(no subject)

[rayemars]

1. I have lost all ability to write short chapters.

2. This chapter would have been impossible if Miyuki hadn't hooked me up with a map of the Narutoverse.


A few days later, Kakashi stopped by his apartment again.

"Meet up with everyone at the bridge on the far side of town tomorrow morning at seven o'clock," the man told him. "We have a mission."

Sasuke watched him carefully. ". . . I still haven't been put on trial yet."

"Maybe you shouldn't mention that," was all Kakashi said, and "Pack for a week."

He left Sasuke's forehead protector at the apartment. The scratch along it had been mostly filled in with new metal, but Sasuke could see the mark where it cut directly across the lines of the leaf.

(Kakashi was the one who had pocketed the forehead protector and brought it back that day three years ago; but most people thought that it was Naruto who had held on to it, and he never corrected them.)

~
Naruto and Sakura were already there when he arrived at the bridge. For a few minutes, none of them were quite sure what to say, so they just waited.

But after those few minutes, it became clear that Kakashi was going to be late again; and by then things were too familiar not to relax a little bit.

Sakura huffed and sat on the railing. Sasuke leaned against it a meter away, and Naruto crossed to the other rail and jumped on. He began walking along the very edge, practicing his chakra control.

"I bet he's deliberately never on time for anything," Sakura muttered. "It's probably some weird principle of honor."

"Do you know what we're supposed to be doing?" Naruto asked, looking over at her. "He told me we're heading straight out from here."

Sakura shook her head. "I don't know, but it must be something to do with the Sound."

Sasuke gave her a sideways glance. ". . . Why do you think that?"

"Because you're here," Sakura replied. She quickly related the story Tsunade had told her weeks ago, about Orochimaru getting out of being put on trial for negligence regarding his genin team.

"So it has to be something to do with them," she ended, "since you're the only person who would know best. She's probably not happy about it, though," Sakura added with a warning undercurrent.

Sasuke ignored the tone and looked out in the direction of the village, waiting for Kakashi to show up. Naruto had continued his slow pace along the edge of the railing while she spoke.

Kakashi arrived a surprising twenty minutes later, and he came with Temari.

"Hey, Temari-san!" Sakura called, jumping down from the rail.

"Hello," she called back, nodding to the three of them.

It turned out that Sakura had been correct. As Temari told them, the Lord of Fire country had contacted the Hidden Sand with a mission: the Lord of Grass country had sent him a notice that he suspected Soundnins were hiding there, and that several ninjas of the Hidden Grass sent to scout the locations had been killed. The Grass country was in the middle of a recession, and the government couldn't afford to pay its ninja village for an high class mission; so it had contacted Fire in hopes that, since they were harboring a former Soundnin, they would take care of the mess free of charge--or at least hire the Hidden Grass themselves.

But the Lord of Fire country and Tsunade were still not on the best of terms, so he had felt it fitting to send the mission on to the Hidden Sand.

"We had one of ours go missing to the Sound a couple years ago," Temari said by way of explanation, "and about half a year ago, he got back in contact with us and handed over a lot of information in exchange for the promise to return without being executed. He cut off contact abruptly, though, so we assumed he's dead." She looked over at Sasuke. "Do you know whether that's true? His name was Ito Junji."

Sasuke nodded. "He was buried alive by the Sound's Five after he was discovered."

Temari made a small disgusted motion with her mouth. "Sick sense of humor. . . . Did any of them happen to live?"

"No," Sasuke said, "they were all killed a few months ago."

"Ah," she said, and shrugged it off. "That data is old, so we thought it would be wise to contact Konoha anyway. You'll get half the pay we earn from this mission--is that acceptable?"

The four of them nodded, and Temari folded her arms. "The information that the Hidden Grass managed to collect indicates there are two main groups, one that's located in a large tourist village a few hours from Kusa and a smaller one that's near the border with Waterfall country. We've already sent a team of our ninjas to the group by the border, but we left the group near Kusa to you." She looked to Sasuke again. "They're the ones that have killed the most Grassnins, so we were hoping you would have the best knowledge of their fighting style."

He nodded once more, and Sakura frowned. "But if that group is so close to the Hidden Grass, why haven't they just sent a large group of ninjas to deal with them? How many are there supposed to be?"

"The information said between seven and ten," Temari told her. "And we're curious about that, too. The Lord of Grass country said they don't want to risk losing any more ninjas, but. . . ."

"The Hidden Grass hasn't been very connected to the country since the recession started," Sakura finished.

Temari nodded. "And the village itself is splitting into factions. So, if you'll bring any of the Soundnins you capture back to Suna alive, we'll find out what's really going on. Rain country already gave permission to cut through their territory, so just state what mission you're on at the border and you should be let through."

Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke all nodded again. Naruto said "Okay," and jumped off of where he'd been sitting on the railing.

"Please send the Kazekage our thanks for this," Sakura added.

Temari tilted her head with a smirk. "After everything you guys have done to make the Lord of Wind country back off of our village?" she said. "The least we can do is return the favor."

Sakura chuckled under her breath.

"Is there anything else to know?" Kakashi asked.

Temari thought about it. "According to the information we were supplied, most of the Soundnins are young," she said. "Some don't even have forehead protectors, though those might have been left behind. So be on the lookout for children or adolescents. There didn't seem to be anyone over twenty in either of the groups."

"No way," Naruto said. "The Hidden Grass was scared of a bunch of brats?"

Temari shrugged a shoulder. "That's why we want them brought back alive."

~~
The Hidden Grass was just under three days from Konoha, moving at high speed, and the tourist village of Kamogaya was beyond it in the direction of the border between the Grass and Earth countries. They reached the border of Fire the morning of the third day.

A few copses were nearby the border and along the roads--but they weren't taking the roads, because those curved and the fastest way to Kamogaya was straight through the fields and plains. The trees thinned out rapidly as they moved along, soon leaving them with nothing but grassland.

"Whoa," Sakura said under her breath when they crested a hill only to find that there were no trees at all along the way down or in the plain before them. Sasuke glanced over at her.

"Have you been in terrain like this before?" he asked.

She shook her head, and Sasuke looked at Naruto. He nodded, adding "A little."

"You can mimic Naruto's moves better than mine or Kakashi-sensei's, right?" he asked Sakura, and this time she nodded. Sasuke looked to the man.

