The Human Sacrifice
When Team Seven exited the Kamui, the sun had all but set: only a few wisps of red light crept over the horizon, casting the forest they'd appeared in in long, deep shadows. Sakura looked around; she had no idea where they were.
"Welcome to the Land of Waterfalls," Obito said, and Sakura felt a jolt at having crossed into another country for the first time in her life without any sort of fanfare. The Land of Waterfalls and Fire didn't seem too different. They did share a border, she thought. It was probably silly to think that things like the trees would change just because the country had.
'The borders are artificial anyway, right? Waterfall's a minor village in a minor nation. It exists to provide a buffer.'
Sakura ignored the cynical thought, turning to her teacher. "You know where Takigakure is, sensei?"
Obito shrugged. "I know where it isn't."
"Isn't that just a stupid way of saying you know where it is?" Naruto asked, and Obito smirked.
"Obito loves to sound smart," Rin said, and the smirk transformed into a protesting look. "But yeah, it is." She gestured around. "But with such a flashy entrance, their barrier team is gonna be on us any second. What're you thinking, Obito?"
"Quickest way in," Obito said with a shrug, and Rin laughed.
Barrier team? Sakura knew Konoha had a barrier, but nothing about it. It made sense that the other villages would have something similar, even a smaller one like Waterfall. How close had their sensei popped them out anyway?
"We can't afford to wait around," Sasuke said. He looked twitchy, and Sakura couldn't blame him. Obito laid an uncharacteristically heavy hand on his shoulder.
"Believe it or not, Sasuke, that's our best play right now," he said, and the younger Uchiha gave him an unbelieving look. "We're not gonna be able to outrun Itachi. Keep this in mind: we're going to be the ones playing defense here. That's one of the only reasons I'm willing to bring you along."
"VIP defense," Sasuke said eventually, and Obito nodded. "Even if we couldn't fight someone, we could yell real loud."
"That, and some other stuff," Obito said. Sakura's mouth twisted up. She didn't want to play defense. That wasn't at all why she'd pushed for them to continue the mission. "Now shut up. We're gonna have company in a second."
Sasuke went quiet, obviously listening for something. Sakura and Naruto did the same, trying to figure out what Obito had been talking about. So far as she could tell, they were alone. There were no sounds but the sounds of the forest passing from twilight into darkness, its nocturnal inhabitants coming out to live their lives, and no sights but the trees, bushes, grass, several small animals, and the distant rays of the vanishing sun.
Nevertheless, Obito and Rin both turned at something only they could hear, and Sakura followed their line of sight to find a new arrival. Sasuke had turned before her; she had to nudge Naruto to get him to do the same.
There was someone watching them from the trees: a woman with long brown hair and dull red eyes, wearing a deep blue cloak that covered her whole body. There was a hitai-ate on her forehead with a symbol Sakura didn't recognize, two jagged lines converging at an invisible point, like an downwards arrow without an end.
Were there others? Sakura looked around cautiously, but didn't find anyone else. They were ninja though. Not seeing anyone was no indication of the truth. Her instincts were screaming at her that they were surrounded. The woman crossed her arms, her cloak shifting and revealing a flak jacket festooned with a comical amount of knives.
"Leaf, huh?" she said, and Obito raised his hands, revealing nothing. "What a coincidence."
"How ya doin?" Rin called up, and the woman snorted incredulously.
"How about you answer this first," she said, and Rin shrugged. "Why has Mangekyo no Obito suddenly appeared near our village, without so much as a polite request?"
"Sorry for intruding!" Obito said. "We were in a hurry. I'm looking for Jiraiya of the Sannin!"
The woman shifted, growing more guarded. "What makes you think he's here?"
Obito shrugged. "Just a hunch," he said, and the shinobi from Waterfall raised an eyebrow.
"You should leave, Uchiha," she said. "You're not welcome here."
"How about this," Obito said, a little more seriously. He crossed his arms, mirroring the woman. "You run back and ask your elders. See what they have to say; if they can entertain another guest or not."
The shinobi considered, and Sakura tensed, ready for a denial. But after a second, the woman disappeared without a sound. Obito uncrossed his arms with a grin. Rin gave him an unimpressed look.
"Hey, that's step one," he said.
"Is this how you do it every time?" she asked. "Just show up on the doorstep and ask to be let inside?"
"Well, mostly, yeah," Obito said, and Rin laughed. "It usually works. Sometimes there's some extra screaming."
"What did you mean by elders, sensei?" Sakura asked, and Obito gave her a grin.
"Good question, Sakura," he said, giving Naruto a pointed look. The boy frowned back at him. "Takigakure doesn't have a Kage, or any sort of single leader like a lot of the other villages. It's led by a council of elders. They're not necessarily old, but that's often the case, cause they're the most experienced ninja in the village. They vote on all the major decisions."
"Huh, that's neat," Sakura said, and the next moment she felt something shift. Neither of the adults seemed to care, though they had definitely taken notice as well. She looked over her shoulder to find another Takigakure shinobi, wearing the same blue cloak. This one was a man. No, a teenager, probably only a couple years older than her.
"Hey," she said, and the boy stared at her. "How many of you are there?" The boy coughed.
"I'm not answering that," he said quietly. Naruto laughed.
"Was that your team leader up there?" he asked, and the boy didn't respond. "Then there's probably one or two more of you, right? You get to patrol outside the village often? That's pretty neat."
The boy gave Naruto a strange look, and the Hokage's son cocked his head. "What, shy or something? We're just ninja, it's not like we're gonna bite you."
"I thought there were some ninja from Konoha who bit people," the shinobi said, and Naruto laughed.
"I mean, yeah, maybe. I think Kiba bit me once. But we're not like that. We're just looking for that Sannin. And-"
Sasuke placed his hand over his friend's mouth, and then withdrew it in obvious disgust when Naruto licked it. "Sorry, he's always like this," he said, and the boy gave them both an incredulous look. "What's your name?"
"I'm not telling you that either," the Takigakure shinobi said, looking them up and down with a blank face, and Sasuke shrugged.
"That's fair," he said. He was trying to be calm, Sakura could tell, but beneath the facade he was practically vibrating, and she was sure the foriegn shinobi could tell.
"Hey, leave him alone," Rin said with a grin. "His squad leader left him to watch over two Uchiha, he's probably a little jumpy."
Naruto and Sasuke settled down, and Sakura looked around, trying to make a game of spotting the boy's companions. She couldn't see anyone else, but she eventually settled on a position a little to the south; there was an occasional rustle from over there, too subtle and stationary to be an animal, but too loud to be an experienced shinobi. Probably another younger one, like the one watching them. Maybe it really had been a case of a team like there's stuck on patrol around the village. It was weird to think of other ninja having the same patterns and behavior, but of course made sense.
A couple minutes later, the older woman returned. She made noise on purpose this time, alerting them of her approach, and settled in the same tree she'd departed from.
"We're to escort you in," she said, and Obito gave her an appreciative smile. "Tor, Osaka."
The boy from Takigakure stepped forward, and another girl, around his age, appeared at his side. She was wearing a long blue cloak, just like both her companions, and had her light blue hair tied up in a short ponytail.
"They're guests now," the older shinobi said, and both of the teenagers nodded. "Show them the way. I'll continue the patrol."
Tor, the boy, gestured, and Obito motioned for the rest of them to follow him. They set off through the forest, Tor at the front and Osaka behind them.
"Nice to meet you," Sakura said, at the back of the line Team Seven and Rin had formed. "I'm Sakura."
"Eyes forward," the girl said, and Sakura frowned.
"Just trying to be friendly…" she muttered, looking forward and ignoring the girl. They trooped through the dark forest in silence for several minutes, as the trees grew thinner and the night deeper. Before long, Sakura's ears picked up a distant roar, a steady white noise that they gradually made their way towards.
Eventually the forest broke and the source of the noise was revealed. Sakura almost stopped in shock, and she watched Naruto do the same in front of her; Sasuke was the only one among them who didn't hesitate.
