Homecoming Saga [Ch. 4]: Spin Control (Naruto)
TITLE: The Homecoming Saga
CHAPTER: 4 -- Spin Control
SERIES: Naruto (Alternate Shippuuden)
PAIRING: Uchiha Sasuke x Uzumaki Naruto, with a hint of Kakashi x Iruka
DISCLAIMER: The original manga Naruto is the work of Kishimoto Masashi. Characters have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
WARNINGS: 1) Series contains both yaoi and het relationships, but is currently non-explicit. 2) Adult language will persist as the story goes on. In this chapter specifically, Hidan needs to wash his mouth out with soap. 3) While this section does not contain any spoilers for recent events, the Homecoming saga as a whole may reference current Japanese releases. 4) Transitional chapter. Necessary, but not action-packed.
RATING: PG-13 - Strong language
SUMMARY: It all began with an impromptu meeting and a pre-breakfast kiss. Now, Konoha's most tenacious ninja doesn't want to leave Sasuke's side until they're going home together. But when Sound Village is gone and Sasuke still doesn't think that's possible, Konoha and Tsunade have a problem on their hands: get the AWOL Naruto back into training and away from Akatsuki's line of sight without alienating his temperamental boyfriend.
NOTE: This story contains brief references to a "mission" where Naruto ran into Sasuke. The events are taken from the Shippuuden movie Kizuna, which I did finally get around to watching so that it would be possible to continue this story.
1: "Kizuna" // 2: "Operation: Why Not?" // 3: "Forecast: Windy with a Chance of Flames" //
[Chapter 4: "Spin Control"]
"They did what?!" Tsunade yelled. All of Hokage Tower seemed to shake as she jumped up from her seat and slammed her hands down on the desk, and for a moment the squawks and flutters of birds flying away from her window echoed in every corner.
Tsushin, the jounin who'd given the report about the alleged attack on Sound Village, stood at attention. "There's no question. Eyewitnesses placed ninja matching the descriptions of Naruto and Sakura at the site. Follow up reconnaissance confirms that the area was the current main camp for Sound Village, and..."
He trailed off. The Hokage took her seat, crossing her arms across her chest, and waited for him to continue. Naruto she might have expected to run off, chasing Sasuke's footsteps back to Sound Village after his friend's sudden appearance. She would have liked for him to report back properly on the mission where they'd crossed paths, he hadn't actually abandoned his proper task for his personal whims. She couldn't find it in herself to be angry at him. Sakura, on the other hand...
She would have expected something else from Sakura, but perhaps she could understand why they'd both go that far.
"And?" Tsunade prompted. She wouldn't be kept waiting on the end results. Neither Naruto nor Sakura could be dead, or the jounin would have had a different face on. He wasn't sad, or resigned. To be honest, he looked scared. "Spit it out," Tsunade ordered.
"Hokage-sama, it seems Orochimaru was killed."
She had enough control to not even blink, although she couldn't believe it. Part of her didn't want to believe it. Even though she knew perfectly well that Orochimaru was a criminal, even though she'd resigned herself to his punishment -- especially after he'd killed Sarutobi-sensei -- a little part of herself had always hoped that he'd settle down out of view and live happily in his own way until he found some natural death. Still, there was another part of her that knew it simply wasn't possible, not for shinobi like they had been. But Naruto and Sakura? Even together, even if Orochimaru wasn't at his best, they shouldn't have been able to take him down. Had his condition worsened even more than when she'd seen him last? Had her protege and her apprentice been capable of more than she'd imagined?
She swallowed, biting the inside of her lip to focus and calm herself. "I see," Tsunade said. "Which of them did it?" She resolved not to bear a grudge against either of them for doing their duty by the village or acting out of their affection for Sasuke. As the Hokage, she didn't have that luxury, and as Orochimaru's friend she let herself hope her old teammate might find some peace at last.
"The reports..." Tsushin said, hesitating slightly. "The reports indicate that the one who killed him was Uchiha Sasuke. The witnesses seemed trustworthy, though frightened and scattered. They all agreed on that point."
"Sasuke?" She didn't know what to think. "You're certain it was Uchiha Sasuke? And he was working with Naruto and Sakura?"
"There seems to be no confusion, Hokage-sama."
Well. Maybe Naruto's obstinacy has claimed another victim, Tsunade thought to herself, though I didn't think Sasuke would be such an easy mark. She'd have to see him with her own eyes before she could be sure.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune called from the side of the room, approaching with a pile of letters. She pulled two off the top and handed them over directly, placing the rest of the pile on the desk. "Communiques from Sakura."
"This ought to be rich," she muttered, then turned to Shizune. "Go send for Sai. I want him here five minutes ago."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
She tore open the letter and began reading. The fact that they'd run into Sasuke in the course of their assault on the enemy base was already known; Hinata, at least, had given a proper report on everything that had happened, and plenty of witnesses had seen Naruto running off into the woods after Sasuke's trail with Sakura on his heels. Apparently, they'd caught up with him when he ran afoul of a border skirmish. No problems for any of them, but the delay allowed them to re-establish contact and gave them an opportunity to strike against Sound. On the one hand, it meant Sasuke had been working for Orochimaru and turned easily. Someone who traded alliances easily was hardly an ally to keep. On the other hand, he'd turned for Naruto. They'd forged an alliance with Sand on the brink of outright war for essentially the same reason, and it was the strongest alliance she'd ever seen. Goodness knew, Naruto had that effect on people.
Of course, they would have been back in the village before news of the attack could have reached her if they'd returned directly. That didn't bode quite so well for the Uchiha's allegiance, nor did it say much for the decision-making capacity of her two young shinobi.
