naruto's face was contorting in disgust the whole time before he started to rub at his mouth and tongue, stopping the second the door opened.

"I'm back," Jiraiya grunted, as he pulled off his sandals. He took one look at us: Shino and Shikamaru were asleep, Naruto looked like he was about to throw up, and my, Ino, and Sakura's attentions were divided between him and Naruto. He directed his attention to the television, and let out a laugh. "Don't like romance, brat?"

Naruto forced himself to swallow behind his hands and bolted out the door.

I shrugged, picked up what he had left behind, and took them with me to follow.

I found Naruto in the men's bathroom sink area, alternating between scrubbing his mouth with soap on one hand and spitting everything out in black and grey bubbles. His lips were black from the ink still. It was totally self-inflicted. "Ppppftbbbtt! Ugh! That was so gross!"

"Why did you do it, then?"

"I didn't want him to know what I was doing!"

"You could have said you had an interest in drawing." Sai used ink to draw with, after all. That was his whole gimmick.

Naruto stared at me for a moment, dead-eyed in clear disbelief. "I drank a whole bottle of ink for nothing…"

I offered him his toothbrush, and he gave me a dirty look before snatching both it and the toothpaste out of my grasp. He squirted a giant clump of toothpaste onto his brush before shoving the whole thing into his mouth.

"Don't eat the toothpaste," I said, feeling helpful. I wasn't entirely sure why we brought our own toothpaste or toothbrushes, because right next to a bench meant to be used presumably for people changing, there was a little wall-mounting vending machine for free ones.

He scowled at me, but didn't say anything, too busy brushing the ink out of his mouth.

Sasuke's toothpaste was still weird to me, completely unflavored, and I did my best to keep my eyes focused on the sink in front of me instead of the mirror. I didn't like looking at Sasuke's reflection in the mirror if I didn't have to.

When we returned to the room, Jiraiya was sitting at the table, watching the movie as well.

Naruto looked like he wanted to say something, but instead, he just made a face, sticking his tongue out at Jiraiya's back, before quietly putting the three-pronged kunai into his bag.

I went to sleep, ignoring the still-playing movie.

When I woke up, it was still running, at a quieter volume, which almost distracted me from the fact that Naruto's arm was flopped out on top of me. He had set up his bedding near me. I shoved his arm away as I sat up. He let out a snort and turned over, still asleep.

Jiraiya was looking at me, sitting at the table again, though this time he had a stack of books out and a writing pad. No one else was in the room, bedding already folded up in a mostly neat pile. "The rest of the kids are getting changed," he said, idly, writing something down with a normal pen. It looked ridiculously out of place compared to the rest of his usual getup and the giant scroll holder leaning against the wall next to his bag. "We're leaving the hotel when everyone's ready."

I poked Naruto with the side of my foot. "Wake up." To my extreme dismay, he wrapped his arms around my ankle instead. He was cuddling against it.

Shino entered the room to this, and he tilted his head down to look at Naruto and then up at me. "Good morning," he said, once he was done staring, and walked right past us to go over to his bag.

I shook my leg until Naruto woke up, blinked at what he was doing, and shot up, escaping the room with his clothes without even saying anything.

Shikamaru entered the room not long after that, in the middle of tying his hair up. "What's with Naruto?" he asked.

"Don't ask," I said, collecting clothes to wear. The shirt from yesterday was a no-go, I decided, but at some point, a normal t-shirt in a steel grey had mysteriously joined the others. Probably because every single other shirt Sasuke owned had the red and white uchiwa on the back and needed to be covered up. I pulled that one out, slipping the bottle of painkillers into the pockets of the shorts.

Naruto sped up getting ready when I joined him and fled. For whatever reason he had, he was embarrassed at cuddling my leg. Which, fair. I wasn't exactly thrilled either.

I tried to not think while getting washed up and changed in the bathroom.

To my confusion, when I returned to the room, the table was cleared off of Jiraiya's things, everyone's bags were gone, and Jiraiya tossed a scroll at me. "Seal your bag up," he said.

I grabbed it out of the air. "What?"

"Unfurl the scroll, put your bag on the center, and push chakra into it," he told me. "When you're done, hand it over."

Glancing at the kids, they looked as unsure as I felt, Shikamaru shrugging.

I followed the instructions, taking a step back when the bag actually disappeared. I tentatively picked it up, rolling it back up and handing it off to Jiraiya, who tucked it out of sight.

Unexpectedly, Naruto cheered. "It worked!"

"I let him make it," Jiraiya said, smirking.

"He said it wouldn't do anything if it didn't work," Sakura spoke up, sheepish.

We left the hotel, with only a short pause while Jiraiya paid.

The street outside was paved over with cement, and the whole area was more built up and modern looking than anything I remembered from the series.

"We didn't even get to look around," Naruto grumbled. "At this rate, I'm never going to have a chance."

"We aren't leaving just yet," Jiraiya told him, rolling his eyes. "I have something else to do first. It shouldn't take too long; an hour and a half, two at most."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"He's probably not going to tell us," Sakura said.

Jiraiya laughed. "A book signing!"

"You took our things because of a book signing…?" Shino sounded baffled.

"As far as my publisher's aware, I'm here alone. I told them I was going to be here, and they arranged a book signing and fan meet and greet at a store nearby." He shrugged expressively, but he didn't look apologetic. "It's part of my publishing contract, so I have to do it."

"But you're—" Naruto cut himself off. "They can just make you do things?" He looked completely baffled, but he wasn't the only one. All of the other kids looked varying amounts of confused and mystified at the idea.

Jiraiya only laughed.

"What are we supposed to do, then?" Shino asked.

Jiraiya flapped a hand. "There are a bunch of restaurants that have all kinds of food near the bookstore, even foreign ones. Go eat, stay in the area, don't wander off, and go into the bookstore when you're done." He squinted at us for a moment. "Stay away from where it's happening, I'm not into getting into trouble with anyone's parents."

"What about me and Sasuke?" Naruto loudly asked.

Jiraiya made a face. "Do you really think any of their parents are going to be fine with either of you snooping around when you're hanging with their kids?"

"Maybe?"

Shikamaru grimaced and shook his head. "Don't get me lectured because you decided to be stupid."

With that handled, we walked after him at a short enough distance to not get lost but far enough that we didn't look like we were with him until he disappeared out of sight— joined by a man in a suit and tie— into a large, three-story bookstore with multiple entrances crammed between two even larger buildings.

The scale of the buildings on the street was almost overwhelming, reminding me of trips to cities that had more built-up downtowns than mine, and even then it was still clear from the skyline that we weren't even in the densest part.

The kids looked almost dazed from everything available.

"How are there so many places that have so many different foods?" Naruto asked. He was slowly turning around in place, trying to look at every single restaurant available. "Can't we just get—"

"We're not getting ramen," Sakura said, cutting him off.

"Some of these foods aren't sold anywhere within a day of Konoha," Shino quietly added.

"I'm not choosing, but we're definitely not getting ramen."

Next to Shikamaru, Ino's eyes went wide. "There's a pancake place."

To my complete confusion, this resulted in more excitement than I would have expected over pancakes from a bunch of kids this age. Getting excited over pancakes like this was for five-year-old children or spectacularly drunk twenty-something-year-olds after a night of binge drinking. Not middle schoolers. They were supposed to be occupied with starting to pretend they were mature.

It wasn't until we were in line to be sat that I saw why they were— even Shino— partially giddy over it. The pancakes being served to people who had already ordered were thick, fluffy, jiggly things stacked in pretty-looking towers.

I wasn't sure which of the blonds was more thrilled. Ino had suggested it, but Naruto bounced in place right up until he had a plate in front of them, and I was only fairly sure that his were pancakes as well because it was roughly the same size as mine, just completely covered by toppings. I was the only one who had gone with the plainest ones available; everything else just looked too sweet.

When I tried to stand up, both Shikamaru and Shino immediately yanked me back down into my seat.

"We're not going through that again," Shikamaru said, voice short.

"Through what?"

Shikamaru aimed a disgruntled look at me. "You're a pain like this. I should have sat by Ino instead."

I didn't bother to ask for clarification.

It wasn't until everyone was finished and ready to leave that I was allowed to get up.

We crossed the street into the bookstore, and Naruto came to such a complete and sudden pause that I almost walked into him.

On the other side of the front of the store, still visible beyond the display tables, was Jiraiya, hamming it up in front of a crowd that had far more women than I would have expected. It was mostly women, one of them in the middle of getting her photo taken with him. A tall cardboard cutout with images of the book illustrations was closer to the doors over there, with an employee next to it holding a sign saying there was a book signing today.

"Isn't— Wha— Aren't those the books Kakashi-sensei reads all the time in public?" Sakura slowly asked as she tried to process what was happening over there. She had come to a stop as well, stunned.

"Yeah," Naruto said.

"He writes those?"

"Didn't I tell you?"

"No!"

I gently pushed them forward, towards the stairs.

This was a very large bookstore, and the first time I had serious regret over all of this just being dreams. A three-story bookstore, and not just that, but past the initial strip of shorter display tables and the registers at the front, the shelves were deep and stacked. So many books, and unfairly not real.

I had ended up staying in town instead of doing a trip like I considered for spring break, which meant if I wanted, I could pour all of that extra money into books, and Laila Lalami's new book was supposed to be coming out soon. Then again, my bookshelf needed to be arranged if I was going to try and stuff anything else into it. I wasn't allowing myself to get another one until I either graduated or moved.

I ended up following Shino around when it became clear that for whatever reason I wasn't going to be allowed to look on my own. He ended up heading right for the shelves with all of the science books, eventually coming across the section for bugs. For the life of me, I couldn't remember the proper name for it, and the white placard sticking out with the characters for 'insect' and 'study' wasn't helping, only making me annoyed that I knew what it said.

I tried to not be visibly grumpy about it; Shino was looking happy enough at the large selection in front of him and I didn't want to ruin his mood. I was an adult; crushing the feelings of kids wasn't something I particularly wanted to do. Instead, I just looked around without having any real idea of how the shelves were organized.

Sinking time into hanging around bookstores meant that it felt like no time at all had gone by when the store speakers crackled, and an overly polite woman's voice announced that the book signing event was now over. I looked over at Shino, who was frowning slightly at a door stopper of a book. The thing was a few inches thick; a reference guide on insects.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"We don't have this one at home yet," he said, slowly turning it over. "But I don't have enough space for it in my bag without removing things."

"Can you afford it?"

Shino's lips narrowed for a moment, and he bit down on his lower one. "I save most of my mission pay," he quietly answered. It was probably because the kids weren't supposed to make it clear they were ninja. "I have more than enough."

"Then get it," I told him.

He tilted his head at me, just the slightest. "Sasuke, I have no space." His words were a bit too patient for my liking.

"Where are our bags right now?"

It got through to him immediately. "Oh, I see now. And since Naruto has learned how to seal things away on his own..." He pushed his sunglasses up, letting the sentence fade off instead of finishing it, heading for the registers on this floor.

He wasn't the only one who had the idea of buying something; Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru were ahead of him in line. What looked like a couple of teen girl magazines in Sakura's hands wasn't surprising, and the wooden writing box for traditional calligraphy wasn't too strange for Naruto with his new interest, but Shikamaru had a thick cookbook.

"It's for Chōji and his mom," he said when he noticed I was looking at it. "Ino and I are splitting for it."

"You're not getting anything, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

I shook my head. I had no problem with enabling, but I didn't see any point in buying dream books I wouldn't be able to read.

Jiraiya walked past us just as Shino was done paying, shaking one hand out. Probably from all the writing he had been doing; even if it wasn't completely a solid hour, that was still enough to cramp your hand up, especially if it was repetitive like a signature.

He didn't say anything, just nodding his head towards the doors.

We ended up meeting him outside, or rather, being led away by him for a couple of blocks until he led us down an alleyway, which turned out to be a surprising tangle of them, messier and more out of sight of the main streets than I expected— and smelly, considering he stopped us right next to a row of trash cans.

"Decided to do a bit of shopping?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I bought a writing box with ink and brushes and stuff!" Naruto said, holding up his bag. It was a bit too loud, and almost a bit too strained, but Jiraiya didn't appear to notice.

"Really? Lemme see." He took the bag from Naruto and pulled the box out, slowly opening it. Jiraiya picked up the contents to examine them, mostly the brushes and a thick black stick which he set back in slowly. "Not too bad to get in a place like that," he finally decided. "Not the best quality, and it's better to work with liquid ink if you're practicing and not trying to do anything fancy or ceremonial, but it'll do. Just don't try anything using chakra when I'm not around, got it?"

Naruto nodded his head with a bit too much effort.

Jiraiya pulled the much smaller scrolls out from where he had put them away, quickly releasing everyone's bags in rapid succession, before flipping one of them to Shino. "I figured a couple of you would get a bit too eager. Go on, you can reuse this kind of scroll as long as the seal or too much of the scroll doesn't get damaged."

"How many of your readers are women?" Sakura asked, squinting at him, while Shino carefully placed his new book in the middle of the scroll and sealed it up.

"The women love me," Jiraiya insisted.

Sakura only made a face.

Everything got packed away again, and it was only once it was in order again that we started walking.

The buildings decreased in height faster than I expected, and it wasn't long at all until we were in what was undeniable countryside, dotted with the occasional building in the distance away from the terraced fields around the still-paved road.

Jiraiya kept up an ongoing chattering flow of conversation that managed to be about everything and nothing all at once, though, unlike Naruto, it was clearly on purpose, and very now and then he would glance at me, or Shino, or even Sakura, as though daring any of us to try and say something, as busy as the road was.

Eventually, we turned off on a dirt side road that had far fewer people on it dotted with the occasional house and farmland near it, and from there, one that was even less used, barely a worn path surrounded by long grasses that led into a thick barrier of trees.

The trees were much thicker than any of the others in the nearby vicinity that had been providing shade over the road or the small groves that were left dotted near the buildings out here. The path was narrow and hemmed in by trunks and branches.

While they weren't gargantuan in the same way as the ones in the Forest of Death, they still made me feel uneasy. Suspiciously leafy.

Were trees able to be suspicious?

Jiraiya looked over at me and snorted. "I see someone's already started to catch on," he said.

"Catch on to what?" Naruto asked.

Shino let some of his kikaichū flow out from one of his sleeves; unlike with his normal jacket, the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing was close enough to the skin and thin enough that it was possible to see it move around from the bugs as they emerged from wherever they were hiding. It was interesting to see, if kind of gross, as they left and flew back to him. "These trees have more stored chakra than they should for how old they are," Shino murmured. He sounded disconcerted.

"That's the Shodai's work for you," Jiraiya told us. As if to emphasize this, he slapped the trunk of a nearby tree as we started to walk again. "This used to be an old Senju base." He scratched at his chin for a moment. "Still is, I guess."

Naruto poked at a nearby tree branch and gave Jiraiya a confused look. "Like a hideout or something? This close to a city?"

"Most of the old compounds used to be even farther away from anything than Konoha is," Shikamaru said, speaking up "Tou-san took me to where the Nara one used to be. It was all just forest and deer." He looked disgruntled. "No plumbing or electricity, for that matter."

Naruto made a face. "Your clan used to poop in the woods?"

Shikamaru gave him a dirty look. "No."

"Clans used to take missions back then, too, but you didn't let strangers into where you lived if you could help it," Ino added. She had her arms wrapped around herself.

"So places like this were used for that?" Naruto was glancing around, both at the trees surrounding the path and everyone else.

Jiraiya nodded. "Close enough to be found by civilian messengers without putting the rest of the clan at risk, and being this close to a city usually meant no attacks from rival or enemy clans."

"I still don't understand why," Shino commented. "Tou-san mentioned that as well, but if places like this had less shinobi, doesn't it make sense to eliminate them if they're your enemy?"

"Ignoring the fact that that's a great way to cause or escalate feuds, the nobility don't like it when shinobi pull that sort of crap where they can see it or be immediately affected by it. That would have been a great way to get in a lot of trouble back then."

"But how would the nobles do anything? Especially back then? Civilians can't do the same things shinobi do."

Jiraiya shook his head a bit. "You're an Aburame, you already have the answer to this. It's plenty more complicated than 'this group is shinobi, this group isn't' or 'these people are more powerful than these people'. You're stronger than your little bugs, aren't you?" he asked, getting a hesitant nod in return. "But you rely on them. And your genin teammates have different skills from you to back you up and you do the same for them, right? Everybody's got different capabilities, and sometimes sheer numbers are quality all their own. Just because a noble might not be able to fight a shinobi on their own doesn't mean they can't hire someone else, or complain to the daimyō and clear out your compound or make it illegal for you to buy anything or offer missions or whatever else you can think of.

"There's always things like that, and there's always going to be someone stronger, smarter, or luckier than you around, even if you don't know it yet."

"I see," Shino answered, and he went quiet, and no one else spoke up to fill the immediate silence.

It was probably a bit too much for a pile of twelve and thirteen-year-olds to take in all at once.

"Do you really think luck plays that much of a role?" Ino asked, after several minutes of no one saying anything. "And not something else?"

"It's not that I think it does, I know it does," Jiraiya said, but he didn't expand on it further. Instead, he moved to fully take the lead, and we entered a break in the trees. There was a large clearing.

In the middle was a sprawling traditional building with a wide walkway around it, visibly old, possibly older than the trees surrounding it, from what Jiraiya had said. There was a visible generator set a short distance away from the building that looked like it had been recently installed, between the sharp-edged concrete foundation under it and the fact that the paint and metal still looked new, next to an equally new looking side building in a much plainer style than the traditional-looking main one that was still connected by a covered wooden walkway.

Naruto gave a relieved sigh at the sight of both.

This was different, but I had given up on expecting the dreams to follow the story by now.

We didn't make it to the building before Tsunade walked out.

I couldn't help staring. She was unfairly beautiful. The dumb dream ninja weren't supposed to look like they walked off a modeling photo shoot. Was it possible for something to be too unrealistic for a dream? I tried to remind myself that she was Jiraiya's age and that she made herself look that way on purpose. It didn't completely squash the bit of envy— at least not until Naruto elbowed me and I realized Tsunade was smirking in my direction before she turned her attention on Jiraiya, expression serious.

"So it's true, then?" she asked, crossing her arms. "I can't see why you would have dragged a bunch of kids along with you for any other reason."

"Yeah, it's true," Jiraiya answered, after a while. "You heard already, then."

Tsunade took a breath in, squaring herself. "No point asking why you're here. I need a few days to get everything settled here and close the building up. Then I'll go back with you. Are you going to tell me who all these kids are, or should I start giving them numbers?"

That was it? Nothing else? This was so completely anti-climatic compared to what happened with the series it was a bit disappointing.

"—Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto finished, and I realized I had completely missed the introductions.

Tsunade glanced at me and turned her attention towards Jiraiya again. "What's with the Yamanaka and Uchiha kids?" she asked him.

"If it weren't for everything going on, those two would probably still be in the hospital right now," he told her with a shrug. "Inoichi said his kid just needs time to recover from a mind jutsu gone wrong, but the Uchiha had a bad concussion."

"And you dragged him out here with you?"

He held both his hands up towards her. "Hey, this wasn't my idea. I have no interest in dragging six brats after me for no reason. There were plenty of good ones, that's the only reason I agreed." He jutted a thumb out at me. "The kid's doing better, the medics just didn't fix it back in Konohagakure."

"Are they really that incompetent these days?" Tsunade huffed and was suddenly in front of me faster than I expected, one hand on the back of my head as she leaned over. "Hold still," she said, holding up the other hand. "This should be quick."

Just barely visible past her shoulder, Jiraiya blanched. "Wait a second, that's not why—"

My chest suddenly felt cold.

I jolted awake.

There was ice down my shirt, and suddenly sitting up resulted in freezing cold water and already slightly melty ice cubes sliding the rest of the way down past my chest and down my belly as I flailed at getting it out. "Ah, ah—"

"Rise and shine," Xochitl's voice crooned.

"What the fuck!" I scooped an ice cube up and flung it in the direction I had heard her. "Saying to show up wherever doesn't mean show up when I'm sleeping, you weirdo. Once this week was enough."

"Ew, I don't want your tit ice," she said, blocking it with her hand. Her usual smile turned into a frown. She was already dressed to go out, wearing the bright green halter top I remembered she had texted me about the moment she found it. It went with her makeup meant for tonight. "It's almost six, Socorro. I was texting and calling you for hours."

I rubbed my eyes of the remaining gunk and looked for my phone. It really was almost six PM. I had been asleep for almost a full day. There was an embarrassing number of missed calls, and I grabbed it to make sure none were from my mother, or worse, Abuela, as I scratched my back. It felt tingly, probably because of the ice. "Shit."

"Are you alright?" she asked. "I know grad school's supposed to be difficult and all but—"

"No, I'm good," I insisted as I stood up and headed for my dresser. "I've just let myself get a bit too stressed and missed a bunch of sleep. It's fine, it's spring break. Give me like half an hour to shower first, okay?"

"Okay," Xochitl told me, but she didn't look convinced. "If you say so. Food first, food later, or both?"

"Both." I scooped one of my white bras out, but the remnant thoughts from the dream— of Tsunade— lurked, ugly. I put it down and grabbed the single red one I had instead. The nice one. While this was just going to be an outing with friends— to the lesbian bar downtown because Xochitl wanted to make new bad choices for the weekend she was in town— I deserved to feel and look good too. I wasn't going to allow myself to feel weirdly shamed by my dreams.

She gave me a thumbs up in approval at the choice, before shoving me towards the bathroom.

"But I haven't picked out clothes yet!"

"I'll pick for you," she said. "We're not letting the sexy bra go to waste."

"What's sexy about scars or a limp?! I use a cane!"

"Hey, don't kink shame." She pushed me through and closed the door behind me. "How does sushi sound?" Her voice was muffled through the door.

I shuddered. "No Japanese. Or pancakes."

She laughed. "I could use the taco food poisoning anyways."

I showered, and when I was done drying and doing my hair, I grabbed the tattoo concealer. Better to figure that out first.

It didn't just cover the curse mark that wasn't supposed to be there, but some of the scars, too.

Chapter 19: Your Longing Behind You

Chapter Text

We were walking down a dirt road, and I resisted the urge to react. With the realization I was dreaming came more clarity than I had felt in days. Between Sasuke's concussion, my lack of sleep, and then how much I had drunk before getting home and passing out on the couch, I had felt increasingly stretched to the limits over the last few weeks. It didn't feel that great, actually, going from being drunk and relaxed enough that I felt happy and had even danced a bit at the bar we were at to stark, sudden sobriety.

It was enough to still make me lose my footing and stumble a bit, even though the pace we were going at wasn't that fast.

I heard a snicker. "Get lost in your daydreams, Sasuke-kun?" a girl's voice mocked.

I twisted in that direction. That was... a different pink-haired teenager. The lone girl that was supposed to be part of Orochimaru's kidnapping squad. I couldn't remember what her name was. It didn't help that her hair looked more pink than I remembered. I could have sworn it was supposed to be more of a red.

What was she doing here?

Shizune rapped her knuckles down against the girl's head, hard enough that the resulting knock could be heard even in spite of the hat and hair in the way, and she glowered up at the woman, rubbing at the spot that got hit. "Knock it off, you bitch!"

"If you don't behave, I'm gagging you again," Shizune answered, voice crisp.

"I don't know why she keeps getting ungagged in the first place," Shikamaru muttered. "She says something rude, she gets warned, someone loses their patience, she gets gagged for a few hours, and then it comes out and we start all over again."

"It was repetitive the first day," Shino added.

Tsunade sighed. "She's not actually a prisoner, so we're not going to keep her gagged, as much as the quiet might be nice."

"How am I not a prisoner!? You're keeping me against my will and taking me back to your fucking stupid village with you!" She wasn't tied up or being dragged along by anyone, so I wondered exactly where that was coming in.

Tsunade looked at her nails. "I gave you the chance to leave the same way your master did, it's not my fault you didn't take it. You aren't even going all the way back with us."

"Why would I be willing to get kicked out of sight by some ugly hag?!"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes before smiling. "Just because you're good at pushing buttons, doesn't mean you're going to get the satisfaction of watching it work, Tayuya-chan. Try harder when you're done going through puberty, if you're going to be like that, little girl."

That was her name. Tayuya flushed, visibly bristling.

On the other side of me, Jiraiya swallowed and casually nudged Naruto further over to the side, putting some distance between the two of them and Tsunade.

I decided that given the circumstances of the dreams, I had no interest in being too close to a girl fight and followed their lead. I also had no interest in being too close to girl fights in real life, either, but sometimes with those I had no choice due to being Xochitl's wingwoman whenever she was in town.

This was a larger group than I had expected, really, and I was almost surprised that Jiraiya hadn't decided to leave the kids with Tsunade given that he looked a bit done with everything right now. Shizune was expected. Tayuya though...

She was definitely the wrong minion for this. Then again, Shikamaru's team running into Kabuto wasn't supposed to happen but did in the dreams, and everything else had already gone wonky, so why not her as well?

Tayuya made sense for balancing out the general gender ratio, even if it was clear no one was happy she was with us, herself included.

All the same, the attempt at rationalization fell flat even as I tried to sell myself on it.

Near me, I could see Sakura as she eyed Tsunade, Jiraiya, and then Shizune, before mustering the decision to speak up. "We will be getting back today, right?"

Both Jiraiya and Tsunade answered at the same time. "Maybe." "Depends."

Next to Jiraiya, Naruto stifled a snicker.

Tsunade rolled her eyes as Jiraiya motioned for Tsunade to answer.

"We're going at a regular walking pace for a reason, even though Jiraiya told me at least your team was capable of covering the distance between the coast and Konoha in less than a full day. Because someone—" Jiraiya looked upwards, feigning innocence that didn't look right on him, "—Informed the daimyo's people I was expected to return as an option for being selected as Hokage, moving too fast means there's a chance of missing a messenger meant for me. We're making at least one stop before we reach Konoha."

Shikamaru's face scrunched together. "Why would that matter? The council's still there and I know the jōnin commander is supposed to help make decisions, too."

"The Daimyō and his government call more shots than they tell you in the academy," Tsunade answered. "And unfortunately for me, since he's expecting to appoint me as the next Hokage, it means anything that requires his approval or input is probably going to be on hold. He might even circumvent sending critical information to the village if he thinks I'll be able to receive it first."

"That's stupid," Shikamaru decided.

Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged looks, amusement clear on their faces. "What's stupid about it?" Jiraiya prompted.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at Jiraiya; I could only guess it was because he was smart enough to realize that there was about to be a teaching moment involved, even though he couldn't tell what the lesson was going to be yet. "The Daimyō's a civilian. We're shinobi. Why does he have any input on who should be Hokage?"

Jiraiya let out a low chuckle. "Konoha was founded with permission from the Daimyō. Where do you think most of the money the village brings in comes from?"

"Civilians paying for their missions," Shikamaru promptly answered, but he frowned as soon as he spoke, realizing there was a flaw in there somewhere.

"Do you really think the 5,000 ryo your team gets for babysitting or pulling weeds for a few hours in someone's garden is really coming from the person putting in the request?"

Looking around, it was pretty obvious none of the kids— including Tayuya— were familiar with how money worked.

Naruto squinted at Jiraiya. "Then where's it coming from?"

"D-ranks are subsidized by the village itself," Jiraiya began, cutting off Naruto when it was obvious that was going to be his next question, "which means that the person paying for the mission isn't paying what the mission is worth on paper. The maximum is supposed to be around a tenth of whatever the mission payout is supposed to be, and even then there's usually refunds."

"Really?" Sakura asked.

"We ruined a lot of gardens as kids," Jiraiya said, scratching the side of his nose. "Made a few even smaller kids cry."

"You mean you two did," Tsunade cut in.

"Not with the kids," Jiraiya faked a cough. "Anyway, D-ranks are used to teach how missions are run, get you all used to them and have a chance to practice teamwork and leadership skills and learn things outside of just stabbing shit. C-ranks and up are mostly paid for by taxes depending on what it is unless they're coming from outside of Fire, and even then there's usually crap being done to avoid paying the full price entirely out of pocket. Most of the bigger trade and import companies have regional stuff set up for that reason if they have expensive cargo. They'll hire Leaf-nin for a one-way trip from Fire into Earth, and then Rock-nin on the way back."