There was an enormous plateau rising out of the forest, incredibly sheer and completely unnatural. Looking up, Sakura was unable to discern where the wall of earth ended and the sky began: the only clue was the shine of distant stars. She didn't have a clue where the sides were either. The plateau extended to both the left and right as far as she could see. Countless waterfalls coursed down the side of the massive mound of earth in hundreds of different places, coating its sides in rushing water and keeping much of it from sight. The water had been the white noise, hundreds and hundreds of waterfalls ranging from trickles to vertical floods rushing down into a river that surrounded the whole plateau, an enormous natural moat.
The scale of it was more than Sakura could comprehend.
Naruto whistled. "Damn," he said. "That's super cool."
"You know, Waterfalls never been successfully invaded," Rin said conversationally. Osaka gave her a cold look. "This is definitely part of why."
"It's because we don't produce weak shinobi," the girl from Waterfall said, and Rin laughed.
"Could be that too," she said with a smile, and Tor led them forward across the river. They walked over the water as naturally as they would earth, and Sakura didn't think anything of it. The boy brought them to one of the larger waterfalls, the spray of cold water against Sakura's face getting more aggressive the closer they got.
The quiet boy walked right through the water, hundreds of pounds of pressure beating against his head and back for a second, and Obito and Rin followed after him without hesitation. Sasuke looked back at Sakura and Naruto, shrugged, and went after them.
"C'mon," Naruto said, forging ahead and immediately regretting it. "Shit! It's cold!"
Sakura passed through the waterfall, the frigid water slamming into her for just a second. Somehow, it actually relaxed her. Water was her real weapon. Being surrounded by it, even if it was freezing cold and beating down on her, made her feel at peace and utterly safe, if only for a second.
There wasn't a solid wall on the other side of the waterfall: instead, Team Seven found themselves in a narrow tunnel, just wide and tall enough for two people to walk side by side if they pressed themselves flush to the wall. The tunnel carried them forward and up, sometimes so steep that they had to walk vertically as only shinobi could. Occasionally, the walls were not earth and stone, but something rougher, almost like bark. Sakura couldn't tell; the narrow space was so utterly black that she could barely see Naruto just a foot in front of her. No light penetrated down here.
The tunnel had been created by jutsu, and there were probably others like it. It was no wonder they needed a guide; there was no way she or anyone else would have been able to find their way through this thing, with its pitch darkness and branching pathways, without a native showing them the way. And even if by some miracle they did find the way, they were so completely vulnerable here that it set her heart racing. Trapped in the dark and the earth like this, it would only take a single person with a jutsu like their sensei's earth collapsing technique, the one he'd used to bury that undead bear, to crush them without a chance of escape. Or someone with a water jutsu, flooding the tunnel and leaving them to drown, or a cascade of fire, or…
But nothing like that happened, and Sakura and the rest of her team climbed through the tunnels in a silence even more oppressive than the darkness for what seemed like an hour.
"Here," Tor eventually said from up front, and Sakura heard him brush against something. A wall crumbled; light poured in. It was faint, just moon and starlight that could barely illuminate the night, but after what they'd traveled through it was practically blinding.
Sakura blinked, her eyes adjusting as she and her team stepped back out into the open air. Somehow, in the course of that timeless travel, they'd reached the top of the plateau. It was just as stunning as the base had been.
"I thought I was gonna flip," Naruto said at her side, his tone frank, and Sakura blew out a relieved breath.
"Me too," she said, too entranced by the vista before them to look at him. This was Takigakure, and it was a beautiful place.
The village had three distinct features, all of which Sakura took in in an instant. The lake, the waterfalls, and the tree.
The first. The entire village was set above a tremendous lake that surrounded it on every side. Takigakure was much smaller than Konoha, which was to be expected. It was by no means small though: the village probably housed at least a thousand people, maybe more. There were dozens of buildings of all shapes and sizes, most modest and made of wood, arrayed on a series of terraces. The terraces formed five concentric rings that led down to the shores of the lake, each more and more populated than the one above it, with five equally spaced main boulevards that traveled from the edges of the village up to its center. There were not many electric lights, and most of them were affixed to structures. The terraces almost looked like a ripple in motion, Sakura thought, carrying the village on its back.
The second. There were more waterfalls up here, on top of the plateau. Water poured down each of the terraces, hundreds of streams feeding down into the great lake from an unseen source. Many of those waterfalls fed through waterwheels, most of which were directly attached to houses, while others were left to travel freely. Were they generating power? Sakura couldn't imagine running electricity up to the top of the artificial plateau, so it seemed like the most natural solution. A natural solution at odds with the completely unnatural aspect of everything else about the village: Takigakure had been designed to exacting standards, the very earth ripped up to accommodate its creator's visions. Everything from the huge artificial plateau to the perfectly formed terraces with their artfully fed waterfalls screamed that out. This was the result of ambition and ninjutsu. Sakura had never seen anything like this done with chakra. It felt completely at odds with her vision of what shinobi were capable of.
This wasn't violence or destruction. It was beautiful.
The third. The most natural thing about the village, at odds with its artificiality and yet simultaneously so far beyond 'natural' that Sakura could only gape. The tree.
Calling it a 'tree' was like calling a tiger 'a cat.' Technically correct, but laughably incapable of bringing across what was being described. The tree was big. Really big. Really really big. It was almost a hundred feet wide, with protruding roots that were visible even at its base growing in every direction. Its trunk was thick and its bark gnarled, and it rose straight up like a sheer cliff of wood, shooting off into the sky like a spear and dwarfing the rest of the village. Over fifty feet up, it began sprouting equally huge branches that spiralled outward, covered in thick green leaves despite the cold February air. The branches grew thicker and thicker the higher up the tree they went, until they presented an untraceable tangle of wood and leaves, like a semi-solid ceiling hanging over the whole village.
Sakura craned her neck back, trying to take in the tree. How tall was it, she distantly thought. Six, seven hundred feet? Almost as tall as the Hokage's monument, she was sure. How could something like this grow on top of this huge artificial plateau? Its top must have been crowning nearly a kilometer into the sky.
"Keep moving." Osaka pushed her from behind, and Sakura stumbled forward, shooting the other girl a nasty glare. She looked around and found the rest of her team moving on as well, and fell in with them, trying to take in the whole village again and again. Even though it was late at night with the sun all but gone, the place was teaming with shinobi, and as Team Seven walked across the lake towards the terraces they began receiving strange looks. Mutters began following them.
When they reached the first ring, Sakura realized that she hadn't seen anyone who looked like a civilian. As far as they could see, everyone in Takigakure was a ninja.
"Heading to the center?" Obito asked up ahead as they ascended the second terrace. Tor responded with a grunt.
"The Sannin is meeting with the elders," the quiet boy said. "They were all ecstatic to receive him; big fans of his books."
"Really," Rin asked flatly, and the boy looked back, his face just as flat. He didn't respond. Sakura looked around, too struck by her surroundings to speak. Her teammates were doing the same thing. Takigakure should have been simple and small, especially compared to their home, but there was something about the place that captured their attention. This was a home for shinobi, built solely by and for them, and none of them had seen anything like it.
At the center of the five main boulevards, nestled in the roots of the tree, there was a long squat building with a sharp triangular roof. It dominated most of the fifth terrace, and when they mounted the final steps Sakura realized that this was the source of the waterfalls. There was another, smaller lake that the longhouse sat atop, fed by an unseen source.
Osaka pulled ahead of them and gestured. "Inside."
"Our gratitude," Obito said with a sincere smile, and the girl snorted.
"Don't get any funny ideas," she said, sneering. "You're surrounded by the best ninja in the world."
They let that one go, watching as both their escorts descended back into the village; several other shinobi went over to them, no doubt with questions about the ninja in their midst.
"Cocky bastards…" Naruto muttered, and Rin patted him on the shoulder.
"Prove them wrong later," she said. She nodded at Obito, and he led them to the longhouse, gently opening the door Osaka had gestured at. The inside of the building was much like the outside, mostly wood and softly lit with most electricity and fire. It was dead silent.