She was just about to open the second letter from Sakura when Shizune opened the door and called out to her.
"Tsunade-sama!"
Looking up, she saw Sai's blank, smiling face standing in the hallway. "Sai. Perfect timing. I need you to head out and collect your teammates."
"They've been distracted by Sasuke-kun, I suppose," he said pleasantly and stepped inside the office.
"So it seems." She finished tearing open the second letter, which started with a report that the 'mission' to take out Sound Village had been a success, and an apology for not coming back immediately. Sasuke had a few 'loose ends' to tie up, Sakura reported, and it was her judgment that assisting him was a good use of her time and Naruto's. She was requesting a week to stay with him and get matters sorted out. Tsunade read the letter and sighed, shaking her head. "From the sound of things, I'd say Uchiha Sasuke doesn't plan to come home. Naruto's being stubborn and doesn't want to leave him," Tsunade said aloud to the room. "They're heading up north, toward one of Orochimaru's old hideouts by way of an island prison. We have some intelligence on the location of both facilities, and I'd say the best place to intercept them is... here." She walked over to the map, indicating a spot between the prison and the research facility for Sai. "I don't care if you have to stuff Naruto into a bag and drag him the whole way. Get him home. With Uchiha Sasuke, if possible, but don't use force on him." The last thing she wanted to do was scare the boy, or put him on the defensive. That could only backfire. "Follow Naruto's lead on how to handle him."
"Naruto might not appreciate that," Sai replied. "He has a very personal relationship with Sasuke-kun. I might be a bit of a third wheel."
Tsunade squinted at him, not quite sure what to make of his commentary. "Just follow Naruto's judgment about whether you should treat him as friend or foe, and if anyone is going to push him to come back to Konoha, let it be Naruto. Don't involve yourself in that."
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
"Go carefully, and be on watch for enemy operatives. It should take you four days to catch up to them at that rate, which will give Sakura the week she asked for." She frowned and bit her lip as she considered the map of the area. "I just hope it's enough," she whispered.
"Hokage-sama," Tsushin asked. "What will be your response to the attack?"
She didn't face him. The matter of getting Sakura and Naruto back to the village was far more difficult than the question of how to handle one surprise attack. "We were at war with Sound Village, weren't we? I'd say we just won a decisive battle."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Now to convince her excitable little rugrats to come back to the village before their 'initiative' led them to take some action she couldn't dismiss so easily or Akatsuki set their eyes on them. She'd need to get a full report from Jiraiya on the group's movements as soon as he was able to rendezvous with his contact. As powerful as the members of Team Kakashi were, one cell on its own was no match for the people on Naruto's tail. Turning to the crowd around her desk, she called out, "You have your orders. Everyone's dismissed."
They all answered in chorus, bowing and heading for the door. Tsunade rubbed her chin, thinking very hard about the situation. Uchiha Sasuke was a problem, and she didn't have enough information to deal with him properly, nor did she have Naruto's blind faith in the boy. But was that enough to dismiss the faith she had in Naruto's influence?
She spread Sakura's two letters out on the desk, studied them carefully, and reached into her filing drawer. She'd kept Sasuke out of the bingo book, overruling the elders, but even she couldn't help filing him with the missing nin. His whole history -- with mission reports in Kakashi's handwriting and notes on progress up to his performance in the Chuunin Exam -- was recorded in clear, bland text that hardly conveyed the appropriate level of fear and anxiety. More than anything, the tiny note under his name, "younger of two Uchiha survivors -- see Uchiha clan [CLASSIFIED], Uchiha Itachi [TOP SECRET: SPECIAL ACCESS ONLY]," completely fell short of expressing the childhood he must have lived. She'd looked over this file many times before. She'd gotten Kakashi's impressions, and Iruka's. She'd hoped to look into Itachi's file as well, but it was apparently so outrageously 'Top Secret' that its very location was unknown to anybody and everybody in Konoha's government. That, or they were all lying to her, which she couldn't discount.
But what about now? What was she supposed to do if Sasuke came home with Naruto? The town elders had given her substantial trouble about her decision not to hunt him down and kill him, right up until Danzou had stepped in to remind them that they couldn't lay a hand on the boy because of the promise they'd made. A promise that no amount of questioning would make them reveal. If she was going to fight them to let Sasuke rejoin the village -- and she had no interest in trying to explain to Naruto that all his work convincing the boy to return was for nothing, nor in convincing the Uchiha that Konoha couldn't be trusted -- she wanted to be damn sure Sasuke was worth her trouble.
Well, if he comes back, she thought to herself, he's probably worth all the trouble I can spare just to keep Naruto in the village. And if he's coming back for Naruto...
She studied the final line at the bottom of the last page, detailing his defection to Orochimaru -- written in her own hand. "Retrieval attempt failed. Uzumaki Naruto, fallen at the Valley of the Ends, was the last of the team to see Uchiha Sasuke." It wasn't even an echo of how the day had felt.
And if Sasuke came back...
If he came back of his own free will, then she wouldn't turn him away. It wasn't any use thinking about it. There was no other decision she could make.
Tsunade pulled out a blank sheet of paper and a pen, twirling it slowly in her fingers as she bit her thumb and thought about what to write.
~//~
"Kakashi-sempai," he said as he pushed open the door to the hospital room.
"Ah, Tenzou," the team leader replied, then closing his novel and setting it aside on the stand by his bed. "What's the story?"
"It's... Yamato, sempai. If you would?" What was the point of a code name, anyway, if his sempai addressed him informally? Kakashi knew that, of course. Well, at least he only forgot to use it when they were alone.
