[Naruto] The Return 5/5
Title: The Return
Author: runespoor7
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In the middle of a war the usual thing is that people die. It's more unusual when they return alive after having been thought dead for three months. Hinata, after being a prisoner in Sound, does.
Notes: Well, this is it. The end. With Shikaku. And, well, most of everyone. Thank you for your support and kind words!
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
V.
When Nara Shikaku opened his eyes sometime around mid-afternoon - too early, for someone who'd spent half the night circling around the village, and then the best part of the morning supervising a number of the newest genins and their progress, trying to repress all feelings and afraid that he may one day succeed - he awoke to find his wife had sat on the bed next to him, probably about to shake him to full consciousness faster.
He registered the hitai-ate secured around her forehead - she was leaving - the squeaky swinging of the open window - no, she was just back for a minute - and the delighted smile on her lips.
He propped to his elbows.
"Shikamaru is reporting to the Hokage." Yoshino's eyes were gleaming. "Everyone's well," and that meant Ino and Shikamaru and Chouji were alive and none had to be carried to the hospital, and now Yoshino would leave on her courier mission feeling better, because her son was alive.
"Who else was with them?" Shikaku interrogated as he haphazardly grabbed clothes.
He caught a glimpse of Yoshino's reflection, in the mirror. She was pulling a face.
"As if I was going to care! I'll have you know I ran all the way back here to let your sorry ass know Shikamaru was in town and where you'd find him when you, mister, are ready! And if all you want to know about is who else is with them, well then, you'll know soon enough, won't you, or at least you would if you hurried!"
Shikaku smiled faintly. Yoshino's cheeks had colored, two patches of pink that stood out when she was angry.
"You're right," he said amiably. Then, because she was leaving and he couldn't be sure that she'd be back at all, and if he wanted her to come back he'd better make sure she had a good reason, he called, as she hmmphed and went through the window again, to meet her team (which'd be waiting for her, Shikaku thought when he saw the clock; dashing back here had made her late), "Yoshino? Don't die before I do, right?"
She didn't pause in her roof-borne race, but Shikaku felt confident that she'd heard him. When she was back, she was going to yell at him a lot for shouting like a teenager with a crush where all the neighbors could listen. But it'd be alright.
The trick, Inoichi had assured him - as Inoichi was the original desperate-teenager-with-a-crush to actually use the words during a war and not just think them - was to make it sound like a promise. (A Passionate Exclamation of the Heart, Gai would have said, but Inoichi didn't talk to Chouza for three whole hours after he'd said that. At the time, Gai was a student at the academy and Inoichi, who was still teaching there, didn't think mentioning the little ball of restless Energy was any fun.)
It didn't quite work like that with Yoshino. Nothing ever worked the way it was expected to, with Yoshino. (Shikaku never told his son that Shikamaru was supposed to be a pair of girls.)
Out of habit, Shikaku voiced it so that the decision was Yoshino's. So far, it had worked.
Arriving at the Hokage tower, Shikaku knew Yoshino had been right; the ground floor was crowded with Sand-nins, sitting on the floor with the harassed look of travelers everywhere.
On the side, his teammates were reuniting with their children - Shikaku nodded at them as he crossed the hall; Ino, her hair shorter than Shikaku remembered, waved back, and Chouji, interrupting his wordless communication with his father, smiled. They were looking good. Inoichi couldn't stop hugging his daughter, Chouza was beaming.
Shikamaru was nowhere in sight; Chouji pointed to the opposite doorway and gave an encouraging nod. He was in the Hokage's office, Shikaku translated, and Tsunade-sama had apparently given her authorization that he might join the meeting.
Shikaku knocked at the door.
Before the war, there'd have been at least two or three clerks or guards in the corridor, and maybe Shizune if she wasn't working elsewhere at the moment, but reducing the numbers of shinobi assigned to the Hokage's service by half had been Tsunade-sama's first move when they'd been attacked - and she only kept as much as she did now because of the paperwork, for which she had now less time than ever. Several of the special ninjas staying in Konoha had paperwork duty; Shikaku knew for a fact that Morino Ibiki shared his time between the decoding of the latest messages and his usual responsibilities of head of the Intelligence and Interrogation department.
"Come in!" Tsunade's voice rang clearly. Shikaku entered.
Tsunade looked up and the three shinobi sitting in front of her - because they'd been traveling for a long, long time now - turned to face him, and here was Shikamaru, in the left-hand seat, looking weary and whole and here, and brightening when he saw his father.
His son's back marginally straightened, and it looked a little less like he was slouching in front of the Hokage, though Shikaku pertinently knew that it had everything to do with the lessons his mother had worked hard to ingrain in him and the quiet-seeking instinct Shikamaru had developed as a result, and nothing at all with proper respect. Then it relaxed slightly, as if Shikamaru had remembered his mother had told him she was leaving on a mission, when they'd met at the gates.
The Sand envoy was looking at him with a blank expression, but in a glimpse Shikaku saw Temari send a crinkle-eyed, teeth-flashing grin to Shikamaru; then she looked back at him with a greeting stance, lips quirked. Shikaku thought there was something like sardonic gratefulness in her smile, but decided not to look too deep.
It would be much wiser to just ignore everything entirely and let Yoshino deal with it the way she saw fit.
On the kunoichi's other side was Hyuuga Neji, whose attitude, in complete contrast with Shikamaru's, was screaming with such tension that even a civilian would have picked up on it.
Shikaku tried not to stare. What was he doing here?
Was there really such a risk - of him deserting, going against direct orders, snapping, who knew, wars provided no shortage of risks - that calling him back was the safer route?
"Sorry, Shikaku-san," Tsunade said in a cheerful tone - surely the consequence of the twenty-five or so Sand-nins lounging in her hall. "We weren't expecting you so soon. But do sit down - I was just telling our travelers about Grass' retreat."
He obediently dragged a chair next to his son's, who was watching him with raised eyebrows and a smirk. What, should he discuss his Hokage's commands, or - the corner of Shikamaru's lips twisted to mouth, 'whipped'. The twerp. Normally, Shikamaru's action shouldn't have gone unnoticed by the Hokage, but she was shuffling through the papers on her desk.
Shikaku very discreetly rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn't react. He didn't see the point in looking at the Sand girl.
"If you are waiting for Intelligence, I could go in the corridor, Hokage-sama," Shikaku suggested.
Tsunade liked hearing the reports and receiving her war-time allies with Intelligence; Shikaku supposed it gave her another perspective as well as saved time. Time, like manpower, was precious.
The Hokage didn't look up from the scroll she was taking notes on, with brisk wrist moves. "As a protector of the village, you're going to be more or less directly concerned anyway, and that way you can pass the info to your teammates. I don't want to go through the same conversation three times."
At the far right, Neji bristled. Shikaku eyed him with distrust. He was no expert at reading people, but no-one could miss the younger jounin's agitation. The Sand-nin's jaw twitched, and Shikamaru's expression froze. Something's gonna give, he could almost hear Inoichi whisper.
"Hokage-sama, perhaps my presence here is unnecessary." Neji's back was ramrod straight, and he was staring right at her. "I should be with my clan."
A tiny groan escaped Shikamaru's lips.
This time, Shikaku did stare. Maybe he'd misjudged the gravity of the situation.
He wondered just for a moment if Neji really did think the Hokage was going to let him go like that, or if he was being deliberately rebellious, with his demure-sounding impatience. Studying the jounin's tautness, he realized that Neji hoped - blind to the immovable fatality.
Tsunade's earth-shaking sigh cut through the tension.
"I swear, kids nowadays… No, you can't. Just stay where you are - the Hyuuga won't disappear, and there's nothing for you to do at the compound for the moment anyway."
She looked at him meaningfully.
Neji's features shifted to take an expression of stony determination, and suddenly Shikaku thought he was seeing someone else.
"You'll be able to do what you want to do soon enough," the Hokage blithely went on, as she finished organizing the papers on her desk.
There was a soft, clear knock at the door. Tsunade smiled, as if saying, 'See?'.
"Come in!"
Hyuuga Hinata stepped into the Hokage's office.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. Temari sucked in a shaky breath. And Hyuuga Neji froze.
Shikaku sent a glance at the Hokage. Why such a violent reaction to - Tsunade-sama was smirking. Self-righteously smirking.
Like someone who'd virtuously predicted how badly you'd lose that fight, and sauntered next to you after you'd had your ass so relentlessly kicked you couldn't even remember your name, and didn't have the decency to put their smugness in a sing-songed 'I told you so'.