Shikamaru still looked unconvinced. "What's that got to do with the Daimyō?"

"The Daimyō's government funds the village," Tsunade answered. "While Konoha might have been able to exist without it, it would be a very different place without the court's involvement. Before the village was founded, only the wealthy were able to hire shinobi clans."

"Mostly nobles," Jiraiya added. "And plenty of those jobs usually involved fighting other ninja, even if their clans weren't feuding at the time. "

Shikamaru stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I still don't see what that has to do with him having a say over who should be Hokage."

"I thought you were supposed to be smart," Jiraiya muttered under his breath, which earned him dirty looks from Shikamaru and Ino.

"He is smart," Ino spoke up. "We aren't dumb."

"Alright then, blondie, lemme put it this way. Your toilet's tucked away in its own room instead of being in the kitchen. You don't shit where you eat, and the same goes with shinobi and civilians."

That was a disgusting analogy and looking around, I wasn't the only one who found it that way.

"I don't get it," Naruto said, noise wrinkled. "What's that mean? Are we the toilet or—"

"The toilet," Sakura cut him off before he could continue.

"Civilians know that shinobi are dangerous," Jiraiya continued. "But that doesn't mean that they can't be dangerous themselves, even to the powerful and experienced. You all have an idea of the purges in Water, right?"

"Mostly against kekkei genkai users, yes," Shino answered. His voice was thoughtful sounding, a light frown on his lips.

Jiraiya flapped a hand. "That was all civilians against people from clans that were able to turn the tide of a battle on their own."

"What does that have to do with what I asked in the first place?" Shikamaru was annoyed and looked like he was trying to find any more depth to his pockets than he was able to find, hunching over somewhat.

"Just get to the point already!" Tayuya groused.

"Sheer power doesn't give anyone the ability to do whatever they want," Shizune answered, glancing over at Tsunade, who by all appearances was very carefully not paying attention. "Even before the village system, shinobi clans had to be on good terms with their neighbors."

"Can't do much fighting if your water's been ruined, you can't buy anything, or your land's been confiscated," Jiraiya confirmed. "The Daimyō wants the assurance that whoever is selected is on the same page as him, and with Sarutobi-sensei dead, that means his approval holds more weight than it would otherwise."

"It's still stupid," Shikamaru decided.

"Is it?" Shino asked. "It's more logical for us to maintain a positive relationship with the rest of Fire. It's like Jiraiya-sama said when we were leaving Konoha. My hive might not be very dangerous individually, even to a civilian, but all of my insects together would still be able to strip even a ninja to their bones in minutes if I ordered them to."

I felt my stomach turn as I tried to not imagine that, and Naruto gave him a queasy look of horror before he spoke up. "I thought your bugs ate chakra."

"They all do," Shino corrected. "But I've been tending to kidaichū at home since we graduated. Those can eat flesh. I'm not allowed to take them out on missions or for training without my parents until I make chūnin, though."

Shino's casual mention of possessing flesh-eating bugs killed the conversation entirely. I didn't mind that at all, under the circumstances. Shikamaru didn't look entirely convinced, but he didn't seem to be all that eager to restart his line of questions.

We continued walking in near silence for long enough that the shadows from the trees bordering the road began to shift. As we did, we passed several other groups of travelers who were going at a slower pace. It all left me with more time to think than I liked.

All of this just felt too real, but it couldn't be. I had an impossible mark on the base of my neck, but I was missing hours that I thought I had spent sleeping. Snack foods missing from their place in the pantry, dirty dishes, the TV on, searches and things in my phone's browser history.

It didn't help that I was too afraid to dig deeper. I hadn't checked my bank account, either.

It wasn't real, but I didn't want to confirm that I was going crazy. I had to at least pretend I was holding it together until the semester ended.

Eventually, conversation began to pick up again in fits and starts that avoided the earlier subject and the difficulties inherent in trying to explain political science to logic-minded twelve year olds. It suddenly made a lot of sense why algebra and chemistry experiments used to be on the table for middle school, but even in the advanced classes it was still basic Social Studies'.

Instead, Jiraiya had begun to give what was clearly questionable advice that had even Tayuya listening in— though she was visibly trying to pretend that she wasn't.

"There's no way that can really work." Sakura's doubt was evident. "Doesn't that count as omission on mission reports?"

"I didn't say to lie or leave anything out," the man said, wagging a finger at her. "That will get you in trouble for sure if a clerk checks everything. Put all the pertinent info up at the top, don't bother writing every single thing that happened if it doesn't relate to the mission parameters. Save the extra for an oral report to the Hokage or Intel."

"Don't listen to his advice," Tsunade spoke up. "He once turned in a report written in crayon. It was illegible. I don't understand how he's a writer."

Jiraiya swung around to look at her. "Hey! I know how to write!"

"Then explain all those crappy reports I had to redo!"

"It was Orochimaru's fault to begin with!" There was a brief pause as Jiraiya glanced around at us all— bringing up their traitorous teammate had clearly not been planned— before he continued on. "He kept coming up with last minute-reasons on why he couldn't do them when it was supposed to be his rotation. The crayon was the last idea I had!"

Tayuya just looked gobsmacked. Probably because of how this was portraying Orochimaru. Not vastly powerful, or creepy, but someone who had no problem dropping his share of groupwork on teammates. I would have pinned Jiraiya as that type instead.

"We were in our twenties," Tsunade responded, folding her arms under her chest. "It wasn't like you never avoided doing them once we had to in the first place." Called it.

"That was different!"

I ended up exchanging a long look with Shikamaru, who looked just as unimpressed as I felt, if probably for different reasons.

I ended up tuning out the background bickering. It sounded mostly friendly, and so I figured it would probably not cause me any further trouble, at least. Instead, I focused my attention on the trees, on mentally going through the papers I had to reread, on anything else that I could think of.

It didn't last for long.

"Sasuke-kun?"

It took me a moment before I realized that Sakura was trying to get my attention. Even after several of these dreams, being addressed as Sasuke, it wasn't automatic. I didn't want to get used to it. I twisted to look over at her. "Yeah?"

She fidgeted for a bit, before visibly steeling herself. "Are you alright?" Her eyes shut for a moment as she winced. "I mean, I know we've gone through a lot in the last few months, especially you, but you've become even more quiet lately, since we left the village. Even Naruto's starting to get a bit worried."

The fact that Naruto, who even in these dreams was still socially clueless, was apparently picking up on the fact that even asleep I wasn't doing a great job of holding it together made me cringe. One of my professors had very meaningfully told us, eyes locked on me, to make sure we took advantage of the break to rest and recuperate before classes resumed. On the one hand, I was lucky that the faculty in my department mostly believed in mental health and the restorative effects of rest. On the other hand, there was no way it wasn't getting around to my advisor in some way with that sort of suggestion, if it hadn't already. That particular professor was a chatterbox. I didn't need to deal with potentially having to ward off an obnoxious child's concerns as well.

"I'm fine."

"If you say so." Sakura did not look very convinced, or impressed, for that matter. Now I was the one reaping the consequences of convincing her her opinions mattered. "Just talk to someone if you need to, okay? Even if it isn't one of us."

That sounded a bit too considerate and by the book for her age. "Is that advice from a magazine?"

Sakura's face turned pink, which all but confirmed it. "That doesn't mean it's going to be bad advice! It was either that or ask him." Her eyes flicked over towards Jiraiya, who was desperately trying to refute a story Tsunade was telling.

I suppressed a shudder. I was more than fine with slightly-too-rote basic magazine advice if the alternative was him, especially since while Sakura was better about it, she still obviously had a crush. I couldn't even begin to imagine what sort of advice my brain would cook up if it was supposed to be from Jiraiya.

My reaction got a small smile out of her, and it wasn't before long that Naruto wandered over to join us.

I let their chatter wash over me.

Before the sun fully set, we wound up at our next stop; another narrow walled-in village that hemmed close to the road.

Naruto's expression brightened.

"We're staying here again tonight," Jiraiya said, which made him immediately deflate. In the periphery, I could tell that the others were also disappointed by that news, but I blinked; this was the same one from the other night's dream? Or at least supposed to be.

I couldn't help but ask. "We're that close?"

"Mmhm," he went.

Before he could say anything else, a figure dropped down in front of us, coming from the gate. It was a dark-haired man dressed in Konoha's uniform, or at most of it; it was after they crouched in front of Tsunade that I realized it was a little different. The shirt collar and cuffs had a red-trim, and instead of the spiral on the sleeves, the character for 'fire' was embroidered in its place in red instead. He had a scroll holder hanging from one shoulder. "Tsunade-sama? I have messages for you from the capital."

Tsunade folded her arms across her chest, and made an expression I was familiar with from school: she clearly had thoughts on this that she was choosing to not say out loud. "Shizune, book some rooms and go with the kids," she said, voice firm. "Jiraiya, there's somewhere more private to talk here, right?"

"Yeah, I know a place," Jiraiya said, though for some reason he glanced at me. "We shouldn't get bothered."

The ninja serving as messenger was too professional to let anything show on his face, but if how he trailed behind Jiraiya and Tsunade was any indication, he probably hadn't expected to get dragged off for this by two of the Sannin. I wouldn't have been very excited in his position either.

To my complete lack of surprise— and everyone else's— Tayuya tried to bolt the moment Tsunade and Jiraiya were out of sight. She wasn't quick enough to escape Shizune, though, whose arm flashed out and yanked the girl back by the rope tied around her waist.

"You're not going anywhere until Tsunade-sama says you can," she said, voice crisp.

Tayuya glared at her and attempted to yank herself free to no avail, only to be dragged by Shizune through the gate. "You're all fucking idiots." The swearing and insults against whatever she could think of— Shizune's appearance, from her hair to her footwear and everything in between— gathered enough attention and disapproving looks from others walking past that Tayuya lost steam before too long. It seemed like while she had no problem having a foul mouth and being rude, getting this much attention in a public place was off-putting.

By the time Shizune had decided on a place to stay, Tayuya had ended up completely subdued by the amount of negative attention and was visibly sulking. Shizune had gradually moved her grip on the teenaged girl from one end of the belt, to the wrist, and now finally her shoulder. Shizune requested two rooms from the receptionist at the desk, and I got to watch two different reactions blossom across some of the kids' faces when it was made clear it was going to be split between the sexes: unmitigated relief on Shikamaru and Naruto's, and exasperated annoyance on Sakura's. In this case I had no problem with being lumped under Sasuke's appearance if it meant not dreaming about sharing a room with Tayuya.

Dinner after we dropped our things off was not particularly thrilling, and mostly empty of conversation beyond Sakura and Ino stiltedly talking about what was in the magazines Sakura had gotten, probably because of Tayuya's presence. She was still sullen and had laid off with the remarks entirely now that we were surrounded by other people. She had also gotten crammed in the booth against the wall on one side, right across from me. She was an obvious flight hazard, but I still had no idea why Sakura twitched slightly in my direction when I finished the food I had randomly ordered.

It wasn't until well after we had returned to the hotel rooms and gotten ready for the night that Jiraiya and Tsunade returned. Jiraiya's face was visibly flushed when he opened the door. Past him in the hall on her way into the girls' room, I could see Tsunade, who was similarly drunk-looking.

He narrowly avoided stumbling over Shikamaru, who had gone to sleep the moment we returned. That one I would put the blame on Shikamaru more than Jiraiya being drunk, since he had set his futon up close to the door to get away from the television,which Naruto had not just claimed but kept jumping between different channels in an attempt to maximize his usage. Shino had eventually told him to keep it on one show at a time.

Jiraiya was tall enough that I suspected that a close call would have happened even if he had been sober, and judging from how he corrected himself with ease, he was used to it. "You brats are still awake?"

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "You were drinking?"

Jiraiya just looked tired, dragging a hand down his face as he began to shuck what he was wearing, starting with the guards protecting the back of his hands. "Some things just need alcohol if you're going to talk about them, kid."

Naruto glanced between me and Shino, as though to double-check against us before he finally made a decision. "I guess."

Jiraiya just shook his head at all of us. "Go to sleep while you can enjoy it. Tomorrow's going to be a long day and there's no guarantee that we're going to have an early night when we get back."

Naruto reluctantly turned off the television and I drifted off to nothingness.

I woke up to knocking at the door, confused for a moment as I reached out for my phone and glasses from the nightstand before I realized I was still dreaming.

I sat up, completely disgruntled.

Shikamaru was already awake but not changed, his hair hanging loose. He looked about as happy as I felt, getting up to open the door. Jiraiya, Shino, and Naruto were all still asleep.

Ino and Sakura were at the door, already freshly showered and dressed. They looked concerned and clearly dismayed at the fact that Shikamaru was still in pajamas.

"What is it?"

"Tayuya's not in there, is she," Ino stated, glancing past Shikamaru into the room.

Shikamaru made a face. "Why would she be?"

"She's not in ours," Sakura answered, twisting her hands together.

"How did you manage to lose her?"

Before Sakura or Ino could answer, Shizune came up behind them, frowning in disapproval. "That discussion can wait until we're on the road and we're in private." She focused her attention on me and Shikamaru. "Could you two get everyone else up so we can get going?"

"Fine," Shikamaru grumbled.

I left him to wake Naruto up this time, and instead went over to Shino, who was barely visible under his comforter. I leaned over and shook him. Or rather, I tried to; when I set a hand down an ominous buzzing started and kikaichū immediately spilled out from under the blankets, and started to cover me from the fingers up. They were already up to my elbow by the time I completely processed what was happening.

I shouted in alarm. If I had been awake, it would have been undeniably a shriek, but Sasuke's voice was just low enough for it to not be that.

That was enough to wake everyone else up; from the corner of my eye I could see Naruto accidentally slam his head right into Shikamaru's face, which caused more shouting, and Jiraiya bolting to his feet, a ball of whirling chakra already forming in one palm.

I was scraping bugs away from my face when they suddenly began to peel back, returning.

"Sorry," Shino said as he slowly got up, voice groggy from waking up but tinged with distinct embarrassment. "They know they're not supposed to swarm my teammates if they wake me up, but I forgot to tell them to do the same for everyone we're travelling with."

Jiraiya heaved a breath, hand over his chest. "Are you brats trying to give me a heart attack?"

I full-body shuddered. Even though all the bugs were gone, I was still feeling the tingling, crawling sensation. "I'm going to take a shower," I managed to grit out. I grabbed Sasuke's bag and stomped off.

"They're clean," Shino said, feelings obviously bruised.

"They might be clean but I still feel it."

Naruto was visibly shuddering in sympathy when I shut the door behind me.

I scrubbed under the hottest water I could get from the showerhead and by the time I was done, dressed and looked in the mirror, the Sasuke in the reflection was the sort of pink color that came from being freshly scrubbed in too-hot water. Tingly, but not the same kind of tingly that came from being covered with crawling insects.

Shikamaru entered the shower room, fully dressed with his hair tied up, and raised an eyebrow at me. "I got sent to get you," was all he said.

I shrugged Sasuke's pack on and followed him.

We ended up having a short and terse breakfast before getting back on the road, and it wasn't until we were out of sight of any other travellers that Jiraiya finally broke the silence.

"How the hell did you let a captive get loose?" he finally asked, looking at Tsunade. "I know you kept saying you weren't going to haul the brat all the way back to the village, but really? You know just as well as I do that she's going to go right back to the bastard and tell him everything."

"No she won't," Tsunade said, visibly smug.

"Huh?" Next to me, Naruto squinted at her, and everyone's attention was focused on her.

"She escaped in the middle of the night," Shino said, quietly. He was still smarting from earlier, between his bugs accidentally causing chaos and then me being grossed-out. "It seems fairly apparent that because of that, she'll be returning to Orochimaru as soon as she can."

"It's not that she won't want to, but she physically won't be able to," Shizune spoke up.

Jiraiya was giving Tsunade a suspicious look now. "What'd you do?"

"I used a little bit of medical ninjutsu to disrupt the connections to the part of her brain responsible for navigation," she answered.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. "You can do that?" He sounded horrified.

It struck me a moment later why Shikamaru was horrified. "You lobotomized her?"

"No," Tsunade said, voice cool. "As long as she doesn't get herself killed, it'll only be temporary, but I doubt she's going to swallow her pride, stay in one place, and send for help. You can't use medical ninjutsu on the brain or nervous system to permanently cut parts off, especially something like that. The most you can do is permanently scramble the signals and even then the brain will eventually adapt."

"Why can't you?" Ino asked.

"Because it's not like Yamanaka techniques. If you do that with medical ninjutsu the brain will just stop functioning entirely."

"Oh," Ino went, joining Shikamaru and me in being horrified.

"Is it difficult to do?" Sakura asked, after a moment. She sounded intrigued. "Jiraiya-sama told us that chakra control is important for medical ninjutsu, like it is for genjutsu, but he didn't really go into it."

Naruto looked over at me, eyes wide as he swallowed. He leaned towards me. "I shouldn't have asked Ero-sennin about it," he whispered. It was quiet enough that Sakura didn't notice.

"You need even better control for medical ninjutsu than you do for genjutsu," Tsunade answered. "Especially for advanced techniques like that. There were barely any medic-nin who could work in the field, much less on a battlefield, when I left, and I doubt the situation's improved from what Jiraiya's told me."

Sakura inhaled, her eyes darting to look at Naruto and me, then the others, before she straightened her shoulders and did her best to stand as tall as she could. "Kakashi-sensei and Tenzō-sensei both say my chakra control is excellent. The whole trip, Jiraiya-sama spoke about how strong you are, as a medic and a fighter. I want to know how to do not just chakra healing, but how you fight, too. Please teach me."

Tsunade's response was immediate. "No."

Sakura's shoulders fell, and she bit her lip, Ino setting a hand on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura must have been chewing on the idea before this and had probably spoken to Ino about it, I could only guess.

"Tsunade-sama's said many times in the past that one thing she'd change about the village is making medical training more accessible and raise the standards of medics," Shizune spoke up. Tonton oinked from her position between the two women. "If she's unable to, if you don't mind, I could help you learn medical ninjutsu. I don't know most of her more complicated techniques, but you wouldn't be ready for those any time soon anyways."

Sakura's expression cheered up. "No, I wouldn't. Thank you so much for the offer, Shizune-san."

Tsunade's lips thinned. "Shizune…"

The two women peeled off from the main group, presumably to argue more privately between themselves, Tonton trotting off to follow them.

"I didn't know you were interested in becoming a medic-nin, Sakura-chan," Naruto said.

"I'm still not completely sure myself," Sakura admitted. "But I'm tired of watching people I care about get hurt and then be unable to do anything about it. We might have stopped that Grass-nin back during the second exam, but we couldn't do anything about Iruka-sensei's hand... " She frowned, before forcing it away. "It was really Ino's suggestion the other day, anyways."

Ino froze for a moment, before she shook her head and gave Sakura a weak-looking smile. "I'm sure you would have come up with it on your own."

Jiraiya looked between the two girls and then over at Tsunade and Shizune. "Well, whatever you do, you better be committed if she ends up agreeing. Asking her the way you did was no small thing. Not only does she have an ugly temper when it gets set off, it'll look bad on her if she offers to take you on as a student and you back out once she's officially Hokage."

Sakura swallowed. "Right. I'll keep that in mind."

Hopefully there wouldn't be any squishing of Sakura in these dreams, by an angry Tsunade or otherwise. While I didn't like the dreams themselves, she and Naruto had grown on me. Admittedly a bit like fungus, but still.

Even though we could have gone faster, we kept at a steady walking pace, with only a long enough break in the middle of the day to eat before moving on. Conversation ebbed and flowed, with a good chunk of time taken up by riddles and logic games I suggested when Naruto had complained about being bored. Shino and Shikamaru ended up dominating at the logic ones, but Naruto turned out to be surprisingly good at the more out of the box riddles— at least when they came from anyone else but me. I ended up banned from giving any more riddles entirely after the first two by Jiraiya.

Night had long fallen by the time we saw the telltale fuzzy glow of light pollution in the sky.

Naruto bounced on his heels. "We're so close! Can we run the rest of it? I'm going to go crazy if we have to walk the rest of the way."

Jiraiya shrugged expressively, stretching his arms upwards and looking in Tsunade's direction. "What do you say, princess? You're the one who's going to be dealing with everything the second we get there."

"You too," she pointed out, immediately. Even under the night's sky it was possible to make out her expression. She had a contemplative look on her face, mouth not quite in a frown.

"Trying to forget about that bit," he muttered under his breath.

"I'll need to air out the old place before I get any sleep tonight," Tsunade responded, which evoked a sharp bark of laughter from Jiraiya.

"You're going to be Godaime Hokage, you can afford to set up in an inn room for the night," Jiraiya said, still laughing. "You probably won't have any time to be airing anything out tonight anyways, or for the near future."

She made a face at that. "I'm trying to not think about that part too much." Tsunade sighed and then straightened up. "Let's get moving." She gave Shizune just enough time to pick up Tonton before breaking into a run, forcing the rest of us to follow.

The gates and wall were completely repaired when they came into sight. There was even a guardhouse right inside again, though that was completely different; it was larger than the previous one.

The guards said nothing about the brown passports, even though the one not checking them gave Jiraiya and Tsunade a questioning look, clearly aware of who was in front of him but unsure of how he was supposed to react.

"Envying some genin?" Jiraiya asked with a snicker.

"Yeah, actually," one of them answered, only to get elbowed by another. "Hey!"

Shikamaru looked disgruntled. "Why would you want a civilian passport?"

"No travel restrictions," the chūnin looking over Shino's passport answered as he pressed a stamp next to the others on the page. "You'll get it when you're older." He glanced up, taking in Shikamaru's face, and then taking a look at Shikamaru's passport and his name when he thumbed it open. "Or maybe not."

Shikamaru only looked more unimpressed when he took it back.

Sakura looked between the chūnin guards and the passports. "Is it really that rare to have one?" she asked, once we were moving on. We were heading in the direction of the administration building. Pretty much all of the rubble was gone, and there were signs of paused construction everywhere I looked. The streets were mostly empty of people, but I could have sworn that the farther we got from the gates the busier it was getting. "My parents were chūnin, but I know my dad's always had a passport, too..."

"Haruno isn't a ninja clan from what I remember," Tsunade commented.

"It isn't," Sakura admitted. "My grandfather worked for the daimyō and was sent to Konoha when they opened the mint and printers here. Tou-san was the only one who stayed here." She said this with the vague embarrassment that came from knowing a bit of family history that wasn't just unglamorous but distinctly uncool. Konoha having at least some involvement in currency production made sense and explained why their symbol was on the money, thinking on it.

"That'd be why," Jiraiya said, scratching at his chin. "Government civilians tend to take identification forms pretty seriously. Most folks who stay active ninja don't get one because it's a liability if you make jōnin, and if you do, it's not like you'll need one anyways as long as you don't push your luck."

"Then why did we have to get them then?" Shikamaru asked, irritated.

"Because carting around a bunch of children that don't have any identification is a bad look," Jiraiya shot back. "They're technically fakes, anyways."

Naruto yanked his out from where he had crammed it into his shorts pocket to squint at it under the street lights. "How's it fake?"

"Because they weren't signed off on by the Hokage or put into the system," Kakashi's voice said quietly, from behind us. "That can be changed, though."

Sakura and Naruto let out shouts of surprise, and once I turned around fully, both of them were mobbing him, Naruto latched onto him with both his arms and legs. Even Sakura had gone in for a hug.

I settled for waving.

"Nice to see you all again," Kakashi said, voice tight with awkwardness. "Now let go of me."

Sakura backed off first, and Naruto dropped off of him, still beaming, but both of them kept close to him, Naruto more so.

"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi began, clearly trying to ignore Naruto's clinginess, "welcome back to Konohagakure." Having Naruto just barely not physically attached to him somewhat dampened the moment.

"Jiraiya was right, you did turn into a weed," was Tsunade's response, after a moment.

Kakashi's reaction was to pretend that never happened, apparently, because he directed his attention at the others instead. "My ninken alerted me when you were approaching the gates. After they let me know, I sent them to inform others. Sakura-chan, your parents will be waiting for you once we're done at the administration building. Everyone else's will be meeting us there." He patted her on the head, as if to punctuate the statement, and began to walk.

Sakura tolerated it for once, which really underlined that she must have missed everything. Instead, she focused her attention on his words, frowning. "Why will theirs be there?"

"Well, their fathers," Kakashi corrected, "Since they're clan heads and jōnin. As many of them as possible are going to be gathering under the tower."

Tsunade twisted sharply to look at him. "What? It's the middle of the night!"

"Those were Jiraiya's instructions before he left," Kakashi immediately answered. He was shifting the blame before it could stick.

"I did say you were going to be dealing with everything the second we went through the gates."

"I didn't think you were being literal!" Tsunade smacked Jiraiya's back hard enough to stagger him and left him barely avoiding smashing into the ground.

"Well, you have the Daimyō's approval in writing, all you need are the jōnin who are present, and the sooner the better..."

Shino asked something I didn't catch.

I blinked awake in bed.

I rolled over just enough to check the time. It was a little past three, which wasn't too awful considering the last several days and the fact I hadn't gotten home until it was almost four in the morning, after the bars had closed and we had ended up at an IHOP despite my protests against pancakes.

There was a text from my mother reminding me again about brunch with Abuela tomorrow. I shot a quick reply, set my phone to vibrate and with sound, stumbled out of bed long enough to pee and get a glass of water, and then rolled right back in to doze again.

Chapter 20: Welcome to the Club

Chapter Text

I twisted around Naruto's outstretched fist and kicked his legs out from under him. He landed with a thud before launching back onto his feet.

I was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on when Kakashi's voice cut in, bored sounding. "Alright, that's enough. Good job today, everyone."

"How was that good?" Naruto complained, before he moved in closer and hooked his fingers against mine. "I kept getting my ass kicked."

"Your strengths aren't going to hold up in a friendly taijutsu spar against them," Kakashi said, his visible eye looking between the two of us. "You're badly matched against the other two because you rely too much on trying to physically outlast or outnumber your opponent. Sakura-chan's too smart for your tactics and Sasuke's too fast."

"We all train together; how am I supposed to get better against them in those things?"

"Well, I could see if you can join Gai's morning runs... "

Naruto blanched. "No thanks!"

Kakashi shrugged. "Then I guess you'll just have to continue training with us then." Naruto groaned, but Kakashi ignored it. "Now that we're done, we need to head to the administration building."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Why? You already said we aren't taking any missions yet."

"That's not for me to tell you," Kakashi told her.

"It's past two," Sakura pointed out. "We've been training since seven! We only took a break to eat lunch. You normally don't bother to show up until it's after ten." She crossed her arms. "We're all gross and sweaty and stink. Are you really going to drag us to something with us like this right now?"

Kakashi blinked, as though this had never occurred to him before, and he stepped towards us, ducking his head down over us, pulling the edge of his mask down enough that from this angle I could see some of the bridge of his exposed nose. He shuddered and took a step back. "You know what, you're right."

Sakura looked stunned. "I am?"

"Go home, take showers, and meet me in front of the administration building in a half-hour." There was a brief pause. "Oh, and Naruto? Wash your jacket." With that, he fled.

Naruto frowned. "I wash it! It can't be that bad, can it?" He unzipped it and yanked it off, sniffing the collar. "I can't tell." Without warning, he turned it inside out and he shoved it in my face. "What do you think, Sasuke?"

I gagged as the unexpected smell hit me in the face. While it wasn't the worst, it was definitely in the beginning stages of teenaged smelliness. "Invest in deodorant," I told him, backing away.

Naruto didn't seem to believe me. "Sakura-chan, can you—"

She wrinkled her nose. "Nope!"

I took off before I was asked or forced to sniff anything else.

I couldn't tell if the village looked more put together than it had at the end of the last dream or not; judging how things appeared in daylight against the middle of the night didn't work so well, but what I could see were the occasional swaths of ongoing construction in pockets, which featured not only obvious construction workers but older teenagers and occasional younger twenty-somethings that looked out of place against the workers. I vaguely recognized some of them from the first exam. Sometimes it was made more blatant since I would sometimes see them standing on the side of a partially fixed or constructed building, carrying a load.