"Right, Yamato. I wasn't expecting to see you until three. So, if you've come to see me early, I assume we'll have Naruto back any day now. It's about time, too." Yamato nodded, and Kakashi stretched his arms and legs and pushed himself out of his bed. The assault on the village that ended up drawing Naruto away had given Kakashi the temporary excuse to leave the doctors' care as he'd been itching to do, but they'd demanded he come back to finish recuperating as soon as it was over. He'd asked for updates on Naruto every day -- and not just because resuming Wind Element training would give him another excuse to get out of bed. Yamato could read Kakashi's face about as well as anyone in ANBU, and he knew how hard it had to be to obey orders and stay here while two... no, three members of his team were in potential danger. As much as his sempai might try to write off Uchiha Sasuke and counsel Naruto to do the same, it was clear he hadn't cut his bonds any more than the blond had.
"Do you need your crutches?" he asked.
With a shake of his head, Kakashi said, "No, I'll be fine. The doctors want me to rest a bit more, but I need to start using my muscles properly again." He looked out the window and sighed. Yamato got the overwhelming impression that he would have preferred to jump out the window rather than look, and run after their young charges as fast as he could. "I know how much Sasuke means to Naruto. Believe me, I know. But he couldn't have picked a worse time to run off. After Akatsuki's attack on Gaara in Sand Village and the way you say he reacted at the Tenchi Bridge, he's more at risk than ever. Naruto needs to be training for what comes next."
Normally, Naruto would have been more invested in his training than anyone else he could imagine -- with only the possible exceptions being Kakashi's rival, Guy, or the man's protege, Lee. But they all knew there was one subject that would take Naruto's attention completely, no matter what he should have been doing. When he'd been handed the chance to chase Sasuke, he probably wouldn't even remember what type of elemental manipulation he favored, let alone be thinking about training it. He'd be running straight forward after his goal.
The pain of years past showed in the creases of Kakashi's face when he frowned, gaze still locked on the horizon. "I hate to say it, but there are things out there that might matter more than Sasuke right now." He'd trained for years to read people's voices and posture for information, but even so the only reason he knew how much Kakashi hated to say that was the years he'd spent with Kakashi as his own squad leader. More important than any other rules, he'd set them one basic directive: never abandon your teammates.
Ever.
The one person he'd seen suggest it found himself off the duty roster for a month and was never allowed to serve with Kakashi again.
Yamato glanced at his hand on reflex. Even if he couldn't make any assurances about Akatsuki's plans, or Naruto's training while he and Sakura were away, or say much that was certain about Sasuke's future, he could report on one thing. "Naruto didn't manifest any of the beast's tails while he was away. There's that, at least."
"There is that." Kakashi stretched down to his toes. With another sigh, he pulled himself up and twisted out his back before looking toward the window again. His eyes seemed to gaze further off than the horizon beyond the village wall. "Still, we need to finish his wind manipulation training and strengthen his control over the Nine-Tails. I don't want him to lose it the next time someone mentions Sasuke running off."
Well, even if they didn't have the full story yet, Kakashi needed to know what they had heard. "Sempai..." he started.
"Yes?" Kakashi turned around with his one visible eyebrow raised.
Just then, the door cracked open. They both turned to see the schoolteacher, Iruka, jump and clutch the apple he was carrying to his chest. "If... there's official business, I can come back later," he said.
Kakashi shook his head. "Come in. It's okay." The schoolteacher walked over to Kakashi's side and put the apple down next to whatever volume of Icha Icha his sempai had been reading. "He's got all the clearances he needs to hear whatever's going on with Naruto," Kakashi said and put his hand on Iruka's shoulder. "Go ahead, Yamato."
"There's been word from Naruto and Sakura?" The chuunin looked like a thousand pounds of worry had just evaporated when he cracked a smile. "Thank goodness. I heard in the teacher's lounge they'd been seen attacking Sound Village, but no one really knew what had happened." Yamato cringed inwardly, though he tried not to let it show on his face how upsetting it was to know that news had gotten to the faculty at the Academy as fast as it had gotten to the Hokage herself. Of course, the attack had been anything but subtle, and the battle was hardly classified, but still. It should have taken at least a day longer for word to get to the teacher's lounge. Meanwhile, Iruka had only one concern. "They're safe?" he asked.
"Actually..." Iruka had a much more animated face than Kakashi, on top of which he'd forgotten that the chuunin didn't know yet that his former students were completely unharmed, by all accounts. Yamato saw the man's eyes shoot wide with panic. "No, I mean," he corrected, waving his hands and smiling extra wide to reassure Iruka, "the attack on Sound was fine. They... ah. They won. I mean, it's actually about Sasuke. It sounds like..." He knew how much Kakashi had been through, and that the boy who ran off three years ago had never stopped being yet another teammate that his sempai thought he'd let down. After all this time, the first thing to show on his face at the Uchiha's name was still hope. Yamato had to smile. "Well, it sounds like he's with them."
His sempai's hand tightened on the chuunin's shoulder as Iruka reached up to grab it and asked with his eyes trembling, "Sasuke's coming home?"
"We can't say that for certain yet."
Kakashi was clearly smiling under his mask. "If he's decided to listen to his idiot teammates, that's a good enough start for me."
~//~
Rainbow-hued, holographic images hovered all around the shabby little cave, jabbering on about who was to do what, go where, bring in whom. Meditating like he had to do to send in the projection, Deidara couldn't even let his mind wander to a more interesting topic, and he certainly couldn't reach for the explosive clay in his real body's side pouch to make himself a model or two. He didn't know why they didn't just go collect all the jinchuuriki straight off, none of this shilly-shallying, yeah? What were they going to gain by waiting around?
