Lost on the Road of Life (An AU Naruto Quest)

Yuki Haku slipped back into consciousness and lucidity, as he did every morning.

Haku twisted slightly in his restraints, trying to rearrange his body slightly so that the stone slab underneath him was a senbon's width more comfortable, but his efforts were in vain.

Perhaps tomorrow.

The cramped little cell was a slice of hell itself, one delicately carved out with a knife and furnished just for him. The propaganda and chilling rumors that Yagura's people built around the already grisly reputation of Mist T&I somehow fell short of reality.

Yagura has many faults, but mercy is certainly not one of them.

A rustling of keys sounded from down the hall, accompanied by the echoing footsteps of whatever ANBU and Wakahisa they had assigned to prison duty today.

The jailer and his companion opened the cell door. Pale blue light from the hallway lamps — glass orbs of water filled with a type of kelp or seaweed that glowed dimly in the dark — assaulted Haku's eyes. Something had been done to make him more sensitive to the light, but whether it was something in the food they forced down his throat every evening, or a result of the absolute darkness that spanned the cell's interior, he didn't know.

"Prisoner, are you ready to cooperate?"

Haku ignored the jailer.

It would be the same as it always was. The Wakahisa would drain him of what chakra reserves his frail corpse of a body had regained over the night worth of sleep, and then the jailer would proceed with the questions that Haku would not answer. They would escalate their interrogation tactics, employing genjutsu, trickery, bargaining, bribery, perhaps even violence or outright torture.

Yuki Haku would mutely endure it all. He had already endured it all, even though every breath and every heartbeat was beginning to wear him down. He contemplated death often at this point, but there was no viable path for him to commit suicide— Mist's Torture and Interrogation division had thoroughly restrained him in their expertly designed holes in the ground.

I cannot die yet, Haku thought. His captivity had left him crippled and broken, a shell of his former self, but a broken tool could still be a useful one. He needed to escape. He needed to get out into the world, find Momochi Zabuza…

Haku winced as a bucket of cold water was dumped over his head. The Wakahisa wrapped a tendril of water around his leg, and Haku's pulse quickened to a painful throb as chakra was forcibly sucked out of his coils.

"We have some questions for you," the ANBU said. "You will answer them. It is in your best interests to cooperate."

They say the same thing every time, Haku thought. Do they do that on purpose? A script?

"Who was involved in the coup against the Mizukage?"

Haku tuned the interrogation out, and his thoughts turned to escape.

He was in abysmal physical shape. The starvation and isolation had taken its toll, and while Haku had little medical knowledge beyond the absolute basics of first aid and trauma care, even he could tell that his body was failing, slowly but surely. Even if escape were possible, it would be a miracle of medical ninjutsu if he was restored to the barest semblance of combat readiness.

Escape.

Thinking about it, considering it in detail, had simply become a part of his daily routine. It was no longer something he hoped for, if he still had the capacity to feel emotions like hope. No, escape was an algorithm, a thought process he ran through. Asking himself, every day, whether or not it was possible, only to come to the conclusion that it wasn't, not today, had stopped being torturous weeks ago. Haku was surprised that it had taken that long, since...

How long has it been? Haku lost track of time after the first three months. He suppressed the intense urge to ask his captors— he had gotten this far without uttering a single word, and Haku knew that reneging on his vow of silence was the first step in being a cooperative prisoner, and thus, was out of the question.

I will outlast them. They will grow complacent and make a mistake.

In spite of Mist T&I's stellar reputation, Haku suspected his captors were not ideal shinobi. They believed on some level that their tactics would work, as they had not yet deigned to begin slicing off any of his fingers to render him truly powerless—though Haku didn't expect that to last much longer. At some point, they would cease their pointless attempts to break him any further, and write him up as a lost cause. Mist would kill him, consign him to human experimentation, or keep him alive as collateral. A hostage, or a bargaining chip, to be used against his comrades.

Haku jolted out of his reverie as something sharp bit into his arm. He glanced over to his side, where the masked Wakahisa medic was squeezing a vial of light green liquid into one of his veins.

It burned.

The jailer repeated his monotonous script. "We have some questions for you. You will answer them. It is in your best interests to cooperate."