I let my feet take me to Sasuke's apartment while I let myself get lost in my thoughts, only getting distracted to self-consciously wave hello to Team Asuma when Chōji shouted hi from where they were training. At least, it looked like it was supposed to be a training ground, but Ino and Chōji were to one side watching what looked like some kind of argument between Asuma and Shikamaru.

Chōji was probably happy to not be in the hospital anymore; at least, I assumed he was. I remembered being that way to an extent myself, though it had been more bitter.

Once I was in Sasuke's apartment, I reluctantly grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom, shucking everything into the hamper there. After the hell dream that was Wave, I had— not that I liked it— figured out a methodology. Turn on the water, grab the soap, close my eyes, and scrub while thinking about anything else.

Drying off was the same deal, and I got dressed and was out of there soon enough. Sasuke had deodorant.

I wound up running into Sakura before we reached the administration building. She was tying off the end of a loose braid, her hair still wet. "Do you have any ideas, Sasuke-kun?" she asked.

I didn't even know what day of the week it was supposed to be. I shook my head.

"I just hope none of us are in trouble," she murmured. "It feels like we've been near the center of everything since we graduated."

I couldn't help snorting. "You think?"

"It's not funny," Sakura insisted, before pausing. "Then again— oh, Sensei! Naruto's not here yet?" Whatever else she had to say would have to wait, it seemed, since Kakashi had walked out of the main doors to the building and down to greet us. He looked shiftier than he usually did.

"Not yet," he answered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We could go in without him, but I want all of you together for this." Something about this wording was suspicious.

Sakura had caught on as well. "Together for what? Did something happen?" She wrung her hands together nervously.

"You'll see."

"Hey!" Naruto's voice called from behind us. By the time we turned around, he was closer than he had sounded. "Sorry I'm late," he said, once he stopped in between me and Sakura.

Even with the mask, Kakashi's full face crinkled up, twitching before he started to cough. The scent hit the rest of us a moment later, and Sakura and I joined him in coughing, and giving me a sudden and violent flashback to taking the bus in middle school when an older boy had Axe bombed it right before he had gotten off at his stop. That kid had caught a bus ban for that.

"Naruto," Sakura said, gagging, "what did you do?"

Kakashi body checked me before I could grab Naruto, and in the blink of an eye had taken Naruto from where he was standing in front of us to deposit him about ten feet away.

"I got a body spray," Naruto said. "I used it on my jacket so it wouldn't smell bad."

"New team rule," Kakashi managed to say, "No body sprays or perfumes or anything else that's that strongly scented for anything we do as a team." He pulled the top of his mask outwards and fanned air towards it with one hand before letting it snap back against the skin. "Those are supposed to be used sparingly. Hold still."

"You're not going to hose me down again with a water jutsu, are you?" Naruto asked, eyes squinted at him.

"No."

Kakashi's hands quickly sped through a few hand seals, faster than I could process, and in the next split second, Naruto was getting buffeted by a gale of wind that was strong enough to make him change his footing to stay standing.

Naruto's still-wet hair was completely swept back by the time it was over and he was rubbing at his eyes. He didn't look very happy.

I got prodded in the back, obviously to go check. I reluctantly went over.

It was still on the strong side, but it didn't smell like Naruto had used a whole spray can on his jacket anymore.

"It shouldn't kill you anymore," I told Kakashi.

He didn't seem very impressed. Instead, he shook his head a little. "Let's go in. We don't want the Hokage to be waiting any longer than she already has."

After the last dream, not to mention everything else, Kakashi had very good reason to not want to make Tsunade wait, even if it had apparently been Jiraiya's idea to begin with.

The short walk inside was unexpectedly tense; Sakura and Naruto were clearly not sure what to expect, and it wasn't helped by the fact that the interior— from the main room where missions were assigned to the winding corridor that led up to the Hokage's office— was overwhelmingly busy.

Once we got to the right door, Kakashi knocked.

To my surprise, the door was opened by Kurenai.

"Ah, you're here?" Kakashi asked, suddenly awkward.

Kurenai only gave Kakashi a smile. "For now." She turned in, which gave us a glance of another wall. The Hokage's desk wasn't visible, but another smaller desk positioned right in front of the door, already piled with paperwork and scrolls. That was different from the series. "Hokage-sama, Kakashi and his team are here." Was she seriously working as a secretary? Kurenai was a jōnin and supposed to be in charge of a team. Something about the whole thing was uncomfortably sexist.

"Send them in," Tsunade's voice called from out of sight. It wasn't muffled.

We were let in, where we could see that the wall was splitting the room in half from the center out, and from Kakashi's curious glance at it as we went around it to the other side, it must have been new. It felt like the other side took up more space, because there wasn't that much clearance between the wall and the front of the desk.

Tsunade's desk was just as covered in paperwork as it was in the show, and she stood up from her chair, which only had effect of making Naruto and Sakura become even more antsy than they already were. "You took your time," she told Kakashi as she went to stand in front of the desk.

He only shrugged, but he had straightened up out of his usual slouch. His hands weren't even anywhere near his pockets.

Shizune gave them an encouraging smile. It didn't help.

Naruto looked between Kakashi and Tsunade. "Did something happen? Are we in trouble?"

Tsunade let out a scoff. "I'd ask what your team is getting up to, but I already have a good idea from Jiraiya. No, you're not in trouble." For some reason, the fact Jiraiya had filled her in on whatever he knew concerned me more than the idea of being in trouble. She motioned to Shizune, who went over to a box that was against the desk. As the other woman opened it, we could all see a peek of green in the same shade as Kakashi's flak jacket.

Sakura's breath caught and Naruto's eyes widened.

"One of my responsibilities as Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure is to assure the growth and development of our forces, including promotions," Tsunade began, half-sounding like she was going off an internal script. She grabbed the Hokage hat from where it was on the desk, setting it on her head. "This begins from the moment any genin is given their hitai-ate at the end of their time in the academy. Uchiha Sasuke, step forward."

I hadn't expected that. Sasuke hadn't been promoted in the series, and had run off to join Orochimaru.

"Go," Sakura urged in an excited whisper, and she pushed me, and I had to move so I wouldn't stumble from it. I walked over to stand in front of Tsunade.

"Are you willing and able to take on the responsibilities of a chūnin of Konohagakure?" she asked. Her expression was as serious as her tone, accompanied with a small frown. She was trying to not make it obvious, trying to be serious about it, but she wasn't happy about this.

Of course I am. I could feel my heart beat faster. "Yes," I said, the response automatic, even though I didn't mean to.

"Then I appoint you as a chūnin."

As Sakura and Naruto cheered, I felt a sudden heavy weight drop onto my shoulders that forced my arms close to my sides. Not exactly pinned, but a flak jacket had been plopped over my shoulders without any concern for the fact that I had arms. It was heavier than I would have expected.

Tsunade frowned even more, attention snapping to above my head. "You're supposed to help him into it, not drop it on top of him," she said, chidingly.

"Oops," Kakashi went from behind me, not sounding all that apologetic. "This is how they did it with me."

She only sighed, but Kakashi picked it back up and helped me put it on properly. It was still heavy.

It also probably looked completely stupid with the high collar most of Sasuke's shirts had, but it wasn't like I had that much say in his sartorial choices.

The moment I was able to, I retreated backwards, towards Sakura and Naruto.

"I think you're gonna need new shirts," Naruto said, which only confirmed it. "But hey! This is great! We should go celebrate!"

"We're not done here yet," Tsunade said, cutting him off. "Haruno Sakura, step forward."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Me?"

"Yes, you."

She let out a surprised squeak, and Naruto pushed her to move. It was a bit harder than it needed to be, but it didn't look like it was deliberate. He had shrunken in on himself a little the moment Sakura stepped away and everyone else's attention was on her.

Tsunade asked her the same question, and Sakura responded affirmatively, still looking shocked while Kakashi helped her put on the vest.

There was one noticeable difference, however.

While mine was on the slightly large side, and still fit decently enough to not be awkward, Sakura's was at least a full size too big for her, and obviously so.

"Hmm." Kakashi bent down, pulling the back collar away to look at the inside. "You'll have to requisition a new one if you want to wear it, but it isn't mandatory to wear it all of the time."

"It isn't?" I couldn't help but ask. That was obvious from Shippuden, but thinking on it, there were plenty of ninja who constantly did wear it or had specific uniforms, so there must have been reasons.

"Not outside of mandated events or larger scale field actions, no, and even then there are exceptions."

"Like what?" Sakura asked, looking down at the edge of the vest. She was running a thumb down one of the zipper edges.

"When it doesn't fit," Kakashi answered. "They must have run out of smaller sizes. They don't make very many of them. I couldn't get one that fit until I was fifteen. It's just easier to wear the uniform since it means less laundry."

Sakura was still looking a bit dazed when she walked back towards us.

"Understand that this marks a large step in your careers," Tsunade began. "Chūnin have greater expectations placed on them than genin and—"

"I didn't get promoted, did I," Naruto interrupted. "Why didn't I make it?" His fists were clenched by his side, and he was visibly fighting to not show his upset on his face. So far, he was losing. "We went through the same things."

Kakashi turned to look at him. "Naruto, this isn't the time—"

"No," Tsunade cut him off. "All of them deserve to know. I didn't agree to any of the promotions that came from this examination round, but I was overruled." That explained it. "Especially in your team's case. The chūnin exams aren't supposed to be what you went through."

"I'd hope not," I muttered. To my surprise, Sakura stepped on my foot. Softly, but the fact she had done it at all was new.

Tsunade ignored my comment entirely, which was fair. "There's also the matter of how much attention your team has garnered in the last few months. It's not normal."

"Gaara's dad said something like that, too," Naruto told her reluctantly, biting his lip in thought. "About how leaders from other villages know who we are and that it isn't normal for that to happen to genin."

"Gaara is the Kazekage's youngest son," Kakashi told an expectant-looking Tsunade who was now staring in his direction. "We discovered he's the container for Shukaku. Naruto made friends with him while their group was here." While he didn't look like he wanted to sink into the floor, and his tone was neutral enough, Kakashi was still eyeing the window behind Tsunade. I couldn't blame him for it.

"Of course they're friends," Tsunade muttered, before inhaling. "This is exactly what I'm talking about. The Kazekage was right, it isn't normal for genin to get this much attention. The most any of you should be getting at this point in your careers is a C-rank to pretend to defend a member of the Daimyō's family at some function and have to deal with getting cooed at and told how young you are to be doing such a serious job."

Naruto and Sakura grimaced, and Kakashi's visible eyelid fluttered, as though he was trying to block out an old memory. Going from Tsunade's tone, it sounded like he wasn't the only one with personal experience with that kind of mission.

"Does catching Shijimi-dono's cat and returning it to her count?" Sakura asked.

"She lets the cat get loose in the village on purpose and puts out D-ranks before she leaves to show she's supportive," Tsunade answered, folding her arms under her chest. "She's very proud of 'meaningfully contributing' to the training it gives genin." That explained a lot about Tora, actually.

"Oh."

Tsunade sighed. "This is a mess. It's far easier to shield genin than chūnin from their actions because people have higher expectations of chūnin," she said, eyes focused on Sakura. "Jiraiya told me the real sequence of events regarding the bridge to Wave. You're lucky Kakashi covered for you and claimed it was all him."

Sakura's face paled. "I—"

"If you had more time as a genin and if Kakashi didn't have the background he has, that report would have fallen apart," Tsunade's voice was firm. "You would not be standing in front of me right now, much less in that vest, which is one of the reasons I disagree with this set of promotions."

Sakura flinched like she had been slapped.

"Leave Sakura-chan alone," Naruto spoke up. His eyes narrowed. "You don't have to go after her just because I asked."

Sakura was blinking back tears as best as she could. "Naruto, you don't have to—"

Tsunade cut her off. "The main reason she was promoted was because of you."

"I— what? What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto's confidence faltered.

"Sasuke's promotion was all but demanded by the Daimyō. Because of that and his performance during the tournament, he would have had to immediately do something completely idiotic to not get promoted."

Sakura and Naruto's eyes nervously flicked towards me, and I felt like I had missed a memo or something. Maybe a complete volume.

"Stupid things done while concussed don't count," Tsunade clarified. "You're the village's jinchūriki, Naruto. That's why you weren't promoted."

His face crumpled.

Tsunade sighed. "Most of the village is still unhappy that you were made a genin in the first place. I've read the reports from the chunin who were working the tournament as well as reports from the attack and afterwards. People still remember the night the Kyūbi got loose and attacked the village. Sand's jinchūriki losing control in the middle of everything didn't help."

"I stopped him!"

"You helped transform one of Jiraiya's toads into a giant fox," Tsunade pointed out.

"I—" Naruto's voice cracked, and he ducked his head, rubbing at his eyes.

"You fended off serious damage to the village, but the way it unfolded just reminded people of what they were afraid of in the first place. Some of the people who make suggestions on promotion evaluations think that if both of your teammates are promoted over you they'll have control over you." Even though her tone hadn't been harsh at all, she was now two for two in making kids cry.

Sakura's eyes grew wide, and the tears drained away from them, finally streaming down her face. "That's what Orochimaru told us when we were in the forest," she said, mostly to herself. "That Sasuke and Sensei were— That I was—" she kept cutting herself off, conscious of where we were and the rebuke she just received.

Kakashi stepped closer to Sakura's side, but hung back, unable to fully commit.

"Orochimaru is a missing-nin, not an idiot," Tsunade said, after a heavy pause. "He would have had a better insight than most into the uglier parts of the village than most before he ran. Whatever he said might have been correct, but it doesn't mean that it's right."

Naruto exhaled a ragged breath; he was trying to calm himself down.

"Ah, Naruto," Kakashi spoke up, voice light, and the tension in the room warped before it broke like a soap bubble. "You understand that it's just a rank, yes?"

Naruto looked up at him, scrubbing his face. "Huh?"

"It's more complicated than whether someone deserves to be a chūnin or not," Kakashi continued.

"I've improved," Naruto insisted. "You've said as much."

"Skill and ability don't have as much to do with rank as people like to pretend," Kakashi told him, shifting on his feet. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I should know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I was promoted to being a chūnin when I was six," Kakashi answered, voice tight and filled with awkward self-consciousness. He was doing his best at digging deeper into his pockets than they were ever meant to go. "Chūnin serve as the backbone of the village. They're supposed to help lead teams. No one's ever wanted to put a six year old in charge of anything remotely important, and I wasn't a special case there." Kurenai came up to his side and set a hand on his shoulder. Kakashi stiffened for a moment before visibly forcing himself to relax.

"At six?" Sakura stared up at him. "No wonder yours didn't fit…" It also explained why he had just dropped it on me, at first. Six year olds were short little things and didn't weigh that much.

"There are plenty of genin who never made it to becoming chūnin who should have become chūnin or even jōnin if it was just a matter of skill," Kurenai added, smiling encouragingly. "Power isn't everything. There's a lot of chūnin in the ranks who haven't pushed to be promoted but could be tokujō or full jōnin if they wanted." She smiled wryly. "In comparison, I had to fight for being evaluated to make jōnin."

Shizune nodded. "I'm being forced to provide an evaluation of my skills later this week since I've been out of the village for so long."

"The promotion system isn't fair, and it's more complicated than it seems," Tsunade agreed. "Even Orochimaru became a jōnin before I did and he barely had any interest in it."

There was very subtly another conversation going on now. It was the same kind of crosstalk I remembered from my mother and aunts at the kitchen table and in usually roundabout comments from female faculty members during undergrad that had become less circuitous in the last year. I had a strong feeling that Kakashi and Naruto had no idea, and that Sakura would probably recognize it in the future when she was older.

If this was real, of course.

Tsunade's attention flicked towards Naruto, dismissing the other conversation for now. "Keep working with your team and try to not stir up more trouble than what's already coming."

Naruto wiped his nose across his sleeve and managed a weak smile. "Yeah. I'm not going to give up. I still want to be Hokage. I can't do that as a genin. And I thought that both of them being promoted meant I'd get left behind." He scuffed his sandal across the floor, voice a bit softer when he spoke up again. "They're my first real friends."

Kurenai nudged Kakashi, who cleared his throat. "Genin teams are rarely permanently disbanded even once all its members are chunin or even jōnin, if they're all alive and still active. It doesn't make sense to break up a working unit if you don't have to."

Tsunade nodded. "I was regularly going on missions with my team for over twenty years."

"While Sasuke and Sakura might be chūnin now, they don't have the same experience even older genin will have," Kurenai explained. "It'll take time for them to develop leadership skills and the experience expected before they'd be leading any teams of their own, at least in normal circumstances. Your team won't be splitting apart for different duties anytime soon."

"What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked. She was focusing her attention on Kurenai and Kakashi entirely; Tsunade's words clearly were still stinging and making her reluctant to ask the older woman anything. At least the tears had subsided, though there were still streaks running down her face.

"Manning is tight right now," Shizune said. "While it's not as bad as it could be…"

"We're still stretched thin because of everything that's happened," Tsunade finished. "Before we got back, reinforcements were sent to the borders and capital to make sure no one else had any clever ideas. The three of you will be helping out with the reconstruction work and filling in where it's needed for the time being. You two should at least be capable of giving genin basic instructions with some supervision." She looked at me and Sakura.

Naruto looked between her and then Kakashi, frowning. "What about Sensei?"

"I'll be heading to Wave with Zabuza's group tomorrow," he said.

"What? Why? Can't we go with you?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm going as the Hokage's representative and I'll be escorting a diplomat from the Daimyō's court. The original Mist held off on doing anything that could spark war with us while they were pretending to be here for the exams, but we lost our ground from the attack. While they won't try anything here, Wave is close enough and weak enough that they might press their advantage to prevent an alliance from being confirmed."

"That can't happen here?" Sakura asked.

"When it's just a matter of influence we'd push for it to happen here, but the situation with both Mists, Wave, and Water is precarious enough that it's better for everyone for it to be handled over there instead," Tsunade explained. "We're the stronger power, but if negotiations happened here or in the capital it would be too far away from Wave to react in time if Water took advantage and launched an attack. Sending Kakashi and a few other jōnin to Wave will make them have second thoughts but it wouldn't be guaranteed."

Sakura frowned. "So we'd just get in the way."

"You wouldn't necessarily be useless, but you would still be potential targets of interest if you come along and something does happen."

Naruto bit his lip, clearly wanting to protest. "Okay. I get it," he settled on instead.

Tsunade rounded her way to the other side of the desk. "Now that that's over with, I need all of you out of this office so we can actually get some work done. Sasuke, stay behind please."

I didn't know what to make of that, but Kakashi didn't seem surprised. He nodded, and with Tsunade's verbal dismissal, he had mostly relaxed. "We'll wait for you outside," he said, and went around the wall breaking the room up.

As Sakura turned to follow him, Tsunade spoke up. "Before you go. Sakura, come here," she ordered.

Sakura froze, face filled with fear before she steeled herself and went to stand in front of the desk. Her hands were pressed against her sides. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade pulled open a drawer, and pulled out a package of facial wipes, and opened it, pointing the wipes at Sakura. "Take one."

She blinked, twisting to look over at me and Naruto as if to see if she heard Tsunade's words correctly. "What?"

"You can't go out there with tears marked on your face," Tsunade firmly said. "What I said wasn't meant to be a formal reprimand. You're a chūnin now, and you'll have to act like it. You've shown that you think things out more than just genin are supposed to do, but from this point on when you make decisions, you'll be expected to own not just them but the consequences. Do you understand?"

"Not really," Sakura admitted, before correcting herself. "Well, I understand that part. Kakashi-sensei got in trouble because of me when he didn't have to.The part I don't get is why you're being nice to me now." She hesitantly took a wipe.

Tsunade let out a breath of amusement. "While Naruto's going to have his own set of difficulties ahead of him, so are you. You'll have plenty of time to cry and get upset at everything later. For today, put aside what I said for now and go celebrate with your friends and family."

"You're right. It's busy out there. I don't want to go out there looking like I cried." Sakura managed a weak smile and started wiping her face.

"What about me?" Naruto asked. His face was still blotchy.

Tsunade laughed. "Why not," she decided, and she held the package out again.

He darted over like he was expecting Tsunade to change her mind, and before he could grab a wipe and step back, Tsunade grabbed him by the wrist, taking the wipe out herself.

"Huh?" Naruto looked completely confused, too much to even try to pull away.

"There are people who want to see you succeed, Naruto," she told him, blotting at the red on his face. "Both in and out of this room. You just have to give us the opportunity to handle the people who don't want to allow it."

"Um, okay?" He looked uncomfortable, but didn't jerk away and waited until she let him go, stepping back.

"Your team wasn't the only one from your class to have someone promoted to chūnin," Kurenai said. "Shino did as well."

Naruto stared at Kurenai. "Huh, really? That guy made it? I mean, I guess he is pretty smart and his bugs are scary… He can do a lot."

"You all should go congratulate him; I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

Naruto squinted at her. "I guess?"

Sakura looked at everyone in the office. "We should go so she can talk with Sasuke-kun," she decided. She grabbed Naruto by the wrist and pulled him away.

"Wait, hey, we should stay just in case she gets scary again! Sasuke will need back-up!"

"We saw how well that worked earlier," Sakura muttered before going around the wall, and I could hear the door open and slam behind her as she yanked him out into the hallway.

Tsunade snorted, and I felt all the attention in the room focus on me. "You don't talk much," she commented.

I shrugged. "Should I?" This was something new for these dreams. I had gotten used to Sakura and Naruto usually being nearby to fill everything up with their chattering so I wouldn't have to. It helped me ignore the fact that Sasuke was thirteen, if I let the real kids get up to their own antics. Sasuke was supposed to be a quietly angry thirteen year old. I was thirteen over a decade ago. I had been quietly angry at that age myself, but I couldn't truthfully say I had totally outgrown it. I almost had, but I had gone and slid right back into that well-worn groove after the accident.

"Your other two teammates do plenty of talking on their own to make up for it," she agreed.

There was a firm knock at the door.

Shizune frowned. "I made sure everyone knew your afternoon was reserved for the promotions," she told Tsunade.

Tsunade looked over towards Kurenai. "There are only a few people who think they have the right to ignore schedules," Tsunade said. "Make sure we have privacy for this conversation. I don't want Sasuke to feel pressured to make a decision."

Make a decision on what?

The earlier encouraging expression Kurenai had on when helping Kakashi with his explanation had vanished entirely, the smile gone from her face. "I'll take care of it." She slipped to the front of the room and out of sight, blocked by the dividing wall.

"I'm sure you're already aware that the Uchiha clan were the other founding clan behind the village besides the Senju," Tsunade began. I found it hard to focus on anything else, like everything was tightening in on just the two of us.

"Yes," I answered, because I felt like it was expected before she would continue.

"Back when the village was still young when my great uncle became Hokage, he put into place charters that gave different clans authority over different, important aspects of the village."

I was beginning to have a distinct feeling about where this was going.

"I don't need to tell you this part either, but the Uchiha were placed in charge of the police force."

I could feel my heart beating in my chest. "What does that have to do with me?" What didn't it have to do with Sasuke? He was the last one in the village. It was a stupid question, but I was asking it despite myself and I didn't know why.

"The village can't rescind it unilaterally, not without the Daimyō's permission, and that wasn't granted when Lord Third requested it a few years ago."

I ignored the twisting feeling in my chest. Her words were making sense and weren't at the same time.

"I'm not my teacher," Tsunade said, evenly. "I read over the original documents. The role of police chief is able to be filled by an Uchiha chūnin if no jōnin are available."

I had no response.

"You don't need to make a decision right now— I don't want you to— but I'd like one before the end of the year. That will give me time to make plans with the various department heads and commanders so we can adjust manning. Right now, village policing is randomly assigned to chūnin and jōnin who are in their off-cycle from missions out of the village. It's not an ideal situation for anyone, because it means none of them are adequately trained for the job and don't spend enough time on that duty for it to be anything but an interruption to their careers."

"What happens if I say no?" The idea itself was horrifying. It'll be so much work.

"Then we would formally end the charter and I would look into other options to find someone to reestablish the police force. If the Daimyō wants a replacement clan in charge, I'll be approaching the Fūma clan, since they're distantly related to you."

I didn't want this. Naruto was already upset about the idea of our team breaking up. He's going to freak.

I didn't want anything to do with the police, whether real or dreaming. I still want this, I can't let this opportunity go.

My dad chose his stupid career over us. My ex proved to be the exact sort of asshole wannabe cop Xochitl always said he was. My parents would be proud, wouldn't they?

A sharp pain jagged through my head interrupting my thoughts, my vision whiting out. I staggered.

I found myself sitting on the floor with Shizune and Tsunade checking over me, both women frowning severely. My head ached like something was splitting it in two.

I blinked. What happened?

"Can you hear me now?"

I carefully nodded, just in case it would make me feel worse. I had learned better from the concussion.

"You blacked out and weren't responding," Tsunade said. "What's the last thing you remember?"

I opened my mouth to respond and immediately ended up closing it. Whatever it was supposed to be, it was now escaping me. I knew better than to try and force it, at least right now in front of her. I adjusted my expectations to be lower and for something I was sure about. "A knock at the door," I settled on.

She didn't seem exactly happy at this answer. "That was several minutes ago."

I only shrugged.

She sighed. "Do you feel up to standing?"

"Yes." I wasn't an invalid. I had gotten enough of that.

Shizune offered me a hand up. I reluctantly took it.

"I wasn't expecting to have to repeat myself, and I don't have the time right now," Tsunade told me apologetically, walking back to the desk. She picked up a small and tightly wound scroll, which she handed to me. "This covers everything I said in more detail. If you need help understanding it, I'm supposed to be fully scheduled for the rest of the week and it will have to wait unless you're fine with asking Jiraiya or Nara Shikaku. They already know the details."

I wasn't able to resist grimacing. I didn't trust Jiraiya, but I also didn't want to ask Shikamaru's dad for more help. "I'll figure it out myself." I gingerly unsnapped one of the scroll holders and slid the scroll inside of it, snapping it close with a click.

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You're doing well enough to have an attitude, so I'm going to let you go before Kakashi starts lurking outside the windows. Whatever you do to celebrate, make sure to call it an early night." She huffed. "At least you're too young to drink," she muttered.

I was struck by the confusing thought that I did want alcohol, which I batted away as I walked to the door. Why would I want something I never had?

I paused at it to turn around. Kurenai gave me a small smile, pressing a finger to her lips, and behind her, Tsunade was already settling down at the desk again, pulling a sheaf of papers toward her.

Shimura Danzō was standing outside when I opened the door. I resisted the urge to grab a kunai from my holster. Attacking him in the middle of the administration building would only go badly for me.

He didn't spare me a look as he hobbled in. "Tsunade, I have some suggestions for you…"

I was already halfway through the building when I realized it was yet another impossible thing. I had no idea who he was or why I had the urge I had.

I forced myself to not stop and to just keep walking until I was outside.

"Sasuke-kun! Is everything alright?" Sakura had started closing in when she called my name, but backed off at the last moment, frowning. In the time they had been waiting, she had unzipped the flak jacket. It still looked too big for her, but it looked a bit less worse unzipped. It didn't help that the olive green vest clashed against her red dress and pink hair.

"I'm fine," I lied. "She just wanted to talk."

Kakashi's eye lazily traced over me. "Well, while you were in there, these two decided on somewhere to go."

I glanced at Naruto— who didn't look like he was completely back to his normal self— and then at Sakura— still stricken looking, even though it'd pass as shock to anyone less familiar with her— before up at Kakashi again. "Is it ramen again?"

I usually didn't care that much, and my head was still aching enough that I wouldn't fight it, but if it ended up being Ichiraku's again, I would probably admit I had a headache and go home.

Sakura shook her head. "Sensei suggested Yakiniku Q so we could invite others. Ino goes there with her team."

I looked up at him. Kakashi just shrugged. "Sakura-chan's parents," was all he said. "It's able to hold crowds."

"I want to invite Haku," Naruto spoke up. "Zabuza's going to be promoting him anyway, and I don't think he's gonna be able to celebrate in Wave."