"I presume you've all heard the news about Orochimaru," Pain addressed the company. Deidara's ears perked up, hearing his sempai's name. The bugger was dead, people were saying. He'd tried to poach that bastard Itachi's little brother and ended up carrion that probably even birds wouldn't touch. That'd teach him to try trading up when he bodysnatched.
Well, except that it wouldn't, since being dead and all there were no lessons to learn.
"I wanted to be the one to do him, too, yeah?" he muttered. With the spell on, of course, there wasn't much point in muttering. Everyone could hear every damn word you said whether you wanted them to or not.
"Silence," their leader called out to him. "The question is what to do about Uchiha Sasuke. He's traveling with the Nine-tail's jinchuuriki, and he's shown the capacity to take on a former member of our organization. It will complicate matters if they're still together when the time comes to collect the tailed beast."
"He's aiming for Itachi-sempai, isn't he?" Tobi's voice grated on every nerve Deidara had in his body. "It'd take more than beating a fail-boat wannabe like Orochimaru to survive a fight with Itachi-sempai!"
The brat lacked any sense of style whatsoever and simply could not keep his mouth shut. Traveling with Sasori-danna had been disturbing sometimes, but just because the puppet master had been a freak. Now that he had to spend most minutes of every day with some punk-ass kid who did little more than whine, he'd have welcomed a lecture on how to plunder a corpse to make a puppet capable of mimicking the former person's bloodline limit. Tobi was like his own personal hell in an orange mask.
Itachi, on the other hand... He was worse, somehow, even than Tobi. Tobi was just so annoying you wanted to kill him, and if you could catch him it probably wouldn't be that hard. Itachi didn't even need to talk to make you feel like there was no choice but to kill him, or admit you couldn't and retire in shame. He didn't know how Kisame could stand being on a team with that bastard. The Uchiha could look at you and look at you, and you just knew that no matter how hard you tried, he'd never see anything that impressed him. What was so big about being able to make illusions anyway? Tricks of the mind. Making something real, that was impressive. And someday, Deidara would make something that could even break him. There had to be something.
That'd be real art. That was beauty, right there.
"Itachi." Pain turned to look at the rainbow-patterned temporal soap bubble that was Itachi's form in this little meeting. "He's your brother. Do you have any thoughts?"
The Uchiha stared through them all, silent as a stone. He never had much to say at planning meetings, that one. All quiet and stoic and everyone thought he was cool. Really, Deidara was sure, he just didn't have any ambition. Poor baby. All that skill, no idea what to do with it.
Pathetic.
If he'd been that kind of a genius, you wouldn't have caught him running off and doing nothing with his life.
Okay, so maybe slaughtering his entire clan wasn't exactly nothing, but for freak's sake, couldn't he have staged a coup if he was that incredible? That Demon of the Bloody Mist or whatever he was called, that Zabuza guy... He'd nearly managed it, and Konoha wasn't half as hardcore as Mist. Also, Zabuza had been taken out by one jounin who was babysitting three new genin fresh out of school and a civilian.
Though, to be fair, their intelligence on Zabuza indicated that it had been the Nine-Tail's genin team that did it, which meant the jounin and one of those kids had nearly done him in himself not too long ago. Not to mention the one who'd taken out Sasori-danna with the help of some tottering old fool from Sand. They'd only had three years to grow into that kind of power, so maybe the Demon wasn't a total pushover. He still couldn't hold a candle to most of Akatsuki or they'd have recruited him back in the day.
And Itachi, as annoying as he was, was in a whole 'nother league.
Whenever he got to thinking about it, there was something damn weird about that guy. One thing Deidara knew for sure was that he didn't like it.
"So what if Orochimaru's boy-toy is with the damn jinchuuriki?" Hidan yelled from across the circle. "Shit. I say we haul 'em both in and show the little fuckers a thing or two. Zashin will make short work of a couple of upstart bitches like them."
Itachi's eyes, ever silent, ever watching, fell on Hidan. Could those perfect genjutsu of his work though the communications spell they used to meet here? Deidara wouldn't have wanted to test it himself, but Hidan didn't seem afraid. Then again, he'd never faced off against Itachi, yeah? How was he gonna know what it was like to have your whole world twisted around and nothing you could do about it? That bastard's spells weren't like anything else.
"We can't seal the Nine-tails until we've sealed the other eight beasts, Hidan. We leave his jinchuuriki for now."
"What, he can't sit around waiting? It can't take us too long to collect the rest of them."
"Perhaps you'd like to be the one who sits here for that time, babysitting the jinchuuriki?"
"A fuckin' 'no' is good enough! You don't have to be a jackass about it."
"As long as we understand one another."
Kisame was the next to speak up. "That doesn't, however, clear the matter of Uchiha Sasuke from the table. He will find us eventually." He turned to Itachi, who still looked unconcerned. Damn bastard's face never changed. "He'll find you."
Itachi held for a moment, staring down every member of Akatsuki in turn as they all watched him closely. Then he turned to Kisame and spoke in a clear tone, so unconcerned that he sounded downright bored at the prospect.
"Let him," was all the elder Uchiha said before clamming up again and letting the group get on with their business.
Not even Pain saw fit to argue with him on the matter.
continued in...
// Two in the Bush // Out of Hand
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
*********************************
Thanks, as ever, to sumeria for her help beta reading this chapter.
Not much to say at this time, except that I've had a lot of fun this afternoon plotting exactly how Itachi is going to get Hidan for the things he said about Sasuke. Thank you all for reading, and thank you in advance for any comments! I hope you've liked the story so far.