Haku had long ago considered slicing his tongue off or otherwise mutilating himself so that communication was impossible, but ultimately decided against it. It would be too infeasible to arrange, and it would drastically reduce his ability to escape in the future (and thus reduce his overall usefulness). Besides, Zabuza would be unlikely to approve of such drastic measures, even if Haku was acting in the best interests of the rebellion.

Where is Zabuza? Is he still out there? Does he know that I yet live?

The thoughts came as they always did, attaching themselves to his mind like barnacles sticking to a ship. Heavy barnacles made out of solid lead and depressive reflection. Haku did his best to direct his wandering mind to other places, but it was getting more difficult by the day to do so.

Haku's eyes narrowed as a dizzying sensation rushed through his head and down into his spine. He felt his lips part of their own volition, and the blue light washing into the room seemed to dance and waver. Whatever substance they had given him was undoubtedly taking hold.

The jailer repeated the questions. The words shot from the ANBU's porcelain mask like an errant shuriken, twirling about the room before they formed into misty clouds that trailed lazily into the air.

Genjutsu? Haku thought. He hadn't noticed an illusion being cast by either of them, but it was still possible.

Perhaps I am finally losing my mind.

The thought disturbed him. How would he ensure his own silence if he went insane? He contemplated it for several minutes, before concluding that it was an incredibly difficult puzzle to crack. Perhaps he would need to employ those drastic measures afterall. Or maybe he could pretend to crack, but instead give them false information.

Haku considered the viability of that tactic. He had stayed silent for so long. Would it be likelier that his words would come across as genuine? Would they believe him? And even so, would it improve his ability to escape?

"Look, all of you fuckers. If you get captured somehow, just sit the fuck tight and shut the fuck up. Mei and me'll bust you out after we make some turtle fuckin' soup."

But Haku had a standing order to the contrary, so he did not consider the option for long.

Haku trembled as the hallucinations intensified. His jailers moved on to physical torture— which today involved some sort of simulating drowning experience. As suffocating trickles of water slid down the inside of his nostrils and into his lungs, Haku idly wondered if they were just using him as a T&I guinea pig.

Haku coughed and sputtered. But that was all. Speaking was out of the question. Haku didn't believe that the ninja working with him could contemplate that. He couldn't blame them. Other ninja would have certainly broken. They would have given into their base instincts.

Of course they would, Haku thought. They were only human, after all. He was human, a long time ago, before Yagura's Mist, so he had a vague idea of what it must be like.

Yuki Haku had only survived this far because, underneath the surface, he just wasn't like these other ninja. He had a secret. An ace in the hole that, apparently, no one else could really conceive of or wrap their heads around.

Yuki Haku was the very model of an exceptional Mist shinobi. He was the ideal that others could only aspire to. Where others in Mist preached subservience and absolute obedience, Haku lived it. His loyalty just wasn't to the same master that the village prescribed.

Haku had received an order. So he would follow that order to the letter. That was what a tool did.

Even a broken tool has its uses.

---

Threw out the 'ol back earlier this week so it's another interlude. Sorry about that, I'd prefer to get back to the main plot, but c'est la vie.

Chapter 62: A Merry Good Time​

"Okay, what are our threat models?" Kakashi asked. "He won't have wanted to revisit the warehouse where the scroll was kept for a while, so we earned a couple hours, maybe a day there. My Forge Flame technique burned the warehouse floor, so he'll definitely notice it's gone when anyone gets in there and checks. Damn, maybe we should have prepared a fake and swapped them... Anyway, they'll notice the site of the battle, though the rain should take care of our blood trail. At my best guess, we left Grass around when they should have been getting in there to canvass it. Do we think they have any way of tracking us over the ocean?"

"Fuck off," said Shizuka from across the hot springs. "You said the Hot Springs people are good for their word, right? That's the only real risk, I think. Just shut up for a day or two and let me relax."

"Yeah, the Hot Springs people are good. They know they'll lose way more business in the long run from rich ninja by breaking their word than they'll get by selling us out, even with the bounties on my head. You don't want to know what they're charging me per night."

"Cool, then shut up and let me unwind. It's been a crazy couple of months, okay?"