"Probably not," Kakashi agreed. "The three of you should go congratulate Shino and then change into some off-duty wear. I'll meet you all there at five."

Sakura looked him over from his sandals to his hitai-ate. "You have other clothes?"

"...Yes, actually."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "I know Shino's sensei said we should go and congratulate him, but why are you saying we should?"

Kakashi walked off without answering the question. "You three let Haku know. I'll see you there."

"He's acting weirder than he usually does," Naruto decided.

"Well, it'd still be polite to go congratulate Shino, even if Sensei's being a bit weird about it."

I thought back to Tsunade's office. "I wonder if it's to do with Kurenai?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Do you think he has a crush or something?"

I grimaced. "I hope not." Kakashi was sometimes weird. He also didn't really like me. I didn't want to think about what he'd get like if he really did have a crush on someone.

"I mean, that book he likes is by Ero-sennin and it had a lot of women wanting his autograph… Maybe it's filled with mushy romance, too? I guess we should go find Shino," Naruto said. "Where would he even be?"

"Probably at home," Sakura decided. "If Kurenai-sensei is with the Hokage right now, he must have the rest of the day off, if he isn't celebrating with Hinata and Kiba."

The whole walk to the part of the village Shino lived in was spent with Sakura consciously egging Naruto on into speculating over what kind of non-uniform clothes Kakashi even had until he seemed like wasn't lingering on what we found out as much.

Keeping Naruto under control…

Whoever thought that Sakura or I could make him do anything he didn't want to do were idiots. The only thing that had come with his friendship was his usually loud and obnoxious behavior.

If I had the Sharingan… but I didn't. It was looking like it had skipped over me entirely.

When we started to see more people who were obviously Aburame clan members around, Sakura asked one of them for directions.

This part of the village was heavily wooded, to the point it had never occurred to me there were houses past all the trees before now. There were plenty of pockets of forest left inside the village. I knew a lot of Aburame clan lived in this area, but I thought it was in the surrounding buildings.

Every so often we passed by houses with fully glass-lined porches that were visible from the street until we reached the right one. Shino's house was much larger than all of the others. I knew his dad was the clan head, but we hadn't seen any other houses on the way that were remotely approaching this size. Even my old family home didn't have this big of a difference between it and the next larger ones.

It became obvious why it was so large when Sakura knocked on the door and it was answered by more younger kids than I could easily count, with more piling into the entranceway and looking at us from around the edges. Most of them were obviously Aburame, with a few that probably weren't.

I wasn't the only one taken by surprise.

"Uh, is Shino-kun home?" Sakura asked.

They all started up at once.

"Shino-nii-san!"

"Shino-san!"

"Shino-nii!"

"Nii-san!"

A light buzzing accompanied their high voices.

It didn't stop even when Shino came into sight, wading through them with experience. He was dressed casually, in a gray hooded sweater I recognized from the last year of the academy, from some of the last few days before our lessons started to demand tougher clothes.

He took in the flak jackets Sakura and I were in as a toddler tried to force themselves into his arms. He was getting swarmed. "I see you two were promoted."

"Kurenai-sensei told us you made it too," Sakura told him. "Congratulations."

"Yeah, congrats," Naruto told him. He had edged away from the door and Shino's relatives like he wasn't sure about them. The Third's grandson and his friends went out of their way to find him sometimes, usually interrupting whatever we were doing. That was different from the at least dozen little kids crowded around Shino. Konohamaru and his friends were at least academy age. Most of these weren't.

The continuous hum of insects coming from probably didn't help.

"Do you know if anyone else made it?" I asked.

"We were the only ones from our cohort," he answered. He shook himself free of one of the kids clinging to him. "We can go talk in the sun room. It'll be more private."

It raised up a wail of disappointment from the surrounding kids as he stepped over and pulled his sandals on and came outside. He had one last thing to tell them before he shut the door. "And stay out of my room, I'm not going to be gone for long."

It was odd hearing someone else say that, even though I knew it wasn't directed at me.

Shino led us around the building, where a larger glassed-in room took up the whole back wall of the house. Unlike the rest we had seen, the windows were tinted, making it difficult to see inside.

"Are all those kids your siblings?" Naruto asked.

"No," he answered, sounding affronted at the idea. "Three of them are, but the rest are mostly cousins. There are two or three that aren't. We don't breed like insects." He paused to slide open the door. "You don't need to take your sandals off in here," Shino said. "It's the only room they aren't supposed to enter without an adult."

It was obvious why when we went inside. It was muggy and hot, and there were ceramic towers with mesh walls holding in dirt and bark standing in the middle of the tiled floor. The whole room was filled with insects. Flying through the air, crawling across the windows, weaving in and out of spaces in the towers.

"Are we supposed to be in here?" Naruto asked, nervous.

"It should be fine, unless you do anything." Shino slid the door close behind us.

Naruto froze in place.

"Did she tell you she didn't want to promote you as well?" Shino asked.

"Uh-huh," Sakura said.

"Tou-san and Kurenai-sensei told me to not feel insulted by that, because it's just all of the older shinobi scheming and we're being used," Shino told us. "Which makes sense, because the two of you were promoted and Naruto wasn't. Whatever it is about him that makes the adults not like him probably played a role."

Naruto winced. "Is it really that obvious?"

"My selection was because of reporting my suspicions during the first exam," Shino answered. "That doesn't hold up very well in comparison to what you did during the attack. You're obnoxious, but the adults didn't like you even before you started acting up in class. It's clear which one caused the other." I hadn't ever thought about it before, but it was true. Naruto had started off pretty quiet in the academy. It was only a bit later that he started to be annoying in every class we had together that I paid any attention to him.

"Thanks, I guess?" Naruto looked confused on if that was supposed to be a good thing or not.

Shino only shrugged. "It's unusual that so many of us were promoted in the first place, especially with it being our first time up. The teams from last year's classes still don't have any chūnin."

"Hinata's cousin didn't make it?" Sakura asked.

He scowled at the mention. "No, which shouldn't be a surprise. He used a secret technique he wasn't supposed to know in front of everyone and took out a good chunk of my colony before we were attacked. Even Naruto and Kiba were never that self-centered in the academy."

"Thanks, I think," Naruto managed, while grimacing. "But yeah, he's a complete asshole. Kakashi-sensei had us train with his team once."

"That was a disaster," Sakura murmured, putting a hand to her knee.

"Yeah, he attacked Sakura, and Sasuke set him on fire."

"Tried to," I muttered. I shouldn't have, and it was only luck that I didn't actually catch him on fire, that I had somehow held back enough that the only casualty was his hair.

"You did? Good."

"Kakashi didn't think it was."

"Of course he didn't. The jōnin-sensei are responsible for any accidents that happen in training. But that means it's a repeating issue with him, and he attacked your teammate first. As far as I'm concerned, it's all his fault."

Sakura smiled awkwardly. "So! Are you going to celebrate with your team?"

Shino shook his head. "My mother is out shopping with my aunts to host a celebration party tonight for the clan, which is why I'm stuck with all of these children. Hinata's not in the village right now, so I imagine Kurenai-sensei will want to wait until she's back until we do something."

"She's out of the village?"

"On a mission with her father. He's taken more interest in her since the tournament."

There was the distinct sound of something glass breaking from inside, and then shouting children.

"Shino-san! Shino-san!"

"Nii-san, it wasn't me!"

He grimaced. "I need to go, I can't believe they managed to break something. We weren't even out here for that long."

"Alright. I hope you have a good time!" Sakura told him.

"Same to you."

He let us out the same way we came in, but he stayed inside, since he didn't have to go around without us.

"That's a lot of kids to deal with," Sakura said with some sympathy as we headed for the building the Mist-nin were staying in. "No wonder Shino's always so quiet."

"I wonder what it's like," Naruto pondered.

"Noisy," I answered. "And there's always something going on that you can't escape, especially—" I cut myself off, going silent. I had been one of the youngest. The most experience I had was being the needy little kid. I didn't know where that came from, but it had been like I had just known exactly what Shino was saddled with, with being put in charge of a whole bunch of kids. The headache had spiked with it.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, hesitant.

"Just forget about it."

The rest of the walk was awkward and quiet, and it was all my fault. The only consolation I had was that neither of them knew what the truth was, but… I stopped right before we reached the building. "Don't tell Kakashi about this," I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. "He already treats me bad enough as it is." He was old enough to get suspicious, and already treated me like I was dangerous. I didn't know what he'd do if he found out I was saying things like that, that didn't match reality.

Sakura looked uncertain. "He won't think worse of you for that, he isn't a bad person…"

"We won't tell him." Naruto's face grew serious, and he looked over at Sakura. "It's Sasuke's own business, and he's right, anyway. Kaka-sensei does treat him differently."

"But, if he doesn't know he can't—"

"It's not up to us to make Kakashi-sensei change his mind," Naruto interrupted. "That's between him and Sasuke. If you try behind Sasuke's back, Sasuke won't be the only one mad at you."

Sakura looked offended. "I wouldn't do that! It's just that I think that Sasuke-kun should talk to Sensei if he's this concerned so it can't get any worse."

"I'll think about it," I lied.

Naruto gave me a consternated look— it would figure this would be the one time he'd figure out I was lying— but Sakura looked appeased.

Either way I didn't have to worry about them letting Kakashi know for now, which made me feel relieved enough to realize exactly what it was I had been feeling since I left the Hokage's office. Optimism.

We went into the building the Mist-nin were staying in, Sakura greeting the chūnin at the desk. Whenever that one was on duty here he was usually working on some sort of electronic equipment, and today wasn't any different.

He looked up from the radio earpieces he was detangling and took in the flak jackets Sakura and I were in.

"If you want my advice?" I didn't, but he continued anyways, "When it's time for you to start thinking about picking duties for inside the village? Avoid Communications or Supply."

"Uh, thanks?" Naruto went.

I was just as confused as he was.

There was someone new in the lounge area by the stairs up.

The few times we had come in here, it was usually either the Demon Brothers or one of the hunter-nin pretending to hang out. It clearly wasn't, since they always had weapons with them, and whoever this strange man was, he was no different, a giant wrapped sword resting on the table in front of him. His skin wasn't a normal human color, instead a pale green, going with the inhuman eyes and markings on his face.

He gave us a sharp-toothed smile the moment he saw us, and for a second I thought all of his focus was on me.

Naruto squinted at him. "If you're sick, that's not contagious, right?"

The man laughed. "No."

What's he doing here?

His hitai-ate wasn't slashed. I didn't know why that occurred to me as something to think about.

My headache peaked.

I blurrily blinked awake as my phone's alarm woke me up. My head ached like something was splitting it in two.

Eight AM. I was supposed to meet my mother, grandmother, and one of my aunts at the restaurant at ten.

Two hours was enough time to struggle awake, brew coffee, drink coffee, shower, get my hair and makeup done, get dressed, drink more coffee, and leave.

Try to forget about this night's dream.

I shook a couple capsules out of the Tylenol bottle and finished off the last of the water from the glass on the nightstand before I shoved myself out of bed.

I felt like shit besides the headache, even though I had actually slept through the night and felt mostly rested for the first time in days.

Police.

Even in those stupid dreams, it mocked me.

Dad had picked his career over us and was about to retire from his NCIS job across the country. His second wife and my half-brothers were okay enough, but he had missed enough of my own life pursuing that badge and promotions. He hadn't even shown up for my undergrad graduation ceremony, ducking out at the last moment and sending my stepmom and the kids on their own. That had been awkward and embarrassing.

I had to force myself to not even think about Daniel before I really made myself angry.

Instead, I tried to focus myself on the idea of green Kisame. That didn't help.

I still ended up cutting my shin with my razor from fuming over the unfairness of one of the last things I wanted to deal with forcing itself on me even more than it already did.

I at least got the tattoo concealer to look natural on my skin, blending it as well as I could. I left my hair down just to make sure, though.

I ended up tossing on a cardigan over the dress I went with.

The anger was almost entirely replaced by the usual stress of anticipating a full list of questions by the time I reached the restaurant.

"Mija, there you are," Abuela said, greeting me with a kiss to the cheek.

"I told you she wasn't going to cancel, Mama," my mom told her.

I gave them a nervous smile. "Why would I cancel?" No one was allowed to know I was suffering right now. If I was going to be going crazy, it was going to be alone, without any of my extended family knowing.

"Soledad mentioned her friend Ana— you remember her, she was in Soledad's court for her Quinceañera—" I did. She spilled punch on my sequined heels on purpose during the party and 'accidentally' tried to help by blotting it with a used napkin that had bits of cake on it, permanently ruining them— "Saw you on campus and that you weren't looking well, like you haven't been sleeping."

Soledad, as far as I was concerned, was a nemesis. She had been awful the moment we moved to live here for good since I was a couple months older than her and took back the position of eldest cousin. I managed a less confused smile. "I'm a grad student, sometimes it gets stressful. Besides, you know how she is. She's filled with the bad chisme and she's been trying to get me in trouble since we were kids." Bait set. Abuela's expression started to look like she was considering the source. "I just wish she could let things go so we could move on with our lives. We're both adults now." Just enough contriteness.

Abuela nodded. "You're right," she said, finally. "She needs more to do besides looking after her children. Being cooped up in that house of hers isn't helping, no?"

It was my win this time, at least for now. Soledad and her country club membership-having husband would have to try harder.

I let the gossip wash over me when my aunt arrived and we got seated in a booth.

I was going to have to get it together somehow before someone more reliable found out and passed it on.

Chapter 21: Raise It Up, This Offering

Chapter Text

"I can't believe I still can't get one that fits me," Sakura complained. "Does Kakashi-sensei have a bad reputation with Supply, too?"

"Probably," Naruto said.

We were in a very different-looking bedroom, but it was obviously Naruto's. No one else would have an advertising poster for instant ramen cups on their walls. Or bright orange walls. At least, I hoped not.

The room was on the smaller side, and one wall— an outside one— was curved. The orange walls made it much brighter from the light coming in through the window, filtered through the leaves of the tree branches outside.

Sakura was sitting on the bed which was against one wall, and Naruto was partially hanging out of the low windowsill, surrounded by his potted plants; he was a blot of yellow, orange, and blue against the green around and behind him. I was sitting on a chair that was next to a desk.

All of the furniture was new, if simple, lightly stained wood. Part of a set. Only the blanket folded on the end of the bed showed any signs of age. Naruto's Team Seven photo was on the nightstand. Unlike the one I remembered from the show, the Naruto and Sasuke in the photo weren't making ugly looks at the camera— or in Naruto's case, at Sasuke. It occurred to me that I hadn't even bothered to look at the copy of the photo at Sasuke's apartment. It was pretty sparse, and a little messy, but that wasn't that surprising.

Looking down at myself, I wasn't in one of Sasuke's mildly ridiculous wide-collared shirts. Instead, I was wearing the flak jacket from last time, with a normal blue long-sleeved shirt— round collared, unlike the mock turtlenecks for the full uniform— underneath. I was still in the shorts, though.

It looked like Sakura had taken the promotion to mean she needed to be a bit more practical about how she dressed, even if she was stuck with a flak jacket she couldn't wear. Her hair was pulled back in a braid again, and she had made some changes to her mission clothing; mesh armor reached down to her wrists from under her sleeves, and she had paired it with plated fingerless gloves. Someone had taken a cue from Kakashi, it seemed, but she had managed to find a pair that was a dusty pink. Bright pink handguns marketed to women were a thing in real life. Pink armored accessories were similar enough.

Naruto's clothes were still the same.

Even with the obvious reminders that he hadn't been promoted, Naruto looked elated, and it seemed to be connected with the fact we were in here, in his bedroom.

Sakura sighed. "Probably," she agreed. She looked over at me. "Sasuke-kun, how are you doing with everything?"

I shrugged. I had no idea what to say there. For all I knew, Sasuke was doing great. I sure as hell wasn't. There was also no way in hell I was going to bring anything up to them, because dream or whatever terrible thing this was, they were still kids. I wasn't so desperate that I was going to ask probably-imaginary middle schoolers for advice.

At least not yet.

If I hit the point where talking about my feelings or getting advice from Naruto was on the table— whether he was imaginary or delusion or something else— it would be time to drag my ass out into the desert and become a hermit or die of exposure.

Sakura made a face at me. "Fine, then," she said, audibly disappointed. "What about you, Naruto?"

He groaned. "I didn't know how much paperwork was involved. I should have said I wanted to stick with one of you when I had the chance."

"I thought you were excited when Shizune asked you if you wanted to be a runner for the Hokage office?" Sakura asked him.

"That was before I knew how much real running there would be! And stairs! The inside's all old and stuff and apparently, Jii-Jii didn't really trust computers or printers so everything that gets printed for administration stuff is in a second-level basement, and Baa-chan's getting a lot of stuff printed. I go down a bunch of stairs, have to check in with the security chūnin, get a box, go back up, and then right back down!" That sounded exhausting. "I even got sent out to get more paper at one point because all the printing made the supply run out! I didn't even know where to go! I only found out 'cause I ran into Iruka-sensei."

Sakura grimaced. "You're right, you really should have asked to work with one of us instead, even if it would have been weird. How is Iruka-sensei?"

"Uh, kinda cranky," Naruto said, taking one hand off the windowsill to scratch at his neck awkwardly. "He's still trying to get back onto the active duty roster, but they won't let him until he can do E-rank jutsu again. I'm gonna get ramen with him later today."

There was a terrible sort of equilibrium to that whole situation.

There was a moment of silence until Naruto tried to break it. "What's it like? Being a chūnin so far?"

I had no idea.

"Kind of weird, so far," Sakura admitted. "It's harder than I thought it would be even though it feels like I'm not doing anything? There's a senior chūnin supervising the bigger group we're part of to make sure all of the working teams have enough people and have the right tasks assigned and that we're not working against each other. Even if I want to help out directly with taking a load of supplies or working on something, I'm not supposed to."

"What? Why not?"

"It's a lot more involved than the group assignments at the Academy," Sakura said, wrinkling her nose. "I have to make sure we know where we're going, sign off for any supplies we take, let whoever's in charge at the construction site we're going to know that we're there and with what stuff and get them to sign off on it too and if something's missing or that there's something they were supposed to get that they didn't get find out and get it and make sure nothing goes wrong or if anything happens. So if we're going through a part of the village that isn't under construction I have to make sure there's no one in the way or anything, especially if we're taking an upper-level path so we don't drop a plank or something on someone." She made a face. "I didn't realize how hard just watching people was. It's awkward sometimes, too, because one of the genin working with me has to be eighteen or something and sometimes points things out that I missed. I feel like she knows more than I do!"

"Probably," I agreed.

Sakura looked at me with half-lidded eyes. "That's not funny," she said.

"It wasn't meant to be. If she wanted, she could be making things harder for you, but it sounds like she isn't." I punctuated that with a shrug. "Especially if she's that much older." Not that eighteen was that old, at least not to me.

Sakura huffed.

Naruto looked between me and her, poorly disguised alarm on his face.

Before he could come up with anything though, a shout rose from the ground.

"Naruto! Get your ass out of the window before you fall out and land on someone! That's not a seat, you clumsy brat!" Jiraiya.

Naruto let out a surprised laugh as he turned and did almost go through the open window when he released his grip on the windowsill, Sakura lunged, grabbing his arm and pulling him back in before he pitched any further back, knocking over a couple of the potted plants in the process.

They ended up in a tangle among the plants and I was still helping prop the fallen ones back up so they could get up when Jiraiya filled the door frame.

"Told ya," was all he said, arms folded.

Naruto gently pushed the intrusive leaves of a pothos away from his face. "You surprised me!"

"You're supposed to be a ninja," Jiraiya said, rolling his eyes. "Get off the floor and shake the dirt off. There's someone you need to meet. I'll be downstairs." He turned around and left.

"Huh." Naruto looked contemplative for a moment as I offered Sakura a hand to get up.

"Did you see anyone outside with him?" Sakura asked, brushing the potting soil off her dress.

"Just Ino's dad, but I didn't get a good look." He stood up finally and gave one of the plants a careful pat.

"It was nice of Kakashi-sensei to get you some plants," Sakura said.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure why he did, it's not like I had that many," Naruto answered, sounding mystified. "Maybe it's because the one I had in my room lost most of its leaves when my apartment got destroyed? It's still alive though."

I vaguely felt like that was my fault, but I wasn't sure why.

Naruto led the way out into the hallway. There were a few other closed doors and while it was clean, it was a bit too clean. Like it had seen a recent thorough one to be suitable for people to live in the space again.

The stairs loudly creaked the whole way down. Jiraiya had gone up and down them without us even hearing him.

Inside the living room, which didn't have the same too-clean impression lingering in it, Karin was standing between Inoichi and Jiraiya, no hitai-ate, no holster, just dressed in a light blue long-sleeved blouse and a ruffled skirt over leggings. Her eyes widened at seeing us. Someone recognized us from her mortifying moment during the first exam, then.

Naruto scrunched his eyebrows together and looked between the two adults. "Isn't she a Kusa-nin? What's she doing here?"

"This is Uzumaki Karin," Inoichi began. He was in his grey Interrogation get-up. Karin bit her lip and ducked her head, staring at the ground. "She's going to be staying with you and Jiraiya."

Naruto looked like he got sucker-punched, blinking. "Uzumaki? Like me?"

"I— Not really," Karin muttered. "That's not—"

"Just because that isn't what was on your documentation in Kusagakure, it doesn't mean you don't have the right to be called that," Jiraiya said. "The hair is a big hint to anyone who knows."

Sakura frowned. "But she's a genin, isn't she? Where's her hitai-ate? Did she…" She clearly didn't want to finish the question.

"She caught our attention during the exams," Inoichi explained. "While normally we wouldn't have pressed it, the attack attempted on Sasuke that Iruka-sensei intervened in was by one of their ninja. Even though that was by a traitor, it pushed things in our favor. They didn't want to risk trouble under the circumstances." His voice was just a bit too crisp through the whole explanation.

Naruto managed to put it together. "We took her?" he asked indignantly. He focused on Karin with an intense look in his eyes. "Did you want to come here?"

Karin's hesitance to answer was all he needed.

I yanked Sakura by the arm as I stepped away.

"I thought we were supposed to be better than that!" Naruto erupted. "Not— not stealing people and taking them against their will and all that! And don't give me that crap about 'we're ninja'! I'm not that dumb! Everyone made it obvious what a big deal it was and why Orochimaru became a missing-nin! What's the difference between this and what he was doing?" His chest was beginning to heave. "When we were leaving Wave, Kakashi-sensei had to offer Haku all this stuff to try and get him to want to join Konoha. Was he supposed to try and drag Haku here against his will, too, if he didn't want to? Or was it because he's strong and had Zabuza with him that he got to have a choice?" The whisker marks on his face were darkening, red pouring into his eyes. Not like in the forest, but it was still clearly happening all the same.

Karin flinched and took a step back, eyes shut, her face full of fear.

Jiraiya shifted to stand in front of her, arms carefully, tellingly, crossed. Inoichi was taking his cue from Jiraiya, not moving out of the way he was standing even though from here he wanted to, shoulders tensed and fingers splayed. "Calm down, brat. Does it look like either of us are that happy about this? This was all done back in July. It's too late to change anything, and she's better off here anyway, from what I've heard, especially since Grass has got itself into another stupid spat.

"There are reasons she's going to be staying with us, and it's not because I got it into my head to be domestic," he continued, the easy-going jab at himself not quite matching his tone; despite signaling with his body language that he was unimpressed, his voice was too careful. He was trying to talk Naruto out of blowing up. "I'd at least want a wife if I was going to do that, and there's no one volunteering that I'd want anyway." There were a whole bunch of implications in all of that, and the one I wanted to think about least was the implication that Jiraiya did have women somewhere out there who were interested in marrying him.

Then again, he was supposed to be a popular writer, and fandom was a scary place.

It was enough at least for Naruto to start calming down— angry chakra fox monster-themed meltdown avoided— but no one spoke until he only looked sulky with blue eyes again.

"While there were plenty of options as far as people she could live with for the time being went," Inoichi started, as though pretending that whole outburst wasn't worth mentioning, "Tsunade-sama was the one who suggested that living with you and Jiraiya would be the best option due to that connection."

"Why not her instead?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?" Sakura went.

"Baa-chan is related to the Uzumaki clan too, isn't she?" Naruto continued, while we all stared at him.

"She is?" Sakura stared at him, visibly gobsmacked.

She wasn't the only one, because now Naruto was staring at her in complete surprise. "Yeah? It was in one of the little books they taught us from in the first year of the academy, talking about all the Hokage. The Shodai married an Uzumaki." He scratched the back of his head, self-conscious. "I guess I still remember because it was the first time I ever heard that someone had my name before."

"She's the Hokage," Jiraiya finally answered. "Do you think she's got time right now to deal with setting up a teenager? She hasn't even got her own place set up yet."

"As for why she doesn't have a hitai-ate," Inoichi said, "whether from Kusagakure or here, for the time being, she's being treated as a civilian. She's currently on a probationary period before she can go active—" this garnered a scowl from Naruto— "if she wants to serve as a ninja here."

Karin's expression was very carefully blank.

"In the meantime, she needs furniture and more clothing, which is why Jiraiya wanted you three to be here after you were done for the day." I wondered how much extra work this was being for Inoichi.

The mention of shopping had Sakura perk up a little. Naruto only gave Inoichi and Jiraiya a skeptical look. "With what money?"

"Because of the circumstances, she's being provided the genin base-pay stipend with a starting fund. You don't have to worry about dipping into your savings account."

Naruto only gave Inoichi a blank look. "What savings account? I just have a normal one. I don't use it most of the time 'cause it doesn't make sense when I'm broke and most of my money can fit in my wallet after paying for everything. Or at least before it didn't, since I'm not paying rent I guess it'd be better than trying to keep my pay under my mattress, even if they take a whole chunk of it every deposit."

There was a long and heavy pause as Inoichi and Jiraiya looked between each other, and I couldn't help but frown.

"What do you mean, you don't have a savings account?" Jiraiya finally asked once he gathered his words. "The village bank isn't supposed to have fees for anyone." There was an incredibly dangerous undertone to his voice. The perverted goofball act— which had barely hung for the whole conversation and was running on vapors earlier— had completely disappeared. "You've got your bank book somewhere, don't you? Go get it."

Inochi was also frowning, but he didn't look like he was ready to leave a giant-toad-shaped crater somewhere.

Naruto took off running for the stairs without making any response— dumb, clever, or otherwise.

It was a very tense few minutes before Naruto finally returned, bringing back a little book with his name on its front. It showed some signs of light use, but it reminded me of my checkbook. In the over a decade of having my own bank account, I had written a check out all of three times.

It occurred to me that when I woke up I should make sure I knew where my checkbook was. It had been a few months since the last time I used it.

Jiraiya plucked it out of Naruto's hands and opened it, quickly looking over it. The thunderous and deadly mood disappeared so quickly and thoroughly that it was almost hard to imagine that it had been there at all in the first place. He barked out a laugh, and lightly smacked Naruto over the head with the book before pushing it back into Naruto's hand.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"You have a savings account, you little idiot! That's where all that money's going!"

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Because it says that. Right there." Jiraiya grabbed the book back, flipping it to an already filled page, pointing at a specific spot on one line, holding it in front of Naruto's face. "Going with every month it's recorded a deposit, it's had that as a transfer right after. See?"

Naruto squinted."Huh. Oh yeah, that's the character for 'savings'. That was in that huge vocabulary list Ebisu made me go over. So that's what that is. I got my bank account at the same time I was moved into my apartment, but nobody really explained anything and I didn't really pay attention to all of it. I just remembered that all the money in the account was supposed to be used for my rent and bills and stuff." He looked up at Jiraiya, still squinting. "Wait, does that mean I actually have a ton of money?"

Something about that, between Naruto being himself and how that was phrased, set off several alarms.

Jiraiya seemed to have caught on as well. "If you have more sense than rocks have chakra, you'll leave it in there until you're older."

"But rocks don't have chakra."