CHAPTER: 4 -- Spin Control
SERIES: Naruto (Alternate Shippuuden)
PAIRING: Uchiha Sasuke x Uzumaki Naruto, with a hint of Kakashi x Iruka
DISCLAIMER: The original manga Naruto is the work of Kishimoto Masashi. Characters have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
WARNINGS: 1) Series contains both yaoi and het relationships, but is currently non-explicit. 2) Adult language will persist as the story goes on. In this chapter specifically, Hidan needs to wash his mouth out with soap. 3) While this section does not contain any spoilers for recent events, the Homecoming saga as a whole may reference current Japanese releases. 4) Transitional chapter. Necessary, but not action-packed.
RATING: PG-13 - Strong language
SUMMARY: It all began with an impromptu meeting and a pre-breakfast kiss. Now, Konoha's most tenacious ninja doesn't want to leave Sasuke's side until they're going home together. But when Sound Village is gone and Sasuke still doesn't think that's possible, Konoha and Tsunade have a problem on their hands: get the AWOL Naruto back into training and away from Akatsuki's line of sight without alienating his temperamental boyfriend.
NOTE: This story contains brief references to a "mission" where Naruto ran into Sasuke. The events are taken from the Shippuuden movie Kizuna, which I did finally get around to watching so that it would be possible to continue this story.
1: "Kizuna" // 2: "Operation: Why Not?" // 3: "Forecast: Windy with a Chance of Flames" //
[Chapter 4: "Spin Control"]
"They did what?!" Tsunade yelled. All of Hokage Tower seemed to shake as she jumped up from her seat and slammed her hands down on the desk, and for a moment the squawks and flutters of birds flying away from her window echoed in every corner.
Tsushin, the jounin who'd given the report about the alleged attack on Sound Village, stood at attention. "There's no question. Eyewitnesses placed ninja matching the descriptions of Naruto and Sakura at the site. Follow up reconnaissance confirms that the area was the current main camp for Sound Village, and..."
He trailed off. The Hokage took her seat, crossing her arms across her chest, and waited for him to continue. Naruto she might have expected to run off, chasing Sasuke's footsteps back to Sound Village after his friend's sudden appearance. She would have liked for him to report back properly on the mission where they'd crossed paths, he hadn't actually abandoned his proper task for his personal whims. She couldn't find it in herself to be angry at him. Sakura, on the other hand...
She would have expected something else from Sakura, but perhaps she could understand why they'd both go that far.
"And?" Tsunade prompted. She wouldn't be kept waiting on the end results. Neither Naruto nor Sakura could be dead, or the jounin would have had a different face on. He wasn't sad, or resigned. To be honest, he looked scared. "Spit it out," Tsunade ordered.
"Hokage-sama, it seems Orochimaru was killed."
She had enough control to not even blink, although she couldn't believe it. Part of her didn't want to believe it. Even though she knew perfectly well that Orochimaru was a criminal, even though she'd resigned herself to his punishment -- especially after he'd killed Sarutobi-sensei -- a little part of herself had always hoped that he'd settle down out of view and live happily in his own way until he found some natural death. Still, there was another part of her that knew it simply wasn't possible, not for shinobi like they had been. But Naruto and Sakura? Even together, even if Orochimaru wasn't at his best, they shouldn't have been able to take him down. Had his condition worsened even more than when she'd seen him last? Had her protege and her apprentice been capable of more than she'd imagined?
She swallowed, biting the inside of her lip to focus and calm herself. "I see," Tsunade said. "Which of them did it?" She resolved not to bear a grudge against either of them for doing their duty by the village or acting out of their affection for Sasuke. As the Hokage, she didn't have that luxury, and as Orochimaru's friend she let herself hope her old teammate might find some peace at last.
"The reports..." Tsushin said, hesitating slightly. "The reports indicate that the one who killed him was Uchiha Sasuke. The witnesses seemed trustworthy, though frightened and scattered. They all agreed on that point."
"Sasuke?" She didn't know what to think. "You're certain it was Uchiha Sasuke? And he was working with Naruto and Sakura?"
"There seems to be no confusion, Hokage-sama."
Well. Maybe Naruto's obstinacy has claimed another victim, Tsunade thought to herself, though I didn't think Sasuke would be such an easy mark. She'd have to see him with her own eyes before she could be sure.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune called from the side of the room, approaching with a pile of letters. She pulled two off the top and handed them over directly, placing the rest of the pile on the desk. "Communiques from Sakura."
"This ought to be rich," she muttered, then turned to Shizune. "Go send for Sai. I want him here five minutes ago."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
She tore open the letter and began reading. The fact that they'd run into Sasuke in the course of their assault on the enemy base was already known; Hinata, at least, had given a proper report on everything that had happened, and plenty of witnesses had seen Naruto running off into the woods after Sasuke's trail with Sakura on his heels. Apparently, they'd caught up with him when he ran afoul of a border skirmish. No problems for any of them, but the delay allowed them to re-establish contact and gave them an opportunity to strike against Sound. On the one hand, it meant Sasuke had been working for Orochimaru and turned easily. Someone who traded alliances easily was hardly an ally to keep. On the other hand, he'd turned for Naruto. They'd forged an alliance with Sand on the brink of outright war for essentially the same reason, and it was the strongest alliance she'd ever seen. Goodness knew, Naruto had that effect on people.
Of course, they would have been back in the village before news of the attack could have reached her if they'd returned directly. That didn't bode quite so well for the Uchiha's allegiance, nor did it say much for the decision-making capacity of her two young shinobi.