"But what are the odds that someone spotted us coming through the city, recognized us, and-"

Shizuka shot him a venomous glare, and he decided to let this one go. He'd wake her up early tomorrow to review the threat models or something.

"Copy Ninja," Kagato said from the corner of the room where he and Sugiyama sat uncomfortably in the steam-soaked sauna. "While certainly an enjoyable experience, my duty here has completed, and I have other duties that command me. I will be taking my leave tonight. However, prior to then, would you like to hear the information the Mantis Clan has gathered about Summon Contracts that you may yet claim?"

Kakashi shot to his feet and ignored the complaints of the cracked, burned skin across his chest. Sugiyama winced more than he did.

"I'm ready. Let's go."

Once they had returned to his room (and Kakashi had taken the appropriately paranoid steps to ensure there were no observers), Kagato spoke.

"Many of the Summon Clans are unaware of the Human Path whereabouts of their Contracts, and many of those that are aware have very little interest in gaining a Summoner. Furthermore, the Mantis is not a universally favored clan, and many would not answer questions given that their eventual Summoner might force them to ally with the Mantis Clan. Therefore, my answers are limited.

"First, a Contract that is already claimed, yet that could be taken by force. The Scorpion Summoning Contract was possessed the summoner known as Momonosuke the Black. The polity you know as Hidden Sand claimed it by conquest, and the Contract was promised to one called Karappo Sasori, of the Red Sands, who I am told was a promising jōnin and a puppetmaster. However, as a result of his death in the last war, the Contract has apparently been passed on to his apprentice, a chūnin who calls himself Oe Kuro. He has a disfavorable personality and is not yet personally powerful, so given the Scorpion Clan's need, they may be open to you… claiming their Contract.

"Second, the Rabbit Clan has very little to share, but would be open to gaining a new Summoner. All they have to say is that the previous bearer of the Contract went to the Moontouched Isle for some purpose or another, reported once upon arriving, then never spoke to them again. My messengers attempted to discern the exact purpose of that visit, but to no avail. I suspect there may be more there than meets the eye, so be wary, Copy Ninja. Their records of time are shoddy, yet they assure me that this would certainly have been within living memory for humans.

"Lastly, the Chicken Clan likewise is eager to gain another Summoner, but they know little of what happened to their Contract. Their previous summoner, a woman who was called Moriko, had grown apart from the Chicken Clan for some reason or another, and chose to dispose of the Scroll in as distant and remote a location as she could find. After she had made her intentions known, the Chicken Clan heard no more from her. This transpired perhaps one hundred and fifty years past, and she was of no clan herself during the Human Path's Warring Clans period. From their accounts, she was from what is now Lightning Country, so perhaps in the wilderness north of there.

"For better or for ill, that is all the Mantis Clan has found in their search for fellow Clans seeking further summoners. I can provide you no further aid than this, Copy Ninja." Kagato smiled sadly. "Now, our paths will diverge. Though I remember it naught, you were certainly taught the art of summoning by my words and my pen. If you truly think of me as a teacher, would you let me have the honor of forming the summoner's contract? That should our paths ever cross again in the future, neither of us shall be first to raise weapons, and that we shall break bread and share stew over the same fire."

Kakashi nodded, quickly tucking the information away in the back of his mind as he refocused on his summoning training. He grabbed a kunai and quickly drew blood from his palm, and Kagato did the same with his scythes.

"I swear that, when our paths cross again in the future, in every time I shall offer you the warmth of my fire and food, and that I shall not be the first to raise weapons against you," Kagato said, words weighty with intent.

"I so swear," Kakashi said, and again he felt that momentary rush of wind against his skin and clothes, and the room around him, and the rest of the hot spring. The moment passed, and he felt the familiar shackles close around his soul, forming the contract that would guide his actions until he chose to break it.

Strange. I wonder what I'll see if I make a contract with a Hyūga?

"If that is all, Copy Ninja, I shall return to the eastern lands tonight," Kagato said, bowing to Kakashi for what might have been the first time. "May your roads guide you well."

Kakashi bowed back. "Thank you, sensei. May your roads be easy too. "


Kakashi glanced up as Shizuka left the building. She disrobed gingerly, careful not to aggravate the wound at her side, and started to wash herself off from the bucket by the wall. Kakashi returned his attention to his book.