Probably for the better, Inoichi appeared to be deciding that ignoring that all of that had happened was the wise decision to make. He had turned towards Karin, who was looking a bit stunned, pulling out a similar-looking booklet to the one Jiraiya was busying himself with bonking Naruto over the head with. "Your account's already been set up for you." He cast a sidelong look at Naruto before returning his focus to the red-hairedgirl. "As long as you choose responsibly, it will be more than enough for a set of bedroom furniture and some new clothes."

"I understand," Karin said, reluctant. She hesitantly took it.

Inoichi looked over at Sakura. "Sakura-chan, why don't you see if Ino would like to help with this shopping trip. Her team usually finishes around this time."

Sakura nodded.

Jiraiya shoved the bank book down Naruto's jacket collar. "Just get outta here," he said, shaking his head. "Look for furniture first, so that it can get delivered before tonight."

We got turned out of the house not long after that.

From the outside, it definitely was on the older end and showed signs that no one had been living in it for a while until recently and that it was still in the middle of being brought back up to livable. The roof was new; the windows were the sort that you saw only in old buildings that hadn't been updated.

We walked in awkward mostly-silence, Sakura's attempts at asking Karin about herself failing. Even Naruto wasn't being that chatty for him. Mostly Karin just stared a lot at me and Naruto when she thought we weren't paying attention.

I decided to pretend it wasn't happening. I was not going to let myself get wrapped up in speculation on if Karin had a crush on Sasuke at this point or not. I hoped not. I sure as hell didn't run into or save her from a bear, so either she got out of it on her own or that just never happened like everything else that had changed.

She probably had a better time in the forest than in the show.

She was still a thirteen-year-old kid displaced into a new environment against her will though, and while Sasuke's saving her triggered her initial crush in the series because it had been kind behavior, the idea of going out of my way to be cold to avoid it from happening just filled me with preemptive guilt. This wasn't the same Karin from after the time skip.

It took less time to find Team Asuma than I had expected. Sakura had both a better sense of direction — I 'knew' where things were supposed to be only if I didn't think about it— and the knowledge of where Ino was supposed to be.

There were more people on the field than just Asuma's team when we were approaching. Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru were present as well, just not with Kurenai.

Anko was there instead, tossing a drink can up and down, letting it twirl in the air fast enough that I couldn't make out the label. Hopefully, it wasn't carbonated; or that if it was, she didn't plan on drinking it anytime soon.

"What's she doing here?" Naruto asked, baffled.

"I should ask you the same thing," Anko immediately shot back with a grin. She slid the can into a pocket. "I'm filling in for Kurenai. Did Tsunade-sama make the village run out of paper and that's why you were able to escape?"

"That's not funny!" Naruto grimaced and tilted his head slightly as he examined her, before shifting his attention around, looking not quite directly at Hinata, who was sandwiched between her teammates, before looking back at Anko. "Yeah, but why are you filling in for her? I know she's been working in the Hokage's office, but isn't her team supposed to be more important or something than paperwork?" That had rings of Kakashi to it.

Asuma gripped the back of his neck. "Kurenai's on maternity orders for the time being." He was trying to sound casual about it, as though it wasn't big news or important to him.

That was also a hell of a change and about three years early.

Sakura let out a surprised and happy gasp. "She's going to have a baby?" Before she got caught up in the idea she paused. "Wait, isn't that something she should be bringing up herself?"

Naruto squinted at Asuma. "Yeah, why are you saying this? Aren't babies supposed to be a big deal?"

"Who do you think got her pregnant?" Shikamaru said. There was far more resentment and vitriol in his voice than I would have expected.

"Uh, not Kakashi-sensei then?" Naruto guessed. I had no idea where he got that idea from, and I didn't want to know.

Asuma choked. "No, it's not him."

"Okay, because he was acting really weird around her." Naruto focused his attention on Asuma. "Wait, is it you?" He wrinkled his nose. "Ew."

Sakura elbowed him.

"All this time he had us training with Team Eight was just an excuse," Shikamaru grated out.

Ino frowned. "Shikamaru—"

Shikamaru immediately turned on her. "It was your stupid idea in the first place that let him get away with it, Ino," he shot at her.

Ino took a step back.

Chōji glanced between them, visibly unhappy. Before Ino could reply, he cut in. "Do we need to do this right now?" There was an unsaid, but still present 'Again?' in his voice.

He wasn't the only one who seemed to be tired of this, because Hinata spoke up, her fingers plied against each other. "It's not our business that Kurenai-sensei is pregnant or that she and Asuma-sensei are together and it's not right that you're judging them for it." The words tumbled out of her loud and almost too fast, but it still resulted in everyone staring at her. She was slowly turning pink under the attention.

"Yeah, what Hinata said," Kiba agreed. "Just because you're too full of yourself to get over it doesn't mean we are." Akamaru let out a bark in what I guessed was supposed to be an agreement. Kiba bared his teeth in an unfriendly smile. "Or are you envious of a baby that's not even going to show up for six more months?"

This was starting to reach some high and complex drama for thirteen-year-olds.

Anko seemed to agree, because she threw her hands up, palms at both Shikamaru and Kiba. "Alright, this is enough for me, I'm calling it quits for the day. Team Eight, you guys can go do whatever you want, just as long as it doesn't get me in trouble for encouraging dumb genin drama." She rubbed at the back of her neck. "I'm going to go take Kurenai lunch and see what she can hold down. Any ideas?"

"Nothing fried," Shino immediately answered.

"I'll keep that in mind." Anko went over to Asuma and hooked her arm around his, ready to drag him off. Anko wasn't that short, but Asuma still towered over her, and the act pulled him down a bit. "Come on, if they're going to draw blood we don't want to be around. It'll give them a chance to lie, feel sorry about themselves, and maybe make up without us getting too involved."

"What sort of advice is that even supposed to be?" Asuma asked.

"Way better than I thought it was when I first heard it," Anko said. She flashed us a smile before she resolutely began to drag Asuma off. "Bye! Don't kill each other!"

Orochimaru was supposed to have been Anko's sensei when she was a genin, wasn't he? In that context, that advice made a lot of sense. I settled for waving.

It was only when Asuma and Anko were a distance away that Sakura realized what hadn't happened at all when she looked over in Naruto's direction and remembered Karin was there. Who had witnessed all of this. Poor Karin. "Oh no! We came here for a reason. This is Uzumaki Karin."

Karin was turning red, if slowly, now that everyone's attention was on her. Maybe it had been for the better that the drama had happened first, after all, since now she wasn't the weird one, it was everyone else. "Nice to meet you all," she said, quiet and without any conviction.

Ino was point-blank staring, but the others were at least being a bit more polite about it.

Chōji looked between Karin and Naruto. "Uzumaki?"

"Yeah, she's gonna be living with me and Ero-Sennin," Naruto said. It wasn't at his full usual ebullience, and I couldn't tell if it was because of the drama that had sparked with our arrival, or because he was still trying to decide how to feel about it. Probably both.

Hinata offered Karin a small smile. "It's nice to meet you, Karin-chan. You visited Konoha during the exams, didn't you? I hope you're able to become comfortable here." There was something just a bit careful in Hinata's word choice. She must have recognized Karin from the first one and put enough of it together from how Karin was dressed, without a hitai-ate.

Karin nodded but didn't bother to elaborate.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Ino. "Ino," she started, slowly and with the sort of patience that came from getting used to having to get someone's attention when you weren't sure if they were zoned in enough to even be found to begin with, "Your dad dropped her off with Jiraiya-sama; he said I should ask if you want to help us go shopping."

Ino blinked. "Oh! What are we shopping for?"

"I need bedroom furniture and some clothes," Karin answered, not looking at anyone. Her eyes were focused on the ground.

Ino's expression and how she was holding herself changed entirely, as a smile drew upon her face. "Ooh, sure."

Shikamaru only scowled. "Come on, Chōji." Without bothering to wait, Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets and began to skulk off to the adjoining street.

Chōji frowned but didn't follow Shikamaru right away. Instead, he focused on Karin. "He's normally not like this," he apologized. He ducked his head. "I hope you have a good time shopping." Chōji spat the words out quickly, before taking off in a full sprint for Shikamaru, not looking up. Even so, from where I was standing, I could see that his face was burning red. Judging from the lack of reactions, I seemed to be the only one who had noticed. Everyone else was focusing on Karin or Shikamaru's retreating in the distance.

Well, that was interesting. Then again, hadn't he ended up with that one redhead?

"It's not usually like this," Sakura said to Karin. She looked over at me with a thin and desperate smile. "Right, Sasuke-kun?" She was trying to save the situation from being a wreck more than it already was. I wasn't sure what could be done at this point, between Naruto's earlier burst of temper probably scaring the shit out of Karin and then the drama between Shikamaru and everyone else, when Karin already wasn't happy to be here.

"No, it's usually this bad," I said instead.

Sakura looked at me, betrayal in her eyes, and slumped, but Karin let out a gasp from trying to hold back laughter, before pressing a hand to her mouth, eyes wide.

In comparison, Kiba didn't bother, laughing loudly. "Yeah, something always seems to be happening around them," he agreed.

Shino pushed his sunglasses up, turning towards Kiba. "If the point of this is to acclimate her to the village, making her feel uncomfortable for no reason won't help anyone."

"Well, she's gonna find out eventually, isn't she? She might as well be prepared," Kiba pointed out.

"You don't need to put it like that," Naruto grumbled, before speaking up a bit louder. "We should get going so we can have enough time to look for furniture and get it delivered in time. When we got back, we didn't do that in time and Ero-sennin had already gotten rid of the old stuff. I had to sleep on the ground with a blanket, and I have a feeling it won't be Karin-chan sleeping on the floor if it gets scheduled for tomorrow."

At that, Ino turned towards Hinata. "Oh! Hinata, you should come with us too, you probably know different places than Sakura and I do, and it's not like the boys are going to know where to look for deals."

“Those two might not, but I do!" Kiba spoke up, which got a confused look from Naruto. Kiba made a face. "Who do you think gets dragged along when my mom and sister go shopping?"

"Uh, you?" Naruto asked.

Kiba stuck his tongue out.

"Um... I might know a few places," Hinata admitted, ignoring the exchange between the two boys. "I've gone looking with Kurenai-sensei before."

"I'll go too," Kiba insisted.

This was going to be a crowd.

"Good luck," Shino said, decisively. "I'm going to go see Kurenai-sensei and then go home and tend to my insects."

"What, not gonna come with us?" Kiba asked.

"At least one of us should stay out of trouble," Shino responded. "And I don't think it will be any of you." He turned to look at Karin. "I hope you're able to settle in the village well."

With that, Shino left, leaving me to wonder if I should cut and join him instead.

If I left, I wouldn't get caught up with whatever was going to happen— and I refused to think that something wouldn't happen. But it would also leave this particular group of children to try and problem-solve their way out and I wasn't sure that Hinata or Sakura were actually up to that. The rest of them definitely weren't.

The walk afterward into the more built-up parts of the village was awkward, Sakura determinedly trying her best to pull Karin into conversation with her, Hinata, and Ino. So far, she was only being met with failure in the form of one-word answers, Karin going stiff each time she was addressed before she stopped replying at all.

Eventually, Hinata and Kiba exchanged a look, and Kiba spoke up. "Akamaru's getting tired of walking," he suddenly announced, before scooping the puppy up. Without warning, he stepped over to her and gently pushed Akamaru against Karin's chest. "Here, you hold him, since I'm gonna end up carrying stuff."

Karin blinked as she moved her arms to suddenly account for the surprise dog. "Uh—"

Akamaru let out a little bark and licked at Karin's face, which got a surprised giggle out of her.

"Oh, he's really soft…"

"Of course he is! I take care of him!"

I refused to allow myself to envy Karin. If I wanted to pet a cute dog, I could stop by the accommodations office on campus after spring break ended and visit the therapy dog there. Akamaru was cute, but I was not going to forget that he had a piss jutsu and was also a combat animal. Karin was obviously being allowed to cuddle Akamaru. I definitely was not.

Akamaru was off-limits.

Hinata gave Karin an encouraging smile that lasted up until she had picked up that Kiba's move hadn't just helped relax Karin, but had left Hinata standing next to Naruto.

Naruto was too busy staring at a large building that had a sign declaring it sold refurbished furniture, decor and art displayed next to its doors, which were up a flight of stairs that headed up further to join one of the higher walkways that spanned the street. "How about this one?" he asked.

Sakura frowned. "Naruto, if it's refurbished, that means it's used."

"I know that!" he insisted. "I was suggesting it only 'cause Ero-sennin and me went looking through places like this for my stuff." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. That was a surprise. I had pegged it all as new. It had certainly looked like it. "Some of the newer places are really expensive and the furniture isn't that nice. This way she can keep the rest of it for stuff she'd want besides furniture and clothes. Uh, if that's okay with her. Um, Karin-chan?" He darted an unsure look over towards Karin, who had her arms wrapped around Akamaru.

Karin blinked. "Uh…" I had the sudden terrible suspicion that Karin wasn't used to being asked her opinion on anything. "Yeah, I'd like that. Being able to have money left for other things."

Sakura— and Ino— clearly had mixed feelings on it, but before they could say anything, Hinata spoke up, pressing her fingertips together.

"If she's able to find things she likes, buying older furniture is a more responsible choice," she said, eyes focused on the store's doors. "And um, if it's because it wouldn't be as stylish, that would probably be too expensive since it'd be imported and there's a shortage going on because of all the homes being rebuilt."

Ino made a face. "You're right."

We were able to get into the building without any further complaints or issues. Inside, it was wide open and well lit, filled with furniture that was only somewhat organized, paper price-tags hanging on some things, and stands with the price marked in front of others. It was surprisingly full of people for a store like this.

"Welcome to our store, please let us know if you need any— oh!" To our— and her— surprise, Tenten was the one who greeted us, a bit further in, standing on a stool in the middle of putting a box away. She wasn't wearing her hitai-ate, and her usual blue top and green pants had been changed out for a blue full-sleeved one paired with long black pants, a black shop apron around her waist. "Hi. This is a surprise."

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, not bothering to modulate his volume. It attracted the attention of several other people, some of whom frowned when they saw who it was and promptly went right back to ignoring Naruto's existence. He ignored them completely.

"Gai-sensei's out on a mission, like a lot of the jōnin," she answered, as she walked over. Once she was closer, I was able to tell she was wearing a little bit of makeup in the form of a pink gloss and a light purple eyeshadow. Someone was dressed to make a nice impression. "This is my uncle's store. Since my team's only doing D-ranks and we don't do as much training without him, my mom asked if I could help him out because of all the extra customers. I was more than happy to help." She looked around for a bit before saying, in a lower volume, "He promised to buy me this sword I wouldn't be able to afford otherwise if I did."

That was completely legitimate. I had spent a month of one of my summer breaks helping one of my uncles by doing secretary-type nonsense to save up for the first iPhone. I didn't get the iPhone in the end when my mother realized how much the phone was supposed to cost and refused to let me get it on principle. Hopefully, Tenten wouldn't encounter the same problem, but given she had quieted down when she brought it up… she was probably expecting pushback. She was trying to be sneaky.

"Huh," went Naruto.

"What brings you all in here?" Tenten asked, giving Karin a somewhat curious glance. If she recognized her, she wasn't saying anything.

"This is Uzumaki Karin," Sakura answered. "She's come to live in the village and she needs bedroom furniture. We're helping her look."

"Ooh," Tenten went, smiling at Karin. "There are full sets on the second story," she said, as she pointed to some stairs that were behind her, leading up to a balcony floor. "I even helped redo some of them myself!"

Naruto squinted in thought. "You guys have delivery people, right? Because we need to be able to get it set up tonight."

Tenten beamed. "That's why I got asked to help out! I'm able to seal almost everything into a scroll, which frees up the employees who would be doing deliveries in the village to go buy furniture from other places to bring back. Since it's a family business and it's staying inside the village, I'm allowed to do this however much I want, get all the supplies I need bought for me and it's great practice." No wonder Tenten had no problem helping, especially with a promised sword on top of that.

"Okay," Naruto went, apparently won over. He looked over at Karin. "Uh, you wanna go look?"

Karin hugged Akamaru tighter. "Um. Okay."

There was something hilarious, if slightly tragic, about the whole situation. They both got to have family to claim, but they were both so awkward and clueless about to handle it that Naruto's usual boisterousness and confidence had almost entirely slid off.

"Thanks for letting us know," Sakura told Tenten. "Hopefully we find things here that she likes."

"No problem! I need to go make sure everyone on this floor is doing alright, but I'll head up there to help after!"

I took the lead in heading for the stairs, leaving everyone else to trail behind me since there wasn't enough room to spread out on the floor. Soon enough, I was almost to the top of the stairs, mid-step, when I suddenly felt like everything was distant and out of focus, body not responding. I teetered backward, falling. The sensation stopped almost as soon as it had hit me, too late, even as I tried to grab the handrail I was too far away from.

"Sasuke!"

Someone's chest thudded against my back as they yanked me towards the side of the stairs, giving me the chance to righten, heart pounding in my chest. I gripped onto the handrail as I turned around. That had felt too real and was too close for comfort.

Naruto was looking up at me, a serious and worried look on his face, Sakura and Hinata right behind him, just as worried. Kiba was frowning, Karin had shut her eyes, and Akamaru was wriggling to loosen Karin's tight hold. Ino was still on the ground floor, hands together and staring in shock.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked.

"I'm fine. I just lost my footing," I lied. There was nothing to tell them that I was interested in divulging. I didn't want to get treated as crazy in these dreams on top of all the increasing concern from others during my waking hours that I was trying to ignore.

It was, judging from their varying expressions, not a very credible lie.

"No one questions Naruto being clumsy," I snapped, not entirely sure where the words came from.

I pulled away from Naruto and went up the rest of the stairs with my hand tight on the rail this time, ignoring the silence that followed me up.

The worst of the mood— and thumping in my chest— had disappeared by the time we made it to the bedroom furniture in the back, and idle conversation had gradually picked up among the others again in fits and starts, drifting in and out around the various beds, nightstands, and dressers laid out, some lightly decorated with lamps and other things that all had price tags attached to them. Akamaru had finally been let go and was trotting around, Kiba keeping a firm eye on his puppy after we had seen a sign declaring that customers would have to pay for any damaged goods.

Karin had ended up mostly tuning Ino and Sakura out, who seemed to have forgotten the shopping trip was about her, and I caught her examining a set of pretty multicolored glass perfume bottles that were scattered across the top of a light wood makeup vanity, all trimmed with gold. They looked out of place compared to the rest of the mostly East Asian-looking decorative baubles we had seen so far. If anything, they looked like the set I was told my dad had got me on his final deployment. My stepmother was the one who had actually given them to me, almost a full year after he had returned.

"Be careful," I said when she leaned over to touch one with a delicate-looking blown glass flower as a stopper. She looked up at me, startled. "Those are fragile."

"I know that," Karin answered. She was giving me an unsure look. "I— my mom used to collect perfume with me." Her eyes dropped, focusing on the bottle. "They've all probably been destroyed or taken by now..."

"If you like them, you should get them." I picked up the bottle closest to me, examining the tag. 'Land of Wind style glass perfume bottle'. The price, as far as I could tell, wasn't that expensive, not that I had bothered to figure out what things were supposed to cost in these dreams. Even so, I doubted that Tenten would be up for ripping us off.

Then again, she had a fancy sword on the line, so maybe she would.

Karin straightened up, looking at the price tag attached to the vanity mirror, setting her shoulders. "I want the vanity, too!" Finally, a sign of life.

Sakura looked over from the bookshelf she had been examining. "Huh?"

"I think Sasuke happened," Naruto said, turning from the dresser he had been in front of.

"Oh. He must be feeling better."

I decided to ignore that whole exchange to pretend it didn't happen. It wasn't my fault children were so easy to accidentally enable. Especially since nothing I had said was a signal for Karin to want a vanity, which meant it was all on her.

I moved away so Karin could look at the vanity better. In the process, I jabbed my side on something, but when I turned, there was nothing there at the right height.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"It's nothing."

I woke up with my phone poking me in the ribs. It was unplugged, and the charge was at 72%, and it was already past three, even though I had rolled myself back into bed after brunch yesterday and spent most of the day snoozing, only getting up to eat the rest of my leftover menudo.

My stomach chose that point to remind me that it was hungry, and I ambled out of my bedroom and to the kitchen. Nothing I had left was calling my name, and it didn't help that I was running low on groceries. The last time I had gotten groceries was over three weeks ago.

I did not want to or feel up to going grocery shopping, and found a small yogurt cup— plain, since the rest were too sweet for my tastes— hiding behind the pitcher of cold brew coffee I kept in the fridge.

I ended up swiping through my phone, looking through the delivery app as I spooned the yogurt into my mouth. It would cost more, but there was a strong appeal in not having to drive somewhere, order from a person, wait, and drive back, or have to make a phone call for pick-up to begin with. All I would have to do was answer the door and retreat.

I ended up going with my favorite Chinese place instead when nothing on the app appealed. They did huge takeout servings and the delivery was free. Between the crab rangoon, the hot and sour soup, sesame beef, and chow mein, it would keep me fed for a few days.

I could go grocery shopping later.

I didn't allow myself to look at my phone's browser until I had picked through half of the chicken chow mein I had put into a bowl. I had finished off all of the crab rangoon.

To my utter lack of surprise, the latest tab in the browser was on Karin's page.

Chapter 22: Disregard the Cost

Chapter Text

"Someone thanked me today," Naruto said, sounding baffled at himself. "Bā-chan had me run something she had signed to the legal office— did you even know we had one of those, 'cause I didn't— and the chūnin at their front desk thanked me even though he had a good look at me."

At least this time I didn't trip over my feet, which was for the better. I had a pack slung over one shoulder, and the holster strapped on my leg and the pouch at my waist were both full.

Sakura took a step ahead at my side to get a better look at Naruto, brows furrowed together. "A legal office? Are you sure? I thought lawyers were just a civilian thing… But why wouldn't he thank you?"

"I think they're really the Daimyō's, but I dunno," Naruto said, shrugging. He dropped his voice to be quieter. "Because a few years back, he was telling his kid to stay away from me, and I dumped a full cup of instant ramen on his head."

I wasn't able to keep myself from snorting.

"That was rude of you, but he was rude first," Sakura answered, frowning. "But back in the academy, you were always doing stuff like that whether or not they said anything. That probably didn't help."

"Maybe not," Naruto admitted, sounding sheepish. "But I got tired of being ignored all the time, and sometimes it felt like I was gonna disappear if I didn't get some attention."

"Oh, Naruto," Sakura said, with a sigh. "But it sounds like the adults aren't seeing you as just being annoying anymore."

"No, they groan now because I'm usually lugging around paperwork they have to look through or have to get from them and it's not my fault but Bā-chan's." Naruto grinned.

"That's one way to solve it," I said.

"Huh?" Both of them turned to look at me.

"Sasuke-kun, what do you mean?"

"It sounds like they're getting reconditioned. Instead of associating Naruto with getting annoyed, it's getting transferred over to the paperwork. They're probably getting relieved to see him if he shows up empty-handed."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wait, that is what's going on, how'd you know?"

Because I was older and increasingly overeducated. But also... "Because I'm smarter than you."

That got a giggle out of Sakura.

"What— hey! That's not funny!"

I had gotten enough real sleep and had a whole bunch of leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow. I felt in a good enough mood to mess around.

"It isn't?"

Naruto made a face at me, sticking his tongue out. "Well, if you're gonna be like that, it's my turn to pick, and we should go eat at Ichiraku's for dinner tonight."

"Okay," Sakura said. "But only because my parents are supposed to be working late and Shizune's out on a mission for Tsunade-sama so I can't show her how much progress I've made yet."

Naruto frowned a bit. "You gotta give yourself some time to relax, Sakura-chan. This is the first time in a couple weeks you were even able to train with us. It doesn't really count as stopping before I do if you throw yourself right into doing even more training and studying. Even Sasuke's taking it easier than you; right, Sasuke?"

I shrugged.

"Well, I agreed, didn't I?" she said, grumpily. "I have to get the basics down, because if I don't have something to show for myself, Tsunade-sama really won't give me a chance and she'll probably give me a hard time for wasting Shizune's time, too."

"It's still important to have some time to relax," I pointed out. "If you stress yourself out too much, anything you do won't be as effective and you'll just start to spiral." That much I had figured out my junior year of undergrad. It was also something I needed to remember for the rest of my grad program, especially if this continued to make me lose sleep.

There was only so much I could up the caffeine I consumed.

Sakura sighed. "I guess you're right, but what am I supposed to do, schedule things like soaking in a bath?"

I had to resort to exactly that last fall to remember to relax. "If you have to," I agreed.

Sakura looked less than impressed. "Fine."

Naruto gave a full body shake, and bits of shredded paper dropped from his jacket. "We can meet up at Ichiraku's in about an hour, if that's okay?" he asked. "I need a shower, and I'm still shedding bits of paper from the paper shredder Bā-chan punched earlier. I wanna see if Karin wants to join us, too." Naruto's gaze crossed from me to Sakura, clearly evident that he was wondering if we were going to protest or not.

"Fine with me," I answered.

Sakura nodded. "I don't like eating right after we've trained, and I need to drop this medical book off anyways."

I split off from the other two.

The whole walk, I felt uneasy. While I had a solid idea of where Sasuke's apartment was— practically able to get there without drifting off and letting the dream take me there— something seemed off, and I didn't like it.

I felt like I was being followed, but as far as I was able to tell, there was no difference from the usual. The tangle of streets, rooftops, and elevated paths that made Konoha seem fanciful in the show just meant that with the slowly deepening shadows and outdoor lights flickering into being it was impossible to tell what was really around me.

It felt menacing in a way that I was familiar with, but as myself, not in these dreams as Sasuke.

I sped up the rest of the way to get to his apartment before it got any darker. I didn't want to think about it.

I locked the door behind me after I flicked on the lights, feeling silly. While a deadbolt would be more than enough for real life... these dreams were filled with ninja.

I didn't take Sasuke's sandals off, instead heading to the bathroom, flicking on every light on the way. The lights didn't help.

After I turned on the bathroom light and stepped in, I took a look in the mirror.

Sasuke's hair was hitting an awkward shaggy stage, which I had vaguely been aware of from how it felt, but looking in the mirror it just made it more obvious. His bangs were hanging past his chin, not quite ready to graze his shoulders, and the back was long enough that it was starting to weigh itself down instead of fluffing out over the back of the hitai-ate's tie.

It still looked a bit ridiculous, but that was normal for teenaged boys.

To my dismay, I could see the telltale signs of a tiny pimple starting to form.

There was only a single bar of soap- plain white and unscented- on the sink and no sign of anything for skincare, much less face wash.

Besides the ominous ready-to-bloom pimple, though, Sasuke's face was completely clear, and this dumb child apparently used only the same soap he used for washing his hands.

There were so many aspects of this that were entirely unfair.

I turned the tap on for warm water and after washing my hands, splashed some on my face. I only had disdain for the bar soap.

I heard movement as I was drying off and I straightened up.

Someone was in here with me.

My hand slid down to the holster at my side and I gripped a kunai before turning around.

The Sound... Three. Or would it still count as Four? Tayuya was noticeably absent, but one of its members were still twins.

Even with the changes in these dreams so far, it looked like Orochimaru still expected to take Sasuke for his body. There was no way for this to go well if they were supposed to bring Sasuke back whether he wanted to or not, and I doubted this was a friendly visit.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the one with all of the extra arms said as a greeting. He frowned at the flak jacket.

There were three of them and they were supposed to be strong enough to win against Sasuke in the show, weren't there? Every change in the dreams had backfired there. This Sasuke— me— was weaker and had less in his arsenal.

Maybe dreaming about being Hinata would have been better after all. Her kidnapping attempt had been in the past.

The only thing in my favor was that I was dealing with a bunch of teens, and I had plenty of experience in ignoring people trying to get my attention.

I doubted it was going to work but….

I don't want everything to get wrecked in a fight.

"I'm not interested and I don't care," I said. "Get out and lock the door behind you."

I slotted the kunai back into the holster, leaving it uncovered, and turned back around into the bathroom, where I turned the water back on, and started to wash my face with the terrible bar soap.

There was confused silence before it lapsed into urgent whispers that I could still hear.

