The Last Birthday
March was coming to an end, and Team Gai and Seven were beating the tar out of each other, something that had become a hobby for the both of them.
It was a time-honored ritual by now, with each member pairing off with their well-known partner. Gai chased Obito, Neji crushed Sasuke, Lee pounded Naruto, and Tenten and Sakura sparred.
But, Tenten thought, lately something had started to change. Gai still hadn't touched Obito, but Neji's matches with Sasuke were starting to last longer, and the boy was quicker to rise when they were over. Naruto and Lee were almost fighting at par now: her cheerful teammate obviously wasn't giving everything he could, but Naruto was able to keep up with him, and his sealwork was getting trickier and more adept at neutralizing the advantages of his physically superior opponent. They were all improving each other, but Team Seven was catching up to them with frightful speed.
Maybe, Tenten sometimes thought but was loath to admit, they just had that indefinable factor of talent, the same thing that had pushed Neji to the top. If anyone surely possessed it, it was Sakura. Tenten had fond memories of her first couple spars with the younger girl, the way she'd been able to mold a firm grip out of her uncertainty. It had given her an understanding of why her sensei had decided to teach: it was incredibly satisfying.
Tenten had fallen back from swords in the last couple months, training her shurikenjutsu. They were just another tool to her, and the memory of her Chunin Exam was always firm in her mind. She'd lost (even if the Village had decided otherwise) because she hadn't been able to bring down her opponent fast enough. Haku, and Tenten's own teammates, were masters of taijutsu, and Tenten needed tricks to keep up with them. That much was obvious to her. If she'd brought down the cold boy from a distance, before he could have stepped into those mirrors, or pinned him down to keep him from reaching the stream, or, or, or…
Tenten had stepped away from swords, but Sakura had embraced hers with a ridiculous single-mindedness. Kenjutsu was in her blood, Tenten reckoned. The pink-haired girl was becoming a sword herself, sharp and sure and pretty to look at.
All that and more flashed through Tenten's mind as she watched her blade twirl up into the air, spinning out of her hands.
She looked down at the naked blade between them. The last time Sakura had managed this, she'd just stood there, gaping at the apparent impossibility. She'd had no self confidence at all. It had never even crossed her mind that she'd be able to knock Tenten's sword away.
There was none of that this time. Sakura's sword was totally steady, and she locked eyes with Tenten while keeping it pointed at her heart.
"Yield?" she asked with a small grin. Tenten was peripherally aware of Lee and Naruto stopping what was essentially a slap-fight to watch them.
She smiled back, and then dropped to sweep Sakura's legs. The younger girl let out a screech as both her feet left the ground, and Tenten flipped over on top of her as she hit the ground with a grunt. She didn't let go of her sword the whole time, forcing Tenten to pin her right arm with one knee as she pressed down lightly on Sakura's chest with the other. Sakura tried to kick her in the back of the head, but Tenten was more than ready and secured Sakura's leg with her left arm: her grapple was even more secure.
"Yield?" she parroted, and Sakura laughed.
"You got me," she surrendered, and Tenten released her arm and leg. She rolled back to her feet, but Sakura stayed there lying on her back.
"You're still faster than me," she groaned, and Tenten decided to sit down next to her. Lee and Naruto turned their attention back to each other with a joint yell. "I don't know how to fix that."
"Not true," Tenten pointed out as Lee threw a punch at Naruto's head that barely missed, ruffling the boy's blond hair. "In fact, it's just the opposite. You're even more comfortable than me with a sword now, Sakura. When it comes to that,
you're faster than me. Stronger too."
"Hmm." Sakura sat up and tucked her legs under her. "So it's a comfort thing?"
"You need to work on your taijutsu more," Tenten nodded. "It's not a physical thing. It's confidence."
'Like usual,' she internally amended with a grin. "That's why your kenjutsu and ninjutsu are already better than mine."
"I guess." Sakura looked unconvinced.
"Maybe we should trade partners," Tenten suggested. "Lee could get you up to speed quickly. I'm sure you've noticed how much Naruto's improved." To her surprise, Sakura recoiled.
"I'd rather train with you," she said quietly, and Tenten cocked her head.
"What, do you not like him? He's a little loud, but-" she said, getting ready to defend her teammate's honor, but Sakura shook her head.
"No, nothing like that. I just… prefer to train with you." She blew out a frustrated breath. "If that doesn't sound weird."
"A little," Tenten grinned, ruffling her long hair and eliciting a protest. "But it's sweet." Lee landed a brutal kick to Naruto's gut and the boy went down, the wind knocked out of him. Sakura flinched. "He would definitely help you though."
"I know." Lee raised a foot to smash Naruto into the earth and Sakura's teammate rolled to the right, leaving an explosive jutsu formula beneath him. Lee jumped back, barely avoiding the blast, but a kunai came out of the cloud of debris it raised and slammed right into his forehead, handle first.
Tenten jumped up with a laugh. "He got you!" she cried, and Lee laughed right back.
"I would have been fine!" he said with a wide grin. "You are always telling me how thick my skull is, Tenten! Would just a knife penetrate it?"
Tenten quirked an eyebrow, and Lee gave her an exaggerated shrug. He turned back to Naruto, who was looking a little overly self satisfied. "A good trick, Naruto." He tapped his forehead. "But I would have dodged it if it were the blade."
"Sure you would have," Naruto shot back. "My round. You wanna rest?"
Lee nodded, and they joined Tenten and Sakura, sitting down to watch the show. Only Neji, Sasuke, Gai, and Obito were left, and all four were tearing the field to shreds in their mock battles. Tenten let out an appreciative whoop as Sasuke shot a fireball right at Neji, who spun right through it without even singing his hair.
"How's it been for you guys?" Naruto asked. Tenten gave him a considerate look. It had been more than a month since Team Seven's B-Rank that had ended in a minor village burning down, and they were all apparently back to normal. That was a pretty good turnaround, she thought: she didn't know what she'd do if she'd seen what Sakura had.
"It's been good," she said. Lee nodded in agreement. "A pretty boring winter, I guess. But I'm happy that spring's here."
"Well, you cannot say that Tenten," Lee said. "You made Chunin, after all. You and Neji have been taking turns running the team!"
"Really?" Sakura asked with a blink. "You haven't said anything about that."
"Yeah," Tenten said, feeling a flash of… guilt, maybe? She couldn't identify the feeling that well. Had she not wanted to rub it in their faces that none of them had passed? That sounded about right, though she hadn't thought about it till just now. "You lucked out honestly, Sakura," she said, instantly regretting it.
"Do you not like it?" Sakura asked. Tenten frowned, rolling the question over in her head.
"I don't dislike it," she said. "Gai-Sensei has had me and Neji trade off on a couple missions, give commands, make decisions, that kind of thing. But it's never been anything serious, like-"
'What you guys did.'
"Even if it's gone off without a hitch, it's weird to have that responsibility," she said, leaving the previous thought unspoken. Sakura was a freakishly good listener, she thought, watching the girl's eyes. She just took everything in without criticism or compunction, storing everything in that lightning-quick mind of hers. It made Tenten feel like she was saying something important no matter how mundane the words. "I don't feel ready for it."
"Do you think you will?" Naruto asked. He was just the opposite, Tenten thought. Sakura was curious, but she held her questions; Naruto never hesitated to interrupt with his own curiosity or opinions.
She laughed. "I'll have to!" she said. "I've got those responsibilities now, after all. I could have some other ninja's life in my hands someday!" She softened a little. "But it was definitely easier just to take orders."
"Yeah," Sakura said distantly. Tenten gave her a curious look at the detached tone. The girl was staring up at the cloudy sky, her eyes tracing an invisible figure. "It's easy."
Naruto sprung up, apparently bored. "Cool! Wanna race to that tree?" he asked Lee, and the other boy popped up as well. He didn't even agree: they just took up, kicking grass near the girls' face as they sprinted towards the other side of the clearing.