"You're awfully disinterested in the naked woman in front of you for all the time you spend with those porn books," Shizuka said, shivering only a little as she lowered herself into the hot spring. "Don't tell me you actually read it for the plot?"

Kakashi sniffed. "The dialogue is better than yours."

Shizuka laughed at that, then let herself sink down to her chin in the hot spring with a contented sigh. "This is great. I wish I could really move, maybe go for a run or do some conditioning to work up a sweat before the hot springs. I bet this would feel even better with my muscles aching after some exercise. Still, med-nin's orders, you know?"

Kakashi did know that normal ninja sometimes listened to their med-nin's orders. Luckily, he had broken that power's foul sway over him through years of practice at ignoring it. Really, years of practice ignoring anything added up, including years of practice ignoring people trying to distract him from his fine literature.

Shizuka got the hint. They spent a couple hours in silence as Kakashi flicked through the pages of his book (sadly, the steam from the hot springs meant the pages would get wrinkled – he'd grabbed two copies from the merchant just in case), and Shizuka enjoyed the view. The resort house they'd booked was at the base of a valley, and the outdoor hot spring was nicely positioned to get a view of the hills rolling up into mountains in the distance, and the various small rivers and waterfalls that dotted them. For all her serious demeanor when on the mission, she now seemed content to spend hours gazing into the distance enjoying the heat of the spring against the cold winter air.

Kakashi closed the book with a sigh and set it down gently beside the hot spring. Just because it would inevitably get wet didn't mean he shouldn't treat a work of art well.

"What's with the big sigh?" Shizuka asked, turning her head to face him with a slow, languid movement. "You make it sound better than sex."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "What are you implying?"

Shizuka laughed again. "Good, you're not that dense. Seeing what's on your mind, mostly. Relations between teammates is a messy, awful idea, and we should make sure we've reached the same conclusions."

Yeah, it would be bad to get attracted to team members, wouldn't it? It could cause all sorts of problems…

…

…

He blinked to the sound of Shizuka snapping her fingers in his line of sight. "Hello? Zoned out there? I thought you were thinking but it took long enough that I started to think you decided to join Sugiyama this morning."

Sugiyama, of course, had opted out of the hot springs. When they weren't tending to the two injured ninja, the medic instead spent their days in the resort house's gardens, mumbling to themselves and smoking an incredible variety of drugs, if the colors of their pipe's smoke was anything to go by.

"Ah, right. What were we talking about again?"

Shizuka rolled her eyes. "You. Me. We're not gonna bang. Clear?"

He took a moment to look at Shizuka. The days of relaxing in the hot springs had brought out a different side of her than he'd seen before, calmer yet somehow more energetic. She was short, more than half a foot shorter than him, with a slim figure and a pale and pretty, if unremarkable face. Constant soaking had bled the black dye out of her hair, bringing her back to a strawberry blonde. She had pulled herself out of the hotsprings a little to snap her fingers in front of his face, letting her wet hair slick messily across her shoulders and revealing rather unremarkable "assets", as Jiraiya would have said.

Nope. Nothing.

"Yeah. Obviously."

Shizuka rolled her eyes harder. "You know, you could try being a little nicer than 'obviously'," she said, making air quotes with her fingers. "Wait, are you into men? No, you can't be, with a taste in literature like that…"

Kakashi shrugged. "So we're teammates, now? By your own words?"

Shizuka nodded. "You said you needed allies, and my skills complement yours pretty well. We've worked together before and it hasn't been awful, except when you make braindead jōnin decisions. You helped me achieve my goal, and if you were going to kill me and take the Salamander Scroll, you would have done it some time in the last week. The things I need to do right now don't need me to be anywhere in particular, and you're stronger than me, so you could maybe help me get strong enough to kill the man that killed my father and destroyed Hidden Rain. Am I getting anything wrong?"

"Eh," Kakashi said. "Not really. I guess I also have to trust you since you haven't backstabbed me yet, and I'm sure you've had the chance more than once." He tried not to feel unnerved as she nodded shamelessly. "And yeah. You'll be useful, and I've already shown that I'm willing to help you with your goals too."