Oh, the bitch.
She hadn't told them.
When she'd said that she'd just been telling them about Grass, Shikaku hadn't realized it meant she hadn't told them about the village - about Hinata - at all.
If Tsunade hadn't told Neji about his cousin - that she'd left the hospital four days before - then, well, Neji's intensity made a lot more sense.
The girl greeted them all with her soft, quiet voice, white eyes searching each of them as she called their name, starting with the Hokage and ending with her cousin - she stammered the last, not that Shikaku could blame her, what with the terrifying glare Neji was sending her way, but she didn't look down.
There was something odd about seeing the head of the Hyuuga made uneasy by a Branch House member, but Shikaku reminded himself who these two were.
Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji had been dancing along the line of the truly bizarre for so long now that there was no reason a sudden modification in their circumstances would change that - not on the spot - not that Shikaku'd ever try and understand them.
Neji jerkily stood up, never taking his eyes away from Hinata, the move only a less smooth version of a scene that had happened countless times before, one of the quirks common with ninjas which other shinobi accepted as part of life, the opposite, just as extreme, of what he'd done during Shikamaru's chuunin exam.
Hinata flushed slightly as he walked toward her; there was a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips, trembling. She stood, poised to fight or to flee - and, surprisingly for everyone who'd never met her before, she'd only flee if he didn't attack, because if he attacked she would never back down. Like Neji, her stance wasn't unusual, only more awkward.
Neji hovered for seconds on end a few meters away from Hinata, looking.
"Hinata-sama," he said, as if in answer to her earlier greeting.
Shikaku wondered what the Hokage was waiting for - expecting - but he couldn't look away, because just at that moment, Neji darted forward, too close to an unflinching Hinata, holding her gaze for a moment, then dropped his head and bowed.
Shikaku had seen members of the Branch House bowing to Hyuuga Hiashi, and he'd watched Hiashi acknowledge the gesture. This was not like it.
For one, Neji was bowing lower. For another, Hinata was smiling.
A symbol, Shikaku thought. The best member of the Bunke paying homage to the new head of clan. Assuring Hinata he wouldn't stand in the way of her power, maybe. …Or something else entirely, because it wasn't as if Neji would do such a thing to Hinata. Nevertheless, Shikaku liked the symbolic explanation. It was clean and easy to grasp. …So it could definitely not be it.
Then Neji swiftly straightened and stepped aside, taking his chair out for her.
"Hinata-sama," he intoned, and there was a hint of - smugness? Relief? …No trying to understand the Hyuuga.
Hinata graced him with another of her ghostly smiles. "Thank you, Neji-niisan; for now my place is on the other side of the desk."
Shikaku mused that the way Neji kept his eyes from popping out of his head was very impressive. He knew he'd have been much more obvious if his wife, his son, or his teammates had sprung something like that on him, even if trying to come up with parallels for Hinata-and-Neji was meaningless. It was interesting how, when you met them separately, you could almost relate to them, and when they were together they became alien, too Hyuuga for anyone to understand them.
As it was, Neji had a very peculiar expression on his face when Hinata joined Tsunade, standing on her right.
Shikamaru stopped chewing on his lip. "You're replacing Shizune, Hinata?"
Under her fringe, Hinata blinked. "Oh, no."
"Hinata-san is working in Intelligence and Interrogation nowadays," Tsunade interjected.
Shikaku felt hackles rising at the back of his neck, watching Hinata's serene, distant smile. Of course it'd be too much to hope that anyone might leave an interrogation chamber with their sanity unscathed. (Another part of his mind noted that her getting recruited certainly explained why it had taken them so long before releasing her.)
…She didn't look like she'd make much of a spy, with her distinctive eyes and the way she wore her emotions on her sleeve, but she'd endured thirteen weeks of torture and not broken. Tsunade-sama and Ibiki must have found things that'd be useful. Maybe they'd trained her for Interrogation more than Intelligence.
"I've made Hinata-san one of our special jounins," the Hokage continued.
Special jounin. She couldn't be as unbroken as Shikaku had believed she'd be, then. From the way the other three tensed up in their various ways, they knew that as well as he did. Neji's expression had clammed up, and for approximately half a second Shikaku was reminded of Uchiha Itachi's dispassionate composure. Empty like a mask that didn't slip.
Shikaku observed the girl's demeanor - a bit uncomfortable but unfaltering.
He'd never have pegged the little Hyuuga girl as being strong enough to break and pick up the pieces afterwards - not that he'd have pegged her as being strong enough to escape from an interrogation chamber of Orochimaru's, either. Not that he'd ever thought about it.
"So, anything special happen during that trip, or were there just the expected skirmishes?"
The Sand jounin looked back to the Hokage, folding her hands and crossing her legs at the ankles. "There was a delay when I found two of my people to be traitors, but they were disposed of; there may have been a leak concerning the whereabouts of the squad led by Namiashi Raidou, but Namiashi-san provided no details whatsoever concerning his mission, so the risk of any vital information having been passed on to our enemies is minimal."
Tsunade-sama had rested her elbows on her desk and was listening to the Sand envoy, her fingertips joined. Shikaku glanced at the kunoichi standing next to the Hokage. One advantage a Hyuuga in Intelligence and Interrogation presented, they had no pupils. As long as they didn't turn their head, you couldn't guess where they were looking.
"Three days were spent helping Leaf-nin Sai, who was being pursued by a total of six shinobis, two of which were Sound chuunins, under the supervision of a Cloud jounin. He was injured, but one of my medic-nins had healed him by the time we had to leave him." Temari frowned.
"The pursuers seemed to suspect that he was to meet with Hatake Kakashi, which I am inclined to believe was a result of one of the Sound-nin's jutsus. It made her mildly telepathic, and she killed the last Cloud-nin when he was about to be taken prisoner for fear that he'd spill the beans."
She looked perfectly controlled. Shikamaru's grave countenance told Shikaku that the shifting in speech patterns was a regular occurrence. He'd probably helped her in her reasoning anyway.
"I'd say the jutsu was a bloodline limit, Snow country as for the origin - I've read something similar in classified reports - which I for one find worrying. If Orochimaru is uniting the banned clans and giving them shelter, it gives him more legitimacy, a nobler facade, and followers both more numerous and more devoted than if he kept on accepting missing-nins, especially with the trend of intolerance against bloodline limits a lot of the smaller countries have been going through. We could always count on the clans wiping one another out, but I don't think Orochimaru will give them the opportunity."
Temari of the Sand raised an eyebrow. She looked distinctly less like a prim and proper ambassador, or the warrior that she was rumored to be, and more like - well, someone who knew what she was talking about. Out of the corner of his eye, Shikaku noticed that his son's lips were turned upward.
She wasn't addressing the Hokage quite like an equal in power, but like an equal in politics - yes, definitely.
"There has been a handful of incidents within Wind Country itself over the last five years, which may or may not be linked either to Orochimaru's long-time planning or to my brother being appointed as the Kazekage, but the civilian society has been known to react in ways less than savory to shinobi, and Suna fears that this attitude may impinge on the banned clans' opinions."
Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "What does Suna propose?"
Temari gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Nothing official, but my brother's been thinking of opening the village to banned clans. Our council wouldn't be much pleased, but if the situation demands it they'd probably be open to the idea." She didn't look very pleased by the possibility either. "Downside being that Suna's never been big on clans, so we might send the wrong message - that we're going to suck their substance out, make 'em as tools, pillage their promising nins and powerful jutsus, and march 'em off to war to get slaughtered if they twitch an eyebrow."
She paused in her bored description. "I'm sorry, did I say wrong? I meant right, of course."
Shikamaru had a sudden coughing fit.
"Hm. And what do you expect from Konoha?"
"Well… Not that it'd go much better, with the Uchiha and recent Hyuuga situation, but Konoha offering to take on some banned clans would be much more believable," Temari admitted with disarming straightforwardness. "And Leaf is much more tolerant than most other Hidden villages anyway, except the really small ones that want to gain power or Mist. So far the small villages have been too afraid of being eaten from the inside out by any banned clan they could accept, but that might change, what with the war. As for Mist…" Temari shrugged. "The clans that haven't tried going there yet probably won't."
"Blood-crazed maniacs," Tsunade agreed.
Temari flashed a grin that looked like a streak of blood on an Inuzuka's fang.
"However Konoha will not be taking on immigrants any time soon. As you've stated, we have our own clan problems, and the culture of the northern clans make it impossible for them to join the Leaf without efforts and time that we have to focus elsewhere for now."