Tenten sat there with Sakura for a couple minutes, watching their sensei spar. Gai-Sensei and Obito had been quiet for some time now, engaged in what Tenten could only call an old-fashioned quick-draw duel, like two ancient samurai. It wasn't a carefully positioned standoff like those had been; the distances the two men were trying to draw was measured in tens of meters as Obito leaped about, looking for an opening, and Gai followed him like a hunting bird, always prepared to strike the moment the man became vulnerable. Obito was sweating, Tenten could see; her sensei was pushing his ghost-like jutsu to its limit.
The standoff ended faster than she could follow. Obito suddenly ducked, and Gai struck out with a picture perfect haymaker. He missed: the air pressure of his fist blew a spatter of bark off a tree fifty feet away. Tenten blinked. She'd never seen her sensei punch that hard.
"A graze!!" Tenten's sensei whooped, leaping three feet into the air. "A graze, my rival!"
Obito tapped his shoulder. Tenten could see a rip in the material; her sensei had actually hit the Uchiha. But the other man's fingers came away clean.
He laughed, pulling at his collar to show his unmarked shoulder. "If you want to count my shirt, we'll count it!"
"What?!" Gai yelled. "No! I had you!" He raised an accusatory finger, and Tenten couldn't help but giggle. "You cheater!"
"Just take the shirt!" Obito said, and Gai shook his head furiously as Tenten resisted the urge to double over laughing. "It's more than anyone else has managed!"
"Rin may have hidden it, but you came home full of holes!" Gai declared. "What am I, if I can't even bruise you!?" And with that, he threw himself at Obito once more, abandoning subtlety and smashing the earth to pieces as the man turned and ran.
Tenten turned to Sakura with a laugh and found that her friend was still staring at the sky. She'd missed the whole exchange. She watched her friend for a moment, analyzing the cast of Sakura's face. She wasn't Neji, able to pick out every microexpression, but it was obvious to anyone that Sakura was somewhere else, somewhere she didn't want to be.
"Sakura?" she asked.
Sakura sucked in a sudden breath, snapping back to reality. Her whole body jumped with a surge of adrenaline, and her head jerked to the side with a shocked expression.
"Yeah?" she said after a second, trying and failing to sound normal. Tenten narrowed her eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Sensei almost hit Obito-Sensei." Sakura blinked in surprise, looking back at the men chasing each other around the field, her own teacher hooting with laughter the whole time. She watched him with a particular intensity. Something was up, Tenten was sure of it now.
"Wow," Sakura thought. "That's pretty crazy. I don't think anyone can hit Obito if it's one on one."
Tenten filed away that thought, and the way Sakura said it with obvious experience.
"You didn't answer the question," she noted. Sakura frowned, looked down, plucked a blade of grass, fidgeted with it. They sat in silence for nearly a minute. "Are you okay?"
"Tenten," Sakura eventually said, her voice thick. Tenten shifted at her tone. It almost sounded like the younger girl was going to cry.
"You know you're my best friend, right?"
The words spoken so plainly hit Tenten like a rock to the face and she sat back, not even able to ponder the question.
"Of course," she said without thinking, verbalizing something that before then had been unspoken. Friends, of course. Best friends? Actually, yes, as surprising as it was. Sakura was the first one she wanted to talk to for almost anything. She didn't have parents, didn't have siblings, but if Neji and Lee were her brothers then Sakura was definitely her sister.
"I'm glad," Sakura said, so quiet that Tenten had to strain to hear. "Sometimes… I feel like I could be a better friend." God, she really did seem like she was about to cry. What was happening?
"Sakura," Tenten said, desperate to reassure her friend. "Don't ever think that. You're doing great." Sakura nodded, but Tenten couldn't tell if she believed her or not. She grabbed the girl's shoulder, forcing them face to face. "Seriously. You don't need to do anything more. Don't ever think otherwise, okay?"
Sakura stared at her, the both of them transfixed, and then nodded again. This time, that confidence that Tenten had tried to train into her was there.
"Okay," she said, gently removing Tenten's arm. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Tenten grinned. "Do you need to talk about something?"
"Maybe later," Sakura said with a little laugh, before she grew more serious. "Actually, definitely later."
"Promise?" Tenten asked. "Cause I don't want you to be freaking out over something like that." Her best friend nodded.
"I promise."
###
A couple hours later, Naruto was washing dirt out of his hair in the sink when he got a bright idea. He looked up at his reflection in the mirror, pleased at the lack of black eyes: he'd always come away from sparring with Lee with one or two before.
It was nice to hang out with Lee and his team, he thought, but ever since their B-Rank they hadn't seen anyone else from their graduating class. Well, around the village of course, but nothing planned or directed. He kinda missed it, even if it was childish to want to do something like hanging out again. But then, that's what Obito-Sensei and Might Gai were doing, right? And Obito hung out with other adults like Rin for sure.
Maybe they could all get together, he thought. There wasn't any shame in asking. Catching up with Tenten and Lee and Neji had been cool, even if the Hyuuga was too cocky to hold a conversation with. Doing the same with Shikamaru and Kiba and Choji and all the others would be nice too.
There was something else driving his thoughts, though Naruto didn't like acknowledging it. Sasuke had gotten grumpier and grumpier since his brother had told him about his family. He couldn't blame him. He'd asked his mom and dad about it, and they'd explained there wasn't any point in punishing Sasuke's mother, but Naruto knew if he was in Sasuke's position he would never accept that.
He could barely accept it. Mikoto had always been so nice to him. The idea that that same woman had wanted to use his mom as a weapon was too strange to contemplate. Just like Sasuke and Obito-Sensei were, he'd completely avoided Sasuke's mom since they'd come back to Konoha.
Something else had happened to Sakura, which Naruto figured for Fuu getting kidnapped. She'd been withdrawn, and a little sad. She'd tried to mask it with a cheerful attitude, throwing herself into training and mastering the Rasengan, but he could always tell with her. When Sakura was happy, she wasn't 100% happy. She always had something on her mind, which Naruto loved about her. When she was acting like she was totally happy, she was definitely trying to hide something.
But he had no idea what.
He skipped away from the sink in search of his mom. She wasn't in the house, so he checked the roof. She was up there, her long red hair blowing the cool breeze, standing stock still and staring at the sky.
"Hey!" he said as he jumped up, and his mom gave him a rueful look.
"Hey!" she said. "What's up?"
"What's up with you?" he shot back. "Something up there?"
His mom shrugged. "We finally made that modification to the barrier. Do you remember? From a couple months ago?" She blinked. "Wow, almost nine now, right? Is that when you graduated?"
Naruto ran the numbers in his head and was pretty sure it made sense. "Yup!" he said, giving a thumbs up. It didn't seem like that long, but his team had made the time pass in the blink of an eye. "Do you mean the thing Mikoto was helping you with?"
Something he couldn't recognize flickered across his mom's face. "Yeah," she said. "Watch. We'll see if it works in a second or not."
He settled down on the roof to watch with his mom, enjoying the quiet and her presence. She sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around him. He started to squirm away, but stopped after a second. He'd yelled at her way too loud when she'd told him that it wasn't unusual for Fuu to get kidnapped: that Cloud had almost done the same to her. She hadn't deserved any of that. He'd just been angry and stupid. She could hug him if she wanted.
Naruto learned lessons slowly, but that night had taught him in a way that he couldn't forget that getting mad would just waste his time.
A minute later, the whole sky flashed red.
"Yes!" Kushina jumped up, punching at the sky. "Take that!"
"Was that good?" Naruto asked, and his mother whirled on him as the sky returned to its normal color. It wasn't the sky itself he realized after a second; it was the whole barrier around the village, normally completely invisible. Could Sasuke see it with his Sharingan? It must have been weird to realize there was a ceiling over the whole village that only Uchiha and probably Hyuuga could see.