"Teammates then?" Shizuka said, holding out a fist bump.

Kakashi hesitated. Everyone else who he had once called a teammate had died, whether by his own hand, by his negligence, or by him just not being strong enough and smart enough to make a difference. Was he willing to bring that all down on Shizuka? But he couldn't afford to think for long, and she was too useful an asset to deny.

He accepted the fist bump lazily. "Sure. However you want to call it."

They settled back into the hot spring and enjoyed the view.

After a couple minutes, Shizuka spoke again. "By the way, what's with the mask?"

Kakashi reached a hand to brush against his one article of clothing, a simple cloth wrap that covered his lower face. "What do you mean, what's with the mask?"

"It's doing nothing to cover your eye," she said, gesturing, "and we're in a hot spring. Why are you wearing it?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Some of us like to keep a little mystique. It can be less exciting when you give it all away."

Shizuka frowned. "But I've seen you without it! You take it off all the time to let Sugiyama dress you up when we're going into a town in disguise!"

"But then I have my eye covered, so there's still an element of mystery."

"Ah, whatever," Shizuka said, waving the idea off.

Minutes passed, and the sun reached the distant mountaintops.

"Alright, I'm bored," Kakashi said. He started to lever himself out of the hot spring, only to stop and sink back in as the biting chill of the winter evening cut into his skin. He tried to play the movement off as just readjusting himself, but Shizuka laughed anyway. "A week of relaxing is more than enough for me. I grabbed all the new Icha Icha – and can you believe that Demon is four months behind on publishing? – got the okay from the medic, I secured the teammate and the summoning scroll. I think I'll get a move on soon."

"Soon?" Shizuka asked, raising an eyebrow with a smile. "Like, within the minute, soon?"

Kakashi flicked the surface of the hot spring, sending a tiny spray of water her way. "Nah. Tomorrow. What are your other objectives, by the way? Sugiyama won't want you running around everywhere, but I could look into things."

"My little sister, Tamako," Shizuka said "I'm pretty sure she made it out of Rain alive, and she was escorted by a jōnin bodyguard, Hyōsuke, who really cares about keeping her safe. I assume they're laying low, but I have no clue what their plans are or where they could be. I checked all our safehouses after the coup, but they'd been stripped to the walls – I assume because the new leader got the safehouse locations from one of my father's lieutenants. No signs of a struggle though, so it's not like they found Tamako and Hyōsuke in one of them.

"I have to assume they're lying low and maybe searching for me, but neither of us can afford to be too brazen about our presence to signal to the other. I have no clue how I'm going to find them, but I swear that I will. I have no clue how you could do it either, though. Wherever we go, there should be room for me to put out feelers and see if they're in the area."

"Got it," Kakashi said. "I've got a fair bit of money and know a few information dealers, so maybe we could ask about Rain missing-nin jōnin. I'll account for it."

They enjoyed the hot springs for a few hours more, watching the sun set over the mountains and, once it was fully dark, sharing the different names for the constellations they'd learned in their respective countries.

"It's strange," Shizuka said. "The stars feel so much more mundane, now that I've left the country. It used to be that I'd see them only once or twice a year, if I was lucky. Even when it wasn't raining, which was rare, it was still clouded over. I learned the constellations by heart because I was excited to see them when we got lucky and had clear skies at night. It felt so rare, so… meaningful."

She pointed at the night sky, drawing a circle to enclose it. "Now… it's beautiful still, but I feel like it's lost something special to me."

Kakashi looked up, thinking about what to say in response. Him accepting her as a teammate was not supposed to be blanket permission for her to get all sappy on him. He was formally the leader, right? Should he reprimand her?

Luckily, his thoughts were cut off by a yawn. Shizuka saw it and couldn't help but yawn as well.

"On that note," he said, "I'll be going to sleep." He pushed himself out of the hot spring, and the frigid air of a cold winter night immediately cut through all the warmth the hot spring had given him. Shizuka looked forlornly at the still warm water, then did the same, shivering as soon as her feet left the spring.

"By the way," Kakashi said as he grabbed the towels and tossed one to Shizuka, "make sure you're packed up by midday tomorrow. We need to get out of here."