The Sand envoy whipped another of her feral grins. "I suppose you know more about them than I do. But there are other countries that I think Konoha must know better than us, maybe the integration of their clans would be easier."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed under the reminder that she was not exactly a model patriot, her years on the roads conveniently shoved aside but never forgotten, and - was that a covert reference to Team Seven? If it was the case, Shikaku wondered what Temari thought she'd achieve by bringing up such a touchy subject.
"Was there anything else?" The Hokage's tone sounded a bit clipped, but with the Sand envoy's very… unique brand of diplomacy, Shikaku supposed it wouldn't be a problem.
Temari cocked her head to the side. "We met your Team Seven two days ago," she said.
There was a hitched gasp from Hinata. The calligraphy brush Tsunade had been playing with clattered on the desk, rolled, and fell on the floor. Shikaku's jaw had dropped, and he found himself staring at the Sand girl.
"You did? Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru looked up, marginally unshrinking, with an air that meant he'd hoped to get away with it but knew he couldn't possibly get that lucky.
"Erm, yes, yes we did."
On the farthest chair, Neji was smiling, watching Hinata with an expression both content and longing - like the desk between them and the other people in the room were stopping him from walking to her, and make her sit down and hold her hands while she worked through her reaction, like bringing her this piece of news was a gift for him as well as for her. For once, he looked reasonably sane.
The girl had an expression of shock on her face, skin paler than ever, her mouth silently working, her eyes wide and - slowly misting over. Shikaku looked away when he thought it looked like she was about to cry, an overflow of emotions spilling over. She didn't look tremendously sane, but Shikaku could sympathize; nobody did when they learnt someone they loved was alive. (He sneaked another glance. The brightness on her face was almost painful, and she looked back at Neji with an expression that Shikaku couldn't interpret.)
"How were they?"
There was concern in the Hokage's voice. Her apprentice was on that team.
There was also Uzumaki Naruto, and it was sort of an open secret that Uzumaki Naruto - the Kyuubi vessel/boy - was the reason why Tsunade-sama was the Godaime at all. There were people who didn't believe the rumors, but they didn't have a son that age. Shikamaru didn't exaggerate as a rule, except if it involved women or how troublesome things were, and since his chuunin exam, he'd said he'd been somewhat impressed by Naruto - never mind the ninja, he was a good person.
Shikaku had his reservations about the boy - and the rumors about his 'losing control' hadn't helped any, no more than his disappearance with his former teammate - but he was prepared to give him a chance, so long as Haruno Sakura was on that team.
According to Inoichi, and backed up by Chouza, Haruno Sakura as one of the most respected young shinobis of her generation was something no-one would have bet on ten years before.
Shikaku, who didn't have Ino for a daughter or an outside-looking-in perspective on kids with Chouji, wouldn't have known, but then again, ten years before, no-one would have thought Uchiha Sasuke would grow without a family into a traitor either.
Still, he remembered the description the kids had given after they'd become genins, when they came over to lounge for a while - meaning that Ino fled her mother's house and dragged Chouji over, pretending all the way that Chouji had been the one to insist; then Shikamaru would groan and roll his eyes and grumble that if they wanted something to drink, they might damn well go to the kitchen themselves. The board games would be set up, and Shikaku knew, when he walked past the room, that they were mostly an excuse to give Ino room to bitch and Shikamaru and Chouji something to do with themselves while she did.
When Yoshino got Chouji and Ino to stay dine - a rare event, but that became more common as Chouji grew more confident and Ino more rebellious - it'd always been a right mess. Yoshino spent her dinner making remarks at her son on why he couldn't be more like his friends, like Chouji who was always so polite and Ino who was always so lively, and Shikamaru scowled lower and lower into his plate until it seemed as if he was inhaling his food, and Shikaku idly wondered if Shikamaru realized that it was his mother's version of doting on someone, or if he knew how much the two others thought he was a mama's boy.
Anyway, the point was that Shikaku remembered those dinners, especially after the three had been made a team. He remembered well enough their comments on their classmates who'd become genins.
Ino had been most vocal on her commentary on Sakura - about as much as she'd been concerning Sasuke, and Shikaku knew for a fact that even Yoshino had been fed up with the subject, though that might have been because it reminded her of painful overblown crushes when she was that age not that he would ever ask her.
Ino's opinion on Sakura… hadn't been good. And Chouji's vague attempts to nuance things, and Shikamaru's snide remarks at Ino herself, had sounded only half-hearted.
Haruno Sakura, the consensus had been, wasn't a very good ninja, and not a very reliable person.
(She was good at seals and she understood things fast, Shikamaru had said later, but in shinobi action - strength or speed or determination - she'd be practically as useless as Naruto. And she had temper flare-ups and she mumbled to herself like there was someone else. And she was hung up on Sasuke.)
Hindsight.
"Fine," Shikamaru settled on. "We walked through their genjutsu without being aware of it. I don't think they'd have bothered to show up if Naruto hadn't recognized Neji."
The Hokage looked like she was drinking Shikamaru's words. It was after all - so far as Shikaku knew - the first time in more than a year that anyone from Konoha had caught a glimpse of Sakura and Naruto, and more than four years in the Uchiha's case.
"They were resting because Sasuke was injured." Shikamaru paused. He didn't need to add that the injury must have been pretty bad, if Sakura hadn't managed to heal it in one go and had had to lay a genjutsu on top of their hiding place. "I - don't think it was the only reason. Sasuke had a heavy bandage around his neck and his shoulder." He shot a look at Neji, who blankly held it. "We didn't pry, but there was probably something up with Sasuke's curse seal."
Tsunade waved it aside, though her jaw line was grave. "Sakura knows how to deal with seals. She's snooped on a lot of documents she wasn't supposed to when she was my student. Sakura and Naruto were all right, though?"
Shikamaru wrinkled his nose. "Yeah - I mean, yes." He shifted.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed.
"They were." The Hokage deadpanned.
Shikaku repressed a wince on his son's behalf.
"They said that Konoha should expect 'something' from Sky Country, if that counts," Shikamaru said tartly.
The Hokage's eyebrows rose. "Something."
"They were unable to precise whether it would be war or an alliance proposal," Shikamaru imperturbably went on.
From Shikamaru's tone, the words 'or a postcard with glitter flamingoes' were implied. Temari was staring at a point past the Hokage's head, and looked far too staid.
"Oh, so that type of something."
"Or another kind entirely," Shikamaru agreed.
"Yes, that was what I meant."
A dour, dry look was exchanged between them. Shikaku shook himself to remember that it was his son. Sharing a moment with Godaime. On how unbelievably troublesome Team Seven was. Shikaku was torn for an instant trying to decide who this was more like.
Hinata's hand rose to hide her lips, suddenly reminding Shikaku of her presence, and Shikaku felt her eyes had flickered, focusing on her cousin for a moment; Neji's lips curved in answer. It could certainly be useful for a member of Intelligence and Interrogation to blend with the wallpaper, but wasn't that a bit of a hindrance to a head of clan? Then her earlier interaction with Neji when she'd entered the office came back to his mind, and how it had felt like they were the only two people alive, and he concluded that it must depend on the role she played.
"Anything else I should know?" There were mock morose undertones in the Hokage's voice.
Shikaku thought the only regret she had was that Jiraiya wasn't in Konoha to rejoice over their apprentices' craziness tonight. At any rate, she certainly didn't seem worried by the prospect of a war - which, again, was either faith in Naruto and Sakura or a gambler's fatalism.
Shikamaru frowned. "They said that something big happened in Sound a little over three weeks ago - apparently analysis of Sasuke's seal could tell them that much. Naruto says Orochimaru got upset over something and Sasuke didn't rule that out, but Sakura thought as a cautionary measure, they should assume it was glee. She didn't sound like she actually believed it," he admitted.
What-
"They wanted to know what it was about, but we didn't know anything about it, so…" Shikamaru shrugged, leaving the question open.
Slowly, Shikaku turned his gaze to Hinata. She was looking at the Hokage. Tsunade tapped her fingers on her desk.
"Signal everyone that Yakushi Kabuto is dead," she briskly said. "Well done, Hinata-san."
The Hokage fumbled through her papers, found the scroll she was looking for, and signed it with barely a glance before handing it to Hinata.
Hinata smiled. "I'll be going to headquarters."
"Hm? Oh, yes. Take Neji with you," Tsunade didn't look up from her scrolls.