"Very good!" his mother said with a wide grin. "It actually works! The barrier can actually detect malice! And towards Konoha!"
"Malice?" Naruto said, an ancient conversation worming its way back into his head. "That's so specific though. How the heck did you make a formula that could pick that up?"
`Anyone coming into the village in a bad mood would get swarmed by the ANBU-`
His mom gave him a sly look. "This," she said, tapping her stomach.
"
Really?" Naruto asked. "You mean… the Fox? How does that even work?" He wasn't just curious now; he'd had no idea Jutsu Formula or barriers in general could be tuned to that level of specificity, and the potential was sending his mind spinning. The kind of stuff he could make with an exploding rock that only went off if you were mad…
"The Kyuubi always sought out and destroyed places where people gathered," Kushina said. "Most people throughout history just thought it was because it was a giant monster, and that was probably part of it, but I had a hunch. It annihilated so many shinobi: what if it was finding them in a particular way?"
Her smile faded a little. "So I asked Mikoto for help."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "... Why her?"
"This was before," Kushina said. "Just before the Exam." Her face fell; Naruto had never seen his mom look heartbroken before. "I probably wouldn't now."
"You shouldn't," Naruto said, surprised at how bitter he sounded.
"It was fine," his mother said flatly. "Your father was there. I wasn't in any danger. And like I told you, Mikoto doesn't want to do anything to me anymore. She doesn't have any reason to."
It sounded stupid to Naruto, but if both his parents agreed on it it couldn't be stupid. They were too smart for that. He accepted it, trying to bury the grudging feeling.
"She helped me control the Fox. She was really good at it! She definitely could have taken me!" Kushina laughed. Naruto didn't see what was so funny about it. "It wasn't like, a conversation, but we looked inside its mind. It was like diving to the bottom of the ocean, but all the water was fire." She shivered. "Wouldn't want to do it again. But it was worth it."
She smirked. "The Kyuubi could detect malice. It sought out that malice and killed everyone feeling it, who knows why. Maybe because it wanted a monopoly on hatred. There's nothing else inside it. But when Mikoto and I came out, I could see how to shape chakra to pick that feeling up, like a tuning fork. That's what I used to finish the barrier. I couldn't even describe it to you, Naruto. I'd have to show you." She looked back up at the now invisible barrier. "Maybe I could do it myself now, if I worked on it. How cool would that be?"
"Pretty cool," Naruto agreed, not sure if his mother was nuts or not. "And you made it specific to the village?"
"Yeah. I mean, I couldn't set it to be 'Man, I hate Konoha' or anything," Kushina said. "But I could focus on parts of it. I'll show you the Formula if you want, though…" she laughed. "None of the Barrier Corp thought it would work. It didn't make sense to them. But… 'destruction,' 'revolution,' 'annihilation.' Those were bits of malice I could focus on. If that makes sense."
"Nope!" Naruto said cheerfully. "But I'll look at it later. Maybe that'll help."
"Maybe!" Kushina admitted. "What'd you come up here for anyway? You didn't know about the barrier test, did you?"
"Nope!" Naruto said again. "I was wondering if it'd be okay if I invited some people over tonight!"
"Probably!" Kushina said, smartly not committing to anything. "Who're you thinking?"
"Well, Sakura and Sasuke, duh," Naruto said. "And Lee and Neji and Tenten, and Kiba, and Choji, and uh… Shino, and Hinata, and Shikamaru for sure, and I guess Ino too. And their teachers too, maybe! You think Obito would want to hang out with Kurenai and Asuma and Gai?"
"Well, assuming Gai didn't try to deck him," Kushina said with a laugh. "But for sure, they're all friends with him. You just wanna get together with half your class, huh?"
"It's been a while," Naruto said. "I was thinking… I shouldn't take them for granted, you know?"
His mom gave him a thoughtful look. "That's very mature, Naruto."
"Nah. Is it?" She nodded. "Weird."
She smiled. "Well, I'd be okay with it. I doubt your father would care. But the day's almost halfway done already. You better start sending out invitations."
"I thought I could use this!" Naruto said. He put his hands together and there was a puff of smoke, and suddenly there were a dozen more of him on the roof. "Is that okay?"
"How're you feeling?" Kushina asked, and Naruto shrugged. He was already pretty tired from training, but splitting his chakra twelve times hadn't hit him that hard. He felt a little hollow, like he was hungry, but was fine besides that. "Okay, if you're sure. Just be ready for all the memories, okay? That's the part that can get you."
"Yeah yeah," Naruto said, dismissing his mom. He'd be fine. "You know what to do!" he told his clones, and they all let out various affirmatives and jumped off the roof out into the village. He watched them go, watched himself go. Pretty weird, but definitely cool.
"Imma grab a snack, alright?" he said, and his mom gave him a wave.
"Sounds good. I'm going to stay up here. There's a couple more tests they're running," she said before chuckling. "Your dad sent me home cause I was getting a little manic. Sucker should've known I'd at least watch from the roof."
Naruto laughed and left his mom behind, heading back into his home.
It took about twenty minutes before the first of the clones popped, by which time Naruto had settled down on the couch with a glass of water and an apple and was idly flipping a kunai through the air. The first clone had found Sasuke, which wasn't too surprising. His friend had been a little surly, but he'd agreed. Naruto folded in the new memory and waited.
One by one, more memories came in. Team Eight in the street, just finishing lunch. They all agreed, though Hinata seemed hesitant. Lee and Gai together, Tenten and Neji separately, also agreed. Shikamaru at his home, lazily agreed, like he did everything else. Choji training, agreed after inquiring after the food situation. Kurenai and Asuma together, agreeing with some amusement. Obito, enthusiastic, with Rin rushing in soon afterwards to tag along.
His clones found Sakura and Ino last. Sakura hesitated, strange, sad in a way Naruto couldn't define. Then she smiled and agreed. It made Naruto's heart beat harder when he got that memory, her hair draped over her shoulders and she looked up from her book at the library. He hadn't paid attention to the title, only her.
Ino was the last, and she called him an idiot.
"Naruto, you moron," the memory said. "Do you even know what day it is?"
"Uh…" The clone had scratched its head. "The 28th, right?"
Ino had blinked and just about ripped her hair out. "You don't know your own teammate's birthday?"
"Sasuke's birthday isn't…
oh."
Naruto was sure that the only reason Ino hadn't hit him was 'cause she'd known he'd disappear if she did.
"And Sakura didn't say anything! That girl…!" Ino had shook her head. "You have to do something for her! And besides, your house is way too small to host all those people. And it's the Hokage's! Show some respect, even if he's your dad! Mine would be much better. We just finished a new balcony! Let everyone know we should meet there, around six, and celebrate! And bring something for Sakura! She hates gifts, but you'll be a bad friend if you don't! Is Choji coming? Oh god, I better let my dad know. I don't wanna spend everything from the last C-Rank on groceries."
Naruto laughed at the memory, wondering why Sakura hadn't mentioned it. She was turning fourteen! He'd almost forgotten she was more than half a year older than him. It was super lucky he'd decided to ask around.
He also quickly realized the problem. "Crap," he said out loud. "Why'd you have to be last, Ino?"
He made another dozen clones and ordered them to get the new instructions out right away. The Yamanaka was bossy, but she was right: her house was a lot bigger, and they definitely needed to do something for Sakura. The second set of clones pulled something from him; he immediately knew he'd pushed himself a little farther than he should have. You couldn't casually pull out more than twenty clones after sparring all morning with Lee, and racing him. That was just stupid.
Naruto grabbed some more water and struggled to keep his eyes open as his clones went about their errands. He wasn't positive, but he was pretty sure his parents had told him that if you fell asleep... or maybe it was knocked out? One of them would make all your clones disappear. That would just be embarrassing.