She was just about to open the second letter from Sakura when Shizune opened the door and called out to her.
"Tsunade-sama!"
Looking up, she saw Sai's blank, smiling face standing in the hallway. "Sai. Perfect timing. I need you to head out and collect your teammates."
"They've been distracted by Sasuke-kun, I suppose," he said pleasantly and stepped inside the office.
"So it seems." She finished tearing open the second letter, which started with a report that the 'mission' to take out Sound Village had been a success, and an apology for not coming back immediately. Sasuke had a few 'loose ends' to tie up, Sakura reported, and it was her judgment that assisting him was a good use of her time and Naruto's. She was requesting a week to stay with him and get matters sorted out. Tsunade read the letter and sighed, shaking her head. "From the sound of things, I'd say Uchiha Sasuke doesn't plan to come home. Naruto's being stubborn and doesn't want to leave him," Tsunade said aloud to the room. "They're heading up north, toward one of Orochimaru's old hideouts by way of an island prison. We have some intelligence on the location of both facilities, and I'd say the best place to intercept them is... here." She walked over to the map, indicating a spot between the prison and the research facility for Sai. "I don't care if you have to stuff Naruto into a bag and drag him the whole way. Get him home. With Uchiha Sasuke, if possible, but don't use force on him." The last thing she wanted to do was scare the boy, or put him on the defensive. That could only backfire. "Follow Naruto's lead on how to handle him."
"Naruto might not appreciate that," Sai replied. "He has a very personal relationship with Sasuke-kun. I might be a bit of a third wheel."
Tsunade squinted at him, not quite sure what to make of his commentary. "Just follow Naruto's judgment about whether you should treat him as friend or foe, and if anyone is going to push him to come back to Konoha, let it be Naruto. Don't involve yourself in that."
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
"Go carefully, and be on watch for enemy operatives. It should take you four days to catch up to them at that rate, which will give Sakura the week she asked for." She frowned and bit her lip as she considered the map of the area. "I just hope it's enough," she whispered.
"Hokage-sama," Tsushin asked. "What will be your response to the attack?"
She didn't face him. The matter of getting Sakura and Naruto back to the village was far more difficult than the question of how to handle one surprise attack. "We were at war with Sound Village, weren't we? I'd say we just won a decisive battle."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Now to convince her excitable little rugrats to come back to the village before their 'initiative' led them to take some action she couldn't dismiss so easily or Akatsuki set their eyes on them. She'd need to get a full report from Jiraiya on the group's movements as soon as he was able to rendezvous with his contact. As powerful as the members of Team Kakashi were, one cell on its own was no match for the people on Naruto's tail. Turning to the crowd around her desk, she called out, "You have your orders. Everyone's dismissed."
They all answered in chorus, bowing and heading for the door. Tsunade rubbed her chin, thinking very hard about the situation. Uchiha Sasuke was a problem, and she didn't have enough information to deal with him properly, nor did she have Naruto's blind faith in the boy. But was that enough to dismiss the faith she had in Naruto's influence?
She spread Sakura's two letters out on the desk, studied them carefully, and reached into her filing drawer. She'd kept Sasuke out of the bingo book, overruling the elders, but even she couldn't help filing him with the missing nin. His whole history -- with mission reports in Kakashi's handwriting and notes on progress up to his performance in the Chuunin Exam -- was recorded in clear, bland text that hardly conveyed the appropriate level of fear and anxiety. More than anything, the tiny note under his name, "younger of two Uchiha survivors -- see Uchiha clan [CLASSIFIED], Uchiha Itachi [TOP SECRET: SPECIAL ACCESS ONLY]," completely fell short of expressing the childhood he must have lived. She'd looked over this file many times before. She'd gotten Kakashi's impressions, and Iruka's. She'd hoped to look into Itachi's file as well, but it was apparently so outrageously 'Top Secret' that its very location was unknown to anybody and everybody in Konoha's government. That, or they were all lying to her, which she couldn't discount.
But what about now? What was she supposed to do if Sasuke came home with Naruto? The town elders had given her substantial trouble about her decision not to hunt him down and kill him, right up until Danzou had stepped in to remind them that they couldn't lay a hand on the boy because of the promise they'd made. A promise that no amount of questioning would make them reveal. If she was going to fight them to let Sasuke rejoin the village -- and she had no interest in trying to explain to Naruto that all his work convincing the boy to return was for nothing, nor in convincing the Uchiha that Konoha couldn't be trusted -- she wanted to be damn sure Sasuke was worth her trouble.
Well, if he comes back, she thought to herself, he's probably worth all the trouble I can spare just to keep Naruto in the village. And if he's coming back for Naruto...
She studied the final line at the bottom of the last page, detailing his defection to Orochimaru -- written in her own hand. "Retrieval attempt failed. Uzumaki Naruto, fallen at the Valley of the Ends, was the last of the team to see Uchiha Sasuke." It wasn't even an echo of how the day had felt.
And if Sasuke came back...
If he came back of his own free will, then she wouldn't turn him away. It wasn't any use thinking about it. There was no other decision she could make.
Tsunade pulled out a blank sheet of paper and a pen, twirling it slowly in her fingers as she bit her thumb and thought about what to write.
~//~
"Kakashi-sempai," he said as he pushed open the door to the hospital room.
"Ah, Tenzou," the team leader replied, then closing his novel and setting it aside on the stand by his bed. "What's the story?"
"It's... Yamato, sempai. If you would?" What was the point of a code name, anyway, if his sempai addressed him informally? Kakashi knew that, of course. Well, at least he only forgot to use it when they were alone.