"I'll take the rear and cover our movements," Kakashi told him.

Sasuke nodded once, and then reached back and shifted his katana up so that it wasn't as far out over his shoulder. He ducked slightly and took off down the hill, moving through the tall grass with an ease that reminded Kakashi the majority of Sound country was composed of grass and marshland.

Naruto followed, with Sakura behind him, and Kakashi took his place at the end, making sure to shift the grass back upright where Sakura had pushed it too much aside and to smear their footprints into blurry lines in the dirt.

~
They stopped for a late lunch two kilometers from the road they would be taking into Kamogaya. A small rise in the ground blocked them from view.

"It's so bright," Sakura replied. "It's like all the sun is going to blind me."

Naruto laughed. "I know, it's creepy." He bit off a piece of dried jerky and chewed thoughtfully. ". . . But Earth country is worse. At least here there's grass for cover--there it's nothing but mountains, and when you're at the top of one, there's nothing. It's like inviting somebody to attack you! And then there's all the crevices and stuff that go up the mountains--and all the roads run over at least one." He snickered. "I don't know how all the Stonenins aren't totally paranoid."

"Keh," Sakura said, making a face. "I like trees. I'll stick with trees."

"The view's cool, though," Naruto said. "Some of the places there--you know the view from the top of our mountain? It's like . . . five times that. Especially this one place, that's got some weird name because of an old superstition . . . uh. . . ."

"Enchanted Rock," Sasuke supplied.

"Yeah, there!" Naruto grinned. "You've got to see that view, Sakura-chan, it's so cool. Even if it sucks to have no cover, it's still awesome."

". . . You can see the birds flying underneath you," Sasuke added, looking down at his food.

Sakura was laughing slightly. "Okay, I believe you. It sounds cool."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke. "Did you ever go to those caverns? The ones named after a bridge or something?"

Sasuke gave him a disbelieving look. "That's a tourist trap."

"Yeah, well," Naruto shrugged. "Jiraiya had me visit them. He said it would be a good experience, dealing with tiny pathways and having half a kilometer of rock over my head." He paused, and then added with a wide grin, "He finally found a woman drunk enough or crazy or something to put up with him. He threw me out the whole time we were in that damn town, until they had this big fight and she stole his purse and disappeared. So I got stuck in those kinds of places a lot."

Sakura had to swallow quickly to keep from choking on her laughter. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Naruto crammed the last bit of jerky into his mouth and quickly swallowed. "You know what, you've gotta come there with us," he told Sakura.

She shook her head. "I don't think that'll happen."

"Naw," Naruto said, waving her doubt off, "we'll get a mission into Earth country eventually. Then we'll just take the long way back and go by there."

"'The long way back'?" Sakura repeated, giving him a skeptical look.

Naruto pointed a thumb at Kakashi. "Sure! We'll just say we got lost or something, and that Kakashi-sensei rubbed off on us."

"Hey," the man replied.

Sasuke rolled his eyes again and looked out at the horizon. Sakura grinned, but still shook her head.

"I really doubt it'll happen," she said, leaning back slightly against the hillock. "All my missions stay in Fire country, remember?"

"Those were just . . . what, extenuating circumstances?" Naruto said. "Things are going back to normal."

Sakura looked down and bit off another piece of her jerky.

Naruto watched her for a few moments, tilting his head. "Why? Even if the hag is still annoyed now, it's not like that'll last forever."

"It's not that," Sakura said, with a small shake of her head. "It's . . . you know I've read a lot of the stuff that's come into the Hokage's office."

"So?"

"Some of that stuff . . . if I ever got captured. . . ."

Sasuke looked over again. Sakura took another bite of her food and chewed slowly; but when she was finished, Naruto was still staring at her, waiting.

She shrugged a shoulder and didn't look at him. "Well, if I get captured and there's no one close with a good possibility of rescuing me, I'm expected to commit suicide immediately. I know way too much; Konoha would be at severe risk if I broke and talked."

"The Hokage told you that?" Sasuke asked.

"Not really, not in words. . . ."

"That will never happen," Naruto said flatly. "I'll never let that happen."

Sakura smiled faintly and looked down again.

"It was my choice to snoop around," she said a moment later. "It could have been worse--she could have stopped teaching me. She let me keep getting away with it."

"It's not that she let you," Sasuke replied, turning back to his food.

Naruto picked up on his emphasis a moment later. "It's that she couldn't really stop you from doing it anyway."

The three of them exchanged a look.

Naruto and Sakura both burst into snickers a moment later, and Sasuke looked away again with a half-smirk.

Kakashi lounged against the grass, watching the heirs to the legendary sannin carefully.

~
They each used an illusion to conceal their forehead protectors and weapon packs before stepping onto the road that led to Kamogaya, and mingled with another group of tourists entering the village. Sasuke used a larger illusion and changed the color of his hair.

An hour later, Kakashi had wandered along the main market area and collected information from several irate merchants about an increase in street urchin thefts in the past week and a half. Naruto and Sakura had gone with Sasuke to study the other area where Grassnins had been found dead, and then settled in a basic triangular formation around the market.

When Kakashi joined them and told Sakura the typical time when food would disappear from stalls, they shifted the formation to a square, and then sat down and waited. Kakashi kept half his attention on Sasuke; but the teenager, secreted in the space between a skylight and an awning on the hotel across from Kakashi's location, kept his face blank.

After forty minutes of waiting, wherein Kakashi had stretched all of his muscles carefully without moving too much and then started over again, beginning with his ankles, Sasuke shifted further into the space he was hidden in. Sakura, across from him, did the same, and when Naruto saw her move he echoed it. Kakashi shifted slightly, letting the shadows from the setting sun fall further over him.

Kakashi scanned the broad street, searching for a child or adolescent that looked furtive or otherwise likely to steal. He also studied several of the children running along the street that seemed to have absolutely no interest in their surroundings, and gave no inclination that they didn't have parents to take care of their meals.

It was in the latter group that he found the Soundnins, though first their own position was given away.

A bluebird, which had been quietly building a nest about two meters away from the place on the roof where Kakashi was located, suddenly dropped the grass in its mouth and began singing.