It went faster since the clones all knew where everyone was now. They all reacted to the change in venue and purpose with bemusement, which Naruto was glad for. He didn't want any of his friends to think he was stupid. When his memory of Sakura came back, he sat up, more awake.
"Oh wow," his teammate had said, before she let out a quiet laugh. "I forgot. I actually forgot!" She laughed again, more genuinely. "I can't believe… Naruto, I don't want anyone to make a big deal of it. I've never really celebrated my birthday. I always just did something with my parents. You don't have to bring any gifts, okay?"
Who the heck could forget their own birthday?
"Are you alright?" she'd asked. "You look tired. We don't have to do anything if you're not feeling well."
His clone had smiled.
"I'm good," he'd confirmed. "And I'm getting you something. I'll see you at six, okay?"
Sakura had given him a smile back, something that made his heart jump, and then he'd dispelled.
The moment those memories returned, Naruto passed out on the couch.
He justified it as a short nap before the party (cause that's definitely what it was now), but that was a white lie. He'd pushed himself too far. Fighting and racing Lee and then making two dozen clones was too much for his chakra for now; if he wanted to use the Shadow Clones more, he'd have to keep training his stamina.
Sprawled out on the couch with a half eaten apple lying on his chest, Naruto dozed, and dreamed.
It was a weird dream, one where things went fast and slow and he moved from one place to another with no sense of motion. The kind where you were awake enough to know something was strange, but not nearly enough to affect anything. You were just along for the ride.
He was carried from Konoha to Waterfall to the sky. The villages burning, overlaid over one another like a kid's picture book. Waterfall's enormous tree went up like a firework, filling the world with smoke and light. He felt his hand get scorched again, the pain feeling so real, instantly washed away by a cool breeze. He fell, seeing the whole forest stretched out below him, felt his whole body slow to crawl, suspended in the air and hearing the buzz of enormous wings. When he landed, the ground was as soft as a pillow and the grass rippled away from him like he was a stone in a pond. It was an endless field in one direction, and a sharp drop off. He heard water, the crash of waves. He'd only seen the ocean once, when he was very young, but the sound had been deafening and it refused to be forgotten.
The dream slowed down, trapped in ice. He was there, but he wasn't alone. Standing in front of him, her back turned to him, her pink hair swishing back and forth in a wind he couldn't feel, was Sakura. Her hands were clasped behind her back, the way she did when she was nervous, or agonizing over a question. She swayed back and forth, following the motion of her hair.
Naruto called out, and Sakura looked back at him. He grinned, and she grinned back. She said something, but he couldn't hear her. Even though he could read lips, hers said nothing. She said it again, more urgently.
"I can't hear you," he said. She frowned, turning away and taking a step forward, towards the cliff, the ocean below. She turned to face him and spoke again. Still silent. The wind was picking up.
He was frozen in place, his feet rooted in the grass. He shook his head, and her face twisted in laughter. She started gesturing to herself, to the ocean, with a wide smile. His stomach dropped.
The wind broke, and her voice came through.
"Naruto, I have to go," she said, and then she turned and threw herself off the cliff. Naruto tried to reach out, but his arm was frozen at his side; all he could do was watch. She vanished over the cliff: the last thing to disappear was her long pink hair, and then there was just the sound of crashing waves.
Naruto jerked up, flailing against the couch as his eyes fluttered open. He stilled after a second, realizing where he was. He looked over to the clock in the corner: it had been less than an hour. There was some dried drool caking the left side of his face, and his mouth was a desert.
He shook his head, trying to wake up and remember the dream at the same time, but it slipped away like sand through his fingers. The only thing that was clear to him was Sakura jumping off a cliff. His heart skipped a beat, but it quickly fell back into its relaxed post-nap tempo.
Should have stretched before sleeping, dumbass, Naruto realized. You were already sore. He rolled off the couch and winced as he stretched, popping something in his shoulder. He yawned, a little disgruntled at the dream, and how rudely it had woken him up. Dreams were stupid.
After all, if it hadn't been a dream he would have just jumped after her.
###
Sasuke had never liked parties.
The excuses had evolved as he'd grown older, but the core had always stayed the same, and that was that he found most conversations boring. He usually could figure out what people were saying halfway through whatever sentence they were wandering through, but they almost always just kept talking, apparently convinced the rest of it was deeply important. His parents had told him it was rude to interrupt, one of their first social lessons, and so Sasuke had forced himself to suffer through meandering conversation where he spent the first half figuring out the point and the second half bored. And parties were nothing but conversation. You just got a bunch of people together in one place and then they talked.
He didn't get small talk; it was pointless. He'd never wanted to talk about himself with anyone but his family. Why would you bother with people who didn't know you that well? If you weren't curious about them, Sasuke had figured, they wouldn't be curious about you.
But that was a dumb way of looking at the world. He couldn't say when he'd realized that, but it was obvious to him now.
Not knowing something made people curious about it, and because Sasuke had so rarely talked about himself…
Everyone was curious about him.
There at Sakura Haruno's impromptu birthday party at Ino Yamanaka's impressively large house, (seriously, three stories with a frankly luxurious balcony on the top floor, as much space as Sasuke's own home on each floor, ridiculous) Sasuke was starting to realize that he was a mystery to the other members of his class.
He found that he didn't really like
that either.
"So you and Naruto
and Sakura all know it now?" Ino asked him, and he nodded. They were seated across from each other, almost adversarial, in two chairs in the center of the second living room. There was a gathering of adults on the other side of the room, including Sakura's parents. It looked like they were preparing a cake. They chattered excitedly, sharing gossip and their children's accomplishments.
Sasuke had always known that Ino was one of the smartest shinobi in any room, though she did a good job of masking it with a particularly girlish ditziness. Sakura had only barely beat her out for top kunoichi, after all, and only due to having a better score in Taijutsu . But there was none of that false lack of focus in Ino's eyes today; she didn't feel the need to perform for him right now, or maybe she had just grown out of it. Instead, there was a warm and friendly intelligence.
"That's pretty incredible! I figured for you and Naruto… but I guess Sakura is pretty amazing with ninjutsu now. That sword of hers is one of a kind." Ino smiled mischievously. "I think she'll like my present."
"It is amazing," Sasuke offered, trying to keep the conversation going. He had to figure this out, he thought. The last month had felt like him steadily swirling down a drain that had come to dominate the whole world. He couldn't tell anyone, even himself, how he was feeling. His mother had always been his main confidant, and now she was as good as gone.
The woman he'd thought she was didn't exist anymore.
"What did you get her?" he asked, trying to reign himself in, and Ino scoffed.
"As if I'd tell you!" she said. "You'll have to be surprised! That's the point!"
"I thought the point was to give gifts that showed appreciation," Sasuke said dryly, and Ino rolled her eyes.
"That's half of it. The other half is the surprise. That's why they open it in front of you. Have you ever thought about trying to learn it?" Ino asked, and Sasuke shifted, thrown off by the sudden switch.
"The Ryusuiken?" he asked. Ino nodded. "No," he said, surprised at the finality in his voice. "It's hers."
"I thought Uchiha were all about taking other people's techniques," Ino said slyly. Sasuke tried to give a reassuring grin, the same kind Naruto could do. From Ino's face, it didn't have quite the same effect coming from him.
"Enemies, sure," he said. "But that's Sakura's technique. She's the one who invented it. I wouldn't take it without her permission."
"Like a Hiden Technique, huh?" Ino said, leaning back with a coy smile. "That's so thoughtful of you, Sasuke. You didn't strike me as being that kinda softy."
"Sorta like that," Sasuke said, giving up on the grin and trying to go on the offensive. That's what a conversation was, right? A series of advances and withdrawals. "What about you? Have you learned anything new lately?"