"Right, Yamato. I wasn't expecting to see you until three. So, if you've come to see me early, I assume we'll have Naruto back any day now. It's about time, too." Yamato nodded, and Kakashi stretched his arms and legs and pushed himself out of his bed. The assault on the village that ended up drawing Naruto away had given Kakashi the temporary excuse to leave the doctors' care as he'd been itching to do, but they'd demanded he come back to finish recuperating as soon as it was over. He'd asked for updates on Naruto every day -- and not just because resuming Wind Element training would give him another excuse to get out of bed. Yamato could read Kakashi's face about as well as anyone in ANBU, and he knew how hard it had to be to obey orders and stay here while two... no, three members of his team were in potential danger. As much as his sempai might try to write off Uchiha Sasuke and counsel Naruto to do the same, it was clear he hadn't cut his bonds any more than the blond had.
"Do you need your crutches?" he asked.
With a shake of his head, Kakashi said, "No, I'll be fine. The doctors want me to rest a bit more, but I need to start using my muscles properly again." He looked out the window and sighed. Yamato got the overwhelming impression that he would have preferred to jump out the window rather than look, and run after their young charges as fast as he could. "I know how much Sasuke means to Naruto. Believe me, I know. But he couldn't have picked a worse time to run off. After Akatsuki's attack on Gaara in Sand Village and the way you say he reacted at the Tenchi Bridge, he's more at risk than ever. Naruto needs to be training for what comes next."
Normally, Naruto would have been more invested in his training than anyone else he could imagine -- with only the possible exceptions being Kakashi's rival, Guy, or the man's protege, Lee. But they all knew there was one subject that would take Naruto's attention completely, no matter what he should have been doing. When he'd been handed the chance to chase Sasuke, he probably wouldn't even remember what type of elemental manipulation he favored, let alone be thinking about training it. He'd be running straight forward after his goal.
The pain of years past showed in the creases of Kakashi's face when he frowned, gaze still locked on the horizon. "I hate to say it, but there are things out there that might matter more than Sasuke right now." He'd trained for years to read people's voices and posture for information, but even so the only reason he knew how much Kakashi hated to say that was the years he'd spent with Kakashi as his own squad leader. More important than any other rules, he'd set them one basic directive: never abandon your teammates.
Ever.
The one person he'd seen suggest it found himself off the duty roster for a month and was never allowed to serve with Kakashi again.
Yamato glanced at his hand on reflex. Even if he couldn't make any assurances about Akatsuki's plans, or Naruto's training while he and Sakura were away, or say much that was certain about Sasuke's future, he could report on one thing. "Naruto didn't manifest any of the beast's tails while he was away. There's that, at least."
"There is that." Kakashi stretched down to his toes. With another sigh, he pulled himself up and twisted out his back before looking toward the window again. His eyes seemed to gaze further off than the horizon beyond the village wall. "Still, we need to finish his wind manipulation training and strengthen his control over the Nine-Tails. I don't want him to lose it the next time someone mentions Sasuke running off."
Well, even if they didn't have the full story yet, Kakashi needed to know what they had heard. "Sempai..." he started.
"Yes?" Kakashi turned around with his one visible eyebrow raised.
Just then, the door cracked open. They both turned to see the schoolteacher, Iruka, jump and clutch the apple he was carrying to his chest. "If... there's official business, I can come back later," he said.
Kakashi shook his head. "Come in. It's okay." The schoolteacher walked over to Kakashi's side and put the apple down next to whatever volume of Icha Icha his sempai had been reading. "He's got all the clearances he needs to hear whatever's going on with Naruto," Kakashi said and put his hand on Iruka's shoulder. "Go ahead, Yamato."
"There's been word from Naruto and Sakura?" The chuunin looked like a thousand pounds of worry had just evaporated when he cracked a smile. "Thank goodness. I heard in the teacher's lounge they'd been seen attacking Sound Village, but no one really knew what had happened." Yamato cringed inwardly, though he tried not to let it show on his face how upsetting it was to know that news had gotten to the faculty at the Academy as fast as it had gotten to the Hokage herself. Of course, the attack had been anything but subtle, and the battle was hardly classified, but still. It should have taken at least a day longer for word to get to the teacher's lounge. Meanwhile, Iruka had only one concern. "They're safe?" he asked.
"Actually..." Iruka had a much more animated face than Kakashi, on top of which he'd forgotten that the chuunin didn't know yet that his former students were completely unharmed, by all accounts. Yamato saw the man's eyes shoot wide with panic. "No, I mean," he corrected, waving his hands and smiling extra wide to reassure Iruka, "the attack on Sound was fine. They... ah. They won. I mean, it's actually about Sasuke. It sounds like..." He knew how much Kakashi had been through, and that the boy who ran off three years ago had never stopped being yet another teammate that his sempai thought he'd let down. After all this time, the first thing to show on his face at the Uchiha's name was still hope. Yamato had to smile. "Well, it sounds like he's with them."
His sempai's hand tightened on the chuunin's shoulder as Iruka reached up to grab it and asked with his eyes trembling, "Sasuke's coming home?"
"We can't say that for certain yet."
Kakashi was clearly smiling under his mask. "If he's decided to listen to his idiot teammates, that's a good enough start for me."
~//~
Rainbow-hued, holographic images hovered all around the shabby little cave, jabbering on about who was to do what, go where, bring in whom. Meditating like he had to do to send in the projection, Deidara couldn't even let his mind wander to a more interesting topic, and he certainly couldn't reach for the explosive clay in his real body's side pouch to make himself a model or two. He didn't know why they didn't just go collect all the jinchuuriki straight off, none of this shilly-shallying, yeah? What were they going to gain by waiting around?