It must be a defensive measure against Neji's sudden stiffening and likely subsequent demand of explanations. She mustn't be willing to deal with Hyuuga dysfunction right now, not over Kabuto and what had happened to Hinata during those weeks - that or she believed Hinata best suited to placate her cousin - and if Shikamaru and Temari's bewildered airs were any indication, Neji wouldn't be the only one asking questions.
Shikaku admitted to himself as to being curious why the Hokage had chosen to reveal that Hinata had been the one to kill Kabuto, but then again - why ever not?
"Hokage-sama-" Neji started.
Tsunade shooed him away, gesturing to the door, which Hinata was now holding open. "Do go on. You should be with your clan, at such a time."
Hinata tilted her head to the side when Neji stood up, waiting for him. They left the office without another word; Hinata was the one to slide the door shut behind them, after Neji brushed past her, purposely staring right in front of him. Shikaku caught a hint of a smile on her face as she turned to close the door.
The four people remaining in the office were silent for a moment, then Tsunade nodded.
"Well, that's that. So, Team Seven?"
She looked at Shikamaru like she wanted to know if Naruto had grown his hair longer or if Sakura had put on a bit of weight, or if Sasuke was as hot as twelve-years-old girls had been allowed to predict he'd be as a teen. If that was the pieces of gossip she wanted to hear, she was wasting her time with Shikamaru, who blankly held her gaze.
Finally she waved it aside impatiently.
"Oh, you may go. Your new assignments will be ready tomorrow, until then you can go home and relax. Accommodations must have been prepared for your nins, Temari-san; you're welcome to stay at your usual quarters, they're all yours, or where you want, of course. We won't be sending for you before mid-morning anyway."
The Sand girl held the Hokage's insinuation with aplomb. Shikamaru didn't fare half so well and levelly watched the surface of the Hokage's desk. Shikaku pretended not to have heard anything, and prepared to act the part of the oblivious father when his son didn't come home tonight.
The Sand envoy made to stand up, with a nod that wasn't really respectful enough, and so did Shikaku, sans nod, but Shikamaru only shuffled his feet.
"…Hinata?"
Temari paused, looking almost interested in the answer herself, now the question had been asked.
"You people never know when to give up, do you?" Tsunade-sama glanced at Shikamaru, leaving Shikaku to speculate on who the 'you people' designated. "…She was a prisoner of the Sound for three months, then she escaped." Now she was a special jounin of Intelligence and Interrogation, and the rest was her business, was strongly implied.
Shikamaru didn't push. Vague concern was sketched on his face; if he was shocked by the news, he hid it well. It was more probable that he'd guessed as much.
Chouza, Inoichi, and the kids were waiting for them in the hall, along with the Sand-nins, who helped each other up when they saw Temari. The Sand jounin crossed the hall to talk with the clerk who seemed in charge of the group. Another of the ex-civilian students at the academy; he was wearing a shuriken holster on his thigh, and his arms were wrapped in protective bandages.
He must have failed the exam of the week before, be preparing for the one of the week after. His hands, Shikaku noticed when he waved at the Sand-nins after Temari had spoken to them and walked back to Team Ten, were shiny with the old burn marks overpowered fire jutsus often left.
"So you saw Hinata? She was in a hurry - she told us she could meet us at that restaurant of Chouji's tonight if we wanted, but she couldn't stay now - and can you believe she's the head of the Hyuuga clan?"
"She did have to hurry," Shikamaru observed. "Drop something at Intelligence headquarters."
Ino stopped dead in her tracks and narrowed her eyes, like she believed Shikamaru was about to sigh and to tell her she was too gullible. Inoichi and Chouza instinctively looked at Shikaku, who nodded. Inoichi's Adam apple went up then down.
"That explains why Neji didn't look happy, then," Chouji remarked.
"You can see how he looks? I see dispassionate-fighting - that's when the hair flies all around - and dispassionate-blank - that's when Lee and Gai-sensei are making fools of themselves or Hinata is around - and just plain dispassionate."
Chouza sent Inoichi a significant, and-this-is-your-daughter look. Inoichi helplessly shrugged.
"I concur," Temari said. She'd fallen into step next to Shikamaru; her hands were crossed behind her head in a very unfeminine mannerism. Her back was arched against her giant fan. Shikamaru ignored her.
"He was walking half a step behind her," Chouji pointed.
Silence.
"When Hyuuga Neji is unhappy with his head of clan, he walks half a step behind her?" Shikaku wanted to make clear. "Are you sure it's not respect?"
Ino snorted.
"When Neji wants to show respect to Hinata, he escorts her in town to meet her team or Sakura and I, so we can do girly stuff and she and her team can spend buddy time - things like talk, and go to movies and have ice creams - and then he waits for her a hundred feet from the Hyuuga district, leaning against a wall, and when they get home they get utterly scolded by Hinata's father for 'wasting time on trifles.' And when he really wants to make his point, he tells her father that 'Hinata-sama willed it so', and they both get the cold shoulder for two weeks."
("Colder shoulder," Shikamaru corrected.)
She stopped walking again. "Though that may change now - I mean, that only worked when Hiashi was alive, now Hinata's the head he's going to have to find something else."
Neither Shikamaru nor Chouji looked any baffled by Ino's tale.
Temari shook her head. "Neji."
She sounded like she was really saying, 'the Hyuuga', but there were boundaries a diplomat couldn't cross, which a friend could blithely trample. She swept a too-casual glance over the group, stretching her arms over her head. Her eyes had crinkled like that of a purring cat.
Shikamaru nonchalantly made a step on the side, outwardly avoiding a small kid running after a ball, putting a few feet more between himself and Temari.
Shikaku slung closer to his teammates.
"And whatever's his deal with his cousin's protection, it's bound to get worse now that she's a special jounin," Temari added.
Inoichi almost tripped over nothing, blinking a few owlish instants before whipping his head to Shikaku. Having felt that way himself in the Hokage's office, he grimaced in sympathy.
"Hinata's a special jounin?... Harsh," phlegmatic Chouji judged.
"…Special jounin. Wow. Just… Wow." Ino sounded suitably impressed, and a bit disturbed by the implications. "Do we know why?"
The Sand kunoichi, Shikaku saw, was smirking. Her shadow was resting on top of Shikamaru's, and he wondered if the provocation was on purpose, or if she was unaware of what she was doing.
From what he'd seen, she was arrogant, not stupid; she couldn't have missed that. The way she deliberately set her pace so that the shadows were at least brushing indicated that she knew. Shikamaru wasn't making much effort to avoid it, but neither did he change his path to accommodate her.
They were walking a few feet away, paying no attention to the other and seemingly unconscious of the displays of their shadows.
Uncomfortable, Shikaku looked up before one of his teammates followed his gaze. Yes, definitely do his best to play the oblivious father. Either Shikamaru was doing this on purpose as a way to graphically announce 'Dad, this is my girlfriend', either he wasn't thinking about that right now or assumed his father wouldn't notice - wouldn't know what it should mean, perhaps. The latter would be more like Shikamaru, Shikaku gruffly thought.
"She's escaped from Sound a little over three weeks ago," Shikaku abruptly said.
Everyone stared at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he was somewhat distressed that the shadows of the aggressive Sand kunoichi with the hard glinting eyes and his sixteen-year-old genius of a son couldn't be told apart (he could, if he cared to; he didn't), and there was no jutsu involved. …Thank God, as he realized belatedly, and then wanted to scrub his brains out to erase the image.
He jerked his chin toward Inoichi. "Inoichi and I ran across her when she was reaching the village."
"How special's special?" Ino's perturbed look didn't waver.
"Hinata's in Intelligence and Interrogation now," Shikamaru answered as if it was entirely unrelated to the mention that she'd been a prisoner of Orochimaru's. "Oh yeah, before I forget - Kabuto's dead, too."
"Ibiki's special alright," Ino muttered.
Then the news of Kabuto's death registered.
Shikaku stopped paying attention when the slanted sunrays of late afternoon started to make the two shadows look as though jutsus might indeed be involved, and joined Inoichi on the side - facing away from the disturbing scene. Behind him, his son's voice occasionally drifted, as bored as ever, and the Sand girl wasn't even talking to him, but primarily with Ino.
"Can you believe she's a special jounin?" he muttered to Inoichi, imitating Ino's earlier remark.
"Can you believe she's alive?" Inoichi answered in the same tone.
Chouza leaned. "We'll see them at dinner anyway," he commented.
It sounded like a sensible conclusion; Shikaku thought that knowing they'd have to endure Hyuuga Neji's unnerving presence rather ruined the effect.