There was a shift from Sasuke's location, and then a shuriken left the bird a lump of bloody feathers. But by then a girl on the street had stopped and let out a shrill whistle. She managed to keep the noise up for a full second before two needles pierced her in the throat and a third one struck her in the back. Before she hit the ground, a boy who had been talking in a group a meter away grabbed her and began running out of the street. Seven more children scattered as well, in various directions.

Nine--all of them? Kakashi had enough time to process, and then he was off the roof and chasing down the three that were running closest to him. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were already moving as well.

~
The three that Kakashi chased down weren't all one team--or at least, the two boys weren't. He never found out if the girl was teammates with either of them, because the taller boy shoved her to keep running and then the two stopped to fight him.

The taller boy used a scythe on a chain, and the shorter one a form of taijutsu that would have been potentially lethal, if it had flowed along with the first one's weapon. Even so, Kakashi got his arm slashed twice, and his back was barely spared a similar wound thanks to his vest, before he managed to disarm him and tangle the two up long enough to knock them unconscious. As soon as that was done, he grabbed them and rapidly ran out of the village, leaving a large amount of confused and shrieking people behind.

~
He met up with the others a quarter of a kilometer outside the village walls. Sakura had the girl with the needles in her throat thrown over her shoulder, and Sasuke had done the same with another boy. Naruto caught up with them a moment later, and he was gingerly carrying a second girl.

"Sakura-chan!" he called as soon as he was close enough to not have to yell too loudly. "Can you do something about her burns?"

Sakura let her breath out in a hiss when she saw the girl. "Let's get back to that hill."

They didn't take the road this time, and thus got there while the sun was still setting.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, dumping her girl beside Sasuke and kneeling next to Naruto's.

"One of the guys I was chasing threw a fireball at me," Naruto said. "I grabbed her while I was jumping back, but she caught the worst of it." He indicated his singed clothes.

Sakura pulled her medical kit out of her pack and started rummaging through it.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke. "A really big fireball," he added. "And he was a small bastard, too; didn't come up to my shoulder, brown hair--"

"It doesn't matter if you describe him," Sasuke interrupted. He had dropped his boy as well, and had folded his arms as he watched Sakura work. "He'll have already changed by now."

Naruto frowned. "What?"

"His bloodline limit allows him to alter his DNA to resemble anyone he's managed to incorporate a sample of," Sasuke said unemotionally. "We won't find him."

Sakura whistled quietly at his first sentence, but didn't look up from the salve she was applying to the girl's face and arms.

". . . Who the hell is he?" Naruto demanded.

"My spare," Sasuke said. "I reached a point where I could land enough hits on Orochimaru that he acknowledged I might escape."

The complete blankness in his voice made even Naruto drop the subject.

Sakura finished applying the salve and had Naruto prop the girl up so she could quickly wrap her arms. Sasuke and Kakashi bound the other four children's hands, threading the rope around their fingers so they couldn't form any hand seals, and disarmed them while they were all still unconscious.

Sakura kept one eye on Sasuke as he removed the Soundnins' weapons, and noticed that none of the times did he take away that tiny, handleless blade she had seen him use before.

"Asshole," Naruto muttered to himself as Sakura taped a bandage over the worst part of the girl's face. "Treating his teammate like that. . . ."

"She isn't his teammate," Sasuke replied from where he was unstrapping a small knife from the ankle of the taller boy Kakashi had captured. "This one is. You missed the right girl--and she's the one that can summon birds."

"Screw you," Naruto snapped, "I was busy trying not to get set on fire."

"Guys," Sakura said flatly as she carefully maneuvered the girl's arms behind her back so Sasuke could tie her wrists and hands. Kakashi was removing the needles from the second girl's throat.

They stopped talking after that; and as soon as all five were tied up, Sakura took a small jar of liquid from her pack, poured several drops onto a cloth, and held it over the burned girl's nose and mouth. She repeated the process for the other four.

"That will keep them unconscious for several hours," she said as she put the bottle away. "I think we should get away from here and then use the time to sleep." She looked over at Kakashi, and he nodded.

~
They stopped at a copse of trees that was only a few hours from the Rain country border. Kakashi took the first shift, Sakura had the last, and she woke all of them up when the drug was close to wearing off.

"Why don't you just knock them unconscious again?" Naruto asked as he slung the boy Sasuke had caught over his shoulder.

"Later," Sakura replied, picking up the boy who'd had the scythe and the girl she'd hit with needles. "We have to feed and hydrate them first."

She asked Kakashi to carry the girl with the burns, because he had the most body mass to be able to drape her over his back without putting too much pressure on the wounds. Sasuke was left with the smaller boy of Kakashi's.

The girl with the burns regained consciousness first, while it was still dark. They paused for Sakura to reapply a little salve to her face and to force some water into her; and while that was going on, the boy Sasuke had been carrying began to stir.

Sakura made him drink as well, and then checked the other three. She seemed to have her doubts on whether the second girl was really still unconscious, but picked her up anyway.

Sasuke picked up the boy Sakura had also been carrying before she could. Then he hauled the boy he'd previously been carrying onto his feet.

"Walk," Sasuke told him. "If you try to run I'll slash your hamstrings."

The boy glared at him; but after he glanced around and saw that the rest of the children were still useless, he spat out, "Yes, Uchiha-sensei."

Sasuke shoved him in the back of the neck, and the boy started walking.

. . . Well, Kakashi thought as he watched Sakura and Naruto exchange glances, fuck.

~
By the time the sun had risen, all of the children had woken up, and they had noticed a raven was following them.

"Damn it," Naruto muttered, glaring up at the sky where the bird circled lazily. Sakura was struggling to make the boy who'd had the scythe drink. "Why don't you get rid of that thing?"

Sasuke was watching the sky as well, arms folded. "We'd just be throwing weapons away trying to hit it."

"Can't you hit it with a fireball?" Naruto asked

"Because sending that straight in the air certainly won't give away our position."

"So use one of those damn snakes!"

Sasuke looked over at him. "Do you expect me to throw the snake at it, idiot? Get one of your frogs to catch it with his tongue."

"No, asshole, just summon a big snake. You can do that, can't you?"

"Sure," Sasuke replied, "if you don't mind me turning it loose on a town afterward."

Kakashi glanced over, and Naruto looked at the other teenager. "What?"

"Any snake bigger than a meter demands human sacrifices," Sasuke said.