"Just more clan jutsu," Ino said with a dismissive wave, as if mind-controlling people was the dullest thing in existence. Sasuke remembered the way Sakura had driven her sword through Obito's chest, and leaned in to listen. Ino noticed his genuine interest, and her eyes lit up. "Mostly advanced puppet techniques. Nothing I could tell you about, of course. I'm sure my father would be furious if an Uchiha walked out of here with something like the Shintenshin!" she said with a high, clear laugh.
"That depends on why," her father said as he walked by, handing her a bright fruity drink. Ino took it with the smile of a perfect daughter. "Sasuke. Hope you're doing well. Are you enjoying the party?"
Yes, I'm doing so well. I feel like I'm controlling my body from a couple feet away. You would know all about that, right?
"Of course," Sasuke lied, nodding at Inoichi. The man's voice was so soothing, but the way his eyes focused on everything left Sasuke feeling jealous. No wonder he'd been the proctor for the first test. Nothing slipped past him. "I have a question about those kinds of jutsu, if you don't mind me asking."
"Sure!" Ino said, apparently delighted to have found something that interested him. "If I can answer!"
"What happens to the other person's mind, when you take them over?" Sasuke asked, Sakura's limp body bright in his memory. His brother's face looked behind her. Ino sat back, chewing her lip and nursing her drink.
"Well, that depends on the technique," she decided. "Usually, it gets 'suppressed.' That's a dumb way of describing it, but basically the person who used the jutsu pushes their consciousness down into a deeper layer, kinda like REM sleep. You know what that is, right? Yeah, I figured, you're not a dummy. They're still aware, like you are in a dream, but they lose motor control and the user takes over.
She smirked. "But there's fallbacks to that, cause then you've just switched bodies and nothing else, you know. Not to mention there's a one in a million chance they could break your control, if they got determined enough. My father's told me some ninja work to master lucid dreaming, cause it can help them challenge a mind-switch."
Ino looked off, lost in the theory, and Sasuke found himself appreciating that look much more than her false coyness. "But there's more advanced techniques than that, of course. Some leave the consciousness at the 'surface,' so that they can still be aware. That's either to unsettle the enemy or to make it a cooperative experience. And beyond that, some of my clan have developed jutsu that can shift the consciousness into a separate item entirely. Isolating the chakra that directs the nervous system and just removing it from the body, flat out."
The doll that Obito had described. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, and Ino noticed his focus. "What?" she asked, a little unsettled. "Something wrong?"
"No, sorry," he said, trying the grin again. This time it seemed to work better than last time. He should just use the Sharingan to copy Naruto's face. His friend clearly had a better instinct for it. "That's fascinating. Thanks for sharing."
They made what he was confident was decent small talk for the next couple minutes, and then he excused himself, looking to stretch his legs.
Sasuke wandered the party, looking for Naruto or Sakura, but he couldn't find either of them. Wasn't this Sakura's party? She should be easier to find. Asuma, Obito, Rin, Kurenai, and Ino's mother were all huddled in the corner of the first floor and tried to call him over, but he politely excused himself. Ino's mother looked just like her; she had all the soft features that Ino's father didn't.
Choji was also on the first floor, demolishing a platter of mixed meats and vegetables, accompanied by Kiba and Shino. The latter two shot Sasuke a dirty look when he came to the bottom of the stairs, and he returned it with an uncomprehending stare.
Oh, right. Sasuke felt something uncomfortably like embarrassment as he remembered the last time he'd spoken to Kiba, almost a month ago.
'Tell her not to spy on me again.'
He took a breath and walked over to the buffet table, feeling Kiba's gaze intensify on him with every step. Sasuke came to a stop before them, standing over them as they stayed seated. Akamaru was at the table as well, seated on a chair like a human: the dog growled at Sasuke and then picked at some of Choji's scraps.
"Shino," he said, and the Aburame didn't say a thing. "Kiba, Akamaru." The Inuzuka snorted, but the dog looked about as pleased as a dog could at being greeted, earlier growl forgotten. "Choji."
"Hey!" the Akimichi said cheerfully, before returning to shoveling food into his mouth. Sasuke couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Big of you to show up here," Kiba said, pushing himself back from the table. "You know, Shino and I promised Hinata we'd kick the shit out of you the next time-"
"I'm sorry." Sasuke cut him off and dropped his head, so low it was below Kiba's own. He couldn't see the other boy, but he could tell he'd stopped moving. There was a scrape of wood on wood as he shifted his chair back, and a tsk from the adults in the corner. Akamaru let out a quiet woof.
"Sorry!" Kiba called, and someone laughed. Probably Ino's mom. Sasuke raised his head as Kiba turned his attention back to him. "Come again?"
"I'm very sorry," he said. He'd thought it would be hard to say, but the words didn't burn coming out. It was simple and easy, and he found himself wondering why he didn't apologize more often. Surely he'd done stuff that was worthy of it. "I was rude to you, and to Hinata. That wasn't my intention. We'd had a difficult mission, and I let that get to me. It was foolish."
"Hell yeah it was," Kiba muttered, stroking his chin in an approximation of his father. He didn't have the beard to pull it off, so it ended up looking even more childish. "But I'd feel bad for kicking your ass now." Akamaru whined in agreement. It astonished Sasuke how quickly dogs could grow: the nin-dog had been the size of Kiba's foot last year, and now it was almost the same size as him.
"We could still attack him and then accept his apology afterwards," Shino pointed out, and Kiba cocked an eyebrow at him.
"'Attack him?' You don't think we would win?" he said, and Shino shook his head.
"I imagine it would be a tie at best. We are ill suited to fighting an Uchiha of Sasuke's caliber, Kiba. Why? His ninjutsu is an ideal counter to my insects, and his Sharingan to your taijutsu. If we had Hinata's assistance it would be a sure thing, for the Gentle Fist is extremely effective against those who rely on Sasuke's techniques, but she would never willingly fight him."
Never? "I don't want to fight you," Sasuke said. What was he feeling? A little lighter? He liked it.
"Good decision," Kiba sniffed. "But we're not the ones you should be apologizing to, dumbass."
"Hinata," Sasuke said, and the other boy nodded.
"You really hurt her feelings with that little stunt. And then you didn't even talk to her! What the hell were you thinking? She worked over that letter for
weeks, and then you do nothing? What an asshole move! What, trying to play hard to get?! She was just trying to watch out for you!" Akamaru barked along with the berating.
So Kiba had read the letter too, or at least knew what was in it. Sasuke felt his cheeks burn a little, and the Inuzuka sneered at him. "I just didn't think about it," he said. "I had other things on my mind."
Kiba's face softened a little. "I heard it was a really shitty mission," he grumbled. "Must have been even worse than I thought, if it made you that stupid."
"Obito almost died," Sasuke said suddenly. Kiba's face went flat. "So did Sakura. You couldn't have known. That's why I apologized."
"Damn," Kiba said, leaning back and showing his teeth. "Now I'm the asshole. Sorry for assuming."
They stayed like that for a second, the awkward pause of two teenage boys not sure if things were really resolved, before Shino spoke up.
"Hinata is upstairs," he said. Sasuke shifted to him. "If you intend to make your true apology to her, you'll have to ascend." Sasuke cocked his head at the odd turn of phrase.
"Thanks," he said, deciding to ignore it. "I'll do that."
He turned and left the other boys behind, catching Obito's eyes as he did. His sensei gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, but there was something sad about the man's expression. Who knew what he was thinking.
"What was that all about?" he heard Choji ask, Akamaru answering with a grumble, and then he was heading up the thick wooden stairs.
###
Hinata had never liked parties.
The excuses hadn't changed as she'd grown older. Hinata couldn't make a secret of her shyness. It frightened her to speak to new people for the first time, and she was always worried about what people would think of her for that. She never knew what they were going to say, or rather, it was predictable what they were going to say but she was always worried it would be cruel. She was the heir of the Hyuuga Clan; how people interacted with her was always tinged with that layer of insincere respect. Even her own family fell prey to it. She knew, even if it had never been told to her, that the only reason the Branch Family addressed her with respect was because of the vicious seal on their forehead.