They padded forward, unsure where to go, but Obito confidently stayed at the front and guided them deeper into the building. The longhouse was divided into two sections, Sakura quickly realized: the first was essentially an antechamber that ringed the whole building. The inner sanctum was divided from the rest by another set of doors, a wide double set with colorful tapestry covered in kanji draped down either side.
The soundproofing inside the room must have been outright magic, because the moment Obito gently pulled the door open a cacophony of screaming assaulted them.
"Idiocy!" someone shouted as Team Seven slipped in through the door, and Sakura jumped. There were six people in the room, all seated around a huge table apparently carved from raw bark: two women and six men, with the youngest being in her thirties and the most elderly man probably even older than the Third Hokage. All were distinguished and powerful looking, lifelong shinobi at a single glance; one of the woman's hair was festooned with dozens of bells, and one of the men had a scar running from the crown of his head straight down the middle of his face, like a dividing stripe of gnarled tissue. He was the one who was shouting. "Takigakure has never been invaded!"
If these people had been debating, that time had long since passed. They were descending into a full-bore screaming match. Sakura followed her sensei's gaze to the man sitting at the head of the table; Obito was looking past the yelling, focused on their target.
He was tall, taller than anyone else in the room. Even seated, he towered over them, and his broad shoulders and red haori over a brown tunic only emphasized his width. His hair was long and white, spilling over his shoulders in countless spikes and extending all the way to the floor. It was the same color as his beard, a full and barely controlled thing that stretched from ear to ear. Despite the pale hair and a few wrinkles, the man looked powerful and hearty; he emanated the same quiet confidence the Yondaime did, looking around a room filled with five other shouting shinobi without a hint of concern.
This was Jiraiya. Sakura was one-hundred percent sure of it. His right eye was covered by a simple black eyepatch. His left eye was warm and dark, and it calmly slid from one ninja to the next as they bickered, eventually settling on Sakura's sensei, looking him dead in the eyes.
The others in the room took notice of them, but none of them cared. They were too busy amongst themselves. Sakura's team slipped around the edge of the room, coming alongside the Toad Sage, who watched them come with a slight quirk of his lips. Not quite a smile, but certainly not a frown.
"Jiraiya-sensei," Obito said. To Sakura's shock, he dropped to one knee. "We've come to assist you."
The man laughed, and the room quieted down somewhat as the elders of Takigakure looked them over with more appraising eyes.
"I'll take you," the man said, his voice deep and full of mirth. He glanced at Rin with a grin. "And I'll definitely take her. But what are your brats doing here?"
"We're here to help," Sasuke said, stepping forward, and the Toad Sage snorted.
"More foreign shinobi is not the solution," the woman with bells in her hair said, her voice melodic and cold. She leaned forward, settling both hands palm-down on the table. "Takigakure is more than capable of handling this. Your help is not welcome."
"That's just as foolish!" one of the men snapped; he was shorter than the others, with thick red hair and wide orange eyes. "Too prideful, too prideful Ayame!" He gave Obito a sly look. "Send an Uchiha to kill an Uchiha, what could be better?"
"Hrm." One of the older men with coal dark skin grunted. "It won't be that simple. Rogue ninja have been gathering; this will not be a case of a single ambition. We could have to endure a full invasion-"
"That can't happen!" the scarred man declared again. Sakura was amazed at how quickly the elders had dismissed them. The room was vibrating with their chakra. She could feel it pressing down on her like a nearly physical malice, making her bones ache. "Waterfall is impregnable!"
"Not if they have the right help!" the older woman declared. She was dressed in a very ornate rainbow kimono, riven with every color under the sun. "The grudge-!"
"This entire debate is ridiculous," the youngest man said with a sneer. He was wearing a blue vest and had two swords sheathed at his back, and as he spoke he pounded on the table with a clenched fist, leaving a dent in the bark, and jumped to his feet. "Why all this mess, for a single child? Throw her out! No power is worth this strife!"
"We could not let the Beast into another's hands!" the bell-woman, Ayame, yelled back. She leapt up as well, and the man laughed.
"Then kill her, and banish it!" he declared, and everyone in the room began yelling at him. He shouted back, raising his young voice above the rest. "What has that thing done, aside from bringing the eyes of greater powers to us?! Why maintain a weapon that only makes others consider you a threat?!"
"
To defend against any threat!" the scarred man screamed back, and the whole room became a madhouse. Sakura shrunk back against the wall, desperately glad that she was under their notice, and her teammates followed her, watching the proceedings with wide eyes. The elders were practically at each other's throats; the young man in blue was laughing in the scarred man's face. Sakura wasn't sure what the Hokage meeting with his advisors looked like, but she was certain it would never resemble this.
Silently, Jiraiya detached from the madness and made his way over to them. He was even taller standing up, so much that Sakura felt engulfed by his presence. He nearly had a foot on Obito, and had to be half again as heavy. He looked over them with his arms crossed and an unimpressed expression.
"Quite the sight, huh?" he said, leaning against the wall at Obito's side, and they watched the room together as the elders argued. "But who could blame them."
"They're frightened," Obito noted. Jiraiya nodded with, Sakura noticed with some amusement, a sage expression. "What's changed?"
"Itachi's hired some flotsam," the man said, and Sakura couldn't decide which conversation she should focus on; her sensei's, or the elders'. "No one's sure how many, but it's at least several dozen. Enough to cause this zoo." If any of the elders could hear him, they ignored his harsh words; they were too busy screaming at one another. Two of them seemed ready to come to blows.
"Rogue ninja?" Sasuke asked, and Jiraiya leaned off the wall to look at him with a cocked eyebrow. "That's…"
"Something to add?" Jiraiya asked. Sasuke's lips pressed into a firm line.
"I was gonna say that's not like him," he grumbled, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. "But nothing is."
Sakura wondered what he meant while Rin stroked her chin. "That many, huh. He must have a silver tongue."
"Hardly," Jiraiya snorted. "They're just particularly desperate. It's been a bad year for ninja outside the villages; a couple different sources of employment dried up for them, you know. That Gato character in particular… he was a big time underworld dealer, and the Rain flipped over his rock just a couple months ago. Naturally all the ants scattered."
Gato? For some reason, that rang a bell, but Sakura couldn't remember where she'd heard the name before. And Rain? What had Rain done that would make rogue shinobi desperate enough to attack a minor village? She managed to discard the question and ask another instead.
"So, what are we going to do?" she said. Jiraiya shifted his attention to her. His gaze was intense, Sakura thought. There was so much in that one eye. For the first time since her fight with Gaara, she felt small and worthy of judgement.
"You said you were here to help," he said. Smirked. "So, you'll help as best you can."
"Make up your mind," Obito said mildly, and Jiraiya laughed.
"You've always been so quick to take people out of danger, Obito," he said, turning to face the man directly. As he did, one of the bells that had rested in Ayame's hair embedded in the wooden wall where his head had been; the woman had hurled it out in a frenzy and missed her intended target. The whole room went quiet as the elders realized what had nearly happened, but Jiraiya didn't acknowledge them, didn't miss a beat. "It'll do them some good to stick around."
"What do you mean 'best we can'?" Naruto whined. "We can handle ourselves!"
"And you will," Jiraiya said with a grin, crouching down and bringing his head level with Naruto's. "Naruto, right? It's good to officially meet you!"
"Officially?" Naruto asked, and Jiraiya wrinkled his nose.
"We'll talk later, promise," he said, rising and leaving behind a baffled Naruto. "Rin, could I ask you for a favor?"
"Depends on the favor," Rin said skeptically, and Jiraiya snorted.
"Shuffle em out of here. Obito, you stay," he said, and both Sakura's teammates protested. Rin rolled her eyes and shoved them towards the door, and Sakura followed them, feeling the eyes of the room on her. "We got some things to discuss."