Author: runespoor7
Rating: PG-13
Summary: In the middle of a war the usual thing is that people die. It's more unusual when they return alive after having been thought dead for three months. Hinata, after being a prisoner in Sound, does.
Notes: Well, this is it. The end. With Shikaku. And, well, most of everyone. Thank you for your support and kind words!
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
V.
When Nara Shikaku opened his eyes sometime around mid-afternoon - too early, for someone who'd spent half the night circling around the village, and then the best part of the morning supervising a number of the newest genins and their progress, trying to repress all feelings and afraid that he may one day succeed - he awoke to find his wife had sat on the bed next to him, probably about to shake him to full consciousness faster.
He registered the hitai-ate secured around her forehead - she was leaving - the squeaky swinging of the open window - no, she was just back for a minute - and the delighted smile on her lips.
He propped to his elbows.
"Shikamaru is reporting to the Hokage." Yoshino's eyes were gleaming. "Everyone's well," and that meant Ino and Shikamaru and Chouji were alive and none had to be carried to the hospital, and now Yoshino would leave on her courier mission feeling better, because her son was alive.
"Who else was with them?" Shikaku interrogated as he haphazardly grabbed clothes.
He caught a glimpse of Yoshino's reflection, in the mirror. She was pulling a face.
"As if I was going to care! I'll have you know I ran all the way back here to let your sorry ass know Shikamaru was in town and where you'd find him when you, mister, are ready! And if all you want to know about is who else is with them, well then, you'll know soon enough, won't you, or at least you would if you hurried!"
Shikaku smiled faintly. Yoshino's cheeks had colored, two patches of pink that stood out when she was angry.
"You're right," he said amiably. Then, because she was leaving and he couldn't be sure that she'd be back at all, and if he wanted her to come back he'd better make sure she had a good reason, he called, as she hmmphed and went through the window again, to meet her team (which'd be waiting for her, Shikaku thought when he saw the clock; dashing back here had made her late), "Yoshino? Don't die before I do, right?"
She didn't pause in her roof-borne race, but Shikaku felt confident that she'd heard him. When she was back, she was going to yell at him a lot for shouting like a teenager with a crush where all the neighbors could listen. But it'd be alright.
The trick, Inoichi had assured him - as Inoichi was the original desperate-teenager-with-a-crush to actually use the words during a war and not just think them - was to make it sound like a promise. (A Passionate Exclamation of the Heart, Gai would have said, but Inoichi didn't talk to Chouza for three whole hours after he'd said that. At the time, Gai was a student at the academy and Inoichi, who was still teaching there, didn't think mentioning the little ball of restless Energy was any fun.)
It didn't quite work like that with Yoshino. Nothing ever worked the way it was expected to, with Yoshino. (Shikaku never told his son that Shikamaru was supposed to be a pair of girls.)
Out of habit, Shikaku voiced it so that the decision was Yoshino's. So far, it had worked.
Arriving at the Hokage tower, Shikaku knew Yoshino had been right; the ground floor was crowded with Sand-nins, sitting on the floor with the harassed look of travelers everywhere.
On the side, his teammates were reuniting with their children - Shikaku nodded at them as he crossed the hall; Ino, her hair shorter than Shikaku remembered, waved back, and Chouji, interrupting his wordless communication with his father, smiled. They were looking good. Inoichi couldn't stop hugging his daughter, Chouza was beaming.
Shikamaru was nowhere in sight; Chouji pointed to the opposite doorway and gave an encouraging nod. He was in the Hokage's office, Shikaku translated, and Tsunade-sama had apparently given her authorization that he might join the meeting.
Shikaku knocked at the door.
Before the war, there'd have been at least two or three clerks or guards in the corridor, and maybe Shizune if she wasn't working elsewhere at the moment, but reducing the numbers of shinobi assigned to the Hokage's service by half had been Tsunade-sama's first move when they'd been attacked - and she only kept as much as she did now because of the paperwork, for which she had now less time than ever. Several of the special ninjas staying in Konoha had paperwork duty; Shikaku knew for a fact that Morino Ibiki shared his time between the decoding of the latest messages and his usual responsibilities of head of the Intelligence and Interrogation department.
"Come in!" Tsunade's voice rang clearly. Shikaku entered.
Tsunade looked up and the three shinobi sitting in front of her - because they'd been traveling for a long, long time now - turned to face him, and here was Shikamaru, in the left-hand seat, looking weary and whole and here, and brightening when he saw his father.
His son's back marginally straightened, and it looked a little less like he was slouching in front of the Hokage, though Shikaku pertinently knew that it had everything to do with the lessons his mother had worked hard to ingrain in him and the quiet-seeking instinct Shikamaru had developed as a result, and nothing at all with proper respect. Then it relaxed slightly, as if Shikamaru had remembered his mother had told him she was leaving on a mission, when they'd met at the gates.
The Sand envoy was looking at him with a blank expression, but in a glimpse Shikaku saw Temari send a crinkle-eyed, teeth-flashing grin to Shikamaru; then she looked back at him with a greeting stance, lips quirked. Shikaku thought there was something like sardonic gratefulness in her smile, but decided not to look too deep.
It would be much wiser to just ignore everything entirely and let Yoshino deal with it the way she saw fit.
On the kunoichi's other side was Hyuuga Neji, whose attitude, in complete contrast with Shikamaru's, was screaming with such tension that even a civilian would have picked up on it.
Shikaku tried not to stare. What was he doing here?
Was there really such a risk - of him deserting, going against direct orders, snapping, who knew, wars provided no shortage of risks - that calling him back was the safer route?
"Sorry, Shikaku-san," Tsunade said in a cheerful tone - surely the consequence of the twenty-five or so Sand-nins lounging in her hall. "We weren't expecting you so soon. But do sit down - I was just telling our travelers about Grass' retreat."
He obediently dragged a chair next to his son's, who was watching him with raised eyebrows and a smirk. What, should he discuss his Hokage's commands, or - the corner of Shikamaru's lips twisted to mouth, 'whipped'. The twerp. Normally, Shikamaru's action shouldn't have gone unnoticed by the Hokage, but she was shuffling through the papers on her desk.
Shikaku very discreetly rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn't react. He didn't see the point in looking at the Sand girl.
"If you are waiting for Intelligence, I could go in the corridor, Hokage-sama," Shikaku suggested.
Tsunade liked hearing the reports and receiving her war-time allies with Intelligence; Shikaku supposed it gave her another perspective as well as saved time. Time, like manpower, was precious.
The Hokage didn't look up from the scroll she was taking notes on, with brisk wrist moves. "As a protector of the village, you're going to be more or less directly concerned anyway, and that way you can pass the info to your teammates. I don't want to go through the same conversation three times."
At the far right, Neji bristled. Shikaku eyed him with distrust. He was no expert at reading people, but no-one could miss the younger jounin's agitation. The Sand-nin's jaw twitched, and Shikamaru's expression froze. Something's gonna give, he could almost hear Inoichi whisper.
"Hokage-sama, perhaps my presence here is unnecessary." Neji's back was ramrod straight, and he was staring right at her. "I should be with my clan."
A tiny groan escaped Shikamaru's lips.
This time, Shikaku did stare. Maybe he'd misjudged the gravity of the situation.
He wondered just for a moment if Neji really did think the Hokage was going to let him go like that, or if he was being deliberately rebellious, with his demure-sounding impatience. Studying the jounin's tautness, he realized that Neji hoped - blind to the immovable fatality.
Tsunade's earth-shaking sigh cut through the tension.
"I swear, kids nowadays… No, you can't. Just stay where you are - the Hyuuga won't disappear, and there's nothing for you to do at the compound for the moment anyway."
She looked at him meaningfully.
Neji's features shifted to take an expression of stony determination, and suddenly Shikaku thought he was seeing someone else.
"You'll be able to do what you want to do soon enough," the Hokage blithely went on, as she finished organizing the papers on her desk.
There was a soft, clear knock at the door. Tsunade smiled, as if saying, 'See?'.
"Come in!"
Hyuuga Hinata stepped into the Hokage's office.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. Temari sucked in a shaky breath. And Hyuuga Neji froze.
Shikaku sent a glance at the Hokage. Why such a violent reaction to - Tsunade-sama was smirking. Self-righteously smirking.
Like someone who'd virtuously predicted how badly you'd lose that fight, and sauntered next to you after you'd had your ass so relentlessly kicked you couldn't even remember your name, and didn't have the decency to put their smugness in a sing-songed 'I told you so'.