"What!?" Shizuka said, then winced and lowered her voice. "Why? It's great here, and there's no way we're being tracked."

Kakashi shook his head. "Remember what I said about you not wanting to know how much we were paying per night? Yeah, it's a lot. Having a whole private chunk of land costs way more than it should. I'm the one paying for this, and I can't afford to pay for months here when I need that money for other stuff, like over-greedy information brokers. I'll dump you and Sugiyama in a decent hot spring farther south, where they'll guarantee your anonymity and it'll be cheaper since there'll be other people around. I'm too recognizable with this," Kakashi said, pointing at the scar across the left side of his face, "so I'll find some patch of the woods to hide out and work on new techniques, or something like that. I'll grab you in a couple months. Hey, maybe I'll even check in with you before then."

Shizuka rubbed the towel angrily against her hair, sulking. "Ugh. Fine. I suppose I'll accept a free vacation at a mid-tier hot spring rather than a top tier one."

Kakashi smiled, a nearly meaningless gesture with his mask still on except for the condescending crinkling of his eyes. "You don't need to accept it. It's what's happening." He slung the towel over his shoulder. "Night, Shizuka."

"Wait!" she called out as he stepped towards the building. He turned back towards her, raising an eyebrow.

"Shizuka isn't my real name," she said.

"Ah. Right, obviously," Kakashi said. "Knew that, but never bothered asking about the real one. I figured you wouldn't tell me."

She sighed. "Again with the 'obviously'. It's a common name, I don't see how you saw through it. Anyway, yeah, I'll probably still tell it to strangers, but I'll need to sign the summon scroll with my real name, so I figure you should know."

Kakashi waited. "And…?"

She looked away. Was she embarrassed of this?

"Ameri."

"Ah. Got it," Kakashi said. He turned back to the door and started to walk off. "Well, good night, Ameri, and try not to get down about losing your fancy resort. I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities for you to eat, drink, and be a'merry at wherever I stick you next."

She laughed. "Fuck off, Hatake."

He turned at the door, gave her a shallow bow, then swung it shut behind him. After a moment's thought, he twisted the lock and gently slotted the deadbolt into place. He strolled down the hall, quietly whistling a muffled tune to the rhythm of his new teammate's thumping against the door.

---

Kakashi has healed all of his Consequences. It will be a few months till Shizuka Ameri is done with her Severe. She and Kagato sank the Salamander Scroll somewhere off the coast of Hot Springs, and she intends to sign it once she's recovered (and thus not in a position of weakness).

You have earned 419 XP from the Stealing the Salamanders arc. On account of astonishingly effective plans that wrapped the arc in a tiny 5 updates, we're awarding a +50% speedrunner bonus, bringing the arc XP total to 629 XP. Feel free to get things done fast in the future, this was exciting.

If you so desire, you may elect to give suggestions on Shizuka Ameri's training. You may vote as such:
[] (Ameri) I can help you get stronger.
[] (Ameri) Nah, you know your skills best.

If "(Ameri) I can help you get stronger." wins with at least half as many votes as the leading plan, we'll release a copy of her character sheet for you to vote on how she ought to spend her arc-end XP.

Voting time! What do you do?

[] Can't draw too much attention to the injured. Get as far from civilization as possible. Travel back to Snow and figure out what happened there in your wake.
[] A jōnin can handle himself for a couple months. Go check out what's happening in Moon to secure the Rabbit Scroll.
[] Time to dust off the old ninjutsu design skills. Focus on minor tweaks to make existing jutsu more powerful.
[] Make some new techniques! Maybe something to improve reaction time…
[] You've already solved one of Shizuka Ameri's problems for her, make it a double. Track down information brokers and ask them what they know about any missing-nin jōnin from Rain.
[] These side-quests have been cool and all, but Kakashi has a mission. Sneak back into Fire and do some information gathering on the latest events in Leaf.
[] (Write-in)


Remember, we use approval voting, so you can vote for as many plans as you like. Feel free to ping @Paperclipped or @MMKII to ask setting or detail questions that Kakashi could plausibly know.

Voting closes at 5pm, Pacific time, on Wednesday, October 16th.