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Part 3 of Please get these children therapy
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Iruka Appreciation
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Published:
2020-10-10
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2021-12-18
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31/31
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Summary:

Iruka had enough to worry about with his children finally taking the chunin exams. Add the Kazekage's insane schemes, Gaara's intense, but well-intentioned attempts to befriend Leaf's jinchuriki, and a Leaf jonin who definitely should not have been trusted with children, and everything is spiraling out of control.

But Iruka would do what he could to protect his children, no matter what the threat was.

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“The Kazekage wants to speak with you.”

“We didn’t do it,” Iruka instinctually replied, frantically thinking back to what he or the kids might have done over the past week to piss off the Kazekage. Gaara had loudly asked if destroying paintings of the Kazekage was treason and Kankuro and Temari had pulled another prank that painted half of the village bright orange, but that was honestly par for the course with them. The Kazekage had given up calling Iruka to his office for things like that years ago. As long as the kids' disrespect for their father and the leader of the village wasn’t too obvious and their pranks didn’t result in any injuries, the Kazekage left them to their own devices. The unstable truce had been in place for many years and Iruka doubted it would last much longer. The siblings were now genin and in taking their missions, they learned more about how the Kazekage ruled the village and found more reasons to dislike him beyond their displeasure at how he treated them and Iruka. Iruka had been half drafting coup plans for the last couple years. Pakura would be a good candidate and if he promised to do most of the paperwork for her she’d probably go along with it. She wasn’t too fond of the Kazekage either.

“You might not want to lead with that,” Scorpion said, his amused voice bringing Iruka back to the present. “And he said to come immediately.”

Iruka sighed and headed towards the door. Luckily the kids were out on a mission, so he wouldn’t have to worry about them trying to spy on the meeting. They had gotten rather good at it by now. Gaara had worked with Shukaku to find ways to make his sand eyeball less noticeable. Kankuro had crafted some small puppets that allowed him to listen from a distance. Iruka wasn’t quite sure how they worked, but he had to admit it was impressive. Temari found high, but protected, hiding spots and was the best at being subtle, which got her far. As proud as Iruka was of them, he’d rather they didn’t shatter the truce with their father by getting caught eavesdropping.

The chunin staffing the desk outside the Kazekage’s office waved him in right away. That made him even more nervous. Usually the Kazekage would make him wait for a while, even if it was unnecessary. Probably to remind Iruka the amount of power he held over him. Not that that really stopped Iruka from behaving how he wanted to, but it was routine and the Kazekage was a petty man. For him to skip that meant something big was going on.

“You asked to see me?” Iruka asked as he entered, coming to a halt a few feet in front of the Kazekage’s office.

“Yes, sit down,” he instructed. Iruka complied, watching the other man closely. “The chunin exams will take place in Leaf in a little over a month. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro will be entering. You will accompany them,” the Kazekage stated, getting straight to the point.

Iruka hadn’t known quite what to expect when he entered the office, but that certainly was not it. They had only been a team for a few months, he had expected they would be entered in the next set of exams, at the absolute earliest. Plus, “Excuse me, sir, but isn’t it just supposed to be jonin instructors who accompany their teams?”

The Kazekage raised his eyebrow, as if questioning why Iruka thought it was his place to question his decision. “Usually yes. But given Gaara’s… special circumstances, I thought it would be best if you tagged along. No one will question what one more chunin is doing there.”

Iruka had to repeatedly remind himself that it was a bad idea to roll his eyes at his kage, even if he deserved it. Couldn’t he go one conversation without taking a dig at Iruka’s supposed weakness? He was perfectly happy as a chunin. He did more good in the village than taking death defying missions. Leave that to Pakura, who thought they were fun. But more importantly, “What do you want from Gaara?”

The Kazekage narrowed his eyes, “What do you mean?”

“Allowing me to accompany them will make them happy. But I don’t see a benefit in it for the village or you. Gaara hasn’t had a break-down in years. He has been completing missions without me there. He doesn’t need my supervision,” Iruka responded bluntly. “You wouldn’t do this just to keep Gaara happy, You want something from him.” Fragile peace be damned. If the Kazekage was plotting something that had the potential to hurt Iruka’s kids, he needed to know what it was. He wouldn’t just let them be used as weapons.

The Kazekage regarded him coldly, “You do not need to know that just yet. Suffice to say, the chunin exams are not all that will occur at that time. And Gaara will have an additional role to play.”

Iruka ground his teeth. He knew the Kazekage wouldn’t tell him anything more, but even that small explanation put him on edge. Whatever the Kazekage was planning wasn’t good and Iruka somehow doubted it was smart either. And his kids would be right in the middle of it. “Very well,” he said. “I will accompany them.” If he couldn’t stop whatever was about to happen, he could at least be there to do damage control and make sure his kids survived.

The Kazekage raised his eyebrow, “I was unaware I was giving you a choice in the matter.” Iruka suppressed a sigh. “You leave in three weeks time. Further details will be provided to you at a later date.” Iruka saluted and left at the dismissal. As much as he wanted to find an empty training field and punch something until his anger had drained (as he usually did after talking with the Kazekage), the kids were supposed to get back from their mission tonight and he wanted to make them a welcome home dinner.

They had been gone for three weeks. It was their first B-rank mission and Iruka hadn’t been able to stop himself from worrying about them. He knew they were all very capable, and Gaara in particular was very hard to injure and would protect his siblings, but he couldn’t help himself. It wasn’t the longest he had gone without seeing them. A few months ago he had been sent on a mission that took almost three weeks. By the time he got back, the kids had already left for a week-long mission. Of course, it went long and Iruka had been sent on another mission before they got back. When he finally saw them after a month and a half, he had held them for a long time and fussed over how they had grown while they laughed at him. That night, Gaara had made his way into Iruka’s room to sleep, which he hadn’t done for a while. When Kankuro saw that, he went and convinced Temari that they should all have a sleepover in Iruka’s room so the two of them had brought their blankets and pillows and settled in on the floor. With all of them there with him, Iruka fell asleep far easier than he had for weeks. Luckily, that hadn’t had to go that long without seeing each other again yet.

Iruka entered the house and put on water for tea, hoping it would help him calm down. “Do you know what he is plotting?” He asked to the shadow he saw out of the corner of his eye. He had automatically raised his silencing barrier the second he had felt Scorpion enter the kitchen. He also did a quick check to make sure they were really alone.

Scorpion was quiet for a minute before saying, “I am sorry but I cannot tell you much. But Iruka, please be careful.”

Iruka took a deep breath, “This plot it’s big, isn’t it? Probably stupidly dangerous too based on your reaction.”

With his mask on, Iruka couldn’t see Scorpion’s facial expression, but he could guess how worried his friend was based on the way he held himself. “Bigger than anything before and the consequences if it fails or even if it succeeds will be devastating. They’ll need you, Iruka, perhaps now more than ever.” And with that he disappeared back to the roof.

Iruka gave himself a few minutes to process what Scorpion had just told him. Just the fact Scorpion had been willing to tell him that much was an extremely bad sign. For all he might not have personally liked the Kazekage, no one could say Scorpion wasn’t loyal to him. If it wasn’t directly related to the kids Scorpion usually wouldn’t tell Iruka anything, and even then he would only make vague hints, probably weaseling his way around orders. But he had to have just broken direct orders, since the Kazekage seemed pretty intent on keeping Iruka in the dark for now. For Scorpion to do that, he must have truly believed the kids were in danger and Iruka needed to be warned. Iruka knew he couldn’t ask him to reveal anything else, he couldn’t put his friend in that position. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t find out in other ways. He’d check with Pakura when she got back from her mission and Mari when he got a chance. If that didn’t work, he would check in with some of the chunin who worked the mission desk who he had befriended over the years. They probably wouldn’t know exactly what was going on, but they would be able to tell him about the Kazekage’s behavior lately. And if he phrased it carefully enough, they wouldn’t even realize that Iruka was fishing for information.

Iruka was jolted out of his thoughts by the door being thrown open, “Iruka, we’re back,” Temari called. He hurried towards the front door to greet them. And there they were. He gave them a quick once-over, taking in Temari’s bruises, and how Kankuro was holding himself a little stiffly. Gaara, of course, looked completely uninjured. That was all he was able to see before they threw themselves at him for a hug. He laughed and held them tightly, so glad they were back safe and sound. Part of being a shinobi was knowing you could lose anyone close to you at any moment, but Iruka knew losing any of his kids would destroy him.

“Did your mission go well?” He asked as he finally drew back.

“Yeah, we got to beat up a bunch of bandits. And Crow works so well, it’s my new favorite,” Kankuro enthusiastically told him. Iruka laughed. Kankuro said that about every new puppet he got.

“We delivered our client to her destination with minimal difficulties,” Temari reported, glaring at Kankuro.

Kankuro waved her off, “Yeah, yeah, but that’s obvious since we’re already back. Iruka wants to hear the fun parts.” Iruka tuned out their usual squabbling, since he had heard this same fight at least 6 times before. Temari was definitely the oldest sibling in that she was the most responsible and dignified. Kankuro could behave, but didn’t feel the need to when he was around the people he loved. It led to a lot of bickering about what was appropriate behavior for genin of Sand.

“Did you have a good mission, Gaara?” Iruka asked his original charge, who hadn’t let go of him yet.

Gaara nodded into his stomach, “Shukaku and I have been getting better at working together. I was able to let him take control during one of the fights, but was still able to see everything that happened, and he let me take back control when I asked without arguing.” Iruka was glad. Even just being the jinchuriki gave Gaara amazing power, but if Shukaku was actively helping, this power increased exponentially. And the more powerful Gaara was, the better he would be able to protect himself and his siblings.

“Good,” Iruka said. Addressing the man who had been standing awkwardly in the doorway for their reunion, “You know you can come in, Baki.” The jonin nodded sharply and finally walked inside. Iruka stifled a laugh. Honestly, he quite liked the kids’ jonin teacher. Baki had been respectful towards Iruka from the first time they met, which was more than he could say for many jonin. He treated the kids well and helped them develop their strengths, to the extent that he could. Iruka often wondered how exactly he was chosen to be the kids’ teacher. Baki was only a couple years older than Iruka, and while he was very strong, this was his first genin team. Iruka often felt bad for the poor man. He was very much a rule follower and was in no way prepared to wrangle Iruka’s little monsters. Within the first week, the kids had dyed Baki’s face cloth pink and the pranks didn’t stop from there. Iruka felt a little guilty for teaching them all those techniques and also telling them that anyone was far game as long as they could do it without getting caught. The first month, Baki would drop off the kids after missions or training and basically flee. After that, Iruka was slowly able to coax him to stay for dinner and eventually he stopped looking terrified whenever Iruka was in the same room. Honestly, anyone watching would be confused about which one of them was the mainly village-bound chunin and which one was one of the most promising young jonin of Sand. Iruka was idly curious just what threats Gaara had made that freaked Baki out so much. As much as his youngest might deny doing so, Iruka knew his kids and Gaara always looked a little too pleased at the sight of Baki freaking out.

“You staying for dinner?” Iruka asked. “It might be a while. I got caught up in something and haven’t had time to start anything yet.”

“I will have to decline. The Kazekage said he wanted to see me immediately after I brought them back,” Baki told him.

Iruka wondered if the Kazekage was going to tell Baki about whatever he was plotting for the chunin exams. He would certainly have to know eventually and it was obvious Baki was far more loyal than Iruka. He’d have to see if he could get anything out of him later. Baki was a strong fighter, but he was never going to be an undercover agent. He honestly wasn’t a great liar and got flustered far too easy. If other avenues of investigation didn’t pan out, Iruka might try and pry something out of him. “Some other time then. Usual time for training tomorrow?” Baki nodded and said his farewells.

For the next three weeks, life continued pretty much as normal. Iruka wasn’t sent on any more missions and the kids only did missions within the village, focusing most of their attention on training for the chunin exams. They unsurprisingly worked very well together so had focused most of their energy on doing individual training. Iruka often attended their training sessions, helping where he could and otherwise just watching.

Currently, Kankuro was working with Crow and a variety of poisons. Everyone made sure to keep their distance from him. Gaara and Shukaku were working on some of their more destructive moves a little ways out in the desert. Iruka couldn’t see much more than sand whipping around, but he didn’t sense any abnormal (for Gaara at least) chakra movement, so he guessed he was fine. Temari and Baki were talking, probably about wind techniques, given their gestures. This was another reason Iruka was glad Baki was the one chosen as the kids’ jonin instructor. He had been worried when the Kazekage decided that all three would become genin together. He feared Kankuro, and especially Temari, who was being held back two years, might resent their brother. He was also worried that their jonin teacher might focus all his attention on Gaara, to the detriment of the other two, or even try to destroy the bond between the siblings. He needn’t have worried.

When Temari got the news that they would be a team, she was quiet for a moment before declaring, “Oh good, who knows what kind of trouble you two knuckle-heads would have gotten into without me around to watch over you.”

Kankuro had complained about being called a knuckle-head, but didn’t seem to care that he would have to wait a year longer to become a genin than most of his classmates. “Gives me more time to work on my puppeteering skills,” is all he said on the matter.

And Baki had been everything Iruka could have hoped for, even if he was such a stickler for rules. He obviously knew Gaara was the jinchuriki, but he didn’t fear Gaara the way many villagers did. He sometimes looked out of his depth on how to advise Gaara on managing his power, something Iruka definitely sympathized with, but he treated him like a genin- yelling at him when he did something dangerous and teaching him tricks to help him survive. He also took the time to help Kankuro develop skills not directly related to puppeteering. But it was obvious pretty early on that the one he connected best with was Temari. They had the same chakra nature and under Baki, Temari improved much faster than she ever had before. And as the most serious of her siblings, she learned a lot of the logistics of being a shinobi and mission-leader from Baki. Iruka was glad she had someone to teach her that. He had never had to worry about that side of things, since he was certainly never trusted to lead a mission. But it was definitely a skillset at least one of the siblings needed to develop, and Baki was a good teacher.

Iruka had had his best to uncover whatever the Kazekage was planning, but he hadn’t been able to figure it out yet. He knew he had to involve the chunin exams somehow, and was obviously big, but he couldn’t imagine just what it could be. Surely the Kazekage couldn’t be contemplating an all-out attack on Leaf or something. They had just gotten out of their war with Mist, they couldn’t take being embroiled in another one any time soon.

Notes:

Damn, it has been so long. Sorry for the wait. School, work, and everything else that is going right now are kind of kicking my ass. But as promised, here is the final part of this series.

It's finally time for the chunin exams and everything that comes with that. Throwing all these gremlin children together in one place is going to get so chaotic. It will be great.

In case anyone is curious, this fic will mainly be written from Iruka's pov, but I will have some chapters that are from other characters'. I'll try and update every other week, but we'll see how that goes.

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

For once Iruka was glad the kids were gone when he came back from his meeting. They had a day mission within the village. Iruka hurried into the house and sank down on the floor with his back to the door. This...this was worse that he had ever even begun to imagine. Not only was the Kazekage going to get them embroiled in another war, but he wanted to use Gaara to do a significant portion of the attack. Iruka knew death and killing were a part of shinobi life and that his kids would kill eventually. Hell, Kankuro had already killed someone when one of their missions went south. Temari had been in trouble and Gaara and Baki were taking on a large group of opponents, so Kankuro used Crow to finish the fight in the quickest way he could. Even adult missing-nins were no match for his poisons.

And he had held it together until they got back to the village. Iruka was so glad he had been in the village when they got back. Kankuro had immediately bathed, pushed his puppets to the back of his closet, and curled up next to Iruka for the rest of the night. He had been uncharacteristically quiet, but Iruka knew he needed time to process and just kept reading his book until Kankuro had spoken up, “I don’t regret it. I know they wouldn’t have thought twice before killing us, but the cry he let out as he died keeps ringing in my ears.”

“I still remember the first person I killed,” Iruka told him. “It soon after making chunin. It was a courier mission and I had the message. We were attacked and split up to make it harder for them to get the message. One of them pursued me. I knew I couldn’t take her in a straight fight. I shook her off long enough to lay down a few traps. She got careless and walked into one of my tripwires, which pulled her up by her leg. I threw a kunai and sliced her throat open. And then I ran and managed to deliver the letter. But her expression of surprise as she died stayed with me for a long time.” He pulled Kankuro even closer and dropped a kiss on the top of his head, “But this is our way of life and I don’t regret being a shinobi. For what it's worth, I am proud of you. You protected your siblings.”

Kankuro gave him the first smile he had seen from the boy all day, “It’s worth a lot. Thanks, Iruka.” He fell asleep fairly quickly after that. The nightmares continued for a while, but Kankuro bounced back rather quickly. Iruka had no doubt he would not hesitate to kill again to protect his siblings.

But the Kazekage’s plan was something completely different. Iruka had killed many times before, to protect himself or his team or even proactively before the threat could notice them. Sometimes killing was necessary, and that was just part of shinobi life. However, what the Kazekage was planning was a full-scale attack on a village that was welcoming them as guests. And Iruka knew it would not accomplish anything beyond causing a huge death toll for both sides. Leaf would be on the lookout for betrayal and while Sand’s initial attack might catch them off guard, Iruka had no doubt they would recover quickly. And then the village would have to bear the burden of the Kazekage’s actions. Leaf would be out for blood, particularly if anyone important died during the invasion. This could ruin whatever meager relationships they had with the other villages as well.

And the fact of the matter was, Iruka could not do anything to stop it. He couldn’t directly go against the orders of the Kazekage, not in any obvious way. And many shinobi had already known of the plan, and none of them had apparently dared to contradict the Kazekage, so no help there. And he couldn’t just tell Leaf about the attack. While the Kazekage might have thought Iruka had no loyalty to the village, he truly did. This was his home and he didn’t want to do anything that would put the friends he had made in danger. And more than that, if something went wrong, Iruka just knew the Kazekage would hurt his kids to get back at Iruka. He might not be willing to injure Gaara as the jinchuriki, but Iruka could easily see him harming Kankuro or Temari and removing them from Iruka’s care.

But if Iruka did nothing, it was also likely the kids would get hurt. If not during the attack, then in the aftermath. They were the Kazekage’s children and it wasn’t uncommon for whole families to be punished for something of this magnitude. Leaf could easily demand their heads as a condition of peace. And Sand was not alone in treating their jinchuriki as less than human. They could experiment on Gaara as well.

He made no claims of genius, but he was usually pretty good at creating plans to neutralize higher powered threats. However, this was just too much! No matter what strategy he thought up, it would have devastating consequences if something went just slightly wrong. And his kids would probably be the ones bearing the brunt of those consequences. He needed more information. Well, what he really needed was a sane leader for the village, but at this point he would settle for more information. The jonin leading the meeting he just attended was not too forthcoming. What was the timeline of the invasion? How did they plan to plot right under the noses of all the other villages? And what role did the Kazekage expect Iruka’s children, particularly Gaara, to play?

But the wall opposite him held no answers, and eventually he forced himself from his seat. He knew he wouldn’t be able to focus enough to cook anything, so he walked into the village proper to get takeout from one of the kids’ favorite restaurants. While he knew that they knew him well enough to see that he was shaken up, hopefully he could convince them he was just worried about the chunin exams. He desperately wanted to tell them everything, but he couldn’t. Even during his meltdown, he had been able to tell that the anbu on guard duty was not Scorpion. It wasn’t even a chakra signature Iruka recognized as one of their other regular watchers. And he knew they would be watched closely until they left for Leaf. He would have to keep this quiet from the kids and let them be told by whoever the Kazekage selected. He hoped Temari was quick enough to stop her brothers from obviously reacting to the news. They needed to convince the Kazekage that they were willing to play their role or at least were too scared of the consequences not to do so until Iruka could come up with a solution.

Iruka was just getting out plates when the front door burst open. “We’re back,” Kankuro called out.

“Welcome back,” Iruka called back. “How was the mission?”

Temari rolled her eyes, “It was just tracking down some jewelry that a civilian lost. She had left the window open and a bird made off with it. Nothing exciting.”

“How disappointing,” Iruka joked. “Wash up and we’ll have dinner. Baki, you staying tonight?”

Full expecting another rejection, he was surprised when the jonin agreed to stay.

Dinner blurred past with conversation ranging from what their worst mission was (It was telling of the kids priorities that they all ranked ones where they could have been killed as much higher than running messages for the mission desk or other “boring" village work.) to what to expect at the chunin exams.

Iruka left the kids to wash the dishes after they finished and walked Baki out. “I am glad you are coming with us,” Baki said quietly as he stood in the doorway. Iruka, who had been absentmindedly listening to the kids argue about how to divide up chores in the kitchen, jerked his head so he could meet Baki’s gaze head-on. “I will be glad to have your aid in making sure everything goes smoothly,” he continued.

Iruka smiled, “Of course. I am happy to be of service.” Baki nodded and left for the evening and Iruka went through the motions of getting everyone into bed. Later he lay in his own bed, checking on the kids’ chakra from their rooms down the hall, needing the reassurance they were alright. He found himself feeling more hopeful than he had since he heard the Kazekage’s insane plan. Baki’s comment should have sounded completely innocuous to their anbu watcher, but Iruka had seen the look in his eyes. Baki cared about the kids and he knew this plan could destroy them. Iruka knew Baki would never directly go against the Kazekage, but the glance he had given Iruka gave him hope that if he could figure out a way to creatively interpret orders to get around that problem, Baki would help him. And more allies were always a good thing. He didn’t know who else was coming along on this disaster. He knew Pakura at least was staying in the village to stand guard, since she had taken him aside a couple weeks ago and asked him to look after Maki for her. He hoped Scorpion would accompany the group, but he wasn’t sure. He’d have to find a way to ask Mari. So the current situation was: Iruka needed to find a way to prevent the Kazekage’s awful plan from coming to fruition without anyone figuring out what he was doing or he would be killed for treason. He also needed to protect his kids, and all the kids entered in the chunin exams if possible. He knew hardly any details about the actual plan, and would be operating in a village he had never been in before. His only allies were Baki, maybe Scorpion and Mari if they came along, and the three kids he had to protect. While that was better than before tonight when he didn’t have Baki, it wasn’t great either. He had been in some tough spots before but he felt comfortable saying these were the worst odds he had ever faced. But he couldn’t give up. If he did what would happen to-

“Iruka?” Gaara poked his head inside Iruka’s room.

“Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing up?” Iruka asked, automatically moving over to give Gaara space to lay down. The Kazekage had yelled at Iruka numerous times over the years for continuing to allow Gaara and to a lesser extent, Kankuro and Temari, sleep with him when they had a rough night. Iruka had no difficulty ignoring the man’s protests. He needed Iruka enough to not get rid of him over something minor like this. Besides, this was not a sign of weakness as the Kazekage saw it. Needing reassurance was normal and they were still so young. Iruka would never shame them for needing someone to help them process their emotions and move forward.

Gaara curled up by Iruka’s side and asked, “Do you think there will be other jinchuriki at the exams?” Iruka was speechless. He was so caught up in dealing with the Kazekage’s scheming and keeping the kids safe that he overlooked the concerns the kids must have about the exams. He doubted any of them were worried about the exams themselves, since they were confident in their abilities, but it would be a new place and a lot of new people, which were not things Gaara dealt with particularly well. And the possibility of meeting another jinchuriki just added another layer on top of that.

“It’s possible,” Iruka answered slowly, trying to think through what he knew about each jinchuriki. A couple were not associated with any village, so they certainly wouldn’t be there. But Iruka honestly didn’t know much about other villages' jinchurikis. They probably wouldn’t be coming as spectators, but it was possible that one was taking the chunin exams.

“Do you think they’d be my friend? If one of them is there, I mean?” Gaara asked. And his expression just broke Iruka’s heart. He looked so hopeful to have a friend who could truly understand him. Iruka knew he loved his siblings and liked Maki, but they just could not understand many of the things Gaara was going through. Only another jinchuriki could.

“I don’t see why not. You’re a very good friend,” Iruka replied. “But they might be wary of opening up to you. They probably haven’t had the best of experiences with people.” As much as Iruka hated to say it, he knew he needed to. He couldn’t let Gaara set his expectations too high and be let down if whatever jinchuriki he met had been hurt too many times to open up to Gaara.

“Like how some of the villagers won't talk to me and call me a demon when they think I cannot hear,” Gaara said.

Iruka sighed. He tried to protect Gaara from the worst of the village’s hatred, but Gaara’s sand eye let him see whatever he wanted to and Gaara was a curious child. Of course, he knew what most of the village thought of him. Even though he hadn’t had an outburst in years, people still viewed him like an exploding tag about to go off.

“Yes, like that. So whoever they are might be leery of you because of their past experiences. But don’t let that discourage you. You didn’t like Temari and Kankuro all that much at first either, remember?” Gaara nodded seriously. “But they stuck around and kept trying and now you three are near inseparable,” Iruka continued.

“And you’ll be there to help, right?” Gaara asked, despite Iruka having alreadt told him multiple times he was coming.

“Of course, although I don’t know how much help I will be,” Iruka replied.

“Everyone likes Iruka,” Gaara stated confidently. “Well everyone with any sense,” the dark look he threw in the direction of the Kazekage’s office left little doubt about who he was talking about. Iruka couldn’t help but laugh at that. “So we can show the other jinchuriki that we are nice and then we’ll become friends.”

It sounded so simple when Gaara put it like that and Iruka wished he could make reality follow that plan. Gaara deserved all the friends he wanted. But with the Kazekage’s stupid plan, whatever jinchuriki they met would probably be their enemy. And Gaara would have much bigger worries than just making friends at the chunin exams. Iruka added another factor to his plotting- try and come up with a solution that left Gaara free to focus on befriending other participants in the exams rather than worrying about the attack.

“We’ll certainly try our best,” is what he eventually ended up giving Gaara as a response. They knew each well enough at that point that Iruka could tell Gaara knew something was wrong with his answer, but Iruka just pulled him close to his chest and said, “Rest, we’ll talk more later.” Gaara settled down without any further protests and was soon snoring slightly. Iruka combed his hand through his hair, his hands shaking. He would find a way to save his children from the attack and the aftermath that followed, no matter what. These three meant more to him than anyone else in the world and no one: not the Kazekage, an enemy shinobi, or the combined forces of the other villages were going to take them from him.

Notes:

Naruto is not going to be prepared for an aggressively friendly Gaara, but honestly, I feel like he'll roll with it pretty well.

I interpret Baki was someone who genuinely cares about the kids but also is very loyal to position of the Kazekage, regardless of his personal feelings for the current person who holds the title. Of course, hanging out with Iruka so much has made him more down for traitorous activity than he would be otherwise. Basically, if Iruka can come up with an interpretation of orders so that they aren't technically breaking orders but still ignoring their intention, Baki will go along with it.

Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Have you seen my poison paint?” Kankuro yelled, digging through the drawers of his dresser.

“Which one?” Iruka yelled back, checking his pack for the fourth time just to be extra sure he had everything. Kankuro had several different poison paints and a bad tendency to stash them in out-of-the-way places and promptly forget where they were.

“The purp-never mind, I found it,” Kankuro emerged from his room, holding up the pot in triumph.

“You know you could have done this earlier this week, or you know yesterday, and avoided this,” Temari told him judgmentally.

“Lay off, we still have a hour before we are scheduled to leave,” Kankuro waved her off. “And I have everything else.” Temari definitely did not believe him and demanded to see his pack. Iruka left them to it and went to check on Gaara.

“You got everything?” he stuck his head into Gaara’s room and asked.

Gaara nodded, gesturing to the pack by the door but not saying anything. He had been quiet ever since the three of them had been called into the Kazekage’s office and told their part in the invasion plan. Iruka desperately wanted to explain what he was planning to Gaara, but he couldn’t risk angering the Kazekage and getting left behind where he couldn’t help at all. Hopefully they would be able to find the time and space to have that much needed conversation soon. But he just couldn’t let things stand as they were.

“Gaara, do you trust me?” Iruka asked.

“Of course,” Gaara responded, with a tone of voice that questioned why Iruka would ever have to ask.

“Then trust me when I say everything will be alright. Just focus on the chunin exams for now and we’ll address everything else as it comes, okay?” Iruka instructed, reaching out to pull Gaara into his arms.

Gaara instantly melted into the hug, “Alright.” Iruka glanced up to see Temari and Kankuro standing in the doorway. He let go of Gaara and pulled each of them into a hug in turn.

“No matter what happens, just know how proud I am of all of you,” Iruka told them. All three of the kids nodded.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door before Iruka could say anything else. "That’s probably Baki. Temari, get the door will you? I’ll make sure your brothers have everything and meet you down there momentarily.” Temari grinned and hurried off. True to his word, Iruka glanced through Gaara’s and Kankuro’s packs to make sure they had everything they would need. It wasn’t that they couldn’t take care of themselves, they just both had somewhat odd ideas of what items were strictly necessary.

Iruka raised his eyebrow at the amount of supplies for pranks Kankuro had packed. When he gave him a look, the puppeteer just shrugged, “You never know, they might be useful for a phase of the exams. And yes, I promise not to get caught pulling any pranks on unsuspecting villagers or anything while we’re in Leaf.”

Iruka figured that was the best he was going to get. Gaara’s pack looked good as well. “Alright, let’s get going before your sister comes to drag us down.”

Gaara and Kankuro both shouldered their packs and followed Iruka. After a quick stop in his room to grab his bag, they hurried to where Baki and Temari were.

“Cutting it a little close there,” Baki commented, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Iruka just shrugged. Baki was well aware how difficult wrangling these children could be.

Despite Temari and Baki’s worries, they arrived with time to spare. Organizing a group as large as this would be no easy task and Iruka was glad he did not have to deal with that mess. He just had to make sure he didn’t lose any of his kids in the swarm of bodies. And given that all three of them were huddling as close to him and Baki as they could, he wasn’t too concerned about that.

“Iruka!’ he heard a voice shout and turned to see Pakura coming towards him.

“Pakura, I thought you were remaining in the village,” Iruka said as she reached him.

“I am. Someone has to keep an eye on things here. But I just wanted to ask you to keep an eye on Maki. I know she’s pretty nervous and I won’t be there to support her,” Pakura requested.

“Of course,” Iruka promised. “Given all you’ve taught her, I’m sure she’ll be fine but I’ll check in on her.”

“Thanks I appreciate it. I know I can trust you to look after her,” Pakura replied, her eyes telling him she meant for more than performance anxiety about the exams. Iruka wasn’t surprised Pakura knew of the ill-fated plan too. He could read her frustration and concern. It must be killing her to send them all off without her. “Best of luck to all of you,” Pakura finished before moving on.

“I see Maki now, I’ll go grab her,” Kankuro slipped away and approached their friend. Iruka approved. Maki really did look nervous, and establishing them as a unit could only help later on. When Iruka made his move (once he figured out what that move would be), it would help if he could get the four of them together without anyone getting suspicious. Iruka wasn’t sure how much Maki knew about their true purpose. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari had a role to play in the invasion so knew a significant part of the plan, but he doubted they were telling every genin the extent of the Kazekage’s scheme. It would create too much of a risk that someone would accidentally let something slip.

Iruka felt someone’s gaze on him and he turned to make eye contact with the Kazekage. He was surrounded by several strong jonin as well as several people Iruka recognized as his assistants. He didn’t say anything, not that Iruka could have heard him over the din of dozens of people getting organized for their journey, but he didn’t need to. The message was received. He would be keeping an eye on Iruka, so he better not try anything. Not that that would prevent Iruka from continuing with his plan to commit treason, he would just have to be extra sneaky about it now.

“Iruka, we’re leaving now,” Baki called out to him. Iruka hurried over to where the five of them were gathered. Given how Maki’s jonin teacher had not protested Kankuro stealing her away, Iruka figured they would be free to travel with who they wished for the most part. At least he wouldn’t have to spend the next three days dealing with some snotty jonin who was constantly questioning why Iruka was even here. He was sure the kids would help him hide a body without any questions (even Maki-no one who spent that much time around Pakura maintained their sanity), and he might even be able to convince Baki to help, but he had to set a good example for the kids and that included modeling how to deal with annoying teammates in a productive and non-violent fashion. His kids were already a little bloodthirsty and he needed to make sure they channeled that impulse in the right direction.

The first day passed quickly, with the kids bouncing various strategies off one another, with Baki and Iruka throwing in advice when they deemed it necessary. Iruka was honestly surprised at how early it was when they stopped. It was still a week before the exams started so it wasn’t like they needed to rush, but there were still a couple hours of daylight left when they halted for the night. However, Iruka just shrugged it off. He had long since given up trying to decipher the Kazekage’s every decision. Plus this gave them a chance to get some practice matches in, which the kids appreciated. Of course, that exercise on top of running through the desert all day made them exhausted. Kankuro nearly fell asleep in his dinner bowl and the rest weren’t far behind. Iruka got the four kids settled down in one of the tents. Baki had disappeared right after dinner for some jonin teacher meeting or something and so it was just Iruka awake. But no matter how much he tried, he just couldn’t fall asleep. Something was wrong. He didn’t know quite what or how he knew but he was positive there was a danger lurking nearby that he had missed. He double-checked that there were no poisonous creatures in the tent and looked around again, but nothing leaped out at him.

And then he sensed it. Usually this far away from the village, his abilities would be extremely diminished, but there was enough excess chakra from all the high powered individuals around, that he could get some sense of the area. It helped that whatever was going on was between extremely powerful individuals. Iruka sensed three chakra signatures, but he couldn’t tell who they were. He also couldn’t tell what exactly was going on. It didn’t seem like a fight or else he would alert the guards. But he decided to go investigate, throwing up a protective barrier around the tent so the kids would be safe while he was gone.

As he drew close to the edge of the camp, he felt one of the chakra signatures disappear. With how suddenly it disappeared, Iruka knew they had to have been killed. That jolted him into action and he hurried towards the direction of the disturbance. He decided not to alert anyone just yet, since he still wasn’t sure what was occurring. He definitely did not need to bring down unnecessary attention to himself or have to explain how he knew what was going on. One of the other chakra signatures moved away from the camp while the other drew closer. Iruka slightly relaxed as the Kazekage came into sight. It must just have been him and one of the anbu dealing with an enemy. Iruka almost left to go back to the tent since he avoided all unnecessary one-on-one conversations with the man. But something was wrong. As the figure drew closer, Iruka realized what it was. That man might look like the Kazekage, but that was not the Kazekage’s chakra. Iruka may not have the best sense of the Kazekage’s chakra, since he hadn’t been near him when he was fighting, but he couldn’t avoid having some familiarity with it after years of meetings with the man. And this was not that chakra. But if that wasn’t the Kazekage that meant…

“Hello, Iruka. I am surprised to see you out here alone.” Iruka could barely hold back the flinch as those eyes met his. Iruka was used to people looking right through him and the Kazekage’s gaze had never been kind. But this was something more. This gaze cut right through him and instead of the indifference or annoyance they usually held, they contained a malicious cruelty that shouldn’t be there. No one would ever call the Kazekage kind, but this far surpassed even his callousness. This gaze was of someone who delighted in causing suffering. This wasn’t the Kazekage. “You should be getting back. I’m sure the children will be displeased by your absence.”

Iruka nodded and forced himself to respond, “Of course. I was just admiring the view. I don’t usually get the chance to spend a lot of time in this part of the desert.”

The imposter looked vaguely amused, “ Oh, I could always assign you more missions outside the village if you so desire.”

Iruka quickly declined, “Thanks, but I am happy with the current state of things. And as you said, I better get back to the kids.”

The fake Kazekage nodded and waved a hand to dismiss. Iruka bowed his head and set off towards the tent, heart beating rapidly. As soon as he entered the tent, he checked that each child was alright and scanned the surrounding area for any unusual activity. Finding none, he lay down next to Gaara and pulled the boy into his arms. Gaara went easily enough and curled up against Iruka without waking up. Iruka stroked Gaara’s hair until he could feel himself calm down.

Iruka tried to figure out how to respond to this situation. ‘Okay, Iruka, you’re pretty sure the Kazekage just got murdered and is currently being impersonated by one of the people who killed him. And no one else knows but you.’ This was way out of his pay grade. He wasn’t even sure whose pay grade it might be in, but it definitely wasn’t his.

The good thing was he didn’t think the fake suspected that he knew. Iruka had developed a rather good neutral mask after years of dealing with annoying supervisors so he hopefully hadn’t shown his terror on his face. And that conversation was something Iruka could have had with the Kazekage. And very few people knew of Iruka’s ability. It’s not like he had purposely kept it a secret at first, but since it was usually only useful while in the village, he didn’t think it was important enough to talk about them. And once he started taking care of Gaara and the others, his silence was more intentional. If the Kazekage ever made a move against them, Iruka would need all the advantages he could get. Not that that particular scenario was a concern anymore.

Iruka had to prevent himself from breaking down into hysterical laughter. He had never liked the Kazekage and started downright loathing him after he began taking care of Gaara. He thought him a terrible leader and a worse father, who claimed to be looking out for the best of the village when really he was too stubborn and prideful to ever acknowledge he was wrong. He was condescending and cruel. But Iruka knew him. He knew how he thought, how he would react. He knew how far he could push him and what retaliation could occur. While Iruka certainly wouldn’t miss the man personally, he would miss knowing his enemy. Iruka wouldn't mourn the man. In fact, all he really felt towards him was annoyance that he had to get himself killed in a way that placed Iruka’s kids and honestly the entire village at risk. Even in death he had to inconvenience Iruka and help ruin his kids’ lives.

And this imposter was a completely unknown entity. Iruka didn’t know what they would do, how they would react, or even what their abilities were. He could guess that their goal was related to the planned invasion of Leaf. It seemed like the Kazekage had intentionally met them that evening, so they were probably the driving force behind the plan. It had seemed a little insane even for the Kazekage. Which told Iruka they were willing to do whatever necessary to accomplish their objective. And they and one other associate had managed to take down the Kazekage in minutes without alerting anyone besides Iruka. So they must be insanely powerful.

Then Iruka would have to be extraordinarily careful about how he told people and who he told. The imposter had known Iruka on sight and knew he was the caretaker of Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. So he probably knew the names of most of the shinobi traveling with them and generally how the Kazekage interacted with them. Not only would Iruka need to find a way to tell people he could trust without alerting the imposter and getting himself killed, but he would have to find a way to convince people he was telling the truth. All he had was information from a skill most people didn’t know he had and a general location of the Kazekage’s body, which he couldn’t go back for without attracting suspicion.

‘Well at least on the bright side, I’m no longer technically committing treason,’ Iruka thought hysterically. The man currently giving orders wasn’t the Kazekage and had in fact killed the real Kazekage. If he could just spread word of that, hopefully this insane plan would be called off. But remembering the look in the eyes of the imposter, he had no doubt that if he made one wrong move, he would be dead before he realized what was happening. And he couldn’t risk leaving the kids like that. They needed him more than ever. This imposter certainly had no loyalty to Sand and so would have no problems getting them all killed in pursuit of their purpose. At least with the real Kazekage, he would be a little less willing to throw away all their lives, if only because that would weaken the village.

What Iruka really needed was more information. Without knowing the enemies’ abilities or numbers, he was in a bind. Well, if this person held such a grudge against Leaf that they were willing to kill and impersonate the leader of another village and risk starting another all out war, maybe Leaf would know something about who they might be. Not that Iruka had much of a description to offer beyond incredibly powerful, slightly deranged, and terrifying. But someone like that would have stuck out, so maybe if Iruka could get into their archives or something.

Iruka was jolted out of his thoughts as a figure entered the tent. He reached for the kunai by his side before realizing it was Baki. The jonin quirked an eyebrow at him, silently asking what was wrong. Iruka wasn’t quite sure what his face looked like right now, but it clearly revealed that something was off.

Iruka waved Baki off, “Just had to have a one-on-one with the Kazekage, which I had hoped to avoid during this trip.” Baki rolled his eyes. He had gotten so desensitized with Iruka’s casual insults towards the leader of their village. The first few times Iruka had done so, he had looked so shocked, it was honestly amusing. But Iruka certainly wasn’t going to change his behavior and the Kazekage already knew he wasn’t shy about sharing his opinion about him to those he was close to, so he just kept it up and eventually Baki had gotten used to it. Luckily, Baki bought Iruka’s explanation and laid down in his bedroll. While Iruka wanted to tell Baki, he didn’t dare just yet.

He’d tell Baki, Mari, and Scorpion, if he could find him, Iruka decided. However, he would have to wait until they reached Leaf. Then the imposter would be preoccupied fooling the other village leaders and organizing the attack. Even if Iruka couldn’t find any information about the imposter in Leaf, that would provide enough of a distraction to Iruka discreetly inform those three of what happened. He trusted they would believe him even if he didn’t have concrete evidence. Of course, he would have to be wary of other villages eavesdropping as well. If one of them found out the Kazekage was dead and no one from Sand figured it out, they would look weak and invite another attack they could ill-afford. So Iruka just had to find a way to expose the imposter, stop the attack on Leaf, encourage Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, and Maki during the exams, and not die while doing any of the other activities. This was definitely out of his pay grade.

Notes:

My family has a long history of putting things in a very special place and then promptly forgetting where that special place was. I felt Kankuro would share this habit.

I honestly don't remember the timeline of when Orochimaru started impersonating the Kazekage in canon- if he took over and then announced the invasion plan or what. In this universe, he approached the Kazekage with the invasion plan, the Kazekage immediately agreed because he's an idiot, they met up to finalize plans, and Orochimaru and bone-dude killed him and Orochimaru took his place.

The Kazekage- literally gets murdered. Iruka- um, could you have maybe done that when it wasn't so inconvenient for me?

Next chapter the crew arrives in Leaf and Naruto makes an appearance.

Chapter 4

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The final two days of their journey to Leaf were the most nerve-wrecking 48 hours Iruka had ever experienced. The intruder’s presence hovered, his chakra so off from any Iruka had felt before. He couldn’t describe what was wrong with it beyond saying it felt wrong. Iruka spent every spare minute he had fusing over the kids. He made them check again and again that they had all the supplies they needed, ran through any jutsus and traps he thought might be useful to them, and would not let them out of his sight. Maki had never seen Iruka in full over-protective parent mode and ended up hiding behind Temari a couple times to get a break from his hovering. Luckily, the other three were more used to it, although Iruka didn’t think he had ever been this bad before. Gaara almost seemed to enjoy it, happily going over his strategies with Iruka again and again. Of course, those strategies were less about how to win fights and more about how to find and befriend any jinchurikis he could find, but Iruka was happy to listen and give advice anyway.

On a positive note, Iruka was fairly convinced the imposter hadn’t figured out what he knew. Sure, they watched him, but no more than the Kazekage would and the gaze was rather detached, not at all concerned. So Iruka was probably safe. For now at least. But he was very careful not to do anything that could let the imposter know he was on to them. The fussing could easily be excused given the chunin exams and the invasion plan. If Iruka was caught trying to convince some of the adult shinobi on the trip that they should kill the Kazekage because that wasn’t actually the Kazekage, that would be harder to explain.

Iruka had decided he would tell Baki, Scorpion, and Mari once they reached Leaf. Iruka knew Scorpion was here, having felt his chakra even if he hadn’t seen him. But it wouldn’t be hard to track him down once they were in Leaf since Iruka’s sensing would work even better there. Hopefully, the fake-Kazekage would be too preoccupied with fooling the other kage to notice what Iruka was doing. Once they settled in, Iruka would scope out what the best place and time would be to tell them without anyone else noticing. Iruka doubted anyone in Sand would be working with someone who killed the Kazekage, but he couldn’t take the chance that there were other disguised individuals or that a Sand shinobi would overhear part of their conversation and jump to the wrong conclusion. Once he got those three in on the situation, they could help him figure out what to do next. Iruka felt even more grateful that Mari was accompanying them than he had when he had first found out. She was relentlessly level-headed and had a lot of connections due to all the shinobi she had healed over the years, so she would be invaluable. And he knew he would have to tell the kids at some point, but he put that off for now. The less they knew, the lesser danger they would be in, at least for now.

Iruka honestly didn’t pay much attention to the bland welcome speech a Leaf shinobi delivered to the group once they reached the gate. He was sure they wouldn’t say anything he needed to hear, and he had a few other things on his mind right now. He trailed after Baki who led the group to the place they would be staying during the exams. Sadly, they had to give Maki back to her genin-team at that point, since each team had their own space. Iruka, thankfully, was staying with the kids and Baki. Leaf, and Iruka guessed all the other villages as well, had apartments set up specifically for the chunin exams. It allowed the village to keep an eye on their visitors and separate any groups between whom tensions might be high. Iruka, Baki, and the kids would be sharing an apartment for the duration of the exams. It was honestly more spacious than Iruka was anticipating.

As soon as the kids put their stuff away, Kankuro started bouncing around in excitement, “Iruka, can we go explore the village?” Temari and Gaara both looked over, eager to hear the answer.

“Alright,” Iruka agreed. “Can I trust you to go by yourselves?” As much as Iruka wanted to look after them, this would give him an opportunity to speak with the people he needed to while the imposter was busy with the Hokage and whoever else was high ranking enough to attend whatever boring meeting was currently going on. And Iruka didn’t think the three of them could get into anything as dangerous as the situation he needed to deal with just wandering around Leaf for an hour. The kids and Baki all looked rather surprised he was letting them go on their own. “I have a few things to take care of,” he explained.

“What sort of things?” Temari asked.

“Boring adult things that aren’t nearly as interesting as exploring a new village,” Iruka replied. The three of them seemed to accept that. “Promise me you won’t start anything and if you get into any trouble come back here right away, alright?” Iruka got each of them to promise. After all, he knew he should never underestimate their ability to find trouble. But they were strong and Iruka trusted them to look after themselves for the most part.

Gaara tugged at his hand, “Shukaku says that there’s another jinchuriki in the village. Can I go find them?” Iruka had not expected them to run into a jinchuriki so soon, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to let Gaara meet them. Temari could pull him away if the jinchuriki was hostile.

“Sure, just remember what I told you about being careful and be sure to respect their boundaries. If they don’t want to be friends right off the bat, that’s okay.” Gaara nodded solemnly. Iruka ruffled his hair and pulled him into a hug. “Pick up some ingredients while you're out, will you? You guys get to decide what we have for dinner tonight.” The spirited debate over that preoccupied the three of them until they were out the door, and for quite a bit longer, if Iruka’s hearing was to be believed.

Baki waited long enough for Iruka to throw up his silencing seals before asking, “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“What makes you think I wanted to talk to you about something?” Iruka asked. Shit, had Baki noticed he was acting strange? If so, would the imposter also have noticed?

Baki gave him a rather unimpressed look, “Iruka, you are the single most overprotective parent I have ever encountered. The only reason you would let your kids wander around the strange village unattended is if you needed to deal with something that presented a bigger threat to their safety.”

Iruka had to admit that was true. Hopefully this wouldn’t look too out of character to anyone else. Just then there was a knock at the door. Iruka hurriedly took down the silencing barrier and nodded at Baki who opened it. Standing on the other side was Mari. Iruka felt a familiar chakra signature behind him and realized Scorpion had entered through the window when his back was turned.

Mari made a gesture at Iruka until he guessed what she wanted and threw up the silencing barrier again.

“Why are you letting your kids wander around a hostile village without you?” Mari demanded. “Did you get hit in the head on the way over?”

So much for not seeming out of character, Iruka sighed.

“No, I’m fine, Mari, I promise,” he rushed to reassure her before she gave him a check-up, whether he wanted one or not. “But I’m glad that you are here. I need to talk to you about something.” He turned to Scorpion, “Where is the Kazekage right now?”

Scorpion raised his eyebrow, “He and most of his guards are still in the initial meeting. Luckily, I am off duty currently. Is this somehow related to him?”

“Very,” Iruka sighed, reinforcing his silencing barrier just to be safe. “Tell me, have any of you noticed anything odd about the Kazekage in the last couple of days?”

Mari and Baki both shook their heads, which wasn’t surprising since they had hardly interacted with him at all during the trip. Scorpion looked thoughtful, “Nothing concrete, but something does seem off recently.”

“So what, is this a lead up to telling us you killed him and stashed his body somewhere in the desert on the way here?” Mari asked, flopping down on the coach.

“Well I didn’t do it,” Iruka answered before he could think it through. He had really wanted to give a better preface than that. Mari let out a short laugh before she saw Iruka’s face.

“Wait, you’re serious?” She gasped. Baki’s face had gone completely pale. Scorpion hadn’t visibly reacted but was staring very intensely at Iruka.

“Let me start at the beginning. You all know how I can feel chakra to a certain extent?” All three nodded. “The first night of our journey I felt a disturbance a little ways away from the camp. I didn’t know quite what was going on, so I walked in that direction. There were three chakra signatures but then one of them disappeared. And a few minutes later, the Kazekage strolled into view. Except it wasn’t the Kazekage. I know his chakra and this wasn’t it. The only explanation I can come up with this imposter killed the Kazekage and took his place,” Iruka reported. “I don’t think they're on to me, but I’m not sure.”

While Mari and Baki were getting over their shock, Scorpion asked, “And you’re sure the Kazekage was the one who was killed?”

Iruka shook his head, “No, not completely. It was far away and I don’t have the greatest sense of the Kazekage’s chakra. But the other presence went away from the camp and never returned, so I’m pretty sure they were not a Sand shinobi. I knew I wasn’t familiar with their chakra or the chakra of the person who came back to camp. And I was familiar with the chakra that disappeared. The Kazekage being killed is the only explanation that makes sense. I do think he might have been working with whoever killed him initially, but they had to have betrayed him. There is no way he would agree to have this plan go into effect without his presence.”

Scorpion nodded, “I agree with you on that. But I needed to be sure, this is a rather extreme accusation.”

“I understand,” Iruka said. “Believe me, I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t truly believe it was true. This just adds that many more complications to an already terrible situation.”

Everyone nodded. “So where do we go from here?” Baki asked. “That is not the Kazekage, and it seems like this invasion plan wasn’t fully the Kazekage’s from the very beginning. So what does the imposter seek to accomplish by doing this?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea who they might be,” Iruka admitted.

“Which is dangerous,” Mari pointed out. “To have killed the Kazekage with just them and one other fighter, even if it was a surprise attack, they must be extremely powerful.”

“So we’ve got a fighter of unknown capacity impersonating the leader of our village and we are about to unleash an unnecessary and bloody attack on Leaf for this imposter,” Scorpion summed up.

“Pretty much,” Iruka agreed. “If anyone has any brilliant ideas for what to do about this, I’m open to suggestions.” Everyone mulled it over.

“Just to be clear, are we in agreement that we need to stop the attack?” Mari asked.

“I think that would best,” Scorpion replied and Iruka and Baki agreed.

“Alright. I know more people on this little trip than anyone else, so I’ll take stock of who is here. I’ll get back to you once I have an idea of how each person will react: who will believe us without difficulty, who will take more convincing, and who won’t believe us if we showed them the Kazekage’s body,” Mari decided.

“I will keep an eye on the imposter and contact you if it seems like they are catching on to us,” Scorpion informed them. “I’ll also talk to the other anbu and try and point out inconsistencies in the fake’s behavior when possible.”

“Well with our response coming together, we just need to find out more about who the fake is,” Baki said.

“I was thinking they probably have a grudge against Leaf, or at least someone important in Leaf, to be willing to go to such lengths,” Iruka offered.

“I would agree,” Scorpion put it.

“Maybe a missing nin from Leaf?” Maki suggested.

“It’s possible,” Baki agreed. “But it could also be someone who hates Leaf for killing their family or any number of other reasons. No village has any shortage of enemies.”

“So we really don’t have anything to go on,” Iruka sighed.

“Would a Bingo book help?” Mari asked.

“I can look through ours, but what would be truly helpful would be to see a copy of Leaf’s,” Scorpion replied. “Each village notes enemies with a particular grudge against them, which would be a good starting point for candidates of who the imposter is.”

“Where are we going to get one of those? It’s not like we can just ask a Leaf shinobi for one without them getting incredibly suspicious and drawing a dangerous amount of attention to ourselves,” Iruka pointed out.

“I know, Iruka can seduce a Leaf shinobi and get their copy,” Mari offered helpfully.

“What, no! Why would you suggest that?” Iruka yelled, turning bright red while Mari cackled.

“According to your kids everyone likes you, so it shouldn’t be too hard,” she teased.

“Any actual suggestions?” Baki asked, wearing the same look he did when the kids had been arguing for 20 minutes about what to have for dinner.

“You don’t you and Iruka try to figure out a solution?” Scorpion instructed. “Mari and I will start on our tasks. It would be ill-advised to make a move without more information, and we have some time. The invasion won’t occur until the final round, which is more than a month away. I’m sure you two will be able to come up with something.”

Everyone agreed and the meeting broke up pretty quickly after that. Lingering unnecessary would be dangerous and lead to questions they didn’t have good answers to.

Baki and Iruka spent the next few hours verbally discussing strategies for the kids during the chunin exams while passing a paper back and forth brainstorming ways to get their hands on a Bingo book from Leaf. Leaving the silencing seals up for too long could make any watcher suspicious, after all. Neither of them could come up with a feasible plan, so their suggestions included breaking into the Hokage’s office and when caught, pretend to have gotten lost looking for the training fields, just break into random shinobi’s houses and search them until they found a copy, having Iruka trip a Leaf shinobi and try and steal any papers they had on them while pretending to help them up. Baki insisted on adding Mari’s suggestion to the list, further insisting that Iruka should seduce a Leaf jonin because they were more likely to have a copy than others. It was very frustrating. But it’s not like this was an easy task. Bingo books were closely guarded secrets and they had to move very carefully or risk not only getting killed by Leaf but having the imposter realize they knew, which would put the kids in an incredible amount of danger.

After Baki started drawing little hearts around the seduction option, Iruka took the paper and burned it in the sink. Maybe taking a break from it and coming back to it with fresh minds later would help. Iruka looked outside and noticed it was starting to get dark. The kids should have been back by now. His hand dropped to the sand bracelet that he had worn for years. Over time, Gaara had figured out how to use them to not only tell where Iruka was but to make Iruka’s bracelet react if they were in danger. Since he hadn’t gotten a signal, he figured they were alright, but if they weren’t back in a few minutes he would go out and look for them. No sooner had he thought that, then he felt the kids’ chakra come into range. They were heading towards the apartment. Iruka let out a breath of relief. He didn’t think anything would happen to them in their first few hours of being in a strange village, but it was nice to have reassurance.

As they drew closer, Iruka realized they weren’t alone. All three kids were there, but there were five additional chakra signatures with them. Iruka was sure he had never felt these before, although one felt vaguely familiar. Three were clearly from shinobi, one was much weaker, Iruka would have thought it was from a civilian if not for the company, and the familiar one. Iruka focused in on that one. It wasn’t that he had ever felt this particular signature before, but it had a quality to it that he was used to. Very strong, but it seemed split somehow. Like there were two different contributors...oh, Iruka abruptly realized what this meant.

“Well the good news is the kids are on their way back,” he remarked to Baki.

“What’s the bad news?” Baki asked, looking very resigned to his fate.

“Well, it’s not bad, per se. But they are accompanied by five others, one of whom is definitely a jinchuriki,” Iruka told him.

Baki stared at him, “So you’re telling me we leave them alone for one afternoon and Gaara already kidnapped someone?”

“Kidnapped is such a strong word,” Iruka replied. “Given that there’s five of them, they’re probably coming of their own free will.” Probably.

Baki did not look convinced, “This is Gaara we’re talking about. I love the kid but once he gets an idea in his head, it is incredibly hard to get him to change course. And I find it a little hard to believe that some other village just let their jinchuuriki and four other kids come over for dinner.” Iruka had to admit he had a point.

“Well we’ll find out soon enough.” They had just entered the building.

“Damage control time, I guess,” Baki muttered, looking very done.

Before Iruka could respond, the door burst open and Gaara entered dragging a blond boy with a Leaf headband by his hand, “Iruka, Iruka. I made a friend. This is Naruto. He’s a jinchuriki too!” Iruka spared a moment to smile at Gaara and ruffle his hair. He looked so happy, he just couldn't help himself. He then crouched down so he could look Naruto in the eyes.

“Hello, Naruto, it’s very nice to meet you. My name is Iruka. I hope Gaara asked your permission before dragging you back to meet me,” Iruka said quietly. Naruto’s gaze was wary, his hand clenching and unclenching itself, but he reached out and shook Iruka’s hand after a moment of hesitation.

“Hi, nice to meet you too. And Gaara’s been really nice. He said you wouldn’t mind having us over and even said you would cook for us,” Naruto said in a rush, shifting back and forth on his feet.

“I’m delighted to have you over and I don’t mind cooking at all,” Iruka assured him, careful to keep his tone gentle and a soft smile on his face. Inside he was furious. This child looked so uncertain. Maybe some of that could be put down to being around people from a strange village that he just met, but his tone made it sound like he couldn’t believe anyone would want to have him over, ever. Iruka didn’t know what Leaf had done to this boy, but he would make sure Naruto knew he was safe and wanted around him.

Naruto’s face split into a huge grin. “Awesome. Can I help? Tenten never lets me help in the kitchen.”

“That’s because the few times I did let you help, you managed to destroy three pots and nearly set yourself on fire,” a brown-haired girl commented from the doorway. Iruka let himself focus on their other guests. All were from Leaf: the girl who had just spoken who was looking at Iruka warily, a boy with truly impressive eyebrows, a pink-haired girl who was looking around with wonder, and a boy who was glaring at Iruka like he was trying to set him on fire. Kankuro waved happily at him, content with the chaos he had surely helped cause while Temari just kind of shrugged when Iruka caught her eye.

“Well then, Gaara, why don’t you keep Naruto company while we work on dinner? I’ll let you help another time. I’d rather not have to explain to the Kazekage why the apartment is on fire with numerous Leaf shinobi inside on our first night here,” Iruka instructed, ushering the remaining children into the kitchen and throwing up a silencing barrier around the room. He trusted Gaara would come get him if he needed anything and back off if Naruto looked uncomfortable. Besides, as much as he loved Gaara and would do anything for him, and he guessed Naruto’s friends felt similar given the evaluating and concerned looks they were exchanging, there were some things only other jinchuriki could understand. Baki stayed close to the doorway, so he could signal Iruka if anything looked concerning as well.

“I hope you don’t mind helping me out with dinner,” Iruka said. Temari and Kankuro had already set the bags down and started pulling out the ingredients they needed. “Now before we get started why don’t you introduce ourselves? I’m Iruka, as I’m sure you have picked up on. I’m a chunin who specializes in seals. Over there is Baki, the jonin teacher for this mess of a team.” Laughing at Kankuro’s noise of disapproval, Iruka continued, “And I’m sure Temari and Kankuro already introduced themselves.” Temari gave him a nod. Iruka then turned towards the Leaf children and gestured at them.

“I’m Tenten,” the girl who had spoken earlier to disparage Naruto’s cooking ability said. “I really like weapons, but I’m also interested in seals.”

Iruka smiled, “I can show you some of mine later, if you want.” She nodded, but Iruka knew given her look she hadn’t decided whether to trust him yet. He didn’t begrudge her the hesitation. He’d be wary of someone completely unknown who just butted into Gaara’s life without any explanation.

“I’m Lee and I’m going to be a great shinobi even though I can’t manipulate chakra,” the boy with the eyebrows proclaimed.

Iruka nodded, “You must be very strong then. I look forward to seeing what you will accomplish.” Lee looked taken aback for half a second before smiling broadly and thanking Iruka. He wondered how many people had ridiculed him or dismissed him automatically when he told them that. Iruka had never heard of a shinobi that didn’t use chakra, but he was no stranger to using techniques others dismissed so he certainly wouldn’t count the idea out.

“I’m Sakura,” the pink-haired girl introduced herself. “I think I’m interested in being a med-nin.”

“Nice to meet you. One of my best friends is a med-nin. I can introduce you to her later,” iruka offered.

“I thought we were trying not to scare them off. And Mari will definitely terrify them,” Kankuro commented.

“Oh hush, she’s not that bad,” Iruka replied.

“No, I’m with Kankuro on this one,” Temari cut in. Iruka rolled his eyes and turned towards the last one.

“I’m Sasuke,” the boy said shortly, not once letting up on his mission to glare a hole through Iruka’s head. It was kind of cute. Iruka regularly survived the Kazekage’s glare, a genin’s didn’t really hold the same killing intent to it, no matter how hard he tried.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet all of you. Now, let’s get dinner going while we give Naruto and Gaara a chance to talk. I assure you, we mean Naruto no harm.” Although none of them quite looked ready to trust them yet, except maybe Lee who was still grinning broadly, they at least went along with him for now. That was enough. Iruka had plenty of experience wrangling wary children.

Notes:

Gaara and Naruto friendship start! Iruka has definitely acquired at least one new child and woe be to anyone who tries to stop him.

Iruka: Lets kids explore on their own. Okay, this a little unusual for me but not a big deal.
Everyone who knows him: Iruka, are you feeling alright? You barely let the kids out of your sight in Sand, if you can help it, let alone a strange village full of potential enemies.
Iruka: I have committed a grave error.

Please let me know if there are any incidents where you think I meant Maki instead of Mari or vice versa. I had to change at least five names when proofreading and it's very possible that I missed a few. This is what I get for forgetting Maki's name even though I knew I wanted to include her later in the story and just naming my oc whatever I wanted.

Next chapter will be from Sakura's pov and tell how the kids all met.

Chapter 5: Sakura

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Sakura wasn’t quite sure how she got here, cutting vegetables in a strange Sand shinobi’s kitchen. Well that was a lie. She knew how she got here, but it was such an odd string of events that she kept checking to make sure she hadn't been caught in a very odd genjutsu.

Kakashi had told them a couple of weeks ago about the chunin exams. Sakura had initially felt a little hesitant about entering. There was still so much she needed to learn. But given that Naruto and Sasuke had already whole-heartedly thrown themselves into preparing for the exams, she shook off her doubts. She wouldn’t let them go into as dangerous a situation as the chunin exams were sure to be without her. This was what she had been training for for years.

Of course, Sakura had intellectually known that hosting the chunin exams meant people from all the other villages would come to Leaf, but she was still surprised when she started seeing strange shinobi around the village. They all looked so strong and it was kind of intimidating. Kakashi had released them from their training session and she was walking Naruto and Sasuke back to the apartment they definitely didn’t share (The last time Kiba had suggested that, Sasuke had disappeared to his gloomy house for a week and Naruto had looked quite sleep deprived for that same period. After that, no one brought it up.), when they heard some strange noises from the alley behind the apartment building. Naruto’s curiosity had gotten the best of him and he set off to find out what was making the noise. Sasuke and Sakura had shared a long-suffering look and followed after him.

Sakura wasn’t quite sure what she expected to find, but the scene that greeted them when they stuck their heads down the alley was something she could never have anticipated. There were three kids, who Sakura guessed were around their age. They had the Sand symbol on their headbands. Sakura recognized the garb one of the boys was wearing as that of a puppeteer. She had read about their techniques, well as much as someone outside of Sand could and was fascinated by them. To have such incredible chakra control and use it in such an interesting way. Sakura wondered if she could get him to tell her more about it.

Of course, currently he seemed to be trying to coax something out from behind a trash can. Just as Sakura decided to say something, he stood up, “Got it!” He pulled a rather angry looking raccoon out and held it out in front of him. “Look Gaara, it’s your roommate.”

The red-haired boy who Sakura guessed was Gaara looked very unimpressed, “Shukaku says he would kill you right now but that would make Iruka upset so he’ll hold off for now. But we will get our revenge when you are least expecting it.”

The puppeteer seemed rather unconcerned for something who just got a death threat. Sakura was just confused. Who was Shukaku? What did he mean by roommate? And who was Iruka? She glanced over at the boys to see what their reactions were. Sasuke looked like he was confused about how these people had been allowed to attempt the chunin exam while Naruto was staring very intensely at Gaara.

“Can’t you two act normal for one hour?” The blond girl standing next to them asked. “Iruka is never going to let us go off on our own again. How did we get this lost? And what if someone saw you? You are representatives of Sand and children of the Kazekage, act like it.”

“But we all hate Father,” Gaara pointed out. His brother nodded along.

“Well yes, but we don’t want to give him any ammunition to say Iruka isn’t raising us right, do we?” The girl pointed out. Seriously, who was this Iruka? And Sakura was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to say you hated the kage of your village. Particularly if they were your parent.

“Fair point, fair point,” the puppeteer agreed. “Good thing no one heard us, I guess.” There was a slight pause and then as one all three turned to the mouth of the alley and saw Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. “Well shit.”

“Eloquent as always, Kankuro,” the blond girl muttered. “Hi, I’m Temari. This idiot is my brother Kankuro and this is my other brother Gaara,” she gestured to each in turn. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Since Kankuro grabbed the raccoon,” Sasuke told her, raising his eyebrow judgmentally. She winced. Kankuro, Sakura noted, looked completely unrepentant. Gaara didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the conversation and was instead staring back at Naruto.

“Sorry you had to see that. Did I mention he’s an idiot?” She ignored his disgruntled protest with an air of long practice. Sakura noticed she actually didn’t seem too concerned about them having seen and heard the exchange. If someone from another village had overheard her bad-mouthing the Hokage, she would be incredibly worried about them blackmailing her or something. But none of them seemed worried or even regretful.

“So, what-”

“You’re like me,” Gaara interrupted Temari. He was still staring intensely at Naruto.

“What?” Naruto asked.

“Shukaku says you’re the jinchuriki of Kurama.” He tilted his head like he was listening to something only he could hear, “He says he feels sorry for you having to put up with that asshole.” Sakura whipped her head around to look at Naruto. It wasn’t that she didn’t know that Naruto was a jinchuriki. They had learned that after the incident with Mizuki. It had made so many things make so much more sense- how the villagers feared Naruto, his insane chakra reserves, why Akamaru and the other Inuzuka dogs were nervous around him at first. Of course, it also made them furious. The Hokage had to have known how people would react to Naruto and he just left him at the village’s mercy without even bothering to explain to Naruto what he was. Once Shikamaru had talked them down from storming the Hokage’s office to yell at him for his terrible decisions (since it wouldn’t really accomplish anything and could have resulted in hurting Naruto), everyone had just adjusted to the new information and went on with life. No one feared Naruto or anything.

Shikamaru and Sakura had started researching what they could about jinchurikis and how to control the chakra of bijuus. Naruto didn’t seem to be able to tap into it right now, but he might want to someday, so they would do what they could to help with that. Unfortunately, there was not much about there about that. Jinchurikis were closely guarded secrets so not a lot was known about them or their techniques.

Which was part of why Sakura was so surprised to hear Gaara openly admit that he was a jinchuriki.

“Who’s Kurama? And who’s Shukaku?” Sasuke asked when Naruto didn’t say anything.

Gaara tilted his head, wearing a confused expression, “Shouldn’t you know the name of the bijuu sealed within you? Shukaku talked to me all the time even before Iruka fixed the seal.”

“To be fair, he mainly encouraged you to kill people until the seal got fixed,” Kankuro helpfully pointed out.

Gaara just kind of shrugged, “Yeah, but he still talked. And he says Kurama is too much of a drama queen to allow his jinchuriki to just ignore him for years, so something must be blocking him from talking. What kind of seal do you have?” At this point, Gaara had moved until he was right in front of Naruto, still staring at him.

“Careful, Gaara. Remember what Iruka said,” Temari called out.

Gaara nodded and stepped back, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m just excited because I’ve never met another jinchuriki before.”

“You can talk to him?” Naruto finally spoke up. “And he’s your friend? He’s not just a monster?”

Sakura and Sasuke shared a look and drew closer to Naruto. He had spent his entire life being hated for an unknown reason. When he had found out that he was a jinchuriki, he hadn’t reacted as expressively as anyone expected, just saying, “Oh that makes sense,” and then asking if he could be alone. They had decided to give him time and left for the night. The next day, Tenten had found them and told them she and Lee had checked on Naruto later. He had been sitting on the floor in the dark, and hadn’t said anything when Lee had called out to announce their presence. They had sat with him for a while before he had asked, “The villagers weren’t wrong to hate me, were they?”

“I couldn’t respond,” Tenten had told them, “I was completely caught off guard. And before either of us could say anything, Naruto had continued.

“I mean everyone knows what the Nine-tails did to the village. And now it’s inside of me and I’m a danger to everyone around me. I lost control on the last mission and don’t remember anything. What if I had hurt Sasuke or Sakura while in that state? I can’t be trusted.”

Tenten had admitted she was a few seconds from just fighting the entire village until they acknowledged the torment they were putting Naruto through, to the point that they had so thoroughly destroyed his self-worth that he would justify their actions and see himself as the problem rather than them. Lee had pulled Naruto into a tight hug at that point and would not let go no matter how much Naruto had struggled.

“Naruto, listen to me,” Lee had said, according to Tenten. “You are not to blame for what happened all those years ago. Yes, it was a tragedy and many people lost loved ones, but that does not justify their treatment of you.” He cut off Naruto’s protest, “I have known you for over six years at this point, and you have never once hurt me. Or Tenten, or Kiba, or Ino, or any of your friends. You have encouraged us and believed in us no matter what. You are not the Nine-tails and any one who took the time to truly get to know you would see how kind and loving you are. That they do not take that time is their loss, but it says nothing about you. I trust you and I love you. And if you lose control again, I trust that you will regain yourself. Because I know you would never hurt the people you care about.” Halfway through the speech, Naruto had broken down in tears and Lee just held him, stroking his hair. The three of them had apparently curled up together on blankets on the floor, and when Sasuke had come back from giving Naruto space, he had joined them. Tenten had left the three boys still sleeping and met with everyone else at their usual training post to update them on what had happened.

Naruto never brought up the incident, but Sakura was sure it lingered in the back of his mind. When he messed up on missions, he’d flinch and glance around, like if he made too many mistakes, the village would decide he wasn’t worth it and cast him out.

“And did you? Kill people, that is?” Naruto asked.

“Yes,” Gaara admitted. “Before Iruka fixed the seal I killed eight people.”

Naruto let out a gasp, which Sakura echoed. Even Sasuke looked surprised.

“But I haven’t killed anyone in years. Not since Iruka fixed my seal,” Gaara assured them. Sakura’s mind was still stuck on the-has killed multiple people and is still alive. She snuck a glance at Naruto-if he had ever even minorly hurt someone outside of training, she felt like the villagers would form a mob and try to kill him. Gaara’s experience must be completely foreign to him.

“Well, the Kazekage did try to kill me a couple of times, but I just killed those people too, and he stopped after Iruka started taking care of me,” Gaara told them.

“Who’s Iruka?” Sasuke asked the question Sakura had been wondering about for a while.

“Oh now you’ve done it,” Kankuro groaned.

“As if you aren’t just as fond of Iruka,” Temari shot back.

Before Sakura could respond to that conversation, Gaara launched into his explanation, “Iruka’s been my caretaker since I was six. He’s amazing. He never treated me like a monster and didn’t get mad even when I hurt him. He knows all about desert plants and invented a ton of awesome seals. He’d taught us a bunch of them and we have pulled off a lot of pranks with them. It drives Father crazy. He fixed my seal and yelled Shukaku into submission. He yells at the Kazekage too and protects us from him. He’s a really good cook too. He calms us down whenever we have nightmares. And...” Sakura understood the earlier comments. Gaara’s face just lit up when he started talking about Iruka and he went on for a solid five minutes about how wonderful Iruka was. It was honestly impressive. Sakura didn’t think she would have that many good things to say about her own parents.

When he finally finished, Naruto asked, “So Iruka takes care of you? And makes sure you eat? And tells you everything will be alright when you wake up scared?” Sakura’s heart clenched. She knew intellectually that Naruto had never known his parents and while they all did the best they could to show him how loved he was, it wasn’t the same as having a parental figure who could look out for you.

Gaara nodded solemnly.

Naruto let out a laugh that was more bitter than he probably intended it to be, “He sounds amazing.”

“You would like to meet him?” Gaara asked.

“What?” Naruto responded, surprised.

“I’m sure he would like to meet you. And we haven’t picked up supplies for dinner yet so we can just get enough for more people,” Gaara explained. “What should be fine, right?” He turned to ask Temari.

She shrugged, “Yeah, I don’t see a problem. Kankuro’s the one who has to explain it to Baki though.”

“Why me?” Kankuro protested.

“Because you pulled us into this alleyway specifically so you could find a raccoon to shove in Gaara’s face, and I’m still annoyed at you for that, so I want to make you suffer,” Temari told him bluntly.

Kankuro considered that for a moment, “Fair enough, I guess.”

“We don’t know you. You’re from a village with whom we don’t have very friendly relations. What makes you think we would let Naruto go anywhere with you alone?” Sasuke asked threateningly, putting himself between Naruto and the siblings.

Instead of being concerned, Temari just looked amused by this, “We never said he had to come alone. You’re free to tag along if you like. Besides, we’re in your village. Do you really think we would be dumb enough to try something when we are so outnumbered?”

Sasuke didn’t really relax but he no longer looked like he was two seconds from attacking them, so Sakura figured he had accepted their explanation. “Do you want to go?” he asked Naruto.The blond looked hesitant before nodding. Sasuke nodded back, “Alright, I’ll go with you then. Sakura, do you have to be home for dinner?”

Sakura shook her head, “No, my parents are out of the village at the moment so I’m free. I’ll come with too.” She didn’t sense any ill-will from the siblings, but she didn’t trust them yet either. “We should probably tell Tenten and Lee before we go,” she pointed out. She knew Naruto usually ate dinner with them and had no doubt they would tear the village apart to find him if he didn’t show up without warning.

“Right,” Naruto hastily agreed.

“Gaara, why don’t you go with Naruto and his friend to tell them? Feel free to invite them over as well,” Temari instructed. “Are you comfortable going shopping with me and Kankuro?” she asked Sakura. “I’m sure everyone is hungry by now and this will be quicker.”

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke before agreeing. The marketplace was close by and they would be around a ton of villagers the whole time. She wasn’t too worried about her safety. And Sasuke and Naruto could take on Gaara if he tried anything once they were inside the apartment building.

“Great. Everyone good with stir-fry for dinner tonight? We should be able to throw that together pretty quickly.” Everyone agreed with various degrees of enthusiasm and then Sakura was showing Temari and Kankuro to the market.

They had been wondering for a few minutes, picking out various ingredients when Temari said, “Our father always told us that there may come a time where we would have to kill our brother for the sake of the village.”

“What?” Sakura yelled, taken aback.

“Our mother died giving birth to Gaara. He had never been the most involved parent to begin with, but after that we hardly saw him. He did tell us that Gaara was a jinchuriki and what that entailed. But we hardly ever Gaara for years-just meeting with him once a month to try and establish some kind of bond so he wouldn’t kill us on sight when we became a genin team. We never really thought of him as our brother at that point. He seemed more of a monster than a person. He killed multiple villagers, starting with our uncle. Of course, our father had ordered our uncle to kill Gaara and Gaara was just defending himself, but we didn’t know that at the time. From that point forward, our father considered Gaara a failed experiment. His seal was too unstable for him to be properly controlled. And he kept sending people to kill him and Gaara killed several more people, including multiple caretakers. So we kept believing him to be a monster and never even tried to connect with him.”

“That all changed when Iruka entered the picture,” Temari continued. “He was assigned as Gaara’s caretaker when Gaara was six. Father never had a high opinion of Iruka and probably expected him to be killed within a few weeks. But Iruka was different from everyone who had come before him. He didn’t look at Gaara and see only a threat. He certainly saw that, but he also saw that Gaara was a scared, lonely boy who didn’t understand what was going on and couldn’t control the creature that had been poorly sealed inside him. He treated Gaara like a human. He cooked for him, shared stories of his childhood, and let Gaara sleep beside him. That’s not to say everything was fine, Gaara did hurt him pretty badly once. But Iruka didn’t let that stop him. He came back and continued caring for Gaara.”

“I still remember clearly our first visit after Iruka had taken over as Gaara’s caretaker,” Kankuro spoke up. “He opened the door, with Gaara leaning against his side. He asked us if we had eaten and then if we wanted to learn how to drop a bucket of paint on a jonin. We spent most of the day learning how to make trip-wires and talking about pranking techniques. It was fun. Iruka was a lot more patient than any of our other teachers. But what I really remember is how Iruka interacted with Gaara. He would carry him around and tease him like it was nothing. He obviously wasn’t afraid of Gaara and that helped us see that we shouldn’t be either.”

“We didn’t trust Gaara right away,” Temari took over, “but we could see that he wasn’t the monster the village thought he was. It was obvious that he loved Iruka and Iruka loved him. And honestly, we liked Iruka far more than any of our caretakers, so we started hanging out at their house a lot more. And before we knew it, we started seeing Gaara as our brother, someone we needed to support and protect, rather than someone we would throw away for a village that didn’t care about him.”

“I’m not telling you this to guilt you or force you to be friends with us, but so that you understand where we are coming from. We love Gaara and want him to be happy. We can do our best to protect him from the villager’s harsh words and sit with him at night as he cries in confusion, but we can’t really understand him and his experiences. That is something only another jinchuriki can do. So we will do whatever we can to ensure Gaara can befriend other jinchurikis. We would never hurt Naruto because doing so would hurt Gaara and he has suffered enough already.”

Neither spoke to Sakura again during their shopping trip, instead squabbling over what the best ingredients would be and how much they needed to get. Sakura was glad for the reprieve, using it to process everything she just heard. Despite having many reasons not to trust the siblings, she found that she truly did believe their words. You couldn’t fake the emotions she had seen in their eyes. She had no doubt they truly loved Gaara and protected him like her and her friends loved and protected Naruto, when they could. And she definitely understood their point about there being some things only jinchuriki could understand. They did their best to make Naruto feel safe and appreciated, but a sense of loneliness still lingered around him and nothing they did could completely dispel it. While she was still slightly wary of the three of them, she figured seeing how this played out wouldn’t hurt. If it works out well, Naruto got a new friend who could understand his experiences and maybe she got some information about puppets from Kankuro. If it worked out poorly, she, Sasuke, Tenten, and Lee could grab Naruto and run. They were in Leaf after all, so she felt safe enough to go along with things for now.

Once they had grabbed everything they needed, the three of them set off towards the west end of the village. “Wait, how will they know where to find us?” she asked. “What if they come to the market and we aren’t there?”

“Don’t worry,” Kankuro assured her. “Gaara always knows where we are.” But he wouldn’t tell her more than that. Sure enough a couple minutes later, Naruto, Sasuke, Tenten, Lee, and Gaara came into view. Given how Tenten was eyeing the three siblings, Sakura was sure that the reason they took so long was that they had difficulties convincing her to go along with the dinner plans.

They distributed the various bags they had among everyone and set off towards the apartment the siblings were staying in while they were in Leaf. While Sakura didn't think they weren’t breaking any rules or anything, it still felt strange to enter the apartment building knowing everyone else there was a Sand shinobi.

Gaara seemed oblivious to the rising tension, getting more and more excited as they near their destination. When they could see the door, he grabbed Naruto’s hand and dragged him along, bursting into the apartment and loudly introducing Naruto.

Their group followed after them and Sakura got her first glimpse of the famed Iruka. He didn’t look particularly powerful or anything. He had a facial scar, but that wasn’t especially rare in their line of work. What was surprising was how he handled Naruto. He had crouched down to greet him and seemed honestly delighted to have him over for dinner. Sakura knew that shinobi were masters of deception and she shouldn’t trust anyone too easily, but she felt herself being drawn in by the sheer warmth this man seemed to give off. It was easy to see why Gaara and his siblings were so taken with him. The others must have been taken in at least somewhat as well, otherwise there is no way Tenten and Sasuke would have left Naruto alone with Gaara, even if they were just in the next room. And Sakura’s opinion of Iruka just kept climbing. When Lee told him he couldn’t manipulate chakra, his response hadn’t been pity or disbelief, but just a calm acceptance of the fact followed by a compliment to Lee’s strength. Even Sakura had doubted that Lee could achieve his goal before she had seen him in action, but Iruka hadn’t shown any indication of that.

It was clear that Iruka was used to having some of the siblings help him in the kitchen because he was quite quick to delegate tasks as needed but still retain some oversight of everyone. Not that any of them were going to cut themselves with a knife or anything, but it made Sakura feel safe. Perhaps that was the most amazing thing about Iruka. He was able to treat them as both children and shinobi at the same time, when everyone else had always treated her as one or the other. Her parents still saw her as a child, regardless of the fact that she was risking her life on missions. They still tried to prescribe her a bedtime and treated her like she didn’t understand the harsh realities of life. Kakashi, on the other hand, had treated them like shinobi from the first day they met. She loved her teacher and she had learned so much under his instruction, but she would never feel comfortable going to him with her insecurities. Iruka managed to do both. He teased Kankuro and Temari, ruffled their hair, and hovered when Kankuro started waving his knife around while telling a story. But he also asked them about the missions they had gone on without shying away from the death they had seen and dealt out. Sakura could understand how this man could get through the Gaara when no one before him could.

She knew the others had come to a similar conclusion. Well Lee probably liked him from the start because that’s who Lee was, but he was able to get Sasuke to talk a little bit about his training routines and compared sealing techniques with Tenten.

As Temari was recounting Kankuro’s first attempts with making a trip-wire over his claims that she was exaggerating, Gaara entered the kitchen. “Iruka, is dinner done yet? Naruto’s really hungry.” Naruto, who had followed Gaara in, looked like he was about to protest but Iruka didn’t give him a chance.

“Yes, we just got done. Baki, grab the plates would you?” The man Temari had introduced as their jonin instructor nodded and busied himself getting dishes for everyone. He hadn’t spoken much while they were cooking but didn’t seem too put off by their presence. Sakura knew Kakashi would have been very concerned if any of them had invited foreign shinobi to their homes. Of course, he would probably be equally concerned with the idea of them going to strange shinobi’s apartments without telling anyone, but she would deal with those consequences when Naruto inevitably couldn’t keep his mouth shut at practice tomorrow.

The table definitely didn’t have room for all of them, but no one minded eating on the floor. Kankuro spent most of dinner recounting their most impressive pranks, with Naruto throwing in his own stories. As soon as he heard of some of the seals Iruka had taught them, Naruto had asked Iruka to show him, which Iruka agreed to without hesitation. Of course, he wouldn’t let them practice any of the more destructive seals inside the apartment, but he did show them a bunch of different seals and talk through how they are constructed and what they are usual for. Sakura was pretty sure Tenten was not going to leave Iruka alone for the rest of his time in Leaf, but given how pleased he looked at her questions, she didn’t think he would mind.

Iruka did let them try a couple of seals, one of which created a flash and loud bang, apparently very useful for causing a distraction. Naruto’s blew up, but not at all in the way it was intended to.

Iruka laughed, “Sorry about, I should have realized your chakra would overpower it. Here, this is the version I made for Gaara to use, hopefully it will work better.” Naruto took in with awe, and tried again. This time it worked perfectly. “I don’t have large chakra reserves so all my seals are crafted to use as little chakra as possible,” Iruka explained. “It works great for when you’re fighting off your third attacker of the day, not so great when you’re a jinchuriki with more chakra than you know what to do with. I had to adapt most of my seal designs for Gaara for that same reason.”

That cemented what Sakura had been thinking ever since she got to the apartment: Iruka was not a threat, at least not to Naruto. She had no doubt anyone who tried to hurt Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari would face his wrath, but he honestly wanted the best for Naruto. She was so used to Mizuki who yelled at all of them, particularly Naruto, when they got something wrong but never helped them figure out their mistake. Iruka not only didn’t get mad, but gave Naruto a different seal that played to his strengths more. Sakura might have been willing to trust him for that reason alone. But even more than that, to have completely redesigned all of his seals just so Gaara could use them, Iruka must really love him. And it was obvious that Gaara already cared a great deal about Naruto. So Iruka would never do anything to hurt Naruto because that would hurt Gaara.

After dinner, everyone broke off into smaller groups. Temari looked flabbergasted as Lee described his training routine to her. Tenten and Iruka were discussing seal theory. Sasuke was having a stilted conversation with Baki, while Gaara regaled Naruto with tales Shukaku was telling him. Sakura had worked up the courage to ask Kankuro about his techniques and was delighted that he was willing to share some of the basics with her. While she was pondering how to work some of the concepts into her own fighting, someone knocked on the door. Everyone tensed up. Even though they weren’t technically doing anything wrong, she knew they really shouldn’t be here, eating dinner and swapping stories with people who were their enemies.

Baki moved towards the door, while Iruka rose to his feet and moved to put himself between the door and them. When Baki opened the door, Sakura couldn’t say she was surprised to see Kakashi. It made sense that he was the one sent to fetch them. “Hello, my genin, so this is where you’ve gotten to,” he commented, brushing past Baki to enter. Gai followed behind him. Kakashi walked right up to Iruka. “And who might you be?”

Iruka didn’t look too intimidated for having the weight of Kakashi’s stare on him. “I’m Iruka, I’m guessing you are Kakashi? It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Indeed,” replied Kakashi. “Now please explain why you lured five Leaf genin to your apartment?”

Notes:

So the image of Kankuro holding a raccoon in front of Gaara while Naruto and friends looked on in confusion popped into my head while I was writing the early chapters of Belonging and has not left it since. I honestly wasn't sure I was going to make this a series, but once I had that image in mind, I knew I needed to get to the point where I could write it. Don't know what that says about my motivations as a writer, but eh. I'm having a good time. I spent the entire time I was writing that scene giggling to myself so I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

I feel that out of everyone, Sakura would be the most interested in puppets, since I would think they would require excellent chakra control, and that is Sakura's jam.

The siblings are completely unconcerned about getting caught insulting the Kazekage. They already made him think they were planning a coup for years. It's not like they're hiding their low opinion of him.

Chapter 6

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Just as Iruka finished talking Tenten through the time release aspect of an exploding tag that went off twice, he sensed two people hurrying in their direction. They were probably Leaf shinobi, due to his unfamiliarity with their chakra. And given that one of them felt almost like a civilian’s, he guessed that would be the Gai person Lee talked so highly of. Which meant, the other one was likely the jonin instructor for the other three children in his apartment, Kakashi the copy-nin. Iruka really would have liked to have avoided this much attention for at least their first 24-hours in Leaf, but once Gaara had brought Naruto and his friends over, he had let that hope die.

Iruka caught Baki’s eyes and jerked his head to the door, so Baki wouldn’t be caught off guard. Moments later, when the knock rang out, Baki was already heading towards the door while Iruka put himself between the kids and the doorway. From the stories the kids had told him, it didn’t seem like Kakashi actively wished them harm, but Iruka didn’t think much of his ability to look out for the kids’ best interest. Gaara needed Naruto and Naruto needed Gaara. Plus Iruka had already developed a soft spot for Tenten. And it seemed like the others were getting along well with Kankuro and Tenten. If Iruka had to fight (verbally or physically) one of the most powerful Leaf shinobi to protect those relationships, then he would.

And Iruka’s opinion of the man did not increase as he walked into the room. He brushed past Baki, did a cursory glance towards the kids, and glanced over Iruka before seeming to dismiss him as a threat. The line he threw out conveyed more annoyance at having been sent after the kids then actual concern for their safety. And he got right up in Iruka’s face like every other jonin who thought they could intimidate him through their higher rank. Iruka could see that Kakashi had already scanned the room and decided that Baki was the main threat. Not that Iruka minded being underestimated, he had practically made his career on it. But it was still irritating.

So he put on his best dealing-with-useless-supervisors smile and introduced himself. I’m “Iruka, I’m guessing you are Kakashi? It is a pleasure to meet you.” Iruka was not surprised when the man ignored his introduction and jumped straight to business. Although he did take issue with the word lured. He certainly didn’t lure anyone here and Gaara didn’t have any underhanded motivations in inviting Naruto over, he just wanted to make friends.

Iruka doubled-down on the smiling and replied, “I assure you, we had no ill intentions. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari ran into your team while they were out exploring the village. They found out that they shared some things in common and invited them over for dinner. Lee and Tenten were able to join us. We had a lovely dinner, your team was quite helpful in the kitchen, and were just discussing various techniques when you barged in.” He knew Kakashi would soon know, if he hadn’t already figured it out, that Gaara was a jinchuriki, but he certainly wasn’t going to make the jonin’s job any easier by giving away that information. Let Kakashi draw his own conclusions.

“It’s true,” Tenten voiced. “They’ve been very nice and Iruka has been showing me some new seals that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own.”

The man who Iruka was now completely sure was Gai promptly burst into tears, “I am so pleased that you are aiding my students in achieving the full potential of their springtime of youth!” Which caused Lee to burst into tears and begin yelling as well. Iruka now fully understood why Tenten said stealth missions never went well for them.

Kakashi ignored the theatrics around them, finally focusing most of his attention on Iruka. But he didn’t actually ask Iruka anything else, instead saying, “Well regardless, it’s getting late and I believe it is time for them to leave for the night. I’m not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to enter the apartment of unknown shinobis without telling anyone where they were going, but rest assured it will not happen again.” Iruka really wanted to punch this man. On one level, he could understand that this looked very sketchy. Sand was not known for their friendly nature and despite whatever pretensions they might put on, at the end of the day, the villages were more enemies than allies. But Gaara had seemed happier tonight than Iruka had ever seen him. Just being near Naruto smoothed an ache that no one else could. And Kakashi was going to take that away from them.

Before Iruka could think of any counter-arguments, Naruto spoke up, “ Okay, Kakashi, we won’t do it again.” Gaara’s face fell, but then Naruto continued, “I’m coming back over tomorrow night. Gaara said that would be alright.” He glanced over at Iruka who nodded happily, understanding what Naruto was doing. “So know you know that I’ll be here, so there shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Iruka had to resist the temptation to burst out laughing. He knew that that was far from the only reason Kakashi did not want his team around him and the kids, but it was the one Kakashi had articulated, and now he was stuck. Iruka hadn’t known Naruto for very long but he did know the boy was stubborn and kind to his core. He wouldn’t accept the explanation that he shouldn’t be around them just because they were from Sand.

“Well then I guess we’ll see you tomorrow night,” Iruka replied, smiling widely and ignoring Kakashi’s glare. “Tenten, Lee, Sasuke, and Sakura, you are welcome back as well. Your teachers are welcome to join us if they so wish as well,” he extended the invitation. Gai gleefully accepted while Kakashi merely narrowed his eyes and left without replying.

After everyone from Leaf left, yelling back thanks for dinner and see you soons, Kankuro looked around and said, “Well I’d call today a resounding success.”

“Elaborate,” Temari instructed, face-planting on the couch.

“Well we met another jinchuriki, Gaara was able to befriend him, we got pretty close to some of his friends and they are seem like nice people and they promised to come back soon, dinner was delicious, nobody tried to kill us, and I got to hold a raccoon in Gaara’s face,” Kankuro explained.

Iruka was rather amused at the lists, before processing the last item on it, “I’m sorry, you did what?” Which led to Kankuro gleefully recounting how it was exactly that they had met Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. “I’m amazed they were willing to follow you back here after that,” Iruka commented, burying his face in his hands. He really hoped this didn’t get back to the fake-Kazekage because that was not a conversation he wanted to have.

“At least they knew what they were getting into right from the start,” Baki pointed out, looking resigned. After some more good-natured squabbling, Iruka told the kids to get ready for bed and collapsed on the couch beside Baki.

“See Gaara really didn’t kidnap anyone,” Iruka bragged.

“This time,” Baki replied. “But you can’t tell me that you don’t think he might if he met another jinchuriki who wasn’t as willing to be friends from the start.” Iruka couldn’t deny he had a point. Gaara was very committed to making friends, to the point that he would probably scare the people he was trying to make friends with.

“So Kakashi,” Baki started, wrangling his one visible eyebrow at Iruka.

Iruka punched him in the shoulder. “Don’t even start.” Iruka had known Baki would say something about the Leaf jonin. For initially treating Mari’s suggestion as a joke plan, he loved to tease Iruka with it. “Besides, he obviously doesn't like me and the feeling is mutual. He definitely wouldn’t trust me enough to let me see important documents anytime soon.”

“True,” Baki conceded, “I’d suggested asking Gai for it, but given how similar he is to Lee, I’m guessing he would mention that you had asked about it to the next person he saw.” Iruka nodded, he had come to the same conclusion.

“If nothing else, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari made some new friends today, and that’s enough for now,” Iruka stated.

Baki agreed. Some after the two of them decided to turn in for the night themselves. It had been a long day and while Iruka was relieved to have told his friends the news about the Kazekage, the fact that they were no closer to figuring out the imposter’s identity was frustrating.

Iruka was not surprised to see that Gaara was still up and waiting for him when he entered his room. He got into bed and Gaara instantly curled up alongside him.

“Were you glad you got to meet Naruto today?” Iruka asked.