Sakura narrowed her eyes as the boy with the scythe spit out another mouthful of water. This time she forced the neck of the canteen between his lips and used it to tilt his head back slightly, and then pinched his nose shut. He just started at her, and after a moment Sakura's features shifted to a blank expression. She didn't let go of his nose.

". . . liar," Naruto finally replied. "The viper that's attached to your hip is at least twice that."

"Kyomamushi is an exception. He doesn't demand anything."

Naruto made a half-hearted attempt at a snicker. "Of course not, the damn thing thinks you're a miko."

Sasuke made a rude gesture at him without unfolding his arms.

Naruto looked back up at the sky. "The frogs'll bitch if I summon them just to attack that puny thing," he said.

"Then shut up," Sasuke replied, watching Sakura and the boy continue their standoff from the corner of his eye.

Naruto returned the rude gesture and then shaded his eyes, still watching the bird. "Think we'll lose it in the rain?"

Sasuke pulled a kunai from his pack. "Probably not. Even if we do, she'll just send another one once we're out of it." He threw the kunai behind him.

It grazed the boy's arm. He gasped reflexively, and then sputtered and started to choke as he inhaled the water. Sakura pulled the canteen away and slapped him once on the back before stepping over to the unburned girl. Sakura gave her an expectant look, and Sasuke pulled another kunai out.

The girl drank the water without making trouble. Kakashi tossed the kunai back to Sasuke, and he wiped it off and put it away.

~
They were almost within sight of the Rain country border when they were attacked.

It wasn't the work of the refugee Soundnins, Kakashi noted as he dodged a handful of shuriken and flung the scythe into one of the ninja's throats. He wrenched on the chain, ripping the weapon out, and was immediately confronted with another ninja. These were adults.

The ninjas that had attacked them were actually targeting the Soundnin children. The girl that Kakashi had been carrying was already dead, multiple kunai and shurikens embedded in her flesh. The ninjas were also conspicuously lacking forehead protectors.

They're not that good, he noted, and abandoned the scythe when it stuck into another of the attacker's ribs and wouldn't come out easily. Chuunin level. No distinctive weapons, no distinctive hand seals. It was only because they had come in such a large number--ten or twelve, possibly fifteen--that they had managed to split the team up.

This was a suicide mission, Kakashi realized, as he dodged three kunai to his shoulder and got close enough to break the arm of the ninja who'd thrown them. They had to kill the children without giving their village allegiance away.

He broke the right leg of the ninja as well, and then kicked him in the head hard enough to leave him temporarily unconscious. The rest of the ninjas in his area were dead, so he moved rapidly to Sakura's location.

Sakura wasn't comfortable fighting in such a wide open space, so she'd immediately used a genjutsu to create trees. Three of the four ninjas cancelled that, though, so she went with the next best move and had torn up the landscape until there were pits and chunks of rocks for her to work with.

When Kakashi arrived, he didn't see Sakura. Instead, he found one of the ninjas attacking his companions. The only really interesting detail about that was the fact that the man was bleeding considerably from a kunai jammed in his throat.

A genjutsu . . . or did the Hokage teach her that--

One of the ninjas dived at him, aiming a kick with a leg that already had two shurikan stuck in it. Kakashi caught it, twisted, and threw him to the side before attacking one of the others.

He had just swept the ninja's feet out from beneath her and slammed a kick into her chest hard enough that the crack was audible, when Naruto bellowed "Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi turned his head and saw five things at once. One, Sakura had concealed herself in a pit caused by the damage to the terrain; two, the ninja he had thrown aside had spotted her and had managed to wrap a wire around one of her legs; three, the ninja with the kunai in his throat was sliding forward to place himself between Sakura and the attacker; four, Naruto and two clones were diving at the attacker; and five, Sasuke had his katana out and was jumping over the huge clods of dirt to reach the area.

Kakashi threw two kunai into the back of the last ninja, who had been about to take advantage off all the movement to fling a few stolen shuriken at both Sakura and Sasuke. Past him, one of the Narutos threw another at the attacker. When the second Naruto ungracefully bodyslammed the man, the third one caught him before he could fall and threw him towards Sasuke.

The man hit the ground in front of Sasuke on his knees, and before gravity could pitch him forward, Sasuke had driven the katana into his heart. The teenager wrenched the sword to the right, tearing it out of the man's ribcage and gouging partly into his arm. Then he kicked the ninja in the chest, sending him backwards and dislodging him completely from the katana.

Sakura had already snapped the wire. One of the Narutos had attacked the ninja with the kunai in his throat, apparently not having noticed that the man was already dead. The ninja, now that Sakura's hands were no longer in a seal, was being thrown around like a rag doll.

No one else was moving besides the four of them. They each scouted the area anyway.

After several seconds passed and their adrenaline was slowing enough that they could be comfortable with the thought of the fight being over, Kakashi looked around more casually.

"I don't suppose any of you left one or two alive?" he asked.

Sasuke knelt next to one of the dead ninjas and began cleaning off his katana with their shirt. "No."

Sakura bit her lip as she unwrapped the wire from around her leg. "No . . . sorry." She finished untangling it from the torn cloth of her pants and pulling it out of the leather of her shin guards, and tossed it away. "They seemed so weak, and I had this jutsu I wanted to try . . . I didn't think."

"That's a spywork jutsu," Sasuke said, checking the blade for remainders of blood. "You shouldn't use it in a fight."

"I know, I know," Sakura said sheepishly, as she stood up and stamped her leg against the ground a few times. "It's my worst habit, wanting to try something. Tsunade-sensei says it's going to get me killed."

"Don't joke," Sasuke said flatly. He slid his katana back into its sheath. "I managed to keep one of the Soundnins alive," he added to Kakashi, jerking his head in the direction he'd come from.

"Same here," Sakura said, pulling the girl she'd attacked with needles--whom she'd knocked unconscious again--out of the pit.

The Naruto clones disappeared, and the real one scratched the back of his head. "Mine got killed," he said. "But I did leave one of these bastards alive!"

"Good," Kakashi told the three of them.

When he went back to the area he'd been fighting in, he found that the ninja he'd left alive hadn't stayed unconscious as long as he'd expected and had killed himself with a stray kunai. Kakashi sighed in annoyance and followed Naruto to where he said he'd pinned one of the ninjas.