Rin pushed them out of the room and shut the door behind them, and once more the sound of the argument within was completely shut out. It couldn't just be simple soundproofing, Sakura thought. That had to be some sort of use of chakra. It was too stark not to be.
"C'mon!" Naruto protested as Rin gave him an unimpressed look. "Why can't we sit in?"
"Cause you have a big mouth," Rin said matter of factly. Sasuke snorted. "And cause it's none of your business anyway. We'll probably all get our role to play."
"Trust him, Naruto." Sasuke frowned. "Obito will-"
"How can
you be saying that?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke flinched.
"Naruto, it's okay." Sakura stepped in, trying to squash the brewing argument. "We should just-"
"Hey!" The sudden voice snapped all of their heads to the right, and Sakura found someone jogging down the corridor towards them. Another shinobi: she had a Takigakure headband wrapped around her right arm.
The girl made an immediate impression, Sakura thought. She had striking teal hair, lovingly braided, and vibrant orange eyes that lacked pupils, almost like the Byakugan. Her outfit was plain, but definitely unique: a short white skirt and a vest that left her stomach bare, along with sleeves that only covered her forearms. But more than any of that, it was the girl's expression that immediately captivated Sakura. She was smiling, so genuinely and so brightly that it almost hurt to look at, and there wasn't a hint of anything but joy in her eyes.
Sakura blinked, not quite understanding what she was seeing. The closest comparison she could draw to that feeling of open trust was Rock Lee, but even Lee still had that sense of cunning that all shinobi tried to carry close to their chest. This girl had none of that. She was sincerity itself.
She couldn't trust that. Haku had given her a similar feeling. Immediately, Sakura was on edge.
"What's up? Who are you guys? Are you from Konoha?!" the girl asked, and Sasuke and Naruto both crumbled into silence under the barrage of questions. She waved at Sakura over their shoulder, and Sakura gave her an insincere smile in return. "I'm Fuu!"
"Fuu!" Another ninja, an older man with short black hair and a soft purple turtleneck, came around the corner and stopped at the sight of the corridor filled with ninja. "The elders aren't to be disturbed."
"I'm not bothering them, Yoro!" the girl said with her perpetual smile. "Look, ninja from Konoha, like the Toad Sage! Are they here to help too?"
"Yeah, we're here to help!" Naruto declared. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Naruto Namikaze!"
Fuu took his hand with so much enthusiasm that Naruto almost jumped. "Wow, Namikaze?" she said, shaking Naruto's hand like a dog would a bone. Sakura raised an eyebrow: the girl clearly didn't have much experience with handshaking. "Are you related to the Hokage? That's cool!"
"He's my dad!" Naruto confirmed, drawing his hand back and shaking it out. Fuu apparently had an iron grip. "A toad asked us to come help out that geezer in there, so we came here."
"Oh, so you got sent all the way out of the village? That's also cool!" Fuu asked, practically glowing, and Naruto nodded proudly. Sakura shared a glance with Sasuke, catching his amused smirk. They both felt the same way, she thought. Naruto and Fuu were like two suns colliding, just producing more energy and getting louder by the second. "I never get to-!"
"Fuu," the other man, Yoro, said, and for a second Fuu froze, her smile cracking like plaster. The moment passed; her cheerful reality reasserted itself. "We should get going."
"Oh yeah, probably," Fuu said, her shoulders sagging.
"Maybe we could come with." Rin stepped forward with a cheerful tone. Yoro glanced at her, and then gave her a double-take.
"You're Rin Nohara," he said, like that fact alone was remarkable, and Rin grinned at him.
"That's me!" she said. Sakura looked back and forth between the two adults; Naruto and Fuu had already returned to babbling at each other, but she could see Sasuke was thinking the same thing she was once more. The man had known Rin on sight, and he looked… uneasy. Not nervous, certainly not scared, just on edge. It was another piece in the puzzle, like Rin's presence on the mission.
"Ooh, can they come?" Fuu asked. Yoro started to shake his head before she ran him over with another verbal barrage. The girl had a peculiar way of speaking that left people defenseless. "It's just to the safehouse, and where are they going to go anyway if we just leave them here? They'll just sit outside the room until the elders are done, that could take hours! They could get bored and then you'd have a bunch of bored foriegn ninja in the middle of the village, that could be really bad!"
Naruto stirred. "Hey, what-?"
"And besides, it's Rin Nohara right, isn't she some legendary kunoichi? I wanna talk to her, I'm not allowed to leave but I'm definitely allowed to talk to people right Yoro? I mean it's just-!"
"Okay!" Yoro surrendered, shaking his head and raising his hand. "Okay, they can come with us. Let's just get going, okay?"
"Cool!" Fuu exulted. "C'mon, let's go!"
She led the way out of the longhouse, and Sakura nudged Sasuke as they stepped into the brisk night air. "Safehouse?" she muttered, and Sasuke nodded.
"She's a VIP," he said, his face thoughtful. "Not allowed to leave the village either. Related to an elder?"
"Maybe," Sakura said doubtfully, something gnawing at her mind. The suspicion was present but unformed, like smoke in the dark.
###
It took nearly five minutes for the longhouse to return to something resembling calm after Obito's students left. The elders squabbled, and Obito watched.
"Fuu cannot be surrendered." That was Hashin, the old man with the face-wide scar. Obito saw a vision of what could have been in the other man's face; his own scar ached. "It is out of the question. Takigakure has weathered worse."
"Worse?" Ayame, the woman festooned with bells, sneered. "Not for decades. The Takigakure of the First War and the Takigakure of now are different creatures, Hashin. See the reality of the situation. What the village is now has never faced something like Itachi Uchiha and whatever dregs he brings along with him. The danger-"
"Itachi is our problem," Jiraiya interrupted, effortlessly shifting the gravity of the room to him. He had done that constantly throughout, poking and prodding at the conversation just enough to keep it from turning back to hostilities. "That is why I am here, and why Obito is here. We will handle him. The legendary shinobi of Takigakure can surely crush the rest of the rogue ninja."
"Legendary?" The youngest elder, whom Obito had still not learned the name of, spoke up with a scoff. "Don't think you can worm your way in with flattery, you hack author."
"My!" Jiraiya said, putting a hand to his chest with a grin. "You've offended me! I was only acknowledging Waterfall's success."
"Watefall's success has come from secrecy and power," the oldest woman, Ku, said. "But our secrecy has vanished over time, leaving only our power." She leaned forward, steepling her hands and pinning Obito with a forceful look. "We are not a major village, and so that alone cannot be enough. We've long resisted becoming Leaf's ally, but that was out of stubbornness, not pragmatism."
"Ku!" Hashin barked. "That's-!"
"Foolish, yes yes," Ku said, waving him off with a tired expression. "Find another word, you old rat. Waterfall's pride has placed us in this situation." She shifted her attention to the young man in blue. "Though Eiji's solution is equally idiotic. Discarding the Bijuu would make us more attractive to some and less to others; our strength would lessen while our enemies would not. That is the inevitable fate of a minor village."
She wasn't wrong, Obito thought. Takigakure, Uzoshigakure, and Amegakure once upon a time had all proven the truth of minor villages being constant targets. They were used as battlegrounds between the major nations, and constantly considered an irritant by the Five Nations' governments. If the Nanabi was gone, someone like Itachi would no longer target the village, but plenty of others would.
But why was Itachi after the Nanabi anyway? It made no sense, and Jiraiya had confirmed earlier that he didn't know the Uchiha's motivation. Itachi had never been obsessed with power. He had survived for the last six years outside the villages without having to rely on something as crass as a Tailed Beast. Why now?
There had to be yet another actor here that Obito wasn't aware of. It was the only rational explanation for Itachi's behavior. But then, Itachi wasn't necessarily rational.
"Before the First War," he said slowly, and Jiraiya ceded the floor to him. "The First Hokage gifted Waterfall the Nanabi." Obito smiled. "If I recall correctly, because you had sent someone to assassinate him."
"Not us," Hashin grumbled. "The most foolish generation, and they paid for their mistakes."