And why shouldn't they? She was heir to a history of cruelty, and that reality pressed down on her every day.
At parties, people always asked her how her training was going, looking for a clue to the clan's development through her own. It wasn't something she wanted, so she found herself drawing in, using the same pre-prepared responses. She was sure it made her look dull and uninteresting, and that phantom pain only pushed her farther in.
Nobody was curious about her. Only about the legacy she represented.
But there were some people who were different. Most of her classmates weren't like the adults who scanned her like a work of art, looking for some telling flaw. They just saw another girl, another ninja, and she was eternally grateful for that.
She was talking with Shikamaru and Sakura, secure on the balcony in the sweet evening air, when she saw Sasuke come up the stairs on the other end of the room.
She froze.
"So Asuma's making you do more combinations?" Sakura asked Shikamaru, either not noticing her jolt or kindly ignoring it. The lazy boy nodded with a roll of his eyes.
"Every day," he confirmed. "I get the Ino-Shika-Cho is our parent's thing, but what if we get split up someday? It's gonna be a real pain to have all these fancy formations memorized and for none of them to work. Not to mention it's the same stuff our families have been doing for decades now: people have got to catch on, right?"
"Any training can always be helpful," Hinata said distantly, feeling her heart hammering. He wasn't bruised, which meant that Kiba hadn't followed through on his threat of beating the crap out of him. Or he'd tried, and Sasuke had beaten him. "Even if you can't complete the formation, coordinating will help you build the right reflexes, right? And the reason it's lasted so long is because it's so effective."
"That's definitely true, Hinata," Sakura said with a smile. The girl wasn't acting like it was her birthday, but Hinata could understand that. Like her, Sakura had never craved attention.
She didn't have her sword with her, the first time Hinata had seen her without it in ages. It seemed Sakura went everywhere with her blade. It made sense to Hinata; she'd seen the way Sakura's chakra had filled up the sword firsthand. It probably felt like she was missing part of herself to go anywhere without it. "And besides," she continued, "it's not like your team is going to split up, Shikamaru. You guys wouldn't let that happen."
Sasuke was moving towards the balcony. He'd seen her. Naruto was lounging on one of the couches in the room, chattering with Tenten, but when he saw Sasuke moving he sprang up, moving to intercept him.
Hinata had to resist the urge to activate her Byakugan. She couldn't see what they were saying and when you could normally see everything, even that tiny bit of uncertainty could dig in deeply. There was a dread creeping through her, replacing the pleasant warmth of the evening air with a brutal chill. She didn't want to do this right now. If she were being honest, she didn't want to talk to Sasuke ever again, no matter how much she'd enjoyed it before. She didn't know what she'd say. It was all too humiliating.
Naruto stepped aside to let Sasuke past, and Hinata closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing. Her missing finger throbbed.
She felt a hand settle on her arm, and opened her eyes to find Sakura watching her.
"Hey," she said. "You okay, Hinata?"
"Sasuke's coming," Shikamaru said, despite not having seen the other boy come up the stairs. Sakura made an understanding noise. "It's nothing serious."
"I'll take him away, if you want," Sakura said, nothing but kindness. Hinata shook her head.
"I can't do that," she whispered. "That would be too rude."
"Who cares?" Sakura said, but Sasuke was too close now. He stepped out onto the balcony, and Hinata was suddenly sure he was just as much lost for words as she was.
"Hinata," he said, so abruptly she almost jumped. Sakura and Shikamaru stared at him, and he cast a look back at Naruto, who gave him a thumbs up. Hinata struggled not to drop her head. "I came to apologize."
He smiled, and she couldn't help but smile back. "But I've got no idea what to say."
"You could say you're sorry," Shikamaru suggested lackadaisically, and Sakura jabbed him in the ribs. He grunted, and she started dragging him off the balcony.
"We'll give you guys some space," she said. Hinata wanted to tell her to stop, to stay. She didn't want to be alone. But the words froze in her chest, and a moment later it was just her and Sasuke alone outside, the spring wind rustling their clothes.
"He's right about that," Sasuke said after an awkward pause. "I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did to Kiba." He dropped his head, so low it went beyond deferential and into pathetic. Hinata's instincts rebelled against it. Sasuke was an Uchiha. No one from one of the founding clans should ever bow so low. "I hope you can forgive me."
She breathed out, centering herself. Sasuke had been the one who'd never judged her, expected anything of her. The least she could do was accept his apology.
"Did you already apologize to him?" she asked, and Sasuke nodded. She felt a thrill at that. At what? Maturity? "Then of course," she said. She was rather proud of how composed she sounded, but the phantom pain in her finger wouldn't go away. "I'll accept your apology."
"I'm glad," Sasuke said as he straightened up. She was astonished to see he was sweating. He was just as nervous as her. That should have made things a little more manageable, but now Hinata could only struggle with the fact that
neither of them knew what they were doing. "There was something else I wanted to talk about."
"The letter?" Hinata said. Stay cold, that's the best way. "Please forget about it. I shouldn't have written it."
Sasuke frowned. "But you did. I shouldn't have ignored it. And…" He paused, and Hinata's heart skipped a beat. "I, uh, wanted to talk about it."
He'd already said that, but the repetition made it real. "What… did you want to talk about, exactly?" Hinata asked, feeling herself straighten up. Was this happening, right now, three stories up in the light of the setting sun? Sasuke took a hesitant step forward, and then another, coming alongside her on the balcony. She turned with him, and they both looked out towards the village. The Yamanaka compound was on the northern edge of Konoha, and from here the entire village was a panoply of light and sound that stretched to the darkness of the walls at the horizon.
"You said you wanted to get to know me better," Sasuke said. "Well, you wrote that. I've been thinking about that. I thought it might be… nice." He leaned forward on the balcony, looking out to the south. "Especially now."
"Did… something happen?" Hinata asked, mirroring him and ruthlessly suppressing the beginning of a stutter. It felt like a private conversation now. No. It
was a private conversation. Sasuke's voice had dropped, his body curled in. He didn't want anyone else to hear. A chill ran down her spine.
"Sorta. But it wasn't because of that," Sasuke said. "If our mission had gone fine… I probably would have come found you as soon as we got back. But because of that…" He paused, weighing his words carefully. Hinata was caught on every one of them. "I saw my brother. He was there, going after our VIP. He told me things… I had to think about."
"Your brother?" Hinata muttered, wondering if Sasuke was even allowed to tell her this. "Did you fight him?"
Sasuke laughed. It was bizarrely cheerful. "We tried. All of us at once. Didn't even come close. But he wasn't interested in hurting us. Just my family…" He trailed off. "I don't know what to think anymore. Maybe that's the real reason I came up here to talk to you, Hinata. Maybe I just wanted to talk to someone who wasn't already a part of all this. That's really selfish, right?"
Hinata blinked. "It is," she said, and Sasuke sagged a little. "But it's okay to be selfish sometimes. And I'm willing to listen."
"Really?" Sasuke looked over at her, and she nodded. The tremor that had suffused her whole body was vanishing: the ache of her missing finger was swept away like a morning mist. Sasuke was as easy to talk to as ever; the apology was already far behind them.
"I'm not allowed to tell you everything," he said. "But we went to the Hidden Waterfall. Itachi and another rogue showed up and burned half the place down. When we came back… that's why I was cruel to Kiba. It was so stupid of me." His face twisted. "The idea of you watching me… I didn't want anyone to see me. I felt pathetic. That was stupid too. But I couldn't do anything about it." He laughed. "Rin told me something after, but I only thought about it now. I can't control everything. I can only accept it. That makes sense, right?"