"I presume you've all heard the news about Orochimaru," Pain addressed the company. Deidara's ears perked up, hearing his sempai's name. The bugger was dead, people were saying. He'd tried to poach that bastard Itachi's little brother and ended up carrion that probably even birds wouldn't touch. That'd teach him to try trading up when he bodysnatched.
Well, except that it wouldn't, since being dead and all there were no lessons to learn.
"I wanted to be the one to do him, too, yeah?" he muttered. With the spell on, of course, there wasn't much point in muttering. Everyone could hear every damn word you said whether you wanted them to or not.
"Silence," their leader called out to him. "The question is what to do about Uchiha Sasuke. He's traveling with the Nine-tail's jinchuuriki, and he's shown the capacity to take on a former member of our organization. It will complicate matters if they're still together when the time comes to collect the tailed beast."
"He's aiming for Itachi-sempai, isn't he?" Tobi's voice grated on every nerve Deidara had in his body. "It'd take more than beating a fail-boat wannabe like Orochimaru to survive a fight with Itachi-sempai!"
The brat lacked any sense of style whatsoever and simply could not keep his mouth shut. Traveling with Sasori-danna had been disturbing sometimes, but just because the puppet master had been a freak. Now that he had to spend most minutes of every day with some punk-ass kid who did little more than whine, he'd have welcomed a lecture on how to plunder a corpse to make a puppet capable of mimicking the former person's bloodline limit. Tobi was like his own personal hell in an orange mask.
Itachi, on the other hand... He was worse, somehow, even than Tobi. Tobi was just so annoying you wanted to kill him, and if you could catch him it probably wouldn't be that hard. Itachi didn't even need to talk to make you feel like there was no choice but to kill him, or admit you couldn't and retire in shame. He didn't know how Kisame could stand being on a team with that bastard. The Uchiha could look at you and look at you, and you just knew that no matter how hard you tried, he'd never see anything that impressed him. What was so big about being able to make illusions anyway? Tricks of the mind. Making something real, that was impressive. And someday, Deidara would make something that could even break him. There had to be something.
That'd be real art. That was beauty, right there.
"Itachi." Pain turned to look at the rainbow-patterned temporal soap bubble that was Itachi's form in this little meeting. "He's your brother. Do you have any thoughts?"
The Uchiha stared through them all, silent as a stone. He never had much to say at planning meetings, that one. All quiet and stoic and everyone thought he was cool. Really, Deidara was sure, he just didn't have any ambition. Poor baby. All that skill, no idea what to do with it.
Pathetic.
If he'd been that kind of a genius, you wouldn't have caught him running off and doing nothing with his life.
Okay, so maybe slaughtering his entire clan wasn't exactly nothing, but for freak's sake, couldn't he have staged a coup if he was that incredible? That Demon of the Bloody Mist or whatever he was called, that Zabuza guy... He'd nearly managed it, and Konoha wasn't half as hardcore as Mist. Also, Zabuza had been taken out by one jounin who was babysitting three new genin fresh out of school and a civilian.
Though, to be fair, their intelligence on Zabuza indicated that it had been the Nine-Tail's genin team that did it, which meant the jounin and one of those kids had nearly done him in himself not too long ago. Not to mention the one who'd taken out Sasori-danna with the help of some tottering old fool from Sand. They'd only had three years to grow into that kind of power, so maybe the Demon wasn't a total pushover. He still couldn't hold a candle to most of Akatsuki or they'd have recruited him back in the day.
And Itachi, as annoying as he was, was in a whole 'nother league.
Whenever he got to thinking about it, there was something damn weird about that guy. One thing Deidara knew for sure was that he didn't like it.
"So what if Orochimaru's boy-toy is with the damn jinchuuriki?" Hidan yelled from across the circle. "Shit. I say we haul 'em both in and show the little fuckers a thing or two. Zashin will make short work of a couple of upstart bitches like them."
Itachi's eyes, ever silent, ever watching, fell on Hidan. Could those perfect genjutsu of his work though the communications spell they used to meet here? Deidara wouldn't have wanted to test it himself, but Hidan didn't seem afraid. Then again, he'd never faced off against Itachi, yeah? How was he gonna know what it was like to have your whole world twisted around and nothing you could do about it? That bastard's spells weren't like anything else.
"We can't seal the Nine-tails until we've sealed the other eight beasts, Hidan. We leave his jinchuuriki for now."
"What, he can't sit around waiting? It can't take us too long to collect the rest of them."
"Perhaps you'd like to be the one who sits here for that time, babysitting the jinchuuriki?"
"A fuckin' 'no' is good enough! You don't have to be a jackass about it."
"As long as we understand one another."
Kisame was the next to speak up. "That doesn't, however, clear the matter of Uchiha Sasuke from the table. He will find us eventually." He turned to Itachi, who still looked unconcerned. Damn bastard's face never changed. "He'll find you."
Itachi held for a moment, staring down every member of Akatsuki in turn as they all watched him closely. Then he turned to Kisame and spoke in a clear tone, so unconcerned that he sounded downright bored at the prospect.
"Let him," was all the elder Uchiha said before clamming up again and letting the group get on with their business.
Not even Pain saw fit to argue with him on the matter.
continued in...
// Two in the Bush // Out of Hand
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
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Thanks, as ever, to sumeria for her help beta reading this chapter.
Not much to say at this time, except that I've had a lot of fun this afternoon plotting exactly how Itachi is going to get Hidan for the things he said about Sasuke. Thank you all for reading, and thank you in advance for any comments! I hope you've liked the story so far.