Sakura was dragging the girl with her, and Sasuke had gone back to collect the smaller of the two boys that Kakashi had fought. They met up with Naruto and Kakashi just in time to find the last ninja dead from a kunai through the neck.

Sasuke snorted. "Next time, try pinning him through the foot instead of the throat."

Naruto was crouched next to the body and barely bothered to wave Sasuke off. "This isn't--I changed that jutsu, dammit! It was supposed to just hold him!"

Kakashi studied the corpse carefully. "Naruto . . . was this the Body Flicker jutsu?"

Naruto looked over at him. "Huh? How'd you--yeah, it was. But it wasn't supposed to kill him!"

"I don't think it can be modified the way you were trying," Kakashi told him.

Naruto glared at the ninja as if it were his fault for getting killed.

Sakura was carrying the girl under one arm, and picking up several shuriken with her free hand. "Were these Grassnins?" she asked, looking at Kakashi.

"Probably," Kakashi said. "But they made sure not to confirm it." He looked around one last time. "Pick up your weapons quickly--a cleanup group will be here soon."

Sakura and Naruto nodded, and began collecting more of the weapons. Sasuke tossed the boy he was carrying at Naruto and headed back to the area Sakura had been in before the blond could yell at him. Kakashi followed a few moments later, picking up the various kunai and shuriken strewn around on his way.

The raven was pecking at the earring of the boy who had had the scythe. Sasuke shooed it back and checked his pulse.

A moment later he pulled a kunai out of the boy's chest and used it to cut of a lock of hair. He tossed it at the bird.

The raven didn't deign to pick it up. "That ain't good enough."

Sasuke unfastened the earring that it had been pecking at and tossed it on top of the hair. Then he stood. "Go. And tell them to stay away."

The raven made a strange cawing noise that might have been a laugh. Sasuke slit his thumb on the edge of the kunai and said nothing.

The bird ruffled its feathers once, but picked up the hair and earring in its beak and began to fly off.

Sasuke slammed his hand against the ground, and a moment later two vipers appeared, one small and one large.

"Follow it," he told them, indicating the bird. "Keep Ichiro out of Fire country if he heads that way."

"Where's the please, brat?" the smaller viper said, but then Kyomamushi hissed. The smaller viper curled away.

"Fine," it said. "You want us to kill him?"

Kakashi watched Sasuke start.

Whether he would have said no or yes, or whether he would have hesitated, Kakashi wouldn't know. Kyomamushi said "It's getting away," and shoved the other viper with its head. The two of them took off through the grass.

By the time Sasuke had wiped the kunai off on the grass, his thumb off on the cuff of his pants, and turned around and started walking towards Naruto and Sakura, his face was set in its usual expression. He didn't look over at Kakashi.

They collected all the weapons they'd used, cleaned them enough to return them to their packs, and then took off toward the border before a second group could arrive.

~~
Because the ninjas who'd attacked hadn't given away their village affiliation, Kakashi didn't want to ignore the slight chance that they had come from the Hidden Rain, a village which wasn't too far and which could better afford to throw away such a large group of shinobi on a suicide mission for whatever reason. He had the team jump the border instead of going through customs.

They stopped twice for fifteen minutes to eat and take care of other business, and once for twenty minutes to force water and one meal into the two remaining Soundnins. Even with the extra hour they added to skirt widely around the Hidden Rain, they had almost cut across the whole of the Rain country and were near the border of Wind country when they had to stop for the night.

The country lived up to its name. The area around the border had been soggy marshland, and they weren't far into the country before the path they were cutting ran through a lot of mossy undergrowth. A medium drizzle had started a few hours before the sun began to set.

They built a rough shelter out of brush and tree branches, which did very little to keep the rain off and absolutely nothing to make the ground any dryer. The girl Soundnin bitched about being stuck in the wettest corner until Sakura drugged her and the other one again.

Sasuke had the first shift, but he'd only been sitting up for twenty minutes when Naruto sat down next to him.

"Go to sleep," Sasuke said.

"Can't," Naruto replied. "It gets pissy whenever I use one of the Fourth's jutsus."

Sasuke glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. "That was one of the Fourth's?"

"Jiraiya taught it to me and Kakashi-sensei recognized it," Naruto said. "Whose else would it be?"

Sasuke nodded once in agreement, and Naruto added in a quieter voice, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

The other teenager didn't reply for a long time, and checked that Kakashi was really asleep before he did. "It's not like I can turn back now, idiot."

"That's not what I meant," Naruto said flatly. "These kids--you know them, don't--?"

"I don't care," Sasuke replied.

"But--"

"I don't care," he repeated, folding his arms. "A shinobi doesn't let his emotions interfere with his job. You might suck a lot less if you'd realize that."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto muttered, "the mission is the most important thing, and a ninja is a tool without a heart, and that's all bullshit."

Sasuke didn't reply. Naruto watched him for a few minutes, and finally slouched forward slightly. "I know what's riding on this mission," he said. "But, still . . . are you sure you're okay?"

"I don't care," Sasuke said for the third time.

Naruto stared out at the drizzle and the undergrowth that they had stopped in for the night. Then he stretched and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, towards the shelter. "I'm not gonna get to sleep for a while. Trade with me; I've got third shift."

Sasuke stood up and moved to the shelter, leaving him there.

~~
The drizzle became a downpour by early afternoon. The bridge on the road to the Sand border was closed, and they were obliged to turn back and rent a room in a small village that was off the main road. They used an illusion to make the two Soundnins look like adults resembling Sakura and Naruto, which lessened the questions slightly. Locking themselves in the room and not leaving except when Kakashi gave Sakura his purse and asked her to bring back whatever passed for good food in the place really lessened the questions (at least the ones directed at them), but didn't do much for anyone's restlessness.

Sakura brought a deck of playing cards back with the boxed meals. She told Kakashi she'd reimburse him, but he said as long as it made Naruto stop pacing, it wouldn't be necessary. Sasuke said something to her as he helped pull the bentos out of the bag, but Kakashi didn't hear it over the noise they made setting the boxes down.

Kakashi wrung out his vest as best he could and loaned it to Sakura so she could let her shirt dry without having to wear only her fishnet and bra. She threw a chopstick at Naruto when he suggested they play strip poker since they were all half-naked anyway.