"What just happened?" the big one asked.

"I told you we should have found Tayuya first," the one who had spoke first hissed at the active twin.

"And deal with trying to find her? The last place she called from was in Earth. She can't even bother to stay put!"

Maybe I should have asked them for their names just to not get them confused. "She's rude, but this mission would still be easier with her."

"I can't believe Orochimaru-sama wants this pathetic excuse of a Leaf-nin..."

My hand gripped the soap tightly in spite of myself, nails digging in as I rinsed the suds away on my other hand.

"Kimimaro would have been better."

"But—"

I launched myself off from the sink cabinet with enough force directly at the face of the one with all of the arms, cramming the suds-covered soap into his eyes as we barreled into the apartment's table and chairs, the wood splintering under the combined weight and force of the impact.

He yelled in shock.

I dropped the soap and dodged one of his arms as he blindly lashed out, as I stood up, yanking the kunai back out. It wasn't fast enough to avoid the lipstick-wearing twins, as the main one— Sukon? Wasn't it something like that?— smashed multiple fists into my side, knocking me against the wall, hard enough that I lost my breath.

He swung in again, and I felt a sharp pain and heard something crack. I gasped for air, which only made it feel worse.

He stood over me and sneered. "Such trash… Is this the best the Leaf is able to offer? I could kill you right now. I should."

Behind him, the big guy was helping the other one up, who was scrubbing at his eyes with one of the arm warmers from his arms. "Orochimaru-sama still wants him alive, Sakon. If you keep it up, you might kill him and then we'll all be in trouble."

"I can't believe he got me with soap… Shit, this stings."

Sakon's visible eye narrowed. He yanked me up by the neck before pinning me against the wall, knocking the air out of me again. He used his free hand to unzip my vest and yanked the collar of my shirt down, ripping the fabric. He was searching for something. "He's supposed to be marked… He shouldn't be able to control it yet."

I kicked out— useless; he blocked it easily.

"Get off of me!" I shouted as loud as I was able to, which only hurt.

"Shut him up before he gets attention."

Sakon's hand on my neck squeezed, cutting off my air and the other one pressed against my mouth.

"Night night, Sasuke-kun," he cooed. "When you wake up you're going to be Orochimaru-sama's problem..."

Sakura finished combing her hair out, frowning slightly at her reflection in the mirror when she lifted up the ends to examine. It had been awhile since the last time she had gotten it trimmed, and she could see the telltale signs of split-ends starting to appear. She had taken the time to straighten her hair for the first time in a couple weeks after getting out of the shower, and it had thrown her off to realize how much time it took compared to braiding it back. It was starting to get tempting to cut it all off, if only to give herself some extra time in the morning and at night.

She had switched to keeping it in a braid a couple days after getting promoted, when she realized just how much work the village was assigning to everyone it could to get things rebuilt. It hadn't escaped Sakura either that she was getting taken more seriously as a chūnin when she had braided her hair and even more again when she started to wear the armored gloves Kakashi-sensei had gotten her as a graduation gift.

She didn't like that.

Instead, Sakura grabbed the lip gloss from its spot on her desk— where it and the rest of her little bit of makeup was precariously overcrowded from the books on medical terms, anatomy, leadership, and strategy that she had picked up from the library— and drew it across her lips, puckering them until she had the right amount of coverage and got the faintest taste of cherry. Just enough to make them look nice and glossy.

"I'm allowed to look cute for me," she declared. That had been in one of the magazines she had picked up on the trip out of the village with Jiraiya and the others. The proclamation made her feel better, at least, even if she wasn't completely sure how she felt about it. It was more like something Ino would say. Or at least, used to.

With that done, she turned off the lights, headed downstairs, left a note for her parents, and went outside.

To her surprise, Ino was on the street outside, visibly hesitating in front of her door. The other girl took a step back. It was one of the many changes in Ino since what had happened during the exams. Just yet another thing to get used to, to ignore and pretend that nothing had really changed with the blond, when Ino used to never hesitate at anything.

"Oh! Ino!"

"Sakura! I wanted to—" Ino blinked as she took in Sakura's straightened hair and glossy lips. The split second of her old assertiveness disappeared as suddenly as it had returned. "Oh… Are you going somewhere?"

"Ichiraku's," Sakura confirmed, apologetic. "Naruto decided we all should go eat out together tonight, and it's his turn to choose."

"I see..."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I just— I—" Ino's voice quavered, and she took a deep breath before continuing. "I just needed to talk to someone, but it can wait."

Sakura bit her lip. "Are you sure? I can skip out on the boys, they won't mind."

"I'm sure," she said, even though her voice came out thin and unconvincing. "It can wait until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, then," Sakura said, with all the conviction she could come up with. It didn't feel like it was enough, but it looked like it made Ino feel better, at least. "Let me walk you home though, okay?"

"Okay," Ino answered, subdued.

Sakura hooked her arm with Ino's, and she started off in the direction of Ino's house.

It was in complete silence.

No talk of boys, the clothes and makeup in the magazines Sakura's dad brought home for her whenever his work took him out of the village to any of the bigger cities, or even the D-ranks they were doing. Instead, Ino just twined her fingers around Sakura's tightly and didn't let go the whole time.

The lights were still on in the flower shop on the ground floor even though the closed sign was hung on the closed doors.

Sakura squeezed Ino's hand before checking the door. It was open, and inside was Ino's father, who was standing at the counter in front of the register with a clipboard. He wasn't the only one; Shikamaru and Chōji's fathers were there as well, standing nearby.

Whatever they had been talking about had given way to complete silence, abandoned when Sakura and Ino entered the store, which in Sakura's experience meant that it was probably about jōnin-level things or their clans.

With how things had been between Shikamaru and Ino, and how Ino was lately, Sakura suspected it was probably the latter.

Inoichi set the clipboard down, giving Sakura and Ino a smile. "Sakura-chan, thank you for bringing Ino home. Ino, you missed dinner. Your mother put it away in case you're hungry." His voice was all calm, even though just a few months ago he would have sounded irritated if Ino pulled that same stunt; had in fact been irritated when after they had made up, Ino and Sakura had stayed at Sakura's house until nearly midnight and Sakura's father— half-asleep and with a haori over his pajamas— had walked both girls over to Ino's. Inoichi had been sitting on the counter with an unhappy expression on his face waiting for his daughter to come home. He hadn't been so calm then.

"Ino-chan, Sakura-chan," Shikaku greeted them, casually leaning against the counter in a slouch. He was trying to put her at ease; noticing that was something that wouldn't have occurred to her even a few months ago, Sakura realized with a start. It suddenly put Kakashi-sensei's awful posture into perspective. "Congratulations on your promotion, Sakura-chan."

Sakura felt the heat rise to her cheeks, and she did her best to not stare at the floor. "I didn't really do anything to deserve it," she murmured.

Shikaku scratched behind one of his ears. "Tsunade-sama told you that, did she?"

"I—" She stopped before she denied it outloud. Shikamaru's dad was the jōnin commander. "Yes, she did, Shikaku-sama."

"Don't take it too hard," he said. "Most of it has to do with the fact that the preliminary decisions were made while you all were gone." He raised an eyebrow. "And since when was I 'Shikaku-sama' to you? You were rolling around with the other kids calling me 'Shikaku-ji' just like them. It's still fine off-duty."

"Okay," Sakura said, flushing. "Tsunade-sama said there were other factors for me getting promoted," she said, slowly. Kakashi-sensei had told them after the second exam, after she and Sasuke had found out about the secret that surrounded Naruto, about the punishments that were supposed to be in place if anyone revealed it. While it was obvious the adults knew, Ino wasn't supposed to.

"You know about that part, too, do you?" A smirk played on his lips, showing Sakura where Shikamaru had picked up that annoying habit of his from. "Does it change things if I say I was the first one to nominate you for promotion and it wasn't for those reasons?"

She felt like she had one of Kakashi-sensei's Earth-Style Walls dropped on her. "What?"

"Being a chūnin requires being able to think and do more than just follow orders," he told her, and Sakura felt her stomach ready to drop. "We need more of those, especially right now, even if you need to work a bit more on knowing when the right time is for some of that." He knew.

Chōji's dad let out a grunt, and he elbowed the other man in the side. "If you want to have fun giving some chūnin a hard time, I can give you a whole list of them from Supply. Can't you tell she's ready to go somewhere?"

Shikaku let out a breath in amusement. "I do need to start going over the list of those qualified for jōnin before those nominations start," he agreed.

"I do have to get going," Sakura admitted, and she carefully untwined her fingers from Ino's. "We'll talk tomorrow, alright?"

Ino's eyes met hers. "You promise?"

"I promise."

She managed to escape out the door before she could get teased any further by the grownups, but not before catching sight of the clock in the store.

If she didn't hurry, she was going to be really late.

One of the positives of all the training and missions they had been doing was that her stamina was much better than it had been in the academy, and Sakura pushed for just the amount of chakra she would need to go that little bit faster without exerting herself as much.

When Ichiraku's came into sight, she could see Naruto and Karin outside of the noren, waiting. Sasuke wasn't in sight, but that just meant she had managed to show up a bit early. Naruto spent a lot of time in his own little world when he wasn't going out of his way to annoy others, but the last several months had shown that while he might have been as late as often as not for getting to class in the academy, he always tried his best to show up early for ramen.

Naruto was out of his duty clothes, and Karin was in a long-sleeved blouse and skirt— ones that Hinata had suggested on the day they went shopping. So far, even though it was still more than warm enough for short sleeves, Karin hadn't worn any of the tops with short-sleeves that she had gotten that day as far as Sakura had seen. Sakura hadn't asked yet.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto waved. "Sasuke isn't with you?"

"No," she said, coming to a stop. She frowned. "Why would he be?" His apartment was in a different direction from her house from here. She looked around before spying the nearest outdoor clock; she was over fifteen minutes late from the detour to Ino's, and that was being generous.

Sasuke was never late; whether in the academy, for training, for missions, for when they were meeting up to eat or hang out when they were done for the day, he was always on time, which even Sakura couldn't claim. Even when he wasn't excited about spending time with them, if he agreed, he always showed up, on time. Sasuke kept that kind of promise and went out of his way to say if he wasn't joining them.

Naruto frowned. "Something must have happened." His fists balled up.

She didn't want Naruto to be right, but something was off. "We should give him a bit more time to show up."

Naruto set his jaw.

She glanced at the clock. "It's just a bit before seven thirty. We can wait five more minutes before we go and look for him."

"Fine."

It was enough to placate Naruto, at least for now, and it gave her just enough time to try and figure out what to do.

When— if— Sasuke didn't show up, they could head to Sasuke's apartment.

Naruto spent the whole time fidgeting and pacing until he finally ground to a halt the moment her time was up, with no Sasuke in sight.

"Alright," she said, trying to ground herself. Whether she liked it or not, she was in charge, at least for now. She would have to call the shots. "We'll— you and me— head over to Sasuke's apartment." Sakura did her best to put a smile on her face and look over at Karin. "Karin-chan, could you head back and ask Jiraiya-sama to meet us there?"

Judging from Karin's expression, it wasn't very soothing, but Karin nodded anyways. "I'll let him know right now." She sped off, heading in the direction of Jiraiya's house.

That got Karin out of the way in case something really had happened and would get Jiraiya to meet with them so he could be in charge. He was old, a jounin, and the Hokage's friend. He would know what to do. Sakura wouldn't have to figure anything out from here. She just had to keep Naruto from freaking out and doing something rash. Not under her control.

Without waiting for confirmation, Naruto bolted, and Sakura had to do her best to catch up.

The village was large, but all of the important things had been set up as close to the center and main streets as possible to not be too far from anything else or too inconvenient. Sasuke's apartment was out of the way for the parts of the village where she and Naruto lived, but it wasn't too far away, especially if they were running.

There was nothing odd or strange as they rushed through the village, Naruto taking every shortcut he had ever come across to get them there faster, over the rooftop paths, raised walkways, alleyways, and walls that separated different streets into a gentle and pleasing to the eye maze that was supposed to make it harder for strangers to navigate through the village but only made everything take so much longer.

Her breath caught when the back of Sasuke's building came into sight. The lights for his apartment were on— like some of the others in the building— but the curtains that were near his bed were billowing out the window with the breeze.

She didn't think Sasuke had gotten it into himself to air his apartment out.

Naruto had made the same connection and she barely caught up to him in time before he launched himself to climb up the wall of the building that was directly beneath Sasuke's.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "The door first."

If Sasuke was in his apartment, he wouldn't appreciate them coming through his window.

And if he wasn't or something had happened... The street his apartment opened onto had more light, more room to fight, and more people if they needed help. There was that, and the fact that street they were on was smaller, less lit up, with fewer people around. The only reason she was even on it after dark was because Naruto was with her.

It would be a disadvantage for them to go in through the window.

Naruto reluctantly followed her around to the front and up the steps to Sasuke's door. The door was locked.

Sakura huffed. Another thing she was going to have to try to figure out the time to learn. She gave a reluctant look at the window and started to move over to it, but before she could, Naruto gave her a guilty look and pulled out his keys.

"I'm, uh, not really supposed to let anyone know I have a copy," he whispered, before putting it into the keyhole. It unlocked, and they carefully opened the door.

"Oh no..."

There were signs of a fight.

The table was demolished, the wooden top cracked and splintering, its broken legs splayed on the floor, and so was one of the chairs, like they had been landed on, a bar of soap on the floor. The wall near the bathroom door, opposite the table, showed cracks in the plaster, like something had been smashed against it, a kunai on the floor near the wall.

No one was in sight. The window near Sasuke's bed was visibly broken.

Naruto swung at the wall, before barely catching himself. He heaved a breath. "We need to go and let Bā-chan know. We gotta go, now."

Sakura breathed in. She had to stay focused. That was right but also— Naruto seemed to have forgotten that he had sent Karin to bring Jiraiya here. "We should leave a note for Jiraiya-sama before we go."

"You write it," Naruto muttered.

Sakura walked over to Sasuke's desk, skirting around the broken table and chair. This was the first time she had been so close to his desk; even the night before the second part of the chūnin exam, while they had shared his bed, Sasuke had carefully kept them all away from his desk and the things on it.

The notebook he had gotten on their way back from Wave was out, a pen next to it. Everything else on the shelf above the desk were clearly books. There wasn't anything obviously that would have loose or unused paper in sight.

She would just have to make sure to not actually read anything in the notebook. She didn't want Naruto or Sasuke to think she didn't respect Sasuke's privacy. That would be easy enough to do, she would just take a sheet from the very back. If he was still writing in it, he hadn't hit the back yet.

To her dismay, the back pages had writing in it. There was a different problem, though.

"Naruto...? Can you come over here?"

"What is it?"

"For the boys— when we were doing the kunoichi classes in the academy— the boys just had extra sparring time, right? Nothing else? Like foreign languages or cryptology?"

Naruto gave her a confused look. "No, why would we?"

She lifted the notebook up for Naruto to see the last page in the notebook. "I was going to take the last page but..."

It was obviously in Sasuke's hand, but large chunks of the writing on the page was in alphabet letters, whole words that Sakura didn't know mixed in between kana and kanji. They had seen enough of Sasuke's handwriting to be able to tell that this was in the sort of handwriting he used when he was casually writing something down, but between that and the casual mixing and matching it set something ill at ease in Sakura.

Naruto stared at the page. "I— It probably isn't connected to all of this, yeah?" Even as Naruto said it, it wasn't backed with his usual confidence. "That's just— I dunno." He swallowed.

"I'll leave Jiraiya-sama a note," Sakura repeated. She carefully let the pages flutter open, which let her find a blank sheet. She carefully cut it out with the small knife she kept these days in the shaft of her right sandal, and quickly drafted a note for the older man to let them know where they went.

She took it to the kitchen counter, where she set it on top of the notebook. She glanced at Naruto.

He didn't say anything, which was worse than if he had.

Naruto, who was steadfast on letting Sasuke have his privacy and back off from them since their mission to Wave, was willing to let Sasuke's privacy be intruded on.

They left for the administration building. There were still ninja working in the building at their desks, fewer in number than there were desks available, but still there all the same despite the evening hour.

None of them said anything or tried to make her and Naruto stop, even when they headed for the stairs that lead to the tower the Hokage's office was in.

Naruto didn't bother to knock, just barging straight in. "Bā-chan!" he shouted.

Standing at the desk, Kurenai straightened up, in the middle of packing her things away. "She's not here," the older kunoichi said. "She was summoned to the hospital about a half hour ago. What's the matter?"

"Something happened to Sasuke," Naruto told her.

"He was supposed to meet us for dinner. When he didn't show up, we went to his apartment. There were signs of a fight and one of the back windows was broken," Sakura explained.

The woman frowned.

"I'll send someone there to look," Kurenai promised. "Head to the hospital."

"Ero-sennin should already be heading to Sasuke's apartment," Naruto told her. "We don't need more people looking at his apartment! We need to find out what happened!"

"Which an investigation will help with. It's better to have more confirmation, not less."

"But-"

"Come on, Naruto." Sakura grabbed his wrist, and pulled him back out the door. "Thank you, Kurenai-sensei!"

Naruto was visibly upset the whole way to the hospital, and Sakura didn't know what to say.

A street away, they passed by a grocery store and to her surprise, a figure caught up with them.

"What's wrong, kids?" Gai asked. He had full grocery bags hugged to his sides in both arms, and his attention was on Naruto's grim and serious expression. "This can't be because Kakashi left you three behind, is it?"

"That's not funny!" Naruto shouted. "Something happened to Sasuke and we don't know where he is and—" The whisker marks on his cheeks darkened and grew wider for a split second before he forced out a ragged breath and they returned to normal, and Sakura forced herself to not pull away from him.

Gai frowned. The only time Sakura had seen him make that expression was after Sasuke had tried to set Hinata's cousin on fire on her behalf. It didn't help.

"We're trying to find Tsunade-sama to report to her," Sakura said, trying to keep herself calm. Naruto was already upset. She couldn't fall to pieces even if she wanted to. "Kurenai-sensei said she's at the hospital."

"I'll go with you."

He followed them into the hospital's reception lobby, but hung back when Sakura and Naruto went up to the nurse at the desk, silently motioning to the grocery bags he was carrying.

The nurse looked between them. "How may I help you?" she asked.

"We need to speak to Tsunade-sama," Sakura said. "We were told that she's here."

"Hokage-sama gave strict instructions that she isn't to be disturbed for other business when she's doing work in the hospital," the nurse answered.

"It's important!" Naruto insisted.

"There are many things that are important," the nurse agreed, "And one of my jobs is to make sure that the people doing their rounds in the hospital don't get interrupted, especially when that someone is important and doesn't want to be distracted."

"No, it's—"

"Sorry about the problem," Gai spoke up, setting a hand on Sakura's shoulder. When she looked up at him, he was giving the nurse a bright smile. "We were sent here from the Hokage office. I didn't want to step in, but it looks like I should have to begin with, to not waste your time."

"Oh," the nurse went, in a tone that Sakura embarrassingly recognized from herself just earlier this year. The woman leaned forward a bit in a move that Sakura wasn't able to pull off yet. "You were sent from the Hokage office?"

Gai clicked his teeth and smiled. "By Kurenai." He looked down at Sakura and gave her an encouraging head tilt towards the nurse.

She was supposed to help. More information. "Yes, she said Tsunade-sama was summoned to the hospital about a half hour ago."

"Well, she's in surgery right now..."

Gai nodded, and leaned slightly forward. He was making direct eye contact with the nurse, who was entirely focused on him now. "She wouldn't have told us where she was if it wasn't important. I understand you wouldn't want to get in trouble, after all. What's your name...?"

He motioned for them to go with his fingers.

Sakura grabbed Naruto's wrist and pulled him towards the stairs.

She wasn't sure whether to wait for Gai or not.

Inside the stairwell, Naruto looked back and forth, at the door they had just come through and the stairs ahead. "We don't know where we're supposed to go," he said, voice in a low whisper.

"Yes we do," she answered, just as quietly. "They only do surgeries on the upper level floors, and Shizune showed me where the operating rooms are. We just have to get to the right one."

"There's only three floors!"

"Five," she corrected. "They keep the hospital records and the morgue in basement levels."

Naruto shuddered. "There's dead bodies in here?"

"It's a hospital," she pointed out. "Of course there's going to be dead bodies sometimes."

She eyed the stairs.

If they had summoned the Hokage to perform surgery, and it sounded important...

"We'll try the third floor first," she decided. "If it's important enough for them to bring Tsunade-sama in and for the nurse to be making sure no one can get to her it's probably serious. Which means it should be on the third floor."

She had learned that from Shizune, too. The hospital wasn't organized the same way civilian ones outside of the village were. Security and potential flight risks were prioritized instead, depending on the severity of the issue and the ninja concerned, with some rooms kept for mixed security. Choji and Ino had both been kept on the third floor for that reason, with Iruka up there as well to allay Choji's concerns.

It had given her a strange feeling to know that one of the places in the village with the most security was the hospital's maternity ward.

Naruto charged up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

"Naruto! Slow down!" If anything, it only made him go faster. He was going to reach the door before she would, and if this was anything to go by, he was going to rush right into the corridor without her.

She was a full flight below him when she saw a hint of green pass her by, and Gai grabbed Naruto by the shoulder on the platform below the third floor exit.

"How about we think about this before we charge in?" he said.

"We don't have time!"

It gave Sakura enough time to catch up.

"Hmm, I can see why you might think that, but getting thrown out of the hospital will make the whole thing take longer," Gai pointed out.

Naruto huffed. "I guess you're right."

Gai opened the door out onto the third floor, but unlike before, he took the lead, which Sakura was grateful for. After the nurse at the reception desk, she was sure that she'd have even less luck when they were really not supposed to be there.

"Thank you, Gai-sensei," she said, quietly.

He gave her an encouraging smile.

Gai casually flirted and distracted every nurse doing their evening rounds that they came across heading for where the operating rooms were located, and Sakura felt her stomach drop when they crossed into the hallway and the doors were in sight.

Two masked guards were standing outside of one set of doors. Anbu. They had already taken stock of Sakura, Naruto, and Gai, too, both of them looking in their direction.

They were so close, but there was no way they'd be allowed through.

Gai didn't falter, though, and continued heading over, forcing Sakura to trail in his wake.

"Sorry to bother you, but we have a message for Tsunade-sama," Gai said, casually setting his hands on his hips.

"Hokage-sama has requested that no one disturb her while she's working," the closer Anbu answered. His face was hidden by a cat mask, but something about his voice sounded almost familiar to Sakura. It was just muffled enough that she couldn't identify it.

"Well, in that case..." Gai shrugged expansively, and without warning, Sakura felt something at her back, and she was already through the doors and on the operating room floor when she realized what had happened: Gai had kicked her through the doors.

The floor was covered in ink seals, with medic-nin standing at specific points. In the middle was an operating table, Tsunade standing in front of it with even more medic-nin assisting her. Her back was to the doors and Sakura.

"I thought I said no one else was supposed to enter!" Tsunade shouted, without turning to look. There was a brief swell of chakra through the air, so thick and overwhelming that Sakura could feel it.

Sakura did her best to not shake under its weight, standing up.

"Tsunade-sama, Sasuke's apartment was broken into and he's missing. We think something happened," she said. Somehow, she had managed to say that without a quaver.

"What?" Tsunade's voice grew frosty, and the chakra coming from the woman grew even stronger still.

"Kakashi's students were coming from the Hokage office," Gai confirmed.

"His window was br-"

"Shut up," Tsunade ordered, and Naruto fell silent. "Sakura, come here."

Wordlessly, Sakura walked over.

On the operating table was an older boy. Even under the harsh light of the operating room, he was handsome and noble looking, white hair in a halo around his head and two red dots above his brows, matching the red underlining his eyes. His skin was marred by a black ink tattoo that rested in the middle of his chest, just between the collarbones. The three curved lines that met at one point somehow made her feel uneasy, because they were surrounded by symbols leading outwards written in blood.

It was enough that it almost made her not realize that there was a thin incision running down the center of his chest.

"Shizune's said you've shown progress with using medical ninjutsu," Tsunade said.

"Y-yes," Sakura answered, looking up.

Tsunade's face was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and her expression looked strained in a way that gave Sakura the feeling that it wasn't just because of the complexity of whatever they were doing to the boy on the table.

"Help keep him stable for now. I can't do both things at once."

"I— I'll try."

Tsunade grabbed her hands, and set them on the boy's chest, which stopped moving under her hands and a machine in the room started to beep alarmingly for the brief moment it took Sakura to gather her chakra up.

The books on medical ninjutsu from the library all described the same progression. Practice on fish and other simpler creatures and work from there. Reviving fish was supposed to be the first step in the actual practice of medical ninjutsu.

Instead, from the first day, Shizune had taken her down to the river, and forced her to keep a fish alive and healthy without water from the start for as long as she possibly could, all while making Sakura recite through whatever she had learned the previous day about human anatomy. By the time Shizune had left earlier this week on a mission, Sakura was able to keep the fish stable for the handful of early morning hours Shizune had available for her before they both had to rush off to whatever work they had. Shizune hadn't started her on real healing yet.

There was a world of difference between keeping a healthy living fish alive and keeping an obviously dying boy alive.

Tsunade turned away from the operating table and towards Naruto and Gai, and Sakura forced herself to keep her eyes on the boy's chest, counting the rises and falls, trying to ignore the incision.

"This boy was found inside the village walls not too long ago with a scroll that mentioned he was for me," Tsunade said, voice grim.

"You think he was left behind by whoever it was that stole Uchiha Sasuke," Gai answered.

"It's all but confirmed. The wall guards are on alert and Anbu are scouting through the village. He was left on the hospital roof. The brat's lucky. Whoever dropped him off must have really wanted him to live, because the medics on duty barely got him inside and hooked up on life support in time."

Sakura heard the doors open once more, and two different sets of footsteps enter; one normal, and the other clattering wood.

"Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama and I just came from the Uchiha kid's apartment." Anko's voice.

"There was a fight, alright. And whoever took the brat broke through the window to head out," Jiraiya said.

"What's with the body on the table?" Anko's voice took on a serious edge, which made Sakura uncomfortable. The few encounters she had had with the woman since she had taken over Team Eight to help Kurenai, the woman was always cheerful and flippant.

Sakura was pressed in on one side, and she barely avoided moving when Anko jostled her to examine the boy's chest.

"That's Orochimaru's work," Anko said, frowning deeply. "That boy has one of his cursed seals on him. What's he doing here?"

Orochimaru had been fascinated by Sasuke, all the way back in July.

"I told you," Jiraiya said. "I told you he would come for our backs."

Sasuke was not just the cute boy she thought she liked in the academy.

"It hasn't been that long. Let me put together a team to retrieve him," Anko spoke up, turning back to face Tsunade. "They can't have gotten too far. If I bring a few trackers with me we can trace them all the way—"

"No," Tsunade said firmly. "I need you here more. You're one of the few people in the village who understands Orochimaru's organization system. That's the priority."

"Then who's going to bring Sasuke back?" Naruto demanded.

"I'm putting Sakura in charge of that mission."

Sakura lost her focus entirely. "What?" she asked, before she hurriedly tried to regather her chakra for keeping the boy on the table stabilized. Her voice was joined by Jiraiya and Anko's.

"Tsunade-sama," Gai started, voice filled with careful reproach. "Sakura-chan is a new chūnin. I'm not her commander, but Kakashi isn't here and he wouldn't be happy to hear you're putting one of his students in charge of a mission like this without his input."

"The manning situation in the village isn't bad enough to put a thirteen year old chūnin in charge of a mission where she could wind up dealing with that bastard," Jiraiya spoke up. "What the hell do you think you're trying to pull? Let me go and deal with him."

"No," Tsunade answered. "If this ends up in an encounter with Orochimaru, you'll only make it worse. He's being annoying, but he's not what we need to focus on. We have bigger problems than him." She paused for a brief moment. "This is a challenge for Sakura. Shizune's kept me up to date on her progress. If she wants to show that she truly wants to be my apprentice, she'll take the mission."

"Tsunade..."

"Actions have consequences. I want her to prove to me that she understands what the outcomes can be and that she's willing to make hard decisions if they're necessary."