Hinata nodded, even though she could only understand about half of what Sasuke was saying. He was rambling, talking as much to himself as her. She felt some of the excitement of the moment escape, but as it flitted away into the evening Sasuke turned towards her, eyes intense. "I'd like to get to know you better too," he said, and Hinata almost swallowed her tongue. "I want to have something in my life besides my goddamned brother, or my-" he sneered, "-
mother, or even my team. I want to have
something to think about besides that."
Hinata filed away Sasuke's vitriol towards his mother in-between her minor heart attacks, and tried to center herself. "That's not really what I had in mind, Sasuke," she said. "I…"
How do you even say it? I admire you? I want to be your friend? You're the only person who ignored the fake me and saw the real me? I don't know how much of that was real or in my head? How would you say any of that without sounding crazed, pathetic? I'm not like the other girls who liked you, I see the real you? That's what any girl would say!
"When we were in the academy, you were the one I wanted to be the most like," she decided, and Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "You were the one I wanted to emulate. You were kind, but not weak. You were the strongest, the surest. Even after…" She pressed ahead, not sure if what she was saying was alright. "Even after what happened to your family. I always… had trouble with that. I couldn't find that balance. And I thought, now that we graduated... " She shook her hands out. "I wanted to spend more time with you!" It burst out of her, and Hinata almost covered her mouth in horror.
Sasuke blinked, considering her words. "Do… you want to train together?" he asked, and Hinata couldn't help but laugh.
"No!" she said. It felt good to be loud, to speak from the heart. She was terrified of other people hearing, but she couldn't let that hold her back. "I don't want to just train together! I mean, that would be nice, but I want to spend time with you! I want to go on a walk with you, or get something to eat! I want to learn more about you: who you are!" She panted, on the edge of panic. "I don't know how exactly, but you're a really cool guy, Sasuke, and I want to find out why!"
Sasuke gave her a bemused look. "I… okay!" he decided, and Hinata froze.
"Really?" she asked, and he nodded, looking just as confused.
"I mean, that sounds nice," he said. "You were always a great shinobi, Hinata. I wouldn't mind spending time with you at all. And…" He struggled to articulate the words. "It's like I said. I need something else to do! Would you be okay if that was you?"
Hinata felt her entire face go red. "Sure!" she squeaked. She couldn't move, but there were worse places to be trapped than on the balcony with Sasuke. They both were stuck there, with no idea of what to do or say next.
"Sorry," Sasuke finally said. "Again. I really wasn't… myself when we got back from Waterfall. None of us were." He laughed. "But we're all back to normal now. I should have done this a month ago. I feel like an idiot."
"Well," Hinata said, speaking like an equal and relishing the feeling. "I think Naruto is. But the fact that you came up here at all says that you're not
quite back to normal." Sasuke chuckled and nodded, and Hinata pressed on. "And Sakura is still acting strange."
Sasuke cocked his head in confusion. "Really?" he asked, and Hinata had to reflect on the fact that boys were sometimes pretty stupid. They both looked back into the room, where Sakura, Tenten, and Naruto were chatting on the couch. Shikamaru was heading down the stairs, and he gave all of them a slow wave. "She seemed fine."
"She seems fine," Hinata said patiently. "But she's acting too fine. You haven't noticed? She never wants to talk about herself; she's tense all the time. She even forgot her own birthday." She frowned. "If Waterfall was that bad… did something happen to her in particular?"
Sasuke frowned. "She got controlled. I guess that's the word for it; it was like a Yamanaka jutsu. Someone took her over and tried to stab Obito."
Sakura had been forced to stab her own sensei? Hinata reeled, and Sasuke looked back again. "Now that I say that out loud, yeah, she's probably still bothered by that."
"You think?" Hinata muttered. Sasuke chuckled. "You should talk to her. Talking…" She flushed again. "Helps."
"Yeah," Sasuke said with a faint smile. "Well, we're going on a mission tomorrow." He caught Hinata's surprised look. "Yeah, pretty last second. Obito told me when he showed up. Don't have all the details yet. But we'll have plenty of time to talk then."
"And with Naruto too," Hinata said. "That's good."
"Yeah," Sasuke said, and Hinata could barely hold in her laugh. The way he said it couldn't make it more clear they were looking at it from complete opposite directions. "And hey, when we get back, we could… go on a walk, or something. Like you said." He shifted, adorably nervous. "I don't really know
what, but it would be nice."
"Yeah," Hinata said with a smile. Her heart was beating so fast she was worried it might burst. "That would be… really nice."
They settled into an amicable silence, occasionally broken by small bits of chatter and laughter, and the party continued into the night.
###
A little before 10 PM, everyone gathered for Sakura to open her presents.
They didn't sing to her, on the near universal agreement on the part of the teenagers that fourteen was too old for that. Obito found that hilarious, but he understood. When you started growing up, the natural instinct was to push away from your childhood. It's what he had done, even if he'd regretted it. Instead, they'd gathered in the second living room to enjoy a cake Sakura's mother had brought (bought from the store, but no one commented on that), and then congregated around the coffee table in the center of the room, burying the girl in a pile of gifts.
The adults watched from the sidelines, Obito included, as Sakura sifted through the collection. She couldn't decide if she was grateful or sour. Her classmates thought that was just how she was; they knew Sakura had always hated attention.
Obito knew better. He wasn't sure this had been a good idea, but it was far too late now.
"Happy Birthday!" It was a chorus that accompanied each opened gift, and Sakura steadily accrued ninja tools, clothes, and two books. Shino and Sasuke in particular had thoughtful gifts: a frilled jacket that perfectly complemented Sakura's longer hair, and an ornate pair of chopsticks.
But any time gifts are exchanged, there were always some that stood out. Of course, Obito had never received many gifts when he was Sakura's age. He'd spent one of his birthday's on the battlefield, and he didn't have many friends to contribute to the rest. Rin had always gotten him something. She was the only one.
The only gift that he'd never parted with was the White Fang.
There were two winners, and the first was Naruto. He beamed as Sakura picked up a box he'd hastily scrawled her name on and shook it with an inquisitive look.
"It's small," she teased, and the other kids hooted.
"What happened, Naruto?" Tenten asked with a grin. "Had to run out to grab something?" She'd gotten Sakura a beautiful sword sharpener; it had looked expensive to Obito, but it was an obvious gift for the weapons expert to pick.
Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Just for the box," he said, and Obito knew he was lying through his teeth. He was sure Kushina had helped Naruto grab a gift; she would have been the first one he went running to. "Besides, what does it matter how big it is? Just open it!"
Sakura obliged, gingerly folding the box open, and stared at what was inside.
"Naruto," she said, plucking something from within the box. Everyone stared: Obito barely kept himself from laughing. "What is this?"
'This' was a large brown and green wallet shaped like a frog's head, so big it almost qualified as a small purse. It had been folded up and wrinkled inside the small box, and as it expanded to its full size a quiet horror permeated the room. Naruto just kept smiling, unaware of the frightened looks his classmates were sending his way.
Obito thought he was going to break a rib. He looked around the room: all the other adults were having the same difficulties.
"It's a wallet!" Naruto said proudly. "I got the biggest size cause I figured it'd be the most useful that way! And look!" He gestured for her to hand it over, and Sakura did with a grimace that she was trying to turn into a grin. He undid the clasp, and a muffled 'ribbit' emerged from the wallet. "It makes a sound when you open it! Isn't that cool?!"
Ino looked like she was going to throw up.
Naruto reached in and pulled out a little keychain designed to look like a smiling frog's face. "And I got this too, cause it was free with it. Maybe you could put it on your sheathe or something? That would be really cool right?"
"Y-yeah," Sakura gagged, and Naruto laughed. "It's super cool. Thanks, Naruto." As her teammate lit up the room, she gingerly set the wallet aside, looking back at the box. "There was something else in there, wasn't there?"