He left the room briefly when night fell, reusing the henge that concealed his mask and forehead protector, and bought a drink at the small bar beside the inn. The owner said that the rain looked like it was clearing up, and would be over before the night was done. When Kakashi asked whether the bridge would be open by then, the man said it was likely--they built bridges high in Rain country.

Kakashi went back to the room soon after, and broke up the poker game before the rounds could reach triple digits. He told them to get sleep now, since they'd be leaving before dawn. The Soundnins were already asleep in a corner, and Sakura said she had drugged them early so they'd stop interrupting the game.

Kakashi thought back to the words Sasuke had said to her that he couldn't hear, and didn't believe it.

He nodded, though, and a few minutes later nodded again when Sasuke said he would take first shift. He noticed that Sakura and Naruto's bedrolls had been set down between the window and his while he was shaving in the bathroom, but couldn't tell if Naruto was involved or if Sakura had just laid them out herself.

For the first half hour, Sasuke did nothing but sit by the window, watching the rain slacken and sharpening a few of his kunai and his katana. Kakashi let himself half-doze, his back to the teenagers.

But then Sasuke put the katana back in the sheath and opened the window, just a fraction, just enough that the rain was loud enough to partially cover a quiet conversation. Kakashi woke up fully, but kept his muscles relaxed and his breathing mimicking sleep.

Sasuke might not have noticed, or he might have. He made no indication either way.

"Hey," the girl said after the window had been open for a few minutes. "I'm thirsty."

There was the sound of rummaging, a canteen being opened, and bare feet on the wood floor. Sasuke only let the girl drink a few swallows before recapping the canteen and moving back to his previous seat by the window.

"They're going to torture us for information, aren't they?" the girl asked a minute later.

"Yes," Sasuke said.

The girl blew her bangs away from her face. Kakashi heard a few thumps against the floor soon after, and guessed that she was pushing herself up to a sitting position--probably using the wall, since her arms were tied behind her back.

"Is that bastard--" she broke off. "No, you wouldn't care."

"Kazuo is dead," Sasuke said.

There was a long pause. ". . . How did. . . ?" the girl asked suspiciously.

"I don't remember your name," Sasuke said, and his voice reverberated slightly as he glanced out the window, "but you were the girl that Kazuo was pretending to change his class records for."

"Pretending?"

"He wouldn't have lied to Orochimaru-sama for trash like you," Sasuke said without malice. "But he put in a request that you be kept out of the experiment cages for a few extra months."

The girl let out a long, shuddery breath. "Was fucking him for nothing . . ." she muttered. And then: "Did you tell Ichiro about that?"

"Why would you think that?" Sasuke asked neutrally.

Another pause. "The same night you disappeared, he showed up at my house and said he and his team were leaving, and I could come with him. I talked him into bringing the guys and asking if Isamu's team wanted to go." There was another pause, and Sasuke just looked at her. "They agreed, too . . . it wasn't really an offer you could turn down and live."

Sasuke 'ch'ed. "That's why there were so many of you? I was wondering why he thought he could keep such a large group secret."

"It wasn't too hard . . . but then that other group showed up."

"He didn't invite them, too?"

She snorted. "Hell no, what, you thought we would believe we could take fifteen people out of Oto? I don't know when they left, but we told them to stay away from us."

Sasuke brought a leg up and rested his arm on it. "It didn't work. You should have just kicked them out of the country or fled it."

She glared at him. "It wasn't that simple! The damn Hidden Grass had invited them, too, so we had to pretend we were all going to get along."

Sasuke took that important bit of news in stride. "'Get along'? Like any of you assholes have ever done that."

She scuffed her heel quietly along the floor at him, the closest to an insulting gesture she could make with her arms behind her and the noise restraint on their conversation. "They didn't need to know that. We just had to keep them happy unt--"

She stopped suddenly, and Sasuke just looked at her again.

". . . If I tell you, and we get attacked again, will you let us die?" she asked.

"No," Sasuke replied. "My full reinstatement to the Leaf depends on this mission."

There was a faint thud as the girl leaned back against the wall. "Then I don't know anything," she said.

After a long pause, she added: "It was all Ichiro's plan from the minute we left, finding some normal work in other countries until things were settled and we looked old enough to get freelance work. We just went along since his team could beat all of us into the ground if they'd tried."

"Right," Sasuke said. He let his leg drop and settled into a cross-legged position, glancing out the window again.

He pushed the window open a little further, making the sound of the rain a little louder, before saying, "Tell the Sand that and they'll kill you relatively quick."

"Really are the soft one . . ." she snickered derisively, and then, "No. Isamu managed to escape."

"Ichiro will have already taken everyone to somewhere he knows you five wouldn't have thought about," Sasuke said. "A boy isn't worth getting tortured for. Give the Sand your old plan and take the quick death."

". . . I can still buy him some time to get further," she replied.

The other Soundnin, the boy, spoke for the first time. His voice was muffled because he didn't look up. "Stop acting like you give a damn, you fucking asshole."

When Sasuke didn't bother to reply, he continued. "Kazuo was your teammate, you traitor. All that bullshit you told us that day, I actually listened . . . I could have gotten away."

"Those four were never my teammates," Sasuke replied. "They were just people I worked with."

There was a scrape along the floor, and the boy's voice was no longer muffled. "Why are you getting away with this? We were born there. You came."

"Keep your voice down, idiot!" the girl hissed.

"Because my blood is worth more than yours," Sasuke replied.

"It's not fair!" the boy snapped.

This time, Sasuke's voice bordered on amused. "Where the hell are you from again?" he asked. "Life isn't fair."

"You--"

"Oh, shut up, Akino," the girl said. "Take it like a man."

The boy muttered several curses under his breath, until Sasuke closed the window. Then the three of them were silent.

Sasuke woke Sakura an hour later. Kakashi didn't fall asleep until he heard her drug the Soundnins and settle into place beside the window.

~
Now that he knew it had been the Hidden Grass behind the attack, Kakashi could have had the team cross through the border like normal--except that if the Hidden Rain checked the records, there would be no notice of them having entered the country. Kakashi decided to jump the second border and, if the question ever came up, say they looped through Fire country. The rainstorm had added enough time that it would be believable, and the guards stationed at the borders of every country knew to lie when their ninja village told them to.