Hard decisions. If she was really put in charge of this, if anything happened to whoever she chose, if anything happened to Sasuke... It would be all her fault.

"You're gambling on putting a thirteen year old against Orochimaru. Do you know how crazy you sound right now?"

How was she supposed to do anything against whoever had the capability to sneak into the village and kidnap Sasuke?

This was just the punishment she thought Kakashi had taken for her, delivered months later.

"I've told you already, Orochimaru and I have an understanding."

"What understanding leads to this?"

"This boy— Kimimaro— is supposed to be an inauguration gift." Tsunade's voice had turned wry. "For my appointment as Godaime Hokage."

"That's a sick joke, not a gift."

"He's on the cusp of death. Orochimaru wasn't able to figure out what was wrong with him. He has a rare kekkei genkai, and is the last of the Kaguya clan."

"That bastard decided to trade?" His reply was filled with disbelief, and followed by a harsh laugh.

"He's an idiot like that."

None of this was making Sakura feel any better.

Tsunade continued. "She has two options. She can try to catch up with the kidnappers and retrieve Sasuke from them, or she can track them to wherever Orochimaru is hiding and negotiate with him herself. If she accepts, I'll send her with a letter from me regardless."

A letter. She would have a letter and whoever she selected. Not any jōnin or even more experienced chūnin or—

Sakura startled herself to realize she was already thinking of it in terms of having agreed, when Tsunade hadn't even put it like that to begin with.

She took a breath to center herself, to make sure she wouldn't lose track of what she was doing at the same time. "I accept."

"You can't seriously—"

"She's made her decision, Jiraiya." Tsunade stepped back towards the table. The glisten of sweat on her face had disappeared. "I'll take over now."

There was no delay or pause with Tsunade taking over, unlike when Sakura had earlier.

Anko, Jiraiya, Gai, and Naruto were all staring at her expectantly, the faces of the adults all filled with not just concern, but disappointment as well.

If her choices were to catch up and fight or follow and negotiate...

Orochimaru thought she was just meant as a distraction for Naruto if the demon broke loose so Sasuke and Kakashi could subdue it.

His killing intent had been overpowering in the forest. He had played with them there, and could have easily killed them all.

Orochimaru had killed the Sandaime Hokage.

Tsunade and Jiraiya were supposed to be just as strong.

Jiraiya had made it clear that he did not want the responsibility of being Hokage.

Tsunade had been willing to accept it.

Tsunade had called this mission a challenge.

That meant she thought Sakura had a chance to succeed in some way or another.

"If I'm supposed to do this... I'm going to need people who can track, are versatile and can strategize, but also won't jeopardize it if we have to approach Orochimaru," she said, swallowing.

"Tenten has a good head on her shoulders, out of my genin," Gai spoke, drawing out his words. He was giving her a meaningful look.

Sakura didn't reply immediately.

"Am I allowed to pick who I want?" she asked.

"Within reason," Tsunade answered, after a slow delay. She had returned her focus to whatever she and the rest of the medic-nin were doing to the boy to save him. Kimimaro.

'Within reason' probably meant that her selections would be limited. Tsunade had mentioned she would send her with a letter.

Tsunade was expecting them— her— to have to interact with Orochimaru regardless.

Gai was watching her expectantly.

The thought of Hinata's cousin being in a position where he could open his mouth and say something to Orochimaru made her wince, and the same with Lee.

Both boys thought with their fists before anything else.

"Tenten is a great choice if she's willing," Sakura decided. Gai had helped her and Naruto get into the hospital to begin with. He was also obviously Kakashi's friend and was trying to stand in for him. Having Tenten come for his peace of mind was the most she could do in return for his assistance.

"What about me?" Naruto asked.

"Of course you're coming," she answered. Not just because Naruto was obvious, but that if she tried to leave him behind, not only would he probably never forgive her, he'd try to catch up, anyways.

Tracking, versatility, and wouldn't endanger negotiations… Sakura bit her lip. The other genin she had been working with had been an eyeopener to the differences between them and her old classmates, and she didn't know very many chūnin yet. Not well enough to ask for this kind of mission.

Team Eight had a focus on tracking. She had heard Shino talk strategy while they waited on the sidelines for their matches for the tournament and he had his bugs, and Hinata had the Byakugan and none of the foul attitude her cousin had. Kiba and his mouth, though… Kiba would get them into trouble.

And on Team Ten… Sakura didn't want to test her ability to lead against Shikamaru and his attitude, not when he was giving a full jōnin problems. Ino had mentioned as much and complained, when they had made time to hang out and Ino was having one of her good days. He was smart, but that would just make it worse if he decided to not listen to her. Chōji took Shikamaru's lead reluctantly. It would be better to go without both boys.

"And if it's possible… I want Hyūga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Yamanaka Ino, as well."

Anko crossed her arms, frowning at Sakura. "No way are you going to be taking—"

"Anko, quiet," Tsunade ordered. "You're assisting Kurenai with her students, not replacing her. If their clan heads agree, they can be on the mission, but I'm not going to have a repeat of the exams; I'm not Sarutobi-sensei. Anko, go brief the members of Team Kurenai that she selected. Gai can handle his student."

That left only one set left.

Jiraiya aimed an unhappy glare at Tsunade's back. "You're really going to make me talk to Yamanaka Inoichi over this?"

"And send messages afterwards," Tsunade agreed. "Where will they rendezvous?"

After a delay, Sakura realized that was to her. She and Naruto needed to not just pack, but eat too, and she'd have to give a full briefing on what they were going to do— and she needed to come up with something— when they met up. Even if they would know what the mission was for, Sakura was still going to have to make decisions. "In the main academy yard in two hours," she said out loud.

"Sakura, Naruto, stay here," Tsunade said. "The rest of you go."

Anko left, still visibly unhappy, and Jiraiya after her.

Gai took a long look at her and Naruto. "Just make sure that whatever choices you make aren't ones you'll regret making." He gave them an encouraging smile and then left.

"Take back over while I draft a letter," Tsunade demanded, and Sakura returned to her earlier position. This time there was no skipping in keeping his vitals steady, and Tsunade's face was covered in a light sheen of sweat again.

The amount of writing in blood had increased, as had the incisions, but the earlier one on his chest was gone like it had never been there to begin with.

Behind her, Tsunade called the Anbu inside from their posts, and asked one of them for paper, of all things. After a few minutes of counting— keeping track of heart beats and breaths— there was a sound of fabric being torn.

A rolled up scroll was jabbed into her hands and she was replaced once more. The paper felt warm and stiff under her touch, and it was tied together by a strip of green fabric that she recognized from Tsunade's haori, neatly finished in a bow.

"That will prove it's from me," Tsunade said, voice filled with a kind of amusement that Sakura couldn't understand. Her eyes flicked down to look at Sakura for a moment. "Shizune's mission took her in the same direction. If you don't retrieve him before you reach the border or Orochimaru, seek her out. It won't impact my decision if you do. Now go."

She was stopped before they left by the Anbu in the cat mask, who unstrapped the sword on his back and placed it in her hands. "Don't break it this time."

"Tenzō-sensei?"

Sakura got shoved out the doors without an answer, and right into Jiraiya, who was lurking in the corridor. There was no one else in sight.

He pulled Sasuke's notebook out and held it up to her and Naruto. "I'll take care of this," he said. "Don't bring it up." With that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving her and Naruto alone.

A shadow clone.

Naruto looked at her expectantly.

"Go pack and make sure to eat something filling," she said. "I think… it's going to be a long night."

He nodded.

They left the hospital in awkward silence and split off at the doors.

Sakura scrubbed the gloss from her lips before she reached the door of her house.

The lights were already on. Her parents had come home in the middle of everything.

She let herself in. Inside, her parents were cuddling on the couch, with the television on.

"Sakura, there you are," her mom said. "I thought your note said you were going to be out still?"

"There was a change of plans," she said, skirting the truth. Her parents were still unhappy about how exams had gone, even though they had invited some of her father's civilian cousins from the capital to come to the tournament. Even with the attack, as far as she was aware, those cousins had been impressed by everything, if scandalized that Sakura, at thirteen, had been part of the defensive forces. "I have a mission. I didn't get to eat, can you make me something before I go? I can't pack and cook something at the same time," she pleaded as she pulled off her sandals. If they hadn't been here, she would have gone up the stairs without bothering to take them off.

"A mission? This late at night?" Her dad frowned, and he moved to turn the television off. "I thought they changed it so underage shinobi don't get missions with late-night starts these days. And is that another sword? I hope you aren't planning on breaking this one, too," he joked.

"I'm a chūnin now," Sakura pointed out. "That limit only applies to jōnin-sensei. Tsunade-sama assigned me to this mission personally. And I'm not going to break this one." The cat-masked Anbu who may or may not have been Tenzō would probably not be very happy if she did.

"Well, chūnin-san," her mom said as she stood up, "I'll make you something you can eat on the move. Make sure you tidy your room before it's time for you to leave. And you left clothes in the bathroom again," she scolded.

Sakura resisted the urge to react, whether to laugh or scream or something. She was being sent off on what was probably going to be at least an A-rank with the expectation that she was going to have to negotiate with the missing-nin that killed the previous Hokage, and she was being lectured on dirty clothes. "I'll pick them up," she promised, and she ran up the stairs before her expression could give anything away.

She was mostly through with braiding her hair when she realized that Gai had been hinting that she should have asked if he would be willing to join the mission. The mission leader was the mission leader, and higher ranking ninja could still be under lower ranked ninja.

"Aaaah! That was so stupid!" She punched one of her pillows, sending up a little spurt of feathers.

She dropped onto the bed and hugged the pillow close as hot tears ran down her face. "How am I supposed to save Sasuke if I couldn't even think of something like that…"

Sakura gave herself a few minutes to feel pathetic before she tied her hair off and finished getting changed. Sports bra instead of the nice one she had put on, and then the mesh armor shirt over that, and finally her dress and armor gloves.

She took the time after that to pick up her room and grab the dirty clothes from the bathroom before she packed, and washed the tears from her face. If she came back alive, her mom wouldn't let her live down leaving a dirty room behind. If she died, her mom would still probably bring it up anyways.

It was surprising how much faster she packed now, compared to their first— and so far only— mission out of the village. She made sure to position everything for a medical kit and water containers at the top, and enough room for the bento. Tsunade's message she made sure went in a different compartment.

Sakura strapped the sword to her back and made sure her pack wouldn't get in the way of pulling it out before heading back down the stairs.

As she stepped into the kitchen, her mom was putting onigiri into the last of three bento boxes. "For the boys, too," she said. While her mom was still uncomfortable around Naruto, she was trying.

Sakura forced a smile on her face. "I'm sure they'll enjoy it." She quickly filled the bamboo water holders before pushing them into her bag, doing her best to make room for the extra bento boxes. It all barely fit.

She hugged both of her parents hard at the genkan.

"I love you," she told them.

"What happened to us being too nosy?" her dad said, and her mom elbowed him.

"Not right now," her mother scolded. "Do you know how long you'll be gone?"

Sakura shook her head.

Her mom misinterpreted it completely. "Remember to ask about that next time. You really did get promoted too soon…"

She left them still bickering behind her.

To her horror and embarrassment, despite arriving an hour early, she wasn't just the last person to get to the main academy yard, but everyone else's teammates had shown up as well. Instead of the five other people she had expected, there were ten, concentrated around the swings, with Naruto in his old spot, fiddling with something she couldn't quite make out in the dark at first.

"What are you all doing here?" she asked, letting the shock enter her voice now that she wasn't in front of any adults.

"It's not my fault," Naruto spoke up.

Shikamaru let out a grunt. "Our dads sent us to see you guys off," he said, motioning at Chōji.

"That's why Neji and I are here too, Sakura-chan," Lee added. "Gai-sensei let me know."

Judging from Neji's expression which was focused on Hinata, and the fact that Hinata was steadfastly ignoring her cousin, Sakura wasn't sure that was the real reason for Neji, at least.

"Take me with you," Kiba demanded. Akamaru barked. Unlike the others, Kiba had a pack on his back.

"What? No! This isn't going to be fun," Sakura said.

"I know that," Kiba answered. "But you're really going to take Shino and Hinata and leave me behind?"

"Kiba was with me when Anko-sensei showed up," Shino explained.

She groaned.

"Why would I want to take you with me when you aren't even listening to me in the first place?" she asked.

Kiba had no good answer for that.

Sakura let out a breath of air. "I need to give a real briefing, don't I?"

"Unless you want the whole thing to get screwed up, yeah," Shikamaru said. He shoved his hands into his pockets, giving a meaningful look at Ino.

"Shut up, Shikamaru," Naruto said, before Sakura could respond.

"It's just advice," the other boy muttered.

"Stop it," Sakura said. "This is my mission to brief, I don't need your help." This was going awfully and she hadn't even started yet.

"Fine."

"Sasuke was taken from his apartment two to three hours ago by unknown intruders that were sent by Orochimaru," she began. "The goal of this mission is to retrieve him." Before anything could happen to him. "Tsunade-sama believes that it is possible to negotiate with him to retrieve Sasuke."

"She wants you to talk with that guy? Really?" Kiba asked.

Sakura resisted biting her lip and tried to ignore Kiba. "Our priorities will be to track the intruders, identify how much of a threat they are, and follow them to wherever Orochimaru is if they're too dangerous to confront on their own. Our team has permission to request Shizune's— Tsunade-sama's assistant— help if we don't take Sasuke back before we exit Fire.

"Shino, your bugs are able to track scent, right?"

"Not as well as some varieties or Akamaru—"

"See, you need me!"

"—But they'll be able to keep us in the right direction as long as we don't stray too far off the trail, which should be possible if it's as fresh as you say."

Kiba shot Shino a betrayed look.

That was all Sakura needed to know. She had the right idea.

"Then we'll head to Sasuke's apartment first to start tracking from there."

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"What is it?"

"I have a different idea that could get us Sasuke back faster."

He got off the swing and walked over to her, holding up what he had been messing around with in the first place for everyone to see.

It was the tri-pronged kunai he had taken with him on the trip, spending their downtime in the hotel rooms when Jiraiya was gone copying the writing on it repeatedly.

Everyone else slowly gathered a bit closer to examine it as well.

"What's it supposed to do?" she asked, suddenly wary. Suddenly the fact that he had kept it hidden from Jiraiya the whole trip didn't seem so minor after all.

"The Yondaime used it to teleport," he said, voice filled with nervous eagerness. "I'm pretty sure it's just fuinjutsu and—"

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Sakura-chan, if it can get us to Sasuke right now, just, look, I copied the seal on Sasuke, too, we should give it a chance!"

He held the kunai up.

I was woken up by yelling, a press of bodies, and a knee or elbow pressed into one of my kidneys, and another in the small of my back. I tried to sit up. I couldn't move. I needed to move. Pinned. Dark. Trapped. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Pain blossomed in my bad shoulder from trying to force myself up, angry and hot to the point I couldn't feel my fingers on that arm, just the pin and needle numbness under the pain. "What the fuck—" Where the fuck was my phone? Even in the middle of trying to not have a panic attack, I could make out distinct, familiar voices. No.

"That better not be a hand where I think it is!" No.

"Oh no—" No.

"Chōji, move!" No. No. This can't be happening.

"Naruto, where the hell did you send us?" No. No. No. This can't be real.

"I don't know, it should have taken us right to Sasuke!" No no no no no.

Something— someone— shifted and I was able to move, failing and kicking, ignoring protests, until my head hit the headboard, scrambling and shoving myself into a sitting position where I could actually try to see. The room was dark— not quite pitch at whatever hour it must have been, with the blinds closed— but I could make out figures on the rest of the bed, and a few around it. I wasn't sure I wanted to, even as I grappled for the bedside lamp. One uneasy attempt later, it switched on. The noise that came out of my throat was a strangled laugh.

The Konoha Eleven were, in varied states of disarray and tanglement, in my bedroom, Naruto in the middle, kneeling on the bed with a kunai. Ino was staring at me.

I gripped a pillow. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening..." This was it. I had finally cracked.

Shikamaru glanced at me dismissively as he removed himself from the twist of bedding before turning towards Naruto. "You landed us in some civilian's bedroom!"

"We're so sorry about this," Sakura said, looking as apologetic as she could. "It's okay, we aren't going to do anything."

"Yeah, lady, we didn't mean to end up here!" Naruto chimed in. He stuffed the kunai into his leg holster as he tried to shuffle backwards to get off the bed without standing on it.

"This isn't real, this isn't real, you're just fictional..."

Chapter 23: On the Wrong Side of Reality

Chapter Text

This was a disaster. From what Ino understood, the kunai was supposed to be a marker to teleport to. Instead, when Naruto activated it, it had somehow managed to drag everyone with him in the near vicinity somewhere else. How did he manage to screw that up?

They had appeared on a bed in a room that Ino was very familiar with by now, and there was an uncomfortable feeling building in her gut as the woman who had woken up to a pile of genin and recently promoted chūnin in her bed started to have a full-on breakdown. She had performed the mind-body switch technique just a few times since the first time, just to confirm and then do the research she needed to know to try to change things… Had it really had such a negative effect on her mental health?

"What do you mean, not real?" Naruto sounded indignant.

"Not real! Fictional!" the woman said, hysterically.

Ino watched as the others began to glance at each other, unsure of what to say or do in response to that kind of claim or level of upset from a civilian woman. All of them but Shikamaru, who was looking at her with a contemplative expression.

"Ino." Shikamaru's voice cut through everything else, with an intensity he rarely bothered with. "What did you do?

"What? I didn't do anything!" Even as she spoke, she realized she sounded too defensive.

Chōji swallowed as he did his best to move off of the bed they had landed on.

Shikamaru was audibly upset, and it made him feel even more worried about whatever it was that had happened, and Ino's defensive response had been loud enough to get everyone else's attention.

"No, you did do something," Shikamaru pressed, focusing on her. Despite the dark room, Chōji could tell that Shikamaru had found and was meeting Ino's eyes with his own. The Nara needed light for their jutsu to do things, but they were just as comfortable with near darkness. They had to be, for the really big jutsu.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she tried to insist, backing off of the bed until she was standing on the carpet.

It was the wrong move.

Shikamaru didn't have that much of a temper, usually, but everything going on in the last few months had been eating at him in ways that Chōji couldn't do anything about, and whatever Shikamaru thought he knew, combined with Ino's reaction, was just too much.

"Don't lie to me!"

Ino retreated, and her back hit one of the folded closet doors behind her.

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough that I can't tell when you're lying? We've known each other since before we can remember! You've been lying to us for months now! What did you do?"

"Shikamaru…" Chōji began.

Shikamaru didn't even bother to turn towards him, his full attention centered on Ino. "No, I'm not going to back off," he answered. "She nearly got us killed! She nearly got you killed! She's been evading answering anything and has acted weird for months, even before the exams. And now wherever this is. I'm tired of giving her the benefit of the doubt, we should have confronted her ages ago. Nothing's been adding up or making sense."

"It wasn't on purpose," Ino said. "I just— I just wanted to make everything better."

Chōji felt like a rock had planted itself in his stomach. Those weren't good words to say; whatever they were intended was usually different from what they really meant.

He wasn't the only one to pick up on it.

"Make what better?" Sakura asked, her voice careful.

"Asuma-sensei, my dad, Shikamaru's dad… They're— they're supposed to—"

Ino couldn't finish it, but Chōji could guess what she was trying to say.

They were supposed to die.

It didn't make him feel any better or less confused that his dad wasn't included.

It was enough for the strange woman to come out of the breakdown she was having, at least a bit, though. "You. You're why I haven't been sleeping."

Chōji turned to look at the woman, just as she turned on the lamp on the bed stand.

Ino let out a whimper.

"Ino?" Sakura asked.

The woman rubbed at her face, staring at them all hollowly for a moment, before focusing on Ino again. "This isn't supposed to be real," she repeated to herself. "None of you are supposed to be real."

"You keep saying that," Naruto said, speaking up. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

"It means having recurring dreams about being a character from a kid's cartoon isn't supposed to result in most of the main cast crushing me in my bed!"

Chōji met Shikamaru's gaze just in time to see things click into place on Shikamaru's face, and beyond that, Ino's face lost what color it still had.

"Sasuke…?" Ino whispered.

"Fuck."

It didn't help Chōji feel any better that everyone else seemed to be just as confused as he was.

"What?" Sakura looked between Ino and the woman. "But—"

"That kunai was supposed to take us to Sasuke," Naruto said. "I've tested it! It worked on other stuff! Not wherever this is!"

The woman laughed, bitter. "Of course, it works out like this. Like the stupid mark from Orochimaru. Shit. I think I really would have been better off going crazy! Not whatever the fuck this is!"

Naruto was starting to look visibly annoyed. "This isn't telling me anything!" He whipped around, looking at everyone else in hopes they would say something.

"She's been dreaming about being Sasuke," Ino said, voice faint from realization. "That's why my jutsu kept bringing me here. I kind of figured that she was connected to Sasuke somehow but—"

"Not like that?" The woman's voice cut in, angry. "I've been losing my mind because of you. I'm not sure I haven't lost my damn mind right now! Dreaming was one thing, but I've spent most of the last two weeks thinking I was going insane because as far as I could tell I was watching the anime and looking up things on my phone! Huge blocks of my life just missing!"

"It wasn't on purpose," Ino tried to say.

"Once isn't on purpose," she answered, sharp. "Not however many times it was." The woman pushed herself out of the bed, her weight shifted to keep most of it off of her left leg, turning her attention to Naruto again. "Do whatever it was you did with the kunai and go back."

"Um," Naruto started.

"What do you mean, 'um'?" the woman said, and Chōji had a sudden sinking feeling.

"I only really meant for it to take us one-way, but I would be able to change it to go back maybe but um. Ican'tfeelmychakra."

"What—"

"I can't feel mine either," Tenten said, voice slow.

Reaching inwards, Chōji couldn't feel anything either, just rising panic.

He wasn't the only one, because everyone else was erupting with questions.

"How are we supposed to get back?"

"Where are we?"

"Why can't we feel our chakra?"

The woman inhaled. "Calm down," she said, just loud enough and with enough authority in her voice that they all immediately started to settle. "Calm down. Get out of my bedroom. This isn't big enough for twelve people."

Chōji had to agree there; by now, almost everyone was on the floor, and between there being so many of them and Sakura's rescue squad having their bags on them, the available space around the bed was almost entirely taken up and it was crowded.

"I don't want to ignore your request, because it's very reasonable," Lee said, speaking up, and the older boy sounded embarrassed, "but I can't move."

"What do you mean, you can't move?" the woman said.

"The weights on my ankles are pinning me down," Lee answered, voice tight, "and without being able to use chakra, I can't lift my legs. Gai-sensei told me to never try to take them off without using chakra unless I felt like risking crushing my feet."

Chōji was suddenly very glad that he had ended up with Asuma-sensei as his team's teacher.

The woman closed her eyes for a moment, and took another deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose before opening them. "I'm not going to ask how much they weigh," she said, and it was obvious to Chōji that that was meant for her and not for any of them. "Hinata, there's a light switch behind you, please turn it on."

"They're—"

"I do not want to know," the woman said, cutting Lee off, just as Hinata turned the ceiling light on in the room.

They were attached to a ceiling fan, which immediately started running as well.

With the lights on, and his attention on Lee and the bed now, it was obvious that Lee was sunken deep into the bed's mattress, not just the bedding, and he had a heavily strained and pale expression on his face from what had to be pain.

Chōji didn't want to know what sort of training Lee had gone through that he had been able to keep his voice as steady as it was when his face looked like that.

He went over to help.

It took all of the boys to slowly lower Lee onto his back without causing the weights to move and pry them off without causing any more injury or damage than they had already.

He could tell that they had ruined the woman's bed once Lee was off of it; Lee had initially landed on the corner, and that whole section was probably crushed, under the blankets and sheets.

Chōji appreciated the fact that the woman didn't let Lee tell them how heavy the weights were, because, after that, he really didn't want to know.

Lee was able to walk after sitting down and having a moment to recover, but it was very carefully all the same.

It was an uncomfortable thought to think that the only thing that had probably prevented Lee's feet from crushing under the weight had been the bed, but no one else seemed to be worried or thinking about that, so Chōji didn't say anything about it.

While Chōji had never been great at the basic science covered in the academy, weight, density, and mass were things he had to know about because of his clan's techniques.

Too much density could be bad.

She shuffled them out of the room after that.

"The bathroom is there if you need it," she said, pointing to one door, "and my office is behind the next door. I'd rather you not snoop around, but I can't stop you, considering Ino did."

Ino cringed in on herself.

The woman went into the office and quickly returned with a dark-paned thing in her hands.

It was obvious when they entered the living area that she was in an apartment, a bit like Asuma-sensei's. The living room and dining room opened onto each other, with the kitchen split off.

She inhaled again once they were all in the living space. "I don't care what you do as long as you don't destroy my things. You probably shouldn't leave the apartment."

"What if Akamaru needs to go?" Kiba spoke up.

The woman sighed. "There's a porch," she said, pointing at one door. "Let him go out by himself. Tattooed kids aren't normal here."

After that, her eyes flicked towards Sakura, and she held not just the thing she had taken from the office, but a smaller one that looked like it out to her. "It's a phone and a tablet. The unlock patterns are the same." She tapped a button on the smaller one, holding it out at an angle for Sakura and everyone else to see.

To Chōji's surprise, the surface lit up; it was a screen like a computer, with dots on it above a swirl. She pressed her finger against the screen and drew lines between the dots, and the screen bloomed with more color.

"Did you get that?" she asked.

Sakura nodded, and she looked as uncertain as Chōji felt. "Yes, but why?"

"The smaller one is a phone, the bigger one is a tablet. Between that and the tv, I'm sure Ino can catch you up. I'm going back to sleep because I refuse to deal with this without more rest."

"Wait," Sakura said, her voice a bit more firm. "What— what should we call you?"

"My name is Socorro," the woman said. "Just that's fine."

With that, she returned to the bedroom, leaving Chōji and the others in the living area.

It didn't help Chōji feel any better that Lee dropped into one of the dining table chairs first, to grip one of his ankles and start to massage it, but it still seemed to break the unsureness of any of them doing anything, and slowly all of them were sitting down or leaning against something, sandals removed and packs on the floor, except Ino.

Sakura had set the tablet and strange-looking phone on the coffee table and was staring at them, biting her lip. "She said 'cartoon' earlier…"

"There's a show," Ino said, not meeting anyone's gaze. "It's about Naruto."

Naruto's eyes grew wide, and his attention, which had been mostly focused on Sakura, moved to Ino. "About me?"

"Him?" Kiba said, at the same time.

"And about things that are supposed to happen," Ino continued. "I— some of it hasn't happened the way it was supposed to, but a lot of it's been true so far."

Chōji was already looking at Shikamaru, which was just as well.

Shikamaru was frowning, and he looked over at Naruto for a split second before he stood up and Chōji was suddenly glad that none of them could use chakra right now. "You nearly got us killed over a cartoon? Over Naruto? What, does it have him becoming Hokage, too?" Ino cringed backward, which Shikamaru took as a response. "It does, doesn't it?"

Chōji stood up just in time to yank Shikamaru back down before he could physically lunge at Ino.

"What else did it have, Ino? Is that what you've been bullying people over? Because you've been trying to make everyone do things ahead of time? Because you think you know better?" Shikamaru's eyes narrowed, focusing on Sakura before he got an ugly expression on his face.

Chōji didn't know how to stop him, not without making things worse.

"Is that why you went and became all friendly with Sakura again all of a sudden?" Shikamaru spat out. "Is that why you pushed her to ask Tsunade to train her?"

Sakura's eyes widened, and she looked at Ino as well.

Ino was tearing up, hiccuping. "I— People are supposed to— A war's supposed to— Our dads—"

"They're soldiers!" Shikamaru shouted. "They're shinobi! If they die it's from doing their jobs! Do you think your dad would really thank you for doing this? My dad? Do you think—"

"Ino, is that really why we made up?" Sakura asked, cutting Shikamaru off.