"Oh yeah!" Naruto said as Sakura reached back for the box. "My mom got you something too. It's not as awesome, of course."
Sakura turned the box on its side, pulling something else out of it. It was a small book, cheaply printed on paperback with a bright yellow cover. Obito recognized it immediately, and raised an eyebrow. It was a particular gift for Kushina to give, especially now.
"What is it?" Kiba asked, crowding in as Ino shot him a dirty look. "Another book?"
"
Tales of a Gutsy Shinobi," Sakura read out. "Huh. There isn't an author listed." She flipped it over, reading the back cover. "The riveting tales of the world's gutsiest and least predictable ninja…" She paused, and then giggled. "
Naruto?"
Naruto blushed. "It came first," he muttered. "I didn't want her to give it to you, but she said you'd like it."
A murmur spread around the room as the guests shifted to take a better look at the book. Sakura set it down on the table with a smile. "Well, thank her for me," she said. "And thanks for the… frog."
Naruto beamed. "Course!" he said with a look at Ino. "That's all of them, right?" he said with a grin, and Ino gave him a thunderous frown.
Obito was barely paying attention. He was trying to figure out what the hell Kushina was thinking.
"We still have mine!" Ino insisted, derailing his train of thought. "Best for last, you know!" It was an arrogant thing to say, but everyone seemed to take it in good humor. She pulled out a small lacquered black box from beneath the table and presented it to Sakura with an almost formal bow. Obito's student took it with a gracious smile, examining it carefully. The box was beautiful; Obito wouldn't call himself someone who appreciated craftsmanship, but as far as containers went it was gorgeous. A little bigger than Sakura's hand, with fine gold hinges and Konoha's leaf carved in the top.
"I worked with Asuma-Sensei on it," Ino said. She gave her sensei a wide smile and he returned it with a drunken wave. "Open it!"
Sakura obliged, soundlessly popping the box open on its golden hinges. The room leaned in to see what was inside.
Obito wasn't too shocked to see that it was a knife. Weapons weren't an unusual gift for shinobi. But it only took a glance to see that it was anything but an ordinary knife. There was a sheathe lying in the soft velum besides it, just as ornate as the box containing it. The blade was designed similarly to Asuma's trench knives, with a sturdy finger grip and a short edge, but it was straight where Asuma's was curved. There was a design running up its side, a flurry of swirling sakura petals.
It was also made of an almost luminescent dark metal, the same kind Sakura's sword was. She tenderly lifted it out of the case, turning it over in her hands with care.
"Asuma-Sensei wanted to give this to you a while ago," Ino explained as Sakura examined the blade. "He said it would complete your set. But I wanted to make it a little nicer looking, you know?" She smiled. "So I spent some time working on it. I hope you like it."
"Ino…" Sakura said. She smiled, and the blade floated a centimeter off her hand, rotating to perfectly fit in her grip. "I really like it."
"Ah man…" Naruto grumbled, and the other kids made similar noises, Lee and Choji laughing. "Your gift kicked my gift's ass."
A shared laugh went up, Sakura included. "Thanks, everyone," she said, looking around. To Obito's surprise, she shuffled around the table and gave Ino a hug, as well as Naruto. "I really appreciate it," she said as Ino returned the hug and Naruto sputtered.
She was strong, Obito thought. She really was just happy, enjoying the moment. She'd become stronger than he'd ever have wanted her to be.
"Alright!" Ino's mother stepped forward and clapped her hands. "It's getting late!" she said, her voice clear and polite. "You'll all stay to help clean up, of course?"
A chorus of agreements went up, though Kiba and Choji both looked doubtful. The Yamanaka smiled.
"How generous of you!" she said, and Ino laughed. "Then, let's get to work!"
Even for a home as large as the Yamanaka's, nearly two dozen shinobi working together could make short work of any mess. It was all over within twenty minutes; Sakura helped, despites several adults protesting that it was her party.
The party cooled down as all parties did, and Obito watched it all with a detached dread as he helped Choza with the dishes. The Akimichi was unbelievably efficient; the man apparently had as much passion for cleaning as he did for eating.
Sakura's classmates left one by one, giving their goodbyes on the way out. Kiba thanked her for the cake, Shino gave her a solemn nod, Akamaru a messy lick, and Hinata a grateful smile and a few muttered words. Sakura giggled and sent her on her way. Choji and Shikamaru left next, both of them sharing a joke with her that Obito couldn't hear. He watched her guilelessly laugh and thank them for their gifts, and marveled at it.
Neji and Lee were next, followed by Tenten. A grim handshake from Neji, and an enthusiastic high-five from Lee. Tenten examined the knife Sakura had received from Ino and whistled.
"You'll have to show me how it handles," she said, and Sakura smiled. "When you get back from your mission?"
"Of course," Sakura said with a wink. "You'll be the first to see, I promise."
Tenten laughed, and left.
Naruto and Sasuke asked her if she wanted them to stick around, and she waved them off. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said warmly. "We've gotta leave early, remember? It'll be nice to be outside the village again. Go get some sleep, okay?" They chatted for a little while longer, and then both of Obito's students said their goodbyes. Sasuke was heading to his apartment, Obito knew; it was where the younger Uchiha had been staying for the last month, after all.
The adults filtered out too, until it was just Sakura, her parents, the Yamanakas, and Obito. Ino and Sakura said goodnight and shared another hug.
"You really like it? Cause I was worried the flowers…"
"Ino, they're amazing. I love it. I'll tell you how it works for me, okay?" Sakura laughed. "I wonder if I could use both at once. That'd be neat, right?"
It was too cheerful by far, but Ino didn't notice. She smiled so widely Obito thought her face might split and said her goodbyes, and then they were out in the chilly spring night.
He looked down at Sakura, and she looked up at him and then at her parents, all sharing the same silent and invisible moment. "I'm going to go home," she said, and for the first time that night Obito detected the melancholy that had been dancing beneath her skin since she'd arrived. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, sensei."
"Yeah," he said. Sakura's parents smiled at him. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura. Have a good night, all right?"
"Of course!" Sakura said. "You too, okay?"
And then she and her parents walked off into the night, and Obito was left alone.
He stood there for a time breathing in the night, and then disappeared without a trace.
As true night fell, Konoha moved towards total silence. In the utter darkness that comes with midnight, when there is no dream of dawn, two men met atop the Hokage Monument. They both flickered into existence like watchful ghosts and stared down at the village they had both given their lives to. It shone down below and out to horizon, a thousand pinpricks of shining lights of every hue, and they spoke in hushed tones, as though afraid to wake it.
"Last chance." One of them shifted, rocking back on his heels.
"She's ready. I'm the one who's not. She hasn't hesitated once." He almost sounded jealous, but there was heartbreak under his words.
"She'll be fine. She'll fit right in." A grin, but a rueful one. There wasn't any pride in it.
"That's what I'm worried about."
"It's why I picked her. But she's your student. If you don't think she should go…" One shadow clapped a hand down on the shoulder of the other. "You have to be the one to make that decision, Obito. When that moment comes, you're the only one who can."
"I will." Obito breathed in deeply, drinking in all the endless darkness that choked the world. "If I have to, I will."
They both shifted, sensing that the point of no return had just passed. The Hokage sighed.
"Good luck tomorrow, then. Please… make sure Naruto understands."
"I will, sensei."
As true night fell, two shinobi parted.
###
Happy Birthday, Sakura!
.
It was a lot of fun going full irony and putting Danzo's words in Mikoto's mouth: the village over all, even if that village doesn't bear much relation to the one in reality. I'm especially glad you and others are enjoying the political intrigue, cause it's going to be moving from the background to the foreground more and more as we go on: we're coming up on the end of Part 1 of 3 here, I reckon about three or four chapters away depending on how intact my outline stays, and I would say that while Part 1 is all about building up that intrigue, 2 is about cashing in on it.