"Regardless," Obito said with a wave, "Hashirama Senju saw that Taki lived in fear of the five new villages, and gifted them a Bijuu that had not been claimed to assuage those fears. The Nanabi is Hashirama's legacy, just like the Village Hidden in the Leaves." He narrowed his eyes. "So it's only natural we would do everything in our power to defend it."
"How sentimental," one of the elders snorted, and Obito glanced at him. He didn't need to activate the Sharingan for the man to flinch away from his gaze. Shinobi from Waterfall knew just as well as anyone that Obito's look could literally kill, even if they weren't aware of the terrible cost.
"Unless you intend to throw us off the plateau, you'll just have to accept that we're here to help," Jiraiya said with a genial grin. "How are you intending to keep Itachi out of the village?"
There was a pause, the elders shifting and looking at one another, and then, a clear moment of surrender. Ayame spoke, her bells tinkling.
"The barrier team will always be our first line of defense," she said. "It is constantly shifting-"
"Easy to see with the Sharingan, or any other doujutsu for that matter," Obito said, and the woman gave him a nasty look. What, did she not want him to be honest? "Itachi would be able to trivially avoid it. I assume climbing the plateau is not an option?"
"The Earth Defense Force is always monitoring the plateau," Eiji confirmed, leaning forward and resting his chin on his palm with a bored expression. "Any attempt to climb it would see you knocked off at best, crushed if you were unlucky."
"So the village's impregnable?" Jiraiya crossed his arms. "How impressive."
"No," Ku admitted. "No no, quite not the case. There would be two ways in." She pointed up, and then down. "By sky, bird, whatever you desired, or by the lake, the foundation, as you would put it."
Jiraiya flinched, and the woman gave him a sour smile. "The barrier watches both, but it is difficult for patrols to do so. Obvious reasons. The village cannot bury its lake, for they are one and the same, and the sky is everyone's, friend or foe."
"Well, Itachi can't fly," Obito said. "So that's out."
"Itachi is not alone. Ninja who can fly are rare but not nonexistent," Ayame pointed out. "We must consider all avenues."
"I will," Jiraiya said, fingers tapping against his shoulder. "Sage Mode will cover the gap."
Obito blinked, and the Waterfall elders took a collective breath as they realized what Jiraiya was offering them. It was one thing for the Toad Sage to turn up and offer his help, and completely another for him to put his ultimate technique on the table. Secrecy was power, as Ku had said.
"Sensei-," Obito started to ask, and Jiraiya shut him up with a glance.
"It's the perfect counter. My sensory range is not nearly so impressive as your barrier team," Jiraiya said, making eye contact with each elder, "but it's more than sufficient to cover the village. Your defenses will be the first line, as ever, and if they succeed we'll be all the happier for it. But if they're penetrated, even Itachi won't be able to evade my senjutsu. I'll track him down…" He pounded one huge fist into an open palm. "And crush him."
That could work, Obito distantly thought as the elders chattered excitedly. It was a simple plan, and that made it the most likely to succeed.
They stayed in that stifling room with its cracked wooden table for another half hour, speculating and talking strategy, until eventually the meeting dissolved. The elders said goodbye, rushing off to their own tasks, or perhaps bed, and Obito and Jiraiya found themselves outside, drinking in the brisk night air and staring out over the village they'd found themselves quite suddenly pledged to defend.
At least it was defensible, Obito noted. They could have been given a lot worse.
"You had some nice lines in there, Obito," Jiraiya said after a minute or two of them enjoying the silence. He thumped Obito on the back with an appreciative grin, and the Uchiha grunted: even a friendly slap from the giant man hit with a ton of force. "Minato been feeding you some Hokage material?"
"Just thought about what he'd say." Obito told the truth. "Not sure if it was enough."
"It'll be enough," Jiraiya said. "They're desperate. They're putting on a tough face, but the idea that Itachi's gunning for their best weapon has got them terrified."
"And why?" Obito asked. Jiraiya shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense."
"We can make sense of it afterwards. My source has never been wrong before." Jiraiya scratched his chin. "There's one thing I didn't mention. I won't be able to stay in Sage Mode long."
"What do you mean? Why not just summon the head toads?"
"I've been trying. Someone's been intercepting the summons."
"What, in the midst of their summoning? That's…"
"Extremely advanced ninjutsu, sure. But that doesn't sound like Itachi, right?"
"No," Obito had to admit. Itachi was a lot of things, but he'd never been a summoning specialist, and certainly not the kind who was skilled enough to catch one before it could teleport to Jiraiya's side. Obito didn't know enough about summoning ninjutsu to even know how that was possible. That must have been why that Toad had arrived at Myoboku with no memories of its mission, he realized with a jolt. But the person most likely responsible for that had to be Itachi.
"So there's a third party, probably connected to Itachi, keeping you from communicating with them," Obito muttered.
"Yup." Jiraiya almost sounded impressed. "Whoever it is must be incredibly knowledgeable, if they knew the secrets to my Sage Mode."
"I could go get them. With the Kamui," Obito said, and Jiraiya shook his head.
"You couldn't find your way to Myoboku, no matter the kind of directions I gave you. It's certainly sealed off from space-time jutsu like yours." He grinned. "And even if you did, the Toads might not listen to you. They can be picky like that."
"So, no summons, and limited senjutsu." Obito's face grew sour.
"Don't pout," Jiraiya laughed, and Obito straightened his face out. "It'll be more than enough. Not to mention, you brought Rin. I'm not worried."
"And my team?" Obito asked.
"They're tough. Everyone in that room could see that right away. They're real shinobi now." Jiraiya sat down, looking out over the village and the darkness beyond it, and Obito sank down next to him. "You must have done a great job with them. I'm impressed."
The compliment stung, and Obito began to shrink away from it. Jiraiya caught him, physically caught him by the collar. "Hey, don't be a punk. I already heard about the Chunin Exam. Some pretty incredible stuff."
"They're still not ready," Obito said, and Jiraiya let go of his collar.
"No one ever is," the Sage said with a chuckle. "That's what being a shinobi is." He gestured at his missing eye. "Even I wasn't ready, once or twice." He grew somber. "That's part of why I'm here you know."
"Your eye?" Obito asked dryly, and Jiraiya rolled his.
"You dolt. To improve relations with Waterfall. I don't want them to be just another subordinate to the Leaf, but…" Jiraiya leaned back on both arms. "Maybe another ally will cause less fighting, at least."
Obito didn't have anything to say to that, and so they sat quietly in the night, listening to the sound of the countless waterfalls and enjoying each other's company. Several minutes later, lights across the village began going out.
"This is as good a place as any," Jiraiya said, drawing his legs up as Obito glanced at him. "I'll start gathering natural energy."
"I appreciate this chance, you know," Obito said as his one-time teacher began concentrating. "To get revenge for my brother."
"Revenge is a fool's game, Obito," Jiraiya said, his voice quiet. He closed his eye. "Killing Itachi won't bring back anyone he's taken."
"It'll make me feel better about it," Obito pointed out. Jiraiya snorted. "Don't you think the same, about your eye?"
"There's a difference. That was a consequence I was willing to accept."
"They might have followed us here, you know," Obito said, and Jiraiya opened his eye. "Sensei's worried about that; that's why he sent Rin."
"Or to bait them out," Jiraiya said. Obito couldn't disagree.
The Sage smiled. It wasn't his normal friendly smile. It was all teeth.
"If they're stupid enough to come, let them. I won't let anyone harm this village."
Obito watched Jiraiya fall silent, going as still as a rock. He stood up.
"I'll be back," he said. "We'll wait out the night together. I'm just going to check on my team."
Jiraiya didn't say a word, and Obito strode off, a ghost vanishing into the ever-darkening night.
###
The safehouse ended up being much like the rest of the houses, if a little bigger and more obviously watched. Sakura felt countless eyes on them as her team and Fuu made their way into the building. The moment they passed the threshold, an electric shock traveled across her whole body; it wasn't an instinct, but the presence of an extremely powerful chakra that encircled the whole building.