"Who else is supposed to die or get injured in this cartoon?" Shino asked before Ino could even answer. "If there's really supposed to be a war, it's unlikely only you and your team would be touched."

"Hinata's cousin."

Tenten let out a small gasp, and from the corner of his eye, Chōji could see Neji's fists close into fists.

Chōji did his best to not look in Hinata's direction.

"Have you done anything there?" Shino asked.

Ino was silent.

Chōji had to grapple with Shikamaru to really keep him from going after Ino now, slapping a hand over Shikamaru's mouth before he could yell any more.

"I don't think talking about this anymore right now's gonna help," Chōji said, and he hated that everyone's attention snapped to him, just like that; he wasn't used to getting much attention from anyone outside of his clan, or Ino's or Shikamaru's for that matter, and they usually ignored him, except for right now. "Maybe we should take a nap or something."

"A nap? You're joking, right?" Kiba asked.

"Sakura? What do you say?" Tenten asked.

Sakura straightened up, her gaze shifting from Ino to Tenten, reminding Chōji that Sakura was supposed to be in charge.

It hadn't been that long ago, and yet it felt like a completely separate life because of everything that had been happening.

"Oh, right," Sakura said, mostly to herself. She inhaled before speaking again. "That's a good idea, Chōji. It was already pretty late and… it looks like it's late here, too," she slowed to a pause to look at the strange phone in her lap. "Everyone's tired and it'll help everyone's tempers if we take a step back and rest first before we try to go over this again."

This was a very different Sakura from the one who used to follow Ino around.

"Besides, we have more questions for Socorro-san and I think those are going to have to wait until she wakes up," Sakura finished.

"Sakura…" Ino started.

Sakura breathed in again, shutting her eyes. "I don't want to talk to you right now, Ino. Just leave me alone."

"I—" Ino stopped at the glare that Naruto was giving her. "Sorry," she murmured.

Rather than try to approach the couches or the dining table where everyone else was, Ino backed up to the wall by the door that looked like it was the main entrance into the apartment and slid down against it, putting her arms around her knees and resting her head on them.

Chōji just kept a grip on Shikamaru in case he tried to do anything else, but thankfully it looked like the rare burst of energy had left him. It didn't leave him feeling any better though. It wasn't going to last. Shikamaru had always been good at waiting, and Chōji knew that better than anyone else in the room except Ino.

Neji got up from where he was sitting and disappeared back down the hallway, both of his teammates following him, Tenten casting a concerned look at Lee as she did. Lee was walking very carefully.

Kiba left his spot at the table and opened the door Socorro had directed them at to let Akamaru out, and the puppy came back in a few minutes later.

Everyone slowly settled down, and slowly the mostly dark room was filled with slumbering figures except for Chōji. Even Shikamaru had dozed off, but Chōji wasn't able to will himself to sleep, eyes still moving to look at the strange phone and the tiny digital clock on its surface passing the time until the window near him started to show grey light.

"You can let go of me now, Chōji," Shikamaru grumbled, and Chōji blinked for a moment, realizing that the room was now filled with morning light coming through the blinds. At some point he had fallen asleep, but he couldn't remember when, and the phone was no longer on the coffee table, and neither was the tablet.

Instead, the tablet was in Shikamaru's hands, and his attention was concentrated on it despite the fact that Chōji was still holding onto him.

There was a shogi board on the screen.

Chōji was aware that games could be played on computers and stuff, but his only personal experience with them was the video game console his cousin Maruten had spent a whole month and a half's pay on— for the console, games, and getting it shipped to Konoha— and it didn't look remotely as good as what Shikamaru was focusing on right now.

When he looked over, Sakura looked slightly embarrassed from her spot next to Naruto on the floor, Shino and Hinata on the other side. She must have given Shikamaru the tablet, Chōji guessed. Kiba was flopped down nearby, but not paying attention to what was going on at the coffee table.

The strange kunai that had landed them in this situation was in the center of the coffee table, surrounded by bunches of printer paper that even from his spot on the couch Chōji could tell was Naruto's usual messy scrawl, mixed with different variations of the seals that were on the kunai.

Chōji let go of Shikamaru, and Shikamaru slid over to sit on the couch properly, attention still on his ongoing game.

"Chōji, do you have any familiarity with fuinjutsu or jutsu-shiki?" Shino asked.

Chōji shook his head. "No, why?"

"We— I," Hinata corrected, when Shino looked at her, "think that Naruto's kunai might have acted strangely because I don't think this is fuinjutsu," she explained. "At least not all of it. But I only know a little," Hinata admitted. "So I'm not sure."

"Tenten probably knows the most fuinjutsu," Sakura said, "But…"

She didn't need to finish. Chōji could already guess why Tenten was nowhere in sight. Between what Ino had said about Neji, and Lee getting hurt just from them ending up wherever this was, she had her team to focus on first.

Whatever Naruto was trying to do with the different scribbled versions of the kunai's formula wasn't doing anything, and everyone else was starting to look really discouraged by the time Chōji felt his stomach grumble from hunger, loud enough that everyone else in the room looked at him.

He winced. "Sorry."

"Did any of you bring rations with you when you prepared for this mission?" Shikamaru asked, attention still on the tablet screen. "Because it's either that or raiding the kitchen."

While he knew Shikamaru didn't mean it badly, it still made Chōji feel a sudden pang of guilt. He knew how much he ate compared to everyone else on his team.

Before any of them could answer, their attention was pulled away by the sound of footsteps.

"I guess it was too much to hope that this was a bad dream, too," Socorro said, coming out of the hallway.

The woman was dressed in a collared long sleeve shirt and denim trousers, her hair brushed and no longer as wild-looking as it had been when they had all landed on her bed. She still looked exhausted, but to Chōji's confusion, there had been an air of amusement to her words.

"Did any of you get sleep?" she asked, looking around at them. It was slow and steady, almost like she was confirming they were all there.

Probably was doing that, Chōji realized, remembering what she had said.

She had said she had been dreaming about being Sasuke, but what that meant…

Chōji wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"A little, thank you," Sakura said, keeping her eyes directed at the papers on the table. "Your phone shook."

"Oh no, did that wake you up?" She walked into the room properly, and to Chōji's surprise, it was with a mild limp. "Sorry, I should have made sure it was just on silent." She picked the phone up from its spot on the table, going out of her way to not touch any of the papers near it. She pressed her thumb to the screen, flicking at it afterward with her thumb. "I take it you haven't figured out how to go back yet," she said, eyes on its screen.

"No," Naruto answered, staring at her. His eyes were narrowed. That usually meant Naruto was about to cause trouble when they were in the academy.

It lasted long enough that Chōji started to feel unnerved, and just before he was going to turn away, he heard the woman let out a small snort.

"Have you stared enough yet?" she asked. Despite appearances, she had picked up on what Naruto had been doing after all.

"No!" Naruto squawked, turning to look at Sakura in alarm.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and that sent Naruto flailing.

"Uh, hey! Not like that!"

"Try making your mind up," she said, and with obvious caution, she reached down and tousled Naruto's hair.

Naruto relaxed.

Whatever it was that happened, a bunch of tension had left the room.

Socorro sighed, and looked around. "I'm going to wash my face, grab some things from my room, and then come back out here. One of you go get Gai's team, I'm pretty sure they're holed up in my office."

"I'll do it," Shino said, and it was obvious to Chōji that he was stopping Hinata from volunteering.

Shino returned with Tenten, Neji, and Lee trailing after him before she returned.

When she did, she had a cane hanging from the crook of her elbow, a purse hanging from her shoulder, and to Chōji's confusion, balled-up dark blue cloth and cheap bath sandals in one hand. She also had closed-toe shoes on despite the fact that she must have come from her bedroom.

She tossed the cloth and sandals to Shikamaru, who barely caught them in time; the cloth had started to unfurl, showing that it was a t-shirt.

"You're coming with me because I'm going to need an extra pair of hands," she said. "I'm going shopping. Change into that shirt, take off the holster, and move your ponytail down, put it into a bun, or take it out."

"What? Why me?" Shikamaru scowled, and Chōji suddenly felt a little bad for her. When Shikamaru got his mind set on something, he barely ever changed his mind, and right now it was clear that Shikamaru didn't want to go anywhere.

"Because you look normal for here," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "People don't have natural pink hair, face markings, eyes like the Byakugan, or are filled with bugs." Her focus shifted towards Shino for a moment, with an apologetic look on her face.

Everything she had listed just took most of them out, including Chōji.

"Why not Tenten or Lee?"

Chōji didn't even need to ask why Ino wouldn't be an option for Shikamaru to bring up.

"I want them here to keep an eye on things because they're older and more mature," Socorro answered, voice even. "They also haven't been involved in most of this insanity. Go change."

Shikamaru only scowled further, but he pushed up off of the couch, taking the shirt and sandals with him. He left down the hallway, and there was the slamming of a door a few seconds later.

Socorro only sighed but didn't say anything.

Shikamaru returned, looking visibly unhappy. The t-shirt's hem hung well past the top of his pants, with the words 'Mountain Clean-Up' on it above a simple jagged line that Chōji could only guess was meant to represent a mountain range. It was obviously meant for an adult, and while Socorro wasn't that much taller or larger than them, it was still enough to be too big for him.

The low ponytail set at the nape of his neck didn't look right on Shikamaru. Without his hair pulled back and up, it meant that a few strands ended up loose, framing his face in a way that suddenly made it clear how much Shikamaru looked like his mother, too.

He dropped his holster and wraps on the couch next to Chōji.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Socorro told them all. "I don't have enough groceries for twelve people, and I have an ugly feeling I'm going to be stuck with you all for the near future."

"I'm going to figure out how to make the seal work!" Naruto insisted.

"And activate it with what chakra?" she immediately shot back, before pinching her nose.

"Uh… I haven't figured that part out."

Socorro only shook her head. "Tenten, you're in charge while I'm gone."

Tenten looked stricken and looked around at everyone else. "I appreciate your faith in me but… we're still supposed to be on a mission, even if it's ended up with us here. Sakura's supposed to be in charge as the mission commander."

Socorro's eyes widened for a moment. "Sakura was in charge?" she said, with enough surprise that it made Sakura flinch, and she winced. "No, I didn't mean it like that, sorry," she apologized, shaking her head. "Who else was supposed to be on this mission? Because I see fewer bags than people."

"Besides me," Sakura said, slowly, not looking up at the woman, "it was supposed to be Naruto, Tenten, Shino, Hinata, and Ino."

"Kiba tried to join us even though he wasn't supposed to," Naruto added.

"And that led to everyone else?" Socorro shook her head slowly. "Fine. Sakura's in charge. Grab anything you want from the kitchen, but there isn't much. I was putting off getting groceries. Just stay inside."

She unlocked the door and held it open for Shikamaru, who sulkily pulled on the cheap sandals and followed her outside.

The door locked behind them.

Shikamaru felt the dry heat immediately drop down on him the moment the door closed, and he immediately pinned a wary eye on the woman as she locked the door.

None of this made sense, except for the fact that it did, and Shikamaru hated it.

It explained why Ino had started acting so strange even before what happened in the Forest of Death with her near-suicide attempt. It explained why she had pushed their team to train harder and advance more than they would have otherwise. It explained why she didn't just make friends with Sakura again but had pushed them to hang out with Sakura's team as well, even though even with her crush on Sasuke she hadn't bothered to get close to him and had always been annoyed by Naruto whenever she ended up in a class with him. Encouraging Naruto, even.

He didn't want to know the details, but he could already tell he was going to have no choice and it was going to make him even angrier at Ino.

Her though, he didn't know what to make of yet.

Shikamaru wasn't sure he wanted to know the full depth of what she had meant when she said she was dreaming about being Sasuke, but it and everything else had danced through his head before he had finally fallen asleep and even after he had woken up, despite investigating and looking at the tablet computer, even after finding and running through the shogi game he had discovered.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Just follow me."

The door for her apartment was in an alcove, set in from the building's front, metal stairs dividing the concrete and white paneled space from the other door on the other side. It was completely symmetrical, all straight lines and squared angles, the only differences being the numbers and mats.

Soulless and exactly the same. Nothing like Konoha.

Sidewalk ran past the sheltered entry space, the woman adjusted her cane and walked out towards it, and for lack of better choices, Shikamaru followed her.

Strips of closely cut grass— dry looking— and squared bushes separated the walkway from the building on the other side from them, and he could see the living room window and enclosed porch. From the outside, it wasn't obvious that there were ten people inside her apartment.

The concrete sidewalk led to a dark paved street, lined with what had to be vehicles, all facing them, a rock wall on the other side of the road cutting it off from an ugly tan cliffside occasionally marked with dry shrubs.

Shikamaru came to a complete stop, and she only noticed once she had gotten several feet away, turning towards him.

"They're just cars," she said, words slowing as she said them. At least she wasn't that stupid, because she continued with "We're getting in my truck," and pointed towards even more of them further down one way, "and we're driving to the store."

They were just big metal carts. Like trains, which meant there had to be an engine hiding somewhere inside, probably the front. No rails.

Telling himself that didn't make himself feel any more comfortable about the idea of getting into something that was completely different from anything he had ever seen before, and it was just hammering in that he had no idea where they were. Completely different weather and climate. Different time of year, if the tablet was really telling the truth that it was March and not late September. Unable to feel his chakra at all or even access it.

It made him regret ignoring doing taijutsu practice whenever his mom had nagged at him.

She stopped near a silver-coated vehicle that had a different shape and form factor from most of the others lining the street. They were all large enough that it was obvious they were meant to hold people, but plenty of them were small enough that Shikamaru could tell that transporting people was the main job. Hers though, besides having a tiny inside space that he could tell was meant for only a couple of people, had a long outside platform. It was clearly meant for carrying things but cart drivers usually loaded and unloaded, too…

That didn't line up with the cane.

She opened the door on one side and motioned for him to get in, closing the door on him once he was sitting inside, and got in on the other side, tucking her cane in the space behind her. Looking back, he could see there was seating squeezed in behind them.

She closed the door and inhaled. "Cars don't exist over there, do they?" she asked.

"Not really," he hedged.

She reached to the side of the door and yanked a doubled vinyl belt that ended with a flat bite piece forward enough that he could tell she was trying to demonstrate. "This is a seatbelt, there's one on your side. It goes around your waist. The top goes over your shoulder and across your torso. There's a buckle here." She snapped the bite in, angling it and the red inlay towards him so he could see the whole time. "Put it on, because I am not getting in trouble because of you."

He copied her, eyes still looking at the wheel and all of the things that were in front of her.

She shook her head slightly, catching sight of what he was looking at. "Steering wheel to turn, there pedals down here to go or stop, ignition to start the engine or stop it, change gears. It's a combustion engine, and I know those are over there. Do you have anything else you want to know or can I start driving?"

He didn't answer.

That went a long way in why there wasn't anything like this that he was aware of in Fire, much less anywhere else.

Trains used combustion engines. Trains and ninja didn't mix well. Shikamaru had tuned out, fallen asleep to, and even just walked away from dozens of boring conversations with his dad involved over the issue of trains, whether it was because of the daimyō wanting more jōnin to protect the growing rail network that completely avoided Konoha or because of the daimyō wanting to have trains come to Konoha.

Shikamaru was mostly sure that it wasn't classified, since his dad was willing to talk about it in front of him.

Shaking her head, she slotted a key into the ignition and turned it, starting the engine. Cool air started to blow from the vents in front of him.

He resisted the urge to grip onto the armrests when it started to move, instead looking out the window.

The apartment building they had come out of looked like all the others nearby. Square, boxy, two-storied, and nearly identical, the only difference Shikamaru could tell from the angle he could see them was the way they were oriented.

As they got further away, it became clear to Shikamaru that they were on the hills at the foot of a mountain.

Soon enough, it became obvious that the grass he had dismissed as being dry earlier was lush for here; there was barely any groundcover or trees, and the sides of the streets that weren't covered with more of the dark asphalt for the vehicles to be left at were mostly sandy looking soil or rocks, with the occasional lonely looking tree or weedy shrub. There were even cacti.

The streets were filled with even more vehicles, lined with more large and ugly blocky buildings.

Sandy. Dusty. All dull tans, browns, and grays that reminded him of photos and videos from the Land of Wind.

Nothing like Konoha or Fire at all.

"Why do you want me with you?" he asked, again. "I don't believe it's because you really need my help." He was still trying to figure out exactly how to make it more difficult for her to make her regret taking him with her, but he hadn't decided on how, yet. There were too many factors to take into consideration.

"Because you're the most likely to start shit," she answered, eyes focused on the road ahead. "And I don't need you causing trouble when I'm not there, even if it means you're going to be a pain in my ass."

He hadn't expected that answer, and it meant that it'd only make sabotaging anything that much more difficult if he decided to use that strategy.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"So you're saying you haven't been giving Asuma a hard time?"

"He's the one who started it," Shikamaru answered, feeling unexpectedly defensive. "How much do you even know, anyway?"

"Asuma told us about Kurenai's pregnancy and you started arguing over it," she told him. "I don't know everything, but I've seen enough."

Shikamaru changed direction. "Then why are you protecting Ino? You should be mad at her, too."

The vehicle came to a stop; an intersection, with other vehicles going across in front of them. The lights hanging over the other side were red.

She turned to look at him. "I am twenty-seven years old," she said, looking him in the eye. "However much I am unhappy at this, I am an adult. I am not getting into fights with twelve-year-olds. As far as I'm concerned, my responsibility right now is to not get into fights with children. It's to keep you all from tearing each other apart and not let you all starve while I try to figure out how to get you all back home."

"I'm thirteen," Shikamaru told her. "So is Ino."

"Fine, thirteen-year-olds."

Her response didn't make him feel like she was taking him that seriously.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Besides the fact that I didn't kick you all out of my apartment immediately?" she answered, raising an eyebrow at him. "None of you are prepared to be here and none of you should be here. You're supposed to be fictional characters in a series I started following when I was your age. Not real or whatever is going on. I'm not interested in getting dragged into whatever drama is going to happen on top of that."

A loud beeping noise, muffled, came from behind them. Another vehicle.

She looked forward and swore under her breath before putting the vehicle into motion again. Green light, no more vehicles crossing in front of them.

She didn't elaborate, and Shikamaru decided against pressing further immediately.

Fictional.

It kept coming up, and it didn't make him feel any better or happier about what it could imply about anything.

Shikamaru resisted the urge to grip the seat or the vehicle door on his side when the whole thing turned onto a different street, wider and with even more vehicles, and soon became clear that it was heading for a giant curved bridge that was towering over the land beneath it.

He clenched his hands into fists, relaxing only a bit when it was obvious they weren't going up the curved bridge but heading down to the immense road that was sunk so far beneath it that Shikamaru hadn't seen it earlier.

They were going even faster now, at speeds that most shinobi couldn't sustain for long even in combat, never mind for extended travel. All while in a thing that Shikamaru's brain was repeating over and over was explosive thanks to the combustion engine, surrounded by even more of them. Just one strong fire jutsu would cause a chain reaction of destruction, and he could hear that in his dad's voice inside of his head.

"I'm an experienced and safe driver," she said, irritating Shikamaru at the fact she had noticed at all. "I didn't think this would stress you out. We'll take the long way back. It'll be slower."

Instead of answering, he stared out the side window instead at the ugly large buildings that were visible even from this far away.

None of them were remotely identifiable or gave him any clue as to what they were supposed to be except the fat and blocky movie theater— thanks to its giant sign that said it was one— and the inn, which was also ugly.

No trees, no grass, just asphalt and beige.

She turned the vehicle off of the oversized deathtrap road and onto a broad avenue. This one at least had short, sad, and spindly trees with dusty green leaves that were attempting to break up the road from the large empty asphalt lots on the sides of each street.

She turned them down another more narrow street, which to Shikamaru's dismay led them to one of the giant boxy buildings that had been visible before. Just the front, the name visible in giant letters above the various departments the store had.

'Wal-Mart.'

"Try not to stare at everything while we're in there, alright?" she told him, as she unbuckled herself and then leaned over to do the same for Shikamaru before opening the door and getting out in a smooth move that included grabbing her cane.

He scowled and shoved the belt away as it tried to snap back to the side of the vehicle and got out on the other side, unable to resist slamming the door hard.

Shikamaru immediately found himself coughing the moment he took a breath; the air was polluted and filled with exhaust as if he had gone into one of the few industrial sectors inside the village on a day where the weather pushed everything down to the ground.

The whole area was filled with vehicles, and as he looked out into the lot he could see one that was actually spewing out nasty-looking black smoke from a back pipe.

He had learned that lesson when he was still in the academy; breathing in poor-quality air wasn't a trade-off he was willing to make to get home five minutes earlier than his usual route.

Shikamaru resigned himself to ending up with grey snot, ignoring the little Ino-sounding voice in his head that insisted it wouldn't get that bad.

"Are you alright?"

He only glared at her before he straightened up, trying to resist coughing any further.

"Fine. Just don't wander off."

"Or what?" He wasn't a captive and even without the benefit of chakra Shikamaru was fairly certain he would be able to take her down if it was necessary.

"Or I get to be embarrassed at losing a kid who's old enough to not get lost in a store," she said, voice pointed.

She started off for the front of the store, going faster with the cane than Shikamaru expected, forcing him to catch up.

Ugly and large square box building, polluting vehicles, unhealthy air, no trees or grass, bossy strange woman… All of this was just a miserable experience so far on its own.

There weren't any buildings this pointlessly big in Konoha, and even when they got dragged around on that trip by Jiraiya, none of the ones in any of the towns with larger buildings were this bulky and wide, even in the city they had visited. If they were, Shikamaru hadn't noticed because they weren't such total ugly wastes of space.

Air conditioning immediately blasted down on him the moment they crossed through the threshold of the automatic glass doors, a shock compared to how warm it had been outside.

The only positive was that the air wasn't nearly as awful as it was outside.

She went and grabbed a cart, hooking the cane over the push bar, only checking briefly to make sure he was still nearby before heading into the rest of the store.

Even the questionable old convenience store Shikamaru had successfully bought a pack of cigarettes from for Asuma-sensei had looked cleaner and better organized than this, and that was run out of a converted warehouse, but at least it didn't still look mostly like one.

One side was filled with flats of stacked boxes filled with more thin television like he had seen in her apartment, claiming to be on sale, and the flanking side was shelves stuffed with bright cellophane-wrapped brackets filled with candy and toys, mixed with large stuffed plush rabbits. For some kind of holiday, if the shelves ahead with more on their ends were anything to go by, but there being so much was unnerving.

"When I said not to wander off, that meant to stay with me," she said, looking back at him from several feet away and ready to turn down an aisle.

He hurried to catch up.

She went past several sections of aisles of more and more stuff before turning down one for personal hygiene— or at least Shikamaru thought until he realized that all of the shelves for the aisle seemed to be filled with only shampoo.

It didn't make him feel any more impressed to realize that at least some of it was conditioner instead.

He waited and watched as she gazed at all the different bottles, before she finally picked a large bottle with bright yellow and blue packaging, with horses on the front, putting it into the cart. The name wasn't something he would have associated with shampoo, at least one meant for people.

Shikamaru took it out to look at it and soon realized that the name was literal. "This is animal shampoo."

"It's not just for animals," she said, defensive.

"It still has instructions for using it on animals. It's supposed to be horse shampoo, isn't it?"

"There are how many of you, again?" she shot back. "It's not bad shampoo."

Shikamaru didn't have to say anything else, at least, because she took the bottle out of his hands, put it back on the shelf, and grabbed a different one, in an even larger bottle. To his mild annoyance, he realized that the horse shampoo had been more expensive, but he was still going to take the cheaper brand over using horse shampoo.

His parents and older family members had talked about cheap clients around him before, and how that was a good way of evaluating them as people. Even if they were willing to pay the mission fees, they sometimes would treat the hired shinobi as less than people, with some of them not even offering them food or shelter.

Even though they weren't supposed to bother his dad about jōnin affairs when he was at home, one of his dad's cousins had done just that a couple of years ago, heading straight to complain to Shikamaru's dad about the mission he had come back from, interrupting the shogi match they had been playing.

Suzaku had been much thinner than he had left the village, slightly grimy, and very unhappy. The month-long mission he had been on was supposed to be routine, guarding a high-profile traveling noble who had wanted jōnin for his guards— except for the fact that the ninja on the mission had been forced to provide their food usually by hunting, weren't given any rooms at any of the inns they had stopped at and had to sleep outside, and as a result couldn't shower or bathe either, which meant they had been resorting to using water jutsu to keep the worst of the grime off, all while having to do guard work at all hours.

The shogi match had been completely forgotten.

Even though she wasn't happy about them being in her apartment either, after a while it became clear that even though there were eleven of them, she wasn't always going for the cheapest options.

Shikamaru didn't know how to feel about that, even as the cart— larger than the ones he was familiar with in Konoha— started to not be so empty, as she dropped other things in before deciding she was done with this part of the too-large store, moving onwards.

She stopped the cart in the middle of the main aisle, next to a box filled with rolled-up fleece blankets, letting out a sigh before looking over at Shikamaru.

"Do you know if they packed blankets or anything?" she asked him.

He hadn't seen anyone who was supposed to be on the mission pull out any blankets, even though the room had been cool enough for Shikamaru to want one.

He shook his head.

She crammed several of the rolled-up blankets into the cart before moving again.

Eventually, they headed a different direction again, away from the bedding— but still no other end of the store in sight— and Shikamaru felt sudden looming concern as women's sleepwear— thankfully only plain and boring pajamas— came into view. Nothing good came out of being near clothing when being forced to go shopping.

The dread was confirmed when she took the cart off of the linoleum, and they were heading towards a partition wall. "Go pick out some underwear," she said.

"What?"

She gave him a longsuffering look. "I'm going to assume that most of you don't have any changes of clothes. I can spare t-shirts and shorts, but I'm not putting up with a bunch of teenage boys with only one pair of underwear each for however long you're stuck here. Go pick out a few packs in sizes for all of you guys. It should be on the other side."

"And if I don't?" he asked, without any rancor to it. Even so, he didn't actually want to do it on his own.

"I'm going to the girls' underwear section," she answered.

Shikamaru sped off, not wanting to think about that, only returning to the outside aisle after he had grabbed a few packages of boxers, making sure that at least one would be big enough for Chōji. He dumped them into the cart the moment she entered the aisle again.

"Last things left are food," she said, "and then we'll be done."

She pushed the cart down to the next wide aisle. By this point Shikamaru was tired of trailing after her, so he started to walk ahead of it.

More clothing on one side, and aisles of shoes on the other. He was beginning to wonder at what wasn't in this store, since he had seen even a section for furniture earlier, and it made him start to actively pay attention a little, which he immediately regretted.

There was a t-shirt with not just Naruto's name on it, but a cartoon Naruto on it, eating ramen, like it was some kind of advertisement. The jacket was wrong— Naruto's jacket was blue and orange, not black— but it was clearly Naruto all the same.

He came to a sudden stop, and the cart grazed against his side.

Shikamaru hadn't wanted to think about it earlier, what Ino had started to say, to try to excuse everything, and what it could have meant, but that t-shirt supported her insane claim, and he hated it and what it could mean.

"Hey—" she protested, before seeing what caught his attention. She shoved the cart out of the aisle and onto the thin carpet that marked the clothing section before setting a gentle hand on his shoulder and pulling him over, in between the racks of clothes. "Hey," she said again, quieter, eyes meeting his. The shadows under her eyes took on a different meaning, all of a sudden. "I know. It's a lot."

However much he didn't like any of this, she didn't either, he realized.

"We need to get done with shopping first before we go back, alright? If you want, you can go wait in the truck. I'll give you the keys." Despite the fact she had dragged him along against his will earlier, she was changing her mind.

New information required new strategies.

"No," Shikamaru answered. "You said it's just food left."

Socorro let go of his shoulder. "I'll try to make this part quick. I'll give you my phone when we go back to the truck if you want to look things up."

"I'd rather wait."

She exhaled through her nose, lips just barely turning up at the edges. "That's fair."

He felt a bit more centered by the time they reached the food section of the oversized store, enough to only feel exasperated at the fact there was a small restaurant— if only it had more seating than food stalls— tucked in near the front end of the refrigerated goods.