Oh, the bitch.
She hadn't told them.
When she'd said that she'd just been telling them about Grass, Shikaku hadn't realized it meant she hadn't told them about the village - about Hinata - at all.
If Tsunade hadn't told Neji about his cousin - that she'd left the hospital four days before - then, well, Neji's intensity made a lot more sense.
The girl greeted them all with her soft, quiet voice, white eyes searching each of them as she called their name, starting with the Hokage and ending with her cousin - she stammered the last, not that Shikaku could blame her, what with the terrifying glare Neji was sending her way, but she didn't look down.
There was something odd about seeing the head of the Hyuuga made uneasy by a Branch House member, but Shikaku reminded himself who these two were.
Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji had been dancing along the line of the truly bizarre for so long now that there was no reason a sudden modification in their circumstances would change that - not on the spot - not that Shikaku'd ever try and understand them.
Neji jerkily stood up, never taking his eyes away from Hinata, the move only a less smooth version of a scene that had happened countless times before, one of the quirks common with ninjas which other shinobi accepted as part of life, the opposite, just as extreme, of what he'd done during Shikamaru's chuunin exam.
Hinata flushed slightly as he walked toward her; there was a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips, trembling. She stood, poised to fight or to flee - and, surprisingly for everyone who'd never met her before, she'd only flee if he didn't attack, because if he attacked she would never back down. Like Neji, her stance wasn't unusual, only more awkward.
Neji hovered for seconds on end a few meters away from Hinata, looking.
"Hinata-sama," he said, as if in answer to her earlier greeting.
Shikaku wondered what the Hokage was waiting for - expecting - but he couldn't look away, because just at that moment, Neji darted forward, too close to an unflinching Hinata, holding her gaze for a moment, then dropped his head and bowed.
Shikaku had seen members of the Branch House bowing to Hyuuga Hiashi, and he'd watched Hiashi acknowledge the gesture. This was not like it.
For one, Neji was bowing lower. For another, Hinata was smiling.
A symbol, Shikaku thought. The best member of the Bunke paying homage to the new head of clan. Assuring Hinata he wouldn't stand in the way of her power, maybe. …Or something else entirely, because it wasn't as if Neji would do such a thing to Hinata. Nevertheless, Shikaku liked the symbolic explanation. It was clean and easy to grasp. …So it could definitely not be it.
Then Neji swiftly straightened and stepped aside, taking his chair out for her.
"Hinata-sama," he intoned, and there was a hint of - smugness? Relief? …No trying to understand the Hyuuga.
Hinata graced him with another of her ghostly smiles. "Thank you, Neji-niisan; for now my place is on the other side of the desk."
Shikaku mused that the way Neji kept his eyes from popping out of his head was very impressive. He knew he'd have been much more obvious if his wife, his son, or his teammates had sprung something like that on him, even if trying to come up with parallels for Hinata-and-Neji was meaningless. It was interesting how, when you met them separately, you could almost relate to them, and when they were together they became alien, too Hyuuga for anyone to understand them.
As it was, Neji had a very peculiar expression on his face when Hinata joined Tsunade, standing on her right.
Shikamaru stopped chewing on his lip. "You're replacing Shizune, Hinata?"
Under her fringe, Hinata blinked. "Oh, no."
"Hinata-san is working in Intelligence and Interrogation nowadays," Tsunade interjected.
Shikaku felt hackles rising at the back of his neck, watching Hinata's serene, distant smile. Of course it'd be too much to hope that anyone might leave an interrogation chamber with their sanity unscathed. (Another part of his mind noted that her getting recruited certainly explained why it had taken them so long before releasing her.)
…She didn't look like she'd make much of a spy, with her distinctive eyes and the way she wore her emotions on her sleeve, but she'd endured thirteen weeks of torture and not broken. Tsunade-sama and Ibiki must have found things that'd be useful. Maybe they'd trained her for Interrogation more than Intelligence.
"I've made Hinata-san one of our special jounins," the Hokage continued.
Special jounin. She couldn't be as unbroken as Shikaku had believed she'd be, then. From the way the other three tensed up in their various ways, they knew that as well as he did. Neji's expression had clammed up, and for approximately half a second Shikaku was reminded of Uchiha Itachi's dispassionate composure. Empty like a mask that didn't slip.
Shikaku observed the girl's demeanor - a bit uncomfortable but unfaltering.
He'd never have pegged the little Hyuuga girl as being strong enough to break and pick up the pieces afterwards - not that he'd have pegged her as being strong enough to escape from an interrogation chamber of Orochimaru's, either. Not that he'd ever thought about it.
"So, anything special happen during that trip, or were there just the expected skirmishes?"
The Sand jounin looked back to the Hokage, folding her hands and crossing her legs at the ankles. "There was a delay when I found two of my people to be traitors, but they were disposed of; there may have been a leak concerning the whereabouts of the squad led by Namiashi Raidou, but Namiashi-san provided no details whatsoever concerning his mission, so the risk of any vital information having been passed on to our enemies is minimal."
Tsunade-sama had rested her elbows on her desk and was listening to the Sand envoy, her fingertips joined. Shikaku glanced at the kunoichi standing next to the Hokage. One advantage a Hyuuga in Intelligence and Interrogation presented, they had no pupils. As long as they didn't turn their head, you couldn't guess where they were looking.
"Three days were spent helping Leaf-nin Sai, who was being pursued by a total of six shinobis, two of which were Sound chuunins, under the supervision of a Cloud jounin. He was injured, but one of my medic-nins had healed him by the time we had to leave him." Temari frowned.
"The pursuers seemed to suspect that he was to meet with Hatake Kakashi, which I am inclined to believe was a result of one of the Sound-nin's jutsus. It made her mildly telepathic, and she killed the last Cloud-nin when he was about to be taken prisoner for fear that he'd spill the beans."
She looked perfectly controlled. Shikamaru's grave countenance told Shikaku that the shifting in speech patterns was a regular occurrence. He'd probably helped her in her reasoning anyway.
"I'd say the jutsu was a bloodline limit, Snow country as for the origin - I've read something similar in classified reports - which I for one find worrying. If Orochimaru is uniting the banned clans and giving them shelter, it gives him more legitimacy, a nobler facade, and followers both more numerous and more devoted than if he kept on accepting missing-nins, especially with the trend of intolerance against bloodline limits a lot of the smaller countries have been going through. We could always count on the clans wiping one another out, but I don't think Orochimaru will give them the opportunity."
Temari of the Sand raised an eyebrow. She looked distinctly less like a prim and proper ambassador, or the warrior that she was rumored to be, and more like - well, someone who knew what she was talking about. Out of the corner of his eye, Shikaku noticed that his son's lips were turned upward.
She wasn't addressing the Hokage quite like an equal in power, but like an equal in politics - yes, definitely.
"There has been a handful of incidents within Wind Country itself over the last five years, which may or may not be linked either to Orochimaru's long-time planning or to my brother being appointed as the Kazekage, but the civilian society has been known to react in ways less than savory to shinobi, and Suna fears that this attitude may impinge on the banned clans' opinions."
Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "What does Suna propose?"
Temari gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Nothing official, but my brother's been thinking of opening the village to banned clans. Our council wouldn't be much pleased, but if the situation demands it they'd probably be open to the idea." She didn't look very pleased by the possibility either. "Downside being that Suna's never been big on clans, so we might send the wrong message - that we're going to suck their substance out, make 'em as tools, pillage their promising nins and powerful jutsus, and march 'em off to war to get slaughtered if they twitch an eyebrow."
She paused in her bored description. "I'm sorry, did I say wrong? I meant right, of course."
Shikamaru had a sudden coughing fit.
"Hm. And what do you expect from Konoha?"
"Well… Not that it'd go much better, with the Uchiha and recent Hyuuga situation, but Konoha offering to take on some banned clans would be much more believable," Temari admitted with disarming straightforwardness. "And Leaf is much more tolerant than most other Hidden villages anyway, except the really small ones that want to gain power or Mist. So far the small villages have been too afraid of being eaten from the inside out by any banned clan they could accept, but that might change, what with the war. As for Mist…" Temari shrugged. "The clans that haven't tried going there yet probably won't."
"Blood-crazed maniacs," Tsunade agreed.
Temari flashed a grin that looked like a streak of blood on an Inuzuka's fang.
"However Konoha will not be taking on immigrants any time soon. As you've stated, we have our own clan problems, and the culture of the northern clans make it impossible for them to join the Leaf without efforts and time that we have to focus elsewhere for now."