"Wow," Naruto said. Fuu beamed at him. "That's a crazy strong barrier."
"Thanks!" she chirped. "I helped make it!"
"Really? You know Fuinjutsu?" Naruto asked, and Fuu shook her head. Sakura wondered why her escort hadn't stopped them before now. He clearly didn't approve of them talking to Fuu, but he refused to step in.
Maybe it was because of how obviously happy she was, but it could be something else. Something less obvious. Ninja, remember? Sakura tried to retrieve the cynicism that Fuu's demeanor had melted.
"Nah, that's way too complicated for me," Fuu said. "I just helped with the chakra! I have a lot, so-"
Yoro glanced at her, and once more Fuu went quiet prematurely. This time, Rin laughed.
"Oh c'mon," she said. "It's obvious. They'll need to know soon enough anyway."
"What?" Sakura asked. Rin cocked an eyebrow, but one of Sakura's teammates spoke up before the woman could say anything.
"She's a Jinchuriki, right?" Sasuke said, and Yoro and Fuu both gaped at him.
"How'd you know?" Fuu asked, her tone a little high, and Sasuke shrugged.
"I didn't. It was just a guess." He grinned. "Thanks for confirming it."
"Wait,
you're a Jinchuriki?" Naruto asked. Fuu nodded, and his face twisted up in confusion. "But you're not a weirdo."
"Thanks!" Fuu said. "I think! Why would I be a weirdo?"
"We met the Jinchuriki from the Hidden Sand at the Chunin Exams a couple weeks ago," Naruto said, his voice softer. What was he remembering? The way Gaara had stared up at him, all malice and no humanity? Or the scream he'd let out before Sakura had lost consciousness in the arena? "He was super creepy. I guess I just figured… everyone like that, would be like that."
"Huh!" Fuu led them deeper into the safehouse, through an antechamber and into a living quarter. It was spartan, with two couches and a couple chairs and not much else. The walls were covered with paintings and carvings of ninja Sakura didn't recognize, resplendent in ornate armor and vibrant flowing cloth. "Well, I'm not a creep! I promise."
"Alright," Naruto said, accepting it like it was just that easy.
"You met Gaara of the Desert?" Yoro asked, taking a seat. He looked around, taking in the three of them with an impressed expression on his face. "He's already got a reputation in the other nations. Ruthless little bastard. Did you fight him?"
"Nah, just Sakura," Naruto said, flopping onto one of the couches and lazily pointing at Sakura as she leaned up against the wall, her sword pressing into her side for a second before she adjusted it. "She kicked his ass though!"
"Really?" Yoro gave Sakura a doubting look, and she returned it with a flat stare. Even just a month ago, that look would have made her shake, but now, she could only feel a dull antipathy. Did it matter if he believed Naruto or not? Certainly not to her.
"Don't underestimate them for their age," Rin said from the corner of the room. Yoro's eyes slid over towards her, growing more uncertain. He was alone with four ninja from Konoha with the Jinchuriki of Waterfall, Sakura thought. He might look uncertain, but there's no way he would have been trusted with Fuu if he couldn't handle himself. "They're all smart little ninja." She stretched out, loosening her flak jacket. "You guys got anything to drink around here?"
"Here," Yoro said, lifting himself out the chair. "I'll see if we have anything."
Rin wandered out of the room after him, and Sakura saw through the window behind her that lights across the village were going out. Sasuke noticed too; he turned to Fuu.
"What's up with that?" he asked, gesturing to the lights, and Fuu cocked her head. She'd taken a seat on the floor, in between all of them. "Blackout protocol?"
"What?" Fuu asked, obviously puzzled. "No, that's every night." Her face brightened up. "Oh! I've heard that in the major villages you've got all the electricity you could want! Is that true? You don't need to turn off the lights at night?"
"Yeah?" Naruto said, sounding confused, and Fuu clapped her hands and giggled.
"That's so cool!" she said, rocking back and forth in her seated position. "What's that like, all the lights at night? It's gotta be so bright!"
"Yeah," Sakura said, feeling her guard dropping and not entirely happy about it. "The whole village is lit up all the time. It's never totally asleep."
"Wow…" Fu said, grinning at her. "That sounds amazing. I'd love to see it someday." Her eyes wandered down, focusing on Sakura's hip and the sword resting there. "I like your jacket. And you've got a sword too? That's super neat. Are you a swordswoman Sakura?"
"Oh yeah, she's amazing!" Naruto declared, and Fuu nodded her head enthusiastically, taking the words as gospel. "She can cover it with water and cut through anything! It's a crazy jutsu!"
"Can I see?!" Fuu said, and then laughed and reconsidered. "Wait, not inside the safehouse! Yoro would kill me! What about you guys?" She turned to Naruto, who tried to look humble and failed. "You're the Yondaime's son, you must know all sorts of amazing jutsu!"
"Well duh," Naruto said. "But I've been trying to learn more fuinjutsu lately. My mom is super good with it and I thought it would be cool."
"It would be!" Fuu declared. "Fuinjutsu is amazing! I mean, I wouldn't even be me if it weren't for it!" She laughed and rapped her fist against her stomach before scooting around to face Sasuke, leaning forwards with both palms on the floor. "And what about you? You're an Uchiha, right Sasuke? Do you have the Sharingan? Can I see?"
It was really quite amazing, Sakura thought, that this wasn't raising every alarm that could possibly begin blaring in her head. Fuu was outright asking them their strengths, one by one, but even if her life depended on it Sakura couldn't have detected any craftiness from the enthusiastic girl. She was just too damn sincere.
"I do, yeah," Sasuke said, but his eyes didn't light up with a distinct red glow. "But I'd rather not show it off."
"Sure! It's your clan's big secret, after all!" Fuu said with a never-fading smile.
"What about you?" Sakura asked. She was behind Fuu now, and instead of turning around the girl leaned back until she was looking at Sakura with her head craned all the way back, the two of them peering at each other's upside-down faces. "What kind of ninja are you, Fuu?"
"Oh, I like ninjutsu!" the girl grinned. "Being a Jinchuriki helps! I can breathe dust and stuff."
"Dust?" Naruto asked doubtfully, and Fuu giggled.
"Yeah, I mean it's scales, but that's gross so I try not to think about it." She popped to her feet, and to her credit Sakura didn't flinch back. "And stuff like this! Watch!"
Without further preamble and with such a sudden motion that Sakura and her teammates could barely process it, Fuu grew wings.
"Bwuh?" Naruto asked, and Fuu giggled. There were four of them, diaphanous and bright orange, and they fluttered slightly as she laughed.
Oh, Sakura thought. So that was why she left her top only covering her, well, top. It would be inconvenient for stuff like sudden wings to rip through it, right?
"Do they… work?" Sasuke asked, and Fuu pouted. "They look pretty small."
"Of course they work!" the Jinchuriki declared, promptly fluttering off the ground. The wings beat so fast that they almost became invisible, vibrating in the air and kicking up sizable gusts of wind. "Not so good inside though…"
"Fuu!" Yoro stuck his head around the corner and was shortly followed by Rin. She'd found a can of beer somewhere and was shamelessly guzzling it; another three cans hung from her other hand. "No flying inside! Also, no revealing village secrets to other villages! We've been over this!"
"Oh c'mon!" Fuu complained. "So they know I can fly, big deal! The Leaf's not our enemy, right?"
"The Leaf isn't your enemy, but it's not your friend either," Rin said, leaning against the wall and taking another sip of beer. "Your village's been careful to keep it that way too. You're a big part of that, you know."
"Yeah." For a second, Fuu's smile slipped. "But you're not gonna be my enemy, right?"
Rin shrugged. "Hope not."
"No way!" Naruto said, drawing the room's attention to himself. "We came all the way here to help you with Itachi, there's no way we'd be your enemy."
"Itachi Uchiha?" Fuu asked, and Naruto jerked back, surprised. "Is that who's after me? The elders wouldn't tell me!"