Gaara nodded. “Yeah, I like Naruto a lot. He’s really nice even if Shukaku says Kurama is an arrogant asshole.” Iruka laughed at that. Shukaku had given him a rundown of all his siblings one time and had a lot to say about Kurama, little of it good. “He told me he grew up in an orphanage. That he didn’t even know he was a jinchuriki until last year. He didn’t know why most people in the village hated him, just that they did. And he loves his friends and they try their best to take care of him. But he never knew his parents and never had someone who filled that role. When I first met him and told him all about you, he said you sounded amazing. You convinced me, Temari, and Kankuro to give each other a chance, you fixed my seal and helped Shukaku, you never gave up on me.” By the end, his face was buried in Iruka’s shoulder and he could barely hear the next words, “What would I be without you?”

Iruka wrapped his arms securely around Gaara and answered honestly, “I don’t know. I don’t know what the Kazekage would have done if I hadn’t become your first caretaker to live for over a month. I don’t know how you would have bonded with Temari or Kankuro or who would have fixed your seal. But there are some things I know for sure,” here he pulled back slightly so he could look Gaara in the eye. “I know you would have survived whatever the Kazekage threw at you. I know you, Temari, and Kankuro would have found each other and become a family. I know you would overcome all the hatred that has been thrown at you. I know you would become someone I am proud of, no matter what. And I know all these things because I know you. I know your kindness, your strength, your perseverance. Those things make up the core of who you are. I did not create them, that was you, I just helped nurture them. What scares me the most about a world where I was not by your side is not that you would become a monster and slaughter your allies, but that you would have to grow up steeped in that hatred without someone to protect you.” Iruka realized he had started crying halfway through his speech. The idea of Gaara growing up with only the Kazekage’s disapproval and caregivers who feared him and didn’t try to understand him broke his heart. “And Gaara, I don’t know who I would be without you either.” Gaara smiled at that and cuddled close to Iruka before dozing off. Iruka knew the topic was far from resolved, but it seemed like his words had reassured Gaara. And he would keep offering Gaara all the support he could for as long as he needed it.

That morning Iruka waved Baki and the kids off for their training session. He’d probably join them later but for now he wanted to take a look around Leaf. He wanted to get a better sense of the village and the people in it so he could plan his next move. He wondered around the streets for a bit before ducking into the library. He browsed for a little bit, but sadly did not find anything that would be helpful in identifying the imposter. Not that he was surprised, Leaf wouldn’t leave that sort of information laying around where anyone could access.

Iruka left and decided to stop at the market before going to meet the kids. Gaara mentioned Naruto really liked ramen, so he would make that tonight. He decided he would let Naruto help in the kitchen, and just keep a close eye on him to prevent any catastrophes.

Iruka had purchased just about everything he needed when he heard someone yelling his name. He turned around to see Naruto and Sakura running towards him with Sasuke trailing behind. “Hello, how are you doing today?” Iruka asked them.

“Hi, Iruka, we’re bored,” Naruto complained. “Kakashi never showed up at our meeting spot and we’re trained against each other so many times that it’s not really fun anymore.” Iruka raised his eyebrow at that. The chunin exams would begin in just a few days. What could possibly be more important to Kakashi than training his students? “So we decided to go and see if any of our friends were free to practice with us. Lee is working on something with Gai and Tenten said she wanted to work on a few moves on her own. Ino had said her, Shikamaru, and Choji had a special training session today, so they’re busy. But we thought maybe Hinata, Kiba, and Shino would train with us.” Iruka nodded along, although he had no idea who most of these people were. He made a mental note to ask Naruto more about his friends tonight. He wanted to know more about the children who had stuck by Naruto for years and obviously tried to protect him from the village’s hatred.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Iruka told him. As much as he wanted to invite them to train with Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, that was probably going to send up red flags to the anbu he sensed watching them. He would probably be accused of attempting to steal techniques or something like that. And he didn’t want to push too far and make it so Naruto and his friends could not come to their apartment. “Are you still coming over for dinner tonight?”

Naruto nodded eagerly. “Tenten, Lee, and Gai said they were coming over too. Oh, Sasuke you coming too?” The dark haired boy nodded, still glaring at Iruka, as he had since he had seen him.

“I unfortunately can’t make it tonight. My parents are back in the village and they wanted to have a family dinner tonight,” Sakura explained. “But I would like to continue my discussion with Kankuro about puppeteering at another time.”

“I’m sure he would like that too,” Iruka responded.

Just then someone called out Naruto’s name. Iruka caught sight of a brunette boy barreling towards them, with a puppy at his heels. “Hey, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke,” the boy greeted. “What’s this I hear about you having dinner with some shinobi from Sand? How did you meet them? What are they like? Why were you eating with them?” It was only after that string of questions and a bark from the dog that the boy noticed Iruka and his forehead protector. “Oh, hi. I’m Kiba and this is Akamaru.”

Iruka hid his smile, not wanting Kiba to think he was making fun of him. “Nice to meet you, Kiba and Akamaru. I’m Iruka. And yes, the three of them plus Lee and Tenten did have dinner with me and my kids last night.” Iruka turned back to examine the vegetables at the next stand while Sakura explained most of the situation to Kiba. About half-way through her explanation, two other kids arrived, prompting another round of introductions and Sakura restarting her speech. Iruka watched out of the corner of his eye as the kids furtively whispered to each other, sending glances his way every few seconds. It was cute that they thought they were being subtle.

Iruka eventually acquired everything he needed and decided to head back to the apartment. “Well I’ll see you later tonight, Naruto and Sasuke. Anyone else is welcome to join us as well, as long as it is alright with your families.” Iruka might not know much about Leaf, but these were clearly clan children and he really did not need a bunch of their clan members to break into their apartment because they thought he had kidnapped one of their kids.

“I don’t think I will be able to make it, but it was nice to meet you,” Hinata replied. Iruka smiled gently at her. She seemed like a sweet girl.

“I’ll check with my mom, but I think she’ll be alright with it,” Kiba said. “You’re in the apartments on the west side of the village right? Akamaru can find you from there."

“I will ask my father,” Shino promised. Iruka waved them good-bye and set off towards the apartment while the kids went in the opposite direction to train.

Iruka put away everything he had gotten on his trip. It was lucky that he had been able to save up his money over the past few years, since the house and their food was all paid for. That was the one thing the Kazekage ever did that helped Iruka. He would definitely be digging into his savings if he kept feeding five or more Leaf shinobi each night. Not that he was complaining. They were sweet kids and it was good for the siblings to have the chance to make friends. Beyond Maki, they were not close to anyone their age except each other.

Iruka dropped the ingredients off at the apartment and spent the rest of the afternoon helping the siblings train. Even Iruka, with all his worries, had to admit that he felt confident in their ability to overcome whatever the exams might throw at them. Each one of them was powerful in their own right and they worked together extremely well.

Once it started to get dark, Iruka ushered everyone home so they could start making dinner. He mentioned running into some of Naruto’s friends in the marketplace earlier to the others so they wouldn’t be surprised if others showed up. Iruka and the kids were just finishing preparations for cooking when there was an extremely loud knock at the door. Baki opened it to admit Lee, Tenten, and Gai.

“Hi,” Tenten greeted them, “Naruto and Sasuke should be over soon, they were just finishing up training. How was your day?”

Iruka let their conversation fade to the background as he double-checked that he had all the ingredients and got out all the pots he would need.

Sure enough, Naruto and Sasuke showed up a few minutes later, arguing about something. Gaara immediately detached himself from the conversation to greet them and talk to Naruto. Naruto eagerly recounted how his day went and got swept up in conversation with Gaara. Iruka forced himself not to laugh at Sasuke’s annoyed expression. It was clear he was used to being the center of Naruto’s attention and he did not like the change.

“Iruka, I get to help tonight, right?” Naruto bounced over to him. “What are we making?”

“Well someone mentioned you liked ramen, and since it is also one of my favorite foods, I decided to make that,” Iruka told him.

Naruto tilted his head, “But why do you need all these dishes if we're just having cup ramen?”

“We’re not having cup ramen,” Iruka explained, getting more concerned about what Naruto considered a decent meal. “Cup ramen is all well and good for a quick meal once in a while but I would definitely not serve it to guests. No, we’re making real ramen.”

Naruto’s face lit up, “Like the kind Teuchi makes? You can make that at home?” Iruka guessed Teuchi was the owner of the ramen stand he had seen earlier.

“Most things you get at restaurants you can make at home if you are willing to put in a little extra work,” Iruka told him. “So I appreciate your help. Now, you think you can help me with the broth?” Kankuro and Sasuke were assigned to the vegetables, Temari and Tenten took over cooking the meat, and Lee and Gaara handled the noodles. Gai and Baki were having a very spirited discussion in the corner. Or at least very spirited on Gai’s part. Baki mostly looked confused.

Iruka quickly understood why Tenten was hesitant to allow Naruto into the kitchen. The boy was a trouble magnet. He really was trying his best so Iruka wasn’t going to kick him out, but he felt like keeping everyone safe from Naruto’s chaos was harder than some of the missions he had been on. Within the first few minutes, he nearly knocked over a pot, lit a dish towel on fire, and kept mixing up what amount they needed for what ingredient. Iruka was luckily able to prevent any disasters and salvage the broth, but it was a struggle. But he couldn’t bring himself to ask Naruto to leave the kitchen. He looked so happy to be allowed to help. And with everyone helping make dinner, Iruka could focus most of his attention on keeping Naruto out of trouble.

Just as they were getting ready to combine everything, someone knocked on that door. Iruka put Temari in charge in the kitchen and had Naruto come with him to see who it was. He opened the door to see the two boys he met earlier, Kiba and Shino, as well as Akamaru and a large black dog with an eyepatch as well. Iruka stepped back to allow them to come in, “Hi, you’re just in time. Dinner should be ready momentarily.”

“Hi, thanks for having us. This is Kuromaru, my mom’s partner. She doesn’t believe I can stay out of trouble so she sent him with me,” Kiba reported.

Kuromaru nudged Kiba with his head, “Given your track record, Tsume has a point, pup.” Iruka tried to hide his surprised reaction to Kuromaru talking. He had heard stories of nin dogs that could talk, but no one in Sand used them, and he had always thought they were just that-stories. Kiba just rolled his eyes. Kuromaru turned to Iruka, “It is good to meet you, Iruka. And nice to see you again, Naruto.”

“Hi, Kuromaru,” Naruto greeted him, obviously familiar with the dog.

Iruka returned to the kitchen to start dishing up the ramen, when he had a thought. “Kuromaru, what do you and Akamaru eat?” Iruka was not sure if they needed a special type of food. He doubted they would want to eat ramen.

Kuromaru gave him a rather toothy grin, “If you have any raw meat available, we certainly would not say no to that.” Iruka was glad he had gotten some extra meat at the marketplace today. He had planned on using it tomorrow, but he could always go back to the market. He wasn’t going to let anyone who came to his place go hungry, regardless of who they were.

Luckily, Kiba and Shino seemed just fine with eating on the floor. Iruka ended up beside Kankuro, who was having a discussion with Shino about their techniques. Iruka was glad Kankuro had found someone else who used long-range attacks and had to compensate for their weaknesses in close range battles. Kankuro wasn’t close to any of the other puppeteers and most Sand shinobi focused more on close quarters combat, so it was good he found someone to talk strategy with. On his side, Temari and Tenten were swapping stories about their teammates. They seemed to be trying to one up each other, since each story got progressively wilder. Of course, Iruka could confirm that all of Temari’s stories were true and given what he had seen of Lee and Gai, he guessed Tenten’s were as well. Speaking of Lee, he was talking to Sasuke, waving his hands as he told a story. Iruka was glad to see that Sasuke was relaxing in his presence. It wasn’t good for him to be so on guard all the time, although he knew many shinobi would disagree with him. Baki and Gai were continuing their conversation from earlier, which seemed more two-sided this time so Iruka guessed Baki had gotten used to Gai’s mannerisms by now.

Kiba and Naruto were trying their best to get Akamaru, who had already finished his dinner, comfortable with Gaara. Akamaru had just let Gaara pet him when Iruka heard a thump next to him. He turned to see that Kuromaru had sprawled out next to him.

“They’re good kids,” he commented, also watching Akamaru inch closer to Gaara, with Kiba and Naruto’s enthusiastic encouragement.

“Yeah, they are,” Iruka replied, smiling at them fondly.

“I’m guessing you figured out that I’m not just here to keep Kiba out of trouble?” Kuromaru asked.

Iruka smiled, “Yeah, I figured. Don’t worry, I won’t take offense. I would be pretty concerned too if a foreign shinobi I had never met invited my kids over for dinner.”

Kuromaru nodded. “Kiba’s got good instincts and Akamaru helps, but we wanted to make sure. And Naruto has become a standard presence at the compound over the years. We've grown quite fond of him. Beyond just making sure you aren’t a physical threat, Tsume wanted me to check if you would be a threat to Naruto’s mental and emotional well-being.”

Iruka spoke honestly when he said he wasn’t insulted. He was glad that there were others who were also looking after Naruto’s well-being. As wonderful as his friends were, having adults he could rely on was also important. And he doubted his jonin teacher really made himself available for emotional conversations. He double-checked and sure enough, there was Kakashi, perched on a roof-top a few houses down. Iruka had sensed him the minute Naruto had burst through the door. He guessed the jonin had followed Naruto from his apartment. He would have been more willing to put up with the man’s antics if he thought Kakashi was doing it out of a sense of protectiveness over his team. But the man had hardly looked at his team when he had been in the apartment the other night and the way he was situated gave him a clear view of Baki and Iruka, but Iruka guessed he wouldn’t be able to see Naruto or Sasuke at all. It just felt like Kakashi was watching him because he was ordered to or because Iruka had dared to treat the kids as children. He had encountered many jonin who thought like that, and was not impressed with that line of thought. He much preferred Kuromaru’s style. He actually took the time to see how Iruka was interacting with the kids before making any judgments and he was up front with his motivations.

“I’m glad that Naruto and his friends have so many people watching out for them,” Iruka commented.

“We do what we can, which is less than it should be,” Kuromaru told him, but did not elaborate more on that. Iruka understood that they were probably limited by their Hokage’s instructions, whatever they were. Most people couldn’t get away with telling their kage to fuck off the way Iruka could. Iruka wasn’t part of a clan, didn’t have living family, and before becoming Gaara’s caretaker, had no close friends. Most people in the village thought Iruka was the only one preventing Gaara from rampaging like he did years ago. While that frustrated Iruka’s attempts to integrate Gaara with the village better, it did make it so the Kazekage was hesitant to get rid of him completely. A large clan would have a lot more to lose if they challenged their kage’s mandates.

Iruka and Kuromaru lapsed into silence, watching Akamaru gingerly climb into Gaara’s lap. Gaara looked as happy as Iruka had ever seen him. Naruto and Kiba were high fiving above his head while he gently petted Akamaru.

Temari and Tenten had moved on to discussing their respective techniques and combined their conversation with Kankuro and Shino’s. They had even managed to rope Sasuke and Lee into it. Iruka smiled looking at them. It was hard to believe that he had only known some of the Leaf kids for 24 hours, and others much less than that. They looked like they belonged here in Iruka’s temporary apartment, talking with his kids. Soon they would all be taking the chunin exams and Iruka would need to solve the problem of the imposter. But for now, Iruka let himself relax and enjoy the night. He would do everything he could to ensure that they could have more nights like this. He wanted to meet the rest of Naruto’s friends. To arrange a get together that Hinata could attend. He also wanted to get a look at Naruto’s seal. It really was odd that Naruto didn’t sense anything from Kurama. But that could wait until after the exams. He didn’t want to do anything that could throw Naruto off right before he would be fighting for his life.

As much as Iruka would have loved to have the Leaf kids stay the night, that would definitely get him a visit from specific Leaf jonin and he’d rather avoid that. So as the sun set, he waved them off. Kuromaru had nodded at him as he left before nudging Kiba, who was carrying a sleeping Akamaru, along. Gai gathered up Lee, who had nodded off about half an hour ago and ushered Naruto and Tenten out into the street, with Sasuke following them. Shino had bowed and formally thanked Iruka, who had waved him off and told him he was welcome back anytime, before leaving as well.

Washing the last of the dishes, Iruka wasn’t surprised to still feel Kakashi’s presence on his perch. That just confirmed his suspicions that he was there on orders or because he thought Iruka was a threat to the village. He took his time tidying things up in the living room. If Kakashi wanted to confront him, he would give him the chance. But after almost 30 minutes, Iruka decided to go to bed. Apparently, he just wanted to watch the apartment creepily.

When Iruka entered his room, Gaara was sitting on the bed, apparently deep in thought. He looked up as Iruka closed the door and commented, “The exams begin in a few days.”

“Yes, they do,” Iruka responded, waiting for Gaara to say what was really bothering him. He knew Gaara was not worried about the exams. And while Iruka worried because it was his job as a parent, he too felt pretty confident in his kids’ ability to succeed.

“The plan is supposed to be carried out during the last phase of the exams,” Gaara said. Iruka was quite glad he had made a habit of throwing up a silencing barrier around his room and had activated it as soon as he entered. Kakashi definitely did not need to overhear what was being said. “You are going to stop it, but Leaf is probably still doing to find out. Do you think Naruto will hate me when he realizes I didn’t tell him about the plan?”

Iruka sat down beside Gaara and pulled Gaara into his lap. He didn’t fit as well as he did when he was six. But he settled down quickly and tucked his head beneath Iruka’s chin. “I think Naruto of all people understands trying to do the best you can in a bad situation. He might get mad at first, but I believe he will forgive you.” Iruka truly did believe that. Naruto would see where Gaara was coming from and he didn’t seem like the type to hold grudges. Sasuke was a whole different story, but that wasn’t who Gaara had asked about. Iruka was deeply touched by the amount of trust Gaara was putting in him. He had said he would deal with the situation, but he was starting to feel worried that he wouldn’t be able to succeed. But since Gaara was counting on him to do so, he guessed he had no choice. “Let’s take things one step at a time. You worry about getting through the first stage of the exams, and I’ll worry about the invasion plan.” He also needed to figure out when to tell the kids the Kazekage was dead and replaced by the mastermind behind the invasion plan. But that could wait. Right now the exams were what they needed to be concerned with. “And then we’ll figure out how to handle the situation with Naruto once that’s all settled, okay?”

Gaara nodded, drawing back so he could look him in eye. “Iruka?”

“Yes?” Iruka replied.

“I’m going to make you proud,” Gaara said solemnly.

Iruka smiled and ruffled his hair, “You already do. Everyday.”

Notes:

Iruka has doubled down on being unimpressed with Kakashi. He's very fun to write when he's doing that.

Baki needed about 10 minutes to adjust to the amazing oddity that is Gai, but honestly, he's gotten very used to all kinds of weird behavior from Iruka and the kids over the years, so he has just learned to roll with it.

Next time will be Kankuro pov!

Chapter 7: Kankuro

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“You have everything, right? You doubled-checked? Trip wire? Seals? Kankuro, you have your poisons? Oh good, Temari, you have your fan.”

Iruka had been going on like this for the past ten minutes. Kankuro had timed it. It was honestly impressive that he hadn’t run out of things to list. They knew him well enough that they realized there was no stopping him at this point, so it was better just to wait it out.

“Iruka, I know you have checked their bags yourself. They have everything,” Baki eventually said as Iruka was winding down.

Iruka sighed and smiled at them, “I know. I just worry. Sorry for all the fussing.”

“We understand,” Temari replied. “We have everything. And don’t worry, I’ll look after these two and make sure they stay out of trouble.”

Iruka smiled at that and grasped her shoulder, “I’ll be counting on you then. You know how good Kankuro is at finding trouble.” Kankuro would argue about that, but he was sure everyone would just bring up the raccoon incident from a few days ago (which was hilarious, his family just didn’t appreciate his genius), so he let it go.

“We should head out soon,” Baki cut it, always the responsible one.

“Alright,” Iruka nodded. He turned back towards them. “I am so proud of everything you have accomplished so far and can’t wait to see what you will do next. Be careful, there are things going on beyond just these exams. Take care of each other and I will see when you are done with these stages.”

Iruka then moved on to hugging each of them individually, starting with Gaara, he didn’t hear what Iruka whispered to him, but Kankuro could make out Gaara replying “I will.”

He hugged Temari next, who nodded along to whatever he said before turning to Kankuro. “Look after them. And try not to irritate them by picking up any stray wildlife, alright?”

“You never let me have any fun,” Kankuro complained, although he made no move to draw back. Iruka’s hugs were the best. He never felt more safe or loved than when he was wrapped up in Iruka’s arms.

Baki cleared his throat and they all turned towards him, “Over the past year, I have been proud to be your jonin teacher, at least most of the time.” He gave them his small smile that it had taken months to coax out of him the first time. “I know you will keep making me proud.”

Iruka hugged them all one last time before they left. Only teams and their jonin teacher were allowed near the testing site, so Iruka couldn’t walk them to the first stage, although Kankuro was sure he wanted to. But it was probably better to say their emotional speeches at the apartment, away from prying eyes. It was finally time for the chunin exams and Kannkuro was so excited (and a little bit nervous). He wanted to get the chance to try Crow out against different opponents. His family was great and all, but he had fought them so many times that they knew each other’s moves by heart, so it wasn’t as exciting. But here he would be fighting people with styles he had never encountered. He couldn’t wait.

Baki walked them to the building where the first round would be held, and waved them off. They had said all they needed to at the apartment, so there was no sense in dragging it out.

“Do you want to see if we can find Naruto before heading to the testing area?” Temari asked Gaara.

“Yes, please,” he replied, already walking towards the entrance. Temari and him exchanged fond looks behind Gaara's back. Their brother really was predictable. But they had spoken the truth to Sakura a couple days ago-they were glad Gaara had found Naruto. He looked more content now that he had another jinchuriki as a friend. And Kankuro wouldn’t let anyone, whether they were Naruto’s jonin teacher who Iruka was annoyed at or their damn father, mess this up for their brother. They had ignored Gaara when he needed them for years. That would not happen again.

It did not take them long to find Naruto. They just went towards the sounds of yelling. Sure enough, there was Naruto and Lee getting excited together. Tenten was leaning against the wall looking at them fondly with Sasuke and Sakura beside her.

Sakura spotted them first, “Hey, are you ready for this?” she called out.

Temari smirked at her, “Of course. Are you?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes at that while Tenten cracked a smile. “Of course,” Sakura parroted back. Finally Lee and Naruto had got the shouting out of their system (for probably the next five minutes) and bounded over to greet them.

“We should probably get going,” Temari pointed out after a few minutes of idle chatter. “If we were late to the chunin exams and couldn’t take them because we were chit-chatting Baki might kill us.”

“Nah, Iruka would stop him,” Kankuro pointed out. “Although he would probably put us through some hell training sessions to get his point across and those are best avoided.” Kankuro liked Baki. He was pretty sure they were one of his first genin teams since he often looked unsure about what to do with them. Although that might be their fault. They didn’t socialize with other genin much beyond Maki, but Kankuro was pretty sure they weren’t anywhere close to a normal team. But Baki had taken that all into stride. And he treated Gaara as a person, not just a weapon, which was what really mattered. That’s not to say Baki never got annoyed at them. And when he was, he would put them through extra hard training. He always denied it was punishment, but the day they had dyed all his face clothes had been the worst training session they had ever had. After that, they dialed the pranks on Baki back a bit. They didn’t completely stop of course. They loved putting the skills Iruka had taught them to good use and Baki never really lost his temper with them, so he was a pretty safe target as far as pranks went. They just stayed away from his face clothes after that,

But Kankuro wanted to make Iruka and Baki proud of them. He knew Iruka had said he would be proud of them no matter what and Kankuro knew he meant that, but Iruka had done so much for them over the years. He’s the reason they were able to form the family they had. He protected them, taught all kinds of fun skills, made great food, and was always willing to lend an ear if they needed to talk about something. Kankuro knew most shinobi in Sand dismissed Iruka as weak, which annoyed Kankuro to no end. Iruka was a master of seals. He was the one who had been able to fix Gaara’s seal when so many before him had failed. And he was great at everything their instructors had drilled them on when they were younger: identifying and exploiting your enemies’ weaknesses, using your surroundings to your advantage, and sneak attacks. It didn’t make sense that Kankuro had overheard people mocking Iruka for using those tactics. They were valuable tools in a shinobi’s arsenal.

Iruka had rolled his eyes when he complained to him. “Some jonin get too caught up in their own power and forget what it is like to fight an enemy you know is stronger than you. They’ll regret it some day. Don’t you pay them any mind. And if I ever catch you thinking like that I will be very disappointed,” he warned.

Kankuro had taken his words to heart, the way he did everything Iruka said. He practiced new moves over and over again until he could do them in his sleep before trying to use them in a real fight. He trained hard to conceal his position to avoid discovery but also practiced close combat without his puppets, even though he hated it because he knew he would be discovered eventually. It was part of the reason he wasn’t close to any of the other puppeteers his age, not that there were many to begin with. Although he would train at the puppeteer’s field, he did not put in as many hours there as other genin, instead spending those hours practicing traps or close-combat (or sometimes just hanging out with his siblings). The others took it as a lack of dedication to his craft and mocked him when they thought he couldn’t hear. But they didn’t understand. Practicing those other skills made him a better puppeteer. He could fight with everything he had with his puppets, without worrying incessantly that he would be discovered. Although that was still a concern, since Kankuro knew he was far from the best at close combat (Iruka also taught them it was important to have an accurate analysis of their strength and weaknesses), he did not fear it the way his peers did. He also threw up a few simple traps around his location, so those should at least give him the chance to get away if he did not think he could win against whoever was coming after him. Kankuro may not be quite what people expected of a puppeteer but he would show them that his oddities were not a weakness.

“We’ll make him proud,” Temari said as they entered the exam room (The right one, of course. It had not taken any of them long to see through the trick with the room on the floor below.)

“Of course,” Gaara agreed.

Kankuro grinned at his siblings, “Let’s show them who Iruka raised us to be.”

The first stage of the exam was honestly pretty easy. Kankuro definitely did not know any of the answers to these questions, although Temari might have known a few. But that didn’t matter. He knew Gaara would find one of the plants and copy their answer with his sand eye. Sure enough, about ten minutes into the exam, his sand bracelet twitched. Gaara had been able to make ones for Kankuro and Temari a few months after he gave Iruka his. Maintaining Iruka’s had exhausted him at first, so it had taken a bit before he was able to make more. But once he had been able to, he had immediately made one each for Temari and Kankuro and they had never come off since.

In the beginning, Gaara could really only use them to locate them within a certain range and he would know if they were cut off. But over the years, he had learned to have much finer control over his sand. Now he could use the bracelets to send them messages in their own modified code. And they could send messages back by tapping patterns on the bracelets. Gaara had given Baki one as well and the bracelets had become their main form of communication on stealth missions.

So completing the test was quite easy for them and they finished with lots of time left. Kankuro glanced around to see how everyone else was doing (being very careful to avoid looking at anyone’s papers. If he got them kicked out after they had already completed the test, Temari would kill him). Kiba and Akamaru were a few seats ahead of him, and given how Akamaru was perched on the top of Kiba’s head, Kankuro was pretty sure he knew how they were cheating. He couldn’t see Shino, but given his bugs he doubted he would have any problems passing. He wasn’t sure about their other team member, Hinata he believed her name was, but he was sure she would be fine. Kiba said she was really smart and more devious than people gave her credit for.

Lee and Tenten’s scheme was pretty easy to spot, although Kankuro did take the time to observe their third teammate more closely. Neji had come up several times over the last few days. For someone Lee declared his eternal rival, he seemed rather boring. And from Tenten’s description of him, he sounded like a stuck-up jerk. Then again, Gai had mentioned Kakashi was his eternal rival, and Iruka also did his scary smile whenever Kakashi was mentioned, so maybe they just had poor taste in eternal rivals.

Sakura was frantically writing to his left. Out of everyone he knew, Kankuro picked her as being the most likely to be able to answer at least some of the questions without having to resort to cheating. She was smart. Not that Kankuro hadn’t met smart people before: Iruka designed all these amazing seals plus he knew practically everything there was to know about cacti, Mari was the best healer ever and knew the human body better than anyone he had ever met, and Temari was no slouch either. But Sakura just seemed to absorb knowledge at a ridiculous rate. When he was explaining to her the basics of puppeteering, she had been able to understand more in one conversation than Kankuro had in his first month of working with his puppets. It was a little scary.

Sasuke had finished by the time Kankuro looked over, so he wasn’t quite sure what he had done but he guessed the Sharingan was involved. And then there was Naruto. He had been blankly staring at his piece of paper for the entire time Kankuro had been sneaking glances at him. Kankuro would bet his favorite jar of poison paint that he didn’t have a single answer written down and hadn’t figured out the trick either. Naruto wasn’t dumb, but from what Kankuro had observed over the past few days, he was very straight-forward. He probably got so caught up in being worried about the test that it didn’t occur to him that he was supposed to cheat.

But Kankuro didn’t worry too much about it. He trusted that Naruto would find a way to make it through. And he was proven right, in a truly spectacular fashion. Kankuro figured the tenth question was a trick as soon as he heard it. There was no way that was a sustainable practice. And he doubted any of the teams they knew would back out at that point. Sure enough, as he glanced around, Sasuke was slouching in his chair, Sakura was looking straight ahead, looking determined. Kiba just looked bored while Tenten and Lee both looked excited for the next step. And Naruto outdid them all, with his little speech.

Kankuro could understand why Gaara was so drawn to Naruto, beyond just him also being a jinchuriki. He didn’t know much about Naruto’s childhood but what he had managed to piece together did not paint a pretty picture. As selfish as it was, hearing about it made Kankuro think how glad he was that Gaara had Iruka to protect him and care for him. But Naruto just kept getting back up no matter what the village threw at him. His straightforward manner helped him inspire others to push themselves right along with him. He drew people in, without even realizing it.

And then they were moving right along to the second stage of the exams. Temari had been the one to accept their scroll, which was probably a good choice. Kankuro was self-aware enough to admit that he was a little bit too curious at times and would have been very tempted to open it.

“After this stage, we’ll get to see Iruka again,” Gaara said happily as they were running through the Forest of Death (Kankuro had a lot of questions about how that was created. Did all these dangerous plants and animals just naturally form here? Leaf soil must be really strange then. Or maybe they just dumped a bunch of dead bodies as fertilizer and these plants sprung up? Or did someone specifically wake up one day and decide they were going to make the most deadly forest in existence? If that was the case, he wanted to meet that person. They must be awesome). By unexpressed mutual agreement, they had veered away from any of the Leaf teams. There were plenty of teams to steal scrolls from in the forest, they didn’t need to risk causing bad feelings from any friends by knocking them out of the exams.

“Let’s get closer to the tower and then rest for the night,” Temari suggested. “We’ll have a better chance of finding other teams that way.” Kankuro and Gaara agreed without hesitation. They spent the next few hours running in the direction of the tower. They didn’t meet any other teams, but Kankuro did nearly get bitten by a rather aggressive sunflower, which was exciting. He wondered if after the exams were over and Iruka had dealt with the stupid invasion plans and their father, he could get someone from Leaf to tell him more about the plants in the forest. Some of them must produce amazing poisons.

They settled down for the night in a small clearing near a river. Although they were in the open, with the seals Iruka had taught them, they were able to hide their presence. No one should be able to tell that they were there unless they actually walked into their camp. And they set up a ring of seals beyond their camp’s boundaries that would alert them if anyone drew near. They ate some rations they had brought with them, not willing to risk eating anything from the forest.

With their seals in place, they decided not to set a watch for the night. They would need their rest in the days to come and they trusted Iruka’s seals to keep them safe. Besides, Gaara’s automatic defense system had expanded over the years and would now protect Temari and Kankuro if they were within its range without Gaara needing to consciously order it to. So they were as safe as they could be under the circumstances.

Kankuro flopped down on the ground, with Gaara quickly joining him and resting his arms on Kankuro’s arm. Temari pulled a blanket out of her pack before lying down on Gaara’s other side and draping the blanket over all three of them. Kankuro listened to Gaara’s breathing, used to waiting until he felt Gaara’s breath even out before he allowed himself to drop off to sleep. Gaara had been separated from Iruka many times due to both their missions, but the first night they were separated again alway bothered him. He never expressly said so, but Kankuro knew him well enough to see he was slightly more agitated than usual. And he knew Temari could tell too. So one or both of them would usually stay with Gaara at least until he fell asleep those nights. On missions that was easy, since they all usually slept in bedrolls near each. And then they were in the village, they would either sleep over in Gaara’s room or chat with him until he fell asleep. Kankuro had to admit it felt kind of nice. Not that he wanted Gaara to be upset because Iruka was gone, but because it was one of the few times he felt like he was actually helping Gaara. Iruka was amazing and Kankuro loved him fiercely and was grateful for everything he had done for Gaara. But Iruka was there for him before Kankuro and Temari even started seeing Gaara as their brother and since Iruka was always there for him, Gaara always went to Iruka with any problems he had instead of seeking out Temari or Kankuro. Kankuro knew his brother loved them and had forgiven them for how they acted before Iruka came along, but he couldn’t help but still feel guilty for it. He had made a promise to himself that night he and Temari had moved in with Gaara and Iruka: no matter what happened in the future, he would protect his brother and his happiness.

He woke up to Temari shaking him awake. She had always had a good internal clock. Given how thick the canopy was in this part of the forest, Kankuro honestly couldn’t tell that the sun had risen, but if she said it was morning, he believed her. Gaara was already up and eating some of their rations. Kankuro gratefully took the bread Gaara offered him. As entertaining as this forest was, he couldn’t wait to be out of here so he could eat Iruka’s cooking again.

“We should find a spot to lay a trap,” Temari suggested as they finished packing up their camp. “The sooner we get the other scroll the better.” Kankuro agreed. He didn’t doubt their ability to defend the scrolls once they had gotten them, but who knows what could happen to the scrolls out of their possession. He wouldn’t put it past some of the other teams to destroy scrolls when they were in danger just so competing teams couldn’t succeed.

It hadn’t taken them long to set up a suitable trap. They had situated a trip wire across a particularly shady patch of ground. If their victim fully tripped over it, hopefully they would fall head-first into the tree next to it. Even if they didn't, stepping on it would also launch some kunai, further throwing whoever stumbled into it off balance. Kankuro was fairly confident they could beat most teams in the exams in a straight fight, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. Iruka had always said that arrogance was the true killer of many shinobi.

Kankuro crouched in one of the trees nearby. Gaara was hiding on the ground while Temari was perched in a tree opposite him. Luckily, it did not take too long for someone to stumble into their traps. Kankuro had just started to grow bored, when he heard the sound of someone approaching. He got Crow ready.

“I still say we should maybe check more of the outer area of the forest before heading towards the tower,” Kankuro heard someone say.

“But most of the teams will be heading towards the tower so we have the best chance of finding the other scroll if we head there too,” their teammate argued back.

“But that also means we are more likely to be attacked,” the first voice retorted.

“Oh come one, it’s not like we’ll be defeated that easily,” the second voice shot back. Not even five seconds later, Kankuro heard a scream and the sound of the trip wire being activated. He jumped out of the tree and took in the situation. Two of the team members had tripped on the wire. One had gone head first into a tree, as they had hoped, and seemed to be unconscious. The other had thrown themselves sideways to avoid the kunai, and was just getting to their feet. The third had reacted quickly and launched a slew of kunai at Gaara who had popped out of his hiding place first. Unfortunately for them, Gaara was the worst possible person for them to try and fight that way. His sand barrier stopped them all without him having to do anything.

Temari suddenly appeared behind the third fighter and knocked her out with her fan. Gaara encased the one who had knocked himself out on the tree with his sand and Kankuro launched Crow at the one remaining member. She was a pretty good sword fighter, from what he could see but Crow was strong enough to withstand her blows and a quick burst of poison was sufficient to knock her out. Temari riffled through all of their pockets until she found their scroll. Unfortunately, it was also a heaven one, so they would have to find another team to steal from.

Temari and him carried the team they had just defeated to the clearing they had spent the night in, leaving Gaara to reapply the traps and watch their ambush spot. If he was in trouble he could signal them through the sand bracelets, but Kankuro trusted that he could take on any team in the exams and walk away just fine. They laid the three genin they had knocked out in the clearing and got to work putting up the same seals they had when they had slept there. Although Temari had taken their scroll, so other teams shouldn’t bother them, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure the other team was safe until they woke up. And they might not be the most competent team, but their deaths would be pointless and wasteful. Kankuro didn’t mind killing, although his first kill had haunted him for a while, but he didn’t enjoy it or want to do it unless it was necessary. His siblings had felt the same way so they had decided on this course of action.

“Hopefully they’ll be smart enough not to try and come after us once they wake up,” he commented to Temari as they walked back towards Gaara.

“The first one seemed like he might be the type to try but at least one of them seemed more sensible and while I didn’t hear the third talk, I would like to believe most people would have enough sense to realize that would be a poor idea,” Temari replied.

Kankuro nodded, “Then again, you never know with shinobi.” He and Temari exchanged small smiles. Iruka had gone on more than one rant over the years about how so many shinobi valued their egos far too much. He had taught them how to recognize when an opponent was outside of their skill range and how best to escape from those fights. Of course, he also taught them everything he could about how to take on opponents that were vastly more powerful than you (Kankuro and Temari got to practice those skills a lot sparring against Gaara), but he repeatedly instructed them to fight only if absolutely necessary in that type of situation and never seek those fights out.

When they arrived back at the ambush spot, it was obvious that no one had been by in their absence, so they took up their old hiding places and continued to wait. It was a couple hours after the first confrontation and still no one had wondered near their location. Kankuro had gotten bored a while ago and had begun tending to Crow. Not that the minor scrimmage they had been in had injured him, but one could never be too careful. He double-checked that all the weapons were in place and restocked the poison that he had used. Then he greased all the joints and went over every inch of the puppet to check for any nicks or weak spots in the wood. Puppets were very delicate weapons, as his instructors drilled into him before he had even been allowed to handle his first one. What looked like a cosmetic injury at first glance could be a sign of deeper damage. They told him that a puppeteer was only as strong as their puppets (which Kankuro knew was bullshit. He could fight too, even without his puppets and Iruka had trained him well enough that he felt confident that he could at least escape from most opponents without Crow.) but his puppets were his main weapon and Kankuro was very careful with them. Crow had been with him for years at this point. He was the first puppet Kankuro had used in a real battle. Crow deserved his respect for how long he had been by Kankuro’s side.

Of course, given how familiar Kankuro was with Crow, it did not take him long to finish his inspection. Then he pulled out a spool of trip wire and started fiddling with it, at which point Temari had started throwing acorns at him. Kankuro pouted. Temari had a strong arm and great aim. She always had been the best out of all of them at kunai throwing. So those things hurt when she threw them. It wasn’t his fault that he was pretty much incapable of sitting still. It was probably for the best that he and his siblings had not really gone to the academy with other shinobi children. Temari and him went for a short while, but they mainly had private tutors and after moving in with Iruka, the Kazekage had pretty much left their education up to him. Kankuro was sure it was some part of some plan to discredit Iruka, but Iruka was too smart to allow that to happen and by the time the Kazekage had figured that out, he couldn’t force Temari and Kankuro to go back to the academy or their tutors without losing face in the weird passive-aggressive war him and Iruka had going on, so he just continued to leave them alone.

Kankuro glared at Temari who just sent him back an unimpressed and chiding look. He was pretty sure she had picked that up from Baki. Temari was definitely his favorite and Temari seemed to enjoy his teaching style more than Kankuro and Gaara. Iruka's lessons worked better for them. But Baki was still a valuable teacher and entertaining to be around. You would think a man with half his face covered couldn’t be that expressive, but that was quite incorrect. Baki never had trouble telling them when their pranks were getting out of hand or when they had done well on missions without needing words.

Fortunately, Kankuro heard something approaching before he could start throwing the weird fruits in his tree back at Temari. That would definitely piss her off and she would take revenge on him at a later point and Temari was mean when she wanted to be.

Unlike the last team, this team wasn’t talking, just moving steadily towards them. They paused what sounded like a few yards from their trap. Kankuro slowly stood up, getting ready to jump into action if necessary. While they had hidden the tripwire pretty well, it was possible that the other team could have noticed. Although that didn’t explain why they weren’t either attacking or retreating. Temari seemed to be thinking the same thing and she quickly used hand signals to instruct Kankuro to get back on the ground, but to do so quietly and while staying out of sight of where the other team should be. Kankuro quickly obeyed, attaching a couple kunai with wires on them to the branch and repelling down the side of the tree. He crouched behind the trunk, waiting for the other team to make the first move.

Which they did, but not in the way he had expected. Instead of a jutsu or shruiken being thrown their way, Kankuro heard a soft bark and the sound of something small running towards them. He peeked his head around the trunk just in time to see a familiar dog leaping gracefully over the tripwire and running to where Gaara was hidden. Given Gaara’s delighted laugh seconds later, Kankuro wasn’t worried about this being an attack. He came out from his hiding place and sure enough, saw Gaara happily petting Akamaru who was curled up in his lap. Temari had also abandoned any attempts at stealth and came to stand beside him. They looked towards the other team, and unsurprisingly saw Kiba, Shino, and Hinata.

“Hey, fancy seeing you in this place,” Kiba called out. He walked towards them, stopping to untie their wire from the two trees and spool it back up. He handed that to Temari when he was close enough. “How are the exams going for you?”

Temari graced him with a small smile, undoubtedly pleased that he took the time to untie the wire and give it back to them to be used later rather than just cut it, the way many other people would have done. “Not too bad. Kankuro is very fascinated by your Forest of Death and we have not encountered any significant difficulties so far.” A very good non-answer, Kankuro thought. As expected of Temari. It technically answered the question without telling Kiba anything of substance.

Kiba must have realized the same thing, but he just let out a bark of laughter. “That’s good. We haven’t had much trouble either. We did manage to take another team’s scroll, but it was the same as the one we already had, so that doesn’t help us much.”

Temari glanced back at his other two teammates who didn’t seem too bothered at Kiba giving away sensitive information to them. “That’s too bad for you,” she replied neutrally. Kankuro was enjoying this back and forth. Given how Akamaru was sprawled out on Gaara’s lap and how relaxed Kiba looked, he doubted they wanted to fight Kankuro and his siblings. So he allowed himself to relax enough to appreciate Temari’s uncertainty on how to deal with Kiba giving away information so easily. Iruka had always taught them to play their cards close to their chests and only give away information when it was absolutely necessary. Kiba, on the other hand, was apparently very willing to give out most information, although Kankuro had noticed he did not say which scroll they had two of. A much bolder strategy than what Kankuro and his siblings usually went with, but Kankuro had no doubt it was a purposeful strategy nonetheless.

Kiba smiled back at Temari, “Isn’t it? Honestly, trying to figure out who has the right scroll is the most annoying part of these exams. So, did you get the right scroll from the last team you attacked or are you in the same boat as us?”

“What makes you think we have two scrolls?” Temari asked.

Kiba laughed, “You did a pretty good job with clean up, so it’s not obvious there was a fight here.” He tilted his head, considering,”Although given your abilities I doubt it was a very long one. But you can’t hide from my and Akamaru’s noses. There are three unfamiliar scents, leading off in that direction,” he gestured towards the clearing where Temari and Kankuro had stashed the other team. “And you are carrying something with one of those foreign smells on it.” Temari of course didn’t make the amateur mistake of reaching towards the scroll or even glancing down at it, but Kankuro could see that she was taken aback. He hadn’t realized Kiba and Akamaru’s noses were that good. He would have to do more research on the Inuzuka and ninken in the future, since someone who could find him that easily would be disastrous for his fighting style.

“Well, I guess there’s no point in denying it, is there?” Temari said. She glanced at Kankuro, who nodded slightly, and then at Gaara, who was still petting Akamaru and apparently not paying attention to the conversation at all. “We have two heaven scrolls.” That was true, but she made no motion to retrieve them from whatever pocket she had hidden them in. Had to keep the upper hand somehow.

Kiba grinned, “That’s great. We have two earth scrolls. Want to trade?” Temari raised her eyebrow at that. Kiba just shrugged, “Look, I really don’t want to have to fight you if there are other options. For one thing, you are quite strong. And you’re our friends. Plus, if we fight here it might take Akamaru a while before he stops seeing you as an enemy, and that means he might not let Gaara pet him for some time.” Gaara jerked his head up at that, looking imploringly at Temari.

Kankuro was pretty sure Kiba was lying about that part. From what he had seen from Akamaru and Kuromaru, the Inuzuka dogs were smart. He was sure Akamaru understood what was going on. But this wasn’t a risk he would be willing to take. Gaara obviously loved Akamaru and given how most animals ran from him or attacked him on sight, he probably wouldn’t get the chance to experience something like this again anytime soon. Kiba didn’t seem like the type to try and trick them in this situation and getting the right scrolls and heading to the tower sooner rather than later could only benefit them. Just as Kankuro thought she would, Temari immediately crumbled. When Gaara looked at them with that face, neither Kankuro nor Temari could deny him whatever it was he wanted. “Alright, a trade is fine. But you have to show us the scroll first."

“Deal,” Kiba happily agreed. At this point both his teammates moved forward to stand by Kiba and Hinata retrieved a scroll from her coat. She held it up so Temari and Kankuro could see the writing on it, which did indeed read earth. Kankuro could see Temari inspecting it to make sure it wasn’t altered. She apparently didn’t find anything since she pulled out one of their heaven scrolls from her pocket. Both her and Hinata moved forward until they could exchange the scrolls. Once Temari got her hands on the scroll, she gave it a very thorough inspection. Kankuro didn’t know what she was looking for, since he didn’t see anything funny about the scroll, but eventually she was satisfied.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said, making the scroll disappear into one of her many pockets.

“Likewise,” Kiba replied. Their inspection at lasted a much shorter time, mainly consisting of Hinata looking it over with her glowing eyes (Kankuro was sure someone had told him the name of that technique at one point but he hadn’t bothered to remember it so glowing eyes it was) and Kiba sniffing it before handing it off to Shino. “Want to head towards the tower together? We can have a non-aggression pact until this stage of the exams is over since we both have what we need.”

“Sure,” Temari responded happily. Now that the exchange was over, she slipped out of her team leader persona and smiled at their friends. It was a good deal, Kankuro thought. Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino would be very helpful in giving advance warning of any enemies. Maybe Hinata would be as well, since Shino had mentioned a few nights ago that they were a tracking specialized team.

Gaara had slowly gotten to his feet and made his way over to the rest of them with Akamaru at his heels. “Well no sense waiting around here,” Temari pointed out. “Let’s go.”

She took the lead with Kiba and Akamaru. Shino and Hinata followed them and Kankuro and Gaara brought up the rear. It didn’t escape Kankuro’s notice how Gaara kept glancing around, like he was looking for someone.

“I’m sure Naruto and the rest of them are alright,” he told Gaara as the tower came into view. Apparently they had gotten here quickly enough that not many teams had made it this far yet since no one jumped out to attack them.

Gaara nodded, but still looked displeased.

“I know you worry about them, but this is an exam,” Kankuro reminded him. “They need to succeed by themselves.” Gaara pointedly glanced ahead of them at Hinata and Shino. “Yeah, but that was an equal trade and if Father asks us about it, we can say it was a tactical decision. Us just helping out Naruto would be harder to explain.” Far too much of their life currently revolved around trying to make their father think they were worse people than they actually were. Kankuro had never really loved his father, but when he was younger, he had thought the man was incredibly strong and looked up to him. Now he knew better. Sure their father was a dangerous fighter, but that was really the only skill he had. He was a terrible Kazekage and an even worse father because he couldn’t acknowledge the importance of forming bonds with other people. Compared to Iruka, who was also a great fighter, took the time to teach them all the skills he knew, and was there for them whenever they needed him, their father just didn’t measure up.

“We’ll just have to trust in their strength and check in with them once they clear this stage of the exams,” he said aloud to Gaara. Gaara nodded solemnly. Kankuro grinned and patted him on the back. “Come on, let’s finish this. Imagine how proud Iruka will be when we tell them that we were one of the first teams to reach the tower.” That encouraged Gaara to speed up, as Kankuro knew it would. Kankuro was the last one to reach the tower, and watched with pride as Temari presented their scrolls to the leaf shinobi at the entrance. Yeah, his family had come far together and he couldn’t wait to show everyone just how far they would go.

Notes:

Happy New Year everyone! I am glad to see the end of 2020.

Sorry if the first stage of the exams felt a little rushed. I just did not feel like there was a lot I wanted to do with it. Also it has been years since I watched the chunin exam arc, so I am going off of vague recollections and wiki knowledge, so it might not match up correctly with canon. I did make some changes on purpose, but some might be on accident.

We are going to be at this stage of the exams for the next few chapters. Next one will show what the other kids are doing and the one after that will be about what Iruka is getting up to while on this is going on.

I hope you enjoyed Kankuro's pov. He is one of my favorites and I just went all in on making him as chaotic as possible.

Chapter 8: Choji

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Sakura told me she had dinner with a team from Sand last night. Naruto, Sasuke, Tenten, and Lee were also there. Apparently, one of the team members is Sand’s jinchuriki,” Ino blurted out in a rush after dragging him and Shikamaru to the side during their training session. Asuma had tried to prevent her, but after one glare from her was enough to make him back down. Choji was pretty sure jonin teachers should not be scared of their genin (most people would expect it to be the other way around), but he had to admit Ino got scary when she was in protective mode, so he didn’t blame Asuma for deciding he was just going to stand over there for a bit and allow them a few minutes to “strategize”.

Choji wasn’t quite sure what the big deal was. And it had to be a big deal given the way Ino had said it and the way Shikamaru had immediately dropped into his thinking position. While it was a little surprising that a team from Sand had reached out, considering they were traditionally rather closed off to the other villages, wasn’t meeting another jinchuriki good for Naruto? Both Ino and Shikamaru were treating this situation as a threat. While Choji didn’t blame them for being wary, he figured if Tenten had been fine with going to dinner with the team, they couldn’t mean Naruto harm. Tenten was pretty protective of Naruto, and unlike Lee did not trust easily. So he trusted her judgment. If she was with Naruto, no one who meant him harm would get close to him. Plus Sasuke’s default position was to distrust everyone, so he had no doubt that the Sand team had been thoroughly examined as to their motives and glared at for good measure. But Choji also knew that over analyzing everything and being suspicious of new people were the ways Ino and Shikamaru showed their care, so he would leave them to it. If the Sand team really wanted to be friends with their group, they would be willing to withstand their scrutiny. Eventually Asuma was able to convince them to focus on training for the moment and nothing more about the matter was said that day. Choji did tell his parents about it when he got home. They always asked after his friends, and on the off chance the Sand team had bad intentions, the more people that knew about the dinner the better. His parents did look surprised when he told them but didn’t seem overly concerned, which only reinforced Choji’s belief that everything was fine.

He did not hear much more about the Sand team over the next few days, although Ino and Shikamaru did seem to be plotting something. Hopefully they would put it on hold during the chunin exams. Those were already stressful enough without adding any more problems on top.

Choji was able to learn more about the Sand team the night before the exams started. His parents had invited all his friends over for dinner, to celebrate everyone making it this far and wishing them luck for the exams.

Shikamaru had asked Naruto about the team he had been having dinner with, but Naruto had gotten distracted by an argument with Sasuke, so Kiba leaned over to answer, “Oh yeah, they’re pretty nice. Their names are Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Gaara is a jinchuriki. Their jonin teacher is Baki and Iruka, who I think is their big brother or something, was also there. He’s a really good cook.”

“Iruka is their caretaker, not a relative,” Sakura cut in. “Their father is the Kazekage and none of them mentioned their mother.”

“Wait, they’re the Kazekage’s kids?” Kiba yelled, leaning over the table to get closer to Sakura.

Sakura looked confused, “Yes, they mentioned that the first time we met them. Although to be far, they hadn’t realized we were there at that point. I don’t think they get along well with their father.”

“So when Kankuro mentioned Iruka regularly yelled at their father and does not allow him to make decisions in regards to how they were raised if he can help it, that means he does those things to the Kazekage?” Kiba looked rather impressed. “He really is fearless.”

“Iruka is great!” Naruto chimed in. His argument with Sasuke had nearly escalated into a wrestling match before Tenten reached over and smacked both of them in the head to get them to settle down. “He’s really good at seals and he can make ramen like you can get at Ichiraku. He’s been looking after Gaara since Gaara was six.” While Choji was glad Naruto was making friends, he was a bit confused about how enthusiastic Naruto was about this Iruka.

“It seems odd that the Kazekage would allow someone else to have so much influence over his children, particularly someone who he does not get along with,” Ino commented. “Do you have any idea why that is?” Choji knew that tone of voice. This wasn’t the question Ino really wanted the answer to, but rather something adjacent that could probably get her the information she sought without the person she was talking to realizing what she was after. She had used it a lot on Mizuki back at the academy.

“I don’t think he had much of a choice,” Sakura said. “From what I understand, Gaara’s seal was pretty unstable before Iruka fixed it. He apparently killed multiple people because he didn’t understand who the voice in his head was and the bijuu kept telling him to kill people. And then Iruka came along and was able to fix the seal and convince Gaara not to kill people from his village. So Gaara really latched on to him and everyone in Sand is still kind of terrified of what will happen if Gaara loses control again, so they want to keep him happy. And Gaara has made it very clear that he will be unhappy if the Kazekage forces Iruka to leave, so the Kazekage’s options were limited.”

“Gaara hasn’t hurt anyone in the village in years,” Sakura quickly added, probably in response to Ino and Shikamaru’s facial expressions. Ino in particular looked about ready to lock Naruto in his apartment to ensure he would be going near the Sand team anytime soon.

“Gaara’s fine,” Kiba chimed in. “Akamaru liked him once he got past being scared of the scent of his bijuu. And Kuromaru likes Iruka, and Kuromaru hardly likes anyone.” While all this information did make Choji a little nervous about meeting the siblings for himself, he figured that if both Kiba and Sakura thought they were safe, they probably were. Naruto was very quick to try and befriend anyone he came across, but the rest of their friends were more distrustful of people who sought to get close to Naruto. Besides, Kiba was a really good judge of character. Choji had no clue how his and Akamaru’s noses told them so much about people, but he had said on the first day of the academy that he did not like Mizuki and he turned out to be right. However, he could see that Shikamaru and Ino were not convinced. Not that he was too surprised. They were the ones all those years ago who saw how terrible Naruto’s life was and started their group down the path that led to all of them becoming friends and growing stronger together. So it made sense that the two of them would be the most hesitant about new people bursting into Naruto’s life, particularly if they had not had the chance to evaluate them beforehand. But there was nothing that could be done about it now. Choji knew that no amount of praise from their other friends would satisfy his teammates. They needed to meet the Sand team and judge them for themselves. However, that would have to wait until after the first rounds of the chunin exams.

Soon enough, the discussion moved on to what everyone was bringing to the exams and what they thought the first stage would be like. Of course, it soon devolved to everyone talking over each other and Kiba insisting on increasingly improbable tests. Choji may not know quite what to expect from the chunin exams but he was pretty sure that they would not have to complete an underwater obstacle course while arrows were being shot at them. That seemed rather specific and also a logistical nightmare to organize. But it was nice to sit and just let the voices of his friends wash over him. With everyone on genin teams and running various missions, it had been a while since they had all been together like this. He had missed it more than he realized until he saw them all together again. He loved being on a team with Ino and Shikamaru, and wouldn’t trade them for anyone. However, he had missed Hinata’s soft smile and unwavering support. He had missed Naruto and Kiba’s enthusiasm and silly arguments. Training hadn’t been the same without Lee yelling encouragement and Sakura mumbling under her breath about chakra theory. He wondered how Hanabi was doing in her last year of the academy and if Tenten had mastered any new weapons. Sure, he could ask them about those things. Hanabi was teasing her sister while Tenten and Lee were sitting with his mother, but it wasn’t the same as when he could see Tenten pick up a new weapon and keep practicing with it until she had mastered it or hear Hanabi’s complaints about her classmates on a daily basis. He even found himself missing Shino’s insects and Sasuke’s eye rolls. He knew that part of being a shinobi was accepting that he would be separated from his friends and family often for missions, and that many of his loved ones would die relatively young. But it wasn’t something he liked he dwell on. He supposed the dawning chunin exams brought these worries to the front of his mind. Every year he watched his father go over statistics with Ino’s and Shikamaru’s fathers about how many people passed, how many were injured, and how many died. While the deaths were never a high number, rarely were they zero either. While he trusted his friends’ strength, he couldn’t help but fear the possibility of losing one of them. He was so glad that his parents had invited everyone over tonight. Just seeing them all together made him feel much calmer. They had withstood Mizuki’s indifference, enemy nin, and so much more. Surely, they would survive this too.

Everyone left relatively early, wanting to be well-rested before the first stage of the exams. Choji could not bring himself to sleep just yet and instead sat outside, watching the stars. He barely glanced up as he heard his parents join him. “Did you pass the chunin exams on your first attempt?” he asked, realizing he had never heard his parents talk about their own chunin exams.

His mother laughed, “I did. Although the same can’t be said for you father.”

“I blame Inochi,” his father insisted.

“Funny, I’m pretty sure he says the same thing about you,” she replied.

His father laughed, “I’ll tell you the story after you have completed the exams.” They did not ask if he was nervous, obviously already knowing the answer.

“I’ve been helping you and your friends train for years,” his mother said. “I have no doubt that you are as prepared as you can be. Your jonin instructors would not have nominated you if they did not have faith in your skills.” Choji nodded absent-mindedly. He knew all this, but it did nothing to quiet the worry eating his mind.

“Sasuke is the last Uchiha in the village and Naruto is the jinchuriki,” Choji stated, noting the complete lack of reaction his parents had to him knowing the second part. He had suspected that they knew he knew, but this confirmed it. “They could be specifically targeted by someone who wants to use their power.”

“I won’t lie to and say that’s not a possibility,” his father replied. “But I doubt they would choose to make a move now. Everyone is on high alert with some many foreign shinobi around.”

Choji supposed that made sense.

“Naruto and Sasuke can protect themselves,” his mother gently reminded him. “I know you want to be there to help them if they need it, but to do that, you need to focus on yourself first and make sure you advance through the first few stages of the exams.” Choji reluctantly nodded, knowing his mother had a point.

“I have no doubt you will be fine,” his father told him. “You, Ino, and Shikamaru make a wonderful team. Trust in them and in yourself. Plus, I pity anyone who tries to prevent Ino from reaching her goals.”

Choji found himself smiling. Although he had never been on the receiving end of Ino’s wrath, he had definitely seen how she dealt with those who were and agreed with his father’s assessment. He spent the next hour just sitting quietly with his parents as they told him stories he had heard hundreds of times before. It was calming. He eventually roused himself and went to bed. Who knows what the exams would throw at them tomorrow and he needed to get his rest while he could. He didn’t want anything to interfere with his ability to protect his friends.

The next morning dawned before he was ready for it. His mother had made him a large breakfast and even more food for him to bring in his pack.

“Come back safe,” his mother told him as she walked him towards the door, the same thing she said to his father before he left for every mission.

Choji just nodded his head, the same response his father always gave.

His father grasped him on the shoulder and smiled, “I look forward to hearing about your adventures when you get done.” Choji nodded, comforted by the knowledge that his father believed he would do well.

He waved good-bye to his parents and walked towards the Yamanaka clan compound. He and Shikamaru had agreed to meet Ino there so they could walk to the exams together. Ino was already waiting for him when he arrived, although as expected, Shikamaru was not there yet. Ino greeted him, but thankfully after that was content to wait in silence for their lazy friend to show up. While Choji often appreciated Ino’s chatter since it could take his mind off whatever was bothering him, he was glad she was caught up in her own silent contemplation. The quiet gave him a chance to ground himself and prepare for what was to come.

Shikamaru arrived soon after, complaining under his breath about early mornings and nosy parents. It was such a normal scene that it calmed Choji’s nerves. It could have been any day that their parents dragged them to any early morning training session.

Asuma met them near the building where the first stage of the exams would take place. “Good morning. Everyone ready?” Ino grinned and Choji nodded while Shikamaru yawned. “Good enough, I guess,” Asuma said. “This is not the sort of thing where last minute advice would be helpful, so I’ll just say that I have been honored to be your jonin teacher for the past months. I have seen all of you grow during your time as my team. I have no doubt that you have the skills needed to deal with the chunin exams.” With that he gave them a wave and lit a cigarette, “I’ll see you when you’re done.”

Ino thanked him and said good-bye on behalf of their team and then they entered the building. There were more people that Choji expected milling about. They were pretty close to the time the first exam was scheduled to start. However, he did not see anyone he recognized so their friends must already be in the exam room.

Ino strode determinedly towards the stairs, dragging Shikamaru behind her while Choji walked beside them. He knew Shikamaru was taking the exams more seriously than he let on, but right now he seemed content to allow Ino to pull him behind her. They had barely set foot in the corridor where the fake exam room was located when Ino saw through the trick and hurried them upstairs. They still arrived in the exam room with of time to spare. As Choji had predicted, he could see all their friends already there.

“The puppeteer, the girl with the fan, and the boy with the gourd are the Sand team that has been hanging around Naruto,” Ino reported quietly, subtly indicating each one. Choji glanced over at the people she indicated. The boy with the gourd was leaning against the wall, smiling slightly to himself. “The boy with the gourd is the jinchuriki.” That made Choji take a second look at him. Not that he thought there would be any visible indication of his status; after all he had known Naruto for years before finding out that he was a jinchuriki. But ever since he had found out about Naruto, he had wondered about the lives of other jinchuriki. Naruto had not had a very happy life, with so many people hating him for something he could not control. He wondered if the lives of other jinchuriki were like that or if they were better. The nine-tails’ attack on the village had been devastating and the motivation for much of the hatred directed at Naruto. Choji hoped the other jinchuriki did not have to deal with the same level of scorn since he would not wish that on anyone. The Sand jinchuriki seemed happy enough. He wondered if having siblings helped with that.

The other two siblings were talking quietly a little ways, glancing over at their brother every so often. That was reassuring since Choji recognized those kinds of looks. They were the ones Hana gave Kiba or Ino directed at him and Shikamaru-checking to make sure that they were alright and not caused a massive amount of chaos since the last time they had looked away. Choji was glad that the Sand jinchuriki was loved.

Choji did not even attempt to answer any of the questions as the test began. He knew Ino would just copy Sakura’s answers once she was done using her mind body switch technique, and then do the same thing to write out the answers for him and Shikamaru. While he was pretty sure Shikamaru could answer the questions, he was sure his friend would be too lazy to do so when he knew Ino could get them for him. And Ino would know that as well. So she’d do it, although she’d probably smack Shikamaru in the head for it later.

Sure enough, with about 10 minutes left in the exam, Choji blinked and then all the answers were filled in. Now he just had to wait for the tenth question. And even that wasn’t hard. Choji figured it was a trick, but even if it wasn’t, he trusted that his team would be able to handle whatever question was thrown at them. Hearing Naruto’s little speech was reassuring though. He could not help himself from worrying about his friend, but that had reminded him far they had come and how dedicated they were. His parents were right, he would just have to trust in them.

And then they were on to the second stage. Ino promptly took possession of their scroll, with neither him or Shikamaru objecting. Choji wasn’t too worried about the dangers the Forest of Death itself presented. His father had brought him there a few times and he had heard Shikamaru’s father talking about that was in there enough that he wasn’t too scared of the wildlife in there. Of course, he was still concerned about the dangers the other teams presented.

“Do we want to head straight for the tower or wait on the edges for a while?” Ino asked. “Most teams will probably be heading towards the center. Which means the ones staying towards the edges are either hesitant about their skills or want to fight those hesitant teams.”

“Let’s head towards the center but take it slow,” Shikamaru suggested. He was looking around the forest. “We can see if we can gather any information on various teams on our way.” That sounded sensible enough to Choji, so he agreed.

They did not come across any other teams for the first two days, although they did hear distant sounds of battle. It was the morning of the third day when Ino announced that their friends were in trouble. She had been using her mind boy swap jutsu on a sparrow to scout the surrounding area and she came back with a gasp. “We need to go south now. Sakura is being attacked by a team from Sound and Sasuke looks pretty beat up. I did not see Naruto.” Which was very concerning. Sasuke was a strong fighter, so whoever beat him that badly must be incredibly strong and Naruto would never willingly leave his teammates’ sides in a dangerous situation.

As they were running towards the location, they ran into Lee and Tenten. “Are you coming to help Sasuke and Sakura, too?” Ino asked when she saw them.

“Sasuke and Sakura are in trouble?” Tenten responded. “We just came this way because Lee’s new squirrel friend told us to.”

Choji glanced over and sure enough perched on Lee’s shoulder was a squirrel who seemed to be giving directions.

“You’re following a squirrel?” Shikamaru asked. “How did you even befriend one?” Tenten just gestured at Lee like that was all the answer they needed, which it honestly was. Lee was surprisingly good at befriending wildlife.

They followed the squirrel’s directions (mainly communicated by tugging on Lee’s ear) until Lee suddenly gestured at them to stop. They fanned out, hiding behind the trees that lined the clearing to get a look inside. Sure enough, there was Sakura and three shinobi from Sound. Neither Naruto or Sasuke were visible, although given how Sakura was guarding a particular tree, Choji guessed Sasuke was hidden there. Naruto apparently hadn’t made it back yet.

They watched quietly as Sakura launched a slew of kunai at her attackers. She seemed to be doing well, beside the odds stacked against her. But then the one wrapped in bandages launched some kind of attack that threw her off balance and she couldn’t seem to recover.

“Sound,” Shikamaru muttered. He rapidly signaled to Ino to take over the Sound kunoichi’s mind. He gestured for Tenten to deal with the third Sound nin and he would use shadow sewing on the one with the bandages. “Be ready to attack him quickly once I have him since I can’t hold that technique for long,” he warned them. He moved around the edge of the clearing, getting closer to his target. Given the amount of vegetation around, there was little sunlight coming through and so few shadows, but Choji knew how good Shikamaru was at finding the perfect spot for his techniques to work.

Ino moved, getting directly behind the Sound kunoichi, who was standing over Sakura. She seemed to be tracking Shikamaru’s movements, so they waited for her to signal to launch their attack. While they were waiting, the three of them drew up a quick battle plan. Tenten would launch a scroll of kunai and some other weapons at her opponent. Hopefully that would incapacitate him, but at the very least it would provide cover for Choji and Lee to run into the clearing. Lee would take out the ones with the bandages, since he was the most capable of taking someone out quickly at close range. Shadow sewing was a fairly advanced technique, much more than shadow imitation shadow bind, which was what Shikamaru usually used, so he could only hold it for a few seconds. But that should be enough for Lee to knock the shinobi unconscious. Choji was not quite sure what that boy’s jutsu was but given that it seemed to still be messing with Sakura’s balance minutes after he used it, it was best avoided if possible.

Choji would head towards the third member and fight him if he was still conscious after Tenten’s attack. Tenten would check and make sure Ino’s technique had worked and then aid either of them if their fights were still going.

On Ino’s signal, Tenten released a few scrolls of kunai while Lee and Choji rushed into the clearing. Choji couldn’t even see how Lee’s fight was going, so focused on his own opponent. He had acquired quite a few cuts and was knocked off balance by Tenten’s attack but had recovered fairly quickly and managed to dodge most of the later ones. Choji quickly made himself larger using the Multi-Sized Technique and pulled in his limbs to make himself into a Human Bullet Tank. His opponent seemed to use wind style, since Choji could feel something pushing back at him, but in the end his force was greater. Choji ran over his opponent, feeling something crunch. He turned immediately afterwards and ran over him again, just to be safe. He then shrank back down and glanced around to see how everyone else was doing. He hadn't even been able to keep an ear open for the other fights, since that technique plugged his ears. But luckily everything seemed to have gone well. Tenten was methodically tying up the one with the bandages and the Sound kunoichi was unconscious, with Shikamaru watching her closely.

Ino was fussing over Sakura, getting her to drink some water and bandaging her cuts. “Sasuke is over there,” Sakura told her, gesturing to the tree she had been protecting. “He’s also hurt.”

“I’ll check him over in a second,” Ino assured her. And sure enough once she was satisfied that Sakura was alright, she headed beneath the tree. After a moment she stuck her head back out again, “Lee, can you help me carry Sasuke out? I need more light.” Lee agreed and laid Sasuke down in the clearing, near Sakura.

“You alright?” Shikamaru asked, not talking his eyes off the Sound kunoichi.

“Yeah,” Choji replied after figuring out he was the one Shikamaru was talking to. “He was distracted and already wounded by Tenten so it was not hard to deal with him.

Shikamaru shot him an annoyed look, “Don’t undervalue your efforts. I saw the wind technique he used. Your Human Bullet Tank must have gotten stronger since the last time I'd seen you use it if you were able to break through that.” Choji had been practicing that specific technique with his dad often in the lead up to the chunin exams, and he was glad to see that it had paid off.

Tenten was finally satisfied with the bonds she had been working on and came over to tie up the one Shikamaru was guarding and then doing the same to Choji’s opponent. They carried the three of them to the center of the clearing so they could easily watch over them.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Choji heard Ino say. He turned to see her examining Sasuke. “I mean he has some bruises and shallow cuts, but other than that, the only physical wound I can see is this strange mark on his neck. I’ve never seen anything like it before and I don’t know what it is doing to him. Sakura, just who was he fighting?”

“I don’t know,” Sakura admitted. “But whoever they were, they were terrifying. They showed me visions of my death over and over again and I think Sasuke went through something similar. At one point, Sasuke unleashed a fireball jutsu at them and their face seemed to melt off. And they bit Sasuke, which is how he got that mark. And I think they did something to Naruto’s chakra too. He seemed to be having difficulty mustering the amount he usually does.”

“Where is Naruto now?” Tenten asked.

“I don’t know that either. I’m sorry,” Sakura replied. “He got hit and thrown into the distance.”

“How did you get away from the attacker?” Shikamaru asked.

“We didn’t. They just left after giving Sasuke that mark,” Sakura said. “I wanted to look for Naruto, but Sasuke was so injured and I needed to protect him.”

“You did well,” Tenten told her. “We can look for Naruto. Which direction did you say he was launched?” Sakura gestured. “Can you take care of things here?” she asked Shikamaru who nodded. She and Lee took off in the direction Sakura indicated.

“What now?” Ino asked.

Shikamaru didn’t answer right away, instead going over to examine the three Sound shinobi they had defeated. “Doesn’t the timing seem a bit suspicious?” he muttered. “They attack just when you were vulnerable after the attack from the strange shinobi.”

“Maybe they spied on them and thought they were an easy target to steal a scroll from?” Choji ventured.

“Maybe,” Shikamaru said, although he did not sound convinced. “Sakura did the person who attacked you say anything weird before leaving?”

“Oh, now that mentioned it, they told Sasuke good luck before they left,” Sakura told them.

“That’s odd,” Ino commented. “Why would they attack him and then wish him good luck?

“It must somehow relate back to this mark,” Shikamaru said, sinking into his thinking pose. “It seems like some kind of seal, so maybe the attacker wants Sasuke to activate it. It may activate when the user is in danger, so your attacker sent some allies to put Sasuke into a situation where he would activate it. And it may be one that activates unconsciously if the conditions are right.” Everyone watched Shikamaru pace back and forth, continuing on his line of reason. “Which means,” he said abruptly, “that these three and your mysterious attacker could be working together.”

“Then we could use them to get some information about that person,” Ino said.

Shikamaru nodded. “Ino, could you?” he gestured at their unconscious captives.

She nodded and went over to them, laying her hand on the bandaged one. No one said anything, knowing she needed to concentrate. About a minute later, she drew back. “I wasn’t able to get much,” she warned them. “Dad has barely let me start learning how to do this. One thing I can say for sure is that this team is working with the mysterious attacker. I got the impression of someone ordering them to attack Sakura and Sasuke. And I think whoever is giving them orders is the major force behind their village. Also, I just got the sensation of snakes. Don’t know how much that helps, but I can’t get much else.”

“I’m sure it will be helpful,” Choji assured her. “At least we know they share a connection.”

“Snakes,” Ino muttered. “And they must be powerful to place a seal like that. Why does that sound familiar?”

“You think you know who the attacker is?” Sakura asked.

She shook her head. “No, I can’t recall but I know I have heard of someone who uses snakes before. I’ll ask my dad about it once this stage is done.”

Shikamaru hadn’t said anything this whole time. He was still staring at their captives, obviously thinking intensely. Before they could continue their discussion, Sasuke groaned and sat up.

“Sasuke, are you okay?” Sakura rushed to her teammate’s side.

Once she had helped him sit up, Sasuke winced and reached for his neck. Apparently that was enough of a reminder because he jolted and looked around wildly. “Are they still here? Are you alright? Where’s Naruto?”

“We’re safe for now,” Sakura told him. “They left after putting that mark on you. I’m fine. I don’t know where Naruto is right now but Tenten and Lee are looking for him so he should be alright.”

Sasuke calmed down after hearing that. “What are you doing here?” he asked Choji’s team, seeming to notice them for the first time.

“We saw that Sakura was being attacked and came to help her out,” Ino explained. “Luckily we were able to take care of the attackers without too much trouble.” She gestured to their bound captives. “Although we do need to figure out what to do with them.”

Before they could start that conversation, they heard a familiar yell. They all turned in that direction and sure enough, seconds later Naruto burst into the clearing followed by Lee and Tenten. “Are you alright?” he yelled, rushing over to Sasuke and Sasuke.

“Where did you find him?” Shikamaru asked.

Tenten pulled a long-suffering face, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Sakura caught Naruto up on everything that happened in this absence and in return he told them what he had been doing.

“You got eaten by a snake and made a whole bunch of shadow clones to burst out?” Shikamaru was pulling the exact same face Tenten had a minute ago. “How do you get yourself into these situations?”

Naruto just shrugged and continued on with his tale, although there was not much else to add. Apparently Tenten and Lee had found him just after he burst out of the snake and led him back. At least their whole team was back together now. Speaking of which...

“Where’s Neji?” Ino asked after Naruto had finished his story. Choji only then realized that Neji really should be with Tenten and Lee. He was so used to it just being the two of them at their training sessions that he hadn’t remembered that their full team was here.

“Oh we split up,” Tenten said dismissively. “All three of us went in different directions to try and find teams to take scrolls from. But then I ran into Lee who came this way on his squirrel friend’s directions and he explained the situation. Don’t worry I have our scroll so everything should be fine.” Choji was pretty sure you also needed to have all three teammates alive and together to pass the test, but if Tenten didn’t seem concerned, he wouldn’t be either. They had been a team for a year longer than the rest of them so they must know each other’s abilities fairly well. And Hinata had always said her cousin was a prodigy.

“Although once we figure out what we want to do with the Sound team, we should probably go look for him,” Tenten admitted. “I’m pretty sure it’s past the time we agreed to meet.”

“We really should figure out what to do with them,” Ino agreed. Everyone turned to look at their captives. “I’m sure my dad could get more information out of them, so we shouldn’t kill them.” Choji was glad that option was off the table. He would kill to protect his friends, but he never liked doing it, particularly on an opponent who could not defend themselves at the moment.

“But I don’t want them following us and trying to attack us again either,” Sakura said.

“Why not just leave them tied up?” Tenten suggested. “Those are my strongest knots so they should hold them for a while. Based on the skills they have displayed, they would break out eventually but it will take them some time. Then they’ll have to focus on getting another scroll, since whatever scheme they are in on probably requires them to make it to the next round. That gives us time to find another scroll and get to the tower.” Everyone agreed that her solution was the best. And since none of them wanted to undo the ropes and potentially give them the opportunity to escape to look for their scroll, they decided to find other teams to take from.

Tenten and Lee immediately took off to find Neji. Choji and his teammates walked with Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke a little ways before splitting up as well. Sakura wanted her teammates to rest for a little while longer and had found a defensible position, so they headed that way while Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru chose a different direction to look for other teams.

The rest of the second stage was less stressful compared to that. They didn’t found anyone the rest of the day, but the following morning Ino reported she had spotted another team while mind switching with another sparrow. Since they were especially wary of the powers of the other teams in the forest given their experience the previous day, they decided to spy on their selected opponents for a bit before trying anything.

While they didn’t seem like a particularly powerful team, they decided to play it safe. They had been able to see where their scroll was stored and so when night fell and only one of them stayed awake on guard duty, Ino mind switched with him, walked over and picked up the scroll, then brought it to where Shikamaru and Choji (plus Ino’s body) were located. Luckily, it was the heaven scroll they needed. So Ino switched back and Choji promptly knocked out the other genin before he could warn his teammates. With that, they headed towards the tower.

Of course, they had been delayed by the fight with the Sound shinobi, so there were quite a few teams waiting around the tower, desperate for a scroll. They continued their avoidance tactics, with Ino scouting the least populated route and them moving silently as she instructed. They did run into one team, who must have suddenly changed course after Ino had seen them. But they were as surprised to see Choji and his teammates as they were to see them. However, Choji’s team recovered quicker. Ino quickly drew kunai and went after the person in front. Choji ran past her, punching with an enlarged fist at the shinobi who was trying to draw his sword. Choji was faster and was able to knock his opponent out before he could even get his sword out. Ino had dealt with her opponent as well. Shikamaru had caught the third in his Shadow Imitation Shadow Bind. He waited until Ino and Choji were surrounding her before releasing the technique. They were able to knock her out before she put up much of a fight.

They moved on quickly, wary of other teams being drawn to the noise. They were able to make it to the tower without a further incident. They finally were able to open the scrolls and a chunin Choji vaguely recognized from the mission desk popped up and congratulated them. They were allowed to rest in the tower until the time limit for the second phase expired.

Choji collapsed into the bed provided that night and slept for a long time. The second stage had been really tiring. He then met up with Ino and Shikamaru for a late breakfast. “I’ve seen Kiba and Akamaru around. Apparently they passed pretty early on. They ambushed a team and took their scroll but it was the same as the one they already had. They traded it to the Sand team Naruto has been hanging around with since they had two of the other scroll and then same to the tower with them. I also saw Lee and Tenten,” Ino reported, having been up for a while. “Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura still aren’t here yet.”

“There are still two days before time expires,” Shikamaru pointed out.

“I know, I’m just worried that their attacker tried something again,” Choji shared Ino’s concern but...

“Nothing we can do at this point. We’ll just have to trust in them,” he said, drawing another plate of food towards himself.

“You’re right. I’m sure they’ll come rushing in a couple minutes before the deadline with Naruto screaming, Sasuke rolling his eyes, and Sakura laughing at the two of them,” Ino said. “Anyway,” she said, changing the topic, “I heard the third phase is usually one-on-one battles, think you could beat me if we got paired against each other?” She laughed at Choji’s and Shimamaru’s expressions. Choji knew he had grown stronger recently and could maybe keep up with Ino, but he really did not want to.

“At least now no matter who we get paired up with, as long as it's not her, we’ll feel like we escaped from a more terrifying fate,” Shikamaru muttered to Choji. Ino immediately demanded to know what he said and started stealing Shikamaru’s food from him when he refused. Choji laughed, allowing himself to finally relax. As long as they had each, they would be alright.

Notes:

Power-scaling the kids was a challenge. I wanted them to be able to use more techniques than we saw them use at this point in canon, but not make them too powerful, so I just gave them more techniques but limited how much they could use them. Hopefully it did not feel too jarring.

I go out of my way to change things to give the kids more chances to work together.

I feel that of all the kids, Ino and Shikamaru would be the most leery of the Sand siblings. I mean, Sasuke is distrustful towards everyone (which kind of makes it lose its effectiveness). But Ino and Shikamaru are the ones who would get caught up in thinking this is some kind of master plot. Choji, on the other hand, tends to believe the best of people and thinks more about the good that could come from the friendship.

Chapter 9

Notes:

Slight c/w for the beginning of a panic attack. It does not get bad, but if that might bother you, skip from the end of the second paragraph to "You have a few things going on right now." Basically, Iruka panics over the current situation and Baki helps him calm down.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

As soon as Baki left the apartment with the kids, Iruka got to business figuring out how to first discover who the imposter was and then how to expose them as safely as possible. Hopefully that would stop the invasion plan, but if not, he needed to plan to to avoid that as well. Iruka hated how little information he had to work with. All he knew about the imposter was that they likely planned the invasion and convinced the Kazekage to go along with it, they were strong enough to defeat the Kazekage with only one ally, they likely had a grudge against Leaf considering the lengths they were willing to go, and their chakra felt wrong somehow. Most of those were not concrete qualities he could use to track down the imposter’s identity and the grudge against Leaf was too broad. He had jotted everything one the list down and found himself just looking at it in despair. How in the world was he going to solve this problem in the small amount of time he had?

“Iruka, are you alright?” Baki had apparently gotten back from walking to kids to the testing center and had taken a seat next to Iruka on the couch. “And before you ask, the kids got there safely and the first stage just started. I’ll be notified once they pass. Now, let’s talk about what has you freaked out.”

Iruka smiled slightly. Baki knew him so well. “What isn’t worrying me, right now? We’re no closer to figuring out the imposter’s identity or goals then we were days ago and have not come with any viable plans either. Every second we waste is more time for the imposter to further their plans and put everyone in more danger.” Iruka was breathing heavily by the end of his rant, feeling like he could not get enough air.

“Breathe,” Baki instructed, gently pressing his hand to Iruka’s back and taking very audible, slow breaths. Iruka followed his example and eventually felt better.

“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” he said.

“You have a few things going on right now,” Baki pointed out. “Plus the kids are in a potentially dangerous situation, both from the exams and the imposter, and I know you don’t react well to having them in danger. It’s completely natural that this kind of situation would make you feel panicked. Do you want some time to calm down or will working on the problem right away make you feel better?”

Iruka knew he would not truly be able to feel calm until the situation with the imposter had been dealt with. “Let’s keep thinking up solutions,” he replied. “I need something to focus on or else I’ll just get caught worrying about the kids.”

“Alright,” Baki agreed. “So what do we want to focus on first?”

“Our main objective is finding out the imposter’s identity. While a Leaf bingo book would be helpful, even more useful would be getting a chance to talk to a Leaf shinobi who is familiar with the village’s enemies and missing-nin. Since we don’t have much to go on, a person who could know behavioral cues and tendencies would be more useful than a book.”

“Of course that takes us back to the original problem of how to get a Leaf shinobi to listen to us and share this kind of information with us. A bingo book we could potentially acquire without anyone finding out and questioning why we want it, but that wouldn’t be possible if you want to talk to someone,” Baki pointed out.

Iruka sighed, “I know. And since we haven’t even managed to come up with a plan to get a Leaf bingo book, I doubt we will be able to figure out how to convince someone to talk to us and not immediately run to the Hokage. It was just a thought.”

“Well, it’s another option to consider,” Baki said. “Have had any luck thinking up plans?

Iruka shook his head. It was so frustrating. Since the imposter was posing as the Kazekage, they had to be careful not to arouse suspicion from any of the Sand shinobi who might report back to the imposter, thinking they were plotting treason. Iruka’s reputation for regularly opposing the Kazekage wouldn’t help in that regard. But they also had to be careful that no Leaf shinobi figured out what Sand, under the orders of the imposter, was plotting since that exposure would risk an all out war. Iruka had learned to thrive in situations where the odds were stacked against him, but this was ridiculous.

Before they could continue their conversation, someone knocked on the door. Iruka quickly removed the silencing barrier that almost permanently surrounded their apartment while Baki went to answer it. He stood back to allow Scorpion entrance. Iruka threw the silencing barrier back up, sensing they did not want anyone to hear the next conversation.

“Are you busy right now?” Scorpion immediately asked.

“No, why?” Iruka replied.

“How close do you have to be to someone to sense them?” Scorpion asked instead of answering Iruka’s question.

“Depends on the environment and how strong their chakra is,” Iruka told him. “In the village, I could sense someone with relatively strong chakra from a couple blocks away if I am specifically searching for them.”

“What’s going on? Why are you asking?” Baki asked.

“I think the person pretending to be the Kazekage changed,” Scorpion told them. “I was on duty all morning and something about the fake Kazekage was different from before. I can’t quite describe it, but I am fairly certain they are a different person.”

The implications of what he said were not lost on Iruka and Baki. If the imposter switched with someone else on the very morning the chunin exams began, they had likely stolen another identity and entered the exams.

“Let’s verify that the person impersonating the Kazekage was changed and go forward from there,” Baki suggested.

“Alright,” Iruka agreed. “I shouldn’t need to get too close to verify the switch. The imposter had very strong and unique chakra.”

“The apparent Kazekage is currently resting in his quarters. They are on the third floor. If you walk past the building from the street would that be close enough?” Scorpion asked.

“Yes,” Iruka replied.

“Good. Remember not to stop or do anything out of the ordinary as you are going by,” Scorpion reminded him. “There will be four anbu guards.”

“Understood,” Iruka replied. Scorpion quickly gave them directions to the building containing the quarters the Kazekage had been given and then departed. Baki and Iruka chatted about how they thought the kids were doing with the silencing seals down, just in case anyone was listening. Iruka then suggested they head to the marketplace, which Baki agreed to.

They kept up their stream of chatter while they meandered their way around Leaf. As they neared the corner to turn onto the street the imposter was staying, Baki started telling a rather long story about one of the mishaps the kids had had during training. It allowed Iruka to concentrate fully on sensing rather than worrying about carrying his end of the conversation.

He was able to pick up the four anbu guards without an issue but could not find the person they were guarding. He grew worried that the imposter had noticed Iruka’s ability and was shielding themselves somehow until he got directly outside the building and realized why he was having problems. It wasn’t that the imposter was masking their chakra, it was that the chakra signature of the fake Kazekage was so weak compared to what it had been before that Iruka hadn’t been able to pick up on it until he was closer. The sheer difference in magnitude of the chakra signatures would have been enough to make Iruka think they were separate people, but the sense he got of this fake’s chakra cemented it. It did not feel as twisted as the imposter’s had, although it still was not pleasant.

Iruka picked up his conversation with Baki like nothing happened, and continued to maintain the facade throughout shopping and their walk back towards their apartment. A couple blocks from their apartment, Iruka heard someone call his name. When he turned he saw Mari walking towards them, “Hello, Iruka, Baki, you’re not doing anything right now, are you?”

“We need to put groceries away, but other than that we are free,” Iruka answered.

“Great. I need some help making some medicine. I decided to stockpile a variety of them in preparation for the final round of the exams. You know how those always get out of hand.”

“And you decided to bully us into helping you?” Baki mock complained.

“But of course, who else would I go to?” Mari laughed.

Iruka had to smile. Mari really was clever. No one would think it was suspicious that she wanted help with her medicines. And everyone knew that making medicine was a very loud process so it would not be surprising that they set up silencing seals so as not to disturb their neighbors. “We would be delighted to help you,” Iruka replied. “It will help take my mind off the exams.”

“Oh yeah, the first stage is supposed to be ending any time now, right? You’ll find out if they pass that huddle soon?” Mari said, ushering them back to their apartment.

Iruka was not surprised to sense that Scorpion was already inside the apartment. They entered and him and Baki put the groceries away while Mari started describing what medicines she wanted to make and getting out the necessary supplies from her bag. Iruka then put up the seals. They continued setting things up, Mari giving both him and Baki various herbs she wanted them to grind up. Once everyone was seated, with everyone making sure their mouths (and all of Scorpion) were not visible through the windows, Iruka said, “Scorpion was right. The person pretending to be the Kazekage currently is not the original imposter. They are certainly working together, since there were some similarities in the feel of their chakra, but this imposter is much weaker. I’m guessing a subordinate of the original imposter.”

“Given the timing, I’d say it’s safe to assume the original imposter has taken on someone else’s identity and entered the chunin exams,” Scorpion said. “I can’t imagine the imposter would take this risk for anything else.”

Iruka nodded. “I believe so.”

“The imposter isn’t interested in Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari beyond as weapons for the upcoming invasion,” Baki spoke up. “If they wanted to use them in some other way, they have done so while impersonating the Kazekage. So they wouldn’t be the target of the imposter’s plot.”

“Then the kids should be safe from the imposter, at least during the exams,” Mari pointed out.

“Unless they somehow interfere with the imposter’s plots, yes they should be,” Scorpion replied.

Iruka hated to admit that was a relief. Given how vile the imposter’s chakra felt, he would not wish their attention on anyone, but he was glad that his kids were not the target. While he hoped none of the kids they had befriended in Leaf ran into the imposter, he forced himself to put the matter to the side for right now. He could not protect any of the kids taking the exams, but he could prevent the upcoming invasion. “While the imposter infiltrating the exams is concerning, it does give us an opportunity. Their subordinate is nowhere near as strong as the original imposter and will probably have their hands full just keeping up the charade. Which means they won’t have the ability to watch us closely,” Iruka explained. “If we want to make some more obvious moves now is the perfect time.”

“Only one problem with that- we don’t know what our next move is,” Baki pointed out. It was true. Neither of them had been able to come up with any way to figure out the imposter’s identity without revealing too much to people they couldn’t trust.

“Mari, have you had any luck with evaluating the Sand shinobi here for how they will react to the situation?” Scorpion asked. “Maybe we could start there.”

“Sadly, I don’t have good news on that front,” Mari told them frankly. “The Kazekage apparently carefully picked who would come. They’re mostly people fiercely loyal to him who hate the other villages and believe this invasion will establish us as the most powerful village.”

“So the worst type for us to convince,” Iruka summed up. “Great, even after death that man is making things difficult.”

Mari snorted, “Honestly I feel like our best bet would be to not reveal that the Kazekage was dead. If we could somehow convince them that the imposter is an imposter but that the real Kazekage is still alive and that capturing the imposter is our best chance of finding him alive, they might listen. Then their loyalty to the Kazekage and the village might win out over their desire to see Sand ascend in power. But we need to think up a different reason for how we know the imposter is a fake. No offense to Iruka, but they wouldn’t believe a word he said and would probably think it was all a plot to overthrow the Kazekage.” Iruka just shrugged. It was no secret that he and the Kazekage did not get along. Nor did it surprise him that many Sand shinobi didn’t trust him. “And it needs to be incredibly convincing. It sounds pretty unbelievable from the outside.” That was true. Iruka barely believed it, even being able to sense the differences in chakra to confirm the switch. They needed to convince everyone that the Kazekage, the strongest fighter in the village, had been overpowered and then replaced with no one noticing. They were definitely not telling anyone their suspicions of the Kazekage initially working with the imposter because that would just get too confusing.

“Scorpion, you’ll need to be the one who discovered the imposter,” Mari continued. “Iruka’s obviously out. I’m also rather infamous for not getting along with the Kazekage and people may think Baki had been corrupted from being around Iruka too much. Scorpion is the only one people might actually believe.”

“But how do we spread the information to the right people without the imposters finding out?” Baki asked.

“Leave that to me,” Mari assured them. “I’ve identified several jonin instructors who would be more willing to hear us out. I’ll start with them. Scorpion, I’ll let you know when you need to show up and tell the story.”

“Alright,” Scorpion agreed. “I think for simplicity’s sake, we should keep it as close to what happened as possible. Less chance of anyone being able to disprove it that way. I’ll say I noticed a disturbance on our way to Leaf. I knew the Kazekage had headed that way, so I went to make sure everything was alright. I heard sounds of combat but by the time I reached the area, only one figure remained. I believed it was the Kazekage and drew back, since he had asked his anbu guards not to follow him when he left. However, I grew suspicious when the Kazekage never reported the attack and then I started noticing strange behavior. I’ll also say I did not see any bodies nearby, so it is possible that the real Kazekage was restrained by allies of the imposter.”

“It’s a good story, the only problem is the other anbu guards,” Baki commented. “Will they be able to contradict it?”

“No, the Kazekage truly did ask us not to follow him that night,” Scorpion explained. “And shortly after he left, I did a sweep of the surrounding area. I did end up wondering fairly close to where Iruka indicated the fighting happened, although not at quite the right time. But it was close enough that even if one of our sensor’s was tracking me, even they could not affirmatively disprove the story.”

“And it’s vague enough that we can adjust it as needed later on,” Iruka commented.

“Okay, so we have that part of the plan settled. Have you two had any luck identifying the imposter?” Mari asked Baki and Iruka.

“No,” Baki admitted. “Everything we come up with would either take too long or make people too suspicious.”

“Well keep working on it. And if you end up in a situation where you need to make a quick decision on a risky idea, do what you think is best. We trust you,” Scorpion told them. Mari nodded. “I will take my leave. My next shift begins soon. I’ll let you know if the current imposter does anything unusual.”

Scorpion disappeared out the window while Baki, Iruka, and Mari continued making medicines. After an hour or so more, Mari also decided to leave. “Good luck to you and let’s hope everything turns out alright.” She waved good-bye and left, nearly running into a Leaf shinobi on her way out.

“Is Baki here?” the Leaf shinobi, who Iruka figured was part of Kiba’s clan given her tattoos and the three dogs following her, asked.

“Yes, please come in,” Iruka said, stepping back and waving her inside.

“Thanks, I won’t stay long. I wanted to let you know that your team passed the first round and is currently entering the second stage of the exams,” she told them.

“Thank you for letting us know,” Baki told her. Iruka smiled, proud that his kids were progressing.

“No problem. I needed to track you down anyway,” the Leaf shinobi explained.

“Oh, what can we help you with?” Baki asked.

“My name is Hana Inuzuka, I’m Kiba’s big sister,” she introduced herself. “These are the Haimaru Brothers. Kiba would not shut up about how cool he thought they two of you were even since you had him over for dinner. Plus Kuromaru liked you, which is not something that can be said of many people when he first meets them. So Mom was wondering if you were willing to have dinner with us tonight? Don’t feel obligated or anything, she just wants to get to know you a little better.”

Iruka had always been suspicious when things started going just the way he wanted them to. It either meant someone (usually the Kazekage) was trying to lull him into a false sense of security or that something terrible would happen in the new future. However, looking at Hana’s face, he did not feel like this invitation was a trap or would end up hurting them. If the rest of the clan was anything like Kiba, trickery was not their preferred method of accomplishing their goals. And if it was genuine, having an in with a Leaf clan could be very useful going forward. He glanced over and Baki who seemed to be waiting on his decision and nodded.

“We gladly accept,” Baki told Hana.

“Great, I’ll come by and get you in a few hours,” Hana told them. “While I’m sure you could find our clan compound, it will be easier if you come in with me at least the first time you visit.”

They agreed and Hana left with the Haimaru Brothers following after her.

Iruka went to make tea and took note of the familiar (and annoying) presence that had settled a few roofs over. Did Kakashi really think he was that good that no one would notice him? While Iruka would like to correct his assumptions, deluding the man into thinking Iruka didn’t notice his spying was necessary for now.

“I wonder if they both take after their mother,” he commented to Baki, setting the tea and snacks he had grabbed on the table. “They look quite similar.”

“They do,” Baki agreed. “Although I have not seen enough of their clan to make accurate comparisons.” Iruka nodded, scribbling something on a stray piece of paper and sliding it over to Baki. While he could just put up his silencing seals, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity to mess with Kakashi pass him by. Of course, what he had written on the paper was meaningless, the real conversations was occurring with the hand signs Baki and he were doing solely with the fingers grasped around their teacups and out of sight of the window.

‘Information?’

‘Not tonight, I want to get a feel for them first,’ Iruka replied while saying aloud, “I wonder how many teams passed the first round.”

‘Understood,’ Baki signed. “That I do not know. I’m sure Maki’s team made it through or she would have already burst in to complain.”

Iruka laughed, “Agreed. I’m sure she wants to bring good news back to Pakura.” The paper had been passed back and forth several times during their exchanges. At this point, Baki had given up making it look like any sort of code and had just started drawing Akamaru. It was a pretty good sketch. Iruka was half tempted to leave it for Kakashi to find just to see what nefarious schemes he would think they were planning with it. But that would be too obvious. He decided to burn it over the kitchen sink instead once their conversation was completed.

“I wonder how Pakura is doing,” Baki commented. “You know how much she hates paperwork, I can’t imagine she would enjoy being the one left in charge of the village.”

Iruka laughed, “Oh, I know but I think she’ll be alright. As long as she gets some good assistants who aren’t afraid to yell at her to do her work instead of sneaking out to train, she should be alright.”

“True enough. I definitely feel safe leaving the village in her hands,” Baki replied. Iruka nodded, knowing they were talking about far more than Pakura’s temporary appointment. After all, the Kazekage was dead and the village would need a new leader. He would leave plotting what to do after the imposter was revealed until later since so much would depend on the circumstances of the reveal and how far the invasion plan went. They would need to figure out how to manipulate the discovery of the Kazekage’s body so it looked like the story Scorpion told was true and how to smooth over relations with other villages while not appearing weak if it was revealed that they were planning to invade Leaf apparently on the orders of an imposter. But one thing that Iruka was sure of was that Pakura needed to be the person to take the role of the Kazekage. She was strong enough to withstand pretty much anything but was much more willing to listen to others and change her course of action that the old Kazekage had been. She was respected by Sand and feared by the other villages. She would be just who they needed. Of course, she would not want to take the job, always preferring to be taking on dangerous missions, but Iruka was pretty sure that if he promised to handle most of the paperwork, she could be persuaded to take the hat. She had certainly expressed frustration to him over the years that even as high-ranking as she was, she couldn’t fix many of the problems in the village. So being the Kazekage would suit her, once she got used to it. But convincing her of that would come later. Currently they had potential allies to evaluate.

Baki and Iruka spent the hours before Hana came back just staying in the apartment, tidying up and having actual casual conversations. Iruka was sure it had the added bonus of driving Kakashi, who was still spying on them, crazy. It made him giggle to think how frustrated the man must be feeling, convinced that he and Baki were plotting something (which admittedly they were) and that he was close to discovering what it was (which he was not).

Baki had just finished up sharpening all his kuani and Iruka had just laid out the new batch of seal to dry when they heard a knock on the door. Baki opened it to admit Hana again.

“Good evening, are you ready to go?” she asked. Iruka and Baki nodded and the three of them plus the Haimaru Brothers set off.

“How have you found Leaf?’ she asked as they walked together.

“We’ve enjoyed our stay here,” Iruka replied. “The market near our apartment is quite nice and we’ve been able to try some foods that aren’t available in Sand.”

“I’m glad. I’m not much of a cook myself, although Mom sometimes enjoys it. She complains that neither Kiba or I really take much initiative with it. We’ll help when she asks but other than that, we don’t really care what we eat as long as there is a lot of meat,” Hana told him. Given the number of times Kiba had reached over and grabbed meat from one of his friend’s bowls if they weren’t eating it fast enough when Kiba had been at their apartment, Iruka was not surprised by Hana’s description of their tastes.

“Hey, Juro, Shiromaru” Hana greeted the man and ninken at the gate, “These are Iruka and Baki, the visitors from Sand that Mom invited over."

Juro nodded at the two of them while Shiromaru watched them silently, “Pleased to meet you. The clan leader told me to send you right in. She’s looking forward to meeting you.” As they followed Hana inside the clan compound, Iruka tried to remember if Kiba had ever mentioned he was the son of the clan head. He was pretty sure he would remember if he had. While this meant their host would be very well-situated to provide them with information if they decided to ask her about the imposter, it also meant they needed to be even more careful than originally planned. She would be analyzing them not merely as a shinobi of Leaf and parent but as a clan head who was used to dealing with threats to the village.

“Hey, Mom, I’m back and I brought Iruka and Baki,” Hana yelled out as soon as they entered the house.

The women who stuck her head around the doorway confirmed their earlier speculation that Kiba and Hana both took after their mother. “Welcome, I’m Tsume, good to finally meet you.” She walked closer and reached out to gently smack Hana on the back of the head, “And you, do you have to yell the minute you’re in the house when we have guests over? Didn’t I teach you any manners?”

“No,” Hana replied, grinning. Iruka got the sense this was an established routine. “Kuromaru did and he never forbad yelling in the house. Given this family, it’s the only way you’re going to hear anything half the time.” Hana then wandered off, saying she needed to wash up.

Tsume sighed and muttered something under her breath about no respect all while smiling. It was relaxing to see them interact. It gave Iruka hope that this dinner would turn out well.

“I’m just finishing up in the kitchen, make yourselves at home in the dining room,” Tsume told them. Iruka hesitated for a second, wanting to offer help but not sure if that would be taken as an insult or something.

Kuromaru settled that question for him, padding out of the kitchen to nudge Iruka’s hip with his head. “Best do what she says. She’s gotten everything handled and at this point more hands in the kitchen would just throw her off.” Iruka listened and followed Baki into the dining room. He had to smile at how the room was arranged. There was a round table in the center, with various mats surrounding it. It was clear that the room was designed for the comfort of both the humans and ninken inhabitants. “Hana told us that your kids passed the first round of the exams, congratulations,” Kuromaru said.

“Thank you, I’m guessing Kiba’s team did as well?” Iruka replied.

“Yes, they did,” Kuromaru responded. “All of the Leaf teams cleared the first round.”

“Impressive, I’m not sure how other Sand teams fared. The kids are close with another genin named Maki, and we’re pretty sure her team passed but we have not heard anything about the other teams,” Baki said. Iruka felt bad, but he honestly wasn’t even sure how many Sand teams had entered the exams. He had been so caught up in dealing with the imposter and the invasion plan that he hadn’t really taken the time to get to know the other teams.

Hana and the Haimaru Brothers entered and the room and Tsume followed with the food soon afterwards. She settled the dishes on the table, then went back to get meat for the ninken and set it on a dish on the floor. Iruka hesitated, not quite sure what the protocol was here. Tsume rolled her eyes and started passing dishes around the table. “Eat up,” she instructed everyone. “I didn’t spend hours cooking just for it to go to waste.

Hana laughed, “If you spent hours cooking it’s because you were worrying about Kiba and wanted to take your mind off of it. You’re usually perfectly happy to throw random ingredients in a stir-fry and call it good.”

Tsume threw a roll at her head, which Hana caught with ease, “I’m going to tell Haru that you volunteered for overnight shifts for the next month."

Hana did not look concerned, “She’ll never believe you. Anyway putting one person on that many overnight shifts in a row is against policy since they won’t be performing their best. I work at the veterinary clinic,” she explained to Baki and Iruka. “We like to have at least one worker present at all times since you never know when someone will come back from a mission with a ninken who needs immediate medical help. While it’s not technically under our clan’s control, all of the people who work there are Inuzuka and almost everyone who needs our services is from the our clan as well.”

“Kakashi’s brought his ninken in a few times, hasn’t he?” Tsume asked, although she got distracted from Hana’s response to laugh at whatever look had flashed across Iruka’s face. “I heard you’ve had some run-ins with him. Not a fan?”

“I’ve heard he is very skilled,” Iruka started.

Tsume rolled her eyes, “Yes, yes the Copy-nin, blah, blah. I can tell you are dying to trash talk him so let’s hear it.”

Iruka was surprised, he was usually pretty good at hiding his feelings when he wanted to. He almost wanted to divert the conversation, but then he considered what he had seen from Tsume and Hana so far, as well as Kiba. He didn’t think they were trying to trick him, they just seemed honestly curious, and in Tsume’s case, entertained. And he had been dying to destroy Kakashi (verbally, although he wouldn’t pass up on an opportunity to punch him if he got the chance) since he met the man. “He seems to be quite impressed with his own skills and not able to appreciate others with different skill sets. He does not seem to care about his kids. Naruto and Sasuke obviously need to process everything that has happened to them, but don’t feel comfortable going to him. He’s not nearly as subtle and good at surveillance as he thinks he is and his priorities are completely screwed up. And what jonin instructor goes around reading those books in front of his genin? Sakura’s chakra control is amazing and he should be helping her find the best way to harness that instead of giving her the same exercises as two chakra powerhouses,” Iruka realized that his rant was not at all organized, with him jumping back and forth between topics, but having gotten the license to complain about Kakashi, he just let everything out at once.

“Wow, he really pissed you off, didn’t he?” Tsume continued to sound amused, not at all minding that Iruka had talked about another shinobi from her village like that. “I can see why the two of you don’t get along. You have completely different skill sets and outlooks on life.”

“What do you mean by that?” Baki asked.

Tsume grinned, “Iruka, you’ve managed to basically take custody of the Kazekage’s kids from him, while still being under his command. You must know exactly how far you can push and what you need to say to get him to give you what you want, right?” Iruka nodded, not quite sure where she was going with this. “Kiba mentioned you’re a seals expert, but I can’t imagine you specialize in combat. I have no doubt you can hold your own, and much better than most people looking at you would assume, but your focus is on avoiding direct combat as much as possible. Am I correct?” Iruka nodded again, intrigued by how she knew so much about him in such a short time. “So you’re good with people, emotionally intelligent, and focus more on stealth and traps than outright combat. Kakashi is the exact opposite. He is one of, if not the, most powerful shinobi in the village and so almost all his missions are combat heavy. I’d say he has the emotional intelligence of a rock, but that might be giving him too much credit. Unlike a rock, he usually manages to make situations worse when he tries to comfort people. Sure, he can manipulate people if it is necessary for a mission, but he doesn’t know how to help them piece themselves back together. He’s barely holding himself together as is. You think of him arrogant, he thinks of you as weak.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” she continued, “putting him in charge of a genin team by himself was a huge mistake. I told the Hokage that, but he refused to listen.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Iruka asked.

“Because from what Kuromaru told me, you’ve already gotten attached to those kids of his and I think you could help them in ways Kakashi never could. But convincing him to let you will be no easy task. He doesn’t trust you and you don’t trust him. I’m not saying you have to like him or that you are wrong to be upset about how he has treated his team, but I’m hoping you can at least see where he is coming from.” Iruka contemplated what she had said. He wanted to be part of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura’s lives going forward, both for Gaara’s sake and because he did honestly care about them. And he could see how constantly fighting with Kakashi would not be conducive to that goal. He did not want to make the kids feel worried and like they couldn’t care about both him and Kakashi. Because that was the most infuriating part to Iruka-those three clearly cared about Kakashi when it did not appear like Kakashi returned the sentiment. “He does care about them,” Tsume said, like she was reading his thoughts. “I can smell it on him.” Iruka was not quite sure if that was just an Inuzuka expression or if they could actually smell that type of thing. He really needed to find out more about their clan’s abilities. They were fascinating.

“I’ll think about what you said,” Iruka promised. He couldn’t commit to anything more than that right now. He needed time to replay his interactions with Kakashi and see if he had missed something. He might also want to force a meeting with the man to see what he was like when the kids were not right there.

“I can’t ask for more than that,” Tsume said. “So, Baki, you got any good stories from wrangling those kids for months?” Baki launched into the story of the first time Temari had tried riding on her new fan and ended up crashing into three buildings and knocking over six people, including one of the elders of the village. Which gave Iruka time to think over what just happened. He was very glad they had come tonight. Even if Iruka never ended up being able to get along with Kakashi, he had learned something important from Tsume’s intervention: that she did honestly care about Naruto and the others. She interfered not for Kakashi, but because she wanted what was best for the kids. She was not afraid of telling her village leader if she disagreed with him either. And she trusted and liked Iruka and Baki enough to invite them over for dinner. She might be willing to hear them out and not immediately inform the rest of Leaf about what they said. And she would have a good chance of knowing who the imposter is if they really were someone with a grudge against Leaf. He would have to discuss it with Baki later that night, but he felt like telling her was probably the best way forward. They were running out of time and needed information and allies.

The rest of the evening was enjoyable. They swapped stories back and forth, Iruka describing the first prank his kids had ever pulled and Hana responding with tales of some of the trouble she and Kiba had gotten into (with Kuromaru chiming in every so often to correct something). Hearing how much Naruto loved to help out with the new puppies made Iruka smile. But they did have to get back. Not that they had a formal curfew, but staying out late in a foreign village was just inviting trouble.

“Thank you for having us over,” Iruka said as they were leaving. “It was a very enjoyable evening.”

Tsume laughed, “I enjoyed myself as well. It’s nice to just be able to talk about your kids with someone who understands the amount of chaos they bring. Are you busy tomorrow night?”

Iruka glanced at Baki, who shook his head, before responding, “Not at all.”

“You’re welcome to come over again, if you’re up for it,” Tsume invited.

“We would be happy to,” Baki told her.

“Great, just come over around six. I’ll tell whoever’s on guard duty to expect you.”

There was not much conversation on the way back, since both Baki and Iruka were tired from the long day. They collapsed into their beds, agreeing to put off talking about their next step until the next morning.

“You want to tell Tsume,” Baki commented, as they sat at the table and drank their tea. Iruka’s silencing seals were firmly in place, much to the annoyance of their persistent watcher. (Iruka may have said he would try and get along with Kakashi for the kids’ sake, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t continue to annoy the man for now. Really, he should have figured out by this point that lurking on rooftops was not the best way to get information.)

“I do,” Iruka replied. “I know it’s a risk but I just can’t see another way to get information. And out of everyone we’ve met here so far, Tsume seems like she is the most likely to hear us out.”

Baki nodded, “I agree with you. Tonight then?”

“Tonight,” Iruka agreed. While it was tempting to spend the rest of the day plotting how best to describe the situation to Tsume, Iruka felt that would actually hurt their chances of getting her to help them. She would see right through a neatly rehearsed explanation, and know they were keeping things back, which would undermine their goal of getting her to trust them. So they made a bullet-point list of what information they needed to get across and then spent the rest of the day trying to distract themselves.

Before they left for dinner, they put a coded message in the hiding spot they had agreed upon with Mari and Scorpion. That way, if things went badly and they were killed or captured by Leaf tonight, their co-conspirators would know what had happened and hopefully be able to at least get the kids out safely.

“You ready?” Baki asked as they headed towards the door.

“Not at all, but that has never stopped me before,” Iruka replied.

Baki laughed, “True enough. Let’s go then.”

They found their way back to the Inuzuka compound without much difficulty and the guard outside waved them in without any question. Dinner proceeded similarly to the previous night, with all of them sharing various stories of their kids. Once everyone had finished eating, Iruka knew he needed to bring up the topic. But how could he ask Hana and the Haimaru Brothers to leave without raising their suspicions? While he had no doubt Tsume would tell her daughter, it would be better for their discussion if they could be alone with Tsume and Kuromaru.

“Alright, Hana, go check in with whatever poor soul is doing inventory in the veterinary clinic tonight,” Tsume ordered. Hana and the Haimaru Brothers left quickly after bidding good-bye to Baki and Iruka. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?” When Iruka’s head jerked up, she laughed, “I can smell the nerves rolling off you, although you both manage to keep up the act rather convincingly. I’m guessing whatever it is somehow involves you kids or you wouldn’t be this worried.

“You’re right,” Iruka admitted. “Before we begin, I ask that you hear us out until the end. What we have to tell you will sound rather fantastical at first and will undoubtedly concern you. Despite that, please let us explain everything before making any judgments or taking any action.”

Tsume raised her eyebrow, “An interesting request. But given how Kuromaru and my kids respond to you, I think you’ve earned enough trust for me to agree to that.”

“Thank you,” Iruka said. He glanced at Baki, took a deep breath in. There would be no taking this back but it needed to be done. And even if it failed, he felt confident they had done everything they could. Now it was all up to her. “It started when the Kazekage called me to his office a few months before the exams…”

Notes:

Things are moving along! We are finally letting people outside the original four know about the imposter.

I know that in canon, one of Orochimaru's subordinate probably took over pretending to be the Kazekage while Orochimaru was destroying children's lives in the exams like how I had it go down here, but I like to imagine that Orochimaru just kind of fucked off without really explaining anything and the Sand anbus and staff just had to make increasingly more wild excuses of why the Kazekage could not meet with x person at the moment.

The next chapter will be interesting. We are finally getting the preliminary fights for the third round, and if you can't tell from how I write fight scenes, I don't like writing straight combat scenes, preferring instead to focus on how the characters use their surroundings to their advantage and such. Which is impossible to do when it's one-on-one fights in an arena. So we'll see how I end up writing those.

Chapter 10

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“They passed the second stage,” Baki burst into the apartment, yelling out the good news.

“Good, I knew they could do it. Are they proceeding to the third round immediately?” Iruka replied.

“Well, given the number of participants that passed the second stage, they are actually having one-on-one run-off matches to determine who will make it to the third round,” Baki explained. “Which should be starting in about an hour, so let’s go.”

Iruka let Baki drag him out of the apartment, feeling rather bemused. “Am I allowed to tag along?”

“Probably not,” Baki replied honestly. “The Leaf shinobi said for the jonin teachers of the teams that have made it this far to come, but if anyone makes a fuss, we’ll just claim we have an unstable jinchuriki and you are the best at calming him down. I’m sure they’ll decide that they can bend the rules this time rather than risk Gaara murdering someone.” Iruka figured Baki was right. Although Gaara really did have marvelous control these days, his past reputation was not easily forgotten and the fact that he had a tendency to speak out loud to Shukaku regardless of who was around certainly did not help.

While Iruka did not like using Gaara in this way, since his goal was to get the village to accept and appreciate Gaara, Gaara honestly did not seem to mind them playing up his reputation and it did come in useful in some situations. When Iruka had asked him about it, he shrugged and said, “Why should I care about what they think? You and everyone I care about know the truth.”

Sure enough, when they reached the building Baki had been directed to, the Leaf shinobi had looked at Iruka and Baki, looked down at his list, seen what team they were there for, and let them pass without comment. “They should be coming out anytime now,” Baki told Iruka as they waited in a large room. “No other teams from Sand passed the second stage.” Iruka had a mental note to check in with Maki after this preliminary stage was completed. He was sure she would be disappointed and wanted to make sure she was not being too hard on herself for not passing. Glancing around, Iruka locked eyes with Kakashi and sent the man his falsest pleasant smile before the jonin turned back to his porn book. He recognized Kurenai from Kiba’s description of his team leader and also spotted Gai, who gave him a happy thumbs up and then went back to chatting at Kakashi.

Iruka got a few evaluating glances but no one said anything to him, so he was content to ignore them. A few minutes later, a Leaf shinobi called for their attention, “Seven teams passed the second stage. Given the format of the third round, we need to cut the number of people still remaining before we reach that stage. We have decided to hold one-on-one matches now. Your teams will be entering the building in the next few minutes. You will have 30 minutes with them before the matches begin. You may watch the matches but not interfere, is that understood?” Everyone agreed and the speaker left to fetch the teams.

Iruka had meant to watch the other participants, to see if anyone of them might be connected to the imposter, but the minute he saw his kids, he couldn’t focus on anything else. They looked fine, he noted as they filed in with the other genin. No obvious injuries and they didn’t look sleep-deprived or hungry. That was the extent of what he was able to see before Gaara caught sight of him and threw himself at Iruka for a hug that Iruka gladly gave. Temari and Kankuro followed shortly behind. Iruka held them for a while before stepping back so he could get a better look at them, “How did it go? Are you hurt? I’m so proud of you. Have you eaten?”

Gaara had reattached himself to Iruka after letting him examine them for injuries for a bit and didn’t reply. Kankuro laughed while Temari rolled her eyes, “We’re fine, we promise. The first stage was just a written test which we could easily cheat at. In the second stage, we were able to accomplish the objective by setting a trap for another team and then trading with Kiba and Shino’s team for what we needed.” Iruka would have to get more information on both stages later and give the kids a chance to brag about what they had accomplished, but right now they had the preliminary third round to focus on. “And you finished early, so we’ve been resting in the tower for the past few days. None of us are injured,” Temari finished her report. Iruka could tell there was something more she wanted to say, but given how her eyes kept flickering around, he guessed she was wary of being overheard.

Luckily that didn’t remain a problem for long. Baki was able to subtly herd them into a corner, slightly away from the other teams. Temari pulled Iruka close and signaled for him to put up his silencing seals just around the two of them. Kankuro had started giving Baki an in-depth account of the second stage, so hopefully no one would notice what they were really doing.

“Sasuke is hurt,” Temari told him seriously. “I don’t know what all happened, since I heard about it third-hand and was not able to confirm anything with them since their team barely arrived in time, but I think his opponent put some kind of seal which sent him into a temporary coma.”

“Who did you get this information from?” Iruka asked.

“Kiba told me and he learned about it from Ino, who was there when Sasuke woke up but not for the actual fight,” Temari told him.

“Thank you for telling me. I’ll see what I can do. Try not to worry anymore about it. You need to focus on the next round,” Iruka instructed. He took down the seals and looked around for Sasuke. When he couldn’t find him, he next looked for Kakashi, who he also couldn’t locate. He did see Sakura and Naruto, but they were with Lee, Tenten, and a blond girl Iruka guessed was Ino. Sakura glanced up and met his gaze. Her eyes slid to the door to her left and then back at Iruka. He nodded his thanks and quietly excused himself from his kids, trying his best not to call attention to himself as he made his way to the door Sakura had indicated. He did not know what kind of seal would knock someone out for hours, but he guessed that was not the end of its negative effects. It would need to be dealt with sooner rather than later in order to mitigate its harm on Sasuke.

It was easy to find Sasuke and Kakashi once they were away from the others. Iruka walked into the room just as Kakashi was about to start whatever technique he planned on using to contain the seal. He instantly jerked away from Sasuke and turned to face Iruka as he entered the room. Iruka noted how Kakashi put his body between him and Sasuke. Tsume might be right about him caring more than he lets on, he thought.

“I heard about what happened in the forest and wanted to offer my assistance,” he said evenly, not walking any closer just yet.

“We’re fine, thank you for the offer though,” Kakashi replied coolly. He made a motion like he was about to move towards Iruka when Sasuke pushed past him.

“You’re a seals master, right? You were able to fix Gaara’s seal when others couldn’t. Gaara mentioned it. So can you fix this?” he turned his back towards Iruka, letting him see the mark on his neck before Kakashi could stop him.

“I will certainly try my best,” Iruka told him, moving slowly towards Sasuke. While Kakashi was definitely not happy and did not take his hand off the kunai in his thigh-holster, he did not try and stop Iruka either, which Iruka figured was the closest thing to permission from the man he was going to get. Iruka suppressed his urge to swear when he was able to get a better look at the mark. He instantly knew who had attacked Sasuke. That chakra signature couldn’t come from anyone else but the imposter. Orochimaru, if Tsume was correct. Iruka refocused on the mark itself. It wasn't quite a seal but it shared enough characteristics with one that he felt comfortable treating it like one. Iruka had dealt with some incredibly powerful seals in his life, most notably Gaara’s seal. But this was on a completely different level. At least Gaara’s seal only had one purpose and all the symbols were meant to accomplish that. This had multiple purposes despite the simplistic design. “The bad news is I will not be able to get rid of this right now,” Iruka told him honestly. “But I should be able to create a seal around it that will prevent it from activating or effecting you. Is that alright with you?”

“Yes,” Sasuke said without hesitation.

“Alright. There will be some pressure around the mark as I do this. Let me know if it turns into a sharp pain. I also need you to promise me that if the mark ever starts hurting you in the future or you feel anything at all from it, you will notify me right away,” Iruka waited until Sasuke agreed before turning to Kakashi. “Would you mind telling me what you intended to do?” Iruka was not surprised with the technique he replied with, although he was a little surprised Kakashi was willing to tell Iruka anything at all. It was a brute force technique that required a significant amount of chakra and was meant to completely seal off the mark. But even with Kakashi’s power, Iruka doubted it would hold long if Sasuke accidentally activated the mark.

“I’m going to try a different approach. This is an incredibly powerful seal. I cannot create something powerful enough to completely prevent its effects. What I can do is make it so Sasuke is not effected by it.”

“What do you mean?” Kakashi asked.

“You’re probably familiar with seals that allow something to be written in one book and appear in another one.” Kakashi nodded. “I’ve developed a seal that allows me to transfer chakra from one source to another. This marks contains a couple different sources of chakra. One of them is focused solely on making sure the mark is not removed while another is the chakra that will actually effect Sasuke. I cannot completely get rid of either source at the moment, but I can influence the flow of the second source. Essentially, when Sasuke inadvertently activates the seal-And I’m sure you will,” he digressed to tell Sasuke. “It is not a reflection on your abilities or strength, but the person who put this on you wants something from you and they can only get it by you activating the seal. So they likely made it easy to activate and might ever try to put you in situations that would force you to activate it. So when he activates it, instead of effecting him, the chakra that would have gone into his system will go to the object I have linked with the seal.”

“Do you have to be the one keeping the object?” Kakashi inquired.

“No, I do not. However, I would at least need access to it,” Iruka replied.

“And why is that?”

“Because this is only a temporary measure,” Iruka said, exasperated. “I assume you want me to actually get rid of this instead of just mitigating its effects. It’s an incredibly invasive seal and I have no idea the extent to which it could affect Sasuke. Studying the transferred effects will give me a better idea of what I am dealing with and what techniques I can use to get rid of it. If I tried to remove it without knowing what it did, I could end up damaging Sasuke’s chakra pathways forever or even killing him. I don’t think that’s what you want, but correct me if I’m wrong.”

Kakashi jerked his head away from the staring match they had been in. “I would prefer that didn’t happen,” Sasuke cut it.

Iruka laughed softly. “And I don’t want that to happen to you either. Are you alright with me putting the seal I explained on it for now and continuing to work on a complete cure? I can’t guarantee what will happen, but I haven’t had this seal fail before and I’m guessing you want to continue with the exams.”

Sasuke nodded solemnly. “You said the person who did this to me might try and put me in situations where I would be forced to activate it. A Sound team attacked us soon after the mark was placed on me and it didn’t seem like they were after our scroll. They might be working with whoever did this to me. They’re still in the exams. I need to protect my friends from them.”

Iruka slowly reached, telegraphing his movements, and patted Sasuke gently on the head. “It’s good that you want to protect your friends, but don’t be afraid to rely on us adults, alright? We’ll do our best to protect you all.” Sasuke surprisingly allowed the head pat for a few seconds before drawing back. “Alright, let’s do this,” Iruka said. “Kakashi, I’m going to need your help.”

“What do you need?” Kakashi questioned.

“To get this to work, we need to basically overload the mark. It only needs to be for a split second, but I don’t have enough chakra to even manage that. Can you help?” Iruka asked.

Kakashi looked at him for a long moment before his eyes flickered over to Sasuke. Whatever he saw apparently convinced him since he agreed to do it. Iruka got out one of his scrolls to be the object they were tying the seal to. It would be easy to carry without anyone getting suspicious, plus the long surface would give him a good look at the effects of the seal.

"Alright, is everyone ready?” Iruka asked. Both Sasuke and Kakashi nodded. Iruka drew up a barrier seal around them, so if things went terribly wrong it would not affect anyone else. “Once we start, we cannot stop without terrible consequences. So let’s get this done. Kakashi, can you stand on Sasuke’s other side?” Iruka gestured for Kakashi to stand slightly behind Sasuke, closer to the side that would not have the seal. While Kakshi still needed to see the mark to overload it, Iruka was the one doing the delicate work and needed maximum visibility.

“Sasuke, this shouldn’t take long, but try to remain as still as possible for us, will you?” Sasuke nodded, gripping one arm with his other hand. Iruka let himself ruffle his hair like he would do to his kids, “You’ve been very brave so far. Just hold on for a little while longer.” Iruka started drawing the necessary seal around the mark.

Iruka could feel Kakashi’s eyes on him, but he did not acknowledge them, focusing on giving Sasuke some reassurance and completing his task. Once Sasuke was as calm as he was going to be under the circumstances and the seal was complete, Iruka met Kakashi’s gaze. “I’m going to need you to throw as much chakra as possible at the seal the second I tell you to, understood?” Kakashi nodded. Iruka took a deep breath, made sure his ponytail was tight so no loose hair fell in his eyes at an inopportune moment, and reached for the essence of the mark. He never knew quite how to describe this feeling. Even other seal masters did not feel seals quite the way he did. He wondered if it was because of his sensing ability. Just like he could tell certain things about people based on their chakra, he could tell certain things about seals based on their structure and the chakra they give off. It was quite useful in figuring out how to nullify or alter seals. He pushed further into the seal, seeking the core of it. He wanted to get this done as quickly as possible, both for Sasuke’s sake and his own, since he hated being submerged in the feeling of this seal. And then he found it. “I’m going to count down from three and do what I told you to when I say go,” he told Kakashi. “Three, two, one, go.” Kakashi apparently had actually listened to Iruka for once and poured all the chakra he could into the mark at Iruka’s signal. It certainly wouldn’t have been enough to destroy the seal, but it was enough to weaken it just for a second, and that was all he needed.

The seal would remain on Sasuke but all the effects Iruka would transfer with his seal. The mark very much did not want to do that and fought him every step of the way, but Iruka had not spent a lifetime perfecting his sealing techniques for nothing. He would not let himself be overpowered in this area. With one final push, Iruka was able to force the seal to transfer its effects. He promptly started putting every containment seal he knew on that scroll. He did not want to find out how much damage this kind of mark could do if it got loose. When he was finished with that, he looked up at Sasuke, “How are you feeling?”

“Alright,” he replied, reaching towards his neck. “Is it…?”

Iruka held up the scroll, “This should contain it. You might feel a slight tingle when you end up activating it, but it should not effect you beyond that. I would like to put a few seals around the mark on you as well, just to be safe. Would that be alright?”

Sasuke nodded and so Iruka put another containment seal on the mark, as well as one that would notify Iruka when it activated. “I’m sorry but that is all I can do for you right now. I’m going to need to do some more research and it would be helpful if I knew who placed that on you,” Iruka said. He already knew, but it wouldn't hurt to get verification.

“I don’t know who they are, they had disguised themselves as another participant. Ino said she got the impression of snakes when she looked into the mind of a member of the Sound team, who we think are allies with my attacker,” Sasuke told him, despite the protesting sound Kakashi made. “If I find out more, I’ll let you know.”

“I appreciate it,” Iruka told him honestly. “Now I think the preliminary rounds are starting soon so you should hurry back.” Sasuke nodded and ran out the door.

Iruka held the scroll silently for a moment, but when Kakashi did not ask him for it, he shrugged, and put it away. Iruka turned to leave but then Kakashi stepped into his path. “Is there something you wanted?” he asked, trying not to scream. He was exhausted from wrangling that vile seal and just wanted to go see his kids. He did not have the time or inclination to pander to the ego of this jonin.

“Why?” Kakashi asked.

“Why what?” Iruka shot back, really not wanting to play this game.

“Why help Sasuke? Why invite so many of them over for dinner? Why share seal tips with Tenten or let Naruto help you in the kitchen even if it made the process more stressful for you?”

Iruka was tempted to give him a non-answer and walked away. But he couldn’t help but remember what Tsume had said a few nights ago.

Once they had finished explaining the situation to her, being completely honest and trying to give her all the necessary information, she had stayed quiet for awhile, processing all that they said. Iruka and Baki had just started to grow nervous, glancing at each other and shifting in their seats when she finally spoke, “I can give you three weeks.”

“What?” Baki said.

“After the second round, the plan is to postpone the finals for a month in order to give the finalists time to prepare. You said the invasion is scheduled to take place on the same day as the third round, right?” Iruka nodded. “So I can give you three weeks to try and stop this disaster on your own before I need to tell the Hokage. And I can postpone that more if you tell me your plan and I think it has a high chance of success. A week should give us more than enough time to prepare to respond accordingly. I do like you two and I understand that you want to protect your kids and your village, but I will not risk the safety of my own village.”

“We understand,” Iruka said gently, because of course they did. That she was even giving them this much time was a minor miracle.

“But do you let me know if I can do anything to help you,” Tsume instructed. “Depending on what it is and how big of a risk it would entail, I might be able to help you out.” Before Iruka could thank her for that, she continued, “As far as the identity of your imposter, there are not too many people it could be. I never liked your Kazekage, but he was a hell of a fighter and even with a sneak attack, he would be a hard person to kill. Iruka, you said the imposter’s chakra felt wrong somehow, can you elaborate on that?”

“It’s difficult to describe,” Iruka said. “It’s almost like they were messing with their own chakra for some purpose. And it felt slimy somehow, if that makes sense.”

“If someone was trying to find a way to become immortal and altered their chakra in ways to reach that goal, could that have produced what you felt?” Tsume asked.

“I suppose it’s possible, but the extent of the alterations they made in order to produce what I felt would have to be massive. Who would do such a thing?” Iruka wondered.

“Orochimaru.” Tsume replied firmly. “He’s obsessed with the idea of immortality and will do anything to achieve it. He uses snake summons, which could account for the slimy feeling. And he hates Leaf. Based on what you have told me, he’s the person who best fits the description. Plus, as much as I hate to say it, he is incredibly powerful and good at manipulating other strong people into joining him. He would be capable of killing the Kazekage in the way you described. I can look through our Bingo book and archives to see if anyone else matches the description, but I highly doubt it.”

Iruka only half heard what she said after she said the name Orochimaru. Of course he knew who the man was, everyone knew of the three Sannin. He just had never expected to have to fight one of them. He knew the imposter had to be powerful, but this was just too much. How were they going to take down Orochimaru? Their only chance would be sneak attacks, but those would be incredibly difficult to carry out when most of the Sand delegation thought Orochimaru was the Kazekage. Iruka knew they said it would be better to know the imposter’s identity so they could anticipate their skills, but he almost wanted to go back before this conversation because at least then he could fool himself into thinking that they would all somehow come out of this mess alright.

“Iruka, focus,” he heard Baki’s voice and suddenly jerked his head up. Baki stared back at him. “Are you ready to continue?”

Iruka took a deep breath and brought himself back into the present. Right, Tsume had said she wasn’t one hundred percent sure, so they would need some way to verify the imposter’s identity before they relied on that information. But for now, they would work under the assumption that the imposter was Orochimaru. Iruka spared a moment to be glad that Baki didn’t ask him if he was alright or where his thoughts had gone. He needed to focus on what he could do at this moment or risk getting completely overwhelmed. “Tsume, would you know of a way to verify that the imposter is Orochimaru?”

“If any of our ninken can get a whiff of the imposter, they’ll be able to tell. We keep sealed bags of the clothes of any Leaf shinobi who becomes a missing nin so we can have our ninken memorize their scents. Orochimaru left tons of stuff behind when he abandoned the village, so getting his scent won’t be a problem. The issue will be getting close enough to verify his identity without him figuring out what is going on. While our ninken have the best noses in the village, even they would have difficulty locking in on a smell from a distance away in the village, with so many smells.”

“And Orochimaru knows our capabilities. If he sees an Inuzuka ninken nearby, he’ll either figure out that someone is on to him or just kill the ninken and their partner to keep his identity secret. I’m not risking any of my clans members if I don’t have to,” Tsume stated firmly. “So come up with a sufficiently safe plan and I’ll ask one of my kids to help you out with it. Are you alright with me telling them? They’ll be able to tell i’m stressed about something anyway.”

Iruka glanced at Baki although at this point they really didn’t have a choice. They had decided to trust Tsume and they would have to trust that she would only tell those necessary, “Yes, that would be fine. I’m sure they’ll understand the need to keep this quiet for now.”

Tsume nodded, “I hate to say it, but we’re going to need another ally within Leaf. I’m pretty well respected and shouldn’t be accused of colluding with Sand or something, but you never know what that asshole Danzo is going to come up with. Honestly, Kakashi would be our best bet.” She held up her hand to stop Iruka’s protests. “I know he doesn’t trust you and the feeling is mutual, but no one would think he was working to overthrow the Hokage. If both of us put our word behind you, the elders and other clan-heads would have to listen to you. And I think he would be easier to convince than you believe. I know his constant spying is getting on your nerves, but try opening up to him a little bit. You might be surprised at how far it gets you.”

Iruka agreed to do his best and Baki and him left for the night. They had been back over to have dinner a couple more times and throw ideas about how to best carry out their plan of confirming the imposter’s identity. But Iruka had not had the chance to meet with Kakashi face-to-face until now despite the man’s constant lurking.

So Iruka decided to take another gamble and see where it got him, “My parents were killed by Gaara. They were trying to stabilize his seal, but things went wrong. My parents had fled from Mist to Sand and settled there, although they were never fully trusted by the village. I had no one to turn to after they died and so did the best I could. I was never the strongest fighter and fully expected to die on a mission early in life. I ended up surviving until the Kazekage pulled me into his office and told me I was now the caretaker of Gaara. Then I really expected to die, but figured I would do the best I could until it reached that point.”

“And then I met Gaara. He wasn’t the monster I had expected, but a scared child who didn’t understand what was happening to him and just trying to survive. I grew to care for him and him for me. We became the family that both of us had been missing. Temari and Kankuro soon joined us. I did the best I could to make sure they were safe and happy, but there were obvious limits on what I could do. The Kazekage might be hesitant to take Gaara away from me since I have greatly helped his control, but he would do it in a heartbeat if he thought I was disloyal to him. And I wouldn’t be strong enough to stop him.”

“Perhaps that’s what frustrates me about you,” he admitted. “You’re so strong and seem to have so much power in the village, but you don’t use it to get your students the help they need. Naruto craves stability and a parental figure. Sasuke desperately needs someone to talk to about what happened to him. I don't know what his goal is but I can see that pursuing it is slowly destroying him. Sakura would be a spectacular healer or even genjutsu user but you aren’t giving her exercises that would help her hone her chakra control.”

“So yes, I have them over for dinner because I can’t look at Naruto and not see Gaara. While I do believe everyone deserves a place where they feel safe and appreciated, I feel even more compelled to help Naruto because I know what it’s like to have to raise yourself. That plus the effects of having the village reject him, could have easily made him bitter and I would not blame him for it. But instead you can see how much Naruto cares and how much he craves validation. I know I don’t know the full story of what happened to Sasuke and probably never will, but anyone can see that he is struggling. He doesn’t know how to accept kindness, seeing it only as pity. Tenten and Lee raised themselves and Naruto as best they could, while striving for a goal most people told them they could never achieve. Sakura has not let the fact that she does not have the chakra reserves of her teammates stop her from finding a way to fight.”

Iruka laughed softly, “I’ve been accused of over-projecting on any stray child that I find, and maybe that’s accurate, but I can’t look at someone who is struggling with the same things me and my kids went through and not want to make things better for them in any way I can. I know that I can’t do much in the grand scheme of things and I am only in the village for a short time, but I want to believe I can make things a little easier for them while I am here. But at the end of the day, you’re the one who can really help them. You’re the one they admire, the one they want praise and guidance from. I don’t know you and I don’t know what you have been through or why you have chosen to teach them the way you have. I’m sure you have your reasons. But right now all I’m seeing is how those decisions affect your genin and it’s not a particularly flattering picture.”

“I do hope we can reach an understanding. I’m not going to stop inviting the kids over and I don’t want to put them in an awkward position. You’re welcome to join us next time. Now, if there’s nothing else, we should head back. The preliminaries will be starting any minute.” Iruka left, not glancing back or really giving Kakashi a chance to respond. He meant every word he said, but he was supposed to be getting the man on his side, not going off on him for his inability to take care of children. Maybe Kakashi would finally believe he did not have ulterior motives for befriending the Leaf genin or maybe he had ruined any chance of working together. Only time would tell. Besides, he knew he was correct about the allowed half hour being almost over and the kids would be disappointed if he missed one of their matches.

He walked back into the main room and was about to go over to his kids and ask how the first two stages had gone, when he felt a chakra signature that he had become rather familiar with over the past few weeks. Forcing himself not to whip his head around, he walked over to his kids and smiled to let them know he was alright. Instead of asking them anything, he instead just let their conversation continue on and slowly turned to survey the room. He let his eyes rove over everyone, so it would just look like he was trying to get a read on the other participants, but he was really only looking for one person. And sure enough, as he focused on the team from Sound, he felt it. That chakra signature couldn’t be from anyone else but the imposter, Orochimaru most likely. Oh they were masking it better than they had before, leading further support to the idea that they would be easily recognizable by someone from Leaf, but that couldn’t fool Iruka’s technique. The imposter looked up and caught his gaze. Iruka gave him his best non-threatening smile and turned away. He was not too worried about the imposter figuring out Iruka was on to them. Very few people knew of Iruka’s ability and even if the imposter did suspect something, they probably wouldn’t feel threatened by Iruka and so would probably just ignore him.

A few minutes after he had returned, time was called and the referee started reading the rules. Iruka listened intently as they described the parameters of the elimination round. Given the space and what was necessary to win, he didn’t doubt that all three of his kids would advance, regardless of who their opponents were. Kankuro might have a little bit of difficulty, since the arena did not give him any place to hide and puppet freely, as he preferred to, but Iruka doubted any of the other genin had even encountered a puppeteer, so they would have no idea how to take advantage of or even recognize any weaknesses that resulted from the environment for Kankuro. Temari could overwhelm most opponents fairly easily, particularly in an enclosed space. And Gaara, of course, had never had a problem overpowering his opponents. Unless he was up against Naruto, he would have a clear advantage in terms of chakra reserves, and even then Gaara could work with Shukaku in a way Naruto clearly couldn’t with his bijuu. That the matches were selected as they went was interesting. Perhaps they wanted to see how the genin did when they did not have any extra time to gauge their opponent’s abilities. Unless they had encountered their opponent in the second round or knew each other before the exams, they would be going in blind.

“The first match will be between,” the proctor turned to the board that was rapidly slipping through names until it stopped, “Dosu Kinuta and Ino Yamanaka.”

Notes:

I really did plan on writing the first match of the prelims in this chapter but Iruka going off on Kakashi kind of took over. As you can tell, from the match-up, I'm doing a lot of changes with both who fights who and the order of the matches.

I know Kakashi doesn't seal the Cursed Mark until after Sasuke's match in canon, but let's just pretend Leaf is slightly better at looking after its genin in this universe and gave him the opportunity before Sasuke had to fight. Hopefully my explanation of what Iruka did made sense. I have no idea if it's accurate to the way the Cursed Mark works, but eh.

Chapter 11: Ino

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ino spent most of their break before the preliminary third round getting Sakura to tell her about the rest of the second round went for her. She did this both to make sure no one else had attacked them and because she wanted to determine if the cursed seal had affected Sasuke at all. Sasuke himself had disappeared along with Kakashi. A Sand shinobi who she guessed was Iruka had followed them out. As much as Ino wanted to know what was happening out there, she knew she was needed here more. She needed as much information about what had happened in the forest as possible before she went to her father. While she had no doubt that the Sound team was a threat to the village and part of some larger plan, most villages would take exception to Leaf just grabbing a genin from another village and interrogating them, especially with Yamanaka techniques. She knew her father would believe her no matter what, but she needed to compile sufficient evidence of an imminent threat that would convince the other clan heads that action needed to be taken now, despite the potential negative repercussions on their relations with other villages.

Not that Sound itself would be a problem. It was a fairly new village and did not have much influence. But other villages would fear that the same thing would be done to their genin, so Leaf would need to have concrete evidence before they took the Sound team for questioning. If that failed, they could always just make them “disappear” and interrogate them anyway, but Ino figured the first option would be cleaner. After the preliminary round was done, she would interview everyone from Leaf who had been in the forest (even Neji, although she doubted he would be willing to tell her much) and see if they had encountered the Sound team. Hopefully that would provide her with enough to give her father a solid case to bring to the Hokage.

“We didn’t run into the Sound team for the rest of the exam,” Sakura told her. “The mark didn’t activate either, although Sasuke did seem more tired than usual. Do you think he’ll be alright?” Ino had not missed how Sakura had signaled the man who had to be Iruka a few minutes earlier. That was another thing she needed to look into. While everyone she talked to, even Tenten, was insistent that Iruka did not have any bad intentions, she was never one to take chances with the safety of her friends, so she would have to confirm his character somehow.

Speaking of people she needed to keep an eye on, she glanced over to the Sound team. And then she paused. She remembered seeing that team before the first round started and she could have sworn that their jonin instructor had not been with them then. Maybe that wasn’t that unusual, but something about the man made her uncomfortable. And then she got a good look at his face and it clicked.

She hadn’t been able to get much from her attempt to extract information from the minds of the Sound team, but she remembered that face. He didn’t look exactly the same as in the memories she had seen, but it was enough. That was the man who had told the Sound team to attack Sakura and Sasuke.

She had only been able to get a small glimpse of him in the extracted memories, and she hadn’t mentioned when she reported the other information, just in case one of the Sound genin woke up and heard about it. The less she revealed that she knew, the less concerned their enemies would be. She had figured she would show her dad the memory later and see if he recognized the face. She had not expected the man who hurt her friends to further infiltrate the exams.

However, now that she knew he was there, she would make sure he could not hurt anyone else. “Sakura, I have to go do something. Stay with Naruto, Lee, and Tenten, alright?” She pushed Sakura in that direction before hurrying towards Asuma.

Usually she would take a moment to appreciate how terrified he looked to see her storming over to him, but she sadly had more important matters to deal with. She put her back to the Sound team so they couldn't read her lips and while she did not think any of them had any abilities that helped them eavesdrop, she kept her voice quiet. “I think the Sound team leader is a threat to the village. I can’t explain why right now, but could you keep an eye on him during this round?”

Asuma stared at her and she meant his gaze squarely, desperately hoping he would trust her. She could maybe find another solution, but this would be the best option. Whatever Asuma saw in her eyes must have convinced him to believe her because he nodded seriously. “I will need a better explanation after this, but you’re rarely led us wrong before. I’ll keep him in my sights.” Ino grinned, relieved. With how much of a mess Asuma usually was, she sometimes forgot that he was an impressive jonin who had been one of the Twelve Guardians. And then he would say something like that in that tone of voice and she would instantly feel reassured. “Just focus on your battles, alright? I bet Kurenai that more of my genin would advance to the final round that hers, and I intend to win that bet.”

“Don’t worry about me. I have no intentions of losing to anyone,” Ino informed him.

Asuma grinned, “I figured that you’d say that. Just know I will hold that over your head until the next exams if you lose.” Ino made a rather rude hand gesture at him in response. Just then, the proctor called for all the genin to gather and for their jonin instructors to make their way to the upper level. Ino watched with satisfaction as Asuma followed the Sound jonin up the stairs. He stood far enough away that it wasn’t immediately obvious that he was keeping an eye on the Sound shinobi, but Ino had no doubt he chose a position that would allow him to always keep the target in his line of sight, even if it was just from the corner of his eye.

She drew her attention back to the board which was still flickering between names. And then it stopped. “The first match will be between,” the referee announced, “Dosu Kinuta and Ino Yamanaka. Everyone else please join your instructors on the balconies.”

Everyone complied, with most of her friends giving her an encouraging gesture or well wishes. And then it was just her, the proctor, and the Sound shinobi who had hurt her friends.

Ino supposed out of everyone that could have been selected to go first, especially against one of those Sound assholes, she was glad it was her. She had often been told she was just like her father and while she hoped that wasn’t true in regards to his emotional outbursts, she knew much of her fighting style came from him. Most people outside her clan would think that all Yamanka fought the same way-distract opponent, do some mind jutsu, and win. While that certainly was a tried-and-true strategy for them, it wasn’t all they could do. And she didn’t mean just some of the jutsus her father had demonstrated for her that could affect multiple people at one time. When and how they used their jutsus were just as important as what jutsu they used. And Ino was rather adept at choosing the exact right moment to strike. She was no Shikamaru, but she liked to think she understood people a little better than her lazy friend and she was quite good at using her observations in battle. And she would admit that she had a tendency to hold grudges, especially towards those who hurt her friends. She would make him regret the day he tried to take advantage of her friends while they were recovering.

“Begin,” the proctor yelled out, and the Sound genin immediately rushed towards her, swinging at her with his right arm. She was able to avoid the blow with ease but immediately retreated, knowing his true attack would hit her in a second. Sakura had mentioned how she had avoided all his blows but still felt nauseous and off-balance after his attack. And sure enough, she found herself having to drop to one knee because she simply couldn’t keep her feet under her. Surprisingly enough, he did not immediately rush over to launch a fall-up attack, but hung back, observing her reactions to his attack. So he not only had a dangerous attack, he’s also smart, Ino thought. This was not going to be a fun fight. But she knew she needed to end it as soon as possible. Dragging it out would only benefit him.

She forced herself to her feet. While so far in her training, she had mainly been taught offensive or communicative minds jutsus, she did know some techniques that essentially made the mind fool itself. Her clan weren’t in charge of interrogation for nothing. While some of that was just forcing information out of subjects, others required a more delicate approach. She knew ways to trick a person into thinking they were experiencing intense pain without touching them or make them see a friendly face. Of course, none of those were useful at this moment, since they required a fair bit of time, concentration, and the subject staying still. But techniques to fool the mind could be used on more than just her enemies. Ino could use a similar technique on herself to limit the effect the technique of the Sound genin had on her. It was pretty risky. She was essentially limiting the information her mind was processing from her body. She could get seriously injured and her body would be delayed in conveying that to her. But she just only needed to pull off one move and to do it, she needed to be able to keep her balance.

She relished the look of surprise on her opponent’s face as she steadily rose and ran towards him, throwing a couple of kunai. He avoided them easily, but that was alright. It gave her enough time to close the distance before he could unleash another attack. She was never going to specialize in close combat but her best friend enjoyed it, so she practiced enough to make a decent sparring partner for Sakura. So the punch she threw was anything but weak. Not that it ever landed, but that was the point. Her opponent dodged and grabbed her outstretched arm, throwing her. And as she flipped through the air, she pulled her hands into the formation for one of the first clan jutsus her father had ever taught her-mind transfer jutsu. And sure enough, her opponent was still completing his follow through and did not even realize what she was doing until it was too late. She rushed into his mind, just in time to see her body fall to the floor. She was definitely going to have some bruises from that.

“I surrender,” she said, raising the Sound genin’s hand, just to make sure that the proctor would call the match.

He hesitated a moment before saying, “Ino Yamanka wins.”

She released the jutsu and returned to her own body, wincing. Yes, she would be feeling that for the next few days. She did not even attempt to stand, knowing that her mental block had come down and she was feeling the full effects of his jutsu.

The medical nin came out to check her over. They were able to greatly reduce the nausea and vertigo she was experiencing. She promised that she would check in with them if she was still feeling dizzy in a few hours, but refused any other help since she wanted to head back to the matches and see how her friends were fairing. Luckily they had not started the next match by the time she got back, although she was unsure what the delay was.

“Your opponent is not a very graceful loser,” Shikamaru commented. He and Choji were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her and helped her get up to the second level. “He complained that you cheated.”

“Who does he think we are, samurai? There is no cheating in shinobi fights,” she said.

“That’s what we’ve been telling him. I think Sakura would have punched him for belittling your techniques if Kakashi hadn’t held her back,” Choji replied.

“Nice fight,” Asuma told her as they approached him. He was still situated in the same position as when she had left. Which meant they were standing only a few feet from the Sound team. The one she had defeated was glaring at her. She shot him what Shikamaru termed as her, “scary smile,” and he at least has enough sense to flinch back from that and drop her gaze. She wasn’t too worried about it. He wouldn’t dare try anything here and if he attacked her afterwards, she would not feel guilty at all about using some of her truly mean techniques. “I’ve never seen you practice that,” Asuma pointed out, obviously prodding for a reason.

“Well it’s a hard thing to practice,” Ino admitted. “I got the idea after seeing Tenten release several weapons scrolls while in the air. She helped me get used to moving in the air. And you know how most shinobi move past taijutsu fairly quickly and specialize in particular jutsus. Which means, when put in specific situations, most will revert back to the taijutsu basics they learned early on. Lee walked me through every taijutsu attack I could launch and how my opponent would likely respond. In the fight just now, I threw the kunai to distract him so by the time he saw me coming his options were limited. With how hard I threw that punch, it left me open to be knocked off balance and I figured he would take the opportunity to throw me. There are only a few basic throws we got taught at the academy, and I figured it would be the same for them, so I positioned my body so the best move would be for him to use my arm to flip me over. And before he even let go, I was already moving my hands into position.”

“I am going to work some more on the landing though,” she admitted. “Since I’m obviously not in control of my body when it hits the ground, I need to better position myself before I perform the switch. Lee helped me with that as well, but I’m still struggling with it.”

“Very impressive,” Asuma said. “When did you find the time to train a technique like that without me noticing?”

“Whenever you were off losing at shogi to Shikamaru or gave us the afternoon off training, I would find Lee and Tenten if they were in the village and ask them to help me. They said it was good training for them too and never minded helping me out. Sometimes Gai would tag along and offer advice, sometimes he let us go off on our own. It’s not like Neji cared whether his teammates were practicing with him or not.”

“It’s not that I didn’t trust you,” she assured Asami. He might not always know quite what to do as a jonin instructor, but she could tell he cared for them and would have helped if she had asked. “But honestly, how much could you have helped me with this?”

“You have a point,” he admitted. “Still if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

“I might take you up on that,” Ino said. “I do need a larger opponent to practice on and Gai is certainly not going to react like the average shinobi in a taijutsu match.”

She heard him mutter something about wondering what he had gotten himself into but he did not retract the offer.

Finally, everyone turned back towards the board and waited for it to settle on two names. “The next match will be between Sakura Haruno versus Yoroi Akado,” the proctor announced. Ino could tell Sakura was nervous, although she was trying not to show it. She waved at her friend to get her attention and gave her an encouraging smile. Naruto was yelling at Sakura to kick his ass while Sasuke’s encouragement had been subtle, just a hand clasped on her shoulder.

When both of them had made their way into the arena, the proctor said, “Begin.”

Sakura immediately went on the offensive, throwing a series of punches and kicks. Ino could tell they were more designed to probe for weaknesses than do actual damage. It looked like it was going well for Sakura. Her opponent wasn’t necessarily bad at taijutsu but he had nothing on Lee or even Sasuke, against whom Sakura often practiced. Akado finally threw back a few punches of his own. Sakura was able to avoid each with ease. The closest he got to hitting her was brushing the end of her hair. And then something went wrong. Ino hadn’t seen him do any hand signs, but Sakura suddenly collapsed. She leaned forward over the railing, trying to see what was wrong. Luckily, Sakura’s opponent was stupid enough to explain what he had done. A technique that could sap chakra from someone just from touching them. Ino had never heard of such a thing and when she glanced over at Shikamaru, he shook his head. Ino had no doubt Sakura would figure out a way to win the fight, but there were larger implications of Akado possessing such a technique. He had not been in their class at the academy, and she did not think he had been in Lee and Tenten’s either. Which meant he was at least two years older than them. So he should have plenty of experience and he possessed a powerful technique. Why hadn’t he passed the exams far earlier? And one of his teammates had been the one who forfeited his place earlier. It was beginning to look like he had purposely failed in previous years for some reason. She supposed it could be that he was lazy or did not want to take on more dangerous missions, but she did not get that sense from him. Maybe she was just paranoid with what happened with the Sound team, but she feared that Akado was part of a larger plot. She resolved to ask around about him after the preliminaries were done.

Meanwhile Sakura had gotten back on her feet and thrown several kunai at Akado, which he dodged with ease. She hung back for a little bit, throwing kunai and shuriken and dodging his strikes. Ino could tell she was thinking up a plan.

Soon enough, she obviously reached a decision and stopped fighting defensively. She launched a series of punches at Akado, these ones definitely meant to cause damage. She was able to avoid all of his return strikes. Akado looked winded by the time Sakura retreated again, but he was not going to go down that easily. Before he had the chance to recover, Sakura quickly formed some hand signals. Ino laughed out loud as Sakura flashed through them, since she now knew what her friend was doing. Sure enough, the ground around Akado’s feet started crawling up his legs, locking him in place. Kiba had actually been the one who introduced them to that technique. He knew a surprising number of low-level earth jutsus. Apparently when he was getting underfoot and his mother thought he needed to burn off some excessive energy (so basically all the time), she would explain and demonstrate one for him and then turn him loose to practice it on his own until he was exhausted. Of course, Kiba had modified most of them to make them partner techniques with Akamaru, but he still remembered enough of the original to teach them. Ino appreciated it. It wasn’t that her father or Asuma wouldn’t have taught her if she asked, but both of them were so specialized at this point, they would probably be confused about why she was asking and honestly might not have been much help. While Ino loved her clan techniques, she also knew that there would be situations where they wouldn’t be useful or she would be too tired or injured to use them. So she tried to learn as many techniques that didn’t require much chakra as possible, since you never know when they would come in handy. Ino and Sakura had spent multiple nights practicing these techniques together and it was fun to see Sakura use one of them in battle.

Sakura rushed forward to the spot where Akado was trapped. She got several hard punches and kicks in before Akado was able to break out of the earth that was holding him captive. Ino absentmindedly wondered why her friend hadn’t used a jutsu to end the match there, but she trusted Sakura had a plan and she couldn’t wait to see what her friend would do. Sakura didn’t seem too concerned about him breaking free. She abandoned her distance strategy and forced her opponent into a close-corridor taijutsu battle. Given Akado’s ability, that could have gone very poorly for her, but she was able to dodge every strike, so he couldn’t activate his ability.

Until something went wrong. It looked like Sakura had miscalculated the amount of force she needed to put into her next punch and stumbled. Akado was on her in a second, pressing his hand to her arm. She was able to throw a wild punch that forced him to back away, but Ino could see how heavily she was breathing. She stumbled back a few steps and then collapsed. Akado confidently made his way towards, probably expecting to deal a final blow and end the match.

However, Sakura had no intention of allowing that to happen. When he was about three feet from her, Ino saw her flash through another set of familiar hand signs. The ground beneath Akado’s feet suddenly moved, throwing him off balance. Before he could recover, Sakura had launched herself at him and brought him to the ground. She controlled their fall so she ended up kneeling behind him holding him in a chokehold with one hand. She used her other hand to strike away his arms that were desperately trying to touch her and drain her chakra. His movements became more and more erratic until his body finally went lax. Sakura held on for a couple more seconds, probably to make sure he was not faking it, but then she released him and let him drop to the floor. “Winner, Sakura Haruno,” the proctor announced. Ino cheered loudly and grinned as Sakura turned and smiled at her.

Asuma nudged her as Sakura tried to walk up the steps. Naruto and Sasuke had bounded over to help her and ended up basically carrying her up to the second level. “Go see if she’s alright. We can handle things here,” he murmured to her. Ino thanked him, told Choji and Shikamaru they better win their matches and then raced down the stairs and over to the opposite side before they could call out the next match up. Sakura was seated against the wall with Naruto leaning over her. Sasuke was standing a few feet back, but he also looked rather concerned.

“For the fifth time, I'm fine, Naruto, just exhausted. He absorbed a significant amount of my chakra and I don’t have the insane chakra reserves that you do in the first place. Just let me rest and get something to eat and I’ll be fine soon. Unlike you, I have good sense and if I thought I needed a medic I would have gone to one,” Sakura chided Naruto as Ino approached.

Ino let out a laugh, “Well I was going to ask if you were alright, but I guess you answered that question. That was a hell of a fight.”

Sakura smiled up at her, “Thanks. You were impressive as well.”

Ino took a seat next to her, “Thanks. Was the choke-hold always the plan or did you have to adjust as you went?”

“I knew I was going to have to take him down in some close-combat taijutsu technique from fairly early on, I just had to figure out which one would give me the most amount of control and ability to dodge his hands,” Sakura explained.

“He looked surprised that you were still fighting towards the end,” Ino commented.

“Well, you know how he can take chakra? The first couple times I was powerless to do anything to prevent it, but by the third time I figured out a strategy. I still couldn’t stop it completely; however, I was able to basically hold some of my chakra out of his reach. It was exhausting, but I didn’t need to do it long,” Sakura said.

Ino threw an arm around her friend’s shoulders and patted her head, “Of course you’d figure out how to stop him. I doubt the rest of us could have done that.” Sakura blushed and stammered out something about how it wasn’t that impressive, but Ino elected to ignore her. Sakura’s chakra control had always been incredibly good. Ino hadn’t been giving false praise when she said Sakura was the only one who would have been able to defeat Akado’s technique in that way. One of these days she’d convince Sakura how powerful she truly was. To that end, she would keep giving her compliments. Plus Sakura’s reaction to them was so cute!

“The next match will be between Sasuke Uchiha and Shino Aburame,” she heard the referee announce. They all wished Sasuke luck as he walked towards the stairs, and gave the same well wishes to Shino as he followed him.

“Help me up,” Sakura instructed her. “I want to see this.” Ino did as her friend asked and let Sakura lean on her as they walked to the railing. As much as Ino respected Shino’s abilities, she did not think this would be a long fight. Shino’s insects were powerful, but he did best in long-distance combat where he could hide and send his insects to attack undetected. Besides, Sasuke in particular had volunteered to help Shino develop his various types of insects and so knew most of his techniques. And while Shino was no slouch at taijutsu, Sasuke had the edge over him in that regard as well.

Shino seemed to have realized this was well since the second they were told to begin, he sent out a swarm of his insects to surround Sasuke and drain his chakra. Sasuke promptly unleashed his fireball jutsu, destroying enough insects to escape from the middle of the swarm. He went on the offensive, throwing a series of punches and kicks that Shino was mainly able to dodge or block, although a few hit. Shino retreated and sent another wave of bugs at Sasuke. Again, he was able to burn a significant portion of them, although Ino could tell by his reaction that they had been able to drain some of his chakra. This cycle repeated a couple more times. Ino idly wondered if the fight continued like this if Sasuke would run out of chakra before Shino ran out of insects or vice versa. She knew ever since the fight with Mizuki when Shino had been unable to defend himself because he had run out of insects, Shino had spent a great deal of time and energy into cultivating more insects within his body so he did not run into that type of situation again. But Sasuke’s fire was probably the most dangerous technique to his insects and Sasuke had rather large chakra reserves. Nothing on Naruto, of course, but still.

Sasuke apparently had been running through the same calculations because he decided to change the rhythm of the fight. This time, instead of releasing the fireball jutsu when he broke out of the swarm, he kept it burning and directed it towards Shino. His insects formed a wall in front of him to deflect the worst of the blast and Shino rolled backwards to escape the rest of it. Sasuke pressed his advantage, putting more force behind his taijutsu attacks than before and Ino thought they were quicker too. And then he seemed to vanish from the field. Shino jerked his head around, but he wasn’t able to see the attack coming. With a move Ino had seen many times before, although never from Sasuke, he reappeared crouched beneath Shino and kicked him into the air. From there, it was obvious who was going to win. Shino couldn’t protect himself with taijutsu and couldn’t command his insects fast enough to keep up Sasuke’s strikes. He landed hard and did not get up. “Winner, Sasuke Uchiha,” the proctor announced.

Sasuke walked over to Shino and helped him to his feet. Ino couldn’t hear what they said to each, but neither seemed upset so she wasn’t too worried. As much as she didn’t like to think about it, given how Leaf genin had made it this far, it was unavoidable that some of them would have to knock their friends out of the exams.

Shino and Sasuke both let the medics check them over, although they both returned shortly. “It was a good fight,” she told them as the pair of them approached their group.

Both of them nodded. “Thank you,” Shino said before heading over to his team. Kiba threw his arm over his shoulder and Akamaru nuzzled against his legs while Hinata smiled softly at him.

“Congrats,” Sakura said to Sasuke. He nodded his thanks and stepped closer so she had another person to lean against. Ino smiled at him. She doubted Sakura would have agreed to sit down and miss any of the fights, so she appreciated the help.

“Sakura and I both won,” Sasuke said to Naruto, “so don’t embarrass us by losing here.”

Naruto sputtered and started yelling something about winning his fight in five seconds flat while Ino and Sakura glanced at each and rolled their eyes. Ino knew Sasuke could be sweet-she’d seen how he would curl up next to Naruto when the blond boy had a nightmare and how he would bodily put himself between Naruto and the disapproving gazes of the villagers. But when actually talking to Naruto, Sasuke seemed to be unable to convey emotions in any way other than rough teasing.

“Looks like you’re going to have to wait to make good on your word,” Sasuke said, cutting Naruto’s rant off. Ino glanced at the board, which read Temari versus Zaku Abumi.

“Well this should be interesting,” Sakura commented leaning forward. “I’ve been wanting to see what Temari is capable of.” Ino leaned forward as well. This was her chance to learn more about one of the Sand genin her friend was so taken with. While Sakura insisted they meant no harm, it was never too early to discover weaknesses in potential enemies. If the Sand team thought they could sweep in and take advantage of the kind natures of Ino’s friends, she’d show them otherwise.

Notes:

First fights scenes of the prelims are here! Please let me know what you thought about keeping the whole chapter in Ino's perspective. I played around with switching povs for each fight, but thought this worked better. But if it didn't make sense to you or you didn't like, please let me know since I am still figuring out what to do with the next few chapters.

One of the many things that annoyed him in canon is how Ino's mind jutsus often aren't utilized because it's too risky if she misses. I feel like her clan would have worked on ways to work around that obvious weakness. So having to her seek help from Tenten and Lee to work out how to combine her jutsus with taijutsus moves was fun to imagine.

I feel like I kind of gave Shino the short end of the stick. I do think he is powerful, but fire is a quite dangerous against insects and close combat is not his speciality.

Do the Sand siblings have a canon last name? I could not find one anywhere. For this au, I like to imagine they looked the Kazekage dead in the eye and turned in what forms they fill out to participate in the exams without a last name. Their plan is to wait until Rasa dies and then get Iruka to formally adopt them so they can have his last name. They have not told Iruka this yet. Baki can't wait to see his face when he finds out.

Chapter 12: Temari

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Temari walked calmly down the stairs towards the arena. When her name had been called, both her brothers had wished her luck, Baki had nodded his support to her, and Iruka had told her that he knew she would be great. While she did not think she would have much trouble dispatching her opponent, she wished she could have fought one of the Leaf genin. Not because she wanted to fight the people she was starting to view as friends, but because if she did so, that would decrease the chances that her brothers would have to fight them. At the rate the matchups were going, unless they were very lucky, at least one of her brothers would have to fight someone from Leaf. And that had the potential to be disastrous. Kankuro was very meticulous in his upkeep of his puppets and wouldn’t use any poisons in the exams that were fatal, but even his weaker poison were quite dangerous and someone could react poorly to them. Gaara and Shukaku’s teamwork and control had greatly improved over the years, but the fact of the matter was her youngest brother was much more suited to fighting high numbers of opponent who he didn’t care whether they came out of encounter with multiple broken bones rather than a single opponent who he did not want to cause lasting damage. Temari was confident in her ability to defeat most of the genin in the exams without causing serious injury. So she would have preferred to fight one of the people who were becoming important to her family. Although those eliminated here might feel some resentment towards her for knocking them out, at least it would end there. If one of her brothers managed to permanently hurt one of their new friends, those friendships would probably be over and it would break her brothers’ hearts.

But there was no sense borrowing trouble and she would just have to hope for the best and do damage control as necessary. Right now, she had a fight to win. Kankuro would tease her forever if she lost here and he advanced. She evaluated her opponent as she waited for the proctor’s signal. He was one of the Sound team who had apparently attacked Naruto’s team. Kiba had not managed to give her many details, but she knew that the Sound team had cornered Sasuke and Sakura when they were weakened and Naruto was missing. While she could appreciate the strategic value of such tactics and Iruka had lectured them before to never think they were too good to use certain tactics, she did not like that this genin had tried to use them on people she was growing to consider friends.

The proctor signaled them to begin and Temari immediately opened her fan to the first dot. She swung it at her opponent, wanting to see how he would respond to the blast. Instead of trying to avoid it, he braced himself and threw out his hands. She couldn’t quite tell what he did, but it felt like another wave had been sent into her rush of wind and dissipated it. Apparently he had learned from his teammate’s mistake against Sakura and did not inform her of what his technique was. Pity. Destroying overconfident fools with information they gave her was always fun. But figuring it out for herself shouldn't be too hard. She sent another, stronger rush of wind at him, this time watching closely to see what he was doing. She noticed that he was emitting something from his hands. She saw a dark spot in the middle of his hand and realized what was going on.

“It’s not uncommon for shinobi to have done modifications to their bodies to further develop a specialized technique,” Iruka had told her a couple of years ago. “Some are obvious while others can be more subtle. While you should of course be careful of the modification, in my experience if they put that much effort into one technique, they often don’t develop their skills in other areas. So if you can get around or overpower the modification, most are fairly easy to defeat.”

He must have tubes of some sort in his arms, Temari figured. And given what village he is from, he’s probably using sound waves. She didn’t know if he could also disturb her balance with his sound waves like his teammate. She doubted it, since he probably would have tried that already instead of fighting defensively. Which meant she just had to overpower his sound waves with her gusts of wind.

With that in mind, she opened her fan all the way and swung it hard. Let’s see how he dealt with the full force of her power. She smirked to herself as his sound waves were unable to match her power and he was blown off his feat. She swung it again, to make sure he did not have any time to recover and then she moved to a close-range battle. He was just barely getting back to his feet when she neatly swept them out from under him. She trapped his arms above his head by holding her closed fan on them with one hand, making sure to turn them so that his palms were pointing at each other, and pressing a kunai to his neck with the other. When he refused to admit defeat and kept trying to escape her grasp, she pressed it against his skin hard enough to make him bleed. “I have no problems continuing, but it would be better for you if you gave up now. I’m guessing you want to keep your throat inside your neck?” He audibly gulped at that, making his neck bleed even more.

“I give,” he quickly said.

“Winner, Temari,” the proctor announced.

She pulled herself up and walked towards the stairs without looking back.

“Nicely done,” Baki complimented her.

“Thank you,” Temari replied. “He was overconfident.”

“True enough, but that doesn't take away from your accomplishments,” Iruka said. Given how he was scanning the crowd, apparently deep in thought, Temari guessed he had made the same calculations about the probability of her brothers fighting a Leaf genin as she had. Catching her gaze, he smiled reassuringly, “I look forward to seeing what tactics the rest of the fights will display. Think we can convince our new friends from Leaf to come over for dinner later to relive the excitement?” Kankuro excitedly agreed and Gaara nodded his head, but Temari got the message-whatever happens, we will find a way to handle it, for now let’s just wait to see what actually occurs.

She wished she could relax that easily. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Iruka. In fact, she trusted him more than anyone else. Since he came into her life, she had always felt that she could go to him with her problems and he would help her find solutions. She trusted him to look after her brothers’ happiness in a way no one else could. She trusted him to never betray them. She knew he would do everything he could to do whatever damage control was necessary to salvage their friendships with the Leaf genin. But even that was not enough to calm her. She and her siblings had never had many friends. Maki was basically the only person close to their age they saw on a regular basis. She had seen how Gaara had lit up when swapping stories with Naruto and how happy Kankuro was when the Leaf genin came over. Her brothers had so few people who honestly cared for them, that the very idea of anything hurting those bonds sent her into a panic. And they had only known the Leaf kids for a short while, so she honestly did not know how they would react if something did go wrong. She was not oblivious to the suspicious looks she was getting from the blond girl who won the first match and her teammate with the spiky ponytail. Temari couldn’t blame them for being cautious, she would react the same way in some random shinobi aggressively tried to befriend her brothers. But it made her even more worried that they would try and convince the other Leaf genin to turn their backs on her and her siblings if someone did get hurt here.

The proctor’s call jolted her out of her thoughts, “The next match up is Shikamaru Nara and Kin Tsuchi.”

The boy with the ponytail must be Shikamaru, since he stretched and complained about this being troublesome before heading for the stairs. The Sound kunoichi had already made her way to the arena. Temari watched the match with interest. She remembered that the Nara were one of the more powerful clans from Leaf and that they used shadow jutsus. She had never seen one in action and wanted to learn more about their techniques.

Temari had to admit she was impressed. Not necessarily with the shadow technique he used, which seemed to have quite a few weakness, particularly that he had to do everything the person he caught in shadow bind did. But his use of the technique was very impressive. She honestly hadn’t realized what he had been planning until Iruka had laughed quietly next to her.

“Clever,” he commented, “even in this limited arena, he finds a way to use the surroundings to his advantage.” Temari hoped they would be able to convince the Nara boy to get over his hesitations about them, since it was clear Iruka wanted to adopt him. Watching him knock out his opponent using the wall without her realizing what he was planning, Temari moved Shikamaru towards the top of her mental list of potential threats. She still thought she could take him in a straight fight if she remembered everything Iruka had taught her about being aware of her surroundings and using them to her advantage, but that brain of his was a threat to their larger plans. If he figured out what the Kazekage was planning and told the Leaf leaders before Iruka could put whatever plan he had into action, they risked an all out war. She would have to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t learn too much. His eyes met hers as he walked towards his jonin instructor and teammate. She forced herself not to break eye contact, knowing that would look suspicious. Instead she raised her eyebrow, daring him to make something of her staring. He looked away first and she felt strangely satisfied in winning their non-existence staring contest. If she could keep him in check here, she could do it in larger matters as well. She would protect her brothers from whatever threat came their way, no matter who it came from.

She then made the mistake of glancing at her brothers, to find Kankuro staring at her. She knew she was in trouble since he had the same look on his face as when he was plotting a truly destructive prank. “What?” she asked defensively.

“You were staring,” Kankuro said gleefully. “Way more than was necessary to evaluate his skills. Do you have a crush?”

Forgot protecting her brothers from whatever came their way, Kankuro was going to need protection from her.

“No, you brat, where did you get that idea?” Temari hissed at him.

“The staring,” Kankuro cheerfully replied.

“No, that’s not at all what that meant. You’re an idiot.”

“Well what’s your explanation then?” Kankuro shot back.

Temari opened and closed her mouth, knowing she couldn’t say what she was really thinking here, with so many unfriendly ears around. And Kankuro knew it too, with how he was grinning.

Being the older sibling, Temari decided to show some maturity and refused to sink down to his level. Instead she turned to Baki and said, “I regret to inform you that I will have to murder Kankuro in the near future. I apologize for any extra work this might cause you, but I assure you it is the only reasonable course of action.”

Their jonin instructor raised his one visible eyebrow and replied, “Understandable, however, you will have to complete all his chores until we find a replacement.” Temari could live with those terms.

“Hey,” Kankuro protested, “shouldn’t you be protecting your student? I’ve never done anything to you.” Everyone gave him a deeply skeptical look at that and he quickly backtracked, “Most of the pranks were shared ideas and not all on me. And any and all teasing is out of love and therefore does not count.” Seeing that this line of argument was not convincing anyone, he changed tactics. “Iruka,” he whined, throwing his arms around him, “they’re threatening me.”

Iruka was shaking with suppressed laughter but gamely played his part and patted Kankuro on the head, “No murder,” he instructed. “You know you’d miss him if you went through with it.”

Temari sighed but reluctantly agreed, “Your life is safe but don’t think I won’t get my revenge another way.” Even Kankuro had to admit that was fair.

Luckily the board selected the next matchup before Kankuro could go back to teasing her. “Well, looks like I’m up,” Kankuro commented. “Wish me luck?”

Everyone did so as he walked towards the stairs. Temari glanced over to his opponent. She had not spent as much time with Kiba as her brothers had but he seemed like a kind person. She would forever be thankful to him and Akamaru for giving Gaara the chance to interact with an animal in a positive manner. So while she was glad that Gaara was not the one who would have to fight them, since hurting Akamaru would destroy him, she still worried. Kankuro’s poison doses were mainly calibrated to humans. And while he did know approximately doses for ninken, Akamaru was still just a puppy.

Kankuro made no move to take Crow off his back while waiting for the proctor to begin the match. And when the battle began, Temari was not surprised that Kankuro waited for Kiba to make the first move. For all that Kiba had talked about his and Akamaru’s techniques at their dinners, Temari had not really gotten a good sense of him as a fighter, so it made sense Kankuro would try and figure him out before proceeding. Kiba started out with some taijutsu attacks, which Kankuro mainly dodged. Akamaru was making that more difficult by often attacking in tandem with Kiba.

Suddenly, Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba and they were both attacking at once. Temari knew Kankuro well enough to recognize that he had just used a body substitution jutsu to switch places with Crow, although she doubted most onlookers would have been able to tell. Kiba and Akamaru seemed to catch on extremely quickly though and immediately attacked Kankuro’s new location. He was able to barely dodge their attack. Akamaru shifted back into his puppy form, trying to use his smaller size to unleash a quick follow-up attack. Kaknkuro jumped away to dodge.

“Smell,” Iruka commented next to her.

“What?” she asked.

“The Inuzuka have an incredible sense of smell, and their ninken even more so. They will be able to tell instantly when Kankuro and Crow switch places,” Iruka told her.

“That’s bad for Kankuro,” Gaara noted. “The sparse arena already gives him a disadvantage since he can’t hide and manipulate Crow from a distance. And fighting two opponents means one could fight Crow while the other came after him.”

“That’s right,” Iruka said. “But I’m sure Kankuro has realized the same things. Let’s see what he comes up with to deal with those disadvantages.”

Kankuro unleashed a wave of kunai from Crow and seemed to vanish again. It did not take Kiba and Akamaru long to track him down. And the next bit of the fight continued in a familiarly predictable manner. Kankuro would concentrate Crow’s attacks on Akamaru, although he never used his poison. While manipulating Crow, he would use taijutsu to deal with Kiba’s attack, occasionally pulling Crow back to defend himself when Kiba used a stronger technique. Temari noticed Kankuro kept Crow close to him a few moments more than necessary on several occasions, opening him up to attacks by both Akamaru and Kiba, which he neatly avoided. She couldn’t tell from her vantage point what he was doing, just that he was fiddling with Crow. Eventually he must have accomplished his goal, since the next time he finished using Crow to defend himself, he sent him back towards Akamaru but released a pink poison smoke cloud. In the next moment, he hurled a kunai towards the rapidly approaching Kibia. Kiba was able to dodge the kunai, but Kankuro must have attached a vial of poison to it, since the genin was soon enveloped in a purple cloud.

When the pink smoke cleared, Akamaru was lying on his back whimpering. Kiba didn’t look quite as bad, since he was able get back to his feet from where he had fallen to the floor following the attack. But he was obviously struggling. He was able to avoid Crow’s next few attacks through a combination of quick reflexes and some well-utilized earth jutsus, but with Akamaru out of the fight, Kankuro was able to concentrate all of his attention on Kiba and the Leaf genin couldn’t withstand the on-slaught. Temari was honestly impressed at how long he held out. She was used to fighting Kankuro and his puppets and she still sometimes struggled because the style was so different from what she typically had to defend against. For someone who had never fought a puppeteer before, Kiba was doing quite well.

Eventually though Kiba stumbled while dodging Crow’s next attack and before he could recover, a wire shot out of Crow’s mouth, wrapping around him. He struggled for a few minutes, but the wire had pinned his arms to his side and there was nothing he could do. Once he stopped fighting, the proctor quickly declared, “Winner, Kankuro.”

Kankuro immediately went over to unwrap the wire from Kiba. Temari couldn’t tell what her brother said to him, but Kiba allowed Kankuro to help him back to his feet and clapped him on the shoulder. The both then went over to Akamaru. He was already getting back to his feet. When he saw Kankuro he let out a bark that even to Temari’s untrained ears sounded deeply upset, but he did not try to attack. Instead he nuzzled against Kiba’s legs until the boy picked him up and let him hide in his jacket. Given that Kiba walked over to the stairs instead of going towards the medical staff, Temari guessed neither of them were injured. Although she did worry about how Akamaru would process the poison. She knew Kankuro would have told Kiba if whatever he used had lingering effects, but she was concerned that they weren’t even bothering to get checked over.

Kankuro was quick to quiet her concerns. After everyone had congratulated him, he told them without prompting, “Don’t worry. I didn’t actually use any poisons on Akamaru. I realized I did not know enough about how his body would process them to even feel comfortable guessing at an appropriate dose. And I wasn’t going to risk killing or permanently harming him unnecessarily. So I changed out what substance Crow would release and threw the poison at Kiba instead. It’s only meant to disorient rather than actually cause damage, so he’s fine as well.”

“Then what did Crow release at Akamaru?” Iruka asked.

“You know that substance we developed to fill our stink-bombs?” Kiba asked. They all nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Temari remembered spending days with her brothers creating the worst smelling liquid ever to exist, with Iruka giving them encouragement. It was one of the first activities they did together after her and Kankuro had fully moved in with Iruka and Gaara, so it was a happy memory for her. Baki, who had been on the receiving end of multiple pranks that used their stink-bombs, did not look like he remembered it as fondly. “That’s what I used. It’s why I kept sending Crow out and then pulling him back. Switching vials in the middle of battle was rather difficult. I think I’ll try and modify Crow’s design to make it easier in case I need to do it again in the future.”

“You used Akamaru’s incredible sense of smell against him. Well done,” Iruka said, smiling at him. Kankuro responded with a pleased smile.

“Yes, it was a very effective battle strategy, but I have one question,” Baki cut in.

“What is it?” Kankuro asked.

“Why did you bring a vial of that disgusting stuff in the first place? And don’t even try to tell me you anticipated this exact set of circumstances. We both know that is not true.” When Kankuro didn’t reply right away, Baki narrowed his eye at him, “You were planning a prank weren’t you?”

“I would never!” Kankuro protested, trying (and failing since they all knew him so well) to look as innocent as possible. “How could you possibly accuse me of such a thing? Right, guys?”

He turned towards Temari, Gaara, and Iruka to back him up. Unfortunately for him, Iruka was laughing too hard to be of any help and Gaara made direct eye contact with Kankuro before pointedly turning away.

When Kankuro turned his beseeching gaze towards her, she snorted, “That face works a lot better on people who don’t know what a menace you are. Plus, if you’re trying to use cuteness to get your way out of trouble, don’t bother. We all know Gaara’s much cuter than you and he’s never been able to pull it off with Baki, so you certainly won’t.”

“Betrayed by my own sister, how will I ever recover?” Kankuro complained dramatically. "I'm definitely the cutest sibling."

Temari just laughed at him. Kankuro turned to Iruka, “Back me up here?” Iruka raised a single eyebrow at him. “Right yeah never mind that’s not going to happen,” Kankuro quickly decided. After looking at his other options: Temari (who had already stated her position), Gaara (who certainly wasn’t going to side with Kankuro here), and Baki (who still looked deeply unimpressed with Kankuro’s refusal to answer his question about his pranking plans), Kankuro decided this was not a fight he was going to win. “Well anyway, whatever my original plans were they are unimportant because I used up any materials that could possibly be used for pranking during the match and so that should no longer be a concern.”

Baki did not look convinced, which Temari couldn’t blame him for. If Kankuro was truly committed to pulling a prank, a little thing like loss of supplies would not slow him down for long. But they could deal with that later. Right now she was just proud of her little brother for winning his match and finding a way to do so that did not endanger their new friends. She reached over and patted him on the top of his hood, “Good job, Kankuro.” He beamed at her. Gaara nudged Kankuro with his shoulder and smiled at him. Baki was rolling his eye at their antics but when he caught her gaze, he smiled as well. And Iruka was obviously very happy with them. Temari still worried about the invasion plan and the rest of the exams, but for right now, she rested her elbows on the balcony railing, standing by her brothers. Her family was together and happy. Whatever happened next they would face together.

Notes:

Short chapter this time, so sorry about that. Next one should be longer and I think I will be able to wrap up the prelims then.

Sand sibling shenanigans are always fun to write. Temari is a very exasperated oldest siblings. To be fair, her brothers cause more trouble than two people really should be able to. Baki has accepted his fate as Iruka's co-parent and as the voice of reason in this family is trying to limit the pranks the kids do. He's not very successful, but he keep trying.

Chapter 13: Tenten

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Next match will be Hinata Hyuuga and Neji Hyuuga,” the proctor yelled out. Tenten inhaled rapidly and glanced over to her teammate. He showed no emotion at the news he would have to fight his cousin, walking towards the stairs without saying anything. He ignored Lee and Gai’s thumbs up and wishes of good luck. Hinata walked by a few seconds later and did her best to smile in response to their well wishes. Tenten’s eyes flickered over to the rest of Hinata’s team. Kiba was visibly worried and while Shino’s face didn’t give much away, Tenten knew him well enough to see that he was concerned as well. Kurenai reached out to ruffle both their hair, and said something that made Kiba smile and Shino nod. Tenten turned back towards the arena just as the referee signaled the beginning of the match.

Just as she expected, both of them immediately activated their Byakagans and came at each other with gentle fist techniques. Tenten had fought both of them many times over the years, and as much as she hated to say it, she knew Neji’s Byakagan was stronger. Hinata had thrown herself into training and greatly improved since Tenten had first fought her, but Neji still had the edge. Tenten tried to never hate someone for something they could not change. She had seen too much of that directed at Naruto. But it wasn’t the fact that Neji was a prodigy that made her dislike him. No, that was all his attitude. He treated her and particularly Lee like they were not worthy to be his teammates because they could not utilize chakra like he could and were not part of a clan. He seemed to view Gai as a joke, although he was never verbally disrespectful. Hinata had told them a little about how branch members were treated and while Tenten sympathized with what Neji must be feeling, that didn’t make it alright for him to take it out on them.

What annoyed her even more was that sometimes she would see glimpses of a Neji she could easily be friends with. When they were running on empty on a mission and he would make a sarcastic remark about Lee and Gai’s endless enthusiasm or when he would lie down in the grass next to her and Lee after a long training session, listening to tales of their training mishaps and smiling slightly. But then he’d apparently remember that he didn’t like them and he would revert back to his cold and distant self. They had been a team for over a year now and Tenten felt like she was no closer to Neji than she was in their academy days. She had hoped right after Naruto’s fight with Mizuki that they were making some progress. Neji had helped track down the rest of their friends and instructed them to meet at the hospital. But he never joined them and never mentioned the incident again. Tenten wasn’t Lee, who thought the best of everyone and would befriend anyone he could. She was more wary. She had had to protect Naruto and Lee for years from people who would take advantage of their friendly natures. She knew not everyone had to be or wanted to be her friend. But there was something about Neji that made her think they would be good friends if he would just let her in. And despite herself, she couldn’t bring herself to give up that hope, even with how Neji was behaving right now.

Hinata was obviously putting her all into the fight, showing the fruits of her training. But Neji was beating her back without much difficulty. If the fight continued like this, Hinata would lose and probably get hurt in the process. Tenten really hoped Hinata would not let that happen.

A few months ago Hinata had approached her while she was training alone and asked if Tenten would be willing to help her with something. Kiba had tagged along with her while Shino was nowhere to be seen, apparently off training on his own. Tenten agreed readily. “I’m still not as strong as my cousin or even my sister when it comes to the gentle fist techniques,” Hinata stated calmly. Tenten nodded, trusting that Hinata was in the best position to evaluate that. “While I’m definitely not giving up on my clan techniques, there may come a time when my best option would be to try something else. But I can’t practice other techniques where my clan might see me.” Tenten understood Hinata’s reason. She was already seen as weak by her clan. If they found her practicing non-clan techniques, they would say she was giving up on progressing as a Hyuuga and should not be the heir. Tenten ached for the weight her friend was bearing on her shoulders but was still confused about where she came in. She worked pretty much solely with weapons for a reason. She could sort of do some E-rank earth jutsus and by sort of do, she meant that no matter what jutsu she attempted or what hand signs she made, all she could do was make a bunch of holes appear around her opponent's feet for whatever reason. It usually worked for her, since it threw her opponent off-balance and she could easily finish them off, but she didn’t think she could really claim to be doing jutsus. Of course, she did anyway because it made Neji look so annoyed which was very entertaining, but she doubted any of that would help Hinata now.

“I’d be happy to help you, but I’m not sure what my role in this would be,” Tenten told Hinata. “I can’t help you learn jutsus.”

“That’s what Kiba is here for,” Hinata informed her. Up until that point, Kiba had been lying on the grass, petting Akamaru but he looked up at the sound of his name and gave them a lazy wave. “He can teach me earth jutsus. But learning them is not enough. I also need to know how to use them effectively. And you’re the best person for that.”

“Me?” Tenten questioned. “Why me?”

“Because you’re used to turning your opponent’s expectations against them,” Hinata explained. “I’ve seen you go against opponents who don’t know you well and you’ll use the fact that they expect you to attack with jutsus against them. You’ll start out with kunai and shuriken, weapons most shinobi use. You’ll pretend that you’re doing hand signs to distract them while you close the distance between you and then you’ll pull out a sword or spear or whatever bladed weapon you are currently obsessed with. Everyone will look at me and instantly know I’m a Hyuuga and so have an idea of what my techniques are. I need to learn how to use those expectations against them, like you do. Can you help me with that?” Hinata asked again.

Tenten was stunned. She had never thought of her strategy like that. It was true she waited to reveal her reliance on weapons since right now most of her weapons were close range. While she had realized she was taking her opponent’s off-guard, she had not thought through just how much she was upsetting their expectations. She mentally congratulated herself on stumbling on such a great strategy. And she did love the look on her opponent’s face when she beat them without using a single jutsu. Then she looked at Hinata who had dedicated her life to a clan who didn’t appreciate her, who was risking their disapproval to learn techniques to help her win when it seemed hopeless. “Of course, I’ll help you,” she told her. “I didn’t realize exactly what I was doing until you pointed it out, so I don’t know how much help I’ll really be, but I’ll do my best.”

And she did. Sadly with all of them often taking missions or having team training sessions, they couldn’t meet up all that frequently, but when they could, Tenten tried to make the most of it. She was familiar with the fighting styles of Byukagan users, having fought Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi and found it was pretty easy to identify moments when someone familiar with the Hyuuga’s techniques would expect Hinata to attack a certain way. None of the jutsus Kiba was teaching Hinata would overpower an opponent, but if used correctly and with the element of surprise, they could at least shift the balance of a fight. Of course, none of this would do Hinata any good if she was fighting someone who had never encountered a Byukagan user before, but Tenten trusted her friend had other ways of dealing with those types of opponents.

And so when Hinata dodged back instead of charging forward with a gentle fist strike and used a jutsu that would trap Neji’s feet in earth, Tenten smiled. Unfortunately, Neji’s quick reflexes meant he was able to partially avoid the trap, but she did get his right foot. The look on his face made Tenten laugh out loud. He looked shocked, yes. But even more than that, he looked annoyed that Hinata dared to use a different technique than their bloodline one. He was able to avoid the kunai Hinata sent at him but she managed to land a couple glancing blows to him before he was able to free his foot. The fight went back to both participants using gentle fist, although Tenten could see that Neji was on the lookout for Hinata using the same tactics again.

Tenten could see that Hinata’s breath was growing labored. Although Neji had not managed to land any hard blows to her torso yet, he had managed some serious blows to both her arms and struck her several times in her stomach. Hinata had managed to either mostly avoid those with taijutsu moves or move with them to limit the damage, but she would have trouble keeping up for much longer.

Sensing that weakness, Neji increased the intensity of his blows, knocking Hinata back several times. At this point, all she could do was defend herself. She was finally able to push Neji back from her and quickly formed a hand sign. Neji immediately jumped off the ground, expecting another earth jutsu. Instead Hinata hurled a kunai at him. With his limited mobility in the air, Neji was unable to dodge it and it hit him in the right arm. Hinata was already moving, before Neji came back down to the ground. She grabbed his left arm and used it to throw him past her shoulder. As he was focusing on protecting himself from the fast approaching ground, Hinata followed her throw up with a blow to his left shoulder using gentle fist. Neji hit the ground hard but recovered quickly, obviously quicker than Hinata had counted on.

Given how his left arm was hanging at his side, Tenten figured Hinata’s strike must have hit true and he would be unable to use that arm for a bit. If Neji’s style had been aggressive before, it was nothing compared to his intensity now. With just one arm, he was able to force Hinata on the defensive. Her previous injuries and the toll of the match was obviously catching up with her. Finally, his arm darted past Hinata’s guard and struck her hard in the stomach. Hinata dropped to her knees, looking like she was barely stopping herself from throwing up. Neji wasn’t done and hit her once more with full force in the chest. Hinata crumbled to the ground and the proctor quickly called the match over. Med-nins came in with a stretcher and carried Hinata off. Tenten wanted to make sure her friend was alright but knew she couldn’t leave. Thankfully, she did not have to worry for much longer. Akamaru raced over to Hinata and jumped up onto the stretcher, curling up next to Hinata’s legs. Shino nodded his head at her when she looked over to their team, so she knew he must have sent along some of his insects as well. Akamaru could keep Hinata company and Shino’s insects could report back updates on her well-being. She would be well taken care of.

Tenten didn’t say anything to Neji as he resumed leaning on the wall behind her. Lee hadn’t either, too focused on watching Hinata being carried away. And honestly, she didn’t even know what she would say. She couldn’t congratulate him, not after how the match ended. And yelling at him wouldn’t do any good either. He had shown over and over again that he didn’t respect her or Lee and barely respected Gai, it’s not like her opinion mattered to him. So she said nothing and waited for the next match to start.

But when she saw the next match-up, it felt like her heart stopped. She was fighting Naruto. Instead of his usual exuberant well wishes Lee just squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her, “Good luck,” he said at a lower volume than most people believed he possessed. Tenten just nodded and forced herself to start walking. There was no sense dragging this out.

She took her position across from Naruto, summoning up a small smile in response to his bright beaming grin. They had fought practice matches against each other but Tenten knew this was not the same.

“Begin,” the proctor called out and Tenten was instantly moving, unfurling one of her weapons scrolls and throwing everything she had at Naruto. He rolled and dodged, just like she had taught him and emerged without any injuries. He formed a familiar hand sign and suddenly there were three other Narutos in the arena. Two came at her right away, and she drew a sword, quickly dispersing them. But there were plenty more where that came from, and her stamina would wear down far before Naruto’s chakra reserves would. She dealt with the clones that were sent her way as efficiently as possible, trying to find an opening to attack the real Naruto.

Of course, knowing him, the true Naruto wouldn’t just be standing in the back. He could be clever when he put his mind to it, and he always did love the idea of using clones so that no one could know where he truly was. But all of the ones she attacked so far had popped so he wasn’t any of those either. Well if she couldn’t figure out the right one to focus her attacks on, she would just have to attack them all simultaneously and go from there. She dispatched the oncoming clones and jumped backwards to get some space. She then unfurled two of her remaining weapons scrolls and leapt into the air. Taking note of where the clones were positioned, she twisted her body in the air, being sure that at least one weapon would be sent in the direction of each Naruto. She knew she had struck true when she heard a yelp of pain. The clones had been dispersed and only one Naruto was left. He had a cut on his arm, which was already starting to heal. Tenten wasted no time in charging forward, unsheathing two of her swords that she had been saving.

Naruto scrambled out of the way, dodging her strikes as he retreated. He drew two kunai and used them to deflect some of her strikes while avoiding others. He had come a long way with his weapons forms to be able to do this with ease, Tenten noted in the back of her mind. Of course, in a match between a sword held in her hands and a kunai held in Naruto’s, Tenten knew which would break first. Naruto decided to change tactics before it could reach that point, swinging out his leg to try and knock her off her feet. While she was able to avoid him and stay upright, it did force her to retreat and give him time to summon more clones. And then she got to see how much Naruto really had grown.

Tenten didn’t use clones. She didn’t have the chakra control needed for them, and even regular ones ate up far too much of her already limited chakra reserves. But she had studied the theory behind them and knew that controlling multiple at the same time could be tricky. Clones were semi-autonomous and so if the original just wanted them to follow simple commands, it wouldn’t be an issue. But coordinating between multiple clones was much more difficult. And that’s what Naruto was managing to do. Before, his clones had mainly attacked her on their own or in pairs, but there had not been any significant teamwork between them. Now, at least ten different clones were coordinating their attacks with each other. One would take damage to distract her while the others attacked her back. They were using taijutsu moves that Tenten knew Naruto had spent months mastering. They weren’t giving her a moment of peace to formulate a strategy. She was running out of weapons and exhaustion was hitting her hard. Her mind raced, trying to find a solution, but nothing came to her.

And then she went down. She had bent backwards to avoid an upcoming punch, since her position would not have allowed her to side step it in time. She saw the kick coming but couldn’t do anything as her legs were knocked out from under her. And multiple clones were piling on top of her, making sure she could not escape. She had the insane urge to laugh remembering how her, Lee, and Naruto would wrestle with each other on the floor of their apartment, often ending up in similar positions. “Winner, Naruto,” the announcement came. The clones instantly dissipated and she pushed herself to her feet. And there was Naruto. He looked flushed with victory, but he wasn’t smiling, not yet.

She walked up to him and pulled him into a hug, resting her forehead against his, “I’m proud of you.” She would mourn her loss later, right now she needed to reassure her little brother. A wide grin broke over his face and he laughed. The walked up the stairs together before Naruto broke away to go talk to his team and yell at Sasuke about how he told him he’d win, stupid. And Tenten made her way over to her team. To Neji who didn’t even glance up at her. To Lee who pulled her into a hug right away, “You were so strong,” he told her gently. “I’m proud to have you as my friend and teammate.” She let herself rest her head on his shoulder for a minute before drawing away. There were still two more matches to go, one of which would be Lee’s. She couldn’t break down here.

And then the next match-up was revealed. Lee would be fighting Gaara. She reached over and squeezed his hand, telling him, “Show them what you can do.” He replied with an enthusiastic thumbs up and yelled to Gai that he would win before jumping over the railing to the arena below. Of course he did. Lee wouldn’t let a little thing like the perfectly good staircase a few feet away get in the way of getting to his match in the quickest way possible.

Gai had shown a degree of tact he usually didn’t and had hung back when Tenten returned. Now he stepped up beside her. “It was a good fight. You utilized multiple weapons in a way that I’ve seen many chunins and even jonin struggle with. You never backed down.”

“But in the end it wasn’t enough was it?” Tenten said evenly. “I couldn’t match Naruto’s power.”

“No, you could not,” Gai replied. “You might not be able to for many years. It is not an easy thing, to be a genius of hard work.” And then he focused on the battle that was beginning below them.

“A genius of hard work, huh?” Tenten said, finding herself smiling. It was a title Gai had used on Lee before, but to know that he extended it to her almost made her forget the bitter sting of losing. They’d talk more later. For now, she had a match to watch.

Gaara had mentioned he used sand to fight, but he hadn’t elaborated on what that entailed and Tenten hadn’t been quite sure what to expect. The sand barrier was not what she had anticipated, but it was very effective. Even with all of Lee’s strength and quickness, he was unable to pierce it. And it didn’t look like it was straining Gaara at all to keep it up. She wondered how much focus it took for him to use it. And then Gaara went on the offensive. It seemed like there was far more sand than what he could have carried in his gourd flinging itself at Lee in waves. He avoided most of the hits, but did get slammed into the wall a couple times. Not that that would make Lee to go down, but it certainly wasn’t good.

Tenten was unsurprised when Lee flung himself up towards one of the pillars when he was avoiding another wave of sand. He needed time to take a breath and develop a strategy. She was equally as unsurprised when Gai yelled to him to take his weights off. Lee had been wearing the weights basically since Gai had started training them. She honestly didn’t know how heavy they were now and she was a little afraid to find out. Neither Gai or Lee had ever been accused of being reasonable people, particularly in regards to their training regimes. As long as Lee did not put his foot through their living room floor again, he could wear as many weights as he wanted.

Her only reaction to Lee removing his weights was to take a step back. Neji shot her an odd look when she backed up to the wall, but she ignored him. She wanted to be in the best position to see as many people’s faces as possible. She had been waiting for other people to find out about this for a long time, and their reactions did not disappoint. Seeing the shock on people’s faces made her laugh. Neither her or Lee were strangers to being underestimated and it was so satisfying to see the disbelief on people’s faces when they realized how much weight Lee was carrying around on a daily basis. Even their friends seemed shocked. Tenten made a mental note to check the size of the hole his weights caused once the matches were over. It would be a fun tidbit to reminisce on later.

And then Lee was moving at speeds that took even her breath away. At that point, she had figured out that the sand barrier must be an automatic response. Gaara couldn’t even see Lee move, let alone react in time to block his punches. So the barrier must be doing that on its own. Still, it wasn’t quite enough. And then Lee opened the first gate. She knew about the gates. Lee had rushed home and told her about them the same day Gai had told him about them. As was typical of Lee, he didn’t shy away from telling her everything: the benefits and the disadvantages. And part of her had resented Gai for teaching Lee a technique that could end up destroying him. And they would destroy him. Lee was too good, too kind, he loved too fiercely. If he had a technique that could save the people he cared for, he would use it even knowing it would kill him, either right away as with the eighth gate or little by little as the other gates did. But Tenten also knew that Lee wanted to be a shinobi more than anything and the gates would help him reach that goal. She practiced until her hands bled, forwent sleep to keep up with her peers, and still felt like she was constantly three steps behind. Lee was the same way, if not worse. She was pretty sure if they weren’t there to drag each other home, both of them would be collapsing from exhaustion in the training fields most nights and just sleeping there. So she couldn’t begrudge Gai teaching Lee techniques that would help him grow stronger, even if they could kill him. Lee and her had been very aware that they would be putting their lives on the line even more than most shinobi when they decided to pursue this path. She wouldn’t dishonor Lee’s choices but insisting she knew what was best for him.

And honestly, seeing Lee just barely miss Gaara’s face with his fist before pivoting away almost faster than her eyes could follow was incredibly satisfying. This was the power Lee had been developing, ignoring the jeers of many of the villagers. And it would only get more impressive from here. Lee began his first lotus sequence, kicking Gaara higher and higher into the air, before trapping him in the wrist wraps and bringing them both down towards the ground. Gaara’s sand gourd dispersed to cushion his fall, but he still slammed into the ground hard. Lee landed a few yards away, panting heavily. The toll that move put on his body was immense. He wouldn’t be able to fight for much longer. But he would have to because Gaara was getting back up. Slowly, using his sand to support himself, he stood. He was bleeding from his head and looked shaken up. It was certainly a heavy blow, but he looked more shaky than Tenten had expected, considering how much the sand had sheltered him. Gaara seemed to recover well though, launching several waves of sand at Lee in rapid succession. Lee was able to avoid most of them, but one slammed him into the wall. Tenten sucked in a breath, silently urging him to get back to his feet. And he did, looking more determined, although he was holding one of his arms gingerly. Tenten was not surprised when he opened the second and third gates in quick succession. He would definitely need to go to the hospital after this match.

And finally Lee was able to break through the sand shield. He landed a punch to Gaara’s face that sent him staggering back a few steps. But he didn’t seem to actually be damaged by it. Tenten noticed something crumbling off Gaara’s face. Sand she guessed, given his whole deal. So he must be using another shielding layer, this one forming over him like a second skin. Just when she thought Lee was getting somewhere. Outpacing the sand barrier was difficult enough, but it would probably take quite a few hits to break down the sand layer on Gaara’s skin. Lee of course responded by opening even more gates: the fourth and fifth, reaching his current limit. Tenten had only seen the aftermath of the fifth gate once and it was not something she was eager to see again. He’d have to be in bed recovering for at least a day and Lee for all his amazing traits was a terrible patient. He couldn’t stand the thought of doing nothing and always pushed himself too hard and too fast.

Lee moved into another lotus attack, bringing Gaara up into the air with him again. This time, when he sent the two of them plummeting towards the ground again, he didn’t let go of Gaara until the last second. He must have been trying to stop him from cushioning his fall like he did last time. It worked to some extent. The sand shield had partially gathered beneath them and Gaara was able to deploy his gourd when Lee released him, but it did not cushion him as completely as it did last time. Tenten guessed he had to have least broken the arm he had fallen on. Of course, waiting that long meant Lee couldn’t completely halt his momentum either and he slammed into the ground with an audible sound. Neither of them was able to get up for several seconds. But they both did rise, however shaky they were on their feet.

Gaara attacked first. And something had changed. It wasn’t that she got the sense Gaara had been going easy on Lee before, but there was an intensity to him and his attacks that hadn’t been there before. She wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it definitely was not good for Lee. While the attacks Gaara had used before were mainly broad waves, these attacks were more concentrated, like Gaara was making spears out of sand and hurling them towards Lee. And Lee’s body had to be screaming at him to stop moving. He didn’t give up because he was Lee. He kept dodging and trying to close the distance between him and Gaara to unleash another attack. But Gaara was understandably wary of Lee getting anywhere close to him and drove him back with his sand attacks time and time again. Then the end came all too quickly. One of the sand attacks slammed into Lee’s shoulder and he went down hard. Before he could get back to his feet, the sand rushed over him, holding him down. It covered every inch of him besides his face.

She could see Lee still trying to fight it, but he was exhausted and the sand was too strong. Once the proctor was satisfied that Lee could not be able to rise again he announced, “Winner, Gaara.” Gaara immediately retracted his sand and went over to where Lee was laying. Tenten was moving before she realized what she was doing, rushing to her oldest friend’s side. Lee was sitting up by the time she reached him and she put her hand on his chest to prevent him from standing up.

“What are your injuries?” she asked in her sternest tone, ignoring Gaara who was hovering by Lee’s other side for now.

“Beyond the normal exhaustion and aches from opening the fifth gate, I think my right arm is broken and a few of my ribs are at least bruised,” Lee answered. Tenten nodded, examining Lee herself. She may not have the chakra control necessary to be a healer, but she did have some training as a field medic so could spot and treat some injuries. She knew Lee would never intentionally lie to her about his status. While with most people he would try and downplay his injuries, he had made her a promise that he would always be honest with her, and Lee kept his promises. But the blowback from opening that many gates meant Lee might not be as aware of his body as he usually was, and there was a possibility that there was more wrong than he realized. “You’re going with the med-nins right away,” Tenten instructed. “And you should actually listen to them this time. I need to know that you’re alright, Lee.” This was by no means the worst Tenten had ever seen him, but opening the gates always carried a certain amount of risk. Tenten wouldn't stop him from using them, but she could damn well make sure he was taken care of after he did.

Lee reached out and squeezed her hand, “Alright, Tenten. “You'll tell me about Choji’s match later? And congratulate everyone for me?”

Tenten smiled softly, “I will. You just focus on resting. I’m sure everyone will want to see you soon.” Lee nodded and laid down again. The med-nin brought a stretcher over and carried him off the field. Only then did Tenten turn to Gaara. Based on the way he was holding his right arm, it was definitely broken. And that head injury didn’t look too good either.

“You should also see a med-nin,” Tenten told him. “I know you are welcome to go to Leaf’s hospital, but if you’d rather have one of your med-nins look you over, you are free to do that. Just do it soon. Head wounds can be nasty.” She noticed that Temari had approached them as she was talking. Good, she knew Temari would make sure her brother was taken care of.

“He’ll be alright, won’t he, Tenten?” Gaara suddenly asked, staring at the doors they had carried Lee through.

“Of course, he will,” Tenten responded, a little confused about how shaken Gaara sounded. Maybe the head wound was affecting him more than she realized. “He’s gotten worse injuries in training. Lee’s tough and he’ll be back on his feet in no time. So please get yourself taken care of too. Lee will want to hear that you are alright as well.”

Gaara was looking at her in something she could only interpret as shock. She didn’t know what the big deal was. It was a good fight and as much as she hated seeing Lee get hurt, she was glad Gaara hadn’t held back. Lee deserved to be taken seriously. “I warn you, he’ll probably bug you for a rematch as soon as he is able. Feel free to say no to him if you don’t want to. He forgets that not everyone is as crazy as he is.”

Gaara looked even more confused, “He’ll want to fight me again? And you’re alright with that?”

Tenten nodded, “Of course. There aren’t many people he can use the gates against. Although he will limit himself to the first one for regular spars. And why wouldn’t I be alright with it? You treated him with proper respect and didn’t try and hurt him more than necessary. That’s more than I can say for most of the people we went to the academy with.”

Gaara still looked quite confused and overwhelmed. Had he reached the point where he was having trouble understanding things because of his head injury? If so, he really should get that looked over.

“We’ll talk more later,” Temari finally cut in, gently taking Gaara by the non-injured arm. “I’ll make sure he gets himself examined by the med-nin.”

Tenten waved to them as Temari led her brother out the doors. She hurried back up the stairs towards Gai. There was only one match left and she forced herself to focus, knowing Lee would want a full description of how Choji did. Not that it was much of a match. Tsurugi had some technique that allowed him to stretch his limbs and bend in ways people were not meant to bend. He attacked right away, trying to wrap himself around Choji’s neck. Unfortunately for him, Choji had been training his partial body expansion techniques quite a bit in the lead up to the exams. Before he could wrap himself around Choji, he was met with a giant fist blocking his path. Choji wasted no time in punching Tsurugi as hard as he could. All of his stretching accomplished nothing if he was met with overwhelming force apparently. While Tsurugi was trying to recover, Choji gathered as much of his body as he could into his fist and started to squeeze. Not as hard as he could, Choji wouldn’t do that. But Tsurugi didn’t know that and being crushed was apparently enough of a threat to make him willing to admit defeat.

And then the preliminaries were over and with them her hopes of making chunin this year as well as the hopes of many of her friends. She needed to go visit Lee but before that she had to check on Naruto. He glanced up as she came over and immediately ran up to her. “Is Lee alright? Can we go visit him now?”

“He’s fine,” she assured Naruto. “A few broken bones but nothing the med-nin can’t fix easily enough. And yes, I’m heading over there now. But,” she caught him before he could run off towards the hospital, “you should go out with your team. All three of you are going to the final round, that’s very impressive. You should celebrate.”

She could see Naruto wanted to-wanted to go tell Teuchi all about their fights and surely get multiple bowls of ramen. But he was at his core a good person and a good friend. And as proud as she was of him for that, it was making it difficult to execute her plan. “Naruto,” she said, leaning over to place her hand on his shoulder, “Lee will probably be resting for quite some time. You know how healing tires him out. I want to be there just in case he wakes up. But he would want you to have fun instead of sitting around waiting for him to wake up. You can come see him first thing tomorrow, alright?”

She could see Naruto thinking it over before finally agreeing.

“Good, now make Kakashi buy you dinner. You deserve it after how hard the three of you have worked.” While that made Naruto (and Sakura) sufficiently distracted trying to extort Kakashi into buying the food, Sasuke was still watching her thoughtfully. She raised an eyebrow at him, asking him what he wanted. He didn’t say anything but shot her one final glance before turning to his teammate and joining in their antics.

“I’m going to visit Lee,” she told Gai.

He nodded, “Would you like company?”

“Not right now,” she told him. “But could you come by later?”

He gave her his largest smile, “Of course. Anything for my precious students.”

Tenten nodded her thanks. She walked past Neji, not planning on stopping. If he dared say anything about how Lee’s efforts were useless and fate had already decided their paths, she would break his jaw even if it would make Lee disappointed in her.

“Tenten,” he called out softly.

“Yes?” she bit out, turning to face him.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “It was a good fight. Tell Lee that?”

She nodded and sharply turned to leave. She did not have time to deal with whatever was going on with him right now.

Luckily no one else stopped her and she was able to make it to the hospital quickly. Lee was already settled in his room, and like she told Naruto, was sleeping when she arrived. She pulled up a chair beside his bed and let out the breath she felt like she had been holding since her loss. She would never begrudge Naruto his success. And she hadn’t lied when she told him she was proud of him. He deserved all the positive recognition he could get. She didn’t resent him for beating her. But that didn't stop her from wishing things could have gone differently. Other people’s judgment wasn’t what bothered her. She knew they would hear whispers about how her and Lee were just deluding themselves into thinking they could compete with real shinobi, those who used jutsus. Never mind that multiple clan kids had gotten knocked out in this round as well. Her and Lee were the ones reaching beyond their station and no one would let them forget it. But she had dealt with those people for years and had a thick skin. What was truly terrible was the voice inside of her that was wondering if they were right, if she was a useless dreamer who would get herself and her team killed. She couldn’t compete with the raw power of many of her peers. After all her training, was she still just a little girl wanting something out of her reach?

She wasn't aware Lee had woken up until she felt his hand cover hers. “Lee, how are you feeling?”

He smiled brightly at her, “I am fine. The med-nins said the breaks weren’t bad and I could be released tomorrow if everything continues to heal well.”

Tenten let out a relieved breath, “Good. But you do realize that means you actually have to listen to their instructions until they release you, right? No getting out of bed to practice because you’re bored, alright?”

Lee sighed but eventually gave in and promised not to practice at least until he was out of the hospital. “How was Choji’s fight?” he asked.

“Quick,” Tenten replied. “His opponent could stretch himself and bend in many ways, but he was not prepared for Choji’s partial body expansion jutsu. Choji was able to grip most of his body in his hand and keep him from escaping. He gave up pretty quickly after that.”

“Well I’m sure he’ll get a more worthwhile opponent next round,” Lee commented. “Everyone left is strong.” Tenten agreed. She knew first hand the strength of their friends and the siblings from Sand were all strong in their own ways. The fights next round would certainly be interesting.

“Naruto is out celebrating,” she told Lee. “He wanted to come check on you, but I told him to go.”

Lee nodded, “I am glad he is taking this opportunity to celebrate his accomplishments. He has come so far.”

“He really has,” she agreed. And she couldn’t stop the tears that sprang to her eyes. “I-”
Lee just tugged her hand until she was lying down next to him. She laid her head on his shoulder, being careful of his injuries. “I’m happy for him, really I am,” she said. “I’m glad he can advance to fight in front of the whole village and show them how capable he is.”

“I don't doubt that,” Lee told her. “But it’s alright to be upset that you are not advancing and that in no way takes away from your pride in him. I know how much you wanted to become a chunin because I wanted it just as much. I’m proud of how I fought. I’m glad I got the opportunity to fight Gaara who was a worthy opponent. I did everything I could to win and I still fell short. It’s not a good feeling, is it?”

Tenten let out a wet laugh, “No, it’s not. But it’s not like we’ve never had setbacks before.” Sometimes she felt like her life was just one obstacle after another. “And none of the ones we’ve encountered before have made us give up and this one won’t either. We’ll get stronger and they won’t know what hit them in the next exams.”

Lee nodded, “If we just keep practicing our efforts will pay off.” He yawned loudly before he could say anything else.

“Alright enough talk for today,” Tenten decided. “It’s been an exhausting few days and we both need sleep.” Lee nodded solemnly. He took sleep as seriously as other aspects of his training routine, knowing how necessary it was to keep his body in top condition. However, he did not move the arm he had curled around her, and honestly, she did not try very hard to make him move it. She did not want to go back to their apartment by herself. So she decided to stay, just until Lee fell asleep. She’d get up and leave any second now… any second…

She didn’t even notice when she drifted off to sleep, but the man who had come to bring his beloved students food did. He carefully set the food on the bedside table, before fetching a blanket to cover both of them. He’d see to it that they were not disturbed. After all, this was a place of recovery and they would recover best together.

Notes:

The preliminaries are finally over! A big thank you to my friend Rachel to helped me figure out how I wanted to change the match-ups. They suggested the Naruto vs. Tenten match-up without knowing how I had developed their relationship in this series and I went oh that is a wonderful opportunity for angst and ran with it.

Shukaku was too busy during the first part of the fight laughing at Gaara for getting his ass handed to him to be of any help.

The contrast between Gaara who had just truly hurt someone he cared about with his sand for the first time since Iruka all those years ago and expects people to hate him for it and Tenten, who knows Lee injuries himself more in training on a monthly basis was interesting to play with.

Gaara: Oh no, they're going to hate me for what I did to Lee.

Tenten: Nice fight, I'm going make sure he's okay and I warn you he will not stop bugging you for more matches in the future.

Gaara: What?

Tenten: Well obviously we wouldn't be mad at him so any confusion must be due to the head wound.

Chapter 14

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Iruka didn’t absorb much of what the proctor said after the preliminaries concluded. He wasn’t too worried about it. Baki was there and he was sure to remember any important information and could relay it to Iruka later. And he had other things on his mind like Gaara. Gaara who had hardly even had a cut let alone a broken bone. While it was tempting to go with Temari to get Gaara to Mari, Iruka knew he couldn’t leave just yet. He wanted to keep an eye on the imposter and try and see what they would do next. He trusted Temari to take care of Gaara and the imposter was still the main threat to the kids’ safety.

They were dismissed soon afterwards, Iruka catching enough to know they had a month before the final round would take place. Good, more time for him to form and carry out his plan.

Iruka waited until the Sound team began to leave before following them with Baki and Kankuro close behind. While exiting the building, Iruka noticed that the Sound team had paused a little ways away and seemed to be discussing something.

“Kankuro, head back to the apartment for now,” he instructed him quietly. “We’ll meet you there soon.” Kankuro’s eyes darted over to the Sound team, but he didn’t otherwise react.

“You should go with him,” Baki told him.

When Iruka started to protest, he continued, “Anyone who has ever met you knows how much you fuss over Gaara. Not going to him now will look suspicious. I can keep an eye on them and report back.”

Iruka thought it over for a minute before admitting Baki was probably right. “Be careful,” he warned him.

“I will,” Baki promised. “I should catch up with you shortly. Try to keep Kankuro from giving into his urge to prank someone on the way back."

Iruka laughed at that, while Kankuro protested he would never. Baki soon hid himself in the shadows of the building while Iruka and Kankuro turned towards their apartment. They did not talk much on the way home, both focused on getting back and making sure Gaara was alright. Iruka took a deep breath as he stood before the front door. Gaara was tough and should heal quickly due to Shukaku. Mari was the best medic he knew. He would recover without difficulty. He did not need to prepare himself for bad news because Gaara would be fine. He threw open the door and strode inside.

“Your kid’s an idiot,” was the remark that greeted him as he crossed the threshold, with Kankuro at his heels.

“Hello to you too, Mari. How are you doing? Thank you for the informative update on Gaara,” Iruka snarked back. If Mari was acting like this, it must mean Gaara was fine.

Mari just rolled her eyes at his antics, “I don’t get paid for my bedside demeanor. I tell it like it is. And the truth is Gaara is an idiot.”

“What did he do?” Iruka asked.

“Come see for yourself,” she waved him further into the apartment. “I’m sure he’s still doing it.”

Iruka peeked into the bedroom he was sharing with Gaara. The boy was sitting up in the bed, with Temari sitting on the edge of it and Kankuro quickly took a seat on a chair beside the bed. Gaara’s head was bandaged and his arm was in a splint, but other than that he looked alright. As Iruka watched, Gaara lifted his good arm up to poke at his head and then his broken arm, letting out an ouch each time, before Temari grabbed his hand and pulled it back down.

“Mari told you to stop that. It’s not good for the healing process and it’s not like it’s going to feel differently than the last ten times you’ve done it,” Temari told him, sounding exasperated.

"But, Temari, it hurts,” Gaara whined. ‘I’ve never felt anything like that before.” Despite his complaints, Gaara sounded like he was fascinated with the feeling.

“Welcome to the world of regular shinobi,” Kankuro told him. “Now as entertaining as it is to see you act like this, please stop before Temari blows a fuse.”

“He’s right,” Iruka cut in. “Poking your wounds is not good for you, Gaara.”

“Iruka!” Gaara lit up. “Hi!”

“Hello, Gaara,” Iruka replied, amused at his response. “I’m guessing you have a bit of a concussion.”

“He sure does,” Mari told him. “I was just getting ready to heal that. I wanted to examine his arm and head wound first to make sure there weren’t any complications. There aren’t. The arm is a clean break and with his body and my healing, it should be fine by tomorrow. The head wound looks worse than it really is and even the concussion is mild. I’m interested to meet the person who was able to throw you around this much.”

“Lee is very strong,” Gaara said solemnly. Then he bit his lip, looking worried, “But he was hurt quite badly. Do you think he’s mad at me?”

“Tenten said he wasn’t,” Temari pointed out. “In fact she said he would want to fight you again. And she knows him best.”

Gaara nodded, although he did not look convinced. His eyes flickered to Iruka before glancing down at the blankets. Oh, Iruka realized what the problem was. Gaara hadn’t used his sand that seriously against someone he cared about since he had injured Iruka all those years ago. Even in his spars with Temari and Kankuro, Iruka could tell he was holding himself back, too afraid of hurting his siblings to use his full power. For him to have actively directed the sand in a way that injured Lee must make him afraid that he was reverting to the person he had been before Iruka had met him.

“Temari’s right,” Iruka told him gently. “I’m sure Lee has spent his entire life surrounded by people who didn’t take him seriously as a fighter. If you did not try your hardest to win, it would have been a grave insult to him. He’s physically hurt now, yes, but he’ll recover. I’m sure he will still want to be your friend. If you had refused to go all out, he may not have been injured but I know he would have been hurt by what he would have interpreted as your lack of respect for him and his resolve.”

Gaara accepted Iruka’s words and allowed Mari to push him into lying down. She ran her hands, now glowing green, over his head for a few minutes. “Alright, that should take care of it. You might feel more tired then usual for the next day or so, but do let me know if you have any other symptoms such as vomiting or headaches. For now, I want you to get some rest.”

Gaara nodded, curling up in the bed, already halfway asleep. Temari patted him on the shoulder and Kankuro told him good night before they both left the room with Mari. Iruka leaned over to kiss Gaara on the forehead, and then pulled a blanket up over his shoulders. “Rest well,” he said before quietly closing the door behind him.

Iruka entered the living room just as Baki opened the door to the apartment. “Well I’ve got to head out now,” Mari commented when Baki did not immediately say anything. “Let me know if Gaara has any complications, but he really should be fine.”

“Thank you, Mari. We’ll be in touch soon,” Iruka assured her. She nodded and left.

“Come on, Kankuro. Let’s get started on dinner,” Temari said, dragging her brother towards the kitchen. While Iruka was grateful for the privacy, he knew he should not leave them alone too long. Although they had come a long way from the rice incident all those years ago, all three siblings continued to be trouble magnets if left alone in the kitchen.

Iruka threw up his silencing seals. He didn’t bother to block off the kitchen. The kids would learn whatever information Baki had soon enough, and with the amount of noise they were making, he doubted they would be able to hear anything anyway. “Well?” he asked.

“The Sound team went back to their apartment without any detours,” Baki reported. “I didn’t dare get close enough to see what was going on inside, but shortly after they arrived I saw someone leave from a window and head in the direction of the Kazekage’s quarters. But I lost sight of them before I could confirm their destination.” Iruka nodded, glad Baki had chosen to play it safe. Still it was frustrating. The only solid proof they had of the imposter was from Iruka’s ability. But that didn’t do them any good if the people they were trying to convince did not trust Iruka. Baki and him had been trying to come up with a plan to confirm the imposter’s identity, but nothing they had come up with would be safe enough for Tsume to agree to it. Beyond that, confirming the imposter’s identity did them little good if the imposter realized that they knew. This person was powerful enough to take out the Kazekage with only one accomplice and had shown no difficulty keeping up the disguise. Plus he had a hoard of Sand shinobi who would follow his directives, believing him to be the Kazekage. Not to downplay his or Baki’s skills, but if the imposter decided they wanted them dead, chances were good that they would get their wish. So they not only needed to confirm the imposter’s identity, they needed to do it without anyone realizing what they were doing. It was not an easy situation.

Iruka’s first thought had been to take something that the imposter had recently touched. He had no doubt that would be enough for the Inuzuka’s noses. And Scorpion probably could grab something without anyone noticing. But he wasn’t willing to risk the plan on a probably just yet. They needed Scorpion to remain above suspicion, since he was their only way to gain information about the imposter’s movements. Iruka was sure Scorpion was already being watched closely due to his friendship with Iruka. He didn’t want to risk his friend or the plan when there was still time to come up with a better option. Of course, all the time in the world didn’t do him any good if he couldn’t think up another damn plan.

“What do you think, Iruka?” he heard Kankuro asked him.

“Hmm?” he responded, drawing himself out of his thoughts. Baki and him had ended their conversation after Baki’s report on the movements of the Sound team and gone to help the kids in the kitchen. Thankfully nothing had been burned in their absence and they were able to quickly finish a simple dinner.

“If I fought Shino who would win?” Kankuro repeated his questions. “And not in that terrible arena we just fought in. If we fought someplace where both of us could hide and fight from a distance like we prefer to. I wonder if he’s resistant to any of the poisons I use. All of mine are plant based, so I wouldn’t think so but I have no idea how his thing with his insects works. “

“It would certainly be an interesting fight. I think it would depend on which one of you was able to find a way to track the other first,” Iruka told him.

“Probably.” Kankuro agreed. “I wish we could have seen more of his techniques. He mentioned that he could use his insects for tracking, diversions, and even carrying small items.”

“It is a shame that we won’t get to see him fight more,” Iruka agreed. “Maybe you could convince him to practice with…” Iruka trailed off, his mind caught on the last task Kankuro had listed. “Wait, you said his insects can carry items for him?”

“Yeah, I mean nothing big and they usually have to form a swarm in order to do so, but he’ll sometimes use them to carry messages or other small tasks,” Kankuro explained. Even Kankuro with his insatiable curiosity knew better to ask why Iruka wanted to know when he had that look on his face. Iruka was planning something, and the less the kids knew about it the better until Iruka was confident his plan would work.

They moved to discussing other topics, although still centered around the chunin exams. Kankuro and Temari were speculating about what the match-ups would be and who would advance. Once they exhausted that topic, they moved on to planning their training routines for the next month with Baki. While they wanted to keep practicing in order to be at their best for the finals, part of their advantage, particularly for Kankuro, was that not many people from Leaf had seen them fight and so would have difficulty predicting their movements. So they needed to find somewhere to train away from prying eyes. Iruka honestly would have suggested going somewhere outside the village, but they needed to stay nearby to keep an eye on the imposter.

Iruka woke up the next morning to Gaara shaking him, “Can we go visit Lee now?”

Iruka yawned and sat up, “Are you feeling well enough to go out?”

Gaara nodded, “Mari said I should be able to resume light activities today and I feel much better. And I want to see Lee.”

Knowing that this would hang over Gaara’s head until he assured himself that Lee did not hate him, Iruka agreed. They had a small breakfast and then headed over to the hospital. Kankuro tagged along with them, while Temari and Baki decided to use the time to practice. Iruka promised to pass on their hopes for Lee’s swift recovery.

Luckily the hospital was not difficult to locate and surprisingly the shinobi behind the front desk told them where Lee’s room was without too much trouble. Iruka wondered if Gai had perhaps mentioned that some Sand shinobi might stop by. He had no doubt any foreign shinobi wandering into Sand’s hospital would be met with kunai rather than smiles.

As they drew closer to Lee’s room and heard the sheer amount of noise emanating from it, Iruka started wondering if perhaps the hospital staff was hoping they were there to murder someone so they could get back their peace and quiet.

Gaara stopped just outside the view of the door. Iruka waited for him to gather his wits and when nothing happened for a few moments, he nudged him gently. Gaara glanced up at him and Iruka smiled reassuringly. Gaara nodded sharply and quickly covered the remaining distance to Lee’s room, as if he was worried that if he did not do it as quickly as possible, he would lose his nerve. However, once he was actually at the threshold of the room, he once again hesitated.

This time Iruka’s intervention was not necessary. “Gaara,” Lee’s voice called out, “come in, come in. Thank you for visiting me.”

Gaara entered the room with Iruka and Kankuro right behind him. Lee was sitting up in the hospital bed. His left arm was contained in a sling, but he had no other visible injuries. Tenten was seated on the side of the bed and Gai was leaning against the wall. The last member of their team was not present.

“How are you feeling?” Gaara asked, slowly moving closer to Lee’s bedside.

“Great,” Lee assured him, “the med-nin said I could be released later today.”

“If you promised not to train for the next three days,” Tenten cut in sternly. “And you will keep your promise.” Lee nodded obediently.

“They were already able to heal my ribs. The break in my arm was a little jagged, so it took them a while longer to deal with that and they want to make sure it is fully healed before I do anything strenuous,” Lee reported. “How are your injuries? Tenten said she thought you might be experiencing some side-effects from your concussion.”

Gaara seemed just as confused as Iruka about what side-effects Tenten might have seen. She only talked to Gaara briefly before he left, and Temari had relayed the contents of that conversation to Iruka, so he was not sure what Tenten had seen as symptoms.

“Mari healed me up,” Gaara replied. “She said I should rest as much as I felt I needed to for the next few days, but otherwise I should be fine.”

“That is good to hear. I greatly enjoyed our match and would have hated for you to have been permanently hurt because of it. Once we are both fully recovered we can spar again,” Lee eagerly offered.

“Lee, Gaara is a finalist. He probably is doing some special training to prepare for that. Don’t just assume he wants to spar with you right away,” Tenten chided him.

“Right,” Lee said, “you don’t have to spar with me if you don’t want to. But I would greatly appreciate it if you did. You are a very challenging opponent and I wish to test my strength against you again.”

Gaara’s face was doing the exact same thing he used to do when he was younger and someone did something he did not understand. With his fairly isolated upbringing, many of the nuances of social situations escaped him and he often did not know how to respond to people. He had gotten better over the years and Iruka hadn’t seen that face in awhile. This time, he really couldn’t blame it on Gaara generally not understanding people. No, this time it was all due to Lee’s incomprehensibleness.

“I’m sure Gaara would like that too,” Kankuro spoke up, used to covering for his brother’s social hiccups. “We are working on developing training routines for the next month, so he’ll get back to you soon on whether sparring with you would fit into his plan or if it would be better to wait until another time. Rights, Gaara?”

Gaara responded to the signal at least, “Yes, I will let you know soon.” He hesitated for a moment before adding, “I am truly glad I did not hurt you too badly.”

“Of course you did not,” Lee said brightly. “I will be back in top shape in no time.” He sent Gaara one of those enthusiastic thumbs up that he and Gai favored.

Gaara finally let out an honest smile, “I look forward to it. We should let you rest,” he said, turning towards the door.

“Alright,” Tenten replied, glaring at Lee who Iruka was sure was about to say he did not need to rest. “I know you’ll be busy with your training, but come by and see us if you have the time. We enjoyed our dinners with you.”

“We enjoyed them as well,” Iruka told her. “We’ll be finalizing routines over the next few days, but after that we’ll have to have you over for dinner again.”

“We’d like that,” Tenten said. “Take care.”

They waved their good-byes and left the hospital. Gaara spent the entire trip back to the apartment in a daze. “He really doesn’t hate me,” he said, snapping out of it once they entered the apartment. There was something like wonder in his tone. “I didn’t ruin our friendship. I felt the sand surrounding him at the end of the match and it reminded me of the way I killed my third caretaker. I covered her with sand and crushed her.”

“But you didn’t crush Lee,” Iruka pointed out, gently leading Gaara over to the couch. Kankuro displayed a sense of tact he was usually without and vanished into the kitchen. Making tea, Iruka guessed, based on the noises. “You weren’t trying to kill him. Both of you went into the fight knowing the potential consequences.”

Gaara just curled up against Iruka’s side and did not say anything more. Iruka stroked his hair and hummed under his breath. He could wait for Gaara to figure out what he needed to say. For now, hopefully this was helping. Kankuro entered the room a little while later, carrying two cups of tea, which he placed within arm’s reach of Iruka. He nodded his thanks. Kankuro turned to go to his room, but turned back and slowly reached out to pat Gaara on his head, “Love you,” he said quietly before taking his leave.

The tea had mainly cooled by the time Gaara leaned forward to drink it. After draining the cup, he drew away from Iruka slightly. Iruka released the arm he had draped across Gaara’s shoulders and turned so he could face Gaara.

“Lee’s going to be alright,” Gaara said slowly. “And he’s still my friend. And the rest of my new friends probably aren’t mad at me either.” Iruka was sure that was the case. Tenten was pretty protective of Lee. If she wasn’t upset by what had happened, he doubted anyone else was. “They aren’t going to leave me.”

“No, they aren’t,” Iruka said. “They know you didn’t hurt Lee out of malice.”

“I hurt you intentionally,” Gaara pointed out. “I could have killed you, but you stayed.” They hadn’t talked about the events that lead up to Gaara putting Iruka in the hospital in years. Iruka had forgiven him instantly and Gaara never brought it up.

“I knew you were confused, that the seal was affecting you. If you really wanted to kill me you could have, but you chose not to. You are more than a faulty seal and the acts you did because of it,” Iruka told him. “I didn’t want to leave you. And I’ve never regretted that decision.”

Gaara huffed, “I know. But you’re Iruka and you're kind of weird.”

Iruka laughed out loud, “Well, I’m pretty sure Lee qualifies as kind of weird too. Looks like you aren’t getting rid of either of us anytime soon.”

“Yeah,” Gaara said quietly, “I’m glad.”

“I am glad to have you in my life as well,” Iruka told him. They sat quietly together until Temari and Baki came home. Iruka was glad to see that Gaara seemed to be back to his usual behavior during dinner, teasing his siblings and sharing comments from Shukaku. They all agreed to start training in earnest for the finals in the morning, once they found a good training spot.

They were eventually able to find a fairly isolated training field and get permission from Leaf to use it. Iruka got the sense that they were just glad to know where they were practicing. Iruka would go with them and let everyone know if someone was approaching. It worked fairly well. Of course, they didn’t want to make Leaf too mad at them and so had to rein in their more destructive techniques so the training field would not be damaged beyond repair by the time they were done with it.

Iruka let the first few days pass by without doing much. He was finalizing his plan to get an item of the imposter without him noticing and watching the kids train. He noticed that Gaara was even more hesitant than usual during his spars with his siblings. While his conversation with Lee had alleviated his concerns about his new friends hating him (although it did inspire new concerns about Lee’s complete lack of survival instincts), the experience obviously brought back some past trauma. Iruka was not sure how to help him through that beyond encouraging him to continue sparring and being there for him to talk if he wanted to do so.

It was the fourth day after the preliminaries had finished that their routine changed. “Iruka,” he heard as he was shopping in the marketplace. He turned and saw Kiba and Akamaru bounding over to him. “Hi,” Kiba greeted him enthusiastically, “how have you been?”

“Good,” Iruka replied. “How about you? Is Akamaru alright?”

“Oh, yeah, we’re both fine,” Kiba assured him. “Although Akamaru does expect some good snacks from Kankuro to make up for forcing him to smell something that awful. What even was that?”

“I’ll be sure to pass along the message,” Iruka said. “And it’s something the three of them develop to fill their stink-bombs for various pranks.”

“I could see how that would be effective,” Kiba commented. He seemed content to just wander with Iruka through the market.

“Do you not have training today?” Iruka asked.

“Nah, Kurenai gave us the week off. She said she should all come back with ideas about why we lost our matches and what we can work on to make sure we address those weaknesses. Of course, we still train regularly with Lee and Tenten. It takes all four of us to convince Lee not to overdo it too quickly. Gai is no help in that regard. Neither of them are very patient when there is training to be done.”

Iruka had to smile at that. “Well if you have time tonight, you’re all welcome to come over for dinner. We usually finish training around seven, so come by anytime after that if you want.”

“Awesome, we’ll definitely be there. Maybe Hinata will be able to make it this time. Come on, Akamaru, let’s go ask.” Kiba took off running across the market, with Akamaru at his heels. Iruka doubled back to buy more ingredients and pick out extra meat for Akamaru. Hopefully that would make up for Kankuro’s stink bomb.

He hurried back to the apartment and relayed the fact of the invitation to the kids and Baki. “Great! We can introduce them to Maki,” Kankuro pointed out. Even though Maki’s team had been knocked out of the exams, all of the teams still stuck around. Watching the finals would be good training for them. Since her training routine was not as intense as before, she usually found the time to join them for dinner.

Sure enough, as everyone was working on cutting enough vegetables and meat to make enough stir fry to feed everyone, Maki let herself in. “Wow, I know you guys have been training a lot, but I didn’t think you would be that hungry,” she said, staring at the piles of ingredients.

“We’re having a few more guests over,” Iruks told her.

“And some of them can really eat,” Kankuro added. He was not wrong. Iruka was pretty sure Lee, Kiba, and Gai if he came would be the worst offenders. But Iruka didn’t mind. They had more than enough funds to cover the food, even without the money he would often find hidden around the living room after their guests had left. When he confronted them about it, everyone claimed to have no idea what he was talking about, so Iruka just let it go. He knew when to pick his battles and this was not one he was going to win.

Soon enough, Kiba and Akamaru came tumbling through the door, with Lee, Tenten, Shino, and even Hinata close behind. “I’m glad you could make it,” Iruka told them. “Dinner should be ready soon.”

“Awesome,” Kiba yelled. “Everyone else is busy with training, and Gai couldn't make it, but they said they would stop by whenever they had a chance. But not tonight.” Iruka assured them that their friends were always welcome, but they understood that everyone was busy.

Hinata looked a little uncertain, so Iruka was glad that Maki immediately latched on to her and made sure she was comfortable. He hoped they would be friends. From what little had been mentioned about her family, it seemed like Hinata needed all the support she could get. And maybe Maki would share her troubles about getting knocked out in the second round to Hinata.

“Kiba mentioned your jonin teacher gave you the week off. What have you been doing when you’re not training with Lee and Tenten?” Iruka asked Shino and Hinata.

“I’ve been working on increasing the number of insects I can sustain at one time,” Shino informed him. “It is very peaceful work. My father has been helping me a great deal.”

“That certainly sounds interesting,” Iruka commented. “Hinata, what about you?”

“I’ve been training frequently with my clan,” Hinata said softly.

“Almost constantly,” Kiba cut in. “They have barely let you come practice with us this week. Don’t they know you’re supposed to be on break?”

Iruka bit back a displeased response, not wanting Hinata to think he was mad at her. No wonder she looked so pale. She was one of the genin most injured during the preliminaries and her family’s response was to immediately force her to practice even more than before? She needed time to heal. “Well I’m glad you were able to get away to join us. How did you manage that?”

“I told those stuffy elders we were having a team dinner and Hinata had to attend,” Kiba reported smugly. “They couldn’t say no to that.” Iruka had to laugh at that. He was glad Hinata’s friends were ensuring she could get away from whatever mess was going on at home, at least for a little while.

“I hope you do not get in trouble for this,” Hinata fretted. Just as she was saying that, a knock came from the door. Iruka quickly opened the door, making sure that his body was blocking the rest of the apartment. He came face-to-face with the jonin teacher for Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. Kurenai, he believed her name was.

“Hello, I know we haven’t been formally introduced but I believe my team is in your apartment and if it’s not too much trouble, I would like to join this very important team meal that I just assured the messenger from the Hyuuga elders we were definitely having,” she said in a rather amused tone of voice. Iruka decided that they were going to get along quite well.

“Of course, I’m glad you were able to find our place. Please come in,” Iruka invited her.

“I just went to the area Kakashi has been stalking and listened for the sound of screaming,” Kurenai told him. Oh, they were definitely going to get along.

He led her to the living room, where the nine kids plus Baki and Akamaru were sprawled out. Apparently, Kankuro was trying to buy his way back into Akamaru’s good graces with strips of meat. It seemed to be going rather well, since Akamaru was practically lying in his lap and graciously allowing Kankuro to pet him. “I’ll make you up a plate,” Iruka said. “Take a seat wherever there’s space, sorry about the lack of chairs.

“It’s no trouble,” Kurenai assured him. She took a seat next to Kankuro and reached out to pet Akamaru. “Now,” Iruka heard her ask from the kitchen, “I’m glad to see all my genin are here for our very important team meeting.”

“It’s not like I lied,” Kiba pointed out, sounding completely unrepentant. Sure enough, he looked rather smug when Iruka exited the kitchen. “We are having a team meeting. We just so happened to hold it at Iruka’s apartment when everyone else was here. And it was very important that Hinata attend. Staying in that house with all her terrible relatives wasn’t good for her, even if Hanabi does as much as she can to help.” Hinata, Iruka noticed, did not protest his statement, even if she did curl in on herself once she became the topic of conversation. But Shino was by her side and gently patted her back, which seemed to help.

Kurenai raised her eyebrow but did not contradict Kiba’s logic, “Well next time let me know ahead of time. We wouldn’t want anyone to get the idea these weren’t planned in advance, would we?” Kiba cheerfully agreed and Kurenai turned to asking Kankuro about his puppets, apparently a source of fascination for more than just the Leaf genin.

Iruka was quite pleased at the addition of Kurenai. She had a very dry sense of humor and was very willing to tease her genin, especially Kiba. It was obvious that she had put in a lot of time to get to know them and make them feel comfortable with her. It was heartwarming to see. Hinata opened up more in her presence and Shino talked more than he had done before. They really were a good team.

As everyone was preparing to head back to their homes since it was getting dark, Iruka drew Kurenia aside. “I appreciate you coming over,” Iruka told her. “I didn’t know what Kiba had planned or I would have asked that he talked to you first.”

Kurenai waved him off, “It’s fine. Kiba’s got a good heart and I’m glad he is looking out for his teammates. Besides, it’s not like it was any hardship on me to come over and eat good food that I didn’t have to prepare. I enjoyed myself.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Please come by again if you have the time,” Iruka requested.

“I will,” she promised. “Let me know if any of the Hyuuga give you any trouble. I doubt they will, but I am now an expert with dealing with their specific brand of condescension and can give you pointers.”

“I appreciate that,” Iruka told her. They ended their conversation there and Iruka waved as everyone left.

The evening had not gone the way Iruka had anticipated and he had not gotten the chance to determine if the plan he had formed regarding the imposter would be feasible, but Iruka did not regret it. He got the feeling Kurenai would be a valuable ally in the near future and he was glad to have met her. Besides, if he was going to involve her team in this mess, it might be a good idea to bring her in on it. Of course, he would need to make sure he could really trust her before that. Although he trusted his instincts, it never hurt to get a second opinion from someone who would know her better. Luckily, he knew the perfect person to ask.

Notes:

This time on what random side character will I hyper-fixate on and make an integral part of the plot: Kurenai.

Lee and Gaara were able to have their conversations, even if Lee had not idea how important that conversation was. Did not solve everything, but it did help.

Important note on updates: The next chapter won't be out for three weeks. I have two simulations next Friday and Saturday, which are huge portions of my grades and one of them is an all-day event that I really need to prepare for so I won't have much time to write this coming week. But then I'll be back with the plan to confirm the imposter's identity.

Chapter 15

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Kurenai? You can trust her,” Tsume stated. “She’s a good shinobi and teacher. I’m glad Kiba got her as his jonin instructor. She’s not from a clan but she is one of our top genjutsu users. I’m guessing you want to bring her in on your plan.”

“Yes,” Iruka admitted. He had stopped by the Inuzuka clan compound in the morning and was luckily able to catch Tsume. She had invited him in without question and hadn’t protested as he set up his silencing barrier. Kuromaru was laying in the corner, watching Iruka steadily. “I believe her help would be invaluable.”

“Well it’s really your decision,” Tsume told him bluntly. “You will be the one bearing the consequences if information gets leaked.” Iruka knew that only too well. It’s why he was second-guessing his every move. But doing nothing could be just as dangerous as doing the wrong thing and he needed to get a move on. The deadline Tsume had set for when she would notify the Hokage was rapidly approaching, so Iruka needed to make his move now or risk an all-out war that Sand would not afford. “I assume you have some kind of plan that you want to use her for?”

Iruka nodded and explained the general outline of his idea.

Tsume listened intently to Iruka’s plan, her face giving none of her thoughts away. “There are still risks,” she said when he was done, “but considering the situation we are dealing with, no plan would be completely safe. I’m guessing you want to use Kiba and Akamaru?”

Iruka nodded, “I would like to talk to them first and explain the idea before they agree to anything.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Tsume said. “Do you want to talk to his whole team at the same time or just Kiba and Akamaru first?”

“It would probably be best if I could talk to Kiba and Akamaru first. If they aren’t comfortable with the plan, I would have to rework it. There’s no sense telling more people than necessary.”

“Sensible,” Tsume agreed. “He’s out training with Shino, Lee, and Tenten right now, but he should be back in a couple of hours. You can swing by again then and talk to him.”

Iruka agreed before taking his leave. His kids and Baki were training in their usual spot, but he decided to stop by the marketplace first before joining them. Considering how often they had various Leaf shinobi over for dinner, they went through a tremendous amount of groceries. The vendors were used to Iruka at this point and were even willing to engage him in small talk and some village gossip.

Iruka was used to having one or more of the kids trailing behind on his grocery expeditions that he had forgotten how annoying it was to carry everything by himself. He could technically put the food in storage scrolls, but that could mess with the flavor and he hated to do it with fresh groceries. He was so busy juggling the groceries, he also didn’t notice the person approaching him. He only noticed because he had constantly been on the look out for this particular chakra signature, considering Kakashi hadn’t given up his attempts at spying, just gotten slightly better at hiding himself.

“Here hold these,” Iruka said to Kakashi before the man could say a word, pushing some of the bags he was carrying at him. If Kakashi dropped them, he might need to change his plans to involve murdering this infuriating jonin. Luckily for Kakashi’s continued survival, the man took the bags without comment and walked beside Iruka towards his apartment. Which only made Iruka grow more concerned. If Kakashi was being this agreeable, he either wanted something from Iruka or was trying to lull him into a false sense of security and then planned to interrogate him. Not that he would be successful at getting Iruka to reveal anything that he didn’t want to, but it still put Iruka on edge.

Iruka let it pass without comment until all the groceries were put away before turning towards Kakashi with his most intimidating look, “Alright talk. What is it you want?”

Kakashi merely raised his eyebrow, “What makes you think I want something?”

Iruka glared back, “We don’t exactly have a good relationship. You wouldn’t seek me out unless you needed something. So tell me what it is. I’m already annoyed at you for all the lurking you have been doing on nearby rooftops.”

That got a reaction out of Kakashi, “Why would you think I’ve been doing that?”

Iruka snorted, “Like I’m going to tell you. Just accept that you aren’t as skilled as you think you are and tell me what you want before I kick you out.” He threw his silencing seals up as he spoke. He guessed by the look Kakashi gave him, he realized what he had done, but that was fine. Iruka doubted that Kakashi hadn’t known about their existence before now. But at least he didn’t seem to be able to break them.

“Well if you put it like that, how could I refuse?” Kakashi's eyes let Iruka know he was not giving up on finding out how Iruka had known he was there. That was fine. Iruka had given up the advantage of Kakashi not knowing that Iurka knew he was there willingly for a couple reasons. One, he wanted to see what Kakashi would do with the information. He doubted the jonin would back off, but he was curious to see how he would try and disguise his presence. Two, Iruka guessed this upcoming conversation would not be one he wanted to have, and he was sure him and Kakashi would be fighting by the end of it. If he could throw the other man off his game before the conversation ever began, he had a better chance of getting what he needed out of their conversation. Of course, he wouldn’t know what it was he needed until the conversation actually began, so he gestured for Kakashi to do so.

For all his faults, the jonin was at least straight to the point when he needed to be. “I’m taking Sasuke out of the village for training until the finals. I arranged for different jonins to oversee Naruto and Sakura’s training so they should be fine, but they might be bothering you more than before.”

Iruka just stared at him a moment before his mouth started moving before his brain caught up, “What is wrong with you? All three of them are entering the finals in their first ever chunin exam when their journey up to this point was more dangerous than it should have been. All of them need your support. And given how close the three of them are, do you really think taking Sasuke away will help them? They will grow stronger together, even if they will be fighting their battles alone. Sasuke still has the mark on his neck and I would need to get to him quickly if anything happens in order to help. And just who have you chosen to help Naruto and Sakura train? Will they actually help them progress in the few weeks we have left or will they just be spinning their wheels while you train Sasuke? Also, they could never be a bother. I enjoy having them over and understand how important positive socialization is for them.” Iruka could (and should) have stopped about halfway through, but at that point there was no going back so he just kept going. If Kakashi didn’t want Iruka to yell at him he should stop doing things that obligated Iruka to yell at him.

Surprisingly enough, Kakashi did not look too upset by Iruka’s rant. If anything, he seemed to have expected it. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you,” he said. “Here,” he tossed a scroll at Iruka, which he caught with ease. He instantly recognized what it was. “You’ll have it’s twin?” he asked, examining the scroll more closely to make sure it would function properly. This was a very advanced technique after all. They were called various names, but would allow a user to transport themselves to the location of the twin scroll. “How are they activated?” Iruka had never used one of these before but he knew they could be activated in a variety of ways, from a specific word to requiring a user’s blood.

“Chakra,” Kakashi replied. “Here, give it back to me for a second.” Iruka did so, watching him closely. Kakashi pushed a little bit of his chakra into the scroll before gesturing for Iruka to do the same. It was an odd sensation. The scroll almost seemed to resist Iruka for a moment before accepting his chakra. “There now it will recognize you as an authorized user.”

“I’ve never heard of one that was activated like that. Where did you find them?” Iruka asked, absent-mindedly tracing the characters on the outside of the scroll.

“They’ve been in my clan for generations. Only the Hatake and those we allow can use them,” Kakashi told him. “Don’t lose it."

“I won’t,” Iruka protested, although he still had questions about how exactly they worked. He would have to study it as much as he could while Kakashi let him have it. Abruptly Iruka realized he had been so side-tracked with his fascination over the scroll that he had almost forgotten his original anger.

Kakashi seemed to realize that based on whatever expression Iruka was currently wearing. “There is something that only I can teach him and that only Sasuke can learn. He will need sooner rather than later and there will probably never be another time when I will have weeks to train with him uninterpreted,” he explained. “He needs to learn this.”

“Why?” Iruka shot back. “Naruto and Sakura will be in the same situation and also need your attention. From what I’ve seen, Sasuke is extremely accomplished for his age and I have no doubt he will continue to grow stronger as he learns and trains more. What does he need to learn his technique right now?”

“What do you know about the Uchiha massacre?” Kakashi replied.

Iruka was taken aback by the change of topic, “As much as anyone outside of Leaf knows. They were killed in one night by an Uchiha who had turned traitor and possibly gone insane.”

“That’s what we let everyone believe, yes. Although I don’t think insane is the right word to describe Itachi. I don’t know why he did it, and might never know. But I know he is extraordinarily dangerous and that Sasuke will seek him out sooner than I wish to fight him,” Kakashi said, leaning back in his chair. He looked tired and hopeless. It was the most human Iruka had ever seen him look.

“To avenge his clan?” Iruka guessed.

“That’s what he says yes,” Kakashi responded. “But mainly I believe he wants answers. Answers to why his beloved older brother would slaughter their parents and all of their relatives.” Iruka’s breath caught in his throat. He hadn’t known that Sasuke’s brother was the one who carried out the massacre.

“How did Sasuke survive?” Iruka asked hesitantly.

“Itachi let him live. But he trapped Sasuke in a genjutsu that night, forcing him to relive the deaths of his clan members for hours. Again I couldn’t tell you why.” Iruka just stared at Kakashi, struggling to comprehend what he had just been told. How could someone do that to their younger sibling? “I was called to the hospital after they brought him there. They wanted me to try and break the genjutsu. I did my best, but Itachi truly was a prodigy and my borrowed sharingan could not overpower the genjutsu he put in place. I stayed by his bedside that entire night. I heard him crying out, begging his brother not to do it over and over again.” Iruka felt like he was about to be sick just hearing about it. He couldn’t imagine how it must have been for Sasuke to live through it. “So believe me when I say I know Sasuke will go after Itachi at some point sooner than anyone would like. And Sasuke is strong but Itachi is much stronger. And Sasuke knows that.”

Something about the way Kakashi said it made Iruka realize, “You’re not trying to teach him the technique because you think it would enable him to win against Itachi. You want to teach him the technique so that he feels like he has a chance.”

“You are right that he is very connected to Naruto, Sakura, and his other friends,” Kakashi stated. “But I fear that may not be enough to keep him here if he believes he will never grow strong enough to defeat Itachi while in the village.

“You’re trying to keep him safe,” Iruka commented softly, “in the only way you know how.”

Kakashi nodded, “I know Sakura and Naruto need me too, but I know I will have time to teach them later, even if it isn’t soon enough to do them much good during these chunin exams. If I don’t teach Sasuke this technique now I fear that he will pass beyond my reach and I will not be able to teach him anything.”

“I understand your motivation, even if I think you are wrong,” Iruka told him. “I haven’t known Sasuke very long and he doesn’t usually say much when he is over, but I can see how much he cares about his friends. He knows how much him leaving would hurt them. I can’t imagine him doing that, whatever his motivations for wanting to grow stronger is.”

“You may be right,” Kakashi said, “but that’s not a chance I’m willing to take.”

Iruka nodded, “Alright. Thank you for telling me all this. I’ll keep an eye on Sakura and Naruto. Who did you get to train them?”

“I asked Kurenai to help Sakura,” Kakashi told him.

“I didn’t think Sakura specialized in genjutsu,” Iruka commented. He believed it was a good choice for her, but hadn't seen her use them yet.

“She doesn’t although she probably could if she wanted to, given her chakra control. But any in-depth training on that is better left until after the exams have concluded.” Iruka agreed. Right now it was better to focus on strengthening the talents the genin already had rather than having them learn new skills that they would not be able to master before the finals, which Kakashi’s intent for Sasuke excluded. “But Kurenai will be able to help her use her chakra control to her advantage and how to make up for her rather shallow chakra reserves. Out of all the jonin currently in the village, she will be the most useful for Sakura.”

Iruka nodded along, “That makes sense. So who did you find for Naruto? Maybe someone who could help him figure out how to best utilize all the chakra he has?”

“A jonin named Ebisu,” Kakashi replied.

When he said nothing else, Iruka prompted him, “Well what does he specialize in?”

“Nothing in particular, but he is a solid all-around fighter.”

“Do you think he would be able to help Naruto connect with the nine-tails’ more?” Iruka asked.

“No,” Kakashi stated.

“What exactly are you hoping he will be able to teach Naruto?” Iruka asked, bewildered.

Kakashi just shrugged at that, “At this point, I don’t know if there is anyone who can really help Naruto improve in the few weeks. It’s enough if he just keeps practicing and not get into too much trouble while I’m gone.”

Iruka gave Kakashi a very unimpressed look, “You can’t just dump your students on whoever is available and hope for the best.” Iruka would help Naruto when he could-discussing techniques to practice when Naruto came over and check in on him, but he would be spending most of his time either training with his kids or working on his plan to deal with the imposter. He would not have time to take on another student. Plus that would definitely attract unwanted attention from both the imposter and Leaf.

“It’s the best solution given the situation,” Kakashi said evenly. Iruka decided to back off for now. It’s not like he had a better idea to offer. He certainly didn't know the jonin of Leaf well enough to suggest an alternative.

“There’s one more thing,” Kakashi said.

“Yes?” Iruka asked, bracing himself for what other poor decisions Kakashi was about to tell him about.

“How is Orochimaru involved in all this?”

Iruka fought to keep his expression even, “Orochimaru? One of the legendary sannin? Didn’t he become a missing nin years ago? Why are you bringing him up now?”

“Because he’s the one that gave Sasuke that mark,” Kakashi stated plainly. “And I suspect you know more about why he would do that than I do. You and your kids’ jonin teacher have been plotting something since you got to the village. You became friends with Tsume remarkably quickly. You seemed to recognize the chakra of the mark as well. So I’ll ask you again, how is Orochimaru involved in all of this?”

Iruka considered his options. He could try and deny everything but the look on Kakashi’s face made it clear it would be useless. And Tsume did say getting Kakashi to his side would be quite helpful. But he couldn’t reveal too much at this point either.

“When we were traveling to Leaf, there was an attack on a member of our caravan who had gone off on his own. No one saw it happen but I was close enough to realize something was wrong. When he came back to camp, something was wrong. I had known him for years and he was acting differently. Plus I am sensitive to chakra and his felt very different than it had before. I figured out he must have been killed and his killer impersonated him. But no one else seemed to pick up on it. I was worried that no one would believe me and doubted my ability to overpower him by myself so I kept a close eye on him. I noticed he wasn’t around during the first phase of the exam, so I guessed he had disguised himself as someone else and entered. Then when I helped with the mark, I realized it had the same chakra signature as I had felt from the imposter. I spoke to Tsume about my suspicions and she said based on the characteristics and powers I had described, she thought it had to be Orochimaru. I have been trying to figure out a way to confirm that for the past few days and haven’t been able to. But you’re sure that it’s Orochimaru?” Iruka knew Kakashi would be able to tell he was leaving large parts of the story out, but hopefully it would be enough to satisfy him.

Kakashi had listened intently to Iruka's explanation and sat back slowly at Iruka’s question, “I am. I was part of the team responsible for investigating his laboratory after he left in the village. I would recognize his chakra anywhere. Plus, one of his former students encountered him during the exams. He left a similar mark on her.”

Iruka was torn between feeling relieved that they finally knew just who they were up against and terrified because now they knew exactly who they were up against. Why did it have to be one of the legendary sannin? Couldn’t it have been a random missing nin with impressive assassination and impersonation skills? “Thank you for confirming his identity,” Iruka told Kakashi.

“What is he planning?” Kakashi cut in before Iruka could say anything else. “From what Sasuke and Sakura told me, I doubt that putting the mark on Sasuke was his main goal, more like an unexpected bonus. And if you are one of the only ones who knows there is an imposter, you must have some idea of his plan.”

Actually, the entire Sand delegation had some idea of his plan, but Iruka still did not feel safe revealing the invasion plan to Kakashi. Tsume, he trusted to allow him some time to deal with it internally. He had no reason to believe that Kakashi would not just immediately report the information to the Hokage. But whatever Orochimaru’s larger goal was, Iruka honestly had no idea. The invasion must be a diversion for something, but he didn’t know what. It probably related back to Orochimaru’s grudge against the village. However, Iruka did not know enough about Orochimaru’s time in Leaf to get a sense about what he might want. “He won’t make his move until the finals,” Iruka said instead, hoping that would be enough for now.

Kakashi stared at him for several long seconds before asking, “Does Tsume know whatever information you are holding back?”

“Yes,” Iruka replied truthfully.

“Well I guess that’s good enough for me for now,” Kakashi said, standing up. “I do expect you to tell me soon.” Iruka would take the win, however temporary it might be. Anytime he could have before Kakashi forced him to explain what he knew gave him more time to come up with a concrete plan to stop the invasion. And if he had a plan, hopefully Kakashi would hear him out before reporting the information.

“Good luck training Sasuke. I hope it goes well,” Iruka told him.

Kakashi nodded, “Use the scroll once you are ready to tell me. I’m sure you will see Naruto and Sakura soon.” With that he disappeared out the window without a good-bye. Iruka collapsed in his chair and just let himself breathe for a moment. He had been able to put off actually creating a plan, telling himself he did not want to base it on an unsupported assumption of the imposter’s identity. But he no longer had that excuse. He had all the information he was able to have. If he couldn’t come up with a plan now, the outcome would be disastrous. Images flashed in his mind of his kids and the Leaf genin he had grown so fond of broken and bleeding on a battlefield. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

He brewed himself a fresh cup of tea, grabbed a notepad, and just started outlining everything he knew, all the resources he had available to him, and what problems he would need to overcome. The situation was still completely overwhelming, but looking at everything he had written, he felt like he could move forward with a plan.

First, he would need to consult with Tsume. He would figure out his next step based on what she said. Deciding there was no point wasting anymore time, he set off to see her right away. He was waved in by the guard at the gate to the Inuzuka compound and made his way to the main house. Sprawled out on the front porch was Kiba, with Akamaru curled up on his stomach.

“Oh hi, Iruka,” Kiba said when he saw him, “you here to see Mom?”

“If she’s not busy at the moment,” Iruka replied.

“Nah, she just got back from another strategic meeting about something or other and she always clears her schedules for those. Who knows how long some of them will talk about nothing,” Kiba told him. “You can go on in.”

“Thank you,” Iruka said, stepping over Kiba to reach the door. “You coming over for dinner tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Kiba replied cheerfully. “Hinata won’t be able to make it, but Shino and Kurenai said they would come.”

“Wonderful. I’ll see you soon then,” Iruka said before entering the house.

He found Tsume easily. She was sprawled out on one of the chairs in the living. “Good afternoon, Iruka,” she called out as he entered the room. “I hope you’ve had a less annoying day than I’ve had.”

“Long meeting?” Iruka asked with sympathy.

“So long. And so much longer than it needed to be. I swear half of the people talking were just too fond of the sound of their own voice,” Tsume complained.

“Well I have not had to suffer through any of those meetings today, I did have a rather interesting conversation,” Iruka informed her.

Tsume sat up fully and gave Iruka her full attention and Kuromaru came padding into the room from wherever he had been. Iruka made sure his silencing seals were in place. “Kakashi came to visit me today,” Iruka said. “He told me he plans to take Sasuke out of the village for training until the finals.”

Tsume raised her eyebrow at that, “He does remember he has three students, right? I can’t imagine the other two are too thrilled about that decision.”

Iruka snorted, “I had the same reaction. But he has his reasons and nothing was going to change his mind. He did at least arrange for other jonin to look after Sakura and Naruto while he was gone.”

“Well that’s something at least,” Tsume commented. “But I’m guessing you are here for another reason than wanting to bitch about Kakashi’s poor life decisions.”

Iruka grinned, “Indeed, although that is enjoyable. He was able to confirm that the imposter is Orochimaru.”

Tsume nodded, “I can’t say I’m surprised. Did he tell you how he knew?”

“He said he was familiar with Orochimaru’s chakra and recognized it. Also, apparently Orochimaru ran into one of his old students in the forest.”

“Anko,” Tsume said, sitting back in her chair. “She did look out of sorts last time I saw her. But I hadn’t heard about that. They’re probably keeping it quiet so people don’t panic.” She was lost in thought for a few minutes, “But you’re still going through with your plan to confirm his identity, correct? While this proves Orochimaru is in the village, it does not definitively connect him to your imposter and we need that association to be airtight before we take it to the council."

Iruka nodded, glad Tsume had reached the same conclusion as him. While he would never believe that the imposter could be anyone other than Orochimaru if the missing nin was in the village, people could be incredibly stubborn and they needed solid proof to present to Leaf’s council. “Yes, Kiba mentioned that he, Shino, and Kurenai would be coming over for dinner tonight, so I figured I would talk to them about it then. And hopefully put the plan in action in the next few days.”

Tsume nodded along. “That would probably be for the best. Ready to talk to Kiba? That way he can help you deal with the concerns Shino and Kurenai will have.”

“Yes,” Iruka told her.

“Good, then it’s settled. Is there anything else you need to discuss before he gets here?” Tsume asked. Iruka shook his head, taking down the silencing seals for now.

Iruka expected Tsume to get up to fetch Kiba or at least for Kuromaru to go get him. Neither of those things happened. Instead Tsume bellowed, “Kiba, get in here.”

A few seconds later Kiba came tearing into the room, Akamaru on his heels. “I’m here. What do you want?”

“Iruka had something to talk to you about,” Tsume told him. Kiba switched his attention to Iruka who reactivated his silencing seals before beginning. Kiba had already picked up on his mother’s tension, so he knew something was going on, even if he didn’t know exactly what. That made it easier to break the news of the imposter and who he was. Kiba listened more quietly than Iruka expected, only breaking in when he had specific questions about something or wanted to confirm he understood something correctly.

“He’s also the guy who attacked Sasuke in the forest, isn’t he?” Kiba asked.

Iruka nodded, “Yes. We’re not quite sure how that fit into his larger plan or if he just saw an opportunity and took it, but I’m keeping an eye on the mark he put on Sasuke and trying to prevent it from doing him any further harm.”

Kiba nodded solemnly, “Good. So why are you telling me all this? Obviously I won’t tell anyone, but it’s still a risk.”

“Because I need your help with something,” Iruka admitted. “While I have no doubt Orochimaru is the imposter, we need solid proof before we bring it to Leaf’s council. I have a plan and it involves you and your team.” Iruka then briefly outlined the plan and what each person would need to do. "Do you think that your team can handle that?"

Kiba was silent for a few moments before nodding, “Yes, we would be able to do that. And I’m sure my team would be willing to help once you explain the situation to them.”

Iruka smiled, “I’m glad. I plan to talk to Shino and Kurenai about it tonight.”

“Alright, I’ll help in any way I can,” Kiba assured him.

“I appreciate it,” Iruka said. “Now I better get back before my kids send out a search party.”

Tsume laughed at that, “You’re right about that. Take care.”

“I will. Thank you for all your help,” Iruka said.

Tsume waved him off, “At this point, it’s as much for me as it is for you. I really do not want to risk another all out war, and dealing with the attack before it comes to fruition, would be the best way to ensure war does not break out.”

“Still, I am glad for everything you have done to help. You have made a seemingly impossible task much more manageable and I thank you for it,” Iruka said.

“Glad to help. Now go see how your kids are doing,” Tsume instructed him. Iruka wouldn’t say no to that so he bid Tsume, Kiba, and the ninken good-bye and left.

Iruka hoped the kids hadn't actually sent out a search party. At this point, they were probably worried about him. He had told them he would catch up to them after he did some shopping, but since his conversation with Kakashi side-tracked him, he had been away for a couple hours longer than he expected. He better hurry and find them before they decided to take drastic measures to find him. Sure enough, as he approached their usual training grounds, he could hear Baki trying to reason with the kids.

“I’m sure Iruka is fine. Gaara, his sand bracelet hasn’t been broken has it?” he heard Baki say.

“No,” Gaara admitted. “But that doesn't mean Iruka isn’t in trouble. What if something prevented him from destroying it?”

“Yeah,” Kankuro cut in, “plus he’s been gone for hours. Even if he’s being incredibly indecisive grocery shopping never takes him this long.”

“It’s not being indecisive, it’s finding the best product,” Iruka answered, as he had so many times before.

“Iruka!” his kids exclaimed, rushing to hug him. Iruka patted Kankuro’s head and ruffled Gaara’s and Temari’s hair.

“I’m just fine. I just had an unexpected visitor and got side-tracked,” Iruka assured them. “You should listen to Baki, he knows what he is talking about.”

Baki rolled his eyes, “Good luck with that. Whenever they think you could be in danger they instantly stop listening to my well-reasoned advice.”

Iruka laughed at that, “Yes, very well-reasoned. I’m sure they’ll listen more in the future. Right?” he directed at the kids.

“Yes,” said Temari, lying to their faces.

“No,” answered Kankuro at exactly the same time. Gaara didn’t even bother answering, but everyone knew what his stance on the issue was.

“Well, I’m here now. Why don’t you show me what you have been working on so far?” Iruka encouraged them.

They did, with Baki and Iruka occasionally yelling out advice. It was peaceful in a way, this routine that Iruka was so used to. But if he wanted to keep it, he would have to succeed in what he planned next. While he had known it for a while, the idea of telling multiple Leaf shinobi really drove home the idea that there was no going back. Everything depended on what they could achieve in the next few weeks.

Notes:

I'm sorry. I know I said last chapter the plan would be set in motion this chapter, but than Kakashi showed by and side-tracked everything. But I promise it will happen next chapter and this time I mean it.

Iruka and Tsume's friendship is just 50% plotting, 25% mocking Kakashi, and 25% trading stories of their kids. It's great.

Chapter 16

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Iruka was surprised to see that only Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai showed up for dinner. Lee and Tenten had been there without fail since Lee had been released from the hospital, and given that he was sure Kakashi had broken the news about him taking Sasuke out of the village for training to Sakura and Naruto, he had half expected for them to show up as well.

“They’re camped out in Naruto’s apartment,” Kurenai told him in a low voice while they watched Kankuro and Kiba playfully fight over food, with Akamaru jumping in every so often. “Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Lee, and Tenten. Kakashi told them he and Sasuke were leaving tomorrow so they wanted one last night together before that happened. I’m sure the four of them will be here tomorrow.” Iruka thanked her. He was worried something had happened to them “I’m pretty sure Sakura is going to move into Naruto’s apartment while Sasuke is gone,” Kurenai said. “At least she picked the training field closest to it as our designated meeting spot.”

“How did she take the news that you would be training her for the next few weeks?” Iruka asked.

“Better than I expected. She seemed more upset that Sasuke would be gone than about Kakashi not being around to train her. Hopefully my help will be useful to her,” Kurenai said.

“I’m sure it will,” Iruka assured her. “What will your team be doing while you train with Sakura?”

“We’ve discussed some areas for each of them to focus based on their performances in the exams. I’ve helped them develop training plans. So they at least know what they should be doing. I’ve also called in a couple favors from friends around the village so that they won’t be unsupervised. Plus, I’m planning on having a couple days where they fight Sakura to see how everyone is progressing,” Kurenai described her plans.

“That sounds very well thought out,” Iruka commented.

Kurenai smiled, “Thank you. As soon as Kakashi asked me to train Sakura, I started coming up with ways that would allow me to give her the attention she needs right now while not neglecting my own team.”

“I’m sure they appreciate it,” Iruka told her. “Also, how did Kakashi actually ask you?”

Kurenai laughed at that, “I walked into my kitchen one morning to find him seated at the table, eating my food. He immediately thrust his ideas for what I should focus on with Sakura towards me and started explaining them. He got around to asking me after about ten minutes.”

Iruka rolled his eyes, “I can’t say I’m surprised.”

Kurenai shrugged, “I don’t mind. I would have agreed to it any way and he knew that. It’s just his way. After everything he has done for me over the years, I can’t begrudge him that.”

Iruka was curious about what that meant, but knew it was not the time or place to press her more. Very soon he was going to be asking her to help him with a dangerous plan that involved hiding information from her village leader. Even worse, he would be asking her students to do the same thing. He needed her to be in as good a mood as possible for that.

After dinner had ended and the dishes were washed, Iruka knew he needed to speak up now. He wouldn’t get another opportunity like this, with almost everyone he wanted to talk to in one location without anyone he didn’t want finding out certain information just yet present. Plus if they said no, he needed all the time he could get to come up with another plan.

“Before you go, there is something important I want to talk to you about,” Iruka spoke up, throwing his silencing seals up as he spoke. The light conversations going on around the living room ceased and everyone turned to focus their attention on Iruka. He didn’t bother asking his kids to leave the room, knowing they would find out about the plan soon enough regardless. Baki and him were pretty free about discussing things once the silencing seals were up. “I need to ask your help with something.”

“What is it?” Kurenai asked. She did not make the mistake of making some bold statement like ‘We’ll help you with whatever is troubling you.’ She was far too experienced to commit to something without having all the information Iruka was glad of it. It meant if she did agree, she would do it with all the information and probably wouldn’t change her mind.

“First I need you to understand that the information I am about to give you is incredibly dangerous. Only a few people outside this room know everything I am about to tell you and it could very well put you in danger. If you don’t want to hear more, I will not begrudge you your choice.”

Kurenai glanced at Shino, who gave a solemn nod, and Kiba who grinned at her, before responding, “We’ll hear you out.”

“Thank you,” Iruka said. “Now what I am about to say will come as a shock to you. I ask that you let me finish my explanation before taking any action or asking any questions.” They agreed to that. Iruka took a deep breath in and began his explanation. Unlike with Kakashi, he did not hold anything back. It would have been pointless to try and hide the identity of the person the imposter had killed, given what he was going to ask them to do. More importantly, Iruka was not telling them this information because they had come to him and guessed some of it. He was telling them so they would accurately know what they were up against and make an informed decision about whether they wanted to be drawn deeper into the situation. Iruka couldn’t allow them to make that choice with anything less than a full understanding of what they would be getting themselves into. The Kazekage, the invasion plan, his own abilities-everything was laid on the table. If they went running to the Hokage, or worse, the imposter, he would be done for. He just hoped he had made the right decision.

“Kakashi was able to confirm that Orochimaru is in the village and was the one who attacked Sasuke. But we need to conclusively establish that he is the one impersonating the Kazekage before we bring this to the higher-ups in your village. I have a plan to do this, but I would need your help. However, please do not let that force your decision. If you do not want to get any further involved in this, I understand, and I can come with a different plan. I only ask that you not tell anyone about this. Rest assured, I have already informed another Leaf jonin of the situation and if we cannot solve this by a week before the finals take place, the Hokage will be notified about everything,” Iruka concluded.

Halfway through his explanation, Akamaru had settled himself on his lap and he had been absentmindedly petting him as he talked. Iruka wasn’t sure if he had come over as a gesture of Kiba and him being on board with the plan or just because he could tell how stressed Iruka was and wanted to help, but he appreciated it either way. Sure they might soon be plunged into another devastating war, but Akamaru’s fur was very soft and it was a lot harder to feel anxious with the warm weight of a puppy sprawled across his legs.

“I’m guessing Tsume is the jonin you already told?” Kurenai asked, watching Iruka carefully. As expected of someone with her experience, she had not reacted to the information Iruka told her. Shino was not quite that good yet and Iruka could see the shock on his face multiple times during his explanation. His coat and glasses hide a lot, but Iruka had been determined not to let any reactions slip by him. Thankfully, he did not look like he was immediately planning on revealing what Iruka just told him to others, but Iruka was not sure. Out of everyone, he was putting Shino in the most difficult position. They would all have to keep this a secret from friends and the village higher-ups, but Shino would have to keep it a secret from his family. Kiba’s family already knew while Iruka knew Kureani’s family had died. Once they had actual confirmation of the imposter’s identity, he wondered if they should tell Shino’s father before doing anything else. From how Shino had talked about him, they seemed to share a similar temperament and Shino obviously loved and respected his father a great deal.

“Yes, I explained the situation to her a few days ago. She agreed to give me a few weeks to come up with a solution and to help me when she could. I also ran the plan I mentioned by her before she agreed to let Kiba and Akamaru help.”

Kurenai glanced over to Kiba, who nodded. “Iruka explained all this to me this afternoon, although I’ve known something was going on since I got back from the preliminaries. Mom has been acting weird since then. Hana too.”

Kurenai turned towards Shino then, “Shino, what’s your opinion on all this? Do you want to hear more or do you want to leave?”

Shino did not say anything for several moments, although from the buzzing Iruka could hear from inside his coat, he must have been pretty agitated. “I would like to hear what the plan would entail,” he finally decided.

Kurenai looked at him, then Kiba, and finally Akamaru, who had not moved from his place in Iruka’s lap, “Alright, let’s hear it. But I am going to preemptively tell you that I won’t have an answer for you tonight. I will agree not to say anything to anyone else for right now, and I think Shino would too.” She paused long enough for Shino to nod in agreement. “But I would not feel comfortable committing to anything beyond that until I have had some time to think it over. I know we don’t have much time so I would have my answer ready by tomorrow night. Shino, do you think that would give you enough time to decide?” He nodded again.

“Of course,” Iruka immediately agreed. “I know I am asking a lot of you and I would love to give you all the time in the world to make your decision. As the situation stands, deciding by tomorrow night would still give us plenty of time, whatever you end up deciding.” So he outlined the plan he had been crafting for days. Each bit of new information he learned was added to it and he reworked it over and over again as he learned more about everyone’s skills. He hoped that if they agreed to help, they would also help him refine it. He knew more than they probably anticipated about their skillsets, but he would be the first to admit that he was working with limited information. He thought the main parts of the plan would stay the same, but he was willing to tweak them if anyone had any better ideas. He made sure to mention this at the beginning of his explanation, so that they knew their input would be valued. Since Hinata was not here, Iruka did tell them the role he had considered for her in the plan, but assured them that it was a minor one, since he was unsure of her availability and willingness and that he could easily take on her role if necessary.

As Iruka finished explaining and started rolling up the diagrams he had used to illustrate his ideas, he watched Kurenai. She would be the deciding factor. Shino was far steadier than many shinobi his age, but he was still a child and would be more easily swayed by the terrible situation. But he would likely follow Kurenai’s decision no matter what. And she would not have fallen for the emotional manipulation Iruka had gotten rather good at over the years. So he hadn’t used any. He laid out the plan, the potential outcomes, and the consequences of those outcomes. He explained his back-up plans and the measures he put in place to make it as safe as possible. He described the skillset Tsume had attributed to Orochimaru, while warning them that he undoubtedly grew stronger and developed new techniques in his time as a missing nin. He had held nothing back, all his cards were on the table. Now it was all up to her.

Kurenai was quiet for a while after Iruka finished before abruptly standing up. “Thank you for that through explanation, I can tell you held nothing back. But I think it is time for us to go. We will consider your proposal and have an answer for you by tomorrow night. In the meantime, I promise not to tell anyone what I learned here today.”

“I promise, too,” Shino said solemnly. Kiba just nodded. He had known most of the information beforehand, although Iruka certainly went more in depth this time around.

“I appreciate it,” Iruka told them, sincerely. “Have a good rest of your night.” The Leaf nin exited soon afterwards and Iruka collapsed on the couch. The kids immediately threw themselves on him for cuddles while Baki retreated into the kitchen.

“You did good,” he commented a short while later, handing Iruka the tea he had just made.

“Thanks, once I started talking it all seemed to blur together. I hope I explained everything I needed to,” Iruka said.

“You did. And you explained it well,” Baki assured him.

Iruka nodded, sipping his tea and refocusing on his kids. After a lot of head pats and cuddles, they headed off to bed. Iruka followed close behind them after dealing with any remaining dishes. There was nothing he could until he knew what Kurenai and Shino would decide. He had any idea for what to do if they refused, but was unwilling to fully develop it when there was still a possibility they would agree. It felt too much like giving up or tempting fate to work on it more now.

The next day Iruka did not get much done. He still went with the kids and Baki to train and gave advice when he could, but his mind kept drifting back to Kurenai and Shino and what they would decide. Even though he knew there was nothing more he could, it was hard to not let his thoughts wander in that direction. Trusting someone he didn’t know well with that much dangerous information was a new experience for Iruka. Before becoming Gaara’s caretaker, he had run many missions, but those typically did not require him to craft any in-depth plans and convince others to follow them. He just followed orders, fought when necessary, and tried to keep his teammates alive no matter how terrible they were. When he started taking care of Gaara, he was forced to rely on Scorpion and later Mari, to not reveal so many of the things he said to the Kazekage. Both unflattering remarks about the man himself and the extent to which Iruka encouraged the siblings to change their way of thinking about family and what was important. He never regretted trusting the two of them or Pakura and Baki, who made their way into their lives later. But even then, he was pretty much forced to rely on them because of the specific circumstances he was in. It was his choice to trust that the offers of support from Tsume and her family were genuine, to trust that Kurenai and Shino would keep the information he had told them a secret. If it back-fired, there was no one to blame but himself for suggesting it.

The kids obviously realized that he was caught up in his own head and tried their best to support him-making sure he remembered to eat and stay hydrated, sticking closer to him than usual, and engaging him in conversation to bring him back to the present. Iruka appreciated their efforts, although they really didn’t make him feel better. Mainly what it did was remind him that these kids-these wonderful, brave, and kind children-his children-would bear the consequences if he had made a mistake last night.

They ended practice nearly an hour earlier than usual, and went back to the apartment. Luckily, they had enough food left from Iruka’s trip to the market yesterday that they did not need to go again today. Iruka did not feel up to dealing with other people at the moment. He focused on preparing dinner, hoping that their guests would arrive earlier than usual just so he would know what they had decided. Iruka had just finished cooking the meat when a knock rang out at the door. Iruka found that he was frozen in place. It was almost an hour before the usual time, so maybe it wasn’t Kurenai or her team, but he couldn’t force himself to move to see. Luckily, Baki did not have the same problem. He crossed to the door quickly and opened it to reveal Kurenai standing there. He gestured for her to enter and shut the door behind her. Iruka forced himself to unfreeze in order to put up his silencing seals and moved out of the kitchen. Kurenai had taken a seat in one of the chairs at the dining table and he sat across from her, waiting to hear her answer. Thankfully, she did not make him wait for long.

“We have decided to help you,” she informed Iruka. She held up a hand to prevent the words of gratitude that Iruka was about to say. “However, if at any time I think it has become too dangerous to continue, I will take my team and leave, even if they do not want to go. This is not negotiable.”

Iruka nodded, “I understand and have no problem with that. We are thankful for any help you can give us.”

“I was too young to really fight in the last war, although I did make supply runs to the front lines. I’ll never forget the things I saw there. I don’t want my students to have to live through something like that at their age. I agreed to help you because I think it is our best chance to prevent that from happening. I know how much you care about your kids and I’m sure you want to prevent a war just as badly as I do. I trust that you would not do this if it was not absolutely necessary. But my allegiance is to Leaf and if things do not turn out the way we hope, I will have to tell someone, even if it means revealing the invasion plan and causing the deaths of your delegation,” Kurenai told him without hesitation. Iruka could tell that she had put a lot of thought into how much she was willing to commit to his aid and what limits she would put on that help. Iruka respected that. It meant she truly appreciated the seriousness of the situation and was trying to think of a way to get through it with the people she cared about alive. Iruka was trying to do the same thing, even though the people they were focused on protecting were different.

“I would not ask you to betray your village,” Iruka assured her. “I just need a little more time until I can reveal this information to your leader. I promise I will keep you updated if the plan succeeds about when that will be. And if the plan fails, I am fine with you telling your Hokage everything I have told you. I am sure that I will have more prominent concerns if we fail.”

“Fair enough,” Kurenai replied. “I spoke to Hinata. I didn’t tell her anything specific, just that we were about to be involved in something dangerous and asked if she wants to help. She said she did. She was able to get away from her family for the evening, so you can give her the whole explanation and then get her answer. But she won’t change her mind. She’s a good person, a good friend. Once Shino and Kiba became involved, it was inevitable that she would be too. Plus, if we do get caught, do you really think anyone would believe she wasn’t involved in a plan the rest of her team helped execute? She’s in danger either way.”

Iruka had to admit she had a point. While it felt like he was almost pressuring Hinata into joining, there was really nothing he could do about it. He would just have to accept her answer and trust that she understood what she was getting mixed up in.

And it went almost exactly as Kurenai said it would. Hinata showed up about fifteen minutes later, at which point Iruka told her everything he had told the others yesterday. She agreed to help almost immediately after Iruka finished talking and refused Iruka’s offer of taking more time to think it over. “Whether I answer right now or in a week does not matter. It will not change my decision. I will help my team and you,” she said, looking very determined. Iruka nodded, knowing he would not change her mind. He admired her dedication to her friends.

Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru arrived soon afterwards and they finalized the plan and everyone’s role over dinner. Deciding there was no point in putting it off, they decided to carry out the plan the next day. They broke up relatively early that night, with everyone going to prepare for tomorrow. Kurenai needed to make arrangements for Sakura and the kids needed to make their excuses to anyone who might wonder where they were tomorrow. It shouldn't take long, so Hinata and Shino decided to tell their parents they were having another team meeting. Kiba and Akamaru did not have to worry about that. After a quick meeting with Scorpion to explain his role in what would go down tomorrow, Iruka went to bed very early that night. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep right away, but he knew he would not get anything done, so he might as well try. Plus, Gaara joined him almost immediately and even if Iruka couldn’t fall asleep just yet, holding Gaara did help him relax.

He must have drifted off without realizing because the next thing he knew, it was morning. No one said much as they got ready. Iruka hugged each of his kids before sending them off to train. Both him and Baki sent a clone along with them, so if anyone was watching they would not think anything out of the ordinary was going on. They left the apartment by a back window shortly after that, after each using a henge. Iruka took on the appearance of shinobi from Cloud while Baki looked like someone from Stone. They hadn’t modeled their appearances off of any particular shinobi, just adopting common traits from that village. No one from the other villages would know the delegations well enough to know they didn’t belong and Cloud and Stone were being housed on the other side of the village from Sand, so hopefully they did not run into anyone from the village they were pretending to be from. It wasn’t like they would need to use these disguises long anyway.

Baki and Iruka separated immediately after leaving the apartment, since a Cloud shinobi and Stone shinobi walking together would definitely draw attention. They met on the top floor of a building across the street from the fake Kazekage’s living quarters. Tsume had told them that this building was kept vacant on purpose, so that Leaf could use it to spy on the Kazekage, if necessary. No one was scheduled to be there that particular day, as Hana had confirmed by looking through the rooster the night before. So it was perfect for their purposes. Kiba and Akamaru joined them soon afterwards. And then it was time to begin.

When Scorpion had stopped by, Iruka explained the plan fully to him for the first time. He had outlined it to him before, but that was before he had everything figured out and a few details had changed since then. Iruka hated putting Scorpion in this position. He was the one who would be facing the biggest chance of discovery but because he wasn’t able to get away to visit Iruka until now, he was the last to know the plan. Iruka knew he would agree, he had already said that he would help in any way he could, but it didn’t feel right.

“I’ll be fine,” Scorpion assured him after Iruka had explained everything. “It’s a good plan. Minimizing risk without sacrificing your chance of success. I certainly couldn’t have come up with a better one.”

“I’m not sure I believe that,” Iruka said. “Regardless, be careful. I’ll send you the signal when you are ready to begin. Do your part and nothing more. Don’t interfere if we get caught. We’ll need you more than ever if that happens and so you can’t risk revealing yourself, alright?”

“Alright,” Scorpion agreed. He hesitated for a moment before approaching Iruka. Before Iruka realized what was happening, he had pushed his mask off and for the first time, Iruka saw the face of his friend. He barely had time to take in his features before Scorpion pulled Iruka into a hug and rested his forehead against Iruka’s. “Everything will go as planned. I have faith in your plan and the team you have put together. Then we’ll figure out a way to expose the imposter and prevent the invasion. Your kids are going to impress the crowd during the final exams and confuse everyone with how close they have grown to those Leaf genin. Pakura will take over as the Kazekage and make you do all her paperwork. Things are going to be alright.” With that, he put his mask back on and disappeared. While the interaction left Iruka somewhat shaken, it was in a good way. He couldn’t help but start to believe Scorpion’s words.

Iruka closed his eyes and gently pushed his chakra out. Flaring it would attract way too much attention but people were unlikely to notice if he just slowly increased his chakra output, particularly since he had a lower chakra level to begin with. Iruka had done this before to signal Scorpion that he wanted to talk to him without anyone realizing what he was doing. After about thirty seconds, Iruka stopped and slowly decreased his chakra output again. It was too dangerous for Scorpion to give him any sort of signal back, but Iruka would have to trust that he got the message.

“Are they others in position?” he asked Kiba.

“Yes,” he replied. “We’re ready.”

“Good,” Iruka said. “Now we wait.” Iruka was not foolish enough to try and carry out his plan while the imposter was in the building. But he did know that the leaders of the delegations were meeting with the Hokage this morning. Scorpion would complete his part before the imposter left and the rest of them would complete the plan while the meeting was going.

Soon enough, Iruka sensed the imposter and his anbu guards take their leave. “They’re gone,” he reported.

"Time to begin then,” Kiba commented. “Alright, boy, go tell the others.” Akamaru yipped quietly before dashing out of the building. Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai were hiding a short distance away from the Kazekage’s quarters. Since they didn’t want to risk using chakra signals too much and attracting attention, Akamaru would act as their messenger. An Inuzuka puppy running around would not attract too much attention even if they weren’t accompanied by their human partner.

Iruka had gotten the idea for the plan when Kankuro had mentioned Shino could use his insects to carry small items. The major difficulty he had been having with the plan was that sneaking into the Kazekage’s quarters would be nearly impossible, no matter when they did it or who was helping. Security was simply too tight. But with Shino’s insects, no one needed to go inside, they could have the item with the imposter’s smell on it brought to them.

That’s why Scorpion’s part was actually the most dangerous. He needed to get an item and leave it near an open window so Shino’s insects could get to it. Iruka had advised him to get some kind of cloth. A piece of paper would have been ideal, since it would have been easier for Shino’s insects to carry, but Iruka had no doubt the Hokage would want to have other Inuzuka or even other trackers verify Akamaru’s identification and a paper would lose its scent faster and degrade quicker, so they needed something a little bit more sturdy. Hinata would be their lookout, both for the remaining anbu and for where Scorpion placed the item, so Shino’s insects grabbed the right thing. Since Iruka’s sensing could fill the same role as her Byakugan, it was not as necessary to get her involved but Iruka was glad she was. This way he could focus on overseeing everything and be ready to react if things went south.

Iruka strained his eyes, but he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary at the building across the street. Shino and Hinata weren’t that far away, so Akamaru should have already reached them. But then again the whole point was to get what they needed without anyone realizing what was happening so it was good he couldn’t see anything. He continued to keep watch for about five minutes at which point Akamaru came tearing back into the room. He barked at Kiba a couple times and Kiba relayed his message. “Shino says he is about ready to grab the item. It’s right by the east window.”

“Alright,” Iruka said, striding towards the door. He double-checked that his henge was still in place and then slowly walked towards the target building. All their stealth getting the item out of the imposter’s office would not do them any good if a whole bunch of people noticed a swarm of insects carrying something through the air right outside. Scorpion knew that, and had chosen to drop the item by the window that would have the least amount of people pacing beneath it. Iruka appreciated his foresight and was glad that no one seemed to be around as he made his way to his destination. As he passed by the east window, Shino’s swarm of insects came pouring out and flew directly towards Iruka. He caught the scrap of cloth they dropped to him and continued on his way, as the swarm dissipated. He slid the cloth into a special bag Tsume had given him. She said it would help preserve the scent. He did not make the amateur mistakes of glancing around to see if anyone had noticed what they had done or walking away too quickly. Instead he calmly continued on his way, until he arrived back at their apartment. He snuck in the back window before dropping his henge, after making sure no one was watching. He tapped his sand bracelet to send a signal to the kids. They would know to destroy his clone once they had ensured that no one was watching so it did not look like Iruka was in two places at once. Baki would meet the kids at their training grounds and slip back into practice once he destroyed his clone. Hopefully no one would realize he was ever gone. Since it wasn’t unusual for Iruka to run errands in the middle of the day, he would be the one to meet with Kurenai and her team to make sure everything had gone according to plan.

He had barely made it back to the apartment before there was a knock on the door. Kurenai smiled at him as he opened it, and her three kids and one puppy trailed in after her. Iruka quickly raised his silencing barrier and asked, “Is everyone alright?”

Hinata and Shino both nodded and Kiba gave him a big grin. “We’re all fine,” Kurenai assured him. "Everything went according to plan.”

Iruka let out a sign of relief, “I’m glad to hear that. Can you give me the full run through, just to be safe?”

“Of course,” Kurenai said. She turned to her students and gestured for them to start.

“Your anbu friend dropped the cloth by the window after everyone else had left the room,” Hinata began. “This was just before the imposter left the building. It didn’t look like anyone noticed him do it. I waited five minutes like you told me to, monitoring the people remaining in the building. No one entered the room in that time. I gave Shino the signal and he began sending his insects out. No one was near the room while he did so, except one anbu who was patrolling the hallway outside.”

Shino picked up the story, “I sent my strongest insects a few at a time into the room through the open window. They were able to lift the cloth without any problem and deliver it to Iruka.”

“Right, I should probably return that to you,” Iruka reached into his pocket and pulled out the beetle who had been with him the whole day. It was the best way to ensure Shino’s insects gave the scrap to him, and not a random person who just happened to be walking by. Shino’s insects recognized each other and so the beetle was able to guide the swarm to Iruka. Shino took the beetle back and slid it inside his coat, nodding his thanks.

“The anbu Hinata mentioned is none the wiser,” Kurenai stated. “I caught them in a genjutsu right after the imposter and his guards departed. They think everything was normal. I broke the genjutsu a few minutes after you left and they did not seem to realize they were ever under one.” Iruka was once again very glad Kurenai was helping him. He had known that any anbu was going to notice that many insects gathering at one location inside the building. But it was still the best way for them to get the cloth out undetected. So Scorption told him which anbu would be patrolling that section of the building and Iruka had relayed that information to Hinata, who had located that anbu and told Kurenai. Kurenai’s genjutsu powers were indeed impressive to be able to catch an anbu in one without them ever noticing.

“So are you going to let Akamaru check what we worked so hard to obtain or not?” Kurenai prodded him.

“Of course,” Iruka said, reaching into his pocket to pull out the bag. He got down on the ground and opened it up so Akamaru could smell its contents. Akamaru got one whiff of it, yipped, and dove into Kiba’s lap.

“That’s Orochimaru’s scent,” Kiba confirmed, gently petting his partner. “Mom let him smell the sample she kept of it before we left this morning and he says that they match. The imposter is Orochimaru.”

Notes:

Plan time! I feel like I am being accidentally hyping it up for the last few chapters, and it honestly was not that exciting in actuality. But that was kind of the the point of it. Hopefully it made sense.

Chapter 17: Baki

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Baki glanced up as his team came tumbling through the door to their apartment. “Did you lose Iruka?” he asked. The three of them had accompanied Iruka on a shopping trip but he was nowhere to be seen.

It was the day after they had confirmed that the imposter was Orochimaru. Kiba had brought the news home to his family and Tsume had contacted them this morning to ask for a meeting tomorrow evening. She wanted to know what their plan was moving forward. Which was unfortunate considering Iruka and Baki weren’t sure what their plan was moving forward. So while Baki had helped the kids train as usual today, Iruka had met with Mari to see how her mission of evaluating the Sand delegation was going. Baki knew Iruka also intended to speak to some of the Sand shinobi in the village to get his own impression of how people were taking things. He didn’t know how that turned out. Iruka had just told him that things looked hopeful before going on his shopping trip. Baki was sure he would find out more soon.

“He told us to go back to the apartment and put away the groceries. He might be a while,” Gaara reported.

“Why’s that?” Baki asked, mind racing. He couldn’t imagine Iruka would leave the kids alone unless something crucial came up. Was Orochimaru on to them?

“Well he punched the guy who was teaching Naruto in the face and everyone was making a big deal out of it,” Kankuro explained.

Baki stared at them in horror before yelling, “He did what?”

“Punched him. Right in the face. It was a good punch too. Knocked him on his ass,” Kankuro told him gleefully.

Baki buried his head in his hands and sighed. “Alright, Temari, can you tell me what happened?”

“Why her?” Kankuro protested.

“Because I trust her to give an accurate account without getting sidetracked,” Baki replied. “Temari, if you will.”

Temari sent her brothers a smug look and began, “Well we had finished shopping and started making our way back when we ran into Kurenai and Sakura, who had just gotten done training for the day. Sakura mentioned that she was going to swing by and pick up Naruto from where he was training to make sure that he was not overdoing it. Since it was in the same general direction as our apartment, we decided to walk with her. Iruka also wanted to check on Naruto since we haven’t really seen him since Kakashi and Sasuke left. Plus Sakura mentioned that someone other than Ebisu was training Naruto and Iruka wanted to meet him.” Baki nodded, that sounded like Iruka. He had tracked down Ebisu the day after Kakashi had left the village and followed him around for a while to get a sense of who he was as a person. He hadn’t been terribly impressed. He agreed with Kakashi’s assessment that he was a solid all around fighter, but thought the man was self-important and couldn’t do much to help Naruto. But at least he treated Naruto like a person instead of a weapon, so Iruka reluctantly left Naruto to him. Baki knew Iruka would have helped Naruto himself, if he had the chance but with everything that was going on, it just wasn’t an option. So he was not surprised that Iruka wanted to evaluate Naruto’s new teacher. Apparently Iruka found a lot more objectionable about him.

“We arrived at the training field Naruto had been using that morning, but he was not there. Sakura looked worried, considering it was getting close to dinner time and Naruto had promised to meet her here, so we agreed to help her look for him. We were about to split up and look around when we heard a bunch of screaming so we ran in that direction. We ended up near a bathhouse. Naruto was standing a little ways a way looking very uncomfortable and some guy with white hair was lying in the road. We weren’t sure what was going on at first until a Leaf kunoichi came stalking out of the bathhouse. Apparently Naruto’s teacher was trying to spy on them.” Baki found himself hoping that Iruka’s punch had done some serious damage. That behavior was completely unacceptable.

“Was that the point Iruka punched him?” he asked.

“No, that came a little later. Kurenai had gone into the bathouse to make sure everyone was alright and Iruka went over to talk to the guy. We were with Naruto, making sure he was alright and the guy hadn’t tried to encourage him to do anything bad. Not that we thought Naruto would, but we wanted to know the extent of what his supposed teacher did. The white-haired shinobi had gotten to his feet by the time Iruka made his way over to him. We couldn’t hear what they were saying but they spoke for a couple of minutes. Iruka looked madder and madder the longer conversation lasted. Then the man made some kind of gesture and Iruka punched him in the face. Like Kankuro said, it was a good punch. Sent him flying. Kurenai had just exited the bathhouse as it happened and she seemed pretty impressed by it. There was a lot of cheering from the women who were in the bathhouse.”

“Did Naruto’s ex-teacher try to retaliate?” Baki asked. Because Iruka might not have any actual authority in the village, but he was rather good at getting his way and Baki knew there was no way he would allow that man to continue teaching Naruto. Baki had already mentally started re-arranging lesson plans to accommodate Naruto.

“No, although he did not look too happy. But then a Leaf anbu appeared and Iruka had to go with them. Kurenai went with them too so Iruka should be fine. Apparently the man he punched is someone important in Leaf and they want to make sure this was not part of a larger plot against Leaf or something.” The irony of Leaf suspecting a plot when Iruka punched a pervert in the face but not realizing the much larger plan that was being carried out under their noses was not lost on Baki. Although he did not think the reason for Iruka’s behavior was that hard to comprehend. Obviously, the rest of Leaf would have nothing to worry about as long as they did not engage in similar behaviors. And if they did, they deserved to be punched in the face.

“Can you describe the man to me? What clan did he look like he was from?”

“He didn’t look like he was from a clan, or at least not one I’m familiar with,” Temari replied. “He had long white hair and red lines going from the corners of his eyes down his face.” That description sounded somewhat familiar to Baki, but it couldn’t be.

“Naruto said his name was Jiraiya,” Gaara piped up, destroying all of Baki’s positive thinking.

“Of course he was Jiraiya,” he muttered. Of course Iruka would punch one of the legendary sannin when they were currently plotting against another one of them. Now all he needed to do was somehow insult Tsunade Senju and they would have the complete set. How did they get into these situations? He swore he never got involved in these types of things before he met Iruka.

“Was Iruka wrong to punch him?” Temari asked, looking uncertain.

“No,” Baki stated firmly, “regardless of who he was, that behavior was unacceptable and he needs to face consequences for his actions. It just might make life a little more complicated for us moving forward, but he did the right thing. I’m sure everything will be fine. Kurenai will vouch for him.” Baki was very glad she had been a witness to the whole thing. Although he hadn’t known her long, he trusted her integrity and believed she would accurately describe what happened. So Iruka shouldn’t get into trouble. “Now, why don’t we start making dinner. I’m sure Iruka will be tired when he gets back.” Baki was not quite as good at cooking or wrangling the kids in the kitchen as Iruka was, but they made do. He could tell the kids were worried about Iruka and he didn’t blame them. It was generally never a good thing to be escorted off by an anbu, even in your own village and particularly not in a foreign village. But he trusted Iruka. The man had been engaged in a prolonged battle of wits with the Kazekage for multiple years and never lost, despite having almost no power in the village. He could talk his way out of this situation, especially since he hadn’t done anything wrong. He did keep half an ear towards the door anyway. Even knowing all that, he would feel much better once Iruka was back with them safely. Although he supposed with everything going on, safe was a relative term.

They were just finishing up making dinner when the door swung open. The three kids bolted into the living room while Baki stayed long enough to make sure the stove was turned off before following them. Iruka was fussing over the siblings while Kurenai stood a little ways away. Baki walked over to stand by her. “Everything’s alright,” she told him quietly, watching the reunion with a small smile. “Everyone was satisfied that it was not part of a larger scheme and given the circumstances, Iruka will not face any consequences. Although you will probably have a few visitors around over the next few days.” Baki nodded, not surprised that the Leaf anbu would be keeping an eye on them. He wasn’t too worried. They had done a fair bit of their planning under Kakashi’s nose and he had never figured out what they were up to, so fooling some anbus should not be too difficult.

“Will Jiraiya face any consequences?” Baki asked, afraid that he already knew the answer.

Kurenai’s face confirmed his suspicions. “He was the Hokage’s student. He had been doing this for years. The Hokage will dismiss his behavior, saying he didn’t mean any harm and no one actually got hurt. And then he’ll do the same thing next week. Luckily, he is not in the village much so we usually don’t have to deal with him. And everyone who tries to emulate his behavior is not nearly as powerful, so we can put a stop to it before they do any damage. Tsume is pretty good at having ‘talks’ with them. Most are too scared to try anything after that.” Having met Tsume, Baki could only imagine what those creeps would look like after she was done with them.

“The good news is that Shikaku Nara, the jonin commander, happened to be in the Hokage’s office when we arrived and after hearing the whole story, he convinced the Hokage that it would be best for someone else to train Naruto. Not quite sure who that will be, but anyone would be better than Jiraiya,” Kurenai said. “I’m going to take him on until they find someone else. You up for a joint training session tomorrow?”

“I think that would be a productive use of time,” Baki replied, knowing Iruka would feel best if he could keep an eye on his kids and Naruto at the same time.

Kurenai grinned, “Great, we’ll come find you at your training spot in the late morning.” Kurenai left shortly after that. Given everything that happened today, she had apparently warned all of the Leaf genin not to come over tonight. While Iruka was supposedly not in trouble, having a bunch of Leaf children over right after punching the Hokage’s student was probably not the best idea.

The rest of the night was fairly quiet. They ate dinner and then the kids went to bed, while Iruka and Baki sat on the couch. Iruka used their hand signals to indicate where their anbu watcher was. Not surprisingly, they had settled into one of Kakashi’s favorite spots. Which was nice, since they had already figured out what someone could see from that spot. After arranging themselves so their hands could not be seen from that vantage point, Iruka and Baki started idly chatting about what they should do tomorrow at the joint training session with Kurenai. While sparring would be the usual method, since it was quite possible some combination of the people present would have to fight each other in the final round, they probably wanted to save their first real fight for when they were in front of an audience. Of course, given the number of Leaf genin who were in the final round, multiple people would probably end up fighting someone they had already fought, but part of the challenge of the finals was supposed to be fighting people whose style you didn't know well, and none of the adults wanted to take that opportunity away from their students.

Of course, while they threw out ideas, the real conversation occurred out of view of the anbu watcher.

“Another of the legendary sannin, really?’ Baki asked. “Are you going to pick a fight with Tsunade next week?”

“Okay, first of all, Orochimaru is not my fault. He’s the one who decided to attack the Kazekage and get us into this mess. And from what I’ve heard of Tsunade she seems to actually be a decent person so there would be no reason to fight her.” He paused for a second. “I don’t regret it. Even if it made our lives more complicated.”

“I never said you should. He definitely deserved far more than just a punch, but I’m glad you were able to do that much,” Baki told him.

Iruka smiled slightly, “It was a very satisfying punch.”

“What did he say to you?” Baki wondered. “Gaara said you went over to him and talked to him for a second and then punched him.”

“I hate repeating it, but you should probably know about it. I walked over to him and demanded to know just what he thought he was doing. He just laughed it off like he hadn’t done anything wrong. I was about to punch him just for that. Then I asked him why he was teaching Naruto. I intended to ask him just what he was teaching Naruto because based on his character, it couldn’t have been anything good. But I never got that far because I had to punch him for his answer to the previous question. You remember that rather concerning transformation jutsu Naruto mentioned he came up with?”

Baki did, sexy-jutsu or whatever Naruto called it. When he had mentioned it, both Baki and Iruka had been rather concerned about why Naruto had felt obligated to come up with something like that. He was very respectful to the women he interacted with and did not objectify his female friends in that way. Naruto wouldn’t have come up with that for no reason, so they worried about what someone must have said to him to prompt him to do so. But Naruto hadn’t told them, and they had dropped it for now.

“Apparently when Naruto ran into Jiraiya, it somehow came up and Naruto transformed using it. Naruto had gotten bored with Ebisu and wanted Jiraiya to train him. Jiraiya said he would if Naruto regularly did that transformation for Jiraiya to enjoy,” Iruka looked sick just repeating what Jiraiya said. Baki didn’t blame him. He felt rather ill himself.

“So we’re not letting him within 100 feet of Naruto or any other child,” Baki concluded. “Any idea of who would be available to train him?”

Iruka sighed, “No. Kurenai said most Leaf jonin are either too busy with missions or wouldn’t agree to teach Naruto. There is still a lot of hatred towards him due to the Ninetails’ attack on the village. And while that is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard, I would not want anyone who thinks like that near Naruto. So our options are rather limited. If we can’t find a solution in the next few days, I’ll go yell at Kakashi, since it’s his fault we are in this mess.” Baki did not point out that even Kakashi probably could not have foreseen this turn of events. Iruka seemed to take great joy in yelling at the Leaf jonin and Baki certainly was not going to stand in his way. Anyway, it was kind of Kakashi’s fault for not finding a better teacher for Naruto in the first place.

“We’ll see how the training session with Kurenai goes tomorrow,” Iruka decided. “Once we have a better sense of what Naruto needs to work on, we can plan from there.” Baki nodded and let his hands drop. Out loud, their conversation had progressed from just throwing out options for what to do tomorrow to deciding that they and Kurenai (if she agreed) would set up different exercises and the kids could rotate between them. Naruto and Sakura could be one group, and the siblings could break into a single person and a pair. Depending on the exercise, either Gaara or Kankuro would be the best to be the sole person, given that both had rather unique fighting styles. Baki had become used to carrying on two conversations at once during the time he had been the siblings’ teacher. While difficult in the beginning, he grew better at it over time and now could do it without any problems. It was not a skill he ever thought he would develop, though he was sure it would somehow come in useful on a mission someday.

“Well I’m sure we will have an eventful day tomorrow, so let’s get some rest,” he suggested to Iruka.

The other man nodded, yawning, “Good idea. Given how our lives are going right now, who knows what tomorrow will throw at us.” Baki agreed, things had certainly been interesting since they had arrived in Leaf. He could have done with things being a little less interesting, given the situation they were already dealing with, but he could not deny that he enjoyed having the Leaf genin around and they were good for the siblings. They really did need to figure out their next more with regards to the imposter. Mari was going to meet with them tomorrow to discuss how best to start telling Sand shinobi the Kazekage was a fake. They also needed to meet with Tsume to talk about how to explain the situation to the Hokage. If something went wrong and someone from Sand didn’t believe them and told Orochimaru, they needed Leaf to be prepared.

The training session with Kurenai, Naruto, and Sakura went well the next day. Kurenai had agreed to their idea about the rotating stations and the three of them spread out far enough that the groups would not be able to easily see or hear the others. Baki was not quite sure what Kurenai was doing with her group, although he guessed it was related to chakra control. Iruka was teaching the kids more traps. He had told Baki that he planned to go over some more advances traps that he had not shown the siblings before. He wanted to tell them the reasoning behind each of the traps and in what situations they were the most useful. He had figured that even if they could not use the traps themselves in the finals, since setting traps was difficult in one-on-one matches in confined spaces, they would at least know about the reasoning that went into them. Then they could use similar tricks against their opponents and be on the lookout for the tactics being used against them. Of course, Iruka knew he would have to use different exercises for Naruto and Sakura since Baki doubted Kakashi had taught them near as many traps as Iruka had taught to his team. Iruka had said he planned to walk the two of them through the basic kinds of trap-both their design and use.

Baki just had the kids fight him, one at a time. He would defend and attack using only taijutsu and would pause the fight every so often to talk over why they had chosen that particular strategy and how they could make it better. Since he didn’t know all the techniques that Sakura and Naruto had learned, and so couldn’t really help them with those, he figured that would be the best use of their time.

They practiced until the late afternoon, when they went their separate ways. Kurenai, Naruto, and Sakura stayed to practice a while longer while the rest of them went back to the apartment. Mari was already there when they arrived and she started talking about field first-aid with the kids. Although they already knew more than most their age, most of their previous lessons had focused on how to help a teammate. Now, she was going over how to quickly apply first aid to yourself. The kids seemed eager to learn, even Gaara who probably would never have to use these skills. And that left Baki and Iruka free to meet with Tsume.

“Kiba told me all about how your plan went,” she told them when they arrived. “He seemed to have enjoyed helping you. I’ll glad to hear it all went well.”

“We were grateful for his and his teammates’ help,” Iruka told her. “I was relieved that it all went smoothly.”

“I’m sure. Well now that you know the imposter’s identity for certain, what are you going to do?” Tsume asked. Baki was content to sit back and let Iruka field that question. Plotting was more his forte than Baki’s.

“We have an ally among our delegation who is well regarded by our shinobi. She knows what is really going on. The plan is for her to start telling our people part of the truth. For now, we are telling everyone that there is a possibility that the real Kazekage is alive and is being held captive by Orochimaru’s allies. We are also not mentioning my involvement in discovering the imposter, since my antagonism with the Kazekage is well known. She will say our friend in the anbu was the one who figured out the plot,” Iruka explained.

“That seems fairly risky for you. What if someone does not believe her and runs to Orochimaru with information about what you are doing?” Tsume asked.

“We know the plan has serious risk,” Baki acknowledged. “However, we do not want to have to fight Sand shinobi if we do not have to. The best way to prevent the invasion from happening is to convince the people who will carry it out to stop.”

“That’s also why we want to have a plan in place to explain the situation to the Hokage should things go badly for us,” Iruka cut in. “We will have at least planted seeds of uncertainty and that will weaken the strength of the invasion, even if Orochimaru is able to convince most Sand shinobi that we are lying. But time would be of the essence if we got exposed, so we wanted to make sure we had a plan in place for what you would need to do before our friend started telling people. Since you obviously know your leader best, we figured we would leave deciding what to say to you, but if needed anything, feel free to ask us.”

"And before I forget," Iruka reached into his pocket and pulled out the bag that contained the scrap of cloth from Orrochimaru. "Just in case you need this to prove your point."

"Thanks," Tsume said. “As for my plan, I’ve never been much for lying, so I’ll just tell as much of the truth as they need to know. That you came to me and explained to me what was going on. That I gave you time to solve the problem on your own because I felt that it would be the best way to minimize casualties. I’ll share everything you told me and that Orochimaru is involved. If they insist on questioning me, I’ll drag Kakashi into it. I’ll try not to share that Kurenai or the kids were involved. She doesn’t have a clan to protect her and I don’t want this incident haunting the kids for the rest of their lives.” Baki nodded along. It sounded as good a plan as any under the circumstances.

Tsume wasn’t done, “I can’t make any promises given that I’m sure the council will be furious with me, but I’ll try and protect your kids as best I can.”

Iruka smiled, “Thank you, we appreciate that you are willing to do that much.”

Tsume waved him off, “We’re good kids. Plus Kiba and Akamaru are attached at this point, and wouldn’t take kindly to anyone hurting their friends.” Despite Tsume’s warning, Baki was certain that if he and Iruka weren’t around to protect their kids, Tsume would do so. She was not the type of person to let others’ disproval stop her from doing what she wanted. Plus, she was a well-respected clan leader and jonin who probably held more sway than she realized. If the worst should happen, Baki was at least comforted by the fact that she was on their side.

“We should be getting back,” Iruka said. “I expect our dinner guests will arrive soon.”

Tsume laughed, “Go on then. I’m sure they will be happy to get to have dinner with you again.” Baki and Iruka took their leave and hurried back to the apartment. The kids were still practicing with Mari in the living room, so Iruka and Baki got started on dinner. It was not surprising that Iruka decided to make ramen. Naruto had promised to come over tonight and he deserved some comfort food after everything he had gone through the past few days.

They were about halfway done with the cooking before people starting trickling in. Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru arrived first, with Sakura, Naruto, and Kurenai following soon after. Naruto was overjoyed at the prospect of homemade ramen again and demanded that Iruka let him help. Baki idly wondered if any of the Leaf genin they had befriended were competent enough in the kitchen that Iruka could teach them how to make ramen and some of the other recipes of his that they seemed to enjoy. From that way they talked, it seemed that both Tenten and Lee could cook well enough to feed themselves and Naruto but he wasn’t sure if they could do much beyond that or even if they would enjoy learning more about cooking. Something to mention to Iruka once the situation with Orochimaru had been dealt with, he guessed. Tenten and Lee themselves arrived just after they had finished cooking.

It had slipped Baki’s mind that Mari had not met of the Leaf shinobi they had befriended and honestly it was a little terrifying to see how well she got along with Kurenai. Kiba was quite taken with her as well. Apparently, she reminded him of his sister who was a vet. Kiba had promised to introduce the two of them sometime. Baki had a mental note to be far away when that occurred. If Mari met Hana, she would probably also meet Tsume and that would be a terrifying combination.

Most of the dinner conversation centered around Sakura and Naruto’s training. Naruto was quite happy to explain what little he had learned with Ebisu and what Jiraiya had tried to teach him. Iruka looked ready to hunt Jiraiya down and destroy him after hearing the full summary of Naruto’s time with him, and honestly Baki would help him hide the body. Under normal circumstances, he would never want to take on one of the legendary sannin, but when Iruka was consumed with righteous fury, he had a tendency to do things that Baki would have previously deemed impossible. Stealing the Kazekage’s children was just one example.

“Have you been assigned a new temporary jonin instructor yet, Naruto?” Iruka asked.

Naruto shook his head, “No, apparently everyone is too busy or doesn't want to work with me.” Baki wished they could do more for him. He honestly liked Naruto. He was a good kid and would be a dangerous shinobi with the proper training.

“I don’t think that will be a problem for much longer,” Kurenai spoke up. “I invited a friend of mine over, I hope that’s alright with you. And she said she would be willing to train Naruto for the next couple weeks.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Iruka assured her. “I would want to meet whoever agreed to teach Naruto anyway.”

“I figured given how the last two have turned out. I’d tell you not to punch this one, but honestly, she’d probably enjoy the chance to fight you. I’ve told her a little bit about you. I think the two of you would get along well.” Given that Kurenai mainly knew Iruka as the person who had punched one of the legendary sannin while he was already plotting to destroy one of the other sannin, Baki was a little scared about who Kurenai would think he would get along well with. Sure enough a few minutes later, a knock rang out at the door. Baki moved to the door and opened it to reveal a purple-hair woman standing on the other side.

She grinned at him, “Looks like I’m in the right place.”

“Come in,” he stepped back and allowed her to enter, “Kurenai told us to expect you.”

“Ah, where’s the fun in that,” she complained as the entered the living room. “Kurenai, you shouldn’t have told them. I could have freaked them out a little.”

Kureani laughed, “Sorry, Anko, next time I’ll try not to get in the way of your fun.”

“Good,” Anko said. She quickly scanned the room, taking in the inhabitants and their locations, before her eyes settled on Naruto. “Hey kid, are you the brat I’m supposed to be teaching because Kakashi fucked off and your last teacher was a creep?”

Naruto titled his head and shrugged, “I guess. You were the proctor for the second part of the exams, right? What sorts of cool techniques do you know? Can you teach me any?”

Before Anko got the chance to answer, Kiba cut in, “Why did you smell like snakes?”

“I know all sorts of cool techniques,” Anko assured Naruto. “Although our training will really be about what you can do rather than what I can do. And to answer your question, Inuzuka, I use snake summons so the scent lingers around me.”

“Snakes are weird,” Kiba complained. “Why can’t you use dogs? They’re much better.”

Anko laughed at him, “Snakes work better with my techniques. Plus, my old teacher used snakes and he taught me a lot about them. They are what I am used to, so I just kept using them.” Given what she had just said, Baki would bet that she was Orochimaru’s old student. Iruka had told him what Kakashi had said about Orochimaru also leaving a cursed mark on an old student who he attacked during the exams. He wondered why Kurenai had asked Anko to be Naruto’s temporary teacher. He didn’t think she had told her friend anything about the imposter, but it was possible Kurenai wanted someone who was familiar with Orochimaru close in case he tried something. At the very least, she would be a better teacher than the two Naruto had been saddled with before. She was taking the time to actually listen to what Naruto and the other genin were saying and explaining to Naruto what sort of training regime she imagined them doing for their time together. It certainly wasn’t an ideal solution, since Anko had apparently never taught before and seemed somewhat uncertain about how she would help someone who had a vastly different skillset than she did. But she seemed to at least respect Naruto as a person and wasn’t scared of him. And Baki had no doubt that Iruka would give her plenty of unsolicited advice about how to train Naruto. Not that she would have a problem with that, given Kurenai was right in her prediction. Iruka and Anko got along concerningly well, considering their conversation topics. Anko had started out congratulating Iruka on the punch he had dealt to Jiraiya and now they had moved on to discussing how best to annoy awful team leaders without endangering the mission or pushing far enough that they would write you up. Mari would occasionally throw in her advice as well. He was pretty sure both Tenten and Kiba were taking notes. Baki decided that was not his problem. He would be out of this village before too long and would not have to deal with any chaos Iruka helped cause. Given the look on Kurenai’s face, she knew she would be around to deal with the fallout and was mentally preparing excuses. It was a look Baki knew well. But it was an enjoyable dinner and Baki had no doubt Naruto was in good hands with Anko.

Eventually all the Leaf shinobi left for the night and the kids went to bed. Then it was just Iruka, Mari, and him on one of the couches. “I’ll start tomorrow,” she said quietly, not looking at either of them.

“Understood,” Iruka replied, because what else was left to say? Iruka had previously went over the information he had gotten from his reconnaissance among the Sand shinobi earlier. They were as prepared as they were going to be. They had reviewed every Sand shinobi on the trip and created lists of who to start with, who to let find out by word of mouth, and who they absolutely needed to avoid until they had popular opinion on their side. They had double and tripled checked, moving names around as they debated. But they couldn’t put things off forever and tomorrow was the day to see if their plan would work. And that would be all up to Mari. At this point, there was nothing more him and Iruka could do.

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed Baki's pov. I had a lot of fun writing him and writing Iruka punch Jiraiya in the face.

Chapter 18: Mari

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Mari was not known for her bedside manner. It had never really troubled her. She was a damn good med-nin and had saved countless lives. Her tendency to yell at her patients as soon as they woke up did not take away from that. She could be gentler when she absolutely needed to be and when genin came in, she made sure to yell at their jonin teacher instead of the kid unless the kid was an idiot and had gotten themselves into the situation that led to them getting injured despite their teacher’s best efforts. But most of the time, she just brought along one of the other med-nins when a softer touch was necessary. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option in this scenario.

Mari knew she was the only one who could do this. That didn’t mean she had to like it. Up until this point, she had been rather separated from the plot against Orochimaru. Sure, she had been talking to the rest of the delegation, seeing if anyone had any suspicions and trying to subtly plant doubts when she could, but she left the bulk of the plan to Iruka, Baki, and Scorpion. But they had done all that they could and the next part was all up to her. Mari was not all that great at manipulating people. She hadn’t ever needed to be, so it was a skill she had never developed. Iruka would be much better at this than she was, but no one would believe the news coming from him. Baki had spent enough time around Iruka to pick up some manipulation skills, but he was also seen as too attached to Iruka and thus against the Kazekage. And Scorpion was needed elsewhere. So, she was the only option.

Iruka had helped her script what to say and they all pitched in to decide who to start with, which made her feel a little better. But the idea that the entire plan was riding on her at this point honestly terrified her. She thought wistfully of Karura. Her friend would have loved Iruka, she was sure. Mari was so glad when Iruka took over raising Karura’s youngest. She had never really interacted much with him before. He had been to the hospital a few times for minor injuries but had been seen by other med-nins. But from what she had heard about him, she thought he might be someone who could truly connect with Gaara. Her first conversation with him reassured her that she had been right. He loved that boy; anyone could see that. Mari had barely had the chance to interact with Gaara before the Kazekage had shut her out of his life. She wasn’t there at his birth, the way she was at Temari’s and Kankuro’s. Mari was the second person Karura told she was pregnant with Temari, after Rasa. And it had been for a reason. Karura asked Mari if she would deliver the baby for her. Mari initially refused. She had never delivered a child before. She was a field medic and later took the worst cases that came into the hospital. But Karura was stubborn, a trait all of her children had inherited. She kept asking Mari until she agreed. She was taken off the active mission roster and moved to working full-time in the village hospital.

Mari spent the months leading up to Temari’s birth reading everything she could about childbirth. She attended multiple other births and watched med-nins with more experience in that area than her. She was supposed to deliver a baby who was due a week before Temari so her first delivery would not be for the Kazekage’s first child, but of course Temari had arrived early. Mari had been woken up in the middle of the night by an anbu telling her that her presence was needed at the hospital. Mari spent the entire trip there freaking out, but once she actually arrived in the delivery room, she felt a sense of calm settle over her. She knew she could do this. Plus, Karura was one of the strongest people she knew. She would be okay. Rasa was on a diplomatic visit to Cloud and wouldn’t be back for two days. Karura's brother was on a mission and she had no other living family, so it was just the two of them in the room, with a couple nurses running in and out with supplies. Of course, at least one anbu had to have been watching over them, but Mari didn’t see them. Later, she liked to imagine that Scorpion was there that night, even though she knew it was unlikely.

And to everyone’s relief, it had gone well. Temari was born without any complications, although she did showcase her impressive lung capacity as she was born. Karura had laughed and demanded to hold her as soon as Mari had cleaned her off.

“She looks like me,” Karura said decisively. Mari certainly wasn’t going to argue with her, although privately she thought Temari mainly just looked angry. Her face was too scrunched up from crying for Mari to see her features very well. But her friend had also packed a mean punch and Mari knew she would get hit for voicing that opinion. So, she just nodded along and made sure the two of them were settled in a private room.

Besides medical visits, Mari did not see much of her friend for the first few months of Temari’s life. Not surprising, since Karura was busy with her new baby as well as her duties as the Kazekage’s wife and Mari was working long hours at the hospital in between her missions. Karura found her about fourth months after Temari’s birth and announced that she was pregnant again. Mari immediately requested leave to remain in the village for the next nine months, which was granted. Although she probably could have continued taken missions for the next six months, she wanted to be there with her friend every step of the way this time. The hardest part was convincing Karura to stop doing heavy training exercises in the later months. Although Karura hardly ever took missions anymore, she liked to stay combat ready. Most people looking at Karura would not have guessed she was the heavy-hitter of their team, but she was. Mari mainly provided medical assistance and support while their third teammate had focused on long-range jutsu attacks. Karura was their brawler. Although she knew multiple jutsus, she liked to start with taijutsu attacks to identify an opponent’s weak points and proceed from there. Mari always felt like as long as Karura was around, they would always make it through.

Mari had tried to be happy for her friend when she announced she was dating Rasa, who everyone knew was the top pick for the next Kazekage. But she also felt that Rasa did not deserve her friend. He was a powerful shinobi, but Karura sacrificed so much for their relationship while Rasa never really sacrificed anything. She did think he cared for Karura, but it didn’t feel like enough. He left almost all of the child-rearing to Karura. And while she would wave Mari’s concerns off, saying he was just busy as the Kazekage, even when he was home, he did not help much. Mari was also concerned that Karura was pregnant so soon after giving birth. She would help her friend to the best of her abilities, but childbirth put any enormous strain on Karura’s body and repeating that so soon could have consequences.

Despite Mari’s concerns, Kankuro’s birth went well. Rasa was in the village that time and insisted on staying in the birthing room. Thankfully, he spent the entire time holding Karura’s hand and did not get in Mari’s way. She would have kicked him out if he had, even if he was the leader of her village.

Mari did not find out Karura was pregnant again until almost five months into her third pregnancy. She had been on a long-term infiltration mission in a village near the border. It was believed that someone was smuggling weapons and supplies through the town and selling them to other villages. They had need someone with medical skills, since the cover was as the town’s new doctor. It had honestly been a rather boring mission. Mari mainly just healed the people who can into her clinic without using medical jutsus so they didn’t realize she was a shinobi (which was rather annoying. Healing jutsus were so much more efficient and effective. But Mari was a true battlefield medic and had been trained in how to heal without the use of chakra. That way even if she had exhausted her chakra reserves, she could still save lives.) Luckily, there were not many major injuries or sicknesses for her to deal with, just everyday things. Eventually, she was able to overhear one of her patients talking about a certain warehouse. With that, it was easy to find the location the smugglers were using and take out the people present before they even realized what was going on. There were only four smugglers present when Mari arrived, but she waited in the rafters for the rest of the day, taking out whoever else came in. Once she believed she had neutralized everyone involved, she called for backup. She needed to transport the contents of the warehouse and the smugglers still alive back to Sand.

She had arrived back in the village around noon, but between the debriefing, helping with the interrogations, and organizing the cargo, she did not make it back to her apartment until late at night. Fortunately she had the next few days off so she slept for almost an entire day, then forced herself to get up and go grocery shopping since she had very limited food in her kitchen.

She had gotten almost everything she had come for, she just needed to pick up some fish for dinner tonight. While it would be nice to get back to her apartment, it was annoying since she had so much to carry. And while the market wasn’t especially crowded, there were a still quite a few people walking down the street. Mari had to be careful so she did not bump into anyone. She was almost to her favorite fish seller when she saw her. Karura was talking to one of the other venders, with Kankuro on her hip and Temari holding her hand. But what Mari found herself focusing on was her friend’s stomach. She had to be at least four months along and Mari had had no idea.

She hurriedly made her way over to Karura, “Karura,” she called out.

Her friend turned and smiled, “Mari, I heard you had gotten back. How did your mission go? How are you?”

“It went fine,” Mari assured her. “I was able to locate the smugglers and neutralize them. I just slept most of the day away, but I feel fine now. How are you? I had no idea you were pregnant.”

Karura nodded, “I am glad. I will be five months along next week. Anyway, it was good to see you but I should be getting home. Rasa worries so if I am out too long. But we need to catch up. You should come by the house sometime soon.”

Mari agreed and bid Karura good-bye. She finished up her shopping and made her way back to her apartment, deep in thought. Why hadn’t she been told of Karura’s pregnancy? Of course, her mission was important and had helped ensure the safety of the village but multiple other people could have completed it. Sure, replacing her might have set the timeline of the mission back a little bit, but Karura was the Kazekage’s wife. Wasn’t her health more important than a few weeks delay? For all Rasa’s faults, he did seem to honestly care for Karura. So why hadn’t he called Mari back? And with how stubborn Karura had been about Mari being her med-nin during her first two pregnancies, why hadn’t she had any mention of Mari taking over those duties again? Something felt wrong, although Mari was not quite sure what.

The feeling only intensified when Mari went to the hospital the next morning. Although she technically had one more day off, she was feeling unsettled and wanted to check how things were going. She checked on some of her long-term patients and chatted with the other med-nin about how things had been for the past few months. Everything seemed to be going normally until she asked who had been taking care of Karura and no had a clear answer for her. When she asked to see Karura’s patient file, she was told that it was not kept on-site anymore and anyway she didn’t have the clearance to view it.

Enough was enough and Mari stormed straight to Rasa’s office. “Want to tell me why the hell I can’t see the file for my own damn patient?”

“You are not Karura’s med-nin during this pregnancy,” he answered, hardly glancing up from his paperwork. “You do not need to see it.”

“Alright, let’s talk about that then. Would you care to explain to me why I’m not her med-nin this time around?” Mari shot back.

“We could not afford to call you back from you mission. We needed to locate the smugglers for the safety of the village and any delay was dangerous,” Rasa responded.

“You’re an idiot if you really think I’m going to buy that answer,” Mari spat at him. “She’s your wife and I thought you gave a damn about her. Someone else could easily have replaced me that early in the mission and only delayed us a few weeks. So I’ll ask you again, why didn’t you recall me?”

Rasa glared at her, “I have given you my answer. Now if you don’t mind, I am quite busy and don’t have time to deal with you. Leave.” Knowing she would get nowhere with him, Mari turned to leave, hoping to ask her colleagues or Karura what was going on. “Oh and, Mari,” she turned back to face him at the sound of his voice, “you may be a valuable healer and my wife’s friend, but if you ever suggest I do not care for my wife again, you will regret it.” His voice was icy and Mari had no doubt he would follow through on his threat. “Did I make myself clear?” She nodded and left before her temper got the better of her.

Mari spent the rest of the day trying to find some answers with little success. The other med-nin did not know much about Karura’s situation. They couldn’t even tell her who the primary healer was, since all the appointments were held at the Kazekage’s home and no one except the treating med-nin had access to Karura’s file. And whoever was responsible for her care, they were keeping quiet about it. Karura had not been at home when Mari went to visit her and no one would tell her where she was. It was beyond frustrating.

Mari sat at her kitchen table, turning the situation over in her head that night. Why would they go to this much trouble? This was nothing like the treatment of Karura during her first two pregnancies. Mari had seen her at the hospital and people knew that Mari was the med-nin overseeing her. Sure, the file was somewhat restricted since they didn’t what just anyone to know about the details of Karura’s pregnancy, but several other med-nin had access to it in case of an emergency. Which did not seem to be the case here.

And then there was Rasa’s behavior. Despite what Mari had said in his office, she did believe he loved Karura. It’s just that loving her wasn’t enough to change his many bad habits. So why was he allowing Karura to be cut off from medical care she might need?

Mari did everything she could to find answers but to no avail. Karura would not tell her anything concrete, only that she was not in danger and this was to help the village. Rasa certainty weren’t giving her any answers and neither would the secret med-nin. Mari was never even able to find out who they were. The most information she could get was Karura’s expected due date. And the was only after bugging her friend about it for days.

As that day grew closer, Mari became more agitated. Karura had been put on bed rest for the last month and Mari had not been allowed to see her. Again, no explanation was provided. It was two days before Karura’s projected due date when someone knocked at her door just as she was about to go to sleep. She drew one of the kunai she kept on hand and cautiously opened it before throwing it wide open when she saw who it was. Two anbus stood there, carrying Temari and Kankuro in their arms. Kankuro was asleep while Temari seemed to be fighting off slumber to the best of her ability. Mari wordlessly allowed them to enter.

“Karura has asked that you watch over,” one of the anbu said, holding out Kankuro to her. She took him into her arms, rocking him gently when he whined in his sleep. The other anbu set Temari down and she toddled over to hold onto Mari’s leg. “Someone will come to collect them tomorrow.” Was all she was told before the anbu disappeared.

Mari forced herself to put on a reassuring smile for Temari. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s get you and your brother to bed.” Temari followed her without protest and happily climbed into the bed Mari laid Kankuro on, pulling her younger brother close to her. However, when Mari stood up to leave and sleep on the couch, Temari protested, grabbing Mari’s sleeve in her hand. When Mari tried to remove her fingers from her shirt, she started crying.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Mari whispered quickly. “I’ll stay. I promise.” She gently slid into the bed a pulled the covers over all three of them. “There, how’s that?” Temari seemed pleased, finally letting herself succumb to slumber. Mari hardly slept that night, wondering what was going on and hoping that Karura was alright.

The kids slept late the next morning, probably due to the stress of the night before. Mari gave them some fruit for breakfast and got them dressed before realizing she did not have any toys or books to entertain them with. She certainly didn’t want them looking at some of her more gruesome textbooks. But that didn’t seem to bother the kids too much. As long as she was holding Kankuro, he was happy. And if Kankuro was happy, Temari was happy. She was content to just sit beside Mari on the couch as she read aloud appropriate sections of the newspaper and rambled about her time at the academy.

Mari was just starting to worry about whether she had anything for the kids to eat for lunch when a knock rang out at her door. She opened it to reveal the two anbus from the night before.

“The Kazekage is requesting your presence at his residence,” the taller one informed her. “Please bring the children with you.” Having delivered the request (order), they disappeared. Well, this was one order Mari certainly wasn’t going to argue with. If anyone knows what is going on, it would be Rasa. And she would do whatever necessary to get the information out of him.

She hurried back to where she had left the kids on the couch. “Come on, kiddos, let’s get you back to your parents.” She lifted Kankuro up and rested him on her hip and took Temari’s hand. After double-checking that the kids had everything why had come with (which wasn’t much) she set off towards Rasa and Karura’s home.

It didn’t take her long to arrive. Once she entered the house, Yashamaru greeted her. Mari recognized him from the multiple times Karura had dragged him along to their hangouts, although she did not know him that well. But even with her limited knowledge, Mari knew something was wrong. “I can watch Temari and Kankuro,” he told her, not meeting her eyes. “The Kazekage wants to speak with you.”

“Yashamaru, what is going on? Where is Karura? Is the baby alright?” Mari demanded to know.

He finally looked up at her, and Mari realized why he hadn’t before. The red rims around his eyes showed he had been crying recently. “The Kazekage will explain everything,” he told her. “Please. He’s right upstairs.” Mari knew that trying to get information out of him would be a losing battle so she patted Temari and Kankuro on their heads and said good-bye before hurrying up the stairs.

She found Rasa in his and Karura’s bedroom. He was seated at the side of the bed. In the corner, she could see a cradle and heard a baby crying. But Rasa didn’t react. She was about to go over and pick up the child herself before she saw what was on the bed. Or rather who.

Mari was a med-nin. As much as she hated it, she saw death constantly. The ones she was too late to save, the ones where she did everything she could and it still wasn’t enough. So the minute she saw Karura, she knew her friend was dead. She dropped to her knees beside the bed. She reached out and grabbed her friend’s hand, holding the cold limb to her cheek. She noted Karura was smiling. She was glad that her friend had at least been happy in her final moments.

For a man who usually loved to hear the sound of his own voice, Rasa hadn’t spoken a word since she arrived. The baby was still crying from their crib. Mari knew she should go comfort them. Karura would have wanted her to, but first… “What happened?” she asked. Although she couldn’t see what injuries her friend had through the sheet that covered her, something told her something other than the normal dangers of childbirth had killed Karura.

“Two months into Karura’s pregnancy, the elders came up with a plan,” Rasa began. “You know that we have had problems containing the One-Tails. Our jinchuriki die because they can’t handle it or are driven mad and have to be put down. The elders thought the problem might be that we are introducing the bijuu to people’s systems too late. That if we could put the bijuu in someone before their own chakra system developed, our issues might be solved.”

“But chakra systems are set before a child is even born,” Mari pointed out. “How could they put a seal on something that was not born yet?”

“They went through Karura,” Rasa replied. He still had not looked towards his child crying in the corner. “They put the seal on her stomach and it was supposed to influence his development. It was experimental but they thought it would work.”

“And Karura agreed to this?” Mari asked.

Rasa sighed, “They didn’t give her much of a choice. I couldn’t stop them. But she said she was happy knowing that her child would be strong and could protect himself and his siblings. But something went wrong during the birth. We don’t know quite what but it was because of that experiment that she is dead.” Mari couldn’t tell if he was calling the attempt to cage the One-tails or the child himself the experiment. “She named him Gaara before she died. She was smiling at her as the life drained from her body.” The grip Rasa had on the sheets tightened to the point that Mari was worried he was going to tear them. When he did not say anything else, Mari finally made her way to the crib in the corner.

The child was lying beneath a blanket, crying loudly. “Has he been feed?” she asked, gently picking him up. She knew she was not processing Karura’s death as she would eventually need to. Right now, she just felt numb knowing her best friend was gone. But Mari had not doubt that Karura had loved Gaara, even if she had only seen him for a few moments and she would want him to be cared for. Mari hadn’t been able to save Karura, but she could at least look after her children.

Rasa just grunted, but he did wave his hand at where the anbu must be and shortly after they brought another recent mother who was willing to help feed Gaara to the house. Mari passed the child over to her and returned to Rasa’s side. “What will you do now?” she asked. “Have you told Temari and Kankuro?” Not that Kankuro would really understand what was going on, but Temari would know something was wrong.

“I had someone inform them,” he answered.

Mari gaped at him, “Their mother is dead. And now their father can’t even be bothered to deliver and news himself and be there to comfort them?”

“She was my wife,” he roared at her. “She was my wife and now she’s gone.”

“But your children aren’t,” Mari pointed out. “And they need you, more than ever. Do you know how you are going to manage raising Gaara? I can start looking into ways to stabilize the seal and try to figure out what happened.” Seals were far from Mari’s specialty, but for this, she was willing to learn whatever she needed to. Gaara had finished eating apparently and Mari took him back.

“That won’t be necessary,” Rasa responded coolly. “Yashamaru will raise Gaara. A caretaker can watch over Temari and Kankuro. We will keep them separated since who knows that kind of damage he could do. We’ll see if he can become a decent weapon when he is older. If not, there are ways to get rid of failed experiments.”

Mari looked at him in horror, “He’s a child. He’s your son. And given the complications at his birth, I’m pretty sure the seal is damaged in some way. You can't just expect him to have control over a bijuu before he is even a genin. What are you thinking?”

Rasa did not answer her. Instead, he said, “It is time for you to leave.”

“What?” Mari screamed.

“You cannot help with anything here and your opinion on my family is not necessary,” Rasa stated. “Put him back in his crib and leave. Or I will make you.” An anbu appeared in Mari’s field of vision. Knowing she would not win if it came to a fight, she gently set Gaara down in his crib and brushed her hand over his hair.

As she left the room, she couldn’t help throwing out a parting shot. “Karura would hate you for this,” she stated, not bothering to look back to see Rasa’s expression. She didn’t even get to check on Temari and Kankuro as she left, as they had been hidden away somewhere.

And that was the last time she spoke to Rasa in a non-professional setting. And it would be many years before she got to talk to Karura’s children again. She wasn’t sure if it was because of her last comment or what, but Rasa made sure she did not get the opportunity to interact with the children. She saw Temari and Kankuro at a distant a few times but never got close enough to talk to them. And the closest she came to seeing Gaara was conducting the postmortem medical examination on a couple of his caretakers. And it hurt.

The night of Karura’s death, she had broken down once she arrived back at her apartment. She sobbed herself to sleep that night, mourning her best friend. She had barely managed to get herself together to attend the funeral. And that hadn’t helped. The ceremony wasn’t to mourn Karura-the stubborn woman who had a terrible sweet tooth and hated sitting still. No, it was to mourn the Kazekage’s wife. They talked about her devotion to the village, the Kazekage, and her family as if that was all she was. Gaara was not mentioned at all at the service. Mari knew Karura would have hated it. But Mari hadn’t been able to save her and she couldn’t give her the tribute she deserved. So she resigned herself to watching over the children at a distance, learning whatever she could about them. Sometimes that just made it worse. Because the children deserved better than the life they had. Karura had loved them more than anything and wanted them to have a happy childhood before they were exposed to the worst the shinobi world had to offer. And Mari couldn’t even give them that.

Then someone came along who could. Mari had tried not to get her hopes up when she heard Iruka had been chosen as Gaara’s new caretaker. She only knew him by his reputation but she had heard that he had a good head on his shoulders and had a far more realistic view of his own strengths and weaknesses than many shinobi. Plus, she had heard he could amazing things with seals. But Gaara was obviously powerful and she worried Iruka would not be able to defend himself when Gaara lost control.

So when an anbu dropped into the hospital in the middle of the night holding Iruka’s body, she was not surprised. Until she realized that he was still breathing. Mari had been prepared to work all night to keep him alive, but it turned out that was not necessary. For someone who had attacked with Gaara’s sand, he had incredibly minor injuries. She could feel hope rising in her. And then Iruka had cemented it when he woke up and immediately wanted to know whether Gaara was alright. For the first time in years, Mari knew Gaara was in good hands.

And Iruka continued to exceed her expectations. He fought the Kazekage over and over again and kept winning. He reunited the siblings, fixed Gaara’s seal, and finally gave them those children a chance to be children. He carried Gaara around like it was nothing, encouraged Kankuro’s schemes, and convinced Temari to let go of some of the responsibilities that had been dumped on her shoulders when she was far too young. Mari was amazed at what he could do with just a few words. She was saddened that he and Kaurua had never had the chance to meet. Mari knew it would have been a sight to behold.

But for all of Iruka’s talents, there were things he could not do. As much as Mari loved his willingness to stand up to Rasa, it did not leave him with a great reputation in the village and certainly if anyone heard there was a plot against the Kazekage, they would assume Iruka was involved. So, the getting the villagers on our side part of the plan was all up to her. And she had to do it. She hadn’t been able to help Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara for so many years. This was what she could do to protect them.

Their first target was chosen carefully. Like many of the village shinobi, Mari knew her by sight rather than name, but Iruka was confident that Naomi was the best starting point. Mari did remember that her and Iruka had been on missions together and that she sometimes visited Iruka and the kids, so she at least wouldn’t let village prejudices cloud her judgment.

It did not take Mari long to find Naomi, but she had to hang back until she was alone. As Naomi prepared to leave the restaurant she was in, Mari positioned herself a little ways away, in a side-street that she knew Naomi would use. Then Mari started preparing. She forced her breathing to shorten until she was breathing in pants and made sure her fingers were trembling slightly. Shinobi were trained to look for signs of deception in behavior, of course, but that hopefully won’t be Naomi’s first instinct when seeing a med-nin from her own village. The trick would be to progressing quickly from Naomi seeing her to telling Naomi their edited version of the truth. But even that was a delicate balance. If she waited too long to reveal the story, Naomi could start analyzing her behavior and figure out something was not right. But if she spilled the story too quickly, Naomi might be suspicious about her willingness to divulge something so serious that quickly.

When Mari heard footsteps approaching, she stood up from the crate she had been resting on and starting walking towards the sound. Her walk was slightly hurried and she kept her head down. This allowed her to run into Naomi while looking natural about it.

“Oh, hello,” Mari said, after jolting backwards. “I’m very sorry about that. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“It’s fine,” Naomi assured her. Mari had an “effort” to get her breathing back to normal and stop her hands from fidgeting, which Naomi watched carefully. “You’re Mari, right? You’ve patched me up a couple times. Are you alright?”

“Fine,” Mari replied. “I was just lost in my head.” Mari realized that striking the balance would be harder than she had thought. How much should she reveal now?

“You want to talk about it?” Naomi asked. “I have some time and you looked like you were pretty upset.”

“I don’t want to bother you,” Mari demurred. “I just found out some news that was troubling.”

“Must have been pretty troubling,” Naomi commented. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.” Mari went along with her, hoping she was playing her part well enough. Naomi bought her dinner and they chatted about the missions they had gone on and how they liked Leaf. Naomi then walked her back to the apartment she was staying at. One of the perks of being one of the top med-nin in the delegation was that she got her own apartment, even if it was quite small. “You want to tell me what was bothering you?”

Mari hesitated for a moment, trying to sell it, before gesturing for Naomi to come inside. “You’re going to think I’m crazy,” she warned her. “You’re not going to believe me. I really should not be telling you this.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” Naomi told her, taking a seat.

Mari didn’t have Iruka’s silencing seals but the wards she had put on her door and window included sound suppressors, so no one should be able to hear them.

“I’m friends with one of the anbus who accompanied the delegation,” Mari started. Iruka had told her to stick as close to the truth as she could. Not only would it make it more believable, but it would also be easier for her to remember so her story stayed consistent. “I’ve known he was an anbu for a while, but I knew not to say anything if I saw him while he had his mask on. Today he approached me and asked me to come with him. We went to a deserted training field and after he made sure no one was listening, he told me…he told me something shocking.”

“What was it?” Naomi prodded her.

Mari glanced around and bit her lip before continuing, “He told me that he had been part of the Kazekage’s guard on our trip here. And that one night the Kazekage had requested that they not follow him when he went off on his own. Obviously, the Kazekage can take care of himself, so they weren’t too worried. The others drifted off to patrol but my friend stayed near the area the Kazekage had gone to, just to be safe. After a few minutes, he sensed something odd, almost like a fight was taking place. By the time he headed in that direction, the activity had stopped. But he was able to get the sense of at least three powerful chakra signatures, one of which was the Kazekage’s. He figured that maybe someone had tried to attack the Kazekage and he defeated them. But when the Kazekage returned, he did not say anything about a fight. My friend thought that was odd but was not sure how to bring it up. He watched the Kazekage carefully throughout the rest of the journey and during our time here and noticed that some of his behaviors had shifted. He couldn’t give me specifics since that was confidential information. But he thinks…”

“He thinks the Kazekage is a fake,” Naomi finished for her. Mari nodded. Naomi sat back in her chair, “How certain is he of this?”

“Pretty certain. That’s why he waited so long before saying anything, to gather more data,” Mari said. “I was the first person he’s told.”

“Do you think the invasion plan relates to this supposed imposter too?” Naomi asked.

“I don't know. The timing seems suspicious but I can't say anything for sure,” Mari replied.

Naomi sat quietly for a few minutes. Mari let her. Iruka said it was important to let people process the information at their own pace. That way, it felt more like they were reaching the conclusion on their own rather than thinking she was encouraging them in a certain way.

“What was his plan from here?” Naomi finally asked.

“Well, he said we needed to tell people our suspicions. If he thinks the Kazekage is an imposter, I believe him. And our shinobi need to know. But to overpower someone as strong as the Kazekage, the imposter must be very powerful. My anbu friend needs to stay and keep an eye on him, so it’s up to me to spread the news without the imposter catching wind of it. And I’m really not sure how to do that.”

“I’ll help,” Naomi said.

“Really?” Mari asked, not having to fake her relief. It seemed she had at least convinced her first target.

Naomi nodded, “Something has been off since we got here, although I could not quite put my finger on what. Even the invasion plan seemed odd to me and several other orders have come in that don’t make sense. I believe that you are telling the truth about an imposter. I know most of the people in the delegation. I can help you find who will hear you out and think about what you are saying and not tell the higher-ups. And if he is a fake, we need to expose him and find the real one.”

Mari agreed and over the next several days, Naomi would bring people to her apartment or find her on the street and lead her to a secluded area with more Sand shinobi. The people Naomi brought almost completely overlapped with the group Iruka suggested as their first round of targets, so Mari felt comfortable telling them the story.

It seemed to be going well. Even if not everyone believed her right initially, she had not been disappeared so she guessed no one had told Orochimaru. They were waiting to reveal the identity of the imposter for a little bit. It was better to let people process the idea their leader was a fake before revealing that they were up against one of the legendary sannin.

“That’s just about everyone who I was confident would hear you out,” Naomi told her a few nights later. “I say we wait a little bit for rumors to start circulating before we go after anyone else.”

Mari eagerly agreed. Talking to that many people was exhausting. Plus, she need to report back to Iruka and Baki about her progress.

“By the way,” Naomi said as she got up to leave, “I expect you to tell me the true story after we deal with this mess.”

Mari froze, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Naomi waved her hand, “Don’t worry, I already told you I believe you about the imposter. I’m not going to turn you in or anything. But I know your story about how you discovered the imposter is as fake as he is.”

“What do you mean?” Mari asked.

Naomi laughed, “I’ve been on enough missions with Iruka to recognize his talents-both his quasi-sensing ability and his ability at manipulating people. I know he has far more involvement than you are letting on.”

“Then why did-”

“Why did I help you? Because during those missions, I’ve come to trust Iruka. I know he would never do anything to put those kids of his in danger. And despite his contentious relationship with the Kazekage, he would never make these claims without knowing them to be true. That would be far too dangerous for him and the kids. Plus, the invasion plan never felt right to me. It always seemed like it would hurt the village more than benefit us. So it’s easy for me to believe that someone else was pulling the strings. I’m not going to let my village be harmed for the benefit of a madman. Particularly not one who killed my leader. He is already dead, isn’t he? The real Kazekage?” Naomi asked.

Several people had asked Mari about that and she had followed the script and said they believed he may have been taken captive. But Naomi spoke with the tone of voice that said she already knew the answer. “Yes, we believe so. Iruka felt his chakra disappear,” Mari answered honestly.

Naomi nodded sharply, “That’s what I expected. Well that just means we have to avenge him. Go talk to Iruka and let me know what I can help with moving forward.” With that Naomi took her leave and Mari sunk down into her chair, processing everything that just happened. Her report would certainly be more interesting than she expected.

But she couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Naomi knew she was not telling her the full truth, knew why, and decided to believe her anyway because of how much she trusted Iruka.

“Karura you really would have liked him,’ she muttered to herself before getting ready for bed. They hadn’t won, not by a long shot, but they were making progress and despite who they were up against, Mari truly believed they would not lose.

Notes:

Sorry it's late. I started summer classes this week and that on top of work meant I had significantly less time to write, so I was not able to finish the chapter until now.

Sorry about it being such an oc heavy chapter as well. I honestly did not intend to spend that much time in the flashback, but obviously it got away from me and here we are.

Anyway, next week we will be back to our regularly scheduled plotting.

Chapter 19

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Two days,” Iruka signaled to Mari as he passed her in the marketplace She nodded back and continued on with her shopping as he did the same. While they had been working on a way to expose Orochimaru for a while now, it still felt unreal that it was actually happening.

Iruka had been relieved when Mari reported back that the first round of convincing people had gone well. His mood wasn’t even dampened when Mari told them Naomi had figured out they were lying about some aspects of the story. While it was a little concerning that someone was able to figure them out so quickly, Iruka trusted Naomi when she said she would not reveal what she knew. Plus, her ease in seeing through their lies was apparently due to her familiarity with Iruka’s methods. And not many people were that familiar with his skills. He did not reveal his sensing techniques to most, even teammates on missions would not know about it. And very few people spent enough time with him outside of missions to get a sense of how he thought and his methods for manipulation. So, overall Iruka would call the first phase of the reveal a success.

But with that success came time pressure. Shinobi may be better at keeping secrets that most people, but the longer they waited, the more likely it was that someone would slip up and derail their careful thought-out plan. So, they needed to move quickly to prevent that from happening.

The same day Mari had come to them to report how things were going so far, Iruka told her to start telling the second group of people. These ones would be trickier, since many of them were older and trusted the Kazekage without question. But that also meant they knew how their leader usually behaved. Iruka had suggested that Mari start out by pointing out some of the strange decisions Orochimaru had made before launching into the story of what ‘Scorpion’ saw and felt. That way, the seed was already planted and they would hopefully be more open to the idea of a fake. At the same time, Naomi started spreading the news throughout the first group that their opponent would be Orochimaru. Everything seemed to be going well. Scorpion hadn’t reported anyone particularly unusual conduct from Orochimaru, so Iruka felt safe saying he was not aware of their plans. And Mari had indicated that the second group was taking the news better than expected. Sure, more of them did not believe her at first and a couple seemed ready to accuse her of plotting against the Kazekage and informing the imposter, but her and Naomi were able to talk them down. Iruka was not looking froward to the fallout of having to break it to them that the real Kazekage was dead. Right now, their belief that exposing the fake would lead them to the true Kazekage’s location was the only thing making them willing to work together. Iruka was not sure what would happen when everyone realized he had been dead the whole time. Hopefully no one besides Naomi put it together that Mari knew that and lied to them about it. But that was the next potential crisis. Right now, he needed to focus on the current one.

But most of the planning for this disaster was already done. Tomorrow Scorpion would start pointing out changes in the Kazkeage’s behavior to the other anbu. He couldn’t be as straight forward about it as Mari had been, since they were so much closer to the imposter and if someone ran to him, everything would be over before they even realized something was wrong. But Scorpion knew every anbu on the mission and said he believed he could win all of them over. Iruka would trust him on that. Also tomorrow, Mari would explain the situation to the final group of Sand shinobi, the group most likely to endanger their plans. While it was tempting to just leave them in the dark, they were up against Orochimaru and his allies of unknown power. They needed every person they could get on their side. Or at least not on the opposing side. Mari would gather everyone that hadn’t went been informed in one of the abandoned buildings that surrounded the area the Sand shinobi were staying tomorrow evening. If it seemed like things were going well, everyone would be released and they would hopefully join in the assault. But if things were going poorly, Mari would just activate the seals Iruka had painstakingly carved around the building, trapping everyone inside. No sound, chakra, or other disturbances would escape. The next morning, the main phase of their plan would be carried out. Hopefully, no one would miss the fifteen or so shinobi before they could make their move. That was all planned out. Now, all that was left was for Iruka’s anxiety to build to unmanageable levels. He knew this was the best possible plan. He had evaluated every part to make sure it fit together and gave them the best chance at victory. He ran it by basically everyone who was in on the full story, and they all assured him it was a good plan. But he couldn’t help but think if they maybe just changed this aspect slightly…

Iruka’s train of thought was cut off by the pillow thrown at this face. Of course, given his instincts he was able to dodge it easily, but he still turned and glared at Baki who grinned at him, completely unrepentant. “Stop it. The plan is solid and we are not changing it. The only thing you’re doing now is making yourself more stressed out, which is making me more stressed out. So you need to stop. Go start on dinner or something, that always seems to calm you down.”

Iruka made a rather rude hand gesture at him but got up and made his way into the kitchen. Cooking did help to calm him down and Baki did have a point about not doing himself any good by continuing as he was. Plus, given the number of people who had been coming over recently, and the amount they could eat, dinner was a production of its own. Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino showed up every night, usually with Kurenai in tow. Sakura was less regular, depending on whether her parents wanted to have a family dinner or not. Since Anko had taken over as Naruto’s teacher, the two of them came every night, often covered in mud and eagerly telling everyone about their day. Some of the stories made Iruka a little concerned about Anko’s teaching methods but Naruto seemed to be enjoying himself and was progressing nicely. Plus, if Iruka could trust Kakashi with a kid, he would trust Anko with one. At least Anko realized children’s emotional needs had to be addressed. Also, the one time Jiraiya had tried to talk to Naruto after Iruka had taken him out of his custody, Anko had instructed Naruto to hide and then had set snakes on the man until he gave up and left. So, Anko was quite high up on Iruka’s list of favorite Leaf shinobi at the moment.

Iruka decided to make ramen that night. He got started on the broth and cutting up the necessary ingredients. With everything that he would need to do over the next few days, tonight was the last night before they carried out their plan that he would have a lot of time to spend on dinner. He wanted to make something he knew everyone would enjoy. If he survived the next few days, he’d start introducing the Leaf nin to more Sand recipes. Although he was sure he would have to do substitutions for some of the ingredients, it would be nice to share something of their village with their friends. And maybe once the exams were over, he would make one of the recipes his parents had taught him from Mist.

Iruka heard the door swing open just as he was preparing to add the noodles. He did not hear quite what was said but soon enough Naruto appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Baki said you were making ramen. Can I help?”

Iruka gestured for him to come over to the stove, “Of course. Would you like to add the noodles?” As long as Iruka kept a close eye on him, one of Naruto’s infamous cooking disasters was unlikely to occur. Iruka moved out of the way so Naruto could access the pot and kept an eye on the flames as Naruto carefully poured the noodles in. Thankfully everything went well and Iruka got Naruto talking about his training for the day while he stirred their dinner. Anko had made the same decision that most jonin teachers had and focused on sharpening Naruto’s current skills instead of trying to teach him new ones. Although apparently, she had promised to teach Naruto some jutsus after the exams were over. Iruka couldn’t wait to see Kakashi’s face when he heard about that.

The main focus today seemed to have been learning different strategies involving Naruto’s shadow clones. Anko had apparently presented Naruto with a set of scenarios and had him walk through how many clones he would make in each and how he would utilize them. “I started out wanting to make as many clones as I could in each situation, but Anko explained to me why that is not always the best idea,” Naruto told him seriously. “Although I still like creating a bunch of them, I’ve gotten good at figuring out when not to too. And I did so well that Anko let me play with her snakes for a while. Kiba and Akamaru were complaining that I smell like them.”

Iruka smiled, glad that Anko was willing to accept Naruto for who he was but still push him to use his talents in different ways. He looked forward to seeing what Naruto accomplished during the final phase of the exams.

Somehow the dinner conversation that night turned to the strongest opponents they had ever fought. Iruka decided not to say Gaara, even though based on power alone, he was the strongest person Iruka had ever “fought”. Instead he told the story of a nin who had specialized in lightening jutsus, including one that could target people within a certain radius around him. Iruka had won that fight by staying out of sight and trapping him in a barrier with seals carved on kunai he threw and then throwing in an exploding tag to finish him off. Even then, if his teammates had not been distracting the shinobi with their attacks, Iruka did not know if he would have pulled it off. But they did and were able to defeat him without any of their team dying.

Iruka had heard Baki’s story of a missing nin he had fought in the middle of the desert. She had specialized in earth jutsus and had a tendency to burrow through the sand and then launch attacks without warning. However, she had made the mistake of thinking the cloth covering half of Baki’s face would hamper his ability to respond to attacks coming from his left side. She found out that was not the case.

Anko had told the story of her fight against a shinobi from Cloud who was absurdly fast before saying, “But if we’re including people we’ve sparred against, my answer would have to be Orochimaru.”

“Isn’t he a missing nin?” Sakura asked. Naruto did not look like he recognized the name. Shino and Kiba did react upon hearing it, but it was minute enough that they could play it off as just recognizing the name from storied they had been told.

“Yeah, he is now, the moral-less asshole, but before that he was my jonin instructor. He’s the one who taught me how to effectively use snakes,” Anko explained. “He was a damn good fighter. Of course, he was also conducting some terrible human experiments which eventually led to him being thrown out of the village. He was obsessed with the idea of living forever. He was always going on about how much there was to learn and how little time humans had. I honestly got pretty used to tuning out his monologuing. I can’t say I was too sad to see him go.”

“Although,” she said, considering, “it is rather annoying that whenever we get a report about him, I have to drop everything and look into it. I guess the Hokage figures that since I know his techniques better than anyone else, I would have the most luck in figuring out what he is thinking at any given moment. He’s wrong. Orochimaru’s mind is a dark and confusing place. I never had any success in guessing what he might be trying to accomplish. That’s something only he will ever know until he chooses to reveal it.”

The conversation moved on to Kurenai, but Iruka wasn’t paying attention anymore. It’s not that he forgot Anko was Orochimaru’s student. It was just that in everything he had to manage, he had overlooked the information she could give them.

Luckily for him, he did not have to create an excuse to keep Anko after the others. Naruto had mentioned to her the traps Iruka had taught them and Anko wanted to learn more about them and see if Iruka had more ideas for what simple traps they could teach Naruto before the finals. Iruka was quite happy to explain to her the variety of traps he used and which ones would be most useful in an environment like the final phase of the exams. By the time they got done discussing that, everyone else had gone home and the kids were already in bed. Baki was sitting on the couch, reading over some reports.

“If you have a little bit more time, there is something I wish to discuss with you before you head out,” Iruka said as they were finishing up their conversation.

“Sure, I’ve got no plans for the rest of the night. What’s on your mind?” Anko asked.

“You were talking about Orochimaru earlier and I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about his fighting style? With me punching Jiraiya, Baki is somehow convinced that I am going to end up picking a fight with all three sannin before the month is out.”

“It seems like the kind of thing you would do,” Baki piped in.

“Thanks,” Iruka replied. “Anyway, to set my mind at ease, I figured I could at least get some information about him from someone who knew him. Give me a better chance if Baki’s prediction turns out to be right.” Iruka honestly was not sure if Anko would believe him. As strange as his reasoning was, he had definitely heard weirder explanations from other shinobi about why they did or did not do something. Shinobi tended to be an almost superstitious group, following rituals and reading signs into things with the hopes that they will put themselves in the best position to survive their next deadly encounter.

Anko considered him for a moment before nodding, “Well, I can tell you that if you ever cross paths with him, you will most certainly want to fight him.”

“Why do you say that? I’m usually pretty good at not picking fights with people more powerful than me,” Iruka protested.

Baki laughed at that, “That’s got to be the worst lie I’ve ever heard you tell. You punched Jiraiya in the face just last week. You made it a point to antagonize Kakashi at every opportunity. And are you forgetting your extended war with the Kazekage over child-rearing practices?”

As much as Iruka would like to continue protesting, Baki did have a point. It’s not like Iruka set out to pick fights with incredibly powerful figures. In fact, before he had become Gaara’s guardian, he had been pretty good at keeping his head down. But then the kids came into his life, and everything became secondary to keeping them safe. So, judging his track record from the period Baki had known him, he couldn’t say his friend was wrong in his assessment.

Seeing that Iruka had given up fighting Baki on that point, Anko nodded along, “I have to say I’m with Baki on this one. I haven’t known you for long, but you seem to be quite good at pissing off powerful people.”

“If they weren’t so terrible at raising children, I wouldn’t have to fight them,” Iruka pointed out.

“I mean you’re right, but I doubt they see it that way,” Anko replied. “Anyway, what do you want to know about Orochimaru?”

“Oh just general stuff. Since there is no way I could beat him in a straight fight, any tips for ways to tip the odds in my favor?” Iruka was really trying his best to be casual about this.

“Well he really likes snakes,” Anko said. “I know many people have summons, but most do not use them as much as he uses his snakes. And snakes really do not like cold temperatures, so if you can corner him somewhere it is cold, you would have more of an advantage.”

That really did not help give shinobi from a desert an advantage. Iruka could not think of anyone who knew jutsus to lower the temperature of an area and they were also more accustomed to fighting in the heat, so artificially lowering the temperature could hurt them as well. But it was something to keep in mind. “Wait, don’t you also use snake summons? Aren’t you giving away your weaknesses too?” Iruka asked.

Anko shrugged, “At this point, I figure if you ever tried to kill me, I probably did something to deserve it. And since I am actually capable of looking after children, unlike many people we know, I’m not too concerned about getting on your bad side.”

Iruka nodded at that. He did like Anko and did not think he would want to fight her anytime soon.

“Other weaknesses…He always thinks he is the smartest person in the room and likes everyone else to know it too. So, he will monologue about his master plan to become immortal and learn everything there is to know. If you can launch an attack during that, you might catch him off guard. He likes fighting in larger spaces, so he can summon some of his larger snakes. Of course, trying to corner him in an enclosed space might backfire on you since he could just destroy the building and then force you to fight while also avoiding debris. And from what I’ve heard he switches bodies rather frequently, so he won’t be as concerned about taking damage as you are.” Anko sat and thought about it for a while longer, “Sorry that’s about all I’ve got for you. I was not as good at picking up weaknesses when I was his apprentice, and he does have concerningly few of them. Hopefully you just won’t have to fight him ever.” Sadly, that was not really an option for them, Iruka thought. “If you somehow know when you’re going to fight him, see if you can get in contact with Tsunade. She’s always been pretty good at keeping him under control and could definitely keep up with him in a fight. Jiraiya could as well, but I doubt he’d help you even if you were willing to ask him.” That was probably true. Iruka was not sure if he wanted to get the third sannin involved in this mess, even if he could find her, which he doubted. From what he had heard about her, he doubted she would be back to Leaf anytime soon and he did not know if she would want to fight her old teammate.

“Well, I should head out. Naruto’s training starts bright and early and I guess I should be awake for it,” Anko said. “Have a good night.”

“You too. Thank you for indulging my curiosity and good luck with training tomorrow,” Iruka replied.

“It was a good thought,” Baki commented after Anko had left and Iruka had activated his silencing seals. “Shame we did not get more helpful information.”

Iruka nodded, “I guess we’ll stick with the plan we have and hope for the best.”

“Better than nothing,” Baki said. “You think you’ll have any problems with Kakashi tomorrow?”

Iruka shrugged, “He better not give me any trouble if he knows what’s good for him, but his past behavior has not given me much hope for him. But I’m sure I can convince him with little difficulty. I’ll activate the scroll once you and the kids leave for training in the morning and hopefully, I’ll be back in time for dinner. I have no idea where he’s training Sasuke, so who knows how long it will take me to get back. So don’t worry if I’m a little late.”

“Alright, good luck,” Baki said. They both went to bed shortly afterwards.

The next morning after breakfast, Iruka waved good-bye to Baki and the siblings and pulled out the scroll Kakashi had given him. He had already looked it over carefully last night to make sure it did what Kakashi claimed it did. Based on the seals present, it should just bring him to Kakashi. While he was a little leery of anything that came from Kakashi, this was his only way to get to Kakashi quickly and Iruka did need to talk to him. With that in mind, he took a deep breath and pushed some of his chakra into the scroll. Nothing happened for a second and then he was suddenly jerked forward. He closed his eyes without realizing it and when he opened them again, he was no longer in Leaf. Instead of the forests he had become used to, he was surrounded by rocks.

Turning to his right, he saw Kakashi and Sasuke who were both staring at him. Despite the early hour, Sasuke looked exhausted, although Kakashi looked as unbothered as ever. Iruka wondered how early they had started in the morning or if they had worked through the night. He knew they had limited time, but Sasuke needed rest.

“Good morning,” Kakashi finally said, “nice of you to stop by. How’s the weather in Leaf? We’ve had a lot of nice sun recently here.”

Iruka rolled his eyes and grabbed the infuriating jonin by his arm. “Sasuke, do you mind if I borrow your teacher for a few minutes?” Iruka asked.

“Sure. You can keep him if you want,” Sasuke offered. “He already showed me how to do the Chidori and now he’s just offering unhelpful advice.”

Iruka smiled, “I won’t need him that long and I have no desire to get stuck with him, so I am afraid I will have to return him to you.”

Sasuke sighed, “I understand. Keep him as long as you want though, I’ll just practice over here.” Both of them ignored Kakashi’s complaints throughout their conversation about how he was being betrayed by his cute little genin.

Iruka nodded to Sasuke and dragged Kakashi a little ways away. They could still keep an eye on Sasuke but he shouldn’t be able to hear them.

“We plan on carrying out our attack on Orochimaru tomorrow,” Iruka told him in a low voice, glancing over at Sasuke to make sure he did not realize what they were saying. “The seal I put on Sasuke's neck should hold, but keep a close eye on him. If you have any information that would help us, now would be the time to share it.”

“What do you know about Orochimaru’s fighting style?” Kakashi asked.

“Not much. Anko was able to give us some information but most of it was not very helpful,” Iruka said.

“Oh, what did she tell you?”

“That he used snakes, which dislike the cold and he likes to hear himself talk. And that Tsunade was pretty good at keeping him in check. Some of that information we already knew from Tsume and our own observations. The information about Tsunade doesn’t help us since who knows where she is and if she would even be willing to help us,” Iruka explained. “Our plan is mainly to just hit him with everything we have before he has a chance to process what is going on and fight back.” It was the best plan they could come up with after hours of back and forth. Scorpion had told them that Orochimaru liked to disappear for about half an hour early in the morning. Iruka had tracked him down one day and figured out that he was meeting with someone in one of the training fields. That was where they would set their ambush. Orochimaru would arrive around six each morning, meet with someone, and then wait until the person he met was gone before leaving himself. They planned to launch the attack after Orochimaru’s underlie left, since they did not want to have to fight multiple people during this. It was a short window of opportunity, but it should be enough. Baki would lead several shinobi with strong wind natures in the first wave of the attack. Then some close-combat specialized shinobi would attack. Finally Scorpion would lead whatever anbu he managed to convince and a few other fighters in the final wave. Iruka’s job was to fill the area with traps and seals before Orochimaru even got there and then pass along a map to the people taking part in the assault. Of course, since there were so many people involved and so little time to plan, he had decided to only set up non-fatal traps. There would be quite a few barrier seals that would trap whoever set them off inside, some trip wires that would launch kunai and shibons dipped in (non-deadly) poisons, and pits to fall into. Hopefully none of the Sand shinobi would blunder their way into them, but if they did, it would not mean their deaths. While Iruka was not sure if they could bring down an opponent like Orochimaru without any casualties, he would do everything he could to make it happen.

“Well you certainly have been busy,” Kakashi commented. “I’m not sure I have anything to add.” Iruka sighed, although he was not surprised. He was still holding back the information about how they had discovered the imposter in the first place. Kakashi had just told him to come talk to him before the attack, not that he would help. “From what I have heard about him, he’ll go after the ones he thinks are responsible for the plan in order to make an example out of them and scatter the remaining fighters. So tell Baki and Scorpion to be ready for that. I’m guessing you’re focusing more on setting up traps beforehand?” Iruka confirmed his guess with a nod. “I know you plan on being near the fight anyway even if you are not one of the main attackers. He will track you down wherever you plan to hide. Snakes may not be traditionally used for tracking much but that doesn’t mean they can’t do it. Be prepared for him to find you and don’t give him the satisfaction of killing you. I don’t want to have to tell the news of your death to my team.”

Iruka nodded, “Thank you for the warning but I’m tougher than I look. I have no intention of dying here.” Iruka knew overconfidence killed as quickly as any blow, but he wasn’t falling into that trap. He knew his abilities and the abilities of everyone taking part in the attack. They would take Orochimaru down and then Iruka could see his kids become chunins, if not this exam then the next one. He would watch the friendships they had made with the genin from Leaf flourish and hopefully see better relations between their villages going forward. He could not die here anymore than he could let Orochimaru get away with whatever he was planning.

“Good,” Kakashi said decisively, “you still owe me a truthful explanation about whatever plan the real Kazekage had hatched with Orochimaru that you are hiding from me and how you always knew where I was outside your apartment. It would be rather difficult to get those to you if you were dead.”

Iruka rolled his eyes, “It will be difficult to get them from me when I’m alive too considering I’m not inclined to tell you.” He turned and walked back towards Sasuke, “I have to go now, sorry again for interrupting your training session.”

Sasuke shrugged, “It’s alright. How are Naruto and Sakura doing?”

“Sakura is going well. Her and Kurenai work well together, and she is progressing quite quickly. I look forward to seeing what she will do in the final round. Naruto had a few difficulties finding a jonin to help him at first, but Anko eventually volunteered, and they are getting along well. She is teaching him how to use his shadow clones more strategically.”

Sasuke snorted, “Good. He definitely needs that.”

“Wait, who is teaching Naruto?” Kakashi, who had just caught up to him asked in horror.

Iruka grinned, “Anko. Naruto quite likes her as his teacher and is very curious about her snakes. And she seems pretty attached to him as well. I expect they will want to continue lessons together even after you come back.” Iruka offered no further explanation and was delighted by how worried Kakashi looked.

Kakashi soon smoothed out his expression and tossed Iruka another scroll, “Here this should take you back to Leaf. You’ll find an ally waiting for you when you get there. He can be a great asset to you if you use him effectively. I trust that you will do so.”

Now it was Iruka’s turn to look nervous, “Who?”

“Sorry, I would love to chat more, but I have so much to teach my student and I really must get to it,” Kakashi said cheerfully, waving Iruka off. “Best of luck.”

Knowing that he was not going to get anything more out of him, Iruka took the scroll without demanding any more answers. Since there was no point in hanging around any longer, he immediately activated it. Surprisingly, instead of returning him to his apartment, it brought him to a place he had to assume was Kakashi’s house.

He glanced around quickly. Kakashi had said the ally would be waiting for him, were they here? He heard a noise coming from the next room and then something burst through the door. It took Iruka a moment to process what he was seeing. It was a dog. Naruto had mentioned Kakashi used ninken, so this must be one of them. “Hello,” Iruka said. Naruto had also mentioned that at least one of the ninken talked. Apparently, it was not this one or the ninken just did not want to talk to Iruka.

The ninken did approach Iruka and gestured for him to take something from their mouth. It was a pouch with a letter inside. ‘This is Shiba. He’s quite useful in a fight and one of my fastest ninken. I expect him to be alive and in one piece when I return,’ Iruka read to himself.

Iruka glanced down at his unexpected ally, wondering how best to utilize him in the upcoming attack. He had never fought with an animal companion and they were not common in Sand, so he doubted anyone else in the delegation had either. “I guess I will add it to the list of questions I need to ask Tsume before tomorrow,” Iruka decided, rolling up the note. “I guess you’re with me,” he commented to the ninken, who seemed content to follow after him. This was certainly shaping up to be the most interesting fight Iruka had ever been involved in.

Notes:

Sorry for the late update (again). On that note, I am officially moving my update days to Saturday. The wi-fi is out at my house and I have no idea when it will be fixed. And it is very difficult to motivate myself to leave my house again after I get back from work on Friday to find a place with wi-fi to post.
Moving to Saturday updates should prevent me from being late again.

Sasuke towards Iruka when Naruto and Sakura are around-I don't trust you and will protect my friends from you if you try anything. Sasuke towards Iruka when he has been alone with Kakashi for weeks-please keep him as long as you want, I am eternally grateful for your presence.

Next chapter is the long-awaited attack on Orochimaru!

Chapter 20

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“That should do it,” Iruka commented, placing the last seal in place. “But let’s double-check, just to be safe.” Shiba nodded his head. Tsume had confirmed that he could not use human speech yet, but he did not have any problems understanding it, which was good since Iruka did not exactly know how to communicate with him otherwise. Tsume had given him a crash-course on working with a ninken, but there was only so much he could learn in an hour. Tsume explained that Kakashi’s ninken tended to fight as a pack, so she advised against giving Shiba a key role in the combat.

“He’s tougher than he looks, but unless a lone ninken is fighting besides an experienced partner, they can only provide limited aid in a fight,” she told him. “I’m surprised he did not send Pakkun to you. He is Kakashi’s most experienced ninken and would have been able to talk with you. I wonder what he was thinking.” Iruka had just shrugged. It did not matter much to him and he had honestly given up figuring out what Kakashi was thinking at any given moment. He was happy to have any help he could get. He decided to keep Shiba with him during the battle, which worked out well since Shiba didn’t seem willing to leave his side. He had left the ninken with Baki in the apartment to go meet with Mari and about twenty minutes later Shiba had appeared by his side. Baki had no idea how he got out.

But he was helpful, so Iruka couldn’t complain too much. Currently, they were inspecting the ring of seals Iruka had created. It was around five o'clock on the morning of the attack. Iruka was the only person currently present. He had already finished setting up his traps in the clearing the battle would take place. Shiba had run a copy of the map he had created to Baki and then returned. Iruka then set up seals around the perimeter of the clearing. That took a while, since he needed to encompass the entire clearing while also keeping the seals hidden from the casual onlooker. If someone looked hard enough, they would certainly find them, but they would just have to make sure Orochimaru was too preoccupied to do so. Shiba was quite good at finding hidden places for the seals. It had certainly gone much faster once he had returned. Iruka walked around the whole barrier one more time before he decided he was satisfied with it. Given how important it was to their plan, he couldn’t stop himself from worrying that something had gone wrong with him realizing, but he knew that was foolish. All the seals were placed and that was all that was necessary.

Once that was set up, he had to set up the locations for the first wave of Sand shinobi. Having everyone involved in the attack cluster around the clearing would definitely alert Orochimaru of their intentions. Instead, the first wave would hide at the scene while the others would wait further away and wait for their cue. But there were still eight attackers in the first wave, and not all of them were experts at hiding their presence. So Iruka was taking care of that part.

He was pretty sure that these seals were not supposed to do what he was using them for. Certainly, he had never heard of anyone else using seals to completely mask their presence. Actually, given where the seals he was placing had been located in one of the books his parents had, he was pretty sure it was originally intended to drain the chakra out of whoever it was placed on, killing them within minutes. (Iruka still kept a few copies of the original in his pockets at all times. He hoped never to use them. Chakra exhaustion is an awful way to die. But he would use whatever resources he had available to survive and get back to his kids. He hadn’t yet decided whether it was a technique he wanted to pass on. But he would make that decision when the kids were older. He would certainly not show it to them until they made chunin.) The modifications he had made to the seal fundamentally changed its nature and made it so it was only useful as part of a barrier. Instead of draining chakra, it now acted as a kind of chakra shield. Any chakra inside the barrier would remain inside, to the extent that no one outside the barrier would be able to sense the chakra inside it. And any chakra outside the barrier could not breach it. Jutsus could not get through them. Of course, if someone knew where the barrier was, they could just stab a sword inside and kill the person inside or damage one of the seals and break the barrier. So, everyone either planned on using a transformation jutsu to appear as a rock or tree or hiding well out of sight of Orochimaru and whoever he was meeting. Hopefully that would be enough to catch him off guard.

Iruka was almost done with the second to last chakra barrier when Shiba let out a low bark. Iruka whipped around but did not see what had set Shiba off. When he looked down at the ninken, he inclined his head towards Iruka’s wrist. He glanced down and cursed at seeing the time. Baki’s group should arrive any minute and he needs to be ready. They would only have a few minutes to get everyone in position before Orochimaru showed up. It was tight timing but having too many Sand shinobi disappear far in advance would have raised suspicions. Iruka hurriedly, but carefully, finished that barrier and moved on to the last one. He would not have time to double check these ones, but he knew he had done them correctly. All double-checking was useful for soothing his nerves. Which definitely needed to be soothed right now, but there was no time for that. He would just have to power through as he was.

The first wave arrived as he was finishing up the last barrier, but allowed him to complete his task without interruptions. After he told them he was done, people started taking their positions without much talking. Iruka was relieved to see that his chakra barriers were working as they were intended. Unless Orochimaru saw one of the shinobi, he would not know there were there.

Baki was the last one to claim his circle. He was the closest to where Scorpion said Orochimaru had stood when he observed him. Hopefully he didn’t change his location every day. “Stay safe,” Baki said to him as they reached his designated spot.

“You too,” Iruka replied. They nodded to each other and Baki activated the seals around his circle while Iruka withdrew to his spot. He was the closest to the outside barrier. With how complex they were, it was best that he was close to the barrier when he activated it. While he knew ways of activating seals from a distance, those worked best with simple ones. He was afraid he would overload the barrier or decrease its effectiveness if he added another layer to it. So his circle was only a foot from the outside barrier.

Shiba and Iruka had only been inside the chakra blocking sealed circle for a few minutes when Orochimaru arrived. Iruka had chosen a simple transformation jutsu that made him look like a rock, while Shiba just curled up in a ball, with his vest hidden beneath him. He was almost unnoticeable. A few minutes later, someone Iruka did not recognize arrived. He briefly noted the figure’s features, although he would not be surprised if the nin was using a henge. Just as Scorpion reported, Orochimaru and his accomplice talked for a while. It was probably only about half an hour, but it felt so much longer to Iruka. How the next hour or so went would determine the fate of themselves, their village, and potentially the shinobi world for the next few years. The more time Iruka had to ponder that fact, the worse he felt. Iruka couldn’t even distract himself by eavesdropping on Orochimaru and his helper. He was too far away to hear anything they said, although he guessed they were finalizing plans for whatever was supposed to go down during the Sand invasion.

Finally, as Orochimaru’s co-conspirator looked like they were getting ready to leave, Iruka cut his hand, getting ready to activate the outside barrier. Orochimaru’s accomplice left soon after that, heading toward the edge of the village. The second he was out of sight, Iruka dropped his transformation and slammed his bloody hand on the seal that would activate the surrounding barrier. He did not like using blood as an activator, given that he was trying to keep hidden after this and a freshly bleeding wound would make him easier to track. But it was the only type of activation that was quick enough and strong enough for what Iruka had in mind.

Orochimaru clearly saw him and tried to make his way towards Iruka. He did not get a single step before Baki’s wind jutsu hit him full-force, knocking him back. The rest of the first wave appeared from their hiding places, throwing everything they could at Orochimaru. They also kept moving around, while still being careful to avoid Iruka’s traps. Getting caught by even one of Orochimaru’s attacks could prove deadly, given how powerful he was and that retreat was not really an option for them.

Not to disparage their efforts, but none of their attacks seemed to have much effect on him. He dodged most, let a few hit him, and just kept going. Two Sand shinobi were already down. Iruka could not see whether they were still breathing or not. “I wonder how you figured out what was going on,” Orochimaru mused while he continued to evade their attacks. He did not drop the Kazekage disguise, probably as part of his mind games. “I’m sure that Iruka had something to do with it. After all, he was quite close to us when my associate and I killed your Kazekage and buried his body in the desert. I wonder if he realized what was happening and chose not to try and stop us. After all, with the Kazekage out of the way, his place in the village is much more secure.” Iruka growled under his breath from where he was crawling on his stomach to the next activation spot. Even when he had been discovered and his plan destroyed, that bastard was still finding ways to ruin Iruka’s life. He was not looking forward to coming up for an explanation for what he claimed, although he might be able to convince people Orochimaru was lying in an attempt to further divide them. It would depend on who saw Iruka that night and where.

Finally reaching the next activation spot, Iruka glanced back at the fight, just in time to see Baki take a hard hit to the side. He was thrown about ten feet and was slow to get up. Orochimaru stalked towards him. Glancing around for something he could do, since Iruka knew he would not reach his friend in time, he was reaching for his kunai with seals carved into them when the second wave arrived. They were able to force Orochimaru back temporarily, giving Baki enough time to rise to his feet. Iruka ducked down again and readied himself for the next phase. Soon afterwards, he felt someone come through the barrier. Scorpion nodded to him before breaking into a run, with five other anbu agents behind him. With everyone who should be inside now there, Iruka went to activate the next stage of the seals on the barrier. It was one of the most complicated seals Iruka had ever designed. Not only did it cover a large area, but its function needed to change halfway through. When Iruka had first activated the barrier, it was meant to keep sound and chakra in. Unless someone happened to walk by the field at that moment, they should not be discovered. This prevented anyone who did not know the situation and could make things worse by trying to help or seek to take advantage of Sand’s weakness from getting in. Everyone who entered after the barrier was put up would need a specific seal.

Now that everyone necessary was inside, he needed to change that. The function shifted from trying to keep people out to trying to keep them in. The worst possible outcome would be for Orochimaru to kill them all and then escape to cause more problems and hurt Sasuke again. Iruka refused to allow that to happen. The barrier would prevent it, even if they did all die here. When he hit the second activation point, the barrier’s sole function became keeping living beings inside its boundaries. That’s not to say it would be easy for someone from outside to get inside, it would take quite a bit of work. Either multiple high-level jutsus or some very advanced seal work. Nothing that Leaf would be able to come up with soon, hopefully. But getting out was another beast entirely. Seals were generally reflexive. They would keep jutsus from getting through but each time they took a hit, they would grow weaker. The seals on the inside of the barrier were different. Instead of preventing the jutsus from going through, they absorbed the jutsu and then could use the power in it to strengthen the barrier. So every time it was attacked from the inside, it just grew stronger. Iruka had come up with this idea years ago and it had taken him a solid two years before he was able to make it work. The barrier had to be rigid enough to keep people in but fluid enough to absorb the energy and adjust over time. This was the first time he was using it in such a large-scale way. Iruka knew Orochimaru would catch on to the trick quickly, but that still should be enough time. Tsume would take care of the rest. She had promised to find every powerful person in the village and bring them to the clearing half an hour after they planned to attack Orochimaru. He would not be allowed to escape. Iruka was not quite sure how she was planning on getting everyone here. When he had asked, she just waved him off and said she had her ways. Iruka trusted her word, and so the how was not that important. Iruka hoped that would be unnecessary. After all, Tsume’s part was really only necessary if everyone here died, and he hoped to avoid that fate. That was the reason he had used blood as a medium for drawing the seals. Sure, blood could be used in a pinch for any seal, but Iruka’s parents had taught him that choosing to use blood when other options were available makes a seal something more than what it was. “You have given it part of yourself, so it will give you more than you thought possible,” as his father used to say. Of course, he had also warned Iruka that the results might not be exactly what he wanted. However, Iruka had gotten exactly what he wanted from using blood for these seals. He somehow knew that his barrier was now independent of him, just as he wanted. Seals could outlive the deaths of their creators regardless, but it had become such that no one would be able to take it down without using brute force, even Iruka. They truly were trapped here.

Taking one last look at the barrier to reassure himself it was working properly, he moved towards the fight. He now counted eight people lying still on the ground, which was not good considering how few shinobi made up their attack force. As much as he wanted to jump right in and help, he knew he would be more of a hindrance than a help if he tried to attack Orochimaru straight on. As much as he had trained in his life, direct fights would never be his forte. Instead, he ducked behind a rock with Shiba by his side and pulled out all his supplies. He attached tags to a few kunai and turned towards Shiba, “Can you attach these to those two trees by him?” He asked. Shiba nodded, gently taking the kunai in his mouth, making sure not to touch the tags. Iruka glanced over his shoulder to see how everyone else was doing. The bodies that had been there before were no longer there. So, either they had gotten out of the way through their own power or someone had moved them. Either way, they were outside the main danger zone, which meant Iruka did not have to hold back. He waited as Naomi finished her sword swing. Orochimaru neatly dodged it, but he dodged right into Baki’s wind slice which sent him stumbling back. Without giving him a second to recover, Iruka launched some kunai. Orochimaru dodged them, of course, but Iruka had never intended to hit him. He smiled grimly as the three exploding tags went off, a couple feet from Orochimaru. They weren’t powerful enough to do any damage to him, but they did draw his attention. The time release barrier seals on the trees went off around the same time, so Orochimaru also had to throw himself out of the way to avoid those. And Scorpion was familiar enough with his technique to be ready to take advantage of that distraction. The massive fireball he shot at the snake asshole had Iruka realizing he didn’t know what Scorpion’s chakra nature was. He assumed it was wind, like most Sand shinobis, but all the villages had nin who possessed each of the five.

With that hit, Orochimaru seemed to have had enough. He was smoking slightly and looked furious. Before, he had mainly looked amused that they would dare to challenge him. Now, he had progressed past that stage and looked determined to kill them all. Given that he had taken down half their force when he was mainly playing around, Iruka was not looking forward to what was about to happen. Before anyone could stop him, he bit his thumb and summoned what was quite frankly an extremely oversized snake. Iruka didn’t have summons and had never really had a desire to use them, but if he ever did, he would want something small. Maybe a desert rat. Something quick and sneaky that people didn’t realize was there until too late. Not a snake that was visible from a mile away. But he guessed being one of the legendary sannin required one to be a flashy jackass.

He was not sure if Orochimaru had thought through his plan of bringing out what he hoped was his largest snake right now. Iruka had made the barrier pretty large to give them more angles to attack from and space to retreat but he had not planned for that monstrosity of a snake. Hopefully no one had been crushed when it appeared. He would have words with Orochimaru after this. He had a perfectly fine plan and that asshole just had to throw it off in the worst possible way. He was so going to punch him.

Orochimaru had definitely not thought his plan through, given that he actually paused attacking and glanced around wildly, trying to figure why his giant snake was curled up in a ball instead of attacking. He flew over to the edge of the barrier and hit it hard. It was only then that Iruka realized that Orochimaru hadn’t known about the barrier. It was such an integral part of their plan that Iruka had forgotten it would be basically invisible to him. And he must have been too busy fending off the attacks to notice the surge of chakra when Iruka had been fiddling with it. Iruka was torn between being smug that he had been able to create a barrier of this power without Orochimaru noticing and deeply concerned about what would happen next. Knowing what he did of Orochimaru’s personality, he would not unsummon this snake and summon a more reasonably sized one. That would mean admitting he had made a mistake. No, they were stuck with this huge waste of space until they defeated it and Orochimaru.

Speaking of Orochimaru, Iruka did not like the way he was acting. The snake had uncurled itself as much as it could, and was doing a significant amount of damage, mainly because almost every time it moved, it hit someone. Most of the Sand attackers were focusing their attention on it for now. Orochimaru was not trying to stop them, but was just standing on top of it, looking around and seeming to sniff the air. (Due to the size of the barrier, the top of it was quite high in the air. Iruka slightly regretted that fact now because he would have loved to see Orochimaru bang his head against the top of the barrier while he was trying to look all dramatic.)

It didn’t sink in what he was doing until he looked straight at Iruka. “Fuck,” Iruka said once, but with great feeling. He didn’t have much more time to think before Orochimaru disappeared from his summons’s head. Iruka had no doubt he would be arriving shortly. The plan had been for the other Sand nin to attack him from the back while he went after Iruka, but most of them were preoccupied with that snake. Iruka did not know when someone would be able to help. Of course, he had considered this possibility and planned accordingly. “Shiba, retreat for now,” Iruka requested. “If you have a clean shot at him at any point, feel free to attack. But Kakashi made me promise to bring you back in one piece, so don’t do anything too risky.” Shiba nodded before disappearing into the grass.

Iruka got into the necessary position just as Orochimaru appeared in his field of vision. Iruka made a quick guess based on Orochimaru’s positioning and activated the barrier that would protect him from attacks from above. Sure enough, he jumped as he got within attacking distance of Iruka and was repelled by the barrier. He narrowed his eyes and attacked again, this time from Iruka’s left side. He was able to raise the barrier with a quick tap to his left arm just in time. After that one, Orrochimaru fell back, eyeing the area surrounding Iruka. Iruka glared back at him. This location was not just where he activated the barrier but also where he was prepared to make his last stand, if everything went to shit. It had six different barriers around it. One on each side, one above, and one below. Iruka had written the seals in blood and then written corresponding symbols on different parts of his body. All he had to do was touch that spot and the barrier it corresponded with would go up. Since they were all interconnected, Iruka could only raise two at a time, but hopefully it would be enough. The seals for the left and right barriers were on those respective forearms while the ones for in front and behind were on his right and left shoulders. Above was on his neck and below on his right palm. And those were just his defensive measures. He had traps and seals littered throughout the surrounding area. He had told Baki and Scorpion that if Orochimaru did summon an ally and attack Iruka, they should take care of the summons first before coming to help him. He didn’t stand a chance against Orochimaru in a straight fight, but Iruka never intended to try. Here, with his seals around him, he could hold him off for a while at the very least.

“Impressive,” Orochimaru said, gaze lingering on the seals written on Iruka’s body. “I have never seen anything quite like this. After I kill you, I’ll have to take your body to learn the secrets of these seals.” Tsume had said Orochimaru had a thing for grave-robbing, but it was still creepy to hear him talk about keeping Iruka’s corpse.

“That’s not going to happen,” Iruka replied.

“Oh, you think your friends will be able to stop me? They’ll all be dead too,” Orochimaru taunted him.

“It will never reach that point since I have no intention of dying to you,” Iruka replied coolly. As annoying as this conversation was, every second he could distract Orochimaru for a second he did not have to fight him. “I am far too busy to die here.”

Orochimaru laughed, “You are really quite amusing. I wondered that night when I killed your Kazekage whether you knew, but you are quite the actor. And no one ever mentioned that you were a sensor. You’re not very loyal to Sand are you? Keeping that information quiet. I can see why Rasa was frustrated with you.”

Iruka wondered what it said about him that he was slightly amused that Orochimaru was resorting to the same insults that children would hurl at him while he was in the academy. They didn’t really understand what they meant, just knew that Iruka was different and had heard the word from their parents. And in the end, Orochimaru understood as little as they had.

“I am loyal to Sand,” Iruka said firmly. “There is no place I would rather be. I am loyal to the children I raised, the friends I have made, and the village that I made my home. But that does not mean I do not see the corruption inside the village. Indeed, I see it better than most. I have always been and will always be loyal to Sand. But I can’t say I was ever loyal to Rasa.”

“And an interesting distinction,” Orochimaru drawled. “Most would not see the line.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a genius?” Iruka shot back. Not that he expected Orochimaru to understand. Iruka doubted he was loyal to anything except himself.

Orochimaru shrugged, “I will learn everything worth knowing in this world. And your silly little thoughts are simply not worth understanding. They will die with you here after all.”

There was no more talking after that. Orochimaru attacked again and again with Iruka throwing up barriers and tearing them down again to just throw up another one over and over again. It was not easy, but it was not as difficult as Iruka thought it would be. Orochimaru was a powerful fighter, but Iruka suspected he had not fought single opponents in a direct battle for some time. He must either do a lot of ambushes or fight larger groups. All his attacks were strong and he was quite fast, but Iruka was able to keep up. Orochimaru was probably used to exploiting the chaos of a battlefield to confuse his opponents. But Iruka focused all his attention on him, not letting himself grow distracted by the sounds of the other Sand shinobi fighting the snake. Of course, he knew he could not keep this up forever. All it took was one time when Orochimaru was a millisecond faster than he was and it would be all over.

The next time Orochimaru attacked from the left, Iruka decided to dodge the jutsu rather than raise the barrier. This allowed him to send back a jutsu of his own. It was nothing fancy, just a pressured stream of water, but Orochimaru side-stepped it just as Iruka expected and stepped right into one of his trip wires. Before Iruka could press his advantage, Orochimaru bent his spine in a way no person should be able to and cut through the wire.

“What is wrong with your bones?” Iruka yelled, outraged and disturbed.

Orochimaru laughed at him, “Now do you see what you are up against? I have spent years building my ultimate body and while I still have many more modifications I wish to make, I far surpass anything you could manage. I will not let someone like you stand in the way of my goals.”

Iruka was not impressed, “Well if I was building an ultimate body or whatever, I’d still keep a functioning spine. I’m no med-nin but I’m pretty sure that’s kind of important.”

“You simply cannot see the grand possibilities that exist if you let go of your petty concerns,” Orochimaru told him.

“If you say so,” Iruka replied, rolling his eyes. Orochimaru apparently did not appreciate that, and the next attacks came even quicker than before. But Orochimaru did not switch directions as frequently as he had before. The wire trap had spooked him and he was very cautious about where he put his feet. Which gave Iruka time to raise and lower his barriers and attack before Orochimaru was gone. Orochimaru also chose to block most of Iruka’s attacks instead of dodging them. While his chakra reserves had to be enormous, that had to take a toll on him eventually.

Orochimaru had just set off one of the exploding tags hidden around when Scorpion joined the fight. Orochimaru had rolled sideways while Iruka pelted him with kunai. As he was rising, Scorpion suddenly appeared in front of him. Orochimaru was able to stand before Scorpion unleashed his attack, but he was caught off-balance and so was not able to dodge. A wind blade hit him directly, slicing his chest open and sending him flying backwards. But even that did not put him down long. “Annoying,” Orochimaru commented, as he was crouched watching Iruka and Scorpion. “It seems that I will have to switch bodies sooner than anticipated. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find suitable vessels? It will be years before Sasuke’s body will be suitable. But I eagerly await the day I can possess all that power.” His eyes glazed over, considering the possibilities. “I can’t wait to make him mine.” Iruka was incredibly disturbed both by what Orochimaru had planned for Sasuke and the way Orochimaru was talking about a 12-year-old. It made Iruka want to make sure Orochimaru never got within 50 feet of a child ever again.

Neither Scorpion nor Iruka bothered replying, instead focusing their attention on attacking. It went back-and-forth for a while. Iruka was forced to abandon his spot in the middle of his barriers since most of his attacks could not reach Orochimaru from there as the sannin danced around Scorpion’s attacks. But Orochimaru was weaker than he had been before. His attacks were just a bit slower and a tad less powerful, and Scorpion and Iruka had managed to avoid them for the most part. Iruka took a nasty hit to his left arm, which he was trying not to look at. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy, and all that. It hurt like hell but it was not going to prevent him from finishing this fight.

At this point, all three of them were breathing hard. Iruka was down to his last few kunai and seals and was exhausted. Scorpion did not look like he was in much better shape. In the background, they could hear sounds of the continuing fight against Orochimaru’s giant snake, so help was unlikely to come from anyone over there. They needed to decide this fight now.

Glancing over at Scorpion, he saw the same determination reflected in his eyes. From that point on, they were able to keep Orochimaru on the defensive by throwing everything they had at him without letting up. However, it still was not enough to deal a final blow. Iruka had slowly been herding Orochimaru towards one of the more trapped-filled areas, hoping that they would find some way to win the fight there. Iruka was not quite sure how, but he had always been good at improvising. He would figure something out.

Turns out he would not have to. Iruka threw two of his last three kunai at Orochimaru as Scorpion unleashed another attack. Orochimaru took the two kunai to his arms in order to avoid Scorpion’s jutsu. In the next second, Shiba darted out of where he had been waiting and latched onto Orochimaru’s leg. He had been so focused on Iruka and Scorpion that the attack from a ninken caught him off guard. As Shiba bite into Orochimaru, Scorpion was already moving. Iruka realized what his plan was seconds before he carried it out.

Scorpion threw himself at Orochimaru, knocking him backwards. The blow didn’t seem to hurt the sannin, but it did get him exactly where Scorpion wanted him. Shiba had released his leg at this point and disappeared back into the grass, despite Orochimaru’s threats and curses. Iruka dove towards the area, but he was too late. Scorpion had already activated the barrier. Iruka had placed dozens of seals throughout the area and gave everyone involved in the assault a map and instructions on how to activate them. He never expected them to be used in this way. Scorpion had trapped Orochimaru and himself inside one of the areas Iruka had surrounded with barrier seals. They were not the strongest, but they would withhold a few hits even from Orochimaru before falling.

Orochimaru did not seem too concerned. Iruka was sure he thought he could just kill Scorpion and then break the barrier and kill Iruka. But then Scorpion pulled out an exploding tag. And not any exploding tag, but one of the ones Iruka had rigged to be especially powerful, to be used as a last resort. Orochimaru backed up until he ran into the barrier and then frantically started hitting it with everything he had.

But Iruka only had eyes for Scorpion. Despite him not removing the anbu mask, Iruka knew he was smiling. “I did not want it to come to this,” he said, focusing his gaze on Iruka. “I wanted to see the amazing things your children will accomplish. But I suspected Orochimaru would not be beaten without sacrifice. Thank you for everything. You gave me hope for the future of my village when I had none before. I leave everything in your hands.”

And Iruka could not look away. He did not want to see one of his oldest friends die but Scorpion deserved to have someone who would witness his last moments and tell everyone what he had. Iruka couldn’t take down the barrier, it was self-sustaining, and he knew he could not talk Scorpion out of it. He would not let his friend's final moments be filled with his fruitless pleas. Instead he nodded and tried to smile.

Orochimaru had given up with the barrier and was rushing Scorpion, trying to take the tag from him. But Scorpion was not about to let that happen.

And then an explosion was unleashed. But not the one Iruka was expecting. The barrier surrounding the entire clearing just shattered without warning. Everyone-Iruka, Scorpion, Orochimaru, the others fighting the snake, and even the snake itself were stunned. With the barrier destroyed, Iruka could see the outside world. Mari was there with the group she had been cajoling to their side as was Tsume with multiple Leaf nin. But front and center was the person who must have shattered Iruka’s barrier. Her arm was still cocked from her punch. She tossed her blond pigtails behind her shoulders and strode into the center of the fighting.

“Well now I heard you were taking down an asshole ex-teammate of mine,” Tsunade said, grinning wildly, “Want some help?”

Notes:

We're finally here! For someone who has been leading up to this fight scene for basically the entire fic, I did not really have a solid idea of how I wanted it to go until I started writing it. The final bit with Scorpion didn't come to me until last night.

In case the seals were confusing for anyone, Iruka put up one large surrounding barrier with seals on both sides. He first activated the seals on the outside, which suppressed chakra and sound inside the barrier and only people with a specific seal could enter. The second activation switched the barrier to the inside set of seals, which was meant to keep people inside. The second part of the barrier is self-sustaining and even Iruka could not take it down after it was activated. I have also wondered about using blood as the base for seals. It could be used when nothing else is on hand but I liked the idea that choosing to use blood when there were other options gave the seal a life of its own. Then Iruka put up circles of seals in specific places for the attackers to hide in and for traps. And he set up his own protective barriers.

Iruka was essentially dance dance revolutioning his way through the fight with Orochimaru. Given that I always mess up and hit the wrong arrows when I play, I would be dead in seconds but Iruka is luckily more coordinated than me.

Orochimaru summons Manda, one of the most powerful summons to exist and Iruka is just like, "Really? Really? Who thought this was a good idea? I put weeks of planning into this and you just had to ruin it with your ego. Get a more reasonable sized summons you asshole." and I love him for it.

Chapter 21: Anko

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Anko was not a morning person. Of course, she was a shinobi and so was used to walking up and going to bed at all times of the day and night. She was ready to fight at any time. But that didn’t mean she enjoyed getting up early and when it was not necessary, she did not do it. When she was in the village, she would sleep until at least ten before getting her days started.

Training Naruto had thrown a wrench into that habit. That kid was up and ready to go at seven or earlier and wanted to get every minute of training he could. She had to admire his determination even though it was exhausting. But she understood that he only had a few weeks before the finals and she had promised to be his teacher and there was no way she was going to half-ass that. Naruto deserved better than that, especially considering the so-called teachers he had already had to put up with.

She didn’t think she was doing too bad a job at it. Naruto was eager to learn, and she always had something to teach him. Plus, Iruka seemed to approve of her, and he was one of the best teachers she had ever come across, so his approval meant a lot to her.

Anko and Naruto had arranged to meet at their usual training grounds at eight. There was only a week left before the finals and Anko hoped to make the most of it. All that to say, that when someone started pounding on her door at six in the morning, she was not pleased. She had not slept well that night. Her conversation with Iruka and Baki about Orochimaru had brought up unpleasant memories for her, even if she tried to pretend it didn’t bother her. She had tossed and turned for a while before drifting off and nightmares interrupted the sleep she did get. So she was not feeling well rested or particularly friendly towards whoever was waking her up hours early. She was tempted to pull her pillow over her head before she heard a very familiar bark.

She was up and across the room in an instant. She tore the door to reveal Tsume and Kuromaru, as expected. Tsume smirked at her, “Nice of you to finally get up.”

Anko flipped her off, “Fuck off, it’s six in the morning and I know you don’t have a mission for me. You’re no one’s messenger.”

Tsume laughed, “True enough. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a good reason for being here. Aren’t you going to let me in?”

Anko stepped back and let them in. She was not foolish enough to think she could prevent Tsume from doing whatever she wanted. “Make it quick. I have to meet Naruto at training at eight.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening today,” Tsume informed her plainly.

“What are you talking about?” Anko asked. From anyone else, she would think they were trying to threaten her away in order to sabotage Naruto at the last minute. But Tsume would never do that. Her son was one of Naruto’s best friends and she had made her support for the kid very public.

“As crucial as this time is for Naruto, we have bigger fish to fry,” Tsume said. “Or snakes, I guess I should say.”

And suddenly Anko knew exactly what-or who more accurately-this was about. “Iruka wasn’t asking about Orochimaru on a whim last night, was he?”

Tsume shook her head, “No, he wasn’t. Orochimaru killed the Kazekage and assumed his identity. Iruka figured it out the first night and he has been plotting a way to take him down since then. Him and Baki came to me during the second phase of the exams and explained what had happened. At that point, they had no idea who the imposter might be and needed help identifying them. I told them Orochimaru was the only one I could think of that fit the description they had provided. We were able to confirm that later on. Don’t ask,” she told Anko before she could get the words out, “I’ll explain it later, but it’s not important right now. What is important is that I am completely sure that Orochimaru is impersonating the Kazekage, probably as part of some overly complicated revenge scheme, and that Iruka and Baki are going to lead Sand shinobi in an attack against him in about half an hour.”

“Are they insane?” Anko yelled, already reaching for her pack of supplies. “Neither of them are fools. They have to know how powerful Orochimaru is and how little of a chance they stand against him. Why are they trying to confront him directly?”

“They don’t really have a choice,” Tsume told her bluntly. "Orochimaru didn’t just impersonate their kage as his way into the village. He also plans to use Sand as a distraction for his plan. It seemed like he was working with the real Kazekage before he double-crossed him and they are planning on invading Leaf during the final stage of the exams. If Orochimaru is not stopped then, it could lead to all-out war and Sand would certainly bear the brunt of it. But if they can take down Orochimaru before all that is revealed…”

“Then no one has to know about the invasion plan and Sand can just claim complete surprise,” Anko finished for her. “No one else would have to die because of one of Orochimaru’s selfish plans.”

“You’re right that Iruka and Baki aren’t idiots. They knew exactly what they were getting into and made sure every Sand nin who would be fighting alongside them knew it too,” Tsume said. “They put together a fairly strong attack plan, although Orochimaru was always good at ruining those.”

“So what do you need my help with?” Anko asked.

Tsume grinned, “I thought you’d never ask. The fight is going down in a clearing near training field ten. Iruka is putting up some kind of barrier that will hopefully prevent anyone from noticing the fight until all the Sand nin have engaged and after that, the barrier will work to keep the fight inside it. It’s a self-sustaining barrier and apparently grows stronger when it is attacked. It will be able to keep even Orochimaru trapped for a little while. “

“Worst case scenario, Orochimaru kills them all,” Tsume’s voice and expression did not really change on that line, but Anko could tell it hurt her to say just as it hurt her to hear. She didn’t want anyone else to fall to her asshole of an ex-mentor. Particularly not Iruka who helped her plan out her lessons and teach Naruto pranking techniques or Baki who patiently answered the dozens of questions the kids had thrown at him over the dinners about everything from what it was like to have a wind chakra nature to his face cloth. She knew Tsume had grown attached to the Sand shinobi as well, given how often they visited her. “If that happens, I promised Iruka I would gather every strong Leaf nin to the area to make sure he does not get away to ruin anymore lives. That’s what I need your help with.”

Anko really could have lived with never seeing Orochimaru again in her life. In fact, nothing could make her happier (except maybe a free life-time supply of dango). But this was going to happen whether she was involved or not and frankly, she really wanted to see Orochimaru suffer. Plus, she owed it to Iruka and Baki to make sure that their last wishes were carried out if the worst happened. “Great, where do we start?” she asked.

Tsume gestured for her to follow her, “I’m meeting with the Hokage in fifteen minutes and giving him the basics of what is going on. I’m sure he’ll call everyone available. I can handle that part. What I need you to do is track down some people you trust beforehand and give them all the details. We need to have a group we can trust involved in the fight. If the Sand shinobi fail, we need to make sure Orochimaru is held accountable for his actions. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Anko nodded grimly. She liked her village, she really did; but she knew better than most the rot that plagued it. Orochimaru was incredibly dangerous and would kill Leaf nin without hesitation, probably even with pleasure. However, he was also one of the smartest shinobi in the world and a former student of the Hokage’s. With how permissive the Hokage was with Danzo’s fucked up actions with Root, he might just disappear Orochimaru to help with experiments or something. And then he would get bored and kill many more Leaf shinobi on his way out of the village his second time. Anko would like to think the Hokage would make the right call, but after spending as much time as she had with Naruto, she did not trust that man’s decision making. It had certainly ruined Naruto’s life. So, she felt justified in her concerns.

“I understand,” she said to Tsume. Orochimaru would not leave the clearing alive, if Iruka’s plan failed. She would ensure that personally. “Anyone you want me to start with?”

“Stay away from the clan heads, since I’ve already made sure all of them will attend the meeting where I get to tell the Hokage what has been going on right under his nose,” Tsume advised. “I’d try Asuma and Kurenai, at the very least. Other than that, I trust your judgement. But move quickly, you don’t have much time. The attack should start in about half an hour and who knows how long the battle inside the barrier will last. We need to be in position in the 45 minutes.”

“Got it,” Anko said, shouldering her pack. “I’ll be off then. Good luck with your meeting.”

Tsume snorted, “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. With a time limit of thirty minutes, we won’t have time to go through the usual useless beginnings parts and pointless debates. I will just show up, explain what is happening, and leave. They will have no choice but to follow me, with the threat of Orochimaru. It will undoubtedly be the best meeting I’ve ever attended.”

“Have fun with that,” Anko told her before taking off towards Kurenai’s apartment. If her predictions were correct, she should find both Kurenai and Asuma there.

Sure enough, they were, and she was definitely going to tease them about that later. (Mostly Asuma, Kurenai was not at all shy). Knowing she didn’t have long, she told them the basics-Orochiamru’s presence in the village and what was about to go down. “I’m sure the Hokage will be calling for all available fighters soon and I just wanted to give you a heads up. We hope to eliminate Orochimaru as a threat today,” she concluded, knowing that they would understand her meaning.

The two of them exchanged a look before nodding, “We understand and thank you for the advanced notice,” Kurenai said. “We will see you there.”

Anko waved and darted off to find her next target. She was only able to reach a few people, so she made sure her choices counted. Airi, who along with being an incredibly competent fighter with creative uses of her clan’s mind jutsu was one of the mind healers who helped Anko and others survive what Orochimaru had done to them. Kotetsu and Izumo were her next stop.

The final person she talked to was a bit different than the others. She was glad she was able to catch him without the anbu mask. Tenzo and her had been in beds right next to each other after Orochimaru’s experiments were exposed and the Third was scrambling about how to react. She didn’t see him much now, with most of his time spent as an anbu. She couldn’t get him out of there, not with his mokkun and lack of family to ask questions, but she could at least make sure he goes into this fight knowing what he is up against. “He’s back,” she told him quietly, catching him in an alley-way as he was heading towards the Hokage’s tower. “Stay safe.” She would not ask anything more of him.

“You too,” he told her before taking off. With her task completed, Anko loitered around the marketplace for a few minutes before she was waylaid by a messenger that told her that she needed to report to the clearing Tsume had mentioned immediately.

She intended to, she really did. She needed to be there, to either see Orochimaru fall with her own two eyes or to help take him down finally. She was headed in that direction when Kiba’s puppy came running up to her. She felt a little bad not remembering his name, but Inuzuka names were weird. She knew it was not Shiromaru despite his color but couldn’t recall more than that. “Hey, what’s going on?” she asked him, looking around to see if his human was nearby. She was not fluent in dog but when she tried to leave to find someone who was, the little thing bit her pants leg and refused to let go. “What do you want? I need to go help deal with Orochimaru.”

At the name Orochimaru, the puppy went crazy, and started trying to tug her towards the way he had come. At this point, Anko figured that it would be faster to humor him and so get rid of him instead of continuing trying to fight him. It’s not that she couldn’t just pick him up and chuck him away from her, but she respected Tsume too much to do that to her son’s partner unless it was absolutely necessary. So she gave in and went in the direction the puppy was trying to pull her. But she would only humor him for so long. He got five minutes and then she was leaving no matter what she had to do to make that happen. Tsume would understand. Probably.

Anki heard Kiba before she saw him. He was talking to someone who sounded vaguely familiar but Anko could not quite place. As she drew near, she heard him say, “He’s definitely in the village. Akamaru checked the smell himself. He’s impersonating the Kazekage and has some scheme cooked up that Mom won’t tell me about. But I don’t know where he is at this moment. And Mom laid a bunch of false trails with his scent so Akamaru can’t find where they are either. I think she’s telling the Hokage now so you should see a bunch of people running towards wherever they are any time now. Or maybe you already missed that phase.”

“Helpful,” whoever he was talking to commented. “That Hatake brat sent his dog after me and he tracked me everywhere despite my attempts to evade him. And now just when I actually need his sense of smell, he becomes useless to me.”

“I got you here, didn’t I?” a voice Anko recognized as Pakkun said. Before she could wonder who Kakashi would have sent his chief summons after, she rounded the corner. Standing there was Kiba, with Pakkun by his feet, Tsunade, and a dark-haired woman holding a pig who Anko vaguely recognized. Fetching the third of the sannin to deal with this mess would be a good reason to send Pakkun away.

“Oy,” she yelled out, making her presence known, “is there a reason your puppy won’t leave me alone?”

“Hey, Anko,” Kiba yelled back. “I told Akamaru to find someone who would know what was going on. Mom said she was going to talk to you this morning, so he must have figured you are in the know. Are you?”

“About the attack on Orochimaru?” she asked, dryly. “Yeah, I know where to go.”

“So he really is back,” Tsunade muttered. “What insane master plan is he working on now?”

“Something that requires a hell of a distraction considering the things he was trying to convince the Sand delegation to do,” Anko informed her. “Either killing someone he has a grudge against or stealing some highly important research would be my guesses, knowing him.”

Tsunade nodded, “That sounds about right. I also heard my other old teammate is here as well.”

“Well we’ve had 22 complaints from women visiting bathhouses and I had to take on a student because someone couldn’t be trusted, so yeah, he’s back as well,” Anko said.

Tsunade sighed, “And our teacher’s done nothing about it, I’m sure. Some things never change.” She looked tired. Anko wondered what it was like to have her name firmly tied to a pair of men who never respected her. “Orochimaru is the priority right now. What is going on with him? Pakkun was rather vague.”

“He is impersonating the Kazekage and was found out so members of the Sand delegation are leading an attack on him this morning. They probably already started. Iruka, the unofficial leader of that attack, told Tsume in order to gather Leaf shinobi to serve as a back-up plan in case they are unable to deal with Orochimaru. I’m headed there now.”

“Well then, let’s get a move on,” Tsunade said.

“Kiba, will you go to Naruto’s apartment? He should be waking up around now and I don’t want him coming to look for me and getting caught in the crossfire. Take him to your clan compound or something,” Anko instructed.

“You got it,” Kiba replied. “Come on, Akamaru.” And with that, the two of them were off. Anko led everyone remaining towards the clearing where everything was going down. She was not sure if bringing the pig was the best idea since it did not look like a fighting summons but Tsunade made no move to dismiss it or her dark-haired companion and she undoubtedly knew their abilities best. Pakkun followed without saying anything. Anko wondered if Kakashi was going to show up after all. To send his top summons after Tsunade and leave another one with Iruka suggested a higher level of investment than what she expected from him.

Tsunade let out a low whistle as they came into sight of the clearing. It was a rather impressive sight. Anko was by no means a seals expert, but even she could feel the power radiating from the barrier. And then there was the activity both inside and outside it. The barrier was see-through so Anko could see Iruka and a Sand anbu fighting with Orochimaru, who was still using the Kazekage henge while the rest of the shinobi still standing were facing off against a massive snake. At least ten shinobi were on the ground, either dead or unconscious.

“Of course he summoned Manda for this,” Tsunade muttered under her breath. “He never took well to being outsmarted.”

There was just as much activity, if not more, taking place outside the barrier. About thirty Leaf shinobi were hurrying around, setting up their defenses. Anko saw all the clan heads, the Hokage, Jiraiya, and that asshole Danzo. They were certainly going all out.

“They won’t last much longer,” Tsunade said, her eyes trained on Orochimaru. “We need to get in there.” She strode towards where the Hokage was standing. “What’s the plan? That’s a hell of a barrier, so how are we getting past it?”

The Hokage looked surprised either by her presence or question, or both, “I did not realize you were in the village, Tsunade. It is good to see you again.”

“Can the small talk wait until after we deal with this situation?” Tsunade shot back. “You and I both know what will happen there if we don’t act soon.” It was true. Anko could see that Iruka and his anbu friend were fighting as hard as they could, but even with all of Iruka’s tricks, they were struggling.

“I do not see how that is our concern,” Danzo had joined their little circle. Anko eyed him warily. He might not have done the experiments Orochimaru had but he certainly had no issues with using Orochimaru’s results. Plus, Tenzo looked like he wanted to run anytime Danzo’s name was mentioned. She did not trust this man. “The more Orochimaru wears himself out fighting against Sand nin, the easier it will be for us to overwhelm him afterwards.”

“They didn’t have to tell us anything,” this was from Tsume who had arrived as Danzo was speaking and looked furious. “They warned us so we could be prepared. And you just want to let them die because it will make things easier for you.” Technically, Anko was pretty sure that was what Iruka had planned for. He never expected Leaf shinobi to help them. They were a precautionary measure if everyone from Sand died without defeating Orochimaru. Of course, Iruka had underestimated Tsume’s loyalty. He had earned her respect and she was not going to be content to just sit back and watch him die when she could do something to help.

“While I appreciate their warning, I’m sure it was as much for their benefit as it was for ours, if not more so,” Danzo replied. “I am curious what role Orochimaru planned on using their delegation for. It must have been something truly awful for them to have become suspicious of him.” Tsume glared back at him.

“Alright,” Tsunade said, before the argument could continue. She walked closer to the barrier, resting her hand against it. “Feel free to stand back if you so choose. But I’m going in.”

“Tsunade-” the Hokage protested.

“I haven’t been a part of this village in a long time, Sensei, so don’t think you can order me around now,” Tsunade said. “Orochimaru was my teammate. I saved his life multiple times during the war. I didn’t stop him even though I could see what he was turning into. In a way, he’s my responsibility. And I’ve been shrinking my duty long enough. My grandfather built this village, I’m not going to sit back and watch anyone destroy it.” The way her eyes lingered on Danzo hinted that Orochimaru was not the only threat she saw. She turned back towards the barrier. “You might want to stand back for this part.”

Tsume dragged Anko, who had been frozen in awe, with her as she walked backwards. “You were too young to fight in the front lines of the last war, weren’t you?” she asked. Anko nodded. “Well, a tip from someone who was, you do not want to get in Tsunade’s way, particularly when she has that look on her face.”

Tsume’s prediction turned out to be accurate because in the next second, Tsunade was slamming her fist into the barrier. It seemed to shudder for a second before shattering. Tsunade strode forward without looking back. She made her way towards where Orochimaru and the Sand nin were fighting inside another barrier. As much as Anko wanted to watch that beatdown, she knew she was needed elsewhere, Manda had made a substantial dent in the number of Sand attackers. She spotted Baki still on his feet along with three others, but she could tell they were struggling. “Go help them,” Tsume told her, since it did not seem like the Hokage was going to be giving orders anytime soon. His gaze was focused on where his two ex-students were fighting. Shikaku was sending people to surround Orochimaru to make sure he could not get away. He nodded to her as she set off in Manda’s direction.

About ten other Leaf shinobi came with Anko. “Hit him with everything you’ve got,” she instructed them as they approached. Manda had just noticed the barrier had fallen away and had not yet extended to his full size. This was the time to hit him. “Anyone who knows fire jutsus, use those,” she instructed. “He hates the heat.” While cold was the thing that got most snakes, Manda was special and hated extreme temperatures of any kind.

She doubted they would be able to kill him, but it should not be too hard to contain him. Manda was a powerful summons, but he was just that, a summons. He worked best when Orochimaru was near to give him clear instructions. When left to his own devices, he tended to just rely on his size to overcome opponents without using any complex techniques. The barrier had limited Manda’s movement, but it had also made him more dangerous to fight because it forced the Sand shinobi to mainly attack from the ground nearby him, which was the spot Manda could most easily crush them. Now, most of the Leaf nin were jumping between the trees and launching attacks from the air, where it was much harder to catch them.

They drove Manda back, away from the village and away from Orochimaru. The Sand shinobi who could still stand were trying to help their fellow villagers with a few Leaf nin, including Tsunade’s brunette friend helping as well. Anko was wracking her brains trying to think of what to do next. They were doing alright so far but she did not want to lose anyone unnecessarily because of a lucky tail swipe.

Subduing Manda took more time than Anko wanted, but they were able to accomplish it in the end. While a few people with fire natures attacked Manda’s front with their jutsus, others were busy trying to contain his tail with earth jutsus. It was frustrating work, considering how many he kept breaking through. They kept at it though and eventually bands of earth trapped everything from the tip of his tail to ten feet from his head. They had started at the end and worked their way up, so that he did not realize how constrained he was until it was too late. After that, Anko and several other jonin just ran to the top of Manda’s head and unleashed their strongest jutsus on him. After several rounds of blunt force trauma, he finally collapsed. Anko was not naive enough to believe they had successfully killed him, but at least he would not be causing them any problems anytime soon. She instructed Kotetsu and Izumo to keep watch over Manda and turned her attention towards Orochimaru.

Sadly, he was still up and fighting. The circle of Leaf shinobi was slowly tightening their radius while in the center he and Tsunade were locked in battle. Iruka and his anbu friend were off to the side, but still within the damage zone. Given how they were positioned, Anko bet they had some kind of barrier raised around them and was proven right as a rock hurtling towards them ran into something and bounced back. Satisfied that everyone was positioned properly, and her Sand friends would be fine, Anko refocused on Orochimaru. And she was glad she did. Because just then he tried to attack Tsunade with his inhumanly long tongue. She looked very unimpressed with that and just grabbed the tongue. She then proceeded to yank Orochimaru off his feet using her grip on his tongue and slam him to the ground multiple times. Anko wondered if Tsunade would be weirded out if she proposed at that moment.

Anko joined the ring of slowly advancing Leaf nin, falling in beside Tsume and Kuromaru. She noticed the shinobi she had talked to earlier had positioned themselves about equidistant from each other, so no matter where Orochimaru went, one of them would be there. It probably wouldn’t be necessary now, considering Tsunade’s presence. She would not stand for Orochimaru being quietly disappeared and not held accountable so Danzo could get his hands on more morally dubious research.

Anko had always anticipated that if she ever met her ex-teacher again, it would end in one of two ways: either she would be dead in under a minute, or they would have some long battle with her airing all of her complaints before she is finally able to take him down. Overdramatic, she knew but it was fun to picture. Of course, neither of those things happened. In fact, she didn’t even know if Orochimaru knew she was there as he was taken down.

The end was rather anticlimactic, although she should have expected that with Iruka present. Orochimaru was dodging one of Tsunade’s punches when he stumbled into one of Iruka’s traps. The seal he triggered unleashed a flash of intense light, momentarily blinding Orochimaru. Tsunade took full advantage of that fact and tackled him to the ground, pinning him beneath her. She punched him several times in the face for good measure. And even when he went limp, she still did not let go. Then again, Anko guessed an ex-teammate would have a good idea of Orochiamru’s array of tricks.

Everyone had almost frozen when Orochimaru had gone down. All at once, everyone started moving again. The circle of Leaf shinobi converged on Tsunade just as Iruka let down his barrier and helped his anbu friend limp over to where Orochimaru, still half in his Kazekage disguise, was. Given their proximity, the two Sand shinobi made it to Tsunade first. Anko didn’t see quite what happened but all of a sudden Orochimaru was able to throw Tsunade off and spring to his feet. He did not make it far, however, as Iruka stepped into his path and decked him without hesitation. He went down hard and Tsunade made sure he stayed down by pinning him on his stomach and basically sitting on his back. It was quite the picture.

“Would you like me to set up a barrier?” she heard Iruka ask Tsunade as she approached.

“That won’t be necessary. He won’t escape me again,” Tsunade assured him. “Plus, I believe we will be moving him as soon as possible.”

“Indeed,” the Hokage, who had appeared after Orochimaru was already taken down, agreed. “We will need to move him to our most secure holding cells before he hurts anyone else.”

Orochimaru let out a deranged laugh at that, “It’s been a while since I’ve seen those cells. You let me take all sorts of test subjects from the people who were imprisoned there, back in the day. Tell me, who are you loaning your prisoners out to these days?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” the Hokage replied blandly. “Take him away.” Four anbus appeared to take custody of Orochimaru, but Tsunade did not let go. “Tsunade?” the Hokage prompted her.

Tsunade stared back at him evenly, “No offense but I know how dangerous Orochimaru is. I’m not sure I trust even your anbu to be able to contain him. Plus, I don’t want his research falling into the wrong hands." She was not particularly subtle in her glare at Danzo. Anko really wanted to know where she got her information. Not that she was wrong to mistrust that asshole, but she had gotten the impression that Tsunade did not keep up with news from Leaf. More importantly, she really wanted to see a fight between Tsunade and Danzo and she was sure she was not the only one. Tsume was watching the exchange with glee. And none of the clan heads or anyone else present were stepping in to oppose Tsunade. Anko just knew that internal politics were going to be insane for the next few weeks as everyone readjusted to having the major player of Tsunade back. And Anko believed she would be back for good. Beating Orochimaru was one thing, but to publicly call out her ex-teacher and his creepy friend was a whole different level. It signaled that Tsunade was unhappy at the direction of the village and was willing to do something about it. “And do you have a plan to deal with his massive snake? Because I know how hard that thing is to kill and I highly doubt he’s going to get rid of it voluntarily.”

Everyone ignored Orochimaru’s muffled statement that Tsunade was correct as they watched the Hokage. Anko was curious what his plan to deal with everything was. He was a powerful fighting and clever planner, even if he was a little too permissive towards those he cared for.

“That won’t be a concern,” a new voice stated. Everyone turned to see Jiraiya making his way towards their group. Anko was amused to note that he placed himself on the opposite side of the circle as Iruka. Apparently, he had made quite the impression. “Manda has been dealt with.”

Everyone turned in that direction and saw that the restraints had fallen away. Manda had obviously moved since then because he was now coiled up instead of spreading out. But Manda was now motionless. Well, almost motionless. Even from this distance, Anko could see his tongue lashing out every so often.

“You placed a barrier directly around his body, forcing him to stay still,” Iruka commented. “How did you manage to get him to curl up?”

“Some help from my own summons and a few well-placed wind jutsus from your friend,” Jiraiya replied. “Lucky for us, Manda was still mostly out of it while we were moving him. He won’t be able to escape.”

Tsunade glanced between Jiraiya and the captured Manda, “Alright. Now we just need to deal with him.” she jerked her head towards Orochimaru. “You said you had cells that are capable of holding him?” she asked the Hokage.

“Yes, we have a set of high-security cells,” the Hokage responded. “He will not escape them.”

“That’s not my only concern,” Tsunade replied. And she just kept going as the Hokage tried to respond and deny Orochimaru’s allegations. “So, I want someone to keep an eye on him at all times. And not one of your friends.”

She glanced around the people clustered around, “Jiraiya, will you watch him for now?” No one was expecting that choice, including Jiraiya himself. He looked taken aback for a minute before agreeing. And that was that. Tsunade handed Orochimaru over to the four anbus. Jiraiya followed them off. Soon the other clan heads were disappearing to deal with the fallout of what had happened. The Hokage stared Tsunade down for a minute and she met his eye evenly before he too left. Danzo glared back at her but followed.

Iruka looked like he was going to say something but Baki called over to him, and they hurried back towards Manda, involved in an intense discussion. Another Sand shinobi hurried over and helped the anbu towards the medical tent that had been sent up.

“Do I need a drink,” Tsunade muttered once it was only her, Anko, and Tsume, left.

Tsume laughed at that, “I think we all do. Even if it is only ten in the morning.” She then glanced around before saying, “On a more serious note, are you sure Jiraiya is the best choice to watch over him?”

“Jiraiya has his issues, but he would not be involved in the sorts of behind-the-scenes dealings that Pakkun was warning me about. Plus, the three of us were friends once upon a time. He both knows how dangerous Orochimaru is and still had some fondness for him. He won’t let him be hurt and he won’t let him escape. It will be fine,” Tsunade assured her.

“You know best,” Tsume replied. “Also, what was that with letting him get away for a moment? I know you did that on purpose.”

“That Sand shinobi with the scar on his nose-”

“Iruka," Tsume provided.

“Yes, him. “He looked like he desperately needed to punch Orochimaru but could not justify doing it for no reason to himself,” Tsunade shrugged. “I just gave him the opportunity.”

Tsume laughed at that, “He definitely did. He’s the one who pieced Orochimaru’s plan together and organized the resistance against him.”

“Impressive,” Tsunade commented, “it’s not easy to outsmart Orochimaru.” She got to her feet and stretched. “Anyway, I should find Shizune and make sure she is alright. This past day has been more excitement than we usually get.”

“You planning on sticking around for a while?” Anko heard herself ask. She hadn’t meant to say it, but she was curious.

Tsunade stopped and gazed in the direction of the village, “Yeah, I think I will. I’ll come find you in a day or two. I want to know what is going on with the village.”

“We’ll be around,” Tsume promised her.

“Good. Until then,” Tsunade said before taking off towards the medical tent. Anko imagined that despite her words, she would be here for hours longer, helping the injured.

“Come on,” Tsume said to Anko, turning away from the clearing, “others can clean up this mess. You look like you need to sit down.” Now that she said it, Anko knew she was right. She felt her head ringing and would have fallen over without Tsume’s supporting hand. Orochimaru, the man who had haunted her nightmares for years, was defeated. She should feel happy, but mainly she just felt hollow.

Hey, you’re alright, it’s over,” Tsume said, reassuringly. Kuromaru approached her other side to lend her more support. “You are in no shape to be on your own right now. Are you alright with me taking you back to my house or is there someone else you want to stay with?”

Going back to Tsume’s house sounded wonderful. She was pretty sure she could bribe at least one of the Haimaru brothers to cuddle with her. But she needed to make sure Tenzo was okay first. She was sure he had been one of the anbu guards who escorted Orochimaru to his cell. “I need to check on someone first, but I’ll come over after that,” she offered. Not that she was very convincing, considering she still needed Tsume’s help to stand up.

“If you are worried about Tenzo, I assure you he is being taken care of,” Kuromaru spoke up. “Pakkun told me that Kakashi was coming back to the village this morning and intended to keep an eye on Tenzo.”

“About time he did something useful,” Tsume commented. “And I know he sent Pakkun after Tsunade, but I’m crediting her return to Pakkun rather than him.” That seemed fair to Anko, not that she thought it over much. She just felt exhausted. She didn’t know what it was. Her part of the fight wasn’t even that hard.

She could feel Tsume urging her along and processed the fact that she was moving towards the Inuzuka compound, but she did not really feel like she was the one directing her body. By the time she came back to herself, they were already inside Tsume’s house. She had been placed on a couch and one of the Haimaru brothers was curled up next to her. Akamaru was on her lap and let out a loud bark when he saw she was aware again before demanding head pats. Anko humored him and felt better for it. “Oh good, you’re back with us. Mom will be pleased,” Hana said from her spot in the doorway. She then turned and yelled into the next room, “Mom, she’s up.”

Tsume emerged a few seconds later. She seated herself opposite Anko and looked her over. “Good to see you. I figured you wouldn’t want to go to a med-nin after the day you’ve had, but I can call one if you want.”

“No, thank you. I’m fine,” Anko assured her. She did not have the energy to deal with being poked and prodded right now and she was not physically injured.

“Alright, let me know if you change your mind,” Tsume replied. She leaned forward, “Do you want to talk about things now or some other time?” It did not escape Anko’s notice that not talking was not an option, but she appreciated the opportunity to dictate terms.

“Later,” she decided, “I don’t even know what I would say right now.”

“Take all the time you need. I’m here whenever you want to talk, but I understand if you want to talk to someone else,” Tsume told her. “Now that that part is over, there is someone who wants to see you.”

Hana had apparently been waiting for this, since she vanished into another room and a few seconds later, footsteps could be heard running towards the room. Anko had to smile as Naruto burst into the room and threw himself towards Anko without hesitation. Akamaru was not too pleased with having his resting place disrupted but Kiba had followed Naruto in and he settled down in his arms.

Naruto sat down on the side without a dog. “Anko, how are you? Tsume said you fought someone really powerful and were very brave. What was the fight like? Wait, Hana told me not to ask you that right away. Ah-“

Anko had to laugh at Naruto’s distressed facial expression.“Don’t worry about it. I’m alright. As for the fight, I’ll tell you about that later. We have something more important to talk about right now.”

“What’s that?” Naruto asked.

Anko drew a deep breath in. “Your parents.” She really should not be doing this. It was treason. She did not even know them that well. So many others could tell Naruto more. (And they would. She would make sure of that, starting with Kakashi.) But she wasn’t worried. She was sure that with Tsunade back, there would be a lot of things changing and this would be one of them. And even if she couldn’t tell her student everything, she could at least give him something. And seeing the look of joy on Naruto’s face made it all worth it.

Notes:

I think I used up most of ability to write fight scenes last chapter, so I kept this on more general.

I knew I wanted Tsunade to be the one to take Orochimaru down but I also wanted to give Iruka the chance to punch him, so Tsunade letting him go temporarily so Iruka could punch him was born. It was very satisfying to write.

Anko has had enough. She is not going to let Naruto go one more day no knowing who his parents were and how amazing they were. She trusts that the Hokage will be too busy dealing with his former students to notice and even if he does, Tsunade will back her.

Anyway, I will be a week later in the next chapter. I am moving next week, plus now that Orochimaru has been dealt with, I need to figure out how I am wrapping up this story.

Chapter 22

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Iruka was usually pretty good in the aftermath of battles. Part of that was out of necessity. Many shinobi were terrific in the heat of battle but less skilled about taking care of things afterwards. Checking in on his teammates, dealing with whatever wounds they had accumulated as best as he could, burning or sealing up the corpses of their enemies, and getting everyone moving again were steps Iruka had done a hundred times before and not faltered. Yet his thoughts immediately after Orochimaru was escorted away did not go to his established routine. Yes, he knew that they needed to do a head count and see who they had lost, needed to get the injured help, and somehow explain the situation to the Hokage in a way that sounded plausible but left out all the details that could cause war to break out. But these were distant concerns. All he could think of in that moment was how relieved he felt. Orochimaru was caught. He could not hurt Iruka’s children or his friends any longer. He could not take any more actions to plunge the shinobi world into war. Their plan had actually worked (with some unexpected assistance). And he had achieved one of his deepest desires and gotten the chance to punch Orochimaru in the face.

“Nice punch,” Baki commented. The way he was holding his left arm indicated it was at least sprained, if not broken but otherwise he looked alright. “Did it feel as good as it looked?”

“It did actually,” Iruka replied. He didn’t think of himself as a violent person, at least compared to the average shinobi but his blood was singing after laying Orochimaru out. “Best form of stress relief I’ve ever had.” He collapsed on the ground. Everything hurt and he was exhausted. He knew he should get up and deal with the fallout, but he could not bring himself to. He saw Naomi come over and help Scorpion to the medical tent which had sprung up, so that was one less thing to worry about. He felt guilty about abandoning his friend, but as they made eye contact over the hectic scene, Scorpion nodded his head towards him, and he knew he was forgiven.

Baki eyed him warily before taking a seat beside him, “Let’s not make it your new thing. I am in punching range of you far too often for me to be comfortable with that.”

Iruka laughed, “Don’t worry, you’re safe. I don’t think I’d get as much satisfaction out of hitting you as I did him. I did not appreciate his presence in my life nearly as much as I do yours. In fact, I could have lived quite happily with never having heard of him, let alone meeting him.”

“I’ll say,” Baki commented. “Oh good, looks like Mari is handling the diplomacy part of this.” Iruka looked over to see Mari speaking with the Hokage and a man Tsume had called his “morally-dubious and very creeper adviser”. Not someone Iruka was in a hurry to interact with.

Instead, he just watched the aftermath unfold. As Mari seemed to convince the Hokage of their sincerity and honesty, as Tsunade took control of the medical tent and treated both Leaf and Sand nin, as the bodies of those who had died were collected and transported away. It must have been more than an hour after the battle was over that he found the strength to get up again. Baki, who had sat by his side without comment the entire time, stood first and offered him a hand up. Iruka gratefully took it. Apparently, his legs had not gotten the memo that everything was alright and were still shaking.

When they made their way over to the spot the Sand shinobi had chosen to cluster, they were greeted by one of the Kazekage’s old advisors. Try as he might, Iruka could not remember his name. They had never interacted much, although Iruka knew the man was very important in the village. He had been part of the group Mari had been tasked with convincing, or at worst, containing. Since they never joined the fight, Iruka figured she was either able to bring them over to their side at the last minute or news of the reveal reached them, and they decided to help present a united front to the other villages.

“Do either of you need immediate medical attention?” was the advisor’s first question.

Iruka couldn't really feel his left arm, but other than that he was physically alright.

“No,” Baki answered for the both of them, “some minor injuries and we should probably get checked out later, but others need it more than us right now.”

“That’s certainly true,” said the advisor glanced over to the bustling medical tent. “Hajime.”

“Pardon?” Iruka asked.

“My name, it’s Hajime,” he said, looking slightly amused. “You’re usually better at hiding your thoughts. Well, at least the ones you don’t want to make known. You must be very tired.”

“It’s been a rough few weeks,” Iruka replied lightly. He really should not say much. They had a basic cover story in place, but they needed to fill in the details and if he said the wrong thing here, it could commit them to a story that was difficult to maintain. Hajime didn’t seem to want to undermine him, but he knew better to trust his judgment right now.

“I understand, we will have to talk later about what this means for the future of the village. But I will let you rest for now,” with that he was gone, striding off to speak to someone else. Iruka would have to keep an eye on him and anyone else with some pull in the village. With the power vacuum the Kazekage left behind, anyone could try and secure power. Of course, the Kazekage’s death was not confirmed to anyone outside their circle yet, but with Orochimaru’s remarks during the battle and the reality of the situation, Iruka doubted many would wait to get confirmation of his death before planning their next move.

Iruka was much happier to see their next visitor. Naomi made her way over to them. “Good to see that you’re both alright.” She was moving gingerly and had a splint on her left ankle but other than that she looked fine. “Hell of a fight. That guy just would not give up.”

“He really wouldn’t. Pain in the ass,” Baki commented. “How is everyone?”

“Three dead-Nobu, Etsuko, Shion. A couple more are seriously injured. I would have guessed they weren’t going to make it either, but Tsunade has been working on them and it looks like they are going to pull through. I don’t think a single person who took part in the assault was uninjured, but no one else has life threatening injuries.”

Iruka commented the names to memory. He didn’t know any of them well. He believed that Etsuko was in his class at the academy, and he might have been on a mission with Nobu, but he did not know the first thing about either of them. He would try and find out. They had died carrying out a plan he had come up with. He would find a way to honor them.

Naomi glanced around before continuing, “No one’s said anything in response to Orochimaru’s claims during the fight. But given the way they were watching Iruka, I’m sure no one has forgotten about them.”

“Do you think anyone will cause problems while we are in Leaf?” Iruka asked.

“I don’t think so. Everyone knows how close we just came to a war. And as upset as many are about how the other villages treated Sand, they are starting to realize that another war would not be in our best interests. It’s amazing what happens when we reveal the mastermind behind the plan as a crazy possible kage killer. Suddenly, it did not look as attractive a prospect.”

“Shocker,” Baki commented. “But we’ll have to keep an eye on things. Even if nobody causes problems right away, Naomi is right that no one will forget it either. And it’s not like you were very popular in the first place, Iruka. We’ll have to make sure no one tries to use you as a scapegoat going forward. Pakura should be able to help with that.”

“That will be something we can deal with later,” Iruka decided. “I think Naomi is right that they will not make their move, if they are going to make one, until after we get back to the village. So keep your ears open, but right now our focus needs to be on solidifying an explanation that we can sell to Leaf.”

“Fun,” Naomi commented. “I’ll leave that to you. I’m going to round everyone up and make sure no information will be leaked without our approval.”

“Best of luck to you,” Iruka told her. After she left, he turned to Baki. “Let’s go save Mari.”

“Good call. I think she was signaling with her eyes that if we don’t get over there soon, they’ll never find our bodies,” Baki replied.

“She has held up rather well, especially considering the amount of multi-tasking she has been doing,” Iruka said.

With how much time had passed since the battle’s conclusion, the Hokage and most of the higher-ups had left. Now Mari was mainly talking to a man with a dark ponytail who looked like he desperately wanted to lay down. He seemed vaguely familiar. At the same time, she was moving in between cots and yelling back and forth with Tsunade. They seemed to be becoming fast friends, based mainly on swapping stories about idiot patients. Iruka was concerned for the world if they teamed up.

“Oh good, you’re back on your feet,” Mari commented as they strolled up to her. “I was about to send someone to check on you. Iruka, Baki, meet Shikaku Nara, Leaf’s jonin commander. He’s been asking me about Orochimaru’s behavior while he was impersonating the Kazekage and I’m afraid we have already reached the limits of my knowledge. Scorpion told you about what he observed, didn’t he? Why don’t you fill this nice man in and leave me to deal with the wounded that need my assistance, hmm?”

Iruka now realized why the name looked familiar. He greatly resembled his son, or more accurately his son greatly resembled him. Iruka remembered watching Shikamaru Nara take down the Sound kunouchi with a brilliant plan and minimal effort. He guessed that intelligence was a family trait. It would not be easy to fool Shikaku Nara. Not that that would stop Iruka from trying.

“Of course, we would be happy to discuss what happened with you,” Iruka said. “Before we do, I can’t help but wonder why Scorpion himself is not involved in this conversation.”

“He tried to be,” Mari replied. “But given his injuries, Tsunade and I felt that he need immediate assistance and that was not compatible with the rigorous questioning Shikaku has been subjecting me to. Don’t worry, his injuries are not that severe,” she assured them. “However, he has been running himself ragged the past few days and accumulated quite the collection of small injuries along with the more obvious ones. He’ll be on bed rest for the next couple days to recover his stamina and get a few healing sessions and then he’ll be just fine.”

“I’m relieved to hear that,” Iruka said. He meant it but he also felt a great deal of guilt. He had asked so much of Scorpion to get the plan to work. Of course the man had been overworking himself. Although with his regular anbu duties, he had to keep an eye on Orochimaru’s schedule, head off anyone who looked like they were close to discovering their plan, and convince all the other anbu agents that the man they were taking orders from was actually a missing nin. One of those tasks alone would consume someone’s energy and Iruka had been asking Scoprion to do all three plus more.

“Indeed,” Baki said, laying his hand on Iruka’s arm and squeezing gently. He had become quite adept at reading Iruka’s mood. He said it wasn’t that hard because Iruka’s default settings were to worry about his kids and blame himself for things he shouldn’t. Iruka had protested, but Mari, Scorpion, and Pakura had agreed with Baki, so he lost that battle.

“While we wait for Scorpion to recover, we can talk to you about what we know. We should probably get out of the way of the medics before they decide that if we are already hanging around their tent, they might as well make it so we need to stay in bed.”

“Good call,” Shikaku commented, glancing back at Tsunade and Mari. “Are you comfortable talking in the clearing?”

While Iruka did not particularly want to go back there, he recognized that Shikaku was trying to find a space where Iruka and Baki would know their way around and be able to leave or call for help if they felt the need. He could have easily suggested some backroom in the Hokage tower. And it’s not like Iruka had any better ideas for a location so he agreed.

They settled themselves far enough off from the medical tent that they wouldn’t be bothered by the noise and no one in there could hear them, but still in sight of it. Baki led them to the spot, away from where Orochimaru had been captured and nowhere near the barrier that still held Manda. That was another thing they would have to deal with soon. Iruka was not well versed in how summons worked so he was unsure if sealing Orochimaru’s chakra, which Leaf should do soon, would cause Manda to be unsummoned. If not, he guessed someone, probably him, would have to keep refreshing the barrier around Manda every so often before someone came up with a more permanent solution.

Iruka was glad when Shikaku took a seat on the grass and gestured for them to do the same. He didn’t want to seem unprofessional but did not have the energy to stand for however long this conversation was going to take.

Once they were all seated, Shikaku did not waste any time getting down to business, “Alright, tell me what you know about Orochimaru and his plans.”

Iruka did not do anything as amateur as glancing at Baki, as much as he wanted to. Instead, he just began spinning a lie that would hopefully hold up. “We are friends with Scorpion, an anbu. On our first night in the village, he came to our apartment in the evening. He had arranged for Mari to be there as well. He told us that he had something unbelievable to tell us but that he needed us to hear him out. That he didn’t know who else he could trust. He then went on to describe how he had been on guard duty one night as we were crossing the desert. The Kazekage had sent his guards away and had taken a stroll by himself. Scorpion had felt that something was wrong and wandered near to where he had gone, but not within sight. At first nothing happened, but then he felt a spike of chakra. It was gone almost as soon as he felt it, but he knew he had not imagined it. He thought maybe the Kazekage had been attacked, but it had not feel like his chakra. Before he could investigate further, the Kazekage reappeared. Scorpion expected him to let the anbu know what had happened, but he did not say anything. Scorpion was unable to get away to check the area he had sensed the chakra spike from without drawing attention to himself. After that, he kept a close eye on the supposed Kazekage. While he seemed to be the same as usual, there were a few small things that raised alarms. He began to believe that the person before him was a fake who had subdued the real Kazekage. But he knew that most Sand shinobi would find that hard to believe. Everyone knows how competent a fighter the Kazekage is. He needed solid proof before he came forward with his suspicions. That’s why he came to us. We are familiar with each and he felt comfortable trusting us with this information. We did your own investigation and corroborated his suspicions. After that, it was a matter of deciding how to tell everyone and how to deal with the imposter.”

“Considering the imposter was Orochimaru and he was impersonating your kage, I doubt it was as simple as you make it sound,” Shikaku commented. He was still sitting lazily, but his eyes were sharp.

“Of course, given the nature of what was going on, we did anticipate that some people might have strong reactions and do something that would reveal to Orochimaru that we were on to him. That’s why we decided to tell people in a controlled environment and did it in phases. We thought that this method would best minimize the risk,” Iruka replied. “And you can see the results of our plan to deal with Orochimaru yourself. We knew the dangers of attacking him directly but felt that it was our best option. Allowing him to continue “leading” the village during such an important event was not an option. We did not want our village to be caught up in whatever he was planning."

“And you have no idea what that might be?”

“No,” Baki said firmly. “We guessed that he would use the chaos of the exams as cover for whatever he intended to do. Since he continued to keep up his charade until now, we suspected he intended to unleash his grand master plan during the final stage.”

“Hmm,” Shikaku nodded. He turned towards Iruka, “You said you were familiar with Scorpion. How was that? Not too many chunin are close with anbu agents.”

From anyone else Iruka would take it as an insult, but Shikaku’s demeanor just seemed vaguely curious. Iruka knew this was just another piece of the puzzle Shikaku was trying to assemble about what went on. From the outside, it would seem like an odd friendship. “I am the caretaker for Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. Due to who their father is, they constantly had anbu guards. Scorpion was at the house the most frequently, or at least I saw him the most frequently. He would deliver messages from the Kazekage to me and advise me of any imminent threats. Over the years, we have become friends.”

“I don’t know how it works in Sand, but here anbu agents are not typically used by the kage to send messages to the person caring for his children. Guard duty, I understand, but I am surprised Scorpion showed himself to you at all, let alone often enough that you two have a relationship,” Shikaku commented.

“It was the easiest way,” Iruka replied. He was faintly amused that Shikaku was focusing on the only part of the story that was not a lie. “The Kazekage and I did not have many face-to-face conversations so Scorpion would just deliver messages when it was something quick.”

“Easiest, huh? And that has nothing to do with you being known for not liking the Kazekage and trying to undermine him.” Iruka was not quite sure what reaction Shikaku was trying to provoke, but he doubted it was the one he got. Baki snorted before turning away, pretending to cough into his hand while Iruka just let himself laugh. It was good to show Shikaku some genuine reactions, he rationalized it to himself. Make him more willing to trust you. Honestly, Iruka had had a long day (a long month) and that comment just set him off, in a good way. With all the craziness that had been going on, it was almost relaxing to be faced with those familiar accusations again.

“I won’t lie to you and say the Kazekage and I got along well,” Iruka said. “I don’t think I could pull off that line with a straight face, plus anyone in our delegation could tell you that we had a tense relationship.”

“And why was that?” Shikaku asked.

“I did not approve of the way he treated his children and he did not like my so-called interference with his children,” Iruka stated, bluntly. “My job was to care for Gaara initially and then Temari and Kankuro as well. I did my job, regardless of who was a threat to them. I was definitely not what the Kazekage expected when he assigned me to the post. We argued constantly, but neither of us were in a place to move against the other. I am not foolish enough to attack my kage or invite the instability his death will bring. And by the time he realized he did not want me as the children’s caretaker, they were already extremely attached to me and it would not be in his best interest to remove me.”

“Because Gaara is a jinchuriki and you stopped his murder spree. The Kazekage was concerned the deaths would start again if you were removed,” Shikaku prodded. Iruka wondered where he had gotten that information from and how long he had known it. Sand had done with best to keep Gaara's existence and instability a secret.

“It’s more complicated than that, but yes that is the gist of it.” He knew that was deliberately phrased to elicit a reaction out of him, but it was very tempting to give one anyway. Gaara would never have murdered anyone if the Kazekage hadn’t put him in situations where he felt like he had to. But the goal was to convince Shikaku that Iruka was not actively plotting the Kazekage’s gruesome death. So the fewer details he gave the better considering that most things the Kazekage did made Iruka want to murder him.

“Alright.” With that, Shikaku quickly switched topics, “If Scorpion was close enough to know what was going on, I would think Orochimaru would have killed him or at least kept a very close eye on him going forward. I would not have been surprised if he knew the abilities of every one of his anbu guards. Strange that he didn’t. And he certainly paid for that.”

“The Kazekage trusted Scorpion and he has been an anbu for a long time. While his friendship with Iruka was not necessarily a secret, it was not well known and Orochimaru probably did not realize how close they are.” Baki stepped in. “As for the other part, Scorpion is not a traditional sensor. I don’t know quite what his technique is, but I know it exhausts him. He only used it at that time because he was concerned for the safety of the Kazeakge. I’m sure the Kazekage knew of the skill, but others might not and it would not be written down anywhere.”

“Convenient,” Shikaku commented.

Iruka just shrugged, “You could say that. But is it so surprising that a shinobi may choose to underplay their own abilities, even to their own village? It certainly ended up working out well in this case. If Scorpion had not sensed that the Kazakage was really an imposter, things could have ended up much worse for everyone involved. I, for one, am glad it did not come to that.”

“Fair enough,” Shikaku replied. He got to his feet. “Well this conversation has certainly been interesting and helped clear up a few things for me, but I should report back to the Hokage. We have a lot left to organize. Best of luck to your students in the final round of the exams.”

Before Iruka or Baki could respond, he wandered off back towards the village, muttering about how troublesome this whole situation was. “Well that was certainly something,” Baki commented. “I see where his son gets it from.”

“Indeed,” Iruka replied. “What now?”

“Well if we go back to the medical tent, Mari is probably going to sedate us out of spite. My vote is that we head back to the apartment. The kids must be worried.” Iruka quickly agreed. They had done as much damage control as they could right now and he desperately wanted to get back to his children. He had left them a note on the kitchen table before leaving that morning instructing them to stay inside the apartment and not let anyone in who they did not know. He also included instructions on how to raise the intense wards he had placed around the apartment. It had comforted going into battle, knowing that no matter what happened, they would be safe for now. He was glad the arrangements he had made with Mari to get them out of Leaf if things went south were unnecessary.

While Iruka was confident in his seals, it was still a relief to feel them as they drew closer to the apartment. Except something was off. He concentrated and realized what was wrong.

“There are six human chakra sources inside the apartment, not three. Plus a couple more I'm not sure about,” he muttered to Baki.

“Hostile?” Baki asked, already drawing a kunai.

“I’m not sure. They are all familiar and none of the kids seem afraid. But who would be in there now?”

“Window?” Baki suggested.

Iruka considered it for a moment before nodding. This didn’t feel like an ambush and any shinobi would also be watching the window, but it might give them a split-second advantage, which could prove crucial. They body-flickered to the roof. And then Iruka did not even try to be subtle. He tore down the barrier, while Baki threw himself through the window. The abrupt destruction of the wards might also take whoever was in the apartment off guard and they had served (or not served) their purposes. Iruka followed Baki through the window and glanced around quickly before relaxing slightly. While he was not particularly pleased at the sight before him, he did not think the kids were in immediate danger.

“Iruka!” Gaara was out of his seat in and across the room in an instant, throwing his arms around Iruka’s waist. Iruka hugged him back with everything he had. Kankuro and Temari soon joined the embrace, pulling Baki with them. Iruka let out a breath of relief. This was why he had done it.

“Did everything go alright?” Temari asked, worriedly.

Iruka mustered up a smile, “Yes, don’t worry. Everything is under control.” Looking around the room, he commented, “I’m more concerned about what you got up to in my absence.” Kakashi had obviously been teaching the children how to gamble. Not that Iruka objected to that, per se. It was a skill that was useful in a surprising number of circumstances. But what really concerned him was that Kakashi had apparently put one of his porn books into the pot. He better have intended to win the pot (and Iruka knew it was well within his abilities) or they were going to have words.

“I told him it was a bad idea,” Pakkun spoke up. Shiba was besides him before he ran up and nudged Iruka in his leg. Iruka gave in to the silent command and started petting him. He felt guilty for neglecting to check on him after the battle, so he was quite willing to give Shiba anything he wanted at that moment. Plus petting Shiba helped him calm down enough that he did not immediately lose it on the irresponsible jonin who was sprawled out at the kitchen table, teaching his children how to gamble.

“Good morning, Sakura, Sasuke,” Iruka said pleasantly to the other kids at the table. “Sasuke, when did you get back?”

“About an hour ago,” the boy replied. “Kakashi brought us straight here and won’t let us leave.” He looked very done with his teacher. “Now that you’re back, can you make him leave?”

“Such disrespect, from my own student!” Kakashi complained. “And after all the work I put into teaching you the Chidori, this is the thanks I get.”

“You spent the first hour showing me the technique and the rest of the time laughing at my attempts while reading your weird porn books,” Sasuke replied, completely deadpan. Sakura let out a snort at that and then tried to look like she had not when everyone looked over at her.

“I tried to make sure things didn’t get too out of control,” Pakkun told Iruka. “He’s mainly harmless, he just doesn’t understand how to socialize properly.”

“It sounds like you want to go back to the summons realm,” Kakashi said cheerfully.

“I’d be quite happy to, actually. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to track down Tsunade and convince her to return to the village? I need a year's worth of naps,” Pakkun replied. “Plus then we got immediately thrown into a fight against Orochimaru.”

“Tsunade is back?” asked Sakura. “Wait until Tenten hears about it. She’s always wanted to meet her.” She had already risen from her seat as if she wanted to let her friend know that her idol was in the village immediately. Iruka could see why Tenten would admire Tsunade, although he thought Sakura would have more to learn from her. Tenten was a very competent fighter, but she focused on weapons rather than physical strength. Sakura, with her excellent chakra control and willingness to punch whoever annoyed her, could learn a lot from Tsunade.

“I think she’ll be around for a while longer, so Tenten should have plenty of time to speak to her,” Iruka said. “Right now, she is still helping care for the wounded.”

“Is everyone alright?” Temari asked. “Mari, Naomi, and Scorpion?”

“They’re all fine,” Baki assured her. “Mari is making fast friends with Tsunade, which might be dangerous for everyone else but she herself is uninjured. Naomi is fine and overseeing some clean-up measures. Scorpion was injured in the battle and is resting now. He is expected to make a full recovery. We did lose several shinobi in the battle, but I do not believe you knew any of them well.”

Temari nodded, looking both relieved that everyone they were close to was alright and saddened by the loss of villagers. Iruka could see Kankuro mouthing their names as Baki said them. And Gaara just clung tighter to Iruka. Iruka hated how used to death they already were. As shinobi, it would shadowing them for their entire lives. Iruka knew that he could not protect them from that. Gaara in particular had already seen more death than most genin. But it didn’t make it easier to realize that each had already developed their own strategy for mourning the lives of their fellow shinobi. He wanted to have been able to protect them from this for at least a little while longer. Now it would just be another regret to add to his list.

“You never did get around to explaining why you were here or what exactly you think you are doing,” Iruka changed the subject, glaring at Kakashi. He had picked up the porn book from the pot and had been leafing through it during their previous conversation.

“Well Sasuke and I arrived back this morning and found my other cute genin wandering around because her temporary teacher had cruelly abandoned her for the day,” Kakashi started.

“Kureani sent me a message explaining that an important mission had come up and she couldn’t train with me today. She left me a detailed list of what I should be doing. A list I am not following because you dragged me along with you for no reason,” Sakura interjected. “She is a great teacher. Always on time too. Do you think I can transfer to her team permanently? You could take Kiba. He’ll like your summons, I’m sure.” Kakashi’s exaggerated face of betrayal at how both his genin were speaking to him was pretty amusing.

“Since I knew Naruto was already taken care of, I decided to check on your children to make sure they were alright,” Kakashi continued.

“And they let you in?” Iruka said, raising his eyebrow at the three of them.

Kankuro shrugged, “He brought breakfast. Plus he said he would tell us more about what was going on.”

“Which was a lie," Temari pointed out, glaring at the Leaf jonin. “He has been incredibly evasive and pretended he didn’t understand half our questions.”

“Yeah, he’s like that,” Sakura chimed in, with Sasuke nodding along. “We can’t even get a straight answer out of him about when he is going to show up for training on any given morning.”

“And don’t start up your thing about getting lost on the road of life,” Sasuke said before Kakashi could defend himself. “We didn’t believe that excuse the first time you said it and it was not any more convincing the hundredth time.”

“Regardless, didn’t I say not to let anyone in?” Iruka chided.

“No, you said not to let anyone we don’t know in,” Kankuro corrected. “And we know him, even if it’s mostly because you complain about his lurking habits under your breath all the time.”

“I do not,” Iruka protested. Sure he had been annoyed with Kakashi, but he didn’t think he had actually verbalized his feelings.

“Yes you do, actually,” Baki told him. “Pretty much every night when you’re cooking or doing the dishes, you glare towards the living room window and mutter about rude jonin with no manners who think they’re better at hiding themselves than they actually are.” Even Gaara was nodding along, so Iruka knew he had lost.

“Ah, you think about me that much? I’m honored,” Kakashi said. Iruka did not know how he managed to look amused with such a small part of his face showing, but he did.

Iruka rolled his eyes, “Don’t get so full of yourself. In what universe is being someone I complain about a lot a good thing? You’re not even the person I complain about the most.”

Kakashi honestly pouted, “Ah, Iruka, I thought we had something special.”

“I’m going to throw you out that window if you continue, would that be special enough for you?” Iruka shot back.

All the kids were watching Iruka and Kakashi go back and forth like it was the most interesting sparring match they had ever seen. Since Iruka did not want to model bad behavior for them, and since he knew Kakashi could not be counted on to help with that, he reigned in his desire to keep snarking at Kakashi. It was a lot of fun and, while not as great as punching Orochimaru, did help him relieve more stress. It was nice to be able to talk back without worrying about the consequences. Iruka could have never done it to this extent with the man he had complained about the most, the Kazekage. While they had a stalemate, it was an uneasy one and Iruka would not do anything to jeopardize it unnecessarily. While he did not trust Kakashi, he knew that the jonin’s course of action was not going to majorly shift to get back at Iruka if he was snarky with him. Kakashi would make whatever decision he would, and Iruka would just have to wait for him to make up his mind.

“Anyway, getting back to the actual topic at hand, what are you doing here?” Iruka asked.

“Beating your kids and my genin at poker,” Kakashi replied. “Quite badly in fact.”

“That’s not our fault,” Kankuro objected. “You just taught us how to play, of course it will take us a little while to get good. Plus, I’m pretty sure you just change the rules whenever you want to.”

“Would I do that?” Kakashi protested.

“Yes,” everyone in the room replied.

Iruka had to laugh at that. “Well if you’re through trying to corrupt my kids, I think everyone here has something important to prepare for.”

"Yeah, Kakashi, you should help me with training for the day,” Sakura prompted him.

“I thought you wanted Kureani to be your permanent teacher,” Kakashi said.

“Oh I do,” she said, happily roasting her teacher. “But she's not available right now and I guess you’re better no one.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Sasuke muttered under his breath. Iruka very carefully did not look at Kakashi, knowing that whatever faux outraged expression he would be wearing would set him off in a laughing fit.

After a few more rounds of back and forth, Sasuke and Sakura were able to drag Kakashi out the door, yelling out well wishes to Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara for the final round and promising to come back over for dinner soon and maybe bring even more friends. Iruka doubted the higher-ups in Leaf would want anymore genin to be exposed to them, but he still told them that they and their friends were welcome at any time. If anyone had a problem with that, they could be the one to break that news to the kids.

As soon as Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke had left, Iruka stumbled his way over to the couch and collapsed. Baki was not far behind him. Temari looked at both of them before stating, “You look awful.” Baki snorted and Iruka just smiled wanly. “This calls for tea and cookies,” she said decisively. Kankuro was very eager to help once he heard the word cookies. The two of them went to the kitchen to rustle up the snacks while Gaara was left in the living room with very strict instructions to, “Make sure they actually rest and don’t try to tackle any more problems while we are gone.”

He took his job very seriously, glaring at them if they made any movement like they were about to get to their feet. It was sweet. Iruka found himself overwhelmed with just how much he loved these kids. He let his head sink back and closed his eyes. It had been a long day already and it wasn’t even lunch time yet. As much as he wanted to believe that things would get better from here, he knew there was still a mess of things to sort through here in Leaf. And that didn’t even account for what would need to be done when they got back to Sand.

He felt something rushing towards him and sat up just in time to take a pillow to the face, “Stop that,” Gaara commanded him. “I can feel you thinking stressful thoughts.”

Baki tried to muffle his laughter for a few seconds before he couldn’t any longer and the laughter just burst out of him. And then he just couldn’t stop. Iruka kept a straight face for a bit before he started to laugh as well. It felt wonderful, an outpouring of emotion that he did not realize how much he needed until it happened. He had worked so hard to keep his emotions tightly regulated for the last few weeks. And now he didn’t have to. Orochimaru was imprisoned and while he was of course concerned about the impact the incident would have on relations between the villages, he found that he honestly was not that worried about it. He had Tsume and Anko in his corner, as well as Kakashi in his own way. And he had no doubt that Leaf would be busy dealing with whatever hell Tsunade would justifiably raise. They would get through this. And looking at Gaara’s pout, Kankuro’s amused expression, and Temari’s soft smile, he knew it was all worth it.

Notes:

Iruka the one time he did not immediately try to help with everything: I'm a terrible person and I hope everyone forgives me.

Literally everyone else: ??? Please sit down, you deserve rest.

We're reaching the final chapters of this fic, although I am not sure how many chapters will be left. There are still a few things I want to wrap up and I'm sure others will come to me as I write.

Chapter 23: Shikamaru

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Shikamaru’s father did not typically talk about his work at home. It’s not that he ever hid what he did, and realistically he wouldn’t have been able to. Shikamaru had known his father was the jonin commander since before he understood what that meant. But a part of that job was having access to information that few did and that many would kill to get their hands on. The less his father told them about his work, the safer they were. He would warn them if he thought there was an imminent threat or if he was going to be especially busy that week, but beyond that his work was not really discussed in their household.

Of course, when Shikamaru had been researching Naruto’s history, he father had helped him out by leaving materials he really should not have laying around the house and turning a blind eye to Shikamaru and Ino reading them. Ino’s father acted similarly, both with confidential information and papers outlining how to help people with trauma rooted in abandonment and rejection. Shikamaru had studied those papers far more than he ever studied for class, which was not saying much. But Ino had done the same, which was. Choji’s parents hadn’t so much turned a blind eye to their investigation as given them whatever information they could and then insisted they stay for dinner. The only thing they had not been able to get out of their parents was the identity of Naruto’s parents. That was still a work in progress. Shikamaru had a list and was crossing people off as he eliminated them as a possibility. But at the rate he was going, he would not figure it out for a few years, which was infuriating. He was working on a way to speed up the process. He considered just asking Tsume straight out, since she was very fond of Naruto and did not feel the need to play the games of the council, but considering how big a secret it must be, he did not feel comfortable asking that of her. He would just have to keep trying.

Regardless, Shikamaru had learned the habits of his father and the village at large. So when a messenger burst into their house that morning, he knew something huge was going on. It was well before either he or his father would have chosen to wake up on their own. But Asuma had insisted that they start training terribly early in the morning during the week leading up to the finals and Ino had bullied Shikamaru into showing up on time. And Shikamaru’s mother had convinced his father to wake up to see him off each day as a form of “moral support”. Shikamaru and his father both found the idea unnecessarily but there was no arguing with his mother when she got that glint in her eye, so they just went along with it. They had just sat down for breakfast when there was a frantic knock at the door. Shikamaru, being the closest to the door, was dispatched to open it. On the doorstep, he found a stressed chunin who he recognized from the mission desk.

“Is your father in?” he asked Shikamaru, without bothering with any greetings. “I need to speak with him urgently.”

His father had already come over to the door and drew the shinobi into a side room and sent Shikamaru back to the breakfast table. He came back just a few minutes later, “Unfortunately something urgent came up and I will not be able to join you. Shikamaru, Asuma will also be busy today so go collect Ino and Choji and train yourselves for the day. I’m sure Chihiro will help you if you need it.” With that he was gone, settling into his role as the jonin commander. Shikamaru ate mechanically and answered his mother’s questions while his mind was racing.

Whatever was going on must be enormous and an emergency. There was no way they would stage a mission while the delegations from other villages were present unless there was no other choice. And based on the fact that his father had gone in the direction of the Hokage Tower rather than the edge of the village meant the threat was most likely already inside the village. The fact that someone had apparently infiltrated Leaf while the chunin exams were taking place already made the village look weak. They would want to take care of this as quickly and quietly as possible. Which made it even more surprising that jonin instructors were being pulled from their teams so close to the final round. The fact that Leaf had more finalists than any other village by a large margin was a point of pride, but if most of them failed to capitalize on their opportunity, it could become a point of ridicule. Using even the jonin instructors meant that village leadership thought they needed everyone available to combat this threat.

“I can hear your brain whirling over there,” his mother commented, nudging another dish his way. “I hope you aren’t thinking about doing any investigation on your own.”

“Of course not,” Shikamaru told her. And he was being completely honest. There were far too many unknowns for him to get involved, especially when he doubted there was much he could do to help. Whatever was going on was certainly above his abilities to deal with.

When he told his mother this, she laughed. “Maybe right now, but I doubt that will be the case for much longer. I’m your mother, Shikamaru. I think I know better than just about anyone else what you are capable of. And the village is going to need you going forward, no matter how troublesome it might be.” She smiled, but there was a sad tinge to it. Shikamaru had watched his mother rule the clan for many years, as his father became more and more immersed in his job. She knew better than most how much the village could take from a person. “But you won’t have to worry about that just yet,” she said. “Go find Ino and Choji and get some more practice in. Don’t be lazy today of all days. I want to see you shine in the finals.”

Shikamaru took a bite of breakfast and muttered in agreement, not willing to commit to something that seemed like so much work. His mother shook her head fondly, “Well you best be off. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“And Shikamaru,” she called out as he made his way towards the gate of the clan compound, “don’t get into any trouble today.”

He waved in acknowledgement and headed towards the Yamanaka compound. Choji was doubtlessly still eating so he would pick him up last. Plus, they might just stay there to train with Chihiro.

Ino was ready when he arrived, storming out to meet him before he even had to knock. “Do you know what is going on? Dad won’t tell me anything,” she said.

“No, mine wouldn’t either,” Shikamaru replied. “He just told me to stay out of trouble. Did a messenger arrive for yours as well?”

“Yeah, about an hour ago. She handed Dad a note and when he read it, his face went pale and he immediately grabbed his pack and told me to stick close to you and Choji today and just focus on training.” They started walking towards the Akimichi compound as they spoke, “It must be something very dangerous. I’ve never seen him react like that to outside threats.”

“I don’t think it is an outside threat,” Shikamaru told her quietly.

“You mean the village has been infiltrated?” Ino hissed.

“Based on the information I have currently, yes,” Shikamaru told her bluntly.

“And just when all the other villages are here,” Ino muttered. As much as Shikamaru did not mind explaining the political implications of various actions to his friends, it was nice to have someone who could make the same connections he did without prompting. “Or do you think the threat used one of the other villages to get inside?”

Shikamaru thought that over. He had not really considered that, although he had guessed that they had used the chaos of the exams to their advantage. “It’s possible,” he allowed, thinking the idea through. “But it either means they are a master of disguise or we are facing a far larger threat than I originally anticipated.”

“Because they either convinced another village as well as Leaf that they are someone they are not or they convinced the other village to support their plan,” Ino finished the thought. “If it’s the latter, it could lead to another full out war.”

“I know. Let’s hope it does not come to that,” Shikamaru replied. He had seen what the last war had done to the people who lived through it. He did not want any of his friends to have to experience that, particularly not as young as they were now.

“Do you think the Sand shinobi Naruto and the others have befriended are involved?” Ino asked the other question that was eating away at him.

“Sand was left in the most precarious position after the last war. The other major villagers would probably not want to upset the balance of power right now because they have as much to lose in a war as Leaf does. Sand might feel like the risk was worth it to gain more power. And if it is the second option, one of the other main five villages would have to be involved. The smaller villages would know they could not withstand an all out war against Leaf.”

“Unless the village was created just to carry out this plan,” Ino pointed out.

“What are you thinking?”

“Sound was founded recently, correct?” Ino asked.

“Yes, only a few years ago. This is the first time they participated in the chunin exams,” Shikamaru replied.

“And I don’t know about you, but it seemed to me like they didn’t really care if they passed the exams. Even when they attacked Sakura and Sasuke in the forest, their aim was not the scroll but just to force them into a fight,” Ino said.

Shikamaru thought back on his interactions with the Sound team and agreed with her assessment. Their actions were rather strange. “If Sound is involved, it would mean whoever is behind this attack is powerful enough to found a village and convince them to carry out their dirty work, as well as having potentially taken over one of the the major villages. There is a very short list of people who are powerful and dedicated enough to pull that off.” Unfortunately, Shikamaru did not know who all would be included on that list. He didn’t know enough about all the enemies Leaf had in order to figure out who it might be.

“Frustrating isn’t it, not being able to figure something out?” Ino commented. “It’s good for you, let’s you understand what the rest of us feel all the time.” Shikamaru pulled a face at that, not amused. She laughed, “Well unless you have a better idea, let’s just follow our dads’ instructions for the day. I can’t think of anything we can do to help and we still have the finals to worry about. If there was an infiltration, it is more important than ever that we show everyone just how powerful we are.” Shikamaru nodded reluctantly. He knew that was the best course of action even if he really wanted to know what was going on.

They didn’t even have the chance to knock on Choji’s front door before it was thrown open. “Good morning,” Chihiro greeted them. “I was beginning to worry that you had got distracted.”

“No, just Shikamaru dragging his feet,” Ino cheerfully replied, stepping inside.

“Troublesome,” Shikamaru replied, following her.

“Would you like anything to eat?” Chihiro asked.

“No thank you, we’re both already had breakfast,” Ino replied. “Where’s Choji?”

“Out back,” Chihiro responded. “He wanted to get an early start on training, especially when he heard Asuma would not be able to join you today. You can go and join him. Feel free to work on whatever you feel is best for you. I’ll be out in a little bit if you need any advice.”

Ino and Shikamaru made their way to the back of the house. Chihiro had disappeared into one of the other rooms, undoubtedly dealing with the fallout of whatever was going on. “Come on, Shikamaru,” Ino hissed at him, dragging him by the arm. “You know she’s not going to let you get close enough to snoop so don’t embarrass yourself by trying. I’ll guilt my dad into at least giving me a hint later tonight.” Shikamaru let himself be pulled away.

Choji was waiting for them when they finally made their way outside. He had apparently been completing some warm-up stretches and exercises while he waited.

“Morning,” he called out. Ino and Shikamaru waved back. “Have you figured anything out about what is going on?”

Ino glanced towards the house before replying, “We have some speculation but there is a lot of information we are unsure of. Did your parents tell you anything?”

“Not really,” Choji replied. “Dad did say he expected something like this to happen but he did not expect it so soon. He wouldn’t say anymore on the topic, just telling me that you two were probably going to come over and that we should stay close to the compound.”

“So it must be someone Leaf knew was a threat,” Ino mused. “One of our missing nin, perhaps?”

Shikamaru mentally ran through the missing nin he knew of. He did not have much of a description to go off of, so he focused on those who had a reputation for choosing to use others to accomplish their goals and were rather powerful. The village did not react like this unless faced with a serious threat. He narrowed it down somewhat, but could not conclusively determine who it was. There was something nagging at him, a sense that he was missing something crucial, but he could not put his finger on what. He shook his head when Ino and Choji looked at him.

“In that case, let’s just focus on training for now,” Ino decided. “We can’t let ourselves be embarrassed in the finals.” Shikamaru was certain that at this point, he had trained enough and nothing he would do today would make a difference one way or another, but Ino would not take no for an answer and dragged him into practicing kunai throwing. They continued on like that for a while-alternating between practicing various skills and sparring with each other. Chihiro would check on them periodically, giving advice where she could, before disappearing back inside.

Around mid-morning, they decided to take a break. Choji grabbed some snacks and refreshments from the house and they collapsed in the shade. Shikamaru laid down and closed his eyes while Choji chowed down on the snacks. Ino started chattering away about the new plants they just acquired at the shop. Shikamaru half-listened while continuing to contemplate what was going on. He wondered if the battle was already over. Because if they were gathering that many people that quickly, it would be a battle. And for all the lead-up to battles could be drawn-out, his father since once the fighting starts, it is usually over quickly.

“We’re not sure what it is about the plants, but we have never had so many snakes in the greenhouses before. Even if they are pretty, we might have to get rid of them.” Shikamaru abruptly sat up, startling Choji and Ino.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed. Of course, everything was falling into place. “I should have seen it sooner.”

“Well, I would like to see it at all, so back up and explain your thought process,” Ino instructed him, well used to the way his mind worked.

“Do you remember what Kiba said a few days ago?” Shikamaru asked them.

“That Akamaru ate a plant he shouldn’t have and had been whining all night?” Choji ventured.

“That Hana finally perfected that move she has been working on for months?” Ino guessed.

“No, well yes, he did say both those things, but they aren’t what’s important right now,” Shikamaru explained, picking up steam. “Do you remember him complaining that it smelled of snakes everywhere?” The conversation stuck out to Shikamaru both because Kiba did not normally complain about scents and because when he had said it, Hinata had snorted before glancing around guiltily and Shino had looked amused. Shikamaru had not been able to figure out what the joke was, but Naruto had stumbled in at that point, yelling about his new friends from Sand and Shikamaru’s focus had switched to evaluating whether they were a threat. He knew Naruto had been over there multiple times, as had many of their other friends and they had no problems with the Sand shinobi, but Shikamaru still did not trust them. No foreign shinobi would be as kind as Naruto said they were if they did not have an ulterior motive. Shikamaru had not been able to piece together what it was yet, which meant they must be hiding it very well. As soon as the finals were over, he intended to get to the bottom of that mystery. But for now, he would focus on the other mystery he was solving.

“Vaguely,” Ino replied while Choji nodded. “He said it was in way too many places when it shouldn’t be in any at all. I’m not quite sure what he meant by that. He’s never seen to have a problem with snakes before, and he didn’t complain when he was in the greenhouses a few days ago.”

“He wasn’t talking about literal snakes,” Shikamaru explained. “Or maybe he was, but it wasn’t the actual snakes he has a problem with. It’s the person who is using the snakes. His smell must be the one Kiba was complaining about.”

“And you think that snake person is the infiltrator?” Ino asked.

“Orochimaru,” Choji said quietly before Shikamaru could respond to her. “It has to be Orochimaru, doesn't it?”

“Yes, that’s who I was thinking,” Shikamaru responded, keeping his tone calm. Ino sucked in a deep breath while Choji clenched his fists. Shikamaru remembered the night he had first heard about the final member of the legendary sannin. He couldn’t have been more than seven. Their parents had been talking about the war over one of their regular dinners. Nothing too explicit, just mentioning certain fighters, from Leaf and the other villages. Inochi had told a story about Tsunade and mentioned the nickname. Even at that age, they knew who Jiraiya was, but Ino had asked about the third sannin. Everyone went quiet for a minute before Inochi said, “His name is Orochimaru. He’s very intelligent and uses snake summons.”

“Why haven't we heard of him before?” Choji had asked.

“He left the village,” Choza explained. “Or more like, he was about to be kicked out and so left before that happened.”

Before they could ask why, as they certainly would have, his father said, “He was conducting unethical experiments on his fellow villagers. He put his own desires over the welfare of the village. He could not be allowed to stay.” Nothing more was said about Orochimaru that night. But Shikamaru never forgot about it and once his father started sharing more information with him, he had researched the missing nin. Even knowing he was missing crucial information, he had gathered enough to know that Orochimaru had crossed lines even the most battle-hardened shinobi respected and was not someone he even wanted to encounter. Although he had not shared any of the information he had found with his friends, seeing the looks on their faces, they must have learned about something about Orochimaru from their own fathers.

“Well, shit,” Ino said eloquently.

“How do you see this playing out?” Choji asked, drawing his legs towards his chest.

“They’ve been gone for almost three hours at this point,” Shikamaru began, his mind racing through the possibilities. “Given how frantic the messenger was at the door, there must not have been much time for strategizing. So the confrontation must have already begun. I’m sure we would know if Orochimaru had won. Even if they do not want to cause a mass panic, someone would have warned the village so we could put up a fight at least while civilians and children escaped. So that means either they defeated Orochimaru or the fight is still going on.” Or Orochimaru had wiped out the entire force without anyone being able to escape and warn the others, but Shikamaru could not believe that was possible. He had a healthy respect for the sannin’s skill level, but even he could not take out a group that included all the top fighters in Leaf in such a way that no one would be left.

“And we won’t know when it concludes because they don’t want the rest of the village to know anything was wrong in the first place,” Ino concluded.

“How do you think the other villages will be involved?” Choji asked. “Is the Hokage just going to pretend nothing happened? What if one of the other villages was involved in Orochimaru’s plan? Will there be another war?”

“I don’t think so,” Shikamaru reassured him. “That would be the last thing anyone wants. Depending on the extent of their involvement, the Hokage might privately demand some kind of reparations and that village will be forced to concede or risk war. Unless something goes terribly wrong, war should not occur. But I don’t know how it will affect our relations with other villages going forward, particularly if we try and keep this quiet for good.”

“Hopefully not too drastically. Things certainly worked out better than we thought they would when we first got the message.” All three of them whipped their heads around to see Chihiro there, holding a tray of drinks. “I knew you already grabbed snacks, but more hydration couldn’t hurt,” she said, handing them each a glass.

“It’s over then?” Shikamaru asked, taking a sip.

“Yes, it is,” Chihiro smiled. “No one from Leaf died in the assault, although there are plenty of injuries. But I’m sure Tsunade will have them back on their feet in no time.”

“Tsunade’s back in the village?” Ino asked. “When did that happen? Wait, go back to the situation with Orochimaru? And you said no one from Leaf died, was someone from another village killed?”

Chihiro was well used to how Ino responded when she got excited and just went through the question one at a time, “Yes, she is. Kakashi sent Pakkun to explain the situation to her and she arrived this morning. Orochimaru is taken care of for the time being and that’s all I can tell you right now. And yes, three Sand shinobi died in the attack.”

“Why was Sand involved?’ Shikamaru asked.

Chihiro gave an unimpressed look, “Why are you asking questions you already know the answer to? I know you were not focused on training this morning and I’m sure you have been able to piece together what is going on.”

“He infiltrated the village as part of the Sand delegation, didn’t he?” Shikamaru ventured. Chihiro nodded. “Did they know who he was or what he had planned?”

“According to them, no, but we’ll see what your father turns up. He’s planning on speaking to the ones who led the attack and then investigate whether their stories match up to what everyone else is saying. I hope they do.”

“Because you don’t want to risk another war?” Choji asked.

“Among other things, yes. But I truly believe that we will make it out of this without war being necessary,” Chihiro assured them. Which was nice to hear, but Shikamaru was more focused on the first part of that statement.

“The ringleaders, they’re the Sand shinobi Naruto and some of the others have been having dinner with, right? That’s why you hope they are not involved with Orochimaru, because it would hurt them to hear that they were betrayed,” Shikamaru pieced together. He knew he should have investigated them more completely, but with the finals coming up, he was so busy. Plus, Tenten, Kiba, and Shino had seemed to trust them, and he trusted their judgment. Naruto and Lee would probably trust someone who broke into their apartment at night carrying a bloody sword and Hinata was still a little hesitant about voicing negative opinions of people, but the other three were typically good judges of character and were protective of their friends, so Shikamaru did not follow through with his initial plans to investigate the Sand shinobi more. He knew their names-Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were the genin team, Baki was their jonin commander, and Iruka was there as well. He had not been able to get a good explanation for his presence, since none of the Sand shinobi remarked on it.

“Yes, Iruka especially is right in the center of things. At this point, it does not look like their genin team was involved, but Baki is as well. In fact, most of the shinobi in the Sand delegation are involved to some extent. The current story is that Orochimaru attacked and subdued their kage on the journey to Leaf and assumed his identity without anyone realizing. An anbu later became suspicious and relayed those suspicions to Baki and Iruka. They confirmed the imposter’s identity and informed the rest of the delegation. This morning they led an attack on him, because they feared what he had planned and did not want to take the fall for his actions.”

“Do we believe this explanation?” Ino asked.

Chihiro shrugged, “We have not been able to disprove it yet. Plus, Iruka has some vocal support from within the village. Apparently he told Tsume some of this information beforehand. She was the one to sound the alarm this morning. Anko seems to like him as well. Kakashi is also throwing his support behind him, in his own way.” An interesting mix, Shikamaru thought. As wary as he was of the strange shinobi, those were quite the recommendations. Kakashi didn’t even trust half the people in Leaf, Anko was wary after her experiences as Orochimaru’s student, and Tsume could tell a person’s character with one sniff. “Anyway, I have things I need to take care of. Will you be alright to continue training by yourself?” Chihiro asked.

“We’ll be fine, Mom,” Choji assured her. “We’ll let you know if you need anything.”

“Good. Oh, and before you try gallivanting off to check on your friends and find some trouble to get into, Kiba and Naruto on at Kiba’s house, Sakura and Sasuke are with Kakashi, Hinata and Shino are in their clan compounds, and Tenten and Lee are at their apartment. So you have no excuse for wandering off.” She glared at them each in turn, focusing on Ino especially. “Don’t make me have to hunt you down. I assure you, you will regret it.”

They all nodded with varying degrees of sincerity. Chihiro gave them one last look before disappearing inside the house. Shikamaru could see Ino weighing the pros and cons of disobeying the orders before slumping over, “Choji, your mom is scary. As much as I want to check on everyone, I really did not want to get on her bad side.”

“No you really don’t,” Choji agreed. “And she wouldn’t lie about something this important and easy to double-check, so everyone must be safe.” Ino and Shikamaru knew he was right.

“Well, I guess our only option is to keep practicing and hope we can pull some information out of our parents later,” Shikamaru decided.

Ino sighed, “I was afraid you would say that.” But she did not protest anymore and they settled back down. Of course, they were frequently distracted, especially when they heard a group of people calling for Chihiro. But by the time they rounded the house, they were already inside with the doors and windows closed, so they could not figure out who they were.

It was mid-afternoon when Chihiro stuck her head outside again, “You have a visitor,” she announced. She ushered Shino out before returning to her study.

Before they could interrogate Shino about the events of the day and the Sand shinobi, he handed Shikamaru a piece of paper, “Akamaru brought this to me along with a note from Kiba asking me to give it to you. I trust you understand what it means?” Ino and Choji peered over his shoulders at the note. All it had written on it were two names and, “Apparently he got all his looks from his dad, huh?” in Kiba’s handwriting.

It took Shikamaru to realize what it must mean. If it had contained any other names, Shikamaru was sure he would have understood instantly. But due to who they were, he had difficulty. Because how could he believe that the village had treated, that the Third had allowed the village to treat, the son of the beloved Yellow Flash like that? Shikamaru had considered Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki for Naruto’s parents, but he had put them towards the bottom of his list. He had never heard of Kushina being pregnant in the months leading up to their deaths. But the bigger part was that he could not believe the village would let the son of two heroes to be treated like that. He didn’t know why he had thought that. He usually was not that naive. As much as he loved his village, he knew too much to believe it protected its people at all times. However, he just could not wrap his head around it. Naruto’s parents had sacrificed themselves to save the village. If they wanted to protect Naruto from his parents’ enemies, why give him his mother's name? It certainly wouldn’t be a hard leap for people to make. Shikamaru was kicking himself for not making it sooner.

“Well that is certainly something,” Ino commented, looking as wretched as Shikamaru felt.

“But it’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Choji asked.

Ino both looked flabbergasted at that and Shikamaru was surprised as well, “How can this be a good thing?” Ino asked.

“Well we now know who we need to collect stories of. Plus no one can prove that we are only interested in those stories because of Naruto. The Yellow Flash was a hero and Mom said Kushina was a badass. So we can convince people that we are just interested in them because of their actions and more people will be willing to share what they remember of them."

Shikamaru let go of his annoyance at himself to fully appreciate his oldest friend. Choji always saw the good, despite everything he had been through and Shikamaru didn’t know what he would do with him. “That’s a good point,” he said.

“It is,” Ino agreed. “We should start right away!”

“I think it can wait until the finals are over,” Shikamaru pointed out dryly.

She sighed. “I guess. But we’ve wasted so much time chasing down false leads that I want to give him something immediately. However, I doubt we’d be able to track down stories of them with such limited time.”

“We still could give him something,” Choji said. When Ino and Shikamaru looked at him in confusion, he explained, “We’re all heard stories about them, right? I knew my parents mentioned them frequently. I’m sure you both remember the tales better than I do. It’s not much, but at least it’s something.”

“I’m sure Naruto would appreciate anything you could tell him,” Shino spoke up. “Apparently Anko was regaling Naruto with the stories she knew when Akamaru left.”

“Alright, that’s what we’ll do,” Shikamaru decided. “We’ll have to get Chihiro’s permission, but I’m sure she’ll let us go if we promise to head straight to the Inuzuka compound.

“There is something else we wanted to address while we have you here,” Ino said to Shino. “Just what is going on with the Sand delegation? Why do all of you trust them so much?”

Shino was quiet for a minute, “It’s hard to describe to someone who has not talked to them, but I firmly believe that they do not mean any of us any harm.”

“What about this whole mess with Orochimaru? You don’t honestly believe that they knew nothing about what he was up to?” Shikamaru pressed.

“It’s complicated,” Shino said, glancing around. “You’ll just have to trust me when I say they wanted nothing to do with Orochimaru’s plan and worked tirelessly to stop it. I can’t say more than that.”

“Which means you know something more,” Ino said.

Shino nodded slightly, “While you are at the Inuzuka compound, see if you can speak with Tsume. She might be willing to give you more information.”

While he understood the necessity of it, Shikamaru did not like that his friends were keeping secrets from him. How was he supposed to protect them if he did not have all the information?

Choji was elected as their representative to his mother to secure her permission for them to visit the Inuzuka compound. Everyone agreed that she would trust him more than Ino and Shikamaru, although this time they would be honest in their promise to only go there then come right back. He returned a few minutes later, saying she agreed, but if she found out they had strayed from their promised path, there would be hell to pay. After they were suitably warned, they set off. Shino broke away soon after they left, saying he needed to get home. They bid him good-bye and carried on their way.

It did not take them much longer to reach the Inuzuka compound. The only sign that something unusual was occurring was the fact that the customary guard was missing from the gate. Shikamaru glanced around before pushing open the gate and poking his head inside. It was basically deserted. “Everyone must be busy dealing with the Orochimaru situation.”

“Why would they need trackers if they already have him in custody?” Choji asked.

“He must have accomplices,” Ino reasoned. “Beyond the maybe-unwilling Sand shinobi. If he was planning on launching an attack, he must have at least some back-up beyond the Sound shinobi already in the village.”

“True,” Shikamaru agreed. “Given the urgency of this morning, Sand probably figured out when he was meeting one of his allies and attacked him right after the meeting was over. Finding that scent under the scents of battles would be a difficult task and they must have asked for every available tracker to help.”

“Think that Naruto will still be here?” Ino asked.

“Yes, I think so,” Shikamaru decided. “It’s as safe as anywhere, even with most people gone and it would be unwise to move around too much.”

“Well then, no use waiting around here,” Ino said, striding into the compound. Choji and Shikamaru hurriedly followed after her. While technically, they were not supposed to enter another clan’s compound without permission, in these circumstances, Tsume would probably not mind. It’s not like they had never been here before.

Ino walked directly to the main house and pounded on the door, “Hello, is anyone there?”

They only had to wait a few moments before Kiba yanked the door open, “Could you be a little louder? I don’t think everyone in the compound could hear you.”

“Is there anyone else in the compound to hear me?” Ino asked.

Kiba glanced around and shrugged, “Maybe not. They sure cleared out fast. Hana and the Haimaru brothers only started gathering up the forces fifteen minutes ago. At this point, every inch of the woods surrounding that clearing will be crawling with trackers.”

As much as Shikamaru wanted to ask which clearing he meant and how much he knew about what was going on, he had other priorities at the moment. “Is Naruto here?”

“Yeah,” Kiba opened the door further and gestured for them to enter, “him and Anko are in the living room. I trust you got my note?”

“Yes,” Shikamaru confirmed, “how is he doing with everything? How did he react to finding out about his parents on top of the situation with Orochimaru and the Sand shinobi?”

“Oh, yeah we should probably say something to him about that,” Kiba said.

Shikamaru stared at him in disbelief, “He doesn’t know anything about Orochimaru?”

Kiba shrugged, “Well I didn’t want to say anything about it before the fight had concluded because that would just make him worry about our friends from Sand. And we didn’t get a chance to say anything after Mom and Anko arrived because Anko immediately started telling him about his parents and Naruto looked so happy that we didn’t want to interrupt. She’s still going. I had no idea Anko knew them that well. But I think she’s starting to run out of stories, so maybe we’ll say something about what happened then. It would be weird if we all know what happened and Naruto doesn’t. Oh, we should also probably explain the situation to Tenten, Lee, Sakura, and Sasuke. I doubt Kakashi will tell his team and I think Gai got stuck with guard duty, so he hasn’t had time to meet up with his team.”

“Well, you’ll have to take care of that,” Ino told him while Shikamaru was still recovering from the idea that Naruto had been here the whole day and Kiba hadn’t said anything about Orochimaru to him. “Chihiro only let us leave because we promised to only come here and then come straight back. And I respect her too much to go against her orders.” Shikamaru was pretty sure that the fact Chihiro could and would make their lives miserable if they disobeyed her had more to do with their decision than the respect they all held for her, but the end result was the same.

“Good call,” Kiba commented. “Well then, I should probably get on that.” He stuck his head back inside and yelled, “Hey, Mom, I’m going out.”

“Is Akamaru going with you?” she yelled back.

Kiba stepped inside the house and glanced into the living room before replying, “I think he’s pretty comfortable where he is.”

“Then take Kuromaru with you. Maybe he can keep you from getting into too much trouble,” Tsume instructed, coming into view with Kuromaru trailing behind her. “Oh, hello you three. When did you get here?”

“Just a few minutes ago,” Choji explained. “There was no one at the gate so we just let ourselves in. Sorry about that.”

Tsume waved him off, “No worries. We’re a little busy today but it’s always good to see you.”

“Anyway, I need to talk to my other friends,” Kiba explained.

“Off you go then,” Tsume said. Kuromaru came to stand beside him. “Find Lee and Tenten first. I’m sure Kakashi still has his two students and trying to explain anything around him is an exercise in frustration.” Kiba nodded and waved to them before setting off.

Tsume turned to them, “I’m sure Kiba told you who Naruto’s parents were. Did he tell you about Orochimaru or did you figure that out on your own?”

“We mainly figured it out on our own, but Kiba did confirm that we were right just now,” Shikamaru told her.

“I’d expect nothing less from you,” Tsume said, looking amused. “I know you have questions. Do you want to ask them now or do you want to talk to Naruto?” She gestured towards the living room.

They looked in and Shikamaru understood what Kiba meant about Akamaru looking comfortable where he was. He was curled up on Naruto’s lap, with the boy petting him constantly. Naruto looked completely enraptured in what Anko was saying.

Shikamaru wanted to give him whatever he could. He had failed to realize the truth for so long, and Naruto had had to suffer for it. But he couldn’t change that now. He could, however, protect his friends in the future, and he needed whatever information Tsume would be willing to give him to do that.

“Stay here,” Choji told him, gently squeezing his shoulder. “We’ll take care of Naruto.”

“Besides,” Ino said, “you’re kind of a terrible story teller.” With that, she stepped through the doorway and greeted Naruto and Anko. Choji followed after her. Shikamaru just watched them for a minute before turning to Tsume.

She smiled fondly at the scene before gesturing at him to follow her, “Come on, this conversation is better out of earshot for now.”

Shikamaru followed her to the kitchen and waited while she made tea. She slid a cup over to him and took a seat across from him, “So, what do you want to know?”

Notes:

I swear I intended to start the finals this chapter, but I love team 10 a ridiculous amount and I have been neglecting them recently, so this chapter just kind of spiraled out of control. Next chapter will be the start of the finals for sure. I probably won't spend as much time on those fights as I did on the prelim fights. I have ideas for what I want to do with specific fights, but others are more up in the air.

Shikamaru is not used to be the person who lacks information and he does not like it. He is very smart, but he is not all knowing; Orochimaru was a well kept secret up until the attack. So he could not have figured it out but feels like he should have. That boy puts way too much on himself.

Shinobi parenting is always interesting to me, particularly clan parenting. They know that their kids are going to be exposed to so many terrible things in their life so I imagine they want to prepare them for that while still letting them have some sort of childhood. It must be a difficult balancing act.

Chapter 24: Temari II

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Temari awoke to a loud crash followed by the sound of her brother cursing on the morning of the finals. She contemplated just rolling over and going back to sleep but when she cracked her eyes open and saw how light out it was, she figured she might as well get up. She slid out of bed and snuck up behind Kankuro who was frantically trying to right the bedside table he had knocked over. It was not going well for him, considering one of the legs had broken off when it fell. “Kankuro, what did we say about property damage?” she asked, putting on her most exasperated tone. She heard Gaara giggle from his bed behind her.

Kankuro slowly set the table and detached leg down and smiled up at her, “To keep it to an absolute minimum because Leaf is already pissed at us and we don’t want to give them any more reasons to be mad?”

“Oh good, you remembered,” Temari drawled. “It’s just the following directions part you have a problem with it.”

“To be fair, you have known that about me for a long time,” Kankuro pointed out. “Besides, I didn’t mean to. I just got my foot tangled up in my bedding when I got up and stumbled into the table. At least I didn’t destroy the bed or something.”

“Thank goodness for small favors,” Temari commented. “And you’re not giving me much confidence in your performance in the exams today.

Kankuro waved her off, “Please, as long as they don’t have spare bedding lying about for me to trip on, I’ll be fine.”

“I can bring some with me and throw them at you if I have to fight you,” Gaara piped up.

“Well that would just be embarrassing for both of us,” Kankuro said.

“Maybe, but more so for you so it’s okay,” Gaara replied.

Temari laughed at that. “Hopefully we won’t have to fight each other so everyone won’t see what embarrassments I have for brothers.” She honestly doubted they would fight each other unless they made it to the final round. Unlike the prelims, these matches were open to the public and so Leaf would want to put on a show. She guessed Gaara would be up against either Sasuke or Naruto, although she wasn’t quite sure who her or Kankuro would be up against.

“What’s going on in here?” Baki asked, leaning in the doorway.

“Kankuro is being a disgrace to the family,” Temari informed him.

“And that’s different from normal how?” Baki asked.

“Rude! Iruka, tell them to stop being mean to me,” Kankuro whined loudly.

Iruka appeared in the doorway, taking in the scene, “Oh dear, what happened to the table?”

“It was a casualty in Kankuro’s loss to his bed sheets,” Gaara told him solemnly.

The corner of Iruka’s mouth twitched up but he otherwise managed to keep his expression even, “A truly fearsome battle, I’m sure. We will honor its sacrifice.”

“I hate this family,” Kankuro complained.

“Sure you do,” Baki told him. “Now give that to me, we’ll have to glue it back together and hope for the best later. Right now, you all should be getting ready for the finals. I believe breakfast will be ready soon.” Iruka nodded to confirm. “So use this time to get dressed. We’ll go over your weapons and supplies afterwards.”

The past week had been rather quiet for them. Mari had stormed into the apartment the night of the attack on Orochimaru to fix Iruka's arm and make sure neither he or Baki were hiding any serious injuries. She had not been pleased that they left without getting checked. Since then, they had practiced in their usual training field and occasionally seen their friends. Iruka and Baki would sometimes disappear, probably to plot something, but other than that they didn't do much.

The siblings were left alone after that and they all hurried to follow Baki’s orders. It’s not like choosing their outfits was a difficult task. They would wear what they had always worn, the clothes they were used to fighting in. Temari and Gaara were ready when Iruka called them and Kankuro just took an extra second to straighten out his hood before joining them.

Iruka smiled at them across the table, “Are you ready for today?”

“As we’ll ever be,” Kankuro commented, pulling the food towards himself. There was not much chatter during breakfast, everyone was focused on eating and mentally preparing themselves for the finals.

“Alright, go grab your supplies,” Baki told them after breakfast was done. They had all packed up last night, so it was the work of a moment to grab them. Baki went over their supplies with each of them, making sure they had everything and could easily access what they needed. Iruka followed behind him, checking that they had copies of all the seals that might be useful.

“It will be another arena with limited hiding places and not many opportunities to place traps,” Iruka told them, rolling his eyes. His annoyance with the methods of the chunin exams was well-documented. “Don’t let that stop you from placing them, even if your opponent can see you do it. You never know how you will be able to use a trap in a nonconventional way. Just don’t forget where you placed them. We don’t want a repeat of the time I taught you tripwires for the first time.”

“Right, hanging upside down from our own trap in front of all the other villages is not a good look,” Kankuro agreed.

“As long as you remember that, you’ll be fine,” Iruka said. He crouched down so he could look them all directly in the eyes. “I am so proud of you. I know you will all do great in the finals, and Baki and I will be in the stands cheering you on.” After the mandatory round of hugs, they were off.

When they reached the stadium, Iruka broke off to find a seat while Baki escorted them to the area the competitors were told to report to. Unlike the preliminaries, jonin instructors were not allowed to stay with them during the exams themselves, so his role would end once they reached the room.

In the hallway outside, he stopped them short, “I want to echo what Iruka said to you. I have watched you all grow so much in the short time I have been your teacher. If you don’t win your match, know that we are still proud of you. Honestly, I’m more worried about you causing an inter-village incident while in the waiting room. We’re on thin ice with Leaf at the moment, so try and behave yourselves. Temari, as always, you’re in charge.”

“I’ll do my best,” she promised, mock-solemnly.

“Good, just stay clear of Shikamaru and Ino. I don’t think they trust us with their friends,” Baki advised. “Well then, no use wasting any more time. Let’s go.”

He pushed the door open and Temari noted they were the last to arrive. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were in one corner. Neji was leaning against the wall, glaring at everyone else. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were clustered around their jonin teacher. Temari was pretty sure instructors weren’t supposed to stay past dropping their students off, but given the look he shot their way, he must be there to make sure Baki did not try anything. In the name of not increasing tensions, Baki ignored the other teacher’s presence. Instead he turned to them, “Good luck,” he said simply, leaning forward to clasp Temari on the shoulder, tug Kankuro’s hood up, and ruffle Gaara’s hair. With that he was gone, doubtlessly to join Iurka in the stands.

As soon as he was gone, the Leaf jonin said his good-byes to his team and disappeared as well. And then it was just the ten of them. Based on the noise level of the crowd, people were still making their way to their seats so it would be a little while before the fights got underway. Temari hoped it wouldn’t take too long. Not because she was nervous, of course. She was not at all worried about how her performance would reflect on Sand when the village was in such a precarious position or anything. It was just that Kankuro was dangerous when he got bored, and there was not much to do in the room.

Luckily for her nerves and Kankuro’s good behavior, Naruto soon provided them with a distraction. “Hey!” he yelled, running up to them. “We’re having dinner again today, right? I have something really exciting to tell you!” he was practically vibrating with excitement, so it must be something very important.

Temari did not think with relations strained as they were now that it would be a good idea to have Leaf shinobi over to their apartment. They didn’t want to be accused of either plotting something or trying to manipulate them to their side. But looking at Naruto’s face, all those concerns died in her throat. She couldn’t say no to the boy.

“Of course,” Gaara spoke up. “Iruka has been planning a feast for tonight for a while. He said you were welcome.”

“Awesome,” Naruto crowed. Sakura and Sasuke looked over in interest.

Temari sighed, well they had already gotten themselves into this situation, having a few more Leaf shinobi over couldn’t hurt much more, could it? “You’re welcome as well,” she told them. “We understand if there are others you want to celebrate or lick your wounds with, but we would love to see you.”

Sakura lit up at that, “I would like that. My parents won’t be home until late night, so it would be nice to have dinner with someone.” Sasuke just considered the offer for a moment before nodding. Although that was not much to go on, Temari was sure they would see him tonight. He was never far from Naruto and Sakura’s sides if he could help it.

“Tell your teacher that if he wants to come tonight, he should actually enter through the front door and talk to us like a normal person,” Kankuro said. “I’m pretty sure if he pulls his creeper act again, Iruka’s going to lose his patience and start chucking stuff at him.”

“Has he really just been hiding on rooftops nearby the whole time?” Sakura asked, exasperated.

“Yep,” Kankuro replied.

“Why couldn’t we get a normal teacher?” Sakura complained. “Or at least one that actually talks about important things instead of just reading porn?”

“Not happening,” Sasuke commented. “I think we’re stuck with the one we’ve got."

“This is why I wanted to trade him in for Kurenai,” Sakura said.

“Sakura, you can’t leave,” Naruto objected. “And Kakashi is not that bad.”

His teammates did not seem to agree, “Try spending weeks listening to him shout unhelpful “hints” while laying a rock while you work yourself in exhaustion,” Sasuke commented darkly.

Temari knew that despite all their complaining, they didn’t actually want a new teacher. She wasn’t too impressed with Kakashi's methods, but despite all his complaining, Iruka did seem to think he cared about his team and that was more than could be said for a lot of jonin. But more importantly, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto did like him and it had been an adjustment for Naruto and Sakura to depend on a new teacher. While it seemed to work out well, she guessed both of them would be glad to practice as a team under Kakashi again.

“Is anyone invited to this little get together?” Ino asked, sitting down across from Temari. Her smile was distinctly unfriendly. Temari briefly mourned the fact that she would not be able to follow Baki’s instructions.

“Well we can’t exactly have the whole village over considering the size of the apartment,” Kankuro said. “But a few more people couldn’t hurt.”

They could, depending on who the people were. However, Temari got the sense that unless Ino was also invited over, she would find a way to prevent her friends from coming. It was annoying, even if Temari understood her reasoning. She had really just wanted a relaxing night with her friends to celebrate their success or complain about their defeat. She had hoped to keep the mind games to a minimum that night.

“The apartment will only fit about 25 people comfortably. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi plus the 5 of us living there make 9. I’m sure Iruka will want to invite Kiba and his family, Shino, Hinata, Anko, and Kurenai. I’m not sure if Hinata would be able to make it or if she has more training, but I’m sure at least Kiba and Tsume will come with Akamaru and Kuromaru. The others are likely to attend, so let’s reserve 3 spots for them. Akamaru is small enough, but Korumaru is not, so they will count for 1 combined spot. Lee and Tenten, of course, and maybe Gai. That’s 18, maybe 19 if Hinata comes. Mari and Maki might stop by as well. So we have space for up to 3 or 4 more people. Those spots are yours if you want them.” For all their father had never spent much time with them, Temari had picked up a few things from him. One of those skills was how to show your opponent exactly how much power you had. While she did not necessarily want to fight the one Leaf genin team they weren’t on good terms with, she was not going to lose a fight either. Listing everyone they had become befriended over their time in the village established that their influence was not going to be undercut so easily. And it proved they still had allies, even after the mess with Orochimaru. Given how Iruka and Baki were behaving, they must feel fairly confident that they would be able to escape the worst of the scrutiny over Orochimaru’s plans. They had both been fairly relaxed ever since the fight was over. And Temari knew better than to think that was just wistful thinking on their part or that they would be completely unaware of problems that did arise. So Temari would take a gamble and claim all the people they had had over before the fight as their allies.

“We’ll be there,” Ino said, smiling threateningly. Temari noticed Naruto was looking back and forth between her and Ino, apparently confused about what was going on. For all that Naruto seemed oblivious, he was very good at picking up people’s moods and he noticed something was off.

She smiled reassuringly at him, “You know not everyone makes friends as quickly as you, Naruto. We’re still trying to figure each other out, but I’m sure once we do, we will be great friends, right, Ino?”

The other girl plastered on a smile and agreed before retreating to the corner with her teammates. Before too long, they were called into the arena. Of course, they were just moved to a space right by the actual arena, where they could see the matches and easily access the space. Temari watched with interest as they drew the pairings for the first match. It would be Naruto versus Neji. She was interested to see that. Watching Neji’s fight with Hinata had been something, and Temari was curious about how exactly the Byakugan worked and how Naruto would overcome its power. Because Naruto would win, she had no doubt about that. He would not let Neji get away with treating his friend like that.

The rest of them clustered around the railing, watching the fight taking place below. At first, it proceeded as Temari expected- Naruto made dozens of shadow clones, Neji used whatever his spinning move was called in order to destroy them. Naruto tried to attack using kunai and follow it up with closing the distance, but Neji easily evaded the weapons and was a better close-combat fighter than Naruto, so that strategy did not work out. Neji sent Naruto flying backwards and he had difficulty getting back to his feet. Temari knew that Byakugan users could mess up their opponents’ chakra use and she worried that Neji had done just that to Naruto. She expected him to follow it up with a finishing blow, but instead he started monologuing. And she had thought Iruka had been kidding when he said opponents would sometimes do that and to take advantage of it.

Of course, Neji had more to complain about than most of the shinobi in Iruka’s stories, but still. It’s a poor strategy regardless of how justified he was.

As much as she hated to say it, she was not particularly surprised by Neji’s story. She had seen how obsessed with keeping their techniques secret clans were and she was sure that clans whose techniques depended on certain organs would be even more protective of those techniques. It was awful, but it was part of shinobi life. She knew plenty of shinobi who would love to get their hands on a set of Hyuuga eyes. And clans, from what she had seen, were more obsessed with establishing the superiority of their clan than caring about their individual members, unless those members were the clan head or heirs. (Except the Inuzuka-Tsume seemed to honestly care about her clan members, both human and canine.) She was grateful that for everything her father had done to them, he had at least made sure their clan was not a part of their lives. Of course, she was pretty sure his motivation was to completely control Gaara rather than any real desire to protect them, but she would take what she could get from him. Clans weren’t as influential in Sand as she had gathered they were in Leaf. Few clans in Sand had bloodline abilities as were common in Leaf. Plus the puppeteers didn’t draw from any one clan and no one was foolish enough to mess with them. In Sand, it mattered more who your jonin instructor was or what you did in your first missions.

Still, even Neji was justified, she was not too impressed with how he went about dealing with his problems. To her, it felt like giving up to just say fate had decided how everything would go and there was not fighting it. He had Lee and Tenten as his teammates as Gai as his jonin instructor! If there was a group more qualified on fighting against fate, she did not know it. And if he actually talked to Hinata instead of destroying her as some sort of symbolic victory, maybe he would get somewhere. She doubted Hinata liked the idea of subjugating her family and one day holding the power to kill them any more than Neji liked her having that power. Temari was, as she had been told many times, a practical person. If there was an obstacle in her way, she would find the easiest way to overcome it, whether that was through talking things out with someone or knocking them unconscious and stealing their keys. Perhaps it was a combination of Iruka and Baki’s influence but she could not stand people who saw an obstacle and just gave up. But from some of Tenten and Lee’s stories, she knew they believed there was something worthwhile in Neji. She hoped Naruto would be able to force it out of him. If anyone could do it, it was Naruto. He had a way with words that could not be explained as manipulation. Perhaps it was because he never said anything he didn’t mean and never hid his motive behind pretty words. He put everything he had into everything he ever did and she, who had learned from a young age to bite her tongue and play whatever role her father wanted from her in order to protect her brothers, could not help but be impressed by that. It was why she had gotten over her wariness of Naruto within the first few minutes of meeting him. She had been worried because Gaara was so committed to making friends with the first other jinchuriki he met and did not want someone to take advantage of him. But soon after meeting Naruto, she knew she could trust him with Gaara. He wanted a friend who understood him just as badly as Gaara did.

For all that subtle words could topple villages, sometimes people just needed to be vocally told how much of an idiot they were. (Her and her brothers attempted to provide that service to their father. He was not impressed.)

She could not hear everything that was being said down below, but something Neji said must have made Naruto mad because he began using Kurama’s chakra. She tensed, glancing around to see how everyone else would react. Whenever Gaara did something similar with Shukaku, villagers in Sand tended to freak out. Granted, that might be due to Gaara’s murder phase as a child, but she still was not sure how everyone would react. None of the Leaf genin looked scared. If anything, they looked more concerned about Naruto than anything. She knew he did not have the relationship with his bijuu that Gaara did and given Shukaku’s stories about Kurama, they might be right to be concerned. But she knew Naruto would be able to stay in control. If Iruka thought Naruto’s seal might break, he would have altered it already. If he let it stay as it was, it meant the seal could protect Naruto sufficiently.

The shouting continued, although the most she could catch of it was the word fate being thrown around a lot. Then they clashed and she could not even see what was taking place in the arena. Finally, the dust cleared and she could see Neji climb out of a hole in the ground. He approached the hole where Naruto was laying and looked pretty satisfied with himself. Of course, Naruto wiped that smirk off his face a few seconds later as he came bursting out of the ground, catching Neji with a truly spectacular uppercut. He was getting quite creative with his methods for utilizing his shadow clones. His training with Anko must have paid off.

Neji was not able to rise after that blow and the referee declared Naruto the victor, after his coughing fit had subsided. Neji was carried off the field and med-nins also insisted Naruto come with them to be checked over. Given the intensity of their fight, Temari was not surprised. Naruto did not seem to want to go with them, pointing up to where the rest of them were standing. Temari guessed he wanted to watch the rest of the matches. After he tripped over his feet for the third time in a minute and almost collapsed, the med-nins got tired of arguing with him and just pushed him onto a stretcher and carried him off.

“And now for the next match,” the referee announced. “Temari versus Shikamaru Nara.” Temari nodded at both her brothers and accepted their words of good luck before heading for the staircase. As much as she wanted this match to start as soon as possible, she knew from hearing stories about him that Shikamaru was lazy and he certainly wouldn’t move any faster just because she wanted him to. So no sense revealing her impatience or more of her abilities by riding her fan down. He knew far too much about her already while she knew very little about him. Sure, she had seen what he had done in his qualifying match and heard some stories from her Leaf friends, but she still felt like she was at a disadvantage. It was not a feeling she liked. It wasn’t that she thought he was necessarily more powerful than her. She knew the dangers inherent in underestimating her opponent but also the dangers of underestimating herself. It was more than she got the sense that he was so used to holding something back that even he did not know what he could do if he put his all into something. And given the looks he had been shooting her, he might just put his all into this fight despite his lazy amble down the stairs.

As she waited for him to arrive, she studied the arena, taking note of what parts the shadows covered. From what she had observed about Shikamaru’s technique, he could not create new shadows, merely stretch the ones that already existed. She would have to be on high alert and very aware of her surroundings during this fight. She doubted he would use direct attacks, instead he would try to lure her somewhere he could catch her in his shadows.

The second the proctor called for the match to start, she opened her fan all the way and sent a blast of wind at him. She had no doubt that he would avoid it, but how he did so would tell her a lot about his fighting style. Her gaze darted from the two kunai to the trees in the shadowed area. It figured that he would go to where he was strongest. Those trees did make it rather inconvenient for her. She stayed far back from that area for the time being. She sent out a few more bursts of wind, trying to either lure him out or destroy his hiding spot.

Even though she was on the lookout for it, when he did use his technique, it almost caught her. She had to jump back quickly. It just seemed to come out of nowhere. She made a mental note of how far he reached this time. She knew better than to assume that was the extent of his reach. He knew the reach of his technique and he wouldn’t have relied on catching her off guard. There was no way he would reveal such a big weakness outright so early in the match. It had to be some kind of trick. She would stay well back of that spot. But her fan attacks were not as effective at this distance. Plus of all her siblings, she was the worst precision fighter. She could take out a group with no problem, but one fighter at a distance could cause her difficulties.

At least Shikamaru was no longer hiding behind a tree. She blasted him with wind again, quickly following it up with a set of kunai before the dust could settle. She heard a pained grunt and was pleased to see that two had struck their target once the dust died down. Shikamaru looked very annoyed. She smirked. Good, let him see what happened when he underestimated her. She could do more than just destroy with her fan.

She kept an eye on the sun’s positions, knowing that as it went down, his shadows would lengthen and he would probably try and catch her again. She glanced up again and saw something out of the corner of her eye. Before she could get a good look at it, she looked back down at the ground and saw something moving. She jumped back automatically, despite knowing she was out of range. And it was a good thing she did. That trick with the shirt was clever, she had to admit. She wished she knew more about his technique so she could anticipate what tricks he might pull.

The spot she landed seemed safe enough. She was out of range, but something felt off. She decided to trust her instincts to move. But she couldn’t. She was stuck. She couldn’t even move her head to look around until he let her. And then she realized why it had felt wrong. He had led her right into his trap. And she fell for it like an idiot. She tried to fight as her body walked towards him but she couldn’t regain control. She felt helpless.

She didn’t know how he would finish her off. Anything he made her do, he had to do. And he couldn’t force her to say she gave up, could he? And then he just gave up. Forfeited the match that she had put her all into and said it wasn’t worth the trouble to continue.

Temari grit her teeth as she felt his shadow technique release her. For all that she knew she had to be constantly aware of her surroundings, she had failed to realize that he could use the tunnel to stretch the range of his shadows. And the worst part was, she was not sure if he was being honest about his inability to hold her long enough to win or if this was just some kind of power play on his part. This whole match had felt like they were fighting for something much larger than advancement and she felt like she lost that larger battle as well as the actual one, even though she was the one to advance.

She passed Shikamaru without saying anything on the way up the stairs. As much as she wanted to demand answers and/or punch him in the face, she resisted both impulses. They would not get her the information she wanted and would make Sand look even worse than she already had. She rejoined the rest of the contenders on the deck. Naruto had come back from the medical tent at some point and he waved happily at her. She mustered up a smile for him before retreating to the back wall. Her brothers tried to follow her, but were prevented by the announcement of the next match. “Gaara versus Sasuke Uchiha.” Gaara glanced back at her and squeezed her sand bracelet. She ran her finger over it, assuring him she was okay. Kankuro wished Gaara luck before coming over to stand by her.

She would not show weakness by collapsing on the ground like she wanted to. Instead she leaned against the wall. They had a fine view of the match below. Kankuro and her watched in silence for a little bit before he whispered, “Well that sucked.”

She could not stop herself from bursting into laughter at that, drawing confused stares. “Charming description,” she replied. Both Gaara and Sasuke were taking their time assessing each other. Sasuke would attack with either taijutsu or a fire jutsu and Gaara would block the attack with his sand. Gaara would send out waves of sand after Sasuke and he would dodge them all. Gaara was careful not to look into his eyes, as Sasuke’s sharingan had been activated since the moment the fight began.

Kankuro shrugged, “I call it like I see it. You did good, you know? I never would have figured out what he was doing either.” Temari knew he meant it, but it did not make her feel better. She was supposed to be the smart one, the one who saw all the threats headed their way. That’s not to say that her brothers were dumb. They certainly weren’t. But they never concentrated on dissecting their opponents like Temari did. Gaara simply didn’t need to and puppeteering relied mainly on sneak attacks and secret weapons. Neither needed to analyze their opponents most of the time. They learned how to do it, mainly because Iruka was the one who insisted they learn. But she had put so much effort into becoming an expert at strategy.

Shouts from the crowd alerted them to the fact that Sasuke had apparently gotten tired of the back-and-forth with Gaara. He retreated across the arena and all the way up the stadium wall. “This should be interesting to see,” Kankuro said, leaning forward. Sure enough, Sasuke activated the chidori. Gaara had begun gathering sand around him the second he realized what Sasuke was doing. His already impressive defensive abilities were at their peak right now. However, chidori was an incredibly powerful technique, even if Sasuke’s was not yet as powerful as Kakashi’s. She was not sure which would win. But she was not too worried. Even if Sasuke broke through Gaara’s sand barrier, he would be alright. Iruka had taught him how to take hits, even though he did not have much practice with it. And chidori must be quite taxing on Sasuke. Gaara would have an opportunity once Sasuke’s attack was completed.

“You’d be a terrible Kazekage, you know that?” Kankuro said as Sasuke darted forward. She didn’t take her eyes off the fight below, but she was sure Kankuro would know she needed more context for that statement. She didn’t disagree, but was not quite sure where he was going with it. “You already put way too much pressure on your shoulders and think you are responsible for far too much. If you were actually in charge of the village, you’d drive yourself into a stroke within the first week. But whoever becomes Kazekage from our generation is definitely going to recruit you as their strategist.”

“We better not have to fight Leaf then, since we all know who would win that one,” Temari said humorlessly.

Kankuro hummed, “I don’t know. I’d rather have you on my side than Shikamaru every day of the week.”

“You have to say that, you’re my brother and trying to cheer me up,” Temair pointed out.

“Well that’s one reason,” Kankuro agreed. “You want to know the other one?” Teamri raised her eyebrow, interested despite herself. “Because if you were in the position he was, you would have found a way to win that fight, chakra exhaustion be damned. You’d let the technique release and before he knew what hit him, you’d sweep his feet out from under him or hit him over the head with your fan. You wouldn’t just give up when your main technique ran out. So yeah, I’ll take someone who knows how to truly fight for a win over Shikamaru any day. You did amazing this time and you’ll do even better in your next fight. They’d be fools not to promote you.”

Temari swallowed back the lump in her throat. She didn’t know how to tell Kankuro how much that meant to her without crying so she just reached over and squeezed his hand. Down below, Sasuke broke through Gaara’s shield, although he hardly grazed him. Gaara must have guessed where Sasuke’s blow would land based on his trajectory. And just as Temari guessed, the fight did not last much longer than that. Sasuke put up a good fight but he was clearly exhausted, both physically and in terms of chakra. Gaara pressed him back further and further. Finally, Gaara took him down with a taijutstu move that was one of the first things Iruka taught them. His sand pinned Sasuke before he could even think of getting to his feet, and just like that the match was over.

Gaara immediately released Sasuke and helped him to his feet. They exchanged words, although Temari was not quite sure what was said. The conversation seemed to go well at least, since Sasuke clasped Gaara on the shoulder before limping towards the awaiting medics. Gaara was briefly checked over as well before returning to the platform. Sasuke was helped off, but he did not seem to have any serious injuries. With a little bit of rest, he should be fine.

“Well done,” she congratulated Gaara as he approached.

He smiled, “Sasuke is a very good fighter. Once he improves his chidori, I hope to fight him again. If I had just relied on my sand barrier like I usually do, I could have been in trouble.”

“Good thing you know better than that, huh?” Kankuro said. “Nice finishing move. I’m sure Iruka will be very proud.” Temari was sure Iruka had been delighted, probably hitting Baki in the arm and exclaiming that he taught Gaara that move. Baki would undoubtedly not be surprised by that. Of course Gaara found a way to honor Iruka during his introduction to the broader shinobi world.

“You ready for your match?’ she prodded Kankuro.

“Yep,” he replied. “As long as I don’t have to fight Ino, I’ll be fine. I’m pretty sure she’s trying murder us with her eyes alone.”

“The next match will be between Choji Akimichi and Sakura Haruno,” the proctor announced.

Kankuro glanced around at the room and realized what that meant for him. “Well shit.”

Notes:

Finals are here! Me about to write this chapter: Oh, the finals had interesting fights scenes, that should be fun. Me actually writing this chapter: Wait, I have to write those fight scenes. And because I got rid of the invasion, I have to address all of the fights. I honestly forgot about the matchups until I was halfway through the Neji v. Naruto match and had to decide how I wanted to pair up the rest of the finalists.

I'm not super happy with how this chapter turned out. During the prelim fights, I had ideas about what I wanted to do with each fight and was able to integrate them into the plot. But I didn't really plan much beyond dealing with Orochimaru and just recently decided where I wanted to end this fic, so these fight scenes don't feel as well done. For the following fights, there are some I know I want to do something with and others that I'll probably just go through quickly.

I was honestly going to mainly leave the Temari v. Shikamaru fight scene as it was because I knew I wanted it to have the same result but I rewatched it and hated it. Even putting aside Shikamaru's weird sexism, I don't think the fight showed either of them at their best. It certainly was not kind to Temari. So I kept the same basic format but let her show off her skill a little more.

I know the chidori is a powerful move, but really, it can be dodged. And Iruka taught Gaara better than simply relying on his sand barrier to keep him safe.

Chapter 25: Kankuro II

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kankuro thought Sakura was pretty badass. Anyone who could survive being on a team with Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi must be pretty strong. And she asked great questions about his puppets. He didn’t know Choji beyond what the Leaf genin had told him, but he was the only person from his team who did not seem to dislike his siblings and him, so Kankuro tentatively decided he liked him. He had every intention of paying close attention to their match. Sadly, reality did not match up to his intentions. He watched most of the match without seeing much. His mind was racing with how to deal with Ino.

Her clan’s jutsus were mainly mental and her favorite seemed to be the mind transfer jutsu. He would have to be careful of that. His current plan was to retreat to the part of the arena with the trees, after laying down quite a few traps. He didn’t think her mental jutsus would effect Crow, since he didn’t have a mind so he could also switch places with him if things looked bad, but he did not want to rely on that. And Ino was proficient in taijutsu as well, given her preliminary match.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Temari said, nudging him. “I can hear your brain overheating.”

“Very funny,” he told her, “I am perfectly calm and unconcerned.” The sheer amount of disbelief in the looks his siblings gave him was quite frankly insulting. Down below, Choji’s fist grew and although Sakura was able to avoid most of it, even the glancing blow sent her flying backwards. She didn’t let that stop her, maneuvering herself in mid-air to minimize the damage she took when she fell. She took a second to get herself together once she landed, before launching herself at Choji. She was certainly faster than Choji and was trying to use that to her advantage.

“You planning on setting any traps?” Gaara asked.

“Of course,” Kankuro replied. “I have to secure my position as Iruka’s favorite.” Although they all knew he was kidding, it still made Gaara pout. Temari exchanged a look with Kankuro and sighed. Although Iruka loved all of them, Gaara and him had a special bond that Kankuro would never quite understand. Temari theorized it was because in those first few months, they really only had each other. Whatever the reason, Kankuro did not begrudge Gaara his status as the favorite.

But he was honestly planning on using traps. He was not quite sure how he would utilize them, so he figured he would throw as many as possible up at the very beginning of the match, even though Ino would see him do it. He’d figure out how to use them from there, depending on how Ino dealt with Crow.

“You’re very focused,” Temari observed. “You usually don’t put this much thought into your fights beforehand.”

She wasn’t wrong. Kankuro tended to go into fights without much strategy and decide what to do based on his opponents’ opening moves. But he was determined to win this fight. He wasn’t annoyed with Ino for her hesitance towards him and his family. They could very easily be a threat to her friends and their actions did not make them look the most trustworthy. He could deal with the glares and veiled threats.

What he couldn’t deal with was people disrespecting his family. And Shikamaru did just that. Now Ino was not Shikamaru and was obviously not responsible for his actions. But Kankuro was by his own admission a deeply petty person and he would take revenge where he could get. And at the moment, that would come from beating Ino. He didn’t want to hurt her or humiliate her, he just wanted a clean win over her. Plus, he didn’t want to be the only one of his siblings who didn’t make it past their first match.

The fight below had turned into a close combat taijutsu match. Sakura was not giving Choji time to use his body transformation jutsus and he was struggling because of it. He was not giving up though, meeting her punches and kicks and throwing back a few of his own. He managed to get enough distance between them to have time to transform himself into a ball. He rolled towards her quickly, with Sakura barely dodging. The next few minutes consisted of Choji rolling around, attempting to find Sakura since apparently his vision was not great when he used that jutsu and Sakura attempting to avoid him while throwing kunai and using a few jutsus to attack him when she got the chance. All of her attacks bounced off and they were apparently at an impasse.

It didn’t last for long. Kankuro could see that Choji was struggling to maintain his jutsu. His rolling was more lopsided and slower than before. Sakura picked up on it too, retreating until she was right in front of a wall. When Choji spotted her and shot towards her, she stood her ground until the last minute and then flung herself to the side. Choji did not have time to stop and ran full force into the stadium wall. Apparently even he could not shake that off, since he let go of the jutsu. Sakura was there before he had the chance to recover, pinning him to the ground and holding a kunai to his neck. The proctor waited a second, but when Choji was not able to free himself, he declared Sakura the winner.

She stood and helped Choji to his feet. They limped over to the medics together, already laughing about something. Kankuro was glad to see that neither of them looked to have sustained heavy injuries. Certainly some bad bruises, but those should heal up just fine.

And now it was his turn. “Good luck,” Gaara told him.

Temari smiled at him, “Don’t get caught in your own traps and you’ll be fine.”

He nodded and started moving towards the staircase before they had even called his name. Ino followed behind him. Kankuro stood in the center of the arena, taking note of the terrain, including the damage the fights before theirs had done. It really was not an arena that favored a puppeteer. But perhaps that was the point of the exams. Put them in situations where they could not use their usual tricks and see how they would improvise. Or maybe he was giving the organizers too much credit and they just thought this arena was the best for spectators.

As soon as the proctor yelled for the match to begin, Kankuro created a series of walls all around him with an earth jutsu and got to work setting traps. The walls didn’t surround him and weren’t very tall, only barely taller than him, since he wanted to have a wider area to lay his traps and Ino could certainly reach him if she so desired. That wasn’t the point. He just wanted to remain out of her line of sight for as long as possible. He knew her mind transfer jutsu required her to lock onto him, even if she was quite creative about how she got that opportunity. If she wanted to leap over his walls and make this a close-combat match, he certainly wouldn’t mind. He had spent a considerable amount of time preparing to use Crow at close-range, knowing he would likely have to. But just as he thought, she did not come charging in. She was a smart fighter, and no one wanted to get too close to someone who regularly used poisons. Kankuro knew a thing or two about fighting smart fighters, from all his matches against Temari. Particularly at the beginning of the fight, they were cautious, trying to get a sense of their opponent’s abilities. He would use the time that gave him to his advantage.

He kept an ear towards her position as he laid down as many traps as he could. Tripwires, pressure release cords, ones utilizing the seals Iruka had given him, and anything else he could think of. He actually managed to cover a fairly wide area before Ino got tired of waiting. He could hear her footsteps drawing closer. His lips twitched up. This was his favorite part of a prank or trap. The moment where he knew his target was drawing close and that they had no idea what they were about to walk into.

When she was a few feet from his first wall, she abandoned her attempts at stealth. She vaulted over the first obstacle. She landed perfectly to set off one of his traps. He heard a muttered curse as she dove to the side to avoid the three kunai rushing towards her. He peaked out from the wall he had hidden behind, and saw her considering her surroundings. Happy that the first part of his plan was going well, he retreated, careful to avoid his own traps. Once he had safely reached the part of the area with trees, he laid down a few traps there as well. It was rather annoying that Temari had destroyed so much of this area during her match. It really limited his hiding places. He picked his spot carefully and did another earth jutsus that took down the majority of the walls he had previously created. The walls that were necessary for the traps around them were left up as were a few others to throw Ino off. Ino spun around, prepared for the next attack coming her way, but Kankuro did not attack for the moment. Instead he focused on making preparations for the next part.

She adjusted quickly, scanning the area before zeroing in on the shaded area. Kankuro didn’t know enough about her to predict whether she would come for him right away or proceed more cautiously. So he did not even try. Besides, he didn’t need to. He wasn’t Temari, he didn’t put much emphasis on his ability to get inside his opponents’ heads. Whatever Ino did, he would deal with it.

Ino picked her way over to him, swerving to avoid the worst of his traps. Kankuro watched her, waiting for her to get close enough. He didn’t delude himself into thinking that he would be able to stay hidden long in this arena. But that just meant that he had to make every sneak attack count.

Ino stopped a few steps away from the first tree. She seemed to be thinking an idea through before coming to a decision. She drew out a weapons scroll from her pocket. That was as far as Kankuro let her get. He sent Crow rushing out to meet her. She let the scroll drop and backflipped out of the way. Kankuro released a cloud of poison. Ino had apparently prepared for this situation, since she quickly attached a mask before heading back towards Crow. She did not plunge into the middle of the poison cloud but was not afraid of lingering near the edges. Kankuro wondered idly how many of the supplies she had brought were directed at countering him and his siblings. It made sense, they were the ones she knew the least about. Still, it didn’t matter how many things she had brought. He didn’t intend to lose.

Her mask didn’t help with visibility, and her hovering on the outside of the poison air made her a clear target. Kankuro sent a slew of kunai from Crow. She was able to avoid most of them, but it left her in a bad position to deal with Crow flying at her. Kankuro was able to slash her left arm fairly deeply before she rolled around. He wondered what she was waiting for. Because she was waiting for something, he recognized that feeling. She had some grand plan put together and was waiting for him to fall into it.

It seemed to be taking longer than she expected though, so Kankuro would just keep attacking her until she gave up on her plan or it came to fruition. He didn’t bother trying to avoid it. If she was anything like Temari, she would probably have a backup plan or two, specifically calculated to target the ways he could avoid the original plan. It was better just to let her get on with it and deal with the consequences. Sometimes he could throw Temari off by not avoiding a plan like she expected him to. Maybe Ino would react similarly.

When her plan came together, it was rather obvious. He had pulled Crow back into the center of the slowly dispersing poison cloud to prepare for his next attack when something went wrong. He felt something hit Crow and then he began having difficulties maneuvering him. Rather than try and force things and risk damaging Crow permanently, Kankuro used the last of the poison cloud to hide Crow’s trajectory as he pulled him back to his hiding spot. He examined Crow and saw that something had gotten into his gears. Ino must have used a trapped scroll and counted on him using the poison cloud as cover. There was a rather long delay between when she dropped it and when it went off. He wasn’t sure if that was on purpose or if something went wrong. Either way, using Crow like this could ruin him. His first real puppet deserved more respect than that. Instead, he returned Crow to his place on his back and adjusted his approach. If Ino thought this would cripple him, she was wrong. Just because he was without a puppet didn’t mean he was no longer a puppeteer.

First things first, he needed to move. He had been here too long. With the limited hiding places available, Ino would soon zero in on his location. It was better to leave his spot willingly rather than be forced out. The latter would still allow him to control the pace of the fight, rather than letting Ino take over. He had kept half an eye on Ino this whole time, and sure enough she was walking steadily towards the wooded area. She wasn’t looking towards him or obviously not looking at his hiding spot, but he got the sense she knew his location. He let her get close enough to trigger another surprise before rolling out of his hiding place behind one of the downed logs and taking off back towards his original spot.

Ino was able to dodge most of the trap, but some of the concoction caught her right leg. Not the limb Kankuro had hoped to get, but he would take what he could get. The substance was something of Kankuro’s own invention. He couldn’t wait to see the effects.

Ino was frustrated, he could tell that much. She had hoped for a stronger reaction to her trap for Crow. He had no doubt that she was used to controlling the flow of her fights for the most part. He wouldn’t allow her that.

He didn’t go to the middle of his traps, as some might have expected. Instead he lingered on the outskirts, waiting for Ino to come to him. She had apparently learned her lesson and proceeded slowly, keeping her eyes peeled for traps. That was fine with Kankuro. It gave him time to put his next plan into action.

This time, Ino did not speed up on her approach. Part of that many be due to his last trap. It had splashed her with a numbing mixture that was probably making it difficult for her to move normally. It wouldn't cripple her or anything, but it would certainly make moving difficult. She kept a steady pace, drawing a sword and long staff out of a scroll from her pack as she drew closer. Kankuro didn't think she was a weapons based fighter, but he was not going to underestimate the abilities of anyone who regularly trained with Tenten. That sounded like a good way to get stabbed. And that was not on his agenda for the day.

Ino chose to pick her way through his traps rather than attack him directly from the side mainly unprotected by his traps. The point of her weapons became clear. She used the staff to knock the ground around her before advancing and used the sword to fend off the kunai and shuriken he threw. He almost caught her with a barrier seal by attaching the seals to his kunai and throwing them so that that it was most convenient for her to block in a way that would deflect the seal to the places he wanted them to go. He had interspersed regular kunai and shuriken so his place was not too obvious, but she caught on once the circle was almost completed and went out of her way to deflect the kunai with paper attached to them towards places these kunai had already landed.

Kankuro could hear the rumble of the crowd around him, probably displeased that they weren’t going head-to-head with impressive techniques like some of the other fights had. Well tough, he was here to win not to entertain them. If they could put up with Shikamaru’s bullshit plan they could deal with what he had in store.

Ino steadily approached him until he was in range of her sword and then struck. Kankuro dodged to the side, dancing around his traps as he did so. He guessed that was her purpose. He didn’t have many close range weapons and as the attacker, she could set the pace, giving her a better chance to avoid the traps even though he knew where all of them were. He did keep a short sword for emergencies, but by pulling it out and attempting to parry her, he would be letting her dictate the terms of their fight. Plus, that would be a really good way to lose since Kankuro had very limited experience with swords.

Instead he activated an exploding tag and tossed it towards the closest rock wall. He hadn’t just used earth to make them, but had embedded several exploding tags within them. This would be the spark needed to set the others off. Sure enough, it exploded on impact. And set off the walls nearby, following the lines of tags Kankuro had laid down. He was very prepared. Kankuro knew what was coming, so he ducked down seconds before it went off and avoided the worst of the debris. Ino was not so lucky, although she had reacted well once she realized what Kankuro was doing. Not only did she have to try and avoid the following rocks, but the dust obscured the ground and she could not avoid the traps with the ease she had before.

Kankuro heard her stumbling about from his hiding place. He guessed she set off one of the trips wires because he heard her yell and the distinctive sound of the wire pulling something up into the air. He wanted for a second to decide if he should come out and try to finish her off then or wait. He was glad he did because he almost immediately heard the sound of wire being cut through and a body hitting the ground. He peaked out of his hiding place to determine Ino’s position and the general layout quickly before ducking back down. She thought she had avoided the worst of the rocks, but he was just getting started. He sent out his chakra strings to attach to some of the larger rocks he had seen. He certainly had a long way to go with his technique, since currently he could only control one chakra string with each finger, but it would be enough for this.

“What the-” he heard Ino yell as rocks that had already settled on the ground flew through the air again. Since he couldn’t see what was going on, it was difficult to hit her, but that wasn’t his main goal. He pushed her in the direction he wanted her to go. And then he set the bait and crawled out of his hiding place, keeping himself low to the ground. The dust had been stirred up again so visibility was low. But the wind ensured it would clear soon. And Ino was ready when it did. The second she saw a figure through the dust, she darted towards it, sword drawn. She stabbed him through the shoulder before she realized something was wrong. But at that point, it was already too late. As soon as she had moved into the circle, Kankuro threw the last seal on the ground, sealing her in. Crow wasn’t much use in a fight at the moment, but he was still useful for bait. Kankuro had placed him in the center of the almost finished set of seals he had made earlier with the kunai he threw at Ino. Ino hadn’t realized it and had fallen right into his trap.

“I can demonstrate that I can set the entire sealed area on fire or suck the air out of it if you want,” Kankuro offered. She’s not getting out of there.” Still even as he said that, he had backed away from the barrier and crouched behind one of the still standing walls. No sense in giving Ino a free shot at mind switching him.

The proctor looked back and forth between Kankuro and his barrier before sighing, “Please demonstrate one of those techniques.”

Kankuro set up another barrier seal in full view of Ino and tossed an exploding tag in. The entire area went up in flames.

“Good enough for me,” the proctor decided. “Winner, Kankuro.”

Kankuro took the barrier down and let Ino go. She stared at him for a minute before limping off towards the med-nins. While Kankuro did not have many injuries, he followed. They would probably want to check him over anyway and he needed to use some of their supplies to look after Crow.

Before he left, the proctor announced the next match-ups. “For the second round, Naruto Uzumaki will fight Temari and Sakura Haruno will fight Gaara. Kankuro gets a pass for this round.” Temari’s prediction about wanting the siblings to fight others was right, Kankuro noticed. And he was not surprised that they were separating Naruto and Gaara. The arena would not survive if two jinchurikis went all out against each other. He was not sure if getting a pass was a good thing or not. But it did give him time to see what he could do for Crow so he was grateful for it.

He got cleared by the med-nins fairly quickly. It was one of the benefits of his style of fighting. After checking his lungs to make sure he hadn’t breathed in anything toxic, he was released. His med-nin left so quickly he did not get a chance to ask him where certain supplies were kept and if he could use them. But they had to have some supplies around here somewhere and it was not that big of a space. Kankuro just wandered around opening closets until a dark-haired woman carrying a pig found him.

“What are you doing?” She asked him. She didn’t seem too concerned, just curious.

“I’m trying to find cleaning supplies,” Kankuro explained. “Ino did something that made Crow’s inner mechanisms get stuck and I need to clean him out before I can use him again.”

“Alright, come with me,” she led him down a side corridor and opened a closet to show him what they had. “I’m Shizune, by the way. This is Tonton,” she gestured to the pig. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Kankuro,” he introduced himself. He grabbed a couple buckets and the chemicals he thought would be useful although with a lot of rags. “No, this is great. Thank you so much.”

“No problem. Do you need a certain space to work in?” Shizune asked.

He did want privacy, since he would have to methodically clean Crow and someone could figure out a lot of his tricks by watching him. He could ask for an empty room, but instead he asked, “What room is Ino in? Can I set up there?”

Shizune considered him for a second before nodding, “She’s down here. She’ll be in bed for a little while yet but she’s awake and if she’s fine with it, you can work in there as long as you keep the window open.” A very reasonable condition considering some of the chemicals he was holding.

Kankuro followed after her until she reached a door and knocked on it, “Ino? Would you mind if Kankuro cleaned his puppet in here?”

There was a pause before Ino said she would not mind. Shizune stepped back and allowed Kankuro to enter. Ino was sitting up in the bed and didn’t look too bad, mainly tired. Kankuro immediately commandeered the single chair, dragging it towards the window so he could get started. “Well I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if either of you need anything. And if you feel lightheaded, stop mixing whatever you are and leave the room,” she instructed them.

She bustled out and Kankuro focused on arranging Crow the way he wanted him. “How are your injuries?” he asked, keeping his gaze on his supplies.

“Alright. Lots of bruises and a few cuts. I also messed up my ankle when I landed after I cut myself out of the tripwire. I will be fine after a healing session. It’s just that with everything going on they are short on med-nins for the moment and wanted to save them in case one of the people who advance needs healing before their next fight. So I’m stuck here until they have a free person.”

“That sucks,” Kankuro commented. “So you’ll miss the rest of the matches?”

Ino shrugged, “Yeah, but I’m sure someone will fill me in later. Naruto will give me a very excited account and if I want to know how things actually went, I can ask Sasuke or Tenten.”

Kankuro laughed, “Yeah, I doubt Naruto’s description will be the most accurate. He’s fighting Temari and Sakura is fighting Gaara. I got a pass this round.”

“Those will certainly be interesting,” Ino commented. “You were hiding in the tunnel, weren’t you?”

Kankuro looked up at her and grinned, “Yeah, I was. It was a good hiding place. And I am kind of a petty person. I liked the idea of defeating you using the same tunnel Shikamaru used to make a fool of my sister.”

Ino was quiet for a second before saying, “That wasn’t his intent.”

“Really? Because it sure looked like it was from where I was standing,” Kankuro replied. “He barely even tried while she launched her strongest attacks and when he finally caught her, he just gave up. Is he really that reliant on his shadow techniques that he could not find any way else to win the fight?”

Ino sighed, “He wasn’t doing nothing when Temari was attacking. He was thinking. He’s always been like that-too prone to get caught up in his own head. He probably went through thousands of possibilities and figured out that luring her to that place gave him the best chance of victory. He’s a genius. I’ve never known him to lose at a strategy game unless he was playing his father.”

“That’s all well and good but people aren’t pieces,” Kankuro argued back. “There is always something more you can do.”

“You would seek out a fight you didn’t think you could win?” Ino asked him.

“Of course not, I’m not an idiot. But sometimes you can’t avoid or escape. And in those cases you just have to do whatever possible to win, no matter how much it hurts. If you just give up when things get too difficult in practice, what are you going to do when you get thrust into an impossible situation in a real fight? I can think of three ways he could have tried to win the fight in one move off the top of my head, without knowing his abilities well. Giving up just shows he doesn’t respect himself or Temari enough.” Kankuro really had not come here to start a fight. He had just wanted to have a conversion with Ino. But he wasn’t going to just let things like that go either.

Kankuro ducked his head, and focused on Crow, not wanting to continue this discussion and get even more on Ino’s bad side. She was quiet for a little while before saying, “Would it help to know what substances I used?”

“What?” Kankuro asked, jerking his head to look at her.

“For the trap,” she said, gesturing at Crow. “I can tell you what exactly I put into it.”

Kankuro was not quite sure how they got on this topic, but he was an expert at just rolling with things, “It would. Thanks.”

“No problem,” Ino said, listing everything she had used. The list matched up with the general effect Kankuro had seen. And it did make things go quicker now that he knew that the chemicals he was using would not have a bad reaction with the ones from Ino’s trap scroll.

But there was also something else he noticed about the list, “That mixture would not have as strong an effect as some of the other similar chemicals you could have used,” he commented. “Why use those ones in particular?”

“How long have you had Crow?” Ino asked instead of answering.

Kankuro had to think for a second. At this point, it felt like he had always had Crow by his side. “About three years now.” Every puppeteer hopeful was given a starter puppet. They were not told where any of the hidden weapons were, although they were given strict instructions on how to keep the puppet in good repair. If the genin didn’t take care of their puppet properly or was unable to find most of the weapons in the puppet, they wouldn’t last long. Of the thirty genin who had wanted to be puppeteers, there were only five left in the program. Although eventually Kankuro knew he would select more puppets, maybe as soon as after the exams were over, Crow would always be special to him.

“Sakura is so fascinated with puppeteering,” Ino said, laying back on the bed. “She told me how you explained so much about the technique to her. She didn’t tell me much of what you actually said, since she didn’t want to betray your confidence, but I could see how happy she was. The thing that stood out to me is how she said you talked about Crow. It was like how Tenten talks about her favorite sword times ten. Which is impressive, since Tenten loves her weapons a ridiculous amount.”

“You do realize you haven’t answered my original question,” Kankuro pointed out.

“Didn’t I? I’m still not sure if I trust you, but you were kind to my friends. I didn’t want to ruin Crow permanently, knowing how much he meant to you just to win a fight.” Ino didn’t turn her head to look at him, but Kankuro could feel the weight of her words. "Besides you did the same thing," she gestured towards her leg. "Whatever you got me with was already wearing off by the time the med-nins looked me over. I'm sure you could have made something stronger."

Kankuro shrugged, "Anything stronger could permanently damage someone if they got hit with it full-force. I didn't want to risk that."

Ino nodded, "I appreciate it." She hesitated, "Why are you putting some much effort into befriending my friends?"

He had removed the gunk from Crow at this point, so he left him to dry by the window and drew the chair up next to Ino’s bedside. “Did you know Gaara killed multiple people before he turned five?” he asked, figuring it was his turn for an abrupt topic shift.

Ino started, “I had heard something like that. I didn’t believe it though.”

“It’s true,” he told her. “He killed several of his caregivers before Iruka came along.”

“Was it because of his bijuu?” Ino asked.

“In a way. His seal was faulty. It was driving both him and Shukaku a little crazy. Gaara thought that blood was the only way to silence the voices. And our father didn’t help since he decided Gaara was a failed experiment and kept trying to have him killed,” Kankuro explained. “He honestly just stuck Iruka with the job because he viewed him as expendable and wanted to buy some time. Didn’t work out the way he expected. Iruka was able to get through to Gaara and eventually fix the seal. I still remember the first time I met Iruka. Temari and I weren’t living with him then, but we visited him once a month. Iruka opened up the door, smiled at us, and asked if we wanted to learn how to dump a bucket of paint on a jonin. He would pick Gaara up, tease him, and just generally treat him like he was a human rather than a weapon. It was only because of Iruka that we are able to be the family we are today. He took care of all of us and fought our father repeatedly to keep us safe and together.”

“He taught you those traps you used?” Ino asked. Kankuro nodded proudly. “They were really clever. I know some traps, but I would never think to use them as you do.”

Kankuro shrugged, “You have a pretty amazing bloodline technique, I’m sure you spent a lot of time working on it. I spent a lot of my time training with my puppets, but Iruka always insisted we learn different traps and creative techniques. He said you never know when you’ll be put in a situation where you can’t use your preferred techniques.”

“Sound advice,” Ino commented. “I couldn’t find a way to use my mind jutsus on you at all during our match.”

“Yeah,” Kankuro said. “If you want, I’m sure Iruka would be willing to teach you some of his traps. He always says that not enough shinobi appreciate the power of a well made and used trap.”

She wanted to take him up on it, Kankuro could see that. But something held her back and it was fairly obvious what it was. “Do you know why I spilled my family’s dark past to you?” he asked. She shook her head. “Because I need you to understand that Gaara wants Naruto as a friend just as badly as Naruto wants him. More so maybe. We all love Gaara, but we can’t understand him like another jinchuriki could. He talked for ages before the trip about meeting another jinchuriki. I’m sure Sasuke and Sakura can tell you how strong he came on during our first meeting. We would never do anything that would endanger Gaara’s chance to have this friendship. After everything he’s been through, he deserves that much. If you don’t believe we won’t hurt your village because we are good people, at least believe we wouldn’t do it because we love Gaara too much to make him deal with the fallout of that.” He met Ino’s gaze squarely, “I know our actions look very suspicious from your perspective, but I promise we never wanted to hurt your friends. There are things going on that I can’t talk about here, but they do not change that fact.” With his bit said, he sat back.

Ino seemed to be processing his speech for nearly a minute before she let out a little laugh, “Sakura certainly gave an interesting description of your first meeting. I’ve been led to believe there was a raccoon involved.”

Kankuro grinned, “One of my finest moments.”

Ino smiled, then looked down at her hands, “I didn’t treat Naruto very well at first,” she admitted. “I thought he was dumb and loud. I didn’t realize he didn’t have people to teach him a lot of things that my dad taught me. It wasn’t until I saw how the food vendors would give him their worst product or just lie and say they were out of things to him that I realized something was wrong with the way the village treated him. He’s been hurt so much, I don’t want to see him hurt anymore.”

“I spent the first few years of my life convinced my brother was a faulty weapon rather than a person, so I’m certainly not going to judge you,” Kankuro told her. “And I don't blame you for not trusting us. You don’t know us and I know our actions looked concerning from the outside.”

“Yeah,” Ino agreed. “Then again, my friends and I were constantly waging psychological warfare on our teacher during our academy days for Naruto, which probably also looked bad to those who did not have all the context.”

While Kankuro knew Ino still didn’t trust them completely, she at least was more open to him than before and would give them a fair chance. And since they certainly weren’t planning on hurting her friends, Kankuro was confident they could pass inspection.

“Ino?” a voice called out from the hallway. They both turned to see Choji there. His eyes darted from Crow drying by the window to the two of them. He shrugged and entered the room. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” she assured him. “Just waiting for a med-nin to heal my ankle and then I’ll be free to go.”

Choji seated himself at the foot of her bed, “That’s good. Shikamaru’s fine too. He just decided to take a nap before the med-nins could kick him out.”

Ino snorted, “That sounds like him.”

Choji turned to Kankuro, “Sakura’s fight against Gaara just started, so you still have some time before you need to report back to the stadium.”

“Nice. That will give Crow plenty of time to dry out and get back into fighting shape. Thanks for letting me know,” Kankuro said.

“No problem.” Choji was silent for a minute. “Was your sister serious about the invitations earlier?”

“Oh yeah, she was. We’ll have to get Iruka and Baki on board really quick, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Iruka is so excited we are making friends and Baki has long since given up stopping our antics, since he knows we’ll just come up with something even worse if he stops this plan. I know you haven’t been over before, but we’d like the chance to get to know you. Your friends certainly talk about you enough.”

Choji seemed to be digesting that for a second and then asked, “What kind of food will you have?”

Ino started laughing, “Good to know you have your priorities in order.”

Choji shrugged, “It’s an important question.”

Kankuro grinned and then started listing the foods Iruka would likely prepare, to Choji’s delight. Watching Ino smile fondly at the two of them, he thought he could see himself being friends with these two. He’d still have to find a petty way to get revenge on Shikamaru though.

Notes:

I have so many characters to chose from for povs, but here I am having back-to-back sand siblings with their second chapters. But I didn't get a chance to write their povs in Belonging and really enjoy it. I promise next chapter won't be Gaara though.

Kankuro isn't a "smart" fighter, not in the sense he isn't intelligent but that he does not rely on outsmarting his opponent the way Shikamaru, Temari, or even Ino would. I see those three as relying on the fact that they are likely smarter than their opponent and so their ability predict their opponent's move is a large part of their strategy. Kankuro doesn't have that same belief, and his fighting styles tends to rely more to reacting the abilities his opponent has shown and adjusting his strategy accordingly. He is still constantly thinking, but it plays a different role in his fights than it does in Shikamaru's.

Speaking of Shikamaru, Kankuro is not very objective about him, so don't take his opinion as the truth. That will be something for me to sort out later.

Next chapter should be the last chapter of fights scenes and then we move on to the party.

Chapter 26: Naruto

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Naruto was so excited. He had beaten Neji in his first round and now he got to fight Temari! She was so cool during her fight with Shikamaru, although she seemed upset about it. Despite Shikamaru’s laziness, he wouldn’t give up unless he actually thought he could not win the fight. And few could get him into that situation, but Temari had managed it. Their fight was going to be awesome. Sadly, Sakura and Gaara were chosen to go first. Not that he wasn’t excited to see what his friends would do, but he really wanted to get to his fight.

“Good luck, Sakura, we’re going to be great!” Naruto yelled at her, giving her a thumbs up.

She nodded back at him, “Good luck to you too, Naruto, if I don’t see you before your fight.” She walked down the staircase without looking back.

Temari had rested her hand on Gaara’s shoulder and said something to him softly that made him smile. He poked her headband before turning towards the stairs. As he passed Naruto he smiled at him, “I look forward to seeing your match.”

“Yeah. It will be amazing. I’ll enjoy yours too. Don’t underestimate Sakura. She’s awesome.”

“I won’t,” Gaara promised. “She is a worthy opponent.”

As soon as both of them were standing in the arena, the proctor called for the match to start. Sakura started out strong, attacking Gaara with kunai while keeping her distance and keeping an eye out for his sand.

“This will be interesting,” Temari commented, coming up to stand beside Naruto at the railing.

“Why’s that?” Naruto asked. Of course it would be interesting, both of them were very talented, but he guessed Temari meant more than that. She was like Shikamaru that way, always meaning more than she said.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Gaara is not an offensive fighter. It comes with having a strong defense, he relies on that and is wary of opening himself up by going on the offensive,” Temari explained.

Naruto thought back to Gaara’s match against Sasuke and his earlier one against Lee. “He didn’t seem hesitant to me.”

“It’s not about hesitation, it’s simply about preferred fighting methods. During each of his one-on-one fights earlier, who did most of the attacking?”

Naruto concentrated and eventually said, “His opponent. Lee kept using his taijutsu to attack the sand barrier and Sasuke did most of the attacking in their match.”

“Right, even when Sasuke retreated to power up his Chidori, Gaara waited for him to attack rather than trying to attack himself and stop Sasuke from ever using his technique.”

“Well it’s worked out for him so far,” Naruto pointed out. “He didn’t seem to have too much trouble winning either of those fights.”

“That’s true,” Temari agreed. “But I suspect Sakura will use his tendencies to her advantage more than Sasuke or Lee thought to.” Naruto tilted his head, wondering what she meant by that. She smiled, “Let’s just watch and see what happens. I could be wrong.”

Sakura and Gaara traded blows for a bit, with Sakura using long distance weapons, probing for a weakness in the sand shield, and Gaara blocking before sending out strands of sand after her, which she had to dodge. Eventually she seemed to come to a decision. The next time she dodged Gaara’s sand, she kept retreating instead of attacking. She ended up in the part with the trees. She wasn’t hiding like Kankuro did, just standing there.

“You were right,” Naruto commented when nothing happened for nearly a minute. “I would never have thought to do that.”

“You are a rather straightforward fighter,” Temari said. “You have some great tactics, but you prefer to attack a problem head on and just keep trying until you make it work. And you have the power to make your method work. In terms of pure power, Sakura is at a clear disadvantage. And she’s smart enough to recognize that and determined to win anyway, so she has to find a way to make up for that. I’m interested to see what she comes up with.”

“I’m glad to have you as a watching partner,” Naruto told her. “I would not have picked up on all that. You’re really smart.”

“Not smart enough,” Temari murmured. Naruto got the sense he was not supposed to hear it, but he did and he wasn’t about to let it go.

“Shikamaru is really smart too, even though he doesn’t show it most of the time. It was a really good fight.”

Temari did not look like she believed him, “I tried everything I could and he effortlessly outsmarted me and then just gave up. How was that a good fight?”

Naruto actually laughed at that, “He didn’t outsmart you. Sure, he caught you in his shadow bind, but you won in the end.”

“Because he gave up. Because he thought the fight wasn’t worth continuing,” Temari said.

Suddenly how upset she looked after the fight made sense. It was never a nice feeling when your opponent was not taking you seriously. Naruto had gotten a lot of that from other kids in his class that weren’t his friends. But Shikamaru wasn’t like that. Naruto thought Temari and Shikamaru would actually get along well. So he couldn’t let this misunderstanding stick. “Shikamaru’s lazy, but he wouldn’t just give up on a fight in that situation unless he truly believed he couldn’t win it. He wasn’t doing nothing while you were attacking him, he was calculating his options. He’s always thinking. When he gave up, he had considered his options and knew he could not hold the shadow bind any longer and he couldn’t defeat you without it. You forced him to give up, even if it might not have felt like that.”

“There were countless things he could have done in that situation,” Temari argued. “Why didn’t he try any of those?”

Naruto shrugged, “It’s like you said about Sakura and me having very different styles. For Shikamaru, most of the fight does not occur physically but in his own head. He calculates each possibility and determines how he can win. You’re right that there were things he could have done. But Shikamaru had already considered them and discarded them. Once he sees the inevitably of his own loss in his head, he decided to just forfeit there. He couldn’t have changed the outcome so he would much rather go take a nap than use more effort than necessary. But that doesn’t take away from your victory. It’s rare that any of us could force him into that kind of situation. You were awesome!” Naruto let Temari think that over and refocused on the fight below.

Gaara had apparently decided that Sakura was not going to make the first move, so he would have to. He approached her and let loose another wave of sand. The few trees in that area hadn’t looked great after Temari got through with them, but Gaara completely decimated them. No one would be able to use them as a hiding place now. Sakura had leapt away at the last minute and took off running towards the center of the arena. “Ah, so that’s what she is up to,” Temari commented.

“What?’ Naruto asked.

“Who was the last person to use both of those areas?” Temari asked him.

As Sakura cautiously made her way to a spot surrounded by rubble, it clicked. “She’s trying to use Kankuro’s leftover traps!”

“Indeed. It’s an interesting choice. There is a risk she herself will be caught in them instead and Gaara knows Kankuro’s trapping tendencies better than her, so he might be able to avoid them and turn the tables on her. But I’m sure she knows that. I’m curious what she has up her sleeve,” Temari mused.

“But couldn’t Gaara just destroy the whole area with his sand and get rid of the traps?” Naruto pointed out.

“He could,” Temari agreed. “But he won’t. He’ll view the traps as giving him an advantage and want to use them. I’m guessing most of the rest of the fight will occur in the area where Kankuro set most of his traps. It will just be a matter of who uses them better.”

Gaara picked his way towards her, his steps sure. Once he got close, Sakura made the first move this time. She threw a few senbon before moving in for close range attacks. Her punches and kicks were blocked by the sand barrier but she didn’t seem too worried. In a flash, she drew a kunai from her pack and stabbed it into the sand barrier. Something happened, and suddenly a large stream of water soaked the barrier. Sakura attacked again, but this time the sand barrier was slower to respond. It still blocked her strikes without difficulty, but the reaction speed difference was noticeable.

“She must have had a water storage tag attached to her kunai,” Temari said.

Naruto considered that, “And making the sand wet would make it heavier and harder to move. So she was able to slow down the sand barrier.”

“Yes, but I don’t know how much it will help her. It might have made a difference with Lee, but I haven’t seen Sakura reach a speed where it would matter. She’ll tire herself out before accomplishing anything if she just keeps attacking,” Temari commented.

Sakura apparently reached the same conclusion and jumped backwards before a wave of sand could crush her. She leapt back a second time and tripped. She was down for several seconds before popping up again. She attacked again, using only long-distance strikes before retreating. This continued on for several minutes, with Sakura attacking and then retreating and Gaara using his sand to block and strike back and then follow after her.

“She’s luring him somewhere!” Naruto abruptly realized. It wasn’t like Sakura to wait this long. As much as she may complain about him and Sasuke having no patience, she was not much better. And she was smart. She had to have a plan figured out by now and so she would have implemented it right away. “She must have done something when she fell over.”

“That would be my guess,” Temari agreed. “She probably altered one of Kankuro’s traps. Gaara knows how Kankuro thinks, but he might be taken off guard by a trap that looks like one of Kankuro’s but does not act like his.”

“He’s almost to where she was when she fell,” Naruto was practically vibrating with excitement, leaning over the railing. It wasn’t that he wanted one of his friends to win over the other, but he had grown up with Sakura and knew her struggles with self-doubt. He wanted her to be able to show off just how capable she was and when better to do that than against an amazing fighter like Gaara?

Naruto felt like he was holding his breath as Gaara walked past the spot Sakura had fallen. For a second nothing happened, but then it felt like an explosion was unleashed and suddenly a huge stream of water came rushing out the ground. It drenched Gaara and his sand completely. The water petered out a few seconds later, but the damage was done.

“The time earlier was just a test run,” Naruto realized. “She wanted to make sure it would work before she did it on a larger scale.”

“Smart,” Temari commented. “She probably altered Kankuro’s trap to point down instead of up and gave it more power. There must be a stream running beneath the stadium that she somehow tapped into. We’ll see if she can capitalize on her strategy.”

Sakura had started running full force the second the water erupted and this time, Gaara was definitely struggling to keep up with her. His sand was noticeably slower (and darker) than before.

“In Sand, this wouldn’t be a problem,” Temari commented. “While the sand he carries with him is his favorite, he can use other sand if necessary. But there is no sand here and the soil does not respond to him the way sand does. It annoys him.”

“Sakura is going to win!” Naruto exclaimed.

Temari smirked, “Don’t count Gaara out just yet.”

“But she greatly decreased the effectiveness of his sand shield,” Naruto protested.

“And I’m sure Ino thought she had the upper hand when she neutralized Crow,” Temari countered. “Gaara depends on his shield a lot, but he can fight without it.”

As if to prove her point, Gaara dodged Sakura’s next strike while the sand shield was still struggling to keep up. He flipped backwards and landed a little bit away before drawing a kunai.

“Why doesn’t he just stop using the sand shield if it was not helping right now?” Naruto asked. Despite the fact that it couldn’t block her, it kept reaching towards Sakura. “Isn’t he just wasting energy?”

“It’s complicated,” Temari said. “He doesn’t really consciously control the shield. He can influence it when he concentrates. But mainly, it responds automatically to protect him. And it will keep trying even when it has no hope of succeeding.”

“Is it because of his relationship with Shukaku?” Naruto asked. Ever since he met Gaara, he was fascinated with his relationship with his bijuu. All Naruto knew of his was that it was a fox, had attacked the village years ago, and was the reason so many people in the village hated him. He didn’t think about it much beyond that. But Gaara was fond of his bijuu. He talked to him and didn’t seem to blame his bijuu for the village’s fear or the people he had killed when he was younger. Naruto didn’t understand. How could Gaaara be friends with the thing that had ruined his life?

“I’m not sure,” Temari admitted. “The sand shield has always done that, even before Gaara knew about Shukaku or Iruka fixed the seal so they could get along. We’ve never been quite sure of the cause. Shukaku couldn’t tell us one way or another. He said it might be him, since he was famous for his defense, but he was not consciously doing it.” She hesitated for a second before saying, “We’ve always liked to believe that it’s due to our mother.” Naruto turned towards her with interest, the siblings were constantly badmouthing their father but he had never heard them talk about their mother. “She died giving birth to Gaara. Probably due to complications caused by the experiment they used to seal Shukaku inside Gaara while he was still in the womb. I don’t remember much of her, just faint memories of her laugh and holding her hand. Kankuro says he remembers her face smiling, but he was probably too young when she died to actually remember that. Gaara remembers nothing. But she loved him, we know that. It’s nice to imagine that the sand shield comes from her will to protect him. She knew his life would be difficult and that she wouldn’t be around to protect him, so she somehow left him the sand shield.” She let out a little laugh at this point and brushed her hair behind her ear self-consciously, “It probably sounds silly to you. It’s just-”

“No,” Naruto blurted out, “it doesn’t sound silly at all. It’s odd, but,” he gestured to the entire stadium, “we live in an odd world. I think it makes as much sense as any other explanation.” He wanted so badly to talk about his own parents at that moment, but he held back. He was not supposed to know that information and there were too many ears around (see, Sakura, he knew something about stealth). He wanted to tell Temari about how ever since he found out who his parents were, he had been desperately searching for signs that they had loved them. They sounded like amazing people and Tsume had said they were so excited when his mom was pregnant, but he wanted a sign that they had loved him, not just the idea of having a baby. He felt a little selfish doing so. He finally knew who they were, shouldn’t he be satisfied with that? But he couldn’t stop himself. He knew from the pictures Tsume had shown him, he physically resembled his father. He found himself scanning his face, wondering what he had inherited from his mother. Did he smile like her? Had she been unable to sit still like him? And the even bigger question he kept coming back to, would they be proud of him? If he had something like the sand shield, he would have taken it as a sign of their love, even if everyone else said there was a different explanation. “I’d do almost anything to have some proof that they loved me,” he murmured.

He felt Temari move closer until she placed her hand on his shoulder, like he had seen her do with her brothers, “It’s hard, isn’t it? Growing up wondering how your life would have been different if they had survived? I know this might not mean much to you, but I think they’d be proud of you.”

“Why is that?” Naruto asked.

“Because you continue to care for a village who only ever hurt you. Because you love your friends fiercely and always tell them they will succeed. Because you found a way to fight, even when the techniques you were taught didn’t work for you. Because you are you, and that is more than enough reason for anyone to be proud of you.” At the end, Naruto found himself letting out a wounded noise and collapsing into Temari’s shoulder. She adjusted them so she had an arm around his shoulders. He knew his friends loved him and Anko had told him that his parents loved him, but it felt differently to hear from Temari. He trusted her to say things the way she saw them, not just because she thought it was what he wanted to hear.

He drew back after a second and refocused on Sakura and Gaara. It wasn’t that he wanted to end the conversation, but what Temari had said meant so much to him, he didn’t know how to respond just yet. He wanted to be able to say something that made her feel as known and loved as he did. The way she smiled at him assured him that she knew he just needed a moment.

Down below, the fight had become taijutsu focused. For someone with such a great defense, Gaara was rather proficient at dodging blows. It was mainly Sakura attacking while he dodged and retreated though. The sand shield wasn’t even trying to block the blows anymore, instead it had dispersed throughout the arena. While Sakura seemed to have the upper hand, Naruto could tell she was holding back somewhat. She was not hitting as hard or as fast as he knew she could, even when she was exhausted. She had her plotting face on, so he leaned forward, excited to see what she would come up with.

After a couple more punches, Sakura paused for a second and flashed through a series of hand signs. All of the sudden, it was like she had disappeared. Naruto peered forward, trying to figure out what she had done. Then he heard Temari say break and suddenly the illusion was gone. “She certainly learns quickly,” Temari commented. “I look forward to seeing what she can do once she gets more genjutsu training.”

In the few seconds Naruto had been under the genjutsu, Sakura had closed the gap between her Gaara and threw a punch that Naruto could attest would hurt like hell when you were hit with it when you weren’t prepared. But it never landed. Suddenly the sand that had been resting on the ground rushed up and caught her arm. Not just blocked it, but engulfed her arm up to her shoulder. It used that leverage to flip her onto the ground and instantly, Gaara was behind her, holding a kunai to her neck. With her arm still caught and their positions, she was not able to get free. “Winner, Gaara,” the proctor announced.

Gaara helped Sakura to her feet. She left with the med-nins, but Gaara did not come back up towards the box after his checkup, instead exiting the arena. “He’s going to dry out his sand,” Temari explained.

“Oh,” Naruto realized, “that’s how he was able to block her last attack. He had spread his sand out so it would dry.”

“Yep, like a lizard in the sun,” Temari agreed. “It should be fine soon.” She let out a long breath and smiled at him, “Let’s have a good match.”

“Yeah!” Naruto agreed. “It's going to be great.” Temari let out a little laugh and made her way to the stairs, Naruto following behind her. Once they had taken their positions, the proctor signaled for the match to begin.

Naruto instantly summoned about a dozen clones and set them towards Temari. Anko had drilled it into him that it would be a better strategy to start with a fewer number of clones and see how his opponent reacted before unleashing hundreds of them. Naruto had thought the former strategy had worked out pretty well with Neji, but he could see her point. That had been part of a larger strategy that the number of clones helped him carry out. He was going to use everything he had learned in his match. Temari was smart and her fan packed quite the punch, seeing as she had already taken out most of his clones with it. And he needed her to know that he was taking her seriously. He never wanted her to look like she had when they were discussing her match with Shikamaru again.

“That all you got?” Temari asked, giving him a grin that was all teeth. All his clones were gone. She had stabbed a couple and dispersed the rest of them with her fan. But Naruto had gotten the information he needed.

“Of course not,” he yelled, summoning thirty shadow clones to the field. Temari’s fan was certainly powerful, but with the swinging motion she needed to use to unleash wind with it, she would be vulnerable right after she used to, particularly to an attack that came from outside her field of vision. With that in mind, Naruto joined his clones in attacking her. He made sure to cluster a few more clones in areas away from him, hoping Temari would direct her fan attacks towards those groups, so she would not figure out where he was. It seemed to be working. He was getting closer and closer. Of course, he was also down about twenty clones so he needed to pick up the pace. With that in mind, he threw a smoke bomb a few feet from Temari and hurried to get behind her. Just as he had hoped, she used her fan to quickly clear the smoke and fend off the attacks from his clones. Just as she was completing her swing, he jumped towards her. For a second he thought it would work. He was nearly upon her and she was wide open. Except just as he stabbed forward with his kunai, she dropped to one knee and flipped her fan up. It caught him hard in the stomach and he went flying. It took him a minute to get to his feet. Luckily, his few remaining clones kept her busy until then.

He got to his feet and summoned more just as she popped the last one with a kunai to the neck. “Clever, but you’re going to have to do better than that to beat me,” she yelled out. Despite her mocking words, she looked alive in a way she had not during her fight with Shikamaru.

Naruto let out a delighted laugh and rushed forward, “I’ll do my best.” After that, there was not much talk. He attacked her over and over again with his shadow clones. Sometimes he tried to implement another plan, but she always outsmarted him, slipping through his grasp utilizing Kankuro’s traps and her own abilities in unexpected ways. But he could see she was getting tired, however much she tried to hide it. She was dodging more than she had in the beginning and used her fan much more sparingly. She was still managing, often times moving in such a way that made his clones take each other out. However, they both knew she could not keep this up much longer. For all that she had been on the defensive for most of the fight, Naruto did not feel like he had the upper hand. It was more like she was waiting for her moment to strike.

Suddenly, she danced away from the clones currently attacking her and unleashed the largest gust of wind he had ever seen her use. It blew away most of his clones, leaving only the ones near him. Already Temari was moving, closing her fan, taking a running start, and planting it on the ground to give her leverage to jump towards him. She flipped in mid air and brought her fan slamming down into his shoulder. He had no idea how she knew he was the real one, but he didn’t have time to figure that out as he jerked backwards from her next blow. They were both panting hard at this point, but Temari looked like she was a few seconds from passing out. He knew she must have put everything she had into the last gust and would not last much longer. She knew it too, with how much strength and desperation she put in her attacks. He didn’t have a second to summon more clones, so he just had to defend with the ones he had. He took several hard blows before he saw the opening he was waiting for. She faltered in her follow through after a blow with her fan and Naruto slipped in close, striking her wrist hard and forcing her to drop the fan. Before she could recover, he captured her hand and twisted it behind her back, forcing her to her knees. He could feel her testing his grip, but he was confident she could not escape it. She couldn’t attack him in his position to force him to let go and if she twisted too far, her wrist would break. He could see the proctor put his hand up about to announce him as the winner. But before he could, Temari moved. Naruto was right in a way, she couldn’t escape-not without harming herself. And he had never expected her to actually do it.

He didn’t realize what she was doing until it was too late to stop her or let go. Temari threw herself forward. He reflexively gripped her arm tighter. But she didn’t stop, just kept falling forward. He thought he heard a snap. The next thing Naruto knew, he was flipping over her head and let go of her to break his fall. He moved before his mind caught up to what happened, dodging Temari’s following strike. She didn’t have her fan and he didn’t have time to summon his clones, so it was just the two of them in a very sloppy taijutsu fight. They were both exhausted and there was far more stumbling around than usual in a fight. Finally, he dodged one of Temari’s punches and let her stumble past him. This time he took no chances, kicking her feet out from under her and basically laying on top of her so she had no way to escape. After struggling for a few minutes, she slumped to the ground fully and the proctor announced Naruto the winner.

He rolled off her and sat for a minute, panting slightly. He looked over to congratulate her on a great match when he finally got a look at her arm. He had known that she couldn’t have gotten out of his hold without hurting herself. He’d practiced the grip enough times to know that. But he hadn’t realized just how bad it was. Thinking back, she hadn’t used that arm at all during their taijutsu match. And then he pushed her to the ground and hurt it even more. It was clearly broken and had to hurt like hell. Naruto was frozen. He’d chosen that hold specifically because he thought she wouldn’t be able to escape and he wanted to end the match. Instead he hurt Temari. Temari, who had been nothing but kind to him. He’d hurt one of his friends just like everyone had said he was going to.“I-” he began, feeling himself shaking.

“Hey, Naruto, can you look at me?” Temari asked him softly. When he met her eyes, she smiled at him like nothing was wrong. “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Naruto asked, incredibly confused. “What are you apologizing for? I’m the one who broke your arm.”

Temari shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. It will be fine after a little bit of healing. Remind me to tell you about how badly I broke it the first time I tried riding on my fan. But that’s not important right now. I’m apologizing for putting you in a situation where you had to hurt me. I know how badly it messed Gaara up when he hurt Lee and I still did it. I just wanted to prove myself and I didn't think through how it would affect you. For that I’m sorry.”

Naruto searched her face for some sign that she was lying to make him feel better and found none. She seemed honestly more concerned about his mental state than about her arm. And suddenly, it was much easier to breathe. “You were doing everything in your power to win. So was I. Let’s call it even and say we don’t owe each other any apologies,” he said, sticking out his hand. Despite how panicked he had felt a moment ago, he honestly meant it. His concern was that Temari would resent him, which seemed foolish now. He should have known she would not turn her back on him for something like this.

Temari looked at him for a second before smiling, “Agreed.” She looked down at her right hand, which would not be shaking anything until it was healed and raised her eyebrow at him. He quickly switched to stick his left hand out and she shook it. He got to his feet and pulled her to her feet. “Good luck on the finals,” Temari told him. “You’ll have to tell me how it goes later.” She then walked towards the med-nins.

“Temari,” he called out. She turned back towards him. “I don’t think you have anything to prove. You’re one of the strongest people I know.”

She looked like she was about to say something but the med-nins rushed over to her before she could. She just smiled and waved at him instead, letting them bustle her away. Naruto looked over to the referee for instructions. With only three of them left, he was not sure if they would have another one-on-one match with someone getting a pass and then another one-on-one or just let the three of them fight it out all at once. He preferred the second option. It sounded much more exciting.

The man let out a cough before saying, “We will start the final match as soon as the other two finalists return to the arena.”

“Awesome!” They did not have to wait long for Gaara to return. He came strolling in not long afterwards and took a seat near Naruto on the floor of the arena.

“How did the match go?” he asked him quietly.

“It was really difficult. Temari kept seeing through my plans,” Naruto told him.

Gaara’s smiled, “Yes, she does that.”

“I broke her arm,” Naruto admitted. “But she didn’t seem at all upset about it.”

Gaara shrugged, “If she had been upset, she would have told you.” He was quiet for a second, “It worries me sometimes how little regard they have for their bodies.”

Naruto knew they had moved on from just Temari. He wondered if Gaara had felt as terrible as he had when Gaara injured Lee. “Yeah, they don’t heal like we do. I don’t want them to think I don’t believe they are capable, but I don’t like to see them hurt themselves to win.” Lee was the person who Naruto thought of first. He knew his friend wanted to be a shinobi more than anything else and he would never take that away from him. However, he saw how grueling the training regime Lee put himself through was and that was before the costs of gates. He didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding like he was doubting his friend, so he just stayed silent. All his friends broke themselves in various ways for their training. And even worse, they treated it like it was normal. “Not much we can do about it, huh? They’re all too stubborn to change their ways.”

Gaara nodded, “Iruka said all I can do is make sure they know I am here to support them and try and protect them the best I can.” Naruto felt a jolt of something he couldn’t (didn’t want to) put a name to. He was glad Gaara had Iruka, he really was. Gaara deserved to have as happy a childhood as he could get. And he didn’t want to seem ungrateful for everything his friends had done for him. He had been happy, growing up with them beside him. And he liked Kakashi, Anko, Tsume, and many of the other adults in the village. But at the end of day, they weren’t his parents. Naruto never had anyone who would pick him up and carry him to bed when he fell asleep on the coach, like he had seen Iruka do for Gaara one night. No one would yell at their kage to protect him or cook him dinner everyday. And he felt selfish to want those things when so many people had helped him in so many ways. But he couldn’t help but wish he had had someone like Iruka to raise him like Iruka had Gaara.

Realizing he had been quiet for too long and Gaara was looking at him oddly, he let out a little laugh and said, “That’s pretty good advice. Iruka is really smart.”

Naruto was saved from continuing the conversation by Kankuro stumbling into the arena. He took one look at the two of them and groaned, “Really?” he yelled at the proctor. “I have to fight the two of them. Do you have any idea how insane their chakra reserves are? And are you sure your little arena is going to be standing after the two of them go head-to-head?” About halfway through, Gaara had started giggling, which had made Naruto laugh as well. Kankuro’s face was just so funny. It felt nice to laugh with Gaara after the conversation they just had.

“If you would like to forfeit, you are welcome to do so,” the proctor told him, looking very tired. “Otherwise, yes you have to fight them.”

“No chance I’m doing that,” Kankuro decided cheerfully. “This is going to be awful. Let’s get it over with. And Gaara, if you get sand in Crow, you have to clean it out. I just got done fixing him after the damage Ino’s trap did. I am not spending any more time today picking stuff out of his gears.”

“Fair enough,” Gaara said, getting up and moving away from Naruto so the three of them were standing in a triangle. Naruto got to his feet as well, taking a deep breath. This would be his last fight, his last chance to show everyone everything he could do.

“Begin,” the proctor called out for the last time that day. Unlike the other fights, nothing happened right away. All three of them looked at each other, trying to figure out how to proceed.

Kankuro made up his mind first, “Hey, Naruto, want to team up to take down Gaara and then we can fight it out?”

“Rude,” Gaara complained, “you’d rather team up with him than your own brother?”

Kankuro shrugged, “He doesn’t bully me as much as you do.”

Gaara muttered that Kankuro deserved all the bullying he got. Kankuro made what Naruto guessed was a rather rude gesture in Sand, given Gaara’s mock affronted gasp. Their squabbling gave him even time to think over Kankuro’s proposal.

“Yeah, let’s team up!” he decided. “But after that, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“You’re welcome to try,” Kankuro replied. “But let’s focus on the immediate problem for now.” They both turned towards Gaara and started advancing towards him.

“Keep his sand busy,” Kankuro instructed him. “I have a plan.”

Naruto trusted Kankuro to know how to defeat Gaara better than he did, so he took to his task with enthusiasm. Plus, it’s not like they could hash out a plan with Gaara right there. Gaara’s shield had mainly recovered from what Sakura had done to it, but it still had trouble keeping up with attacks from all directions from Naruto’s clones.

Naruto also made sure to keep a few clones close to Kankuro, who was doing something a little ways away. Whenever the sand tried to attack him directly, the clones would stop it long enough for him to move out of the way.

“Ha,” Kankuro said, finishing up whatever he was working on. “Naruto, keep him busy with your clones.” Naruto didn’t have time to point out that that was what he had been doing this whole time before Kankuro seemed to disappear. As much as he wanted to see where he had gone, he had been given a task and he was not going to fail here. If Kankuro didn’t think Gaara was distracted enough, he’d just have to up his game. Time to go back to his go to move- summon as many clones as he could and overwhelm his opponent with them.

Gaara did not look as unaffected as he usually did. His eyes were narrowed and he seemed to be concentrating deeply. The reason for that became clear enough. Gaara had been content to remain on the defensive so far. He changed that now. Naruto threw himself sideways to avoid the spear of sand that came rushing towards him. It wasn’t like Gaara’s match with Lee. Then, the sand moved as a cohesive unit, either attacking or defending. Now, part of the sand defended Gaara from his clones’ attacks and the rest attacked him ceaselessly. And it could also pick him out as the real one, even when he tried to disguise himself by attacking with the rest of his clones. Naruto glared at Gaara, trying to figure out how he was doing it. When he met his friend’s eyes, he felt himself gasp. Because it was Gaara, the same boy who he had met in that alley. But at the same time, it wasn’t. There was a sense of power and wildness that didn’t come from Gaara. Kankuro had called Gaara’s bijuu his roommate and Gaara said he had a good relationship with him, but still, Naruto could not believe what he was seeing. Gaara was working together with his bijuu and trusting it enough to rely on it in a fight where he did not want to hurt his opponents. Naruto couldn’t imagine ever trusting the monster he had inside of him like that. Just as he thought that, he heard the echo of a voice in his head, “So he let himself be tamed by some brat. What a disgrace.” Naruto stumbled over his own feet and was barely able to keep himself upright. He had heard faint echoes of the voice before, but he had never been able to make out what it was saying. He had never told anyone, fearing that they would either think he was crazy or think he was working with the fox.

“So quick to judge, Kurama,” a voice that was Gaara's and wasn’t said. “I quite like this brat. I’m certainly doing better than you. You don’t even have all your chakra.”

That voice growled inside Naruto’s head, he could feel that it wanted to take over and shout a response, but he was not going to let that happen. Naruto was snapped out of his internal struggle by a shape flying past him. Before either Gaara or him could react, Crow let out a cloud of smoke, enveloping both of them, although Gaara got the worst of it.

“I’d be insulted that you guys basically forgot I was here, but it worked out for me so I can’t really complain,” Naruto heard Kankuro’s voice say. He couldn’t find him in the haze. He found himself coughing and hurried away from the smoke cloud. At least the voice in his head had gone silent, even if he felt awful. He heard a thump from the inside of the cloud. A few seconds later, Kankuro walked out of it, wearing a mask and dragging Gaara behind him.

“He’ll be out cold for the next ten minutes or so,” Kankuro informed Naruto and the proctor. “Can we stash him somewhere out of the way so he doesn't get hit with collateral damage?”

The proctor looked between Gaara’s unconscious body and Kankuro frankly concerning grin and shrugged. “Sure, I’ll take him.” He situated Gaara next to him on the edge of the arena, far away from Kankuro and Naruto’s position.

After making sure Gaara was out of danger, Kankuro turned to Naruto. “Let’s go.” Naruto summoned his clones, although he couldn’t summon as many as he wanted. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was reaching the end of his impressive chakra reserves or if it was an effect of whatever Kankuro hit him with. He dodged Crow and then had to dodge again as Kankuro followed it up with a taijutsu attack. He couldn’t believe Kankuro had spent so long complaining about the lack of hiding spaces in the arena. He was doing just fine, puppetting Crow and launching his own attacks. He better do something fast, especially since Kankuro was pushing him back towards the area still filled with traps from Kankuro’s last match.

He came up with a plan as he moved. Once they got near where Ino had been defeated, Naruto threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared. He slid into his old tunnel. He figured if it had worked once, it might work again. And it might have, if Kankuro didn’t have the exact same idea.

Naruto was hurrying through the tunnel when he slammed into him. “Damn,” Kankuro yelled, rearing backwards. He then realized what hit him, “Shit.”

They just stared at each other for a second before Kankuro scrambled backwards. Naruto didn’t stop to think things through and just used the first earth jutsu that came to mind, which was supposed to break through the ground. It didn’t work quite the same underground. The good news-it destabilized the tunnel and could trap Kankuro. The bad news-he was in that same tunnel. Kankuro and him had this realization at the same moment as the tunnel rumbled ominously around them. “Go,” Kankuro screamed. Naruto did not have to be told twice, moving as quickly as possible the way he had come, with Kankuro hot on his heels. They made it out just before the tunnel collapsed, helped by a digging jutsu that Naruto was very glad Kiba had taught him.

They collapsed on the ground, both breathing heavily. “That was awful,” Kankuro complained. “Let’s never do that again.”

“Agreed,” Naruto wheezed back. It would have been incredibly uncool to have to be rescued in the finals of the exam because they both got stuck in a tunnel he had created. Wait, it was still the finals. They needed to finish their fight!

He sprung to his feet, ready to go. And then his feet were pulled out from under him. He had not been looking where he had been stepping and had been caught in another trap. Before he could cut himself down, Crow came rushing at him. Instead of using it to attack him, Kankuro wrapped the puppet around Naruto, immobilizing him. He couldn’t get the leverage needed to escape while hanging upside down and no matter how many times he stabbed Crow, he didn’t let go. After watching this go on for several minutes, the proctor called the match. “Winner, Kankuro,” he said, sounding like he could not believe this was the way the finals ended.

“Oh thank goodness,” Kankuro said. He withdrew Crow, cut the wire for Naruto, and helped him down. “How were you still moving? All your blood must be in your head right now.”

“What?” Naruto said. He was currently seeing three of Kankuro and could not process quite what he was saying.

“Never mind that, let’s sit you down.”

It was a relief to stumble down to the ground. Kankur plopped down beside him and let him lean on him. Some med-nin came to check him over and he must have been alright because they didn’t make him go to the hospital, just told him to rest for a few minutes. The next thing he was aware of, he was surrounded by his friends.

“Welcome back,” Kankuro told him. “You good to stand?” He still felt a little shaky, but he nodded. Choji and Sasuke helped pull him to his feet and steadied him when he wobbled.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Ino laughed, “They’re announcing who made chunin, of course.” Naruto now realized that all of the finalists were here. He studied each of them and was relieved that no one appeared to have serious injuries. Ino was leaning slightly on Sakura and Temari was holding her arm a little awkwardly, but other than that, everyone looked alright.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s line up!” He charged forward, eager to find out who had passed.

There was some grumbling behind him, including a loud “Troublesome” from Shikamaru, but a few minutes later, all ten of them were lined up in front of the Hokage’s box.

“Congratulations to all of you. You have each demonstrated commendable abilities. You should be proud of what you have accomplished,” the old man told them. “But I’m sure you are all eager to hear the results. Without further ado, the people who have passed the exams and will become chunin are…”

Notes:

And the fighting part of the chunin exams is finally done! I'm sorry if the last fight feels a little rushed. I wanted to get this out and I could not think of anything particularly clever to do there. Plus, it amuses me that the finals are decided because Kankuro and Naruto share a single braincell.

This chapter was just me seeing how many emotional conversations I can jam in between/during fight scenes.

I'd apologize for the cliff-hanger, but I need the next two weeks to figure out who I want to make chunin. I was so focused on getting through the fighting that I didn't think that part through.

Hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 27

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Iruka, come sit with us!” Kiba yelled at him as he walked down the aisle. Iruka gladly accepted his invitation, sitting down beside the boy and reaching over to pet Akamaru.

“Good morning. Are you excited to see the finals?” he asked.

“Yeah, it will be fun to see everyone show off their skills,” Kiba said. They chatted for a while longer, mostly Kiba telling Iruka all about the current litter of puppies. While they talked, the seats around them filled. Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai showed up together. Tenten and Lee followed soon afterwards. Gai dragged Kakashi with him a little while later. Just before the first match started, Baki slid into the seat Iruka had saved for him. Asuma followed a few steps behind him, sitting down next to Kurenai. Iruka glanced over to Baki who nodded. So they had sent someone to keep an eye on Baki while he dropped the kids off. Not surprising. But Iruka would focus on that later. Right now, he wanted to devote all of his attention to the matches below. He couldn’t wait to see what his kids would come up with.

Admittedly, he did not expect for the first match to get quite so emotional. He had known something was wrong since Hinata and Neji’s match in the preliminaries, but he did not want to make Hinata uncomfortable by asking her about it and his inquiries of Tenten and Lee revealed that Neji never talked to them about personal matters. Still, his heart went out to the boy. Iruka knew how much it hurt to be considered completely expendable, and the pain of that must intensify when it comes from the people who are supposed to be your family. He hoped Neji would find peace and learn he could trust people with his pain instead of bottling it up until he lashed out. He could not think of better people than Lee and Tenten to talk to when it comes to battling against fate.

“Bet you that during a match two people are going to end up hiding in that tunnel at the same time and one of them is going to be Kankuro,” Baki murmured to him as Naruto burst out of the ground.

Iruka snorted quietly, “Even with his luck, that seems a little far-fetched, doesn’t it?” Baki just gave him a look. “Actually you might be right.”

Baki was not as amused at the end of the next match, glaring at Shikamaru as he walked off. Iruka sighed, Temari was certainly Baki’s child in many ways and both of them knew how she would take this. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way,” Iruka told him quietly.

Baki grunted, still looking displeased. Iruka made a mental note to make sure that was smoothed out sometime soon and not leave Shikamaru alone with Baki before that point.

The next match went better, with Iruka clapping happily as Gaara dodged instead of just relying on his shield and used one of the moves he had taught the kids to finish the fight. Baki had laughed at that. “Of course he’d use something you taught him during his debut to the shinobi world. He always did want to make it clear he was your kid.”

Sakura and Choji’s fight was interesting to watch since neither Baki or him knew much about their abilities. Plus, the Leaf genin got more into that fight than any of the others before, probably because it had so much back and forth. Kiba was constantly yelling advice and encouragement to one or the other, even though they could not hear him while Lee was constantly cheering for them both. The others were quieter in their support, but no less invested. It was sweet to see.

“Uh oh,” Kiba commented when he realized Kankuro and Ino were the last match of the first round. “Kankuro’s going to have a hell of a fight on his hands.”

“Oh?” Iruka said. He agreed that it would be a challenging fight, but Kiba hadn’t commented before any of the other matches.

“Ino is very protective of her friends,” Tenten explained to him. “We know you’re not a threat but she doesn’t. And I know she planned extensively about what her strategy would be if she faced any of your kids. I know she is carrying several items meant to counteract Kankuro’s poisons and I think she even had a plan to neutralize Crow.”

“Well then, this should be fun to watch,” Iruka commented.

“You’re not too worried?” Kiba asked.

“Kankuro can fight without his puppets, even if that is his main style,” Baki said. “It would be good for him to be forced to adapt on the fly without a puppet to use. If Ino thinks she can guarantee her victory by damaging Crow, she is mistaken.” And Baki turned out to be correct. Iruka was at the edge of his seat. Baki probably regretted sitting next to him, considering he kept smacking him on the arm in excitement whenever Kankuro did something clever. “I see it, I see it,” Baki grumbled at him. And when Kankuro trapped her in a barrier seal then demonstrated that he could make the whole area go up in smoke, Iruka had leapt out of his seat cheering.

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Baki complained, but he was grinning as well. Iruka knew he was proud of how far their kids had come as well. Iruka was aware that the Leaf jonin teachers were looking at him with expressions that varied from bemused (Asuma) to enthusasistic support (Gai) to pleased (Kurenai). Kakashi was not visibly reacting but Iruka got the sense he was confused by his behavior. But Iruka had never changed his behavior based on the Kazekage’s disapproval so he certainly was not going to tone himself down just because some of them thought he was weird.

“How annoyed do you think Shukaku is right now?” Baki asked Iruka softly once Sakura had soaked the sand. Iruka snickered at that. They’d learned over the years that Shukaku was not a huge fan of water, to the extent that some comparisons had been made between him and cats. He’d apparently been quite insulted by the comparison, complaining that Matatabi was the cat, not him.

It was interesting to see how Gaara fought when the sand shield couldn’t protect. Iruka always knew he was capable of it, but with such an impressive defense, it made sense that Gaara relied on it quite a bit. But he was able to pull off the victory and Iruka couldn’t be prouder.

Then came Temari’s fight with Naruto. Iruka imagined that it was frustrating fight for Temari, since she was forced on the defensive for it. But she seemed to be happier than she had been during her fight with Shikamaru, when she had been the one constantly attacking. He waited with bated breath as she brought her fan down on the real Naruto’s shoulder. He had his suspicions about how she managed that, but he would have to confirm it with her later. Although they were too far away to hear the sound Temari’s arm made when she pulled Naruto over her head, Iruka could have sworn he heard the snap as if she was only a few feet away. He knew Temari had been hurt worse than that before, but he hated to see his kids ever get hurt. He was relieved that she was able to get her to feet without difficulty at the end of the match. In fact, she seemed to be more concerned with making sure Naruto was alright than dealing with her own injury.

“She really is your kid,” Baki commented, rising to his feet. “I’m going to check on her. You’ll tell me how the finals go?

“Don’t you want to hear from the boys themselves?” Iruka asked.

“Oh, I’m sure I will. But I’d also like an accurate account of what happened to make sure I know what areas they need to train in the future.” Iruka chuckled at that and waved him off.

Baki had barely disappeared around the corner when his seat was taken. Iruka raised his eyebrow at Kakashi. But the Leaf jonin didn’t say anything and Iruka had more important things to watch right now than him. Gaara had already re-entered the arena and was sitting by Naruto, chatting about something. Kankuro followed soon afterwards and looked very annoyed with the fact that he had to fight Naruto and Gaara. So it was no surprise that he immediately teamed up with Naruto to take Gaara out.

“Interesting choice,” Kakashi commented. “I would have expected him to team up with Gaara to take out Naruto. Not very happy family, is it?”

Iruka rolled his eyes, “It’s a logical choice. Gaara is tired from his fight with Sakura and his sand shield is not as strong as usual. But he is still a challenge. Getting Naruto to exhaust himself to create an opening for Kankuro to finish off Gaara is the best course of action. Besides, none of them are going to hold grudges over the results of the match. Maximizing his chance to win makes sense.”

Kakashi hummed, “You seem pretty confident in that statement, even sweeping in my student. You really think the finals mean so little to them?”

Iruka sighed, “I never said that. I’m sure they are all trying their best to win. But yes, at the end of the day, I believe they put their relationships with each other ahead of holding grudges over the results of an exam where they do not even need to win a single fight to pass.”

“Interesting,” Kakashi said, leaning back in his seat. Someone really needed to teach the Leaf genin gathered around them how to eavesdrop better, since none of them were doing a particularly good job of hiding their interest in the conversation. He was sure Kurenai and Asuma were listening just as intently, but they at least looked like they were focusing on the match below.

Something pulled at Iruka’s senses and he refocused on the fight. Although he could not see well enough to confirm his suspicions, he believed Shukaku had just made an appearance. It wasn’t common for him to take such an active interest in Gaara’s fights, but he was going against another bijuu, and one that Shukaku complained about a fair bit, at that. Iruka leaned forward in his seat, wanting to know what would happen. When Shukaku appeared, it usually meant massive property damage would follow. He really didn’t know the meaning of holding back.

However, it never got that point because at that moment, Crow came flying out. “Well, that’s one way to take care of things,” he commented, recognizing that shade of smoke.

“What did he do?” Kiba asked. “Is it one of his poisons?’

“Yes, one he developed himself after years of sparring with Gaara,” Irka explained. “It’s unique in that instead of traveling through bloodstreams, it is transmitted through chakra pathways. And the more chakra a person has, the more the poison affects them. With how much of the smoke Gaara must have inhaled, he will be unconscious for a few minutes at the very least.”

“And it will also affect Naruto,” Shino said.

“Yes, it is a very well selected poison for the situation,” Iruka said proudly. “He only inhaled a little bit so it probably won’t knock him out, but it will slow him down. Let’s see if Kankuro can capitalize on that.”

Iruka could only smile as Kankuro combined Crow and his own attacks. He imagined it must look fairly effortless to people watching, but he knew how many hours Kankuro had spent working on that skill. Kankuro was well aware of the traditional weaknesses of puppeteers and had put a great deal of effort into making sure he did not fall into those same bad habits. He made sure that if he was found and cornered, he would still be able to put up a hell of fight. As soon as Naruto threw down his smoke bomb, Iruka had a sneaking suspicion that Baki’s prediction was about to come true. And he was right.

He could see that everyone was glancing over at him, obviously not sure how to react to the rather anticlimactic ending. He did his best to keep it together, but it was just too much. He broke down laughing and once he started, he couldn’t stop. And he set off a chain reaction, with everyone but Kakashi joining in the laughter.

“I wish we could have seen their faces when they ran into each other in that tunnel,” Kiba wheezed out. “They must have been a sight to see.”

“I’m wondering which one of them panicked and destabilized the tunnel,” Tenten said. And then, with all the affection and exasperation of an older sibling, “My money’s on Naruto.”

“Oh definitely. I’m pretty sure I taught him that jutsu. I just didn’t think he’d use it that way,” Kiba said.

“He is rather good at defying expectations,” Tenten remarked dryly. Shino let out a snort at that and even Hinata giggled. Kiba didn’t even try to hide his laughter.

“They’ll be announcing who made chunin soon, right?” Lee asked, nearly vibrating with excitement.

“Yes, sometimes the committee has to consult for a little while, but usually it doesn't take too long,” Asuma answered. “With this bunch, I don’t think it will take them long at all.”

Sure enough, all of the finalists were soon ushered back into the arena. Iruka was glad to see that Temari was moving fine. She was even chatting with Ino and neither of them looked particularly murderous, so they must have come to an understanding.

Baki arrived back at their row and glared at Kakashi until he sighed and gave Baki back his seat. “Your prediction came true,” Iruka told him.

“Of course it did,” Baki said. “Of course Kankuro would end up winning the finals through that.”

Iruka bit back a smile. He could hear the fondness in Baki's voice, even if he pretended to be exasperated. Iruka tuned back into the conversation occurring around them, which was focused on predictions for who would make chunin. Or at least the predictions from the Leaf genin. None of the jonin were saying anything. They all agreed Kankuro would get it, since he won the whole thing. Iruka agreed, but not just because he won. Kankuro, probably unintentionally, had showcased his broad range of skills and showed he did not rely solely on his puppets. Tenten firmly believed both Temari and Sakura would advance as well. Lee argued that Gaara and Naruto would. Shino threw at the interesting suggestion of Shikamaru and Kiba immediately started arguing with him about that. Iruka noticed neither Tenten nor Lee mentioned Neji. He had the sneaking suspicion that they did not want him to be promoted yet. Not out of malice, but because they wanted to keep him as their teammate a while longer. Maybe after Naruto shattered his worldview, he would be more willing to work with them as a true teammate. Iruka didn’t think he would be promoted or should be. He had no doubt he would make a marvelous shinobi one day, but he needed to work through some things and Team Gai could help him with that.

"It’s starting,” Kiba yelled, the second the Hokage stood up. Iruka found himself leaning forward. Baki was pointedly not doing the same. Iruka wasn’t fooled, he knew Baki was torn between wanting his kids to make chunin and not wanting to lose them as a team. Maybe that would have been a concern when the Kazekage was alive. Iruka had no doubt that man would have split up the team as soon as he could since he knew he had a better chance of controlling them separately. But Iruka didn’t think that would be a problem any longer. Even if the new Kazekage was not Pakura (which Iruka highly doubted) they had proven they worked well as a team. It would be in the village’s best interest to keep them together. Plus, many people were still scared of Gaara, so having a team that would fully work with him was an important benefit.

Iruka tuned out the generic words the Hokage offered at the start, focusing each finalist in turn. Naruto was nearly jumping with excitement while Shikamaru looked like he would rather be taking a nap. All of his kids looked fairly calm. Luckily, the Hokage did not keep them in suspense too long. “Shikamaru Nara,” was the first name called out. “It is important for shinobi to know our own limits and be able to realistically analyze situations. For showing these skills and your creative use of your jutsus, you have passed. In contrast, sometimes shinobi are placed in situations where they have no choice but to fight beyond their limits and do whatever they must to survive regardless of the costs. During her fights, Temari showed these skills and has also passed the exams.”

“It’s not really a list is it?” Baki commented.

Iruka shushed him. While he was right, he enjoyed hearing why the committee made their decision. Plus, Temari looked like she was going to fly without needing a wind jutsu at the Hokage’s words, so he really did not mind the extra time.

“Sakura Haruno, you have demonstrated the ability to go head-to-head with opponents much stronger than you in terms of chakra and find a way to succeed. Your creative thinking and ability to learn will serve you well as a chunin.” Sakura looked like she was about to pass out and the only thing keeping her upright was Ino’s grip on her.

“Gaara, instead of simply relying on your impressive defensive shield, you react to your opponents’ attacks and adjust on the spot. Your connections to others and ability to work with them also showcase your ability. You have also passed.” Iruka imagined that most people listening assumed he was talking about what Gaara must have done in a previous round, but Iruka knew it meant Gaara’s ability to work with Shukaku had not gone unnoticed.

“And finally, Kankuro, you have certainly showcased your abilities and strategic thinking. Once fights begin, things rarely go the way we plan and being able to adjust to the loss of weapons, allies, or options can be the difference between life and death. I have enjoyed watching your matches today and look forward to seeing what you will do in the future as a chunin.”

"Congratulations to you all and to every finalist. You have all demonstrated impressive skills."

“There’s going to be no living with you for the next month, is there?” Baki asked.

Iruka didn’t even try to deny it, “I’m just so proud of them,” he sobbed onto Baki’s shoulder. Baki patted him on the back and sighed.

“Is he alright?” he heard Hinata hesitantly ask.

“He’s fine, he's just really emotional when the kids do well. I guarantee he’ll burst into tears again when he sees them again.” Baki sounded completely resigned to this reality.

“Like you aren’t just as bad as me,” Iruka countered. “You just show it by giving them things instead of crying.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Baki said.

“Uh huh, you have no idea where Temari got her newest fan or how Kankuro always has his favorite paint on hand despite the fact that you and I both know he would not remember to order until he was completely out, or where Gaara got those books on all kinds of plant and animal life from across the nations. And you definitely don’t buy them fried lizards after hard missions,” Iruka teased.

Baki wisely decided not to continue that discussion. “It looks like they are being released,” he said. Iruka let the topic go (for now). “I’m sure we’ll see you later,” Baki continued, nodding to the Leaf shinobi.

“Why’s that?” Kakashi asked.

“Because they’re Iruka’s kids and I’m sure they invited everyone over for a celebratory dinner,” Baki responded. “You could even come inside for a change and get something to eat instead of hiding on a roof-top. It will be good for your health. I’m pretty sure Iruka is one step away from finding you, smacking you over the head, and dragging you inside.”

“Oh my, how forceful,” Kakashi commented. Iruka was really hoping his face was not as red as he thought it was. Given Kurenai’s amused look, he doubted his prayers would be answered. He just knew Baki was going to tell Scorpion and Mari about this conversation and they were never going to let him live this down.

“Right we are leaving now,” Iruka decided, starting his way up the steps and dragging Baki with him. But just to make sure they were on the same page he shouted behind him, “We’ll see you later.”

“We’re going to need so much food,” Baki said mournfully. “Are we even going to be able to find enough food to cover everyone who might make an appearance?”

“I guess we’ll find out,” Iruka said, already mentally running through a list of relatively simple dishes that Leaf would have the ingredients for. “And hopefully not everyone will show up empty handed.” He didn’t trust Kakashi to bring a dish, but maybe some of the others would.

They didn’t bother trying to find the kids in the arena, it was too jam-packed with excited people. Instead they made their way to a tree a little ways away that they had selected as their meeting spot. They did not have to wait long before their kids made an appearance. Iruka spotted Temari and Kankuro first since they were flying above the crowd on her fan. A second later, a body slammed into him. Gaara must have used his sand transportation to get there as quickly as possible. Iruka swept Gaara up in his arms, pressing kisses to his hair, and telling him how proud he was of him. And of course, fulfilling Baki's prediction by bursting into tears.

Temari and Kankuro tumbled down a few moments later, with Baki steadying them. “Did we see us?” Kankuro yelled. He was flushed with how excited he was. “We were awesome. Gaara actually dodged for once! And Temari forced Naruto to exhaust his near endless chakra reserves.”

Temari was riding the same high as her brother and grinning, “You weren’t too bad yourself. Even if you really shouldn’t have tried the same trick twice. It was way too obvious.”

“Well maybe I thought that everyone would figure it was too obvious and therefore not expect me to do it again,” Kankuro countered.

Temari rolled her eyes, “I refuse to believe you put that much thought into it. Plus, you didn’t really expect to win against Naruto with mind games, did you?”

“I still won,” Kankuro said.

“Yes, and we are very proud of you,” Baki cut in before the sibling squabbling could continue. “All of you,” he said, looking at each of the kids in turn. “I’m sure Iruka will be telling everyone about it for months to come. But putting that aside for a second, let’s talk about something of immediate concern.” Iruka could see the kids thinking that something had happened with the Orochimaru situation and tensing up. Baki must have realized the same thing, “Nothing bad, I just need you to be honest with us. How many people did you invite over to the apartment to celebrate the end of the exams?”

The sibling snapped from looking worried to trying to look innocent. “Oh, just a few people,” Temari assured them. “We were going to check with you, but there simply wasn’t time.”

“Uh huh,” Baki replied, “and just who are these few people?” Iruka could see the wheels turning in Temari’s head trying to find a way to spin it. Kankuro was pointedly not making eye contact. Iruka turned his gaze to Gaara and raised his eyebrow at him.

“Basically everyone we know in Leaf and a few we don’t know very well,” Gaara told them.

Kankuro groaned, “Damnit, Gaara, we’ve talked about this.” They had, multiple times. It wasn’t that Gaara couldn’t lie, he just didn’t see the point of it most of the time.

“They were going to find out soon enough,” Gaara pointed out. “It’s not like we could hide everyone.”

“Yes, but there are better ways to say it,” Temari said.

Iruka clapped his hands before they could get into this argument for the hundredth time. “Alright, that’s enough. If we are going to have that many people over, we need to do some serious shopping.” All three of them look up in excitement. He smiled at them, “I’m glad you have befriended enough people that this is the problem we are having.”

With that, he bustled everyone off to the market. Luckily most people were either still in the stadium celebrating or licking their wounds privately so it was not too crowded. They were able to get everything he thought they would need relatively quickly. He had put together the menu in his head on his way over. Which was good, since he had no idea when people would start coming over and they still needed to cook the food. The five of them were used to working together in the kitchen and moved around each other expertly. They might actually be able to pull this off.

Most everything had been prepared, although they were still working on cooking some of the dishes when a knock rang out.

“I’ll get it,” Kankuro offered, running to throw the door open. “Oh, it’s just you.”

“Brat,” Mari said, stepping inside with Maki following after her. She looked around before glancing at Iruka, “So I heard you are throwing a party?”

“How did you ever find out about it?” Iruka asked. He had honestly meant to inform Mari and Maki, but with everything else, it had slipped his mind.

“I noticed a flurry of Leaf anbus around the building and guessed based on what I know about you,” Mari told him. “You certainly know how to terrify kages.”

It was the kids’ idea,” Iruka protested.

“Uh huh, and you definitely wouldn’t have come up with it on your own if they hadn’t?” Mari shot back. Maki laughed at their exchange, before trying to get a blow-by-blow from Kankuro of his fights. “Who exactly did you invite that has the anbu in such a fuss?

Iruka shrugged, “Basically everyone the kids have befriended during our time here plus a few others. I’m honestly not sure if they are more worried about us having Naruto over or the heirs to so many important clans.”

Mari smirked, “Sounds like fun. We’ve done everything we could for anyone injured in Orochimaru's attack and I need your break. So you good with me crashing your little get together?”

“Considering we meant to invite you both, it’s not really crashing, but yes you are welcome to stay,” Iruka said.

Before he could ask her more about her work in the hospital, another knock rang out. Temari, who was closest to the door, opened it to reveal Tsume, Kuromaru, Kiba, and Akamaru. “So I heard there was a party,” Tsume said, grinning.

Notes:

I swear, I meant to get more of the party in this chapter but I also wanted to get Baki and Iruka's reactions to the finals and life majorly kicked my ass over the last two weeks, so I did not have as much time to write as I wanted to. But we will get their next chapter. I imagine I will have 2-3 chapters of the party then a wrap up chapter.

What did everything think of my choices for chunin? Did they match with any predictions you had? In case you hadn't noticed, I really like when fighters use their abilities in unexpected and innovative ways, so the ones I chose had that in common. The Sand siblings due to being raised by Iruka do it more than others and so I passed all of them. I kept Shikamaru's canon pass because I like how it set up Temari's pass and Sakura used interesting technique in her fights, so I decided to pass her. The one I was on the fence about was Naruto. But I decided not to pass him because I knew I was not going to pass Sasuke and I wanted the two of them to become chunin at the same time. Plus, I kind of imagine that Naruto will have some kind of break through with Kurama before he become chunin.

Next time: PARTY!

Chapter 28: Neji

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Neji was not quite sure how he ended up here, in the apartment of people he didn’t know, watching pure chaos unfold. He had really only intended to see if he could crash at Lee and Tenten’s place for the night. He hadn’t even been sure where they were going until they arrived. He could have been relaxing in his own room, but instead he was here, surrounded by chaos on all sides.

Of course, his refusal to return to the clan compound was the start of all this. After his talk with the clan leader, he needed time to process and honestly, time to mourn. He had spent the years between his father’s death and now furious at the main family and coming to terms with his own limited existence. He had not really mourned his father, just became more and more angry. So after hearing his uncle’s excuses, he just wanted to get away. Tenten had once told him he was always welcome at her and Lee’s apartment, and after the results of the exams were announced, Neji found them in the crowd. Luckily, Lee and Gai were very easy to find. Even if he really did not want to have to deal with their loud natures right now.

Gai noticed his approach first and broke off his conversation with Kakashi to greet him. “Neji, how are your injuries?”

“Fine,” he responded. He’d been healed and would be fine by tomorrow.

“Good,” Gai said. Neji braced himself for some speech about youth and trite phrases about how he did his best. Instead Gai only said, “We’ll meet in the usual spot on Monday morning and grow stronger together.” With that, Gai bounced back towards Kakashi. Neji let out the breath he was holding. That had been a lot less painful than he had expected.

“Hey,” Tenten called to him, waving him over. Neji went before someone else could come and try to talk to him about what had happened. “You alright?” she asked.

Neji tried to tell her he was, but couldn’t get the phrase out. Tenten’s gaze made it clear that she was talking about more than his physical injuries and for whatever reason, he found himself compelled to answer honestly. “No, not really,” he said.

Neither Tenten or Lee said anything in response for a minute. “You want to get out of here?” Tenten finally asked.

“Yes, please,” Neji replied, feeling pathetically grateful for the suggestion. If he had to look at the scene of his fight with Naruto for any longer, he was going to burst.

“Come one then,” Tenten said, leading the way. Lee positioned himself behind him. And then they were off. Tenten moved through the crowd with ease, finding her way through gaps and speeding up whenever it looked like someone wanted to talk to Neji. Neji could hear Lee fending off people behind them. It was nice-to be able to trust that he could just follow them and they would get him somewhere safe.

And they did, making it out of the arena in impressive time. And then they led him to their home. Not once did they ask about what happened or try to get him to talk. In fact, they didn’t talk about the finals at all. Instead, they chatted about what they needed to buy for groceries this week, about the new batch of Inuzuka puppies, about the squirrel Lee managed to befriend during the second stage. Neji hadn’t realized Lee was capable of speaking at a volume below a shout or go that long without saying the word youth. It was ...nice.

When they got to the apartment, Neji expected them to either finally try and get him to talk or leave him alone with a futon. Of course, he should have learned that Tenten and Lee had a tendency to shatter all his expectations. “Alright, you can drop your stuff off here,” Tenten told him. They both paused and looked at Neji who just had his fighting supplies. No change of clothes or anything. He really had not thought this through. “It’s fine,” Tenten told him, “you can borrow something of Lee’s to sleep in. And we’ll have to grab the futon from Naruto later. I’m sure Sasuke is not using it anymore, despite their protests otherwise.”

At that point Lee poked his head out from the kitchen where he had been making quite a bit of noise, “We have everything, Tenten! We can start on our masterpiece.”

“I don’t think I would go that far,” Tenten commented, but she moved towards the kitchen. She paused and glanced back at Neji, “We’re going to be making a cake. You’re free to join us or just stay here if you would rather.” Usually it wouldn’t even be a question, but Neji really did not want to be alone with his thoughts just yet so he got up and followed after her. Lee had lined up everything they would need on the counter. Him and Tenten fell into an easy rhythm, moving around each other with ease.

“You’ve made cakes before?” Neji asked.

“Oh, yeah a few times,” Tenten answered. “Mostly for Naruto’s birthdays. They make him happy.” Neji noticed that they made no mention of each other’s birthdays. He remembered Gai taking them out for everyone’s birthdays the first time and how surprised and pleased Lee and Tenten were about the gesture. He wondered how they usually celebrated their birthdays. He had long given up on it himself, but it seemed like the sort of thing Lee would love to do.

“Is this cake also for Naruto?” Neji asked.

“Partly, but it’s really for everyone who will be there,” Tenten replied, moving out of the way as Lee got a little too enthusiastic with the mixer.

“Be where?” Neji asked.

“The party, of course,” Lee said. “We didn’t want to show up empty handed.”

“What party?” Neji asked, bewildered. He had actually listened to what they were saying instead of tuning it out for once and he did not remember any mention of a party. He vaguely remembered one of the Sand shinobi saying something about it in the waiting area, but they couldn’t be talking about the same one, could they? Since when were Tenten and Lee close with any Sand shinobi?

“Oh, right, you don’t know Iruka,” Tenten said. Neji only mutely shook his head. He was sure that was not the name of any of the finalists, but he didn’t know who else it would be.

“Well you know Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara?” Tenten asked. Neji nodded. “He’s their caretaker.”

“Aren’t they a little old for that?” Neji asked.

“It’s complicated,” Tenten responded.

“And you’re never too old to have someone look after you,” Lee added. Neji highly doubted that, but he would let it go for now.

“We’ve been going to their apartment,” Tenten explained. “And we made plans to go over there again tonight.”

Neji vaguely remembered an argument about Hinata going into “enemy territory” regularly that he had overheard one night. He guessed his cousin was attending the same dinners Lee and Tenten were.

“Once the cake is finished, we’ll be off,” Tenten explained. Neji nodded. It would be nice to have the apartment to himself, he tried to convince himself. He certainly didn’t want to go to a party where there was a risk of running into one of his family members. He let Lee and Tenten’s chatter wash over him. Even if he would never admit it to them, one of the few things he liked about being on a team with them was how noisy they were. It was a welcome relief from the cold silence of his home.

“Alright, come on,” Tenten suddenly appeared in front of him, dragging him to his feet. She pressed a bag of fruit into his hands. Lee came out of the kitchen carefully carrying the cake. It had turned out quite well, Neji thought. It smelled nice as Lee walked by with it “Are you coming, or not?” Tenten urged him, holding the door open.

“Where?” Neji asked.

“To the party, of course,” Lee answered easily. “It will be fun!”

Neji felt like he was constantly half a step behind today, “I’m pretty sure I wasn’t invited.”

Tenten shrugged, “I’m sure quite a few people who weren’t technically invited are going to show up. Iruka probably expects it. And he won’t be half as annoyed at you as he always is at Kakashi, who was actually invited. Besides, it’s a party to celebrate how everyone did in the finals today and you are a finalist. Let’s celebrate how well you did.”

“I lost my first fight,” Neji pointed out. And unloaded a significant amount of my history on my opponent who I had never really spoken to before, he didn’t add.

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t do something worth celebrating,” Tenten replied. Lee nodded enthusiastically. “Or do you think Lee and I are useless because we got knocked out before the finals?”

Neji almost nodded at that, he would have a few days ago. He had never tried to hide the fact that he thought his teammates were weak from them. But seeing Lee rip open 5 gates or Tenten use her weapons in ways he had never realized she could was impressive, even if they were ultimately fruitless. After his fight today, he didn’t know if he believed in fate the way he had before.

“Losing is not the end. What matters is that we get up again,” Lee said solemnly. “Besides,” he added with a grin, “I have still not had the opportunity to defeat you. So we cannot stop here.”

“Priorities,” Tenten muttered, even though she was smiling.

“Now come on, we’ve wasted enough time. Knowing at least some of the people who are coming over, I’m sure that if we wait too long, all the food will be gone before we get there,” Tenten nudged them outside and locked the door behind them.

They set off at an easy pace. It had grown more crowded in the streets, with many of the people from the arena wandering around. Neji could see Lee wanted to dash between the crowd but he held himself back, probably due to the cake in his hands.

It didn’t take them too long to arrive at their destination. Neji could hear the party from all the way down the stairs. Tenten wasted no time in knocking on the door. The Sand team’s jonin instructor opened the door for them, “Welcome to the madness,” he said, allowing them inside. Stepping inside, Neji could see what he meant. There were way too many people shoved into the space and most of them were not the calm and quiet type. Tsume and Anko were armwrestling with Naruto, Kiba, and Gai cheering them on. Kankuro and Sakura were sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the room, a series of books around them. They seemed to be exchanging ideas and hissing at anyone who tried to get them to move. There was a table heavy with a truly overwhelming amount of food. Tenten hummed when she saw it and started rearranging dishes until she was able to make the cake fit. The bag of fruit got piled on top of another one. She stepped back and nodded approvingly at her handwork.

“Alright then,” she said, clapping her hands. “Lee, no challenging anyone to fight tonight. I know you really want a rematch with Gaara, but we don’t want to break Iruka’s apartment.” Lee agreed easily enough, bouncing over to where Gaara was sitting. Tenten patted him on the shoulder, “If it gets too overwhelming, feel free to duck into one of the bedrooms. I know we’re a loud bunch.” She left to go talk with Ino and Temari, who were holed up in a corner.

Neji turned around, wondering if he should just leave. It wasn’t that he didn’t know anyone here. He recognized pretty much everyone. But he had never had a significant conversation with any of them and he didn’t know if he wanted to break that streak tonight. He turned and saw a man he guessed was Iruka trying to shove Kakashi out a window and just kept turning. He would find a place to sit for now. Maybe it would be more manageable if he was able to join a conversation. He noticed Hinata and Hanabi were with Shino against one wall and decided to go to the opposite side of the room. He really did not want to talk to his cousins today. Which left him with two options. Kurenai, Asuma, and the Sand jonin instructor were engaged in an intense discussion of disastrous missions their teams had been on. Neji did not want to force himself into that conversation. Which left him with Choji and Shikamaru. Shikamaru looked like he was doing his best to sleep, with Akamaru curled up on his lap. Choji had a plate piled high with a little bit of everything and was steadily making his way through it. They weren’t talking much, so hopefully they would be fine if Neji sat down near them.

Sure enough, when he sat down, Choji smiled at him and Shikamaru didn’t even bother opening his eyes. Neji relaxed back against the wall, taking in the whole scene from a safe distance.

All of the finalists were here, as were some of their parents. One of the only people he didn’t know soon made her way towards the wall he was seated against. She slid down a little ways away from him, placing her plate on the ground. “They certainly go all out, don’t they?” she commented.

“Yes,” Neji agreed. He usually didn’t like making small talk, but he was afraid that if he was not talking to someone, he would get dragged into one of the other conversations occurring around them and at least his current conversation partner looked like she was semi-sane and had volume control.

“I’m Maki, by the way. I’m friends with Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara,” She explained. “Mari guessed Iruka would hold something like this and dragged me along to crash it.”

“Neji,” he replied. “Who’s Mari?”

Maki looked around and pointed out a woman in a Sand headband who had joined the jonin teachers. “That’s her. She’s our main med-nin. Her and Iruka are pretty good friends.”

Neji nodded, “Were you here for the exams?”

“Yes, I got knocked out during the second stage,” Maki told him. “It was disappointing, but I have a good idea of what I need to improve on and will do better next time.”

Neji just nodded along, not sure what to say in response. Luckily, Maki didn’t mind picking up the slack. “So who dragged you along? I don’t think this is what you planned to be doing tonight.”

“Lee and Tenten, my teammates,” Neji explained, pointing them out. “I hope nobody minds.”

Maki waved him off, “Don’t worry about that. If Iruka did not want you here, you would certainly know.”

Neji glanced over to where Iruka was now trying to stab Kakashi. “Like that?”

"Oh no, Mari said Iruka is actually pretty fond of Kakashi.” Neji wasn’t quite sure what his face did when he heard that, but it made Maki burst out laughing. “They don’t get along certainly, but if Iruka actually hated him, he would have found a way to get rid of him a while ago. They just have very different perspectives and so they argue a lot,” Maki explained. Neji accepted the explanation, even though he was not sure he believed it. For one, he had never seen Kakashi actually argue with anyone. He would just ignore them and do what he wanted regardless. But he did seem to be engaging with Iruka, so maybe Maki had a point.

“I’m pretty sure Shikamaru was actually invited, so why does that jonin teacher have it out for him?” Choji piped up. Neji followed his gaze and saw the man who had opened the door glaring in their direction and he did seem to be focusing on Shikamaru.

“Oh, don’t mind Baki,” Maki assured them. “He’s just upset about how your fight with Temari played out. Iruka won’t let him kill you.” Neji did not know if that was quite the reassurance she felt it was. “You’ve talked with Temari about it, right?” Shikamaru grunted in response.

“No, he hasn’t,” Choji answered for him. He set his now empty plate on the ground and got to his feet, dragging Shikamaru with him against his will. “But let’s go do that now.” Shikamaru complained about it being troublesome, but Choji would not take no for an answer and the two of them disappeared off into the crowd.

As if sensing the opening of seats, Naruto and Kankuro soon turned up, arguing about something. “We had an alliance,” Naruto was saying. Oh, it must have been about the finals. Strangely enough, he didn’t seem to be actually upset.

“We sure did, and I upheld my end of it,” Kankuro replied.

“You did not!” Naruto argued.

“I took out Gaara while you distracted him, didn’t I?” Kankuro shot back. “That was the plan.”

“But you also poisoned me!” Naruto complained.

“So? We agreed our alliance would end once we took out Gaara.”

“But you hadn’t taken Gaara out yet,” Naruto replied. “You got him with the poison after me.”

“No,” Kankuro disagreed. “I took out Gaara as soon as I unleashed Crow. I know he would not be able to withstand the poison or escape it. Therefore, our deal was done and I could poison you along the way, as a bonus.”

“That’s not how that works,” Naruto yelled. “You didn’t defeat Gaara until he was actually down from your poison.”

“Oh really? When you set a trap to kill someone, do you kill them when you set the trap or when they die? Do you kill someone when you throw a kunai at their throat when they are paralyzed or when it strikes them? Do you kill someone when you administer the poison or when they die from it?” Kankuro posed.

“They’re not dead until they’re dead,” Naruto replied.

“I’m not arguing with that, but I’m not asking what moment they die at, I’m asking at what moment do you kill them,” Kankuro lectured. “Personally, I think it’s the moment you do the last act on your part to complete the deed, knowing they cannot avoid it. So, I defeated Gaara the moment I let Crow fly. He just didn’t know he was defeated just yet.”

Naruto looked like his head hurt. “That’s so confusing, Kankuro, stop it.”

At this point, Maki couldn’t help it anymore and intervened, “Just ignoring him, Naruto. He’s just messing with you.”

“Not nice,” Naruto yelled at Kankuro, who did not look at all repentant. “Hey, Maki, it’s good to see you. And, Neji, you came! That’s great.” He seemed to honestly mean it. Neji gave up understanding what went on in this kid’s head. “It’s great to be able to all hang out together and see everyone getting along so well.” Neji really wanted to ask him if he had seen Iruka nearly murder Kakashi earlier, but he doubted that would lessen Naruto’s enthusiasm. He was like Lee that way.

And looking around, he had a point. Shikamaru and Temari were locked in conversation, with Ino, Choji, and Tenten clustered around them, occasionally giving input or slaps to the head on Ino’s part. The jonin teachers were still clustered in their corner. The various conversations around the room must have been going well, since no one was trying to murder anyone else at the moment. All and all, it was a lot different than Neji would have expected from a group of Leaf and Sand shinobi thrown together in a small space.

“You should come to some of our training sessions,” Naruto was still talking. “We don’t get to do them as much as we used to with everyone going on missions and training with their teams, but we try and have at least one a month. They’re really fun and it’s good practice.” Neji knew of the sessions, of course. There had been quite the uproar in the Hyuuga compound when Hinata and Hinabi started attending them. The elders did not like the idea of them spending so much time with outsiders, especially when one of them was Naruto. But they had decided that the relationships they could build with other clan heirs outweighed the risks, as long as they limited the exposure. That had definitely not worked out the way they wanted, considering Hinata looked more at ease here then she ever did in the Hyuuga compound. “So you’ll come, right?”

A denial was one the tip of Neji’s tongue, but he couldn’t quite force himself to say it. Maybe it was how excited Naruto looked or maybe it was the way everyone had welcomed him without question. It wasn’t like he needed to be friends with these people or anything, but maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to train with them. He could go to one and if he didn’t like it, he never had to go back. “Alright,” he agreed.

“Great,” Naruto said. Before he could continue on, a loud knock rang out.

Kankuro looked around the room, “Huh, I thought everyone was already here.”

Neji watched as Iruka quickly moved towards the door and opened it. From this angle, Neji couldn’t see who it was but Iruka must know them because he said, “Oh, good evening. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Mari mentioned you would probably do something like this. You going to let us in or what?” A voice Neji did not recognize answered.

“Of course,” Iruka stepped back, allowing the visitors to step inside. Neji had spent far too much time around Tenten not to instantly recognize the first women, plus her picture had appeared in their school books. Tsunade Senju surveyed the room before making a beeline to where the drinks were. “Got any sake?” The dark haired woman who accompanied her audibly sighed.

“Here,” Tsume pulled a bottle out from somewhere and tossed it to her.

“Much obliged,” Tsunade said, taking a deep drink from the bottle, and taking a seat next to Tsume. Her companion soon joined her, keeping the pig she had in her arms on her lap, after a wary look at Kuromaru.

“That’s Suzune,” Kankuro told them. “And the pig is Tonton. I met them earlier at the hospital. Didn’t know she was close with Tsuande.”

Neji drew his eyes away from the scene of one of the legendary sannin cracking jokes with Tsume to Tenten. She looked like she was about to faint. She was also pounding Ino excitedly on the shoulder, to Ino’s evident displeasure. Tenten took a step towards Tsunade before retreating and smacking Ino again. This cycle repeated multiple times before Neji found himself getting to his feet. “Going to save Ino’s shoulder?” Kankuro asked.

Neji hummed non-committedly but walked towards them. Lee had appeared at Tenten’s side by the time he reached them. “Tenten, please,” Ino was saying, “if you continue like this, you’re not going to have a choice of how you are going to greet your hero because you will have to carry me over there so she can heal my mangled arm.”

“Sorry, Ino,” Tenten said, pulling out a kunai to fiddle with as she did when she was nervous. “I just can’t believe she’s here! I had heard she was back in the village but I didn’t expect to see her so soon. I don’t want to waste this chance. But what did I say to her? We have completely different fighting styles and I can’t be a med-nin so I can’t ask her for advice or anything. And I want to make a good first impression.”

“Come on then,” Lee said, pushing Tenten towards the table.

“Lee! I’m not ready,” Tenten said, trying to reach back and hit him. “I need to think about what I want to say. I don’t want her to think I’m foolish or weak.”

“Of course, you’re prepared. You’ve wanted to meet her forever and now is your chance,” Lee argued back. “And you’re Tenten. You could never be foolish or weak.” He had stopped pushing her forward at that point.

Tenten breathed deeply and said, “You’re right, you’re right. I’ve got this. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

“That’s the spirit!” Lee cheered. “Let’s go.” Now Neji found himself being the one dragged along by Lee. Tenten was striding towards Tsunade, with Lee pulling Neji with him as he followed her. Neji snatched his wrist back from Lee but he continued to walk with him. Tsunade would be an interesting person to meet and he wouldn’t even have to talk much, since he was sure Tenten would have endless questions for her once she got comfortable. It would be a nice break from the chaos of the party. A few feet from the table, he changed his mind. Tsume Tsunade, Shizune, and Anko all looked like they were getting along fantastically. He didn’t associate much with people outside his clan or team, but he knew Anko by reputation before she had run the second stage. One of the elders frequently complained about her. The way he talked made it seem like she was an agent of pure chaos. Given the way she was smirking, Neji had to agree with that assessment. And it did not like anyone else at the table was discouraging her in any way. In fact, Tsume was definitely encouraging her. This might be the single most dangerous table in the room, both in terms of pure destructive power and to his wishes for a calm night. But he couldn’t back out now, they had been noticed.

“Oh hey, Tenten, Lee, Neji,” Tsume greeted them, smirking like she could read Neji’s thoughts. “How are you doing?”

Both Lee and him paused waiting for Tenten, who was both at the front of the group and their usual spokesperson to respond, but she was just standing there, staring at Tsunade. Lee quickly jumped in to save her, “We are doing great this evening. It’s a wonderful party, isn't it?”

“Sure is,” Anko replied. “You all deserve it after working so hard.”

Lee’s thanks were cut off by Tenten abruptly half-yelling while bowing to Tsunade, “I’m Tenten. Well you probably already figured that out given Tsume’s greeting. But ah-I just wanted to introduce myself. I’ve heard a lot about you and think you are really cool. And uh, it’s nice to meet you,” Tenten looked like she wanted to pass out by the end of that.

Neji felt frozen, waiting for Tsunade’s reaction. He wouldn’t say he was friends with Tenten, but there was a certain level of comfort with her that he didn’t have with many others and he knew how much Tsunade meant to her. If she started laughing or dismissed his teammate, Tenten would not take it well. Next to him, Lee was almost vibrating with anticipation.

Tsuande put down her cup and smiled at Tenten, “Nice to meet you. I didn’t realize stories of my actions were still commonly shared. I’m pretty sure my old teacher was not happy with me for leaving.”

Tsume laughed, “You think that is going to stop anyone from sharing stories? It will take more than some disapproval from the Hokage to stop your exploits from being shared. I’m pretty sure they have an entire unit at the academy on how you revolutionized battlefield healing.”

Tenten nodded along enthusiastically, “We learned all about it. And we had a project where we had to describe the fighting style of a major figure in the last war and I chose you. I mainly based my description on stories people told me, but there are a few books that talk about you and your teammates.”

“I’m sure both of them love that,” Tsunade said. She seemed to be a hundred miles away before snapping back to the present. “Are you trying to become a med-nin?” she asked Tenten.

“Oh no, my chakra control is not good enough for that,” Tenten told her.

“I’m pretty sure that’s something you can improve on,” Tsunade said. “Despite what some of the old teachers at the hospital tell you, natural control of the type needed for healing is actually pretty rare. If you want advice on practices to improve your control, I can give you some. But no pressure”, she said after Tenten did not respond, “it’s certainly not for everyone.”

“Ah, I’ll think about it,” Tenten finally said. “Right now, I want to focus more on weapons training.”

“What type of weapon?” Shizune asked.

“All types,” Tenten reported, “right now my focus is on mastering chain weapons.”

“She’s developing into quite the weapons mistress,” Anko commented. “You should see the inside of their apartment. She has more weapons than most weapons stores I’ve been in.”

“Impressive,” Tsunade commented. She kicked out a chair, “Tell me about it.”

Tenten hesitated for a second and Tsunade was able to read her reason, “You’re not going to bore me, kid. I wouldn’t have asked if I was not interested. I never had much use for weapons myself but I can appreciate someone who uses them well. And I have no doubt you do. Plus, it would help me take my mind off of things,” the last part was half mumbled and Neji hardly heard it. But he did and he was sure Tenten did as well. Maybe that’s what made her sit down so quickly and start talking. And talk she did. She rambled about really liking the kunai exercises at the academy and how happy she was when Gai bought her her first real sword. At some point, Lee grabbed chairs for him and Neji and nudged him to sit down. Neji did so as Tenten moved to describing their mission where she was able to take a truly spectacular sword away from the missing nin who attacked them. It was smoothing to hear Tenten talk about her weapons. Neji recognized most of the ones she described, but towards the end, she mentioned ones he did not remember. They hadn’t trained together much in the last month, with his preparations and Lee’s injuries. Tenten certainly hadn’t slowed down while he was gone. He eyed Lee, wondering how he had improved in the last month. Maybe he’d ask him about it later.

When Tenten finally ran out of weapons to talk about, instead of letting the silence drag on, Tsunade started telling war stories. Not the ones that were in their history books, but about getting lost on her way to a rendezvous spot and having to beat up a bunch of missing nin until they gave her directions. About the difficulties of setting up a field hospital that was not vulnerable to long-range jutsus. Neji found himself scooting his chair closer almost without realizing it. Tsume would throw out some stories of her own occasionally, but mostly it was just Tsunade talking. Neji wasn’t quite sure when it happened, but at some point Tenten had thrown her legs into his lap and he just let her. She was leaning against Lee’s shoulder and Lee’s hand rested on the back of Neji’s chair. He could process and second guess why he enjoyed this so much later. Right now, he just let the feeling wash over him. He was safe. They would make sure of that. It was a feeling he had not really had since his father died. And it was a feeling he wanted to keep. Maybe he would have to spend time with Lee and Tenten outside of training more if this was what it was like.

Notes:

Tsunade, Tsume, & Anko are going to be best friends and terrify the rest of the village. It will be great.

Neji is always kind of hard for me to capture, particularly at this point. I have wanted to do a pov from him for forever and just could not find a good place to put it. Hopefully I captured him well enough.

Chapter 29

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Having fun?” Baki asked as he collapsed beside Iruka on the couch.

Iruka laughed, “Something like that.” He was enjoying himself, but the sheer amount of chaos he had invited into the apartment did take some getting used to. “How did your conversation with the other jonin teachers go?”

“I have decided that as insane as Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara are, they have nothing on Gai’s team or Kakashi’s. Even Kurenai’s team has their moments. Asuma probably ended up with the most normal team. Most of his struggles revolve around getting Shikamaru to actually do things or help Choji with his self-confidence. And he has given up on getting Ino to respect him.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” Iruka said. He adored the Leaf shinobi, but he would not deny that they were a handful. "Any particularly good stories?”

“Well, Gai has a ton of different stories of Tenten finding her way into underground fights or gambling dens because she saw someone with a really cool weapon she wanted. Kiba has a tendency to disappear the second Kurenai turns her back in whatever random town they are in, usually because he saw a dog he wants to pet. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke frequently team up against Kakashi with pranks whenever they get irritated with him for being late too much.”

“Good for them,” Iruka replied.

Baki laughed, “What did he do earlier to piss you off? He showed up, didn’t he?”

“Well yes, but instead of knocking on the door like a normal person, he decided to swing in through the window,” Iruka complained.

“So you tried to push him out the window so he would use the door?”

“Not my proudest moment, but someone needs to teach him manners at some point,” Iruka said.

“Good luck with that,” Baki told him. “How concerned should we be about what they are getting up to over there?” He gestured at the table in the center of the room. Mari had joined the already dangerous combination of Anko, Tsume, and Tsunade. Lee and Tenten both looked like they were having the time of their lives, and Neji hadn’t tried to leave at any point, so Iruka assumed he was enjoying himself. It was hard to tell with him.

“Well, we’re leaving soon and then they are going to be Leaf’s problem. Considering what I’ve seen of their Hokage and elders so far, they deserve whatever they come up with. And I doubt Mari can get too many ideas in one night,” Iruka replied.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Baki said. Iruka had to admit he might have a point. “But I am far too scared of them to try and break them up, so I guess we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“Good plan,” Iruka decided. He glanced over to where most of the kids besides Gai’s team had ended up and to laugh. Half of them looked like they were about to fall asleep in a puppy pile. Plates were spread about them, showing their valiant effort to finish off the impressive buffet. Sakura was fully asleep and drooling on Ino’s shoulder. The other girl was leaning against the wall with a blanket pulled over both of them. She was chatting quietly with Gaara. Choji and Maki seemed to be well on their way to being fast friends. Shikamaru was resting against Choji’s shoulder. Kiba was passed out with his head in Shino’s lap. Akamaru was curled up in Hanabi’s lap, with Hinata leaning against her side. Sasuke was sitting besides Naruto. His eyes were closed, but something told Iruka that he was not asleep. The rest of the kids were still awake, but Iruka guessed they were going to crash soon.

He made his way over there, with Baki trailing behind him. Naruto and Temari looked to be the most awake of everyone present. “And Anko says my mom was amazing. She yelled at anyone who looked down on her and would fight anyone. And my dad was the Hokage, can you believe that? Apparently he created his own teleportation jutsu and could get the jump on almost anyone.” Iruka almost had to sit down right there. Naruto had finally found out who his parents were. He wasn’t surprised Anko was the driving force behind it. But the fact that he hadn’t known until now hit Iruka again. His memories of his parents and how much they loved him had given him the strength to get through the worst years. He couldn’t imagine not even having that. They must have been talking about the topic for a while during which Iruka had spaced out because the next thing he heard made it obvious they had changed topics.

“But how could you tell?” Naruto was asking. Iruka could feel Baki’s hand on his shoulder. He let Baki help steady him. He must be referring to how Temari was able to pick him out of all his clones during their match, Iruka realized. He closed the distance, crouching down next to the group of kids. Temari and Naruto didn’t seem to notice, continuing on their conversation.

Temari shrugged, “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“But I want to know,” Naruto whined.

“Alright, hopefully this makes sense,” Temari said. She took a second to organize her thoughts, “It wasn’t anything you did or your position or anything like that. It’s just… after so many years of matches with Gaara, I’ve become rather good at picking out when it's him versus a clone. And that skill transferred over to you. I think it’s because you’re both jinchuriki. Although your clones are copies of you, the bijuu isn’t present in them the same way it is in you, if that makes sense. Your clones have the same powers, including those from your bijuus, but Shukaku himself is only in Gaara. It’s really hard to explain,” Temari said, frustrated with herself. “But I wouldn’t worry too much about many others being able to do it.”

“But there are other jinchuriki out there. Wouldn’t everyone around them be able to do the same thing?” Naruto asked.

“Have any of your friends done something similar?” Temari responded. Naruto said they hadn’t. She nodded, “I think it’s because I’m close with Shukaku, not just Gaara. I’m able to sense him in a way that your friends can’t sense Kurama. And the bijuu are bonded in a way, so it just transfers between jinchuriki.”

Naruto thought that over, “Huh. I guess that makes sense. But it’s confusing. You and Kankuro keep making me think so much tonight.”

Temari laughed at that, “My deepest apologies. I promise not to make you think for the rest of the night.”

“Good,” Naruto said, leaning back against Sasuke. Sasuke grunted at the weight, but let Naruto get away with it.

“Having fun?” Iruka asked the group, speaking quietly enough not to wake anyone up.

“I was telling everyone about my parents,” Naruto yelled. That drew some grumbling from the more tired members.

“I look forward to hearing about them,” Iruka told him. “Anyone who produced you must be truly amazing.” Naruto smiled at that before throwing himself forward to hug Iruka. He caught him easily and held him tight. He couldn’t help but think of the first time he held Gaara. Naruto was older, but it felt the same. Iruka wanted to protect him from the world. Naruto rested against him and Iruka glanced over at everyone else.

“Ino and I have been talking about plants,” Gaara told Iruka seriously.

“My family owns a shop,” Ino explained. “You should stop by before you leave the village. I want to show you the greenhouses.” Gaara looked delighted at the invitation and quickly agreed.

“Sounds like fun,” Iruka commented. “But I think if you’re going to do anything tomorrow, you need to get to bed soon.” There was some grumbling at that, but the fact that some of their friends had already fallen asleep undermined their complaints that they weren’t tired. Iruka was not quite sure how they were going to get everyone home. Even the ones who were awake were tired enough that he didn’t want to let them try and get home on their own. Luckily, he was not the only one with that concern.

“Alright, time to go,” Asuma came over and encouraged his team to get up. Shikamaru was not moving and both Ino and Choji were hesitant to displace their tired friends. Asuma sighed and leaned down, picking up Shikamaru without difficulty. “Kakashi, get over here and collect your team,” he called out.

Surprisingly enough, Kakashi actually listened to him. Sakura had woken up in the commotion, but was not awake enough to walk by herself. Naruto finally detached himself from Iruka and looked a little embarrassed. Iruka reached out and ruffled his hair, “I’m proud of you, Naruto,” he told him quietly. Naruto grinned at him and quickly hugged him again before darting off to help Kakashi support Sakura. Sasuke paused as he walked by Iruka and muttered thanks before running after his teammates. Kakashi glanced at Iruka like he wanted to say something, but ended up leaving without saying a word. Iruka watched them fondly. He loved all the Leaf kids he had met, but that team had a special place in his heart.

Tsume soon joined them, shaking her head at her son. “Spent too much energy cheering on your friends, huh, brat?” But her tone was affectionate and her hands gentle as she lifted Kiba onto Kuromaru, who seemed to be used to this.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to carry him like this,” he commented. It was easy to see how careful he was being with him. Tsume retrieved Akamaru from Hinabi.

“It was a good night,” she told Iruka. “Don’t you dare leave without coming by one last time.”

“I won’t,” Iruka promised. He would miss Tsume. Without her, they would have had a lot more difficulty carrying out their plan. He was grateful for her help. And he just honestly liked being around her. She was refreshingly straight-forward and easy to get along with.

Kurenai had the easiest time collecting the rest of her team, since they were both still awake and could walk on their own. Hanabi went with them as well. Throughout everyone else leaving, Gai’s team was still sitting at the table, listening to Tsunade. Iruka was sure they were as tired as everyone else, but their excitement (especially Tenten’s) seemed to overcome that.

“And I think that’s enough stories for the night,” Tsunade finally said. “Everyone else is getting ready to leave.” Tenten glanced around and pouted.

“Just one more?” she wheedled.

Tsunade looked like she was going to give in for a second before Gai just reached over and scooped Tenten up in one arm. She was startled, but relaxed quickly. Iruka had to wonder how many times Gai had done this. Gai picked up Lee with the other arm. “Unfortunately, it is time to go, my students. We must all get a good night’s rest so we can greet tomorrow with enthusiasm. Sleep is essential to maintaining a youthful demeanor. I’m sure you will be able to talk with Tsunade more later.”

“Alright,” Tenten gave in. “I am pretty tired. Bye, Tsunade. It was nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too,” Tsunade said. “I’m excited to hear about your progress with chain weapons.” So she was going to stay in the village for at least a little while.

Tenten grinned at that. “Let’s go then,” she cheered. “Oh, we forgot to ask Naruto if we could grab that futon for the night.” She thought about it for a second, “If we get back before them, we could just steal it.”

“Then there is no time to waste!” Gai exclaimed. “Thank you for having us! Come on, Neji.” With that, he jumped out the window. Neji sighed, before bowing to Iruka and following them out. Iruka glanced down and saw Gai shift Tenten and Lee so each was sitting on one of his shoulders. He tried to convince Neji to jump on his back, but Neji refused. Gai shrugged and took off at a full sprint, with Tenten and Lee laughing in delight and Neji trailing after them.

“He’s certainly a character,” Tsunade commented.

Anko grinned at that, “You have no idea. I was delighted when I heard he was getting a genin team. The thought of him training a set of genin to act just like him was amazing. And it’s worked out pretty well. They’ll be a group to keep an eye on in the future for sure. Anyway, I’m going to show up at Naruto’s training session tomorrow morning. And knowing Kakashi and his issues with timeliness, I’m sure I’ll be there before him, so I get to train his kids however I want. So I should be getting home.”

“Have fun,” Iruka told her. Picturing Kakashi’s face when he showed up and Anko was there was very amusing. But Kakashi should have put better arrangements in place before leaving the village with Sasuke, so he deserved to suffer whatever Anko put him through.

With that, it was just Baki, the kids, Mari, Maki, Tsunade, Shizune, the pig, and Iruka in the apartment. “Alright, let’s get you to bed,” he shooed the kids into their bedroom. Without any discussion, they decided Maki would sleep over that night. They went easily enough. Iruka was sure they would be bursting with information for him at breakfast in the morning about who they talked to at the party, but for right now, they were too tired to do much more than stumble their way into their room and collapse. Iruka made sure they were under the covers and didn’t need anything before returning to the main room.

Tsunade did not look like was going anywhere anytime soon and when Shizune opened her mouth to encourage her to leave, Iruka waved her off. He sensed that she needed to talk to someone who was not from her village and didn’t really know her. He took a seat at the table and waited. He was proven right when she said, “I never really planned on coming back. When I left after the war, I thought I had seen the last of this place. I couldn’t stand the sight of it. It’s said that my grandfather loved this village more than anything and that he sacrificed everything to make it a reality. My parents always said I was a lot like him. I certainly inherited his vices,” she said with a little laugh. “I never knew him, but I used to try and see the village the way I thought he would have. So many clans have joined together and stayed together. But over time, I started seeing it as a curse rather than a blessing.”

“Do you know how many Senju there were when the village was founded?” she asked.

“I don’t,” Iruka replied.

“I’m not quite sure either, but I know it was around 300. Do you know how many of us are left?”

Iruka shook his head.

“Just me. Well maybe I’ve got some second cousins or something left, but no one else who claims the name Senju. Ironic isn’t it? My grandfather thought this village would protect people, instead it only seemed to lead to more fighting. The last war took my brother and my fiance. I felt that if I stayed a minute longer, this village would take everything,” Tsunade wasn’t drinking so much as fiddling with her glass. No one dared interrupt her. Iruka felt that this was something that had been weighing on her for a long time.

“Were you close with your genin team?” she abruptly changed the topic.

“I can’t say I was,” Iruka responded. In fact, to his shame, he could barely remember their faces.

“I was, at least to Karura” Mari spoke up. “Their mother,” she explained to Shizune and Tsunade. “She died in childbirth. Our other teammate died a while before that.”

“I was good friends with my teammates and was close with my teacher,” Baki told her. “They were all killed in an ambush while I was completing a different mission.” His voice was steady, but Iruka knew how hard it was for him to talk about it.

“We were inseparable when we were younger,” Tsunade said. “The Hokage used to complain that whenever he turned his back, we got up to more mischief. And I would have died countless times during the war without them at my side. Orochimaru was always a bit strange, but he used to drop snakes on the heads of people who were annoying me and wanted to use his experiments to gain knowledge to help the village. And Jiriaya has always been an idiot, but he used to at least respect women’s decisions. He just never knew when to give up. And look at them now,” she placed her head in her hands. “How many has Orochiamru killed in his quest for knowledge? And I really don’t want to know what Jiriaya has gotten into over the years. Given what I’ve heard about his behavior so far, it’s nothing good. We promised we were going to put a stop to all this unnecessary death. Where do we go so wrong?”

“You know you’re not responsible for your ex-teammates behavior, right?” Mari asked. “Right?” she pressed when Tsunade did not reply.

“I know,” she finally said. “Shizune’s yelled at me about that enough times over the years. But I could have done something. I was so wrapped up in my own grief that I didn’t even think of them.”

“Maybe, maybe not. You don’t know that anything you could have done would have made them change their course,” Iruka pointed out. “Plus, you are not responsible for making them change. You are allowed to put yourself first. That’s not a bad thing. And I don’t think you are nearly as selfish as you claim to be.”

“Why’s that?” she asked.

“Because you came back when Pakkun asked you to. You don’t owe this village or your ex-teammates anything but you came back. And you seemed to be planning on staying for a while,” Iruka said.

“I convinced myself that everything would be fine if I left. I knew the old man wasn’t the best, but I thought he would at least lead them better than this,” Tsunade said. “I can’t leave the village like this. Plus,” she hesitated, “I know Orochiamru hurt you greatly, but at one point he was my friend, and I want to make sure they don’t try and make him disappear to use him for some dubious experiments or something.”

Iruka nodded, “I understand.”

“Well, I’ve taken up enough of your time,” Tsunade abruptly said. Shizune steadied her as she stumbled. Iruka was not quite sure what to say and just watched as she walked towards the door. In the doorway, she paused. “You know, I’m glad I came back.”

“Yeah?” Iruka asked.

“Yeah. I would never have gotten to hear any of Tenten’s stories or seen the terror Tsume has become,” Tsunade laughed. “Maybe it’s all worth it in the end, huh?”

With that she was gone. “Thank you for having us,” Shizune called out, hurrying after her. As soon as the door closed behind her, Iruka let out a long breath and heard it echoed from Baki and Mari.

“Well that was some night,” Mari commented. “I’m crashing on your couch by the way.”

“Alright,” Baki said easily. “I’ll grab you a pillow and some blankets.” Iruka surveyed the apartment. Cleanup wouldn’t be as bad as he feared. He guessed the jonin (or at least some of them) must have cleaned up after themselves and their teams before leaving. And their guests could certainly eat so leftovers would not be a big problem.

“Leave it until tomorrow,” Baki told him, seeming to read his mind.

“But-” Iruka protested.

“Leave it,” Mari yelled. “It’s been a long day and you can relax for once in your life. We somehow defeated one of the legendary sannin with limited casualties, all your kids passed the exams, and you made friends with a bunch of Leaf shinobi. Nobody should be able to ask us to do anything for the next year.”

“Somehow I don’t think it will work out that way,” Scorpion commented. It probably said something about them and their relationship with Scorpion that none of them startled at his sudden appearance. He definitely had not been there a second ago, but no one was really surprised by him. Iruka double-checked the silencing wards, guessing he had sought them out for a reason.

“I know, but I can hope, right?” Mari said. “Anyway, how are things going on your end?”

“About what we expected,” Scorpion replied. “The anbu leader has been trying to figure out how our kage got killed under our watch and no one noticed that or the fact that he was replaced with Orochimaru. Not exactly fun discussions. I got yelled at for keeping my suspicions to myself, but no one had a better idea of what I could have done, so that got dropped pretty quickly. They seem to be buying my story for the most part. A couple anbu have already been displaced to inform the village about what happened and start the search for the Kazekage.”

“Do they…?” Baki trailed off, not knowing how to ask.

“I don’t think anyone expects to find him alive,” Scorpion understood what he was trying to say. “But none of them are admitting it quite yet. I don’t think it will take long to find his body.”

“And then we have to deal with people jockeying for the position,” Mari complained.

“Anyone in particular we should keep our eye on?” Iruka asked.

“There are a couple who desperately want the kageship and might come after us in an attempt to establish their ability to lead. Especially with what Orochimaru said during the fight. But I don’t think they will get very far. Most people already expect Pakura to take up the hat. And from what I’ve heard, most of our shinobi are willing to silence any lingering doubts they have about our story in order to have a kage who knows what she is doing and will not drag us into pointless conflict,” Scorpion reported.

“That’s good,” Iruka said, relieved. Things were still far from settled, but he trusted Scorpion’s ability to access the crowd. Hopefully, their next battle would not be as awful as Iruka had feared.

“The plan is to leave the day after tomorrow,” Scorpion informed them. “There will be a meeting tomorrow with the Hokage about what to do with Orochimaru.”

“Who is going to represent Sand during it?” Baki asked. “It’s not like the Kazekage shared his power well.” That was true. Rasa had hoarded his power jealously and never really relied on anyone. He never had a clear second-in-command and instead of nurturing young talent, he had sent them on long missions or assigned them to border patrol. Mentally going through the list of who had come with them to Leaf, he couldn’t think of anyone who would be able to step in as their leader, even just for one meeting.

“We’re still trying to figure that out. The most favored options right now are either Saburo or Mari.” Iruka vaguely knew of Saburo. He was a very talented jonin, but Iruka had no idea how he would handle himself at the negotiating table. He was still quite young.

“Me?” What makes them think I want to play nice at some boring meeting?” Mari complained.

“Nothing, but we don’t have a lot of options,” Scorpion responded. “And most of the delegation respects you, so they would trust you to negotiate for the village.”

“You should do it,” Baki said.

“Oh, you think so?” Mari asked.

“Yeah, you’ll hate every minute of it, so it will be very entertaining. But you have a better poker face than Saburo and now when to compromise much better than him. So all around, a win,” Baki explained, smirking.

“I need better friends,” Mari complained. “What did I ever do to you?”

“Should I go alphabetically or in chronological order?” Baki deadpanned. “I know you help the kids with most of their pranks.”

Mari shrugged, acknowledging his point. “Iruka, aren't you going to come to my defense?”

“Nah, he’s too busy enjoying that fact that no one is teasing him about Kakashi,” Baki said before Iruka could reply.

Mari’s eyes lit up and she grinned. “Thanks for that, Baki,” Iruka said wryly. “Can you please focus for a few minutes, then you can tease me all you want.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” Mari assured him. Baki’s grin indicated he definitely agreed.

“Who do you think they’ll end up choosing?” Iruka asked Scorpion.

“Probably Mari. Baki’s not the only one who worries about Saburo being a bit of a hot head,” Scorpion reported.

“That would suit us well,” Iruka commented. “We could use it as a chance to spread our story more. Mari, you think you can handle it?”

“Sure,” Mari said. “I never punched Rasa despite wanting to for years. I can handle dealing with the Hokage and his sketchy friend for one day. Plus, I get the feeling Tsunade is going to demand a seat at the table and I doubt they will be able to deny her.”

“I got the same sense,” Iruka agreed. “Things are going to be interesting in Leaf in the weeks to come.” He got the impression that Tsunade was the sort of person who when she committed herself to something, she would not let anything get in her way. And from the way she had spoken tonight, she had committed herself to Leaf, to protecting the dreams of the children she had met today, even if she did not realize it yet. Leaf was in good hands. Iruka trusted her to deal with the rot that he had seen in the village. And she would have plenty of good help.

“We’ll see what decision is made, but they will have to make one soon,” Scorpion said. “Look for a messenger early tomorrow, Mari.”

She groaned, “Guess that means I better get to bed. I do not have the energy for this.” She wasted no time in lying down. "Goodnight all." Within minutes, she was asleep. Iruka knew she would wake up the second she sensed something was wrong, but their conversation shouldn't bother her.

“What-” Scorpion began after she feel asleep. However, he cut himself off and disappeared. Iruka went on high-alert, trying to find what had scared Scorpion off. He quickly identified the source, a familiar chakra signature walking towards the door to the apartment. He wasn’t sure what surprised him more-that he had come back or that he was actually using the door.

“So you do know how doors work,” Iruka commented, yanking open to the door before Kakashi even knocked. “I hadn't seen any evidence of that before now.”

Kakashi gave him a lazy shrug, “Why would I bother with a door when I can just enter the window. It’s quicker.”

“Plus, it annoys you more,” Baki added, watching them in amusement. Kakashi nodded his head at that.

No one said anything else for a second, until Iruka sighed and stepped back to allow Kakashi in. “I didn’t expect to see you again tonight,” he said, taking them into the kitchen. “And I hope you don’t expect us to entertain you for long. My bed is calling my name.”

“I won’t take up much of your time,” Kakashi replied, leaning back in his chair. “I was just curious about a few things.”

“Oh, and you couldn’t ask about them earlier?” Iruka asked.

Kakashi shook his head, “I figured you would not want an audience for this.”

“Should I leave you two alone?” Baki asked, smirking. Iruka reached out to smack him in the head without even looking. It did not stop Baki from snickering at his own joke.

“Ignore him,” he instructed Kakashi. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I was just wondering how you would deal with everything when you got back to your village. After all, I doubt many people in Sand would be happy to find out you knew their kage was being attacked and did nothing. You didn’t even warn anyone of the imposter. In fact, you only addressed it when it became convenient for you,” Kakashi said, his eye focused on Iruka’s face. Iruka did not allow himself to react in any way. He knew that was what Kakashi was looking for. Instead, he kept his face calm and his breathing regular. While the accusations weren’t true, Iruka could definitely see some people in Sand hearing the events and reaching those conclusions. What Iruka couldn’t figure out was why Kakashi was saying them. He didn’t think Kakashi believed what he was saying. But he also had no clue why he was here. He doubted it was under orders, But without knowing his angle, he was not quite sure how to respond. He decided to just reply as if he was facing these accusations from one of Sand’s council.

“While I never liked the Kazekage, I did not want him dead. I know how dangerous the time of instability that will certainly come now will be to those I care about. And allowing Orochimaru to infiltrate the delegation would basically be a death sentence for me. If he found out I knew, he would kill me to keep me silent and if it was revealed later that I knew, I risked bringing a war down on Sand. Neither of which are options I want. If I could have done something sooner about Orochimaru, I would have. Until Scorpion informed me of what was going on, I simply did not know enough to realize what needed to happen,” Iruka finished smoothly, never looking away from Kakashi’s gaze. “Does that answer your questions?”

Kakashi stared at him for a few moments before shrugging, “I guess it does.” Iruka waited for him to continue, but he did not do so. He glanced at Baki to see if he had any idea what was going on in Kakashi’s brain, but the other man just shrugged.