The Sand envoy whipped another of her feral grins. "I suppose you know more about them than I do. But there are other countries that I think Konoha must know better than us, maybe the integration of their clans would be easier."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed under the reminder that she was not exactly a model patriot, her years on the roads conveniently shoved aside but never forgotten, and - was that a covert reference to Team Seven? If it was the case, Shikaku wondered what Temari thought she'd achieve by bringing up such a touchy subject.
"Was there anything else?" The Hokage's tone sounded a bit clipped, but with the Sand envoy's very… unique brand of diplomacy, Shikaku supposed it wouldn't be a problem.
Temari cocked her head to the side. "We met your Team Seven two days ago," she said.
There was a hitched gasp from Hinata. The calligraphy brush Tsunade had been playing with clattered on the desk, rolled, and fell on the floor. Shikaku's jaw had dropped, and he found himself staring at the Sand girl.
"You did? Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru looked up, marginally unshrinking, with an air that meant he'd hoped to get away with it but knew he couldn't possibly get that lucky.
"Erm, yes, yes we did."
On the farthest chair, Neji was smiling, watching Hinata with an expression both content and longing - like the desk between them and the other people in the room were stopping him from walking to her, and make her sit down and hold her hands while she worked through her reaction, like bringing her this piece of news was a gift for him as well as for her. For once, he looked reasonably sane.
The girl had an expression of shock on her face, skin paler than ever, her mouth silently working, her eyes wide and - slowly misting over. Shikaku looked away when he thought it looked like she was about to cry, an overflow of emotions spilling over. She didn't look tremendously sane, but Shikaku could sympathize; nobody did when they learnt someone they loved was alive. (He sneaked another glance. The brightness on her face was almost painful, and she looked back at Neji with an expression that Shikaku couldn't interpret.)
"How were they?"
There was concern in the Hokage's voice. Her apprentice was on that team.
There was also Uzumaki Naruto, and it was sort of an open secret that Uzumaki Naruto - the Kyuubi vessel/boy - was the reason why Tsunade-sama was the Godaime at all. There were people who didn't believe the rumors, but they didn't have a son that age. Shikamaru didn't exaggerate as a rule, except if it involved women or how troublesome things were, and since his chuunin exam, he'd said he'd been somewhat impressed by Naruto - never mind the ninja, he was a good person.
Shikaku had his reservations about the boy - and the rumors about his 'losing control' hadn't helped any, no more than his disappearance with his former teammate - but he was prepared to give him a chance, so long as Haruno Sakura was on that team.
According to Inoichi, and backed up by Chouza, Haruno Sakura as one of the most respected young shinobis of her generation was something no-one would have bet on ten years before.
Shikaku, who didn't have Ino for a daughter or an outside-looking-in perspective on kids with Chouji, wouldn't have known, but then again, ten years before, no-one would have thought Uchiha Sasuke would grow without a family into a traitor either.
Still, he remembered the description the kids had given after they'd become genins, when they came over to lounge for a while - meaning that Ino fled her mother's house and dragged Chouji over, pretending all the way that Chouji had been the one to insist; then Shikamaru would groan and roll his eyes and grumble that if they wanted something to drink, they might damn well go to the kitchen themselves. The board games would be set up, and Shikaku knew, when he walked past the room, that they were mostly an excuse to give Ino room to bitch and Shikamaru and Chouji something to do with themselves while she did.
When Yoshino got Chouji and Ino to stay dine - a rare event, but that became more common as Chouji grew more confident and Ino more rebellious - it'd always been a right mess. Yoshino spent her dinner making remarks at her son on why he couldn't be more like his friends, like Chouji who was always so polite and Ino who was always so lively, and Shikamaru scowled lower and lower into his plate until it seemed as if he was inhaling his food, and Shikaku idly wondered if Shikamaru realized that it was his mother's version of doting on someone, or if he knew how much the two others thought he was a mama's boy.
Anyway, the point was that Shikaku remembered those dinners, especially after the three had been made a team. He remembered well enough their comments on their classmates who'd become genins.
Ino had been most vocal on her commentary on Sakura - about as much as she'd been concerning Sasuke, and Shikaku knew for a fact that even Yoshino had been fed up with the subject, though that might have been because it reminded her of painful overblown crushes when she was that age not that he would ever ask her.
Ino's opinion on Sakura… hadn't been good. And Chouji's vague attempts to nuance things, and Shikamaru's snide remarks at Ino herself, had sounded only half-hearted.
Haruno Sakura, the consensus had been, wasn't a very good ninja, and not a very reliable person.
(She was good at seals and she understood things fast, Shikamaru had said later, but in shinobi action - strength or speed or determination - she'd be practically as useless as Naruto. And she had temper flare-ups and she mumbled to herself like there was someone else. And she was hung up on Sasuke.)
Hindsight.
"Fine," Shikamaru settled on. "We walked through their genjutsu without being aware of it. I don't think they'd have bothered to show up if Naruto hadn't recognized Neji."
The Hokage looked like she was drinking Shikamaru's words. It was after all - so far as Shikaku knew - the first time in more than a year that anyone from Konoha had caught a glimpse of Sakura and Naruto, and more than four years in the Uchiha's case.
"They were resting because Sasuke was injured." Shikamaru paused. He didn't need to add that the injury must have been pretty bad, if Sakura hadn't managed to heal it in one go and had had to lay a genjutsu on top of their hiding place. "I - don't think it was the only reason. Sasuke had a heavy bandage around his neck and his shoulder." He shot a look at Neji, who blankly held it. "We didn't pry, but there was probably something up with Sasuke's curse seal."
Tsunade waved it aside, though her jaw line was grave. "Sakura knows how to deal with seals. She's snooped on a lot of documents she wasn't supposed to when she was my student. Sakura and Naruto were all right, though?"
Shikamaru wrinkled his nose. "Yeah - I mean, yes." He shifted.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed.
"They were." The Hokage deadpanned.
Shikaku repressed a wince on his son's behalf.
"They said that Konoha should expect 'something' from Sky Country, if that counts," Shikamaru said tartly.
The Hokage's eyebrows rose. "Something."
"They were unable to precise whether it would be war or an alliance proposal," Shikamaru imperturbably went on.
From Shikamaru's tone, the words 'or a postcard with glitter flamingoes' were implied. Temari was staring at a point past the Hokage's head, and looked far too staid.
"Oh, so that type of something."
"Or another kind entirely," Shikamaru agreed.
"Yes, that was what I meant."
A dour, dry look was exchanged between them. Shikaku shook himself to remember that it was his son. Sharing a moment with Godaime. On how unbelievably troublesome Team Seven was. Shikaku was torn for an instant trying to decide who this was more like.
Hinata's hand rose to hide her lips, suddenly reminding Shikaku of her presence, and Shikaku felt her eyes had flickered, focusing on her cousin for a moment; Neji's lips curved in answer. It could certainly be useful for a member of Intelligence and Interrogation to blend with the wallpaper, but wasn't that a bit of a hindrance to a head of clan? Then her earlier interaction with Neji when she'd entered the office came back to his mind, and how it had felt like they were the only two people alive, and he concluded that it must depend on the role she played.
"Anything else I should know?" There were mock morose undertones in the Hokage's voice.
Shikaku thought the only regret she had was that Jiraiya wasn't in Konoha to rejoice over their apprentices' craziness tonight. At any rate, she certainly didn't seem worried by the prospect of a war - which, again, was either faith in Naruto and Sakura or a gambler's fatalism.
Shikamaru frowned. "They said that something big happened in Sound a little over three weeks ago - apparently analysis of Sasuke's seal could tell them that much. Naruto says Orochimaru got upset over something and Sasuke didn't rule that out, but Sakura thought as a cautionary measure, they should assume it was glee. She didn't sound like she actually believed it," he admitted.
What-
"They wanted to know what it was about, but we didn't know anything about it, so…" Shikamaru shrugged, leaving the question open.
Slowly, Shikaku turned his gaze to Hinata. She was looking at the Hokage. Tsunade tapped her fingers on her desk.
"Signal everyone that Yakushi Kabuto is dead," she briskly said. "Well done, Hinata-san."
The Hokage fumbled through her papers, found the scroll she was looking for, and signed it with barely a glance before handing it to Hinata.
Hinata smiled. "I'll be going to headquarters."
"Hm? Oh, yes. Take Neji with you," Tsunade didn't look up from her scrolls.