In the back of the room, Yoro facepalmed, groaning beneath his hands, and Rin laughed at him.
"My brother," Sasuke said. "But the mission we were given was just to find Jiraiya. The rest is just…" His hands curled into fists.
"You're Itachi's brother?" Fuu asked. "Wow, I heard he was some famous rogue ninja. I didn't know he had a brother. Isn't that a pretty crazy coincidence, that you'd end up here when he's coming after me?"
As Sasuke mulled that over, Sakura spoke up. "You don't seem too surprised," she said. Fuu smirked at her, a mischievous change in expression.
"People are always interested in the Nanabi." She shrugged. "Rogue ninja have been after me since I was little. Stone once too. It's not that weird."
"Is that why you follow her around?" Naruto asked Yoro, and Fuu answered for him.
"Yup, Yoro's my bodyguard! I have others, but he's the main one." She laughed. "He follows me everywhere, even to the bathroom!"
"Gross!" Naruto gave the man a cross look, and Yoro raised an eyebrow.
"It's not like that," he said, and Naruto's glare intensified.
"It's alright!" Fuu declared. "I'm one of the village's best weapons. They have to watch me."
Sakura stared at the cheerful girl, her mind boiling.
'-shinobi were tools-'
She felt furious on Fuu's behalf. She felt anger that the girl seemed incapable of feeling. She was just sitting there on the floor smiling, even as she cheerfully threw her humanity away. As she just accepted that it was normal to be followed at all hours of the day, to be looked at like a sword or a bomb instead of a human being.
Jinchuriki; the power of human sacrifice. Sakura suddenly and completely understood the meaning behind the word.
Was this how Gaara had felt? The thought struck her like a bolt of lightning, and Sakura felt a shiver run through her whole body. Was that why he'd been so inhuman? Had he been told for as long as he'd had that demon inside him that he was something less than human now? That didn't explain his obsession with killing Naruto… or maybe it did. Naruto had been something Gaara couldn't been. He was the son of Konoha's Yondaime, but he was a person, alive and vibrant in a way that was impossible for Gaara. His father had treated him like a dog, calling him to heel at the training ground.
'He's a victim of circumstances beyond his control, y'know?'
Sakura's heart flipped over. She'd hated Gaara, even now. If she'd met him again, she would have tried to kill him, without a doubt. But the lightning bolt dried the hate up, and the residue it left made her sick and shaky. She'd tried to cut out his heart because of what she'd thought he'd been, but now, looking at Fuu, she saw the other side of the coin.
Fuu had been told she was a knife for the village, and put on a smiling face. Maybe she even felt genuine pride. Gaara had broken. Just like a knife, the only thing he could do was destroy.
No, not like a knife. Like a shinobi. Sakura fell deeper into herself, remembering the night in the forest in increasing clarity. Why was she just angry for Fuu? All shinobi were just weapons, in the end. The only thing they could spread was violence: wasn't that the definition of a weapon? If she were angry for Fuu, wouldn't it be hypocritical not to also be angry for Naruto, for Sasuke, and even for herself? Was she a hypocrite? But hadn't Watefall just shown her that ninja could accomplish more than-?
"That's stupid!" Naruto declared, and Sakura blinked as the world snapped back into focus. "You're a person, not a weapon!"
"Eh?" Fuu asked, and Naruto stormed up to her. Yoro pushed himself up off the couch, and Rin off the wall. The room was suddenly charged, the two adults eyeing each other suspiciously.
"Whoa! No, bad Yoro!" Fuu said, running up to him and away from Naruto. "It's fine!"
"Take it back!" Naruto demanded, and Fuu blinked.
"I'm a Jinchuriki," she said. "You know what that means, right Naruto?"
"Who cares?" Naruto asked. Sakura watched him; he was shining with indignant energy. "Saying something like that-!"
"Something like what?" Obito popped out of thin air. "I heard yelling. Everything alright?"
The room froze, its momentum knocked off kilter by the new arrival. After a heartbeat, Rin stepped forward.
"Just the kids," she said, offering a beer. Obito gave it a dubious look, and the woman smirked and withdrew it. "We spooking the guards?"
"A little," he said, and Sakura remembered that the safehouse was surrounded by more Waterfall shinobi. Naruto had been pretty loud; he'd probably put them on alert. "Probably more, now that I'm in here," he continued.
"What's the plan, sensei?" Sasuke asked, the calmest voice in the room. Obito gave him an amused look.
"We're having a sleepover," he said sardonically, and Naruto whooped. "Unfortunately we forgot to pack any sleeping bags, so Waterfall will be putting us up."
"Oh, so you're staying!" Fuu said, turning to Yoro. "Can they stay here?"
"That's definitely not-" Yoro started to say, but a thoughtful look crept across his face. "Would that be alright?" he said, turning to Obito and Rin. They shared a look and a shrug.
Oh, duh, Sakura thought. If they were together with Fuu, Obito would have more than one reason to keep an eye on the safehouse. Yoro was banking on their sensei's protective instinct.
It was sneaky, but not so sneaky that everyone in the room didn't immediately understand the Waterfall shinobi's goal. That meant when Obito went along with it, there was a shared chuckle.
"Sure," he said. "If there's room, it'd be perfect for them to stay here."
Fuu practically exploded with excitement, throwing herself onto a protesting Yoro, and Obito beckoned them over. Team Seven and Rin fell into an impromptu ring.
"Listen," he said, his tone and face dead serious. "Jiraiya is gonna be watching the village. By all rights, you three won't see any shinobi at all when things come to a head. The elders think Itachi is going to make his move soon." His eyes flitted over to the corner. "Stay close to Fuu. No matter what, don't leave her side."
"You're leaving us with the VIP?" Naruto asked, and then laughed at his own question. "I mean, duh, who better?"
"Not quite like that," Rin smirked. "Don't take this the wrong way, but most ways this plays out, the only way you three will see any action is if most of us are dead."
"Cheerful," Sasuke muttered, and Rin laughed.
"Waterfall is sealed up like the mother of all forts," she said. "The Toad Sage, Obito and I, and a couple hundred of the most badass shinobi on the planet are gonna be guarding every inch of it. If things pop off, you guys might hear some screaming. Be surprised if there's more than that."
"Are you going to get him?" Sasuke asked, and there wasn't any doubt about who he was talking about. Obito's lips pressed into a line.
"Itachi's gonna be my number one target," he said. "Jiraiya's too. The best way to keep the Jinchuriki and Waterfall safe is gonna be us hunting him down and killing him as quickly as possible. If he sticks his head out… I'll cut it off, Sasuke."
"Okay," Sasuke said quietly. He straightened up, his eyes cold. "If you have a shot… don't miss, okay?"
"I won't." Obito was just as quiet. The silence almost swallowed them all before Rin snorted.
"Boys," she said, rolling her eyes and taking another sip of beer. "You guys got it?"
"We've got it," Sakura said. "We won't leave her side."
There was more talking after that, but it passed by in a blur, and about a half hour later, Obito and Rin left together with Yoro following after them.
"None of you leave," he said, giving Fuu a particular look, and then the door closed behind him. Team Seven was left with no idea of what to do; they looked around at each other as Fuu vibrated with excitement.
"Well…" Naruto said after a second. "I'm kinda hungry. We skipped lunch. And dinner. Is there anything in here?"
"Oh sure!" Fuu chirped. "I'll show you!" She led them deeper into the house. Literally: they went down a hall and then set of stairs, descending into the earth. The stairs fed out into a huge storeroom, almost as big as the house. There wasn't any light down there; Sasuke snapped his fingers and a flame flickered into existence between them. Fuu gave him a grateful smile.
"Thanks!" she said, gesturing to the closest wall. There was a refrigerator there that ran the length of the room with huge, wide doors studded with iron bars. "There's probably some stuff in there; let's take a look!"
Naruto hauled the door open and revealed a veritable mountain of frozen food; meats, fish, fruits and vegetables, all covered in frost.