They traveled through a hanging valley that dropped into the riverbed area which separated Rain from Wind, and met the team from the Sand on the other side of the river. They were shepherding one child and one man, the latter of whom had his throat wrapped with a swath of bandages.

"They attacked you, too?" the leader called as they approached. Kakashi nodded.

"He isn't talking yet," the man said, indicating the adult, and then jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the boy, "but this one told us that it was the Hidden Grass who sent them."

"Ha," Kakashi said, making his voice sound like he was grinning, "we could have taken the normal roads, then."

The other man shrugged a shoulder. "Better safe. . . . I figured the only way to work the timing would be to say we cut through Fire," he added.

When the two groups met up completely, Akino hissed "Coward" at the boy. The girl spit at the ground near him, causing one of the Sandnins to push the boy to the opposite side of himself, away from them. Sasuke ignored all three.

"That's what I was going to state as well," Kakashi said. "Should we say we met up in the Grass?"

The Sandnin leader nodded, and both the groups began the last leg of the trip, to Suna.

~
The Soundnins were driving Kakashi mad.

The two that his team had brought back were bullying the one the Sand had caught whenever they got the chance. The three of them threw insults at each other the entire time they were moving, they kicked or tripped him whenever they managed to get close enough, and when the group stopped to eat lunch, Akino kicked the food Sakura had been about to the feed the Sand's boy out of her hands. And Sasuke always seemed to have his back turned when something happened. Kakashi was not looking forward to the next day or day and a half.

Though, things had settled down somewhat after Sakura had punched Akino in the cheek and then refused to heal the broken bone. Now it was just the girl and the Sand's boy tossing insults back and forth, but they did it in quieter voices and only when Sakura was at least a meter away.

"Do something about them," Kakashi heard her whisper irritatedly to Sasuke.

He didn't reply to her demand until they set up camp for the night.

"Heh," Naruto said, looking up at the sky as he threw out his bedroll. "That bird's gone. And you said we wouldn't lose it in the rain."

"It didn't follow us into the country," Sasuke replied, eschewing an insult since the Sandnins were just to their left. "Didn't you pay attention?"

"Then what did happen to it?"

"She sent it to keep track of her teammate," Sasuke said, tossing his bedroll flat. "He got killed, so it went back. These ones don't mean anything."

"Fuck you too," the boy the Sand had captured muttered.

"Shut up, you son of a non-shinobi whore," the girl replied angrily. "You don't have the right to talk to us anymore."

"Children," Sasuke said, suddenly, in a voice that was thirty-seven years too old for him. "I've tolerated this for long enough. Behave properly."

Kakashi froze.

Naruto hissed at Sasuke under his breath. Sakura glanced at Kakashi before narrowing her eyes and glaring at him as well.

There was a long silence, and then the Sand's boy whispered, "I'm sorry."

"Be quiet," Sasuke replied, still using Orochimaru's voice.

After that, the Soundnins were as silent as if they were already dead.

Kakashi took first shift, along with one of the Sandnins named Komaza. About half an hour in, he noticed a movement from the area where the rest of his team was sleeping. He turned his head slightly and watched as Naruto rolled onto his opposite side, tossing his arms out as he did and punching Sasuke hard in the shoulder.

Sasuke scooted away slightly, and at that, Sakura stretched and kicked him in the shin with her heel.

Sasuke made a disgruntled noise and tucked his legs closer. Sakura yawned, keeping her back to him. Naruto snorted and shifted back onto his other side, and Sasuke stretched out enough to elbow him under his ribcage.

Kakashi couldn't help rolling his eyes.

~
A day later, they reached Suna a little before noon. The Sandnin team led the way to the jail.

The transfer went over relatively quiet--Kakashi and the Sandnins' leader did the talking--and since it was a delegated mission, the Sand was the one that would have to file the majority of the paperwork.

Behind him, Sakura asked one of the police who were transferring the Soundnins into handcuffs if she could speak to the medicnin in charge of the jail.

The officer gave her a confused look. "I don't think we have one of those . . . we just transfer the really sick ones straight to the hospital and keep a guard over them."

"Ah, no," Sakura clarified, "I meant. . . ." She pursed her lips, trying to find the right term. "The medicnin who will handle those four."

Sasuke tapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Let's go."

"Huh?" Naruto said, looking over at him. "Kakashi-sensei isn't done with--"

"Oh!" the officer said. "You mean the medicnin in charge of torture?"

After a brief start, Sakura clasped her hands behind her back and nodded. The officer left, and Sakura stared at the hallway he had gone through.

Naruto started to ask a question, and Sasuke kicked him subtly--but hard--in the heel. When the blond turned to glare at him, Sasuke had his hands in his pockets and was studying the papers that lined the wall next to them.

Kakashi had just finished scrawling out his notes on the Grassnins' attack and the claim of going through Fire country rather than Rain, when the officer returned with another man.

"Can I help you?" he asked, after the officer indicated Sakura.

She opened the pack on her leg, and a moment later removed a small, handleless blade. She held it out to the medicnin.

"I took this from the female Soundnin, but you need to search for these on the two males. We captured a couple spies from the Sound a few years ago, and these were so small that they didn't turn up when we despoiled them," she explained. "And while we were working on the first one, the second cut out her tongue and tried to sever her wrist before the blood loss killed her."

"Ah," the medicnin said, taking the blade from Sakura and eying it carefully.

Sakura paused briefly, giving Sasuke a chance to state where the blades were likely to be hidden. He continued to study the posters on the wall.

"Thank you," the medicnin said, giving her a quick nod. She returned it.

". . . Aren't you a little young to be trained in this area?" he added, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura just smiled and shrugged a shoulder.

Kakashi finally finished signing his name and set the pen down, before handing the paper to another officer. "Does that cover enough?"

He skimmed the notes and nodded. "This is sufficient. Thank you for your help with this mission."

"Thank you for contacting us on it," Kakashi replied, and then looked to his team. They headed for the door; and Kakashi overlooked the fact that Sakura deliberately stepped to the opposite side of Sasuke, keeping away from Naruto.

They were only a couple meters from the police station when someone started calling them. Kakashi turned to see a young man striding up.

He gave the whole group a quick but deep bow, and then explained: "The Kazekage has invited the four of you to lunch . . . if you haven't eaten already?"

Sasuke noticed Sakura tense beside him, but when he glanced to the side, her face was politely unreadable.