It must be a defensive measure against Neji's sudden stiffening and likely subsequent demand of explanations. She mustn't be willing to deal with Hyuuga dysfunction right now, not over Kabuto and what had happened to Hinata during those weeks - that or she believed Hinata best suited to placate her cousin - and if Shikamaru and Temari's bewildered airs were any indication, Neji wouldn't be the only one asking questions.
Shikaku admitted to himself as to being curious why the Hokage had chosen to reveal that Hinata had been the one to kill Kabuto, but then again - why ever not?
"Hokage-sama-" Neji started.
Tsunade shooed him away, gesturing to the door, which Hinata was now holding open. "Do go on. You should be with your clan, at such a time."
Hinata tilted her head to the side when Neji stood up, waiting for him. They left the office without another word; Hinata was the one to slide the door shut behind them, after Neji brushed past her, purposely staring right in front of him. Shikaku caught a hint of a smile on her face as she turned to close the door.
The four people remaining in the office were silent for a moment, then Tsunade nodded.
"Well, that's that. So, Team Seven?"
She looked at Shikamaru like she wanted to know if Naruto had grown his hair longer or if Sakura had put on a bit of weight, or if Sasuke was as hot as twelve-years-old girls had been allowed to predict he'd be as a teen. If that was the pieces of gossip she wanted to hear, she was wasting her time with Shikamaru, who blankly held her gaze.
Finally she waved it aside impatiently.
"Oh, you may go. Your new assignments will be ready tomorrow, until then you can go home and relax. Accommodations must have been prepared for your nins, Temari-san; you're welcome to stay at your usual quarters, they're all yours, or where you want, of course. We won't be sending for you before mid-morning anyway."
The Sand girl held the Hokage's insinuation with aplomb. Shikamaru didn't fare half so well and levelly watched the surface of the Hokage's desk. Shikaku pretended not to have heard anything, and prepared to act the part of the oblivious father when his son didn't come home tonight.
The Sand envoy made to stand up, with a nod that wasn't really respectful enough, and so did Shikaku, sans nod, but Shikamaru only shuffled his feet.
"…Hinata?"
Temari paused, looking almost interested in the answer herself, now the question had been asked.
"You people never know when to give up, do you?" Tsunade-sama glanced at Shikamaru, leaving Shikaku to speculate on who the 'you people' designated. "…She was a prisoner of the Sound for three months, then she escaped." Now she was a special jounin of Intelligence and Interrogation, and the rest was her business, was strongly implied.
Shikamaru didn't push. Vague concern was sketched on his face; if he was shocked by the news, he hid it well. It was more probable that he'd guessed as much.
Chouza, Inoichi, and the kids were waiting for them in the hall, along with the Sand-nins, who helped each other up when they saw Temari. The Sand jounin crossed the hall to talk with the clerk who seemed in charge of the group. Another of the ex-civilian students at the academy; he was wearing a shuriken holster on his thigh, and his arms were wrapped in protective bandages.
He must have failed the exam of the week before, be preparing for the one of the week after. His hands, Shikaku noticed when he waved at the Sand-nins after Temari had spoken to them and walked back to Team Ten, were shiny with the old burn marks overpowered fire jutsus often left.
"So you saw Hinata? She was in a hurry - she told us she could meet us at that restaurant of Chouji's tonight if we wanted, but she couldn't stay now - and can you believe she's the head of the Hyuuga clan?"
"She did have to hurry," Shikamaru observed. "Drop something at Intelligence headquarters."
Ino stopped dead in her tracks and narrowed her eyes, like she believed Shikamaru was about to sigh and to tell her she was too gullible. Inoichi and Chouza instinctively looked at Shikaku, who nodded. Inoichi's Adam apple went up then down.
"That explains why Neji didn't look happy, then," Chouji remarked.
"You can see how he looks? I see dispassionate-fighting - that's when the hair flies all around - and dispassionate-blank - that's when Lee and Gai-sensei are making fools of themselves or Hinata is around - and just plain dispassionate."
Chouza sent Inoichi a significant, and-this-is-your-daughter look. Inoichi helplessly shrugged.
"I concur," Temari said. She'd fallen into step next to Shikamaru; her hands were crossed behind her head in a very unfeminine mannerism. Her back was arched against her giant fan. Shikamaru ignored her.
"He was walking half a step behind her," Chouji pointed.
Silence.
"When Hyuuga Neji is unhappy with his head of clan, he walks half a step behind her?" Shikaku wanted to make clear. "Are you sure it's not respect?"
Ino snorted.
"When Neji wants to show respect to Hinata, he escorts her in town to meet her team or Sakura and I, so we can do girly stuff and she and her team can spend buddy time - things like talk, and go to movies and have ice creams - and then he waits for her a hundred feet from the Hyuuga district, leaning against a wall, and when they get home they get utterly scolded by Hinata's father for 'wasting time on trifles.' And when he really wants to make his point, he tells her father that 'Hinata-sama willed it so', and they both get the cold shoulder for two weeks."
("Colder shoulder," Shikamaru corrected.)
She stopped walking again. "Though that may change now - I mean, that only worked when Hiashi was alive, now Hinata's the head he's going to have to find something else."
Neither Shikamaru nor Chouji looked any baffled by Ino's tale.
Temari shook her head. "Neji."
She sounded like she was really saying, 'the Hyuuga', but there were boundaries a diplomat couldn't cross, which a friend could blithely trample. She swept a too-casual glance over the group, stretching her arms over her head. Her eyes had crinkled like that of a purring cat.
Shikamaru nonchalantly made a step on the side, outwardly avoiding a small kid running after a ball, putting a few feet more between himself and Temari.
Shikaku slung closer to his teammates.
"And whatever's his deal with his cousin's protection, it's bound to get worse now that she's a special jounin," Temari added.
Inoichi almost tripped over nothing, blinking a few owlish instants before whipping his head to Shikaku. Having felt that way himself in the Hokage's office, he grimaced in sympathy.
"Hinata's a special jounin?... Harsh," phlegmatic Chouji judged.
"…Special jounin. Wow. Just… Wow." Ino sounded suitably impressed, and a bit disturbed by the implications. "Do we know why?"
The Sand kunoichi, Shikaku saw, was smirking. Her shadow was resting on top of Shikamaru's, and he wondered if the provocation was on purpose, or if she was unaware of what she was doing.
From what he'd seen, she was arrogant, not stupid; she couldn't have missed that. The way she deliberately set her pace so that the shadows were at least brushing indicated that she knew. Shikamaru wasn't making much effort to avoid it, but neither did he change his path to accommodate her.
They were walking a few feet away, paying no attention to the other and seemingly unconscious of the displays of their shadows.
Uncomfortable, Shikaku looked up before one of his teammates followed his gaze. Yes, definitely do his best to play the oblivious father. Either Shikamaru was doing this on purpose as a way to graphically announce 'Dad, this is my girlfriend', either he wasn't thinking about that right now or assumed his father wouldn't notice - wouldn't know what it should mean, perhaps. The latter would be more like Shikamaru, Shikaku gruffly thought.
"She's escaped from Sound a little over three weeks ago," Shikaku abruptly said.
Everyone stared at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he was somewhat distressed that the shadows of the aggressive Sand kunoichi with the hard glinting eyes and his sixteen-year-old genius of a son couldn't be told apart (he could, if he cared to; he didn't), and there was no jutsu involved. …Thank God, as he realized belatedly, and then wanted to scrub his brains out to erase the image.
He jerked his chin toward Inoichi. "Inoichi and I ran across her when she was reaching the village."
"How special's special?" Ino's perturbed look didn't waver.
"Hinata's in Intelligence and Interrogation now," Shikamaru answered as if it was entirely unrelated to the mention that she'd been a prisoner of Orochimaru's. "Oh yeah, before I forget - Kabuto's dead, too."
"Ibiki's special alright," Ino muttered.
Then the news of Kabuto's death registered.
Shikaku stopped paying attention when the slanted sunrays of late afternoon started to make the two shadows look as though jutsus might indeed be involved, and joined Inoichi on the side - facing away from the disturbing scene. Behind him, his son's voice occasionally drifted, as bored as ever, and the Sand girl wasn't even talking to him, but primarily with Ino.
"Can you believe she's a special jounin?" he muttered to Inoichi, imitating Ino's earlier remark.
"Can you believe she's alive?" Inoichi answered in the same tone.
Chouza leaned. "We'll see them at dinner anyway," he commented.
It sounded like a sensible conclusion; Shikaku thought that knowing they'd have to endure Hyuuga Neji's unnerving presence rather ruined the effect.