"So this stays on while the lights go off?" Sakura asked as Fuu rummaged through the fridge, gathering up an armful of ingredients.
"Yup!" she said, beaming at them. She was just so happy to be talking to people that it made Sakura's chest hurt. "It's like that for most of the village; we gotta save the power at night for the important stuff. Don't want food going bad!"
"Is there any heat?" Naruto said, rubbing his arms. "It's freezing down here."
"Heat?" Fuu asked. "Well, there's fireplaces. The safehouse doesn't have one though. Wait, do you guys have electric heat?!"
"Of course!" Naruto said. "You don't?"
"I don't think so!" Fuu said, looking confused. "That'd take so much power!" She beamed. "Now I wanna see Konoha even more."
"Well, maybe you can someday!" Naruto declared as they marched back up the stairs into the slightly warmer house. "After this, Waterfall will like the Leaf more, right? Maybe the elders would let you visit!"
"You really think so?" Fuu asked, and Naruto laughed.
"I've got no idea!" he said. "But it'd be cool, right?"
"Super cool!" Fuu said. "I should definitely ask after. Here, this way!"
She led them into the kitchen and laid down everything she'd gathered before grabbing some knives and other tools. Sakura knew a little about cooking, but clearly not as much as Fuu. She deboned several fish in seconds and tossed them into a large pan, starting to sear them on a gas stove-top, and then moved onto the vegetables. In less than a minute, a thick and colorful chop suey began taking shape.
"You can cook?" Sasuke asked, and Fuu gave him a funny look.
"You can't?" she asked, and Naruto cackled. She grew red, and Sakura couldn't help but giggle at the look. "I didn't mean it like that! I don't have much else to do, you know! It's just training otherwise, and that gets boring after a while! It's not like I can leave the village or anything."
"Makes perfect sense," Sakura said with a laugh. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
Fuu frowned as she cracked several eggs into another pan. "I, uh… I've never cooked with other people. I dunno what you guys would do."
Sakura didn't know how to respond to that, and while she hesitated Fuu moved from task to task with incredible efficiency. The kitchen filled up with delicious smelling steam, and after a couple minutes of small talk the meal was done.
"Okay!" Fuu laid out four plates on a small table in the corner, and Team Seven sank to their knees around it. "Sorry if it's bad!"
It wasn't. In fact, it was better than it had any right to be, considering that Fuu had barely used any seasoning. Maybe the ingredients were just high quality, or maybe it was because Sakura was starving, but the simple chop suey left her completely satisfied.
"Did you like it?" Fuu asked. They'd barely spoken while eating.
"It was fantastic," Sakura said with a smile, and Fuu smiled back so hard it almost broke her face. "We'll grab the dishes, okay?" She and her teammates cleared the table and washed the dishes, leaving them sparkling besides the kitchen sink. The water that came out of it was clear, but it smelled strongly of sulfur
"I'm really glad you liked it," Fuu said as they finished up. "I always thought…" She shifted, shuffling her feet.
"What?" Sasuke asked, picking up on the unusual behavior, and Fuu laughed.
"I thought if I could cook well, I might be able to make friends," she said. Sakura coughed, feeling like the simple and sad sentence had knocked the wind out of her.
"Is that what you want?" she asked, and Fuu grinned.
"Yeah. I don't think I have any real friends," she said. Sakura frowned. "I mean, as the Jinchuriki, that's not really my job. But I thought it would be a lot of fun, to have them." She laughed. "I don't even know what you'd do with friends. It just sounds neat."
"That's fucked," Naruto said bluntly, and Sasuke nodded.
"That's a really bad word," Fuu said with wide eyes and a wide grin. "Does the Hokage let you talk like that all the time?"
"No, he gets whacked every time," Sasuke said matter of factly, and Fuu laughed. "But what's he gonna do if we're in another village?"
"Fuck, that's a good point!" Fuu said, and then covered her mouth. "Crap. I'm in my village."
"Well, how about when you come to Konoha you can swear, and when I come here I can swear," Naruto said with an emphatic nod, and Fuu gave him an awestruck look.
"That's a really good idea," she said quietly. "I'd really like going to the Leaf. And swearing."
"Imma make it happen," Naruto said. "I'll just keep bothering my dad. He won't be able to duck me forever."
"He can teleport," Sakura pointed out, and Naruto stuck out his tongue. "He could probably avoid you forever if he wanted to."
"My mom wouldn't let him!" he declared. Sakura laughed and surrendered with a shrug.
"Does this mean we're friends?" Fuu asked, and Naruto looked at her like she was stupid.
"Of course!" he said, and Sakura heard an echo of her past in his voice. "You're cool, and you made us dinner! You're definitely our friend!"
Sakura found that she didn't mind being spoken for, and Sasuke seemed the same way. Fuu was so earnest that she couldn't help but like her. Even if the girl was a Jinchuriki…
And why would that matter anyway? She was just a person, even if she thought she was a weapon, even if there was a Bijuu inside her. Sakura crushed the thought into dust.
"That's…" Fuu blinked away a tear. "That's really nice. That's really nice of you to say." She stood there in the middle of the room, looking lost. "What do you… what do we do now? Is there like a special handshake or something?"
"Usually, friends just do stuff together," Sakura said. "What do you do around here when you aren't training or cooking, Fuu?"
Oh!" Fuu looked up. Yeah, she really was about to cry. Sakura should have felt more awkward at that, but she felt nothing but sympathy. "I really like to, uh, look at the sky."
"The sky?" Naruto asked. Fuu nodded. "But we're not allowed outside."
"There's a skylight," Fuu said with a little laugh. "I broke it a little, so it can open up. Do you wanna see?"
She led them up to the second floor of the house and into an attic; it was clean and well maintained, like the rest of the house, and the tang of the chakra barrier that surrounded the whole building was the strongest it had been since they'd first passed through it. Just like she'd said, in the corner of the attic there was a wide skylight, dominating most of the wall. The glass was foggy and filled with cracks, and Sakura could hardly see beyond it. Fuu crept forward and eased it open, letting in the cool night air and revealing the sky beyond, and Sakura's heart froze in her chest.
The entire night sky, an endless vista, spread out before them. Here on top of the plateau, with no electric lights, the night was the clearest Sakura had ever seen it in her life. Fuu eased down into a seated position, but Sakura barely took notice of her. There were more stars than she'd ever imagined existed, crowding the dark sky with millions and millions of pinpricks of distant light. The canopy of the tree extended out into some of the darkness and the light of the stars and moon filtered through its thick branches, creating countless paths of clear illumination that lanced through the dark and shone down on the village in a kaleidoscope of dim white light.
"Wow," she whispered, unable to say anything else. Fuu looked back at her with a smile.
"I always thought it was pretty," she said, gesturing to the endless canopy of stars that was spread out over the world like the most beautiful blanket in existence. "I'm glad you think so too."
There weren't any words, and there didn't need to be. Team Seven sat there with Fuu and stared out at the gorgeous night sky as midnight approached and the moon grew higher. Sakura drank in the dark and quiet, the happiest she'd been in her life to sit beside her team and a new friend, and the moment stretched into infinity.
But eventually, it snapped, and Sakura returned to her body in a moment of clarity as she realized just how cold and tired she was. It was surely past midnight now; Naruto was practically dozing on his back, eyes sliding open and closed as he fought off sleep.
"We should go to bed," she said quietly, not wanting to leave the view. "We need to sleep."
"Yeah," Fuu said, and she rose and closed the window. "Thanks for coming up here with me."
She turned, and her smile was brighter than the moon behind her.
"I'm really glad I met you guys."
Team Seven and Fuu went downstairs and went to bed, Naruto and Sasuke in one room and Fuu and Sakura in another, and slept until the sun struck the plateau.
###
Hey, just wanted to stick an apology here, lol. Just a couple chapters ago I was talking about getting back on a weekly schedule, and then an almost month long hiatus! What a slap in the face. This chapter seriously kicked my ass for both writing and personal reasons, but it's finally done, and I'm excited to get going again. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