"Heeeey!" Naruto said, shouldering his pack and grinning. "Sure! Let's go!"

He glanced at Kakashi, who nodded. Sasuke and Sakura followed the two of them.

~
Gaara had changed in the past three years. It was harder to read his face now.

But, in Kakashi's opinion, unreadable was better than the homicidal look that had been there previously, so he kept his mouth shut and just ate. Sasuke wasn't prone to talking during meals, and Sakura--after politely thanking Gaara for the good food--didn't seem inclined to chatter either. That left Naruto to carry the conversation, but neither he nor Gaara seemed to mind.

All of them had finished eating over ten minutes ago, but Naruto was still in the middle of one of his stories, while Gaara was listening with an expression Kakashi would have almost called a bemused smile.

Kakashi hadn't heard this one before, and was wondering how the hell Naruto and Jiraiya had managed to do so much within less than a year and a half--and when they had actually had time to train. And why they hadn't been arrested at least a dozen times over. But, considering that the story involved a bordello, at least he was no longer wishing it was appropriate to read at a kage's dinner table.

"So then," Naruto continued, using his chopsticks for emphasis, "the bastard uses an illusion and suddenly I can't tell him from all the other women running around and screaming their heads off--and that pervert sannin was still nowhere to be found. And damn, but it was noisy! Women scream so freaking loud."

"Oi," Sakura said.

"Well, it's true!" he defended, turning to look at her. Then Naruto finally noticed that everyone else was done, too. He set his chopsticks on the plate.

"Were you planning to stay a night here, or to head back immediately?" Gaara asked.

Kakashi sat up slightly. "It would probably be better if we leave today--we were already thrown off our expected time because of that rainstorm."

Gaara looked at Sasuke, who looked back impassively. Then he nodded once and stood up.

"Oh, hey," Naruto said as he shoved his chair under the table, "there was something else I needed to tell you. Do you have anywhere private?"

"Yes. Ask someone to take you to my office," Gaara told him. "I'll be there immediately."

"'My office,'" Naruto repeated as they started to leave the room. He pointed a finger at Gaara over his shoulder. "I'm gonna be saying that one day too, so don't be gloating about getting there first!"

"I wasn't . . ." Gaara started to say, but Naruto was already out the door.

He dropped the sentence and instead said: "Sakura. Sasuke."

They both turned. Kakashi paused just outside the door.

". . . Thank you," Gaara told them. "For what you did for him."

For a moment, a genuine smile almost curved on Sakura's lips. But then she bowed and said "Thanks," and started to leave. Kakashi moved out of the way, and Sasuke faintly nodded before leaving as well.

When they were almost at the courtyard of the Kazekage's tower, Sasuke said quietly, "It would be easier to claim his debt if you acted like you could stand being in the same room with him."

"He tried to kill Lee," Sakura said flatly and just as quietly.

"He tried to kill all of us," Sasuke reminded her.

"I could have forgiven that," she replied. "Lee did, I know that. If it had just been me, I could forgive. . . ." Her fingers curled up slightly. "But he crippled him. If . . . if Tsunade-sensei had refused to come back to Konoha. . . ."

Sakura seemed to notice her hand then, and uncurled her fingers and didn't continue.

Sasuke could have mentioned that it had been Lee's own decision to use a forbidden jutsu in his fight against Gaara, but he wasn't hypocritical enough to interfere in other people's hatred. Kakashi felt the subject would be better discussed out of Suna.

~
It barely took a quarter of an hour for Naruto to meet up with them again.

"You were right," he told Sakura once they were past Suna's walls. "He told me they'd found a spy that had been brainwashed by one of Akatsuki several months ago. They've been on watch since then."

She started to nod, but Kakashi stopped dead.

"What?" he said, looking at the two of them. "Akatsuki has been hunting Gaara, too?"

Naruto nodded. "He said that's what it looks like."

Kakashi focused on Sakura. "And you suspected that they were targeting more than one of the bijuu?"

Sakura gave him a confused look. "'Bijuu'?"

Kakashi eyed the three teenagers around him, and then glanced at the walls of Suna before looking back at Sakura. "What was it you were right about?"

She shifted on her feet slightly. "There . . . a few months ago, Tsunade-sensei had these coded letters from the Sand on her desk. Most of the translations I did were pretty mangled, but I got that it was something about Gaara and Akatsuki . . . until she started taking them home with her," Sakura added. "And when I mentioned it to Naruto, he told me about that badger demon."

Kakashi wanted to ask if she was trying to get Tsunade to reject her as a student, but now the question had more meaning that it would have had fifteen minutes or an hour ago. "Ah," was all he said.

"What are bijuu?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi pursed his lips, enough that it was visible beneath the mask. ". . . You'll have to ask Tsunade-sama to tell you," he finally said, and started moving again. Sasuke fell in pace behind him, and Sakura once again moved so that he was between her and Naruto.

She frowned even as she did so. "What? Kakashi-sensei, why?"

"I don't have the authority to tell you," he replied.

"But--"

Naruto cut her off. "I get it," he said. He looked over at Kakashi. "But why's she still pretending there's a point to keeping this secret, now?"

"There was more to it than just the fox demon," the man explained vaguely.

Naruto let out a low, irritated breath, but didn't push it.

~~
Sakura had first shift that night. As soon as Naruto was certain that Kakashi and Sasuke were both asleep, he got up and sat down next to her.

She wouldn't look at him, so Naruto stayed where he was and didn't speak. It wasn't easy, but it helped that he couldn't figure out what was the right thing to say until she explained.

It took several long minutes of silence, but finally Sakura shifted into a cross-legged position and folded her hands on her lap. She still didn't look over.

"I told you . . ." she said quietly. "There were . . . there's some things that you wouldn't like me for anymore."

"I think some of the jerk's stupidity has worn off on you," Naruto replied, and she tensed. A moment later, he elbowed her arm gently until she finally glanced at him.

"I told you," Naruto replied, looking her in the eyes, "nothing could make me hate Sakura-chan."

She blinked.

About half a minute later, Sakura finally looked away. She pulled her legs up to her chest and draped her arms over her knees, and stared out at the dunes on the horizon.

"You should get some sleep," she said. "Your turn is next."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Really worn off," he said with a smile as he stood up.

She smiled slightly in reply, but kept her face forward.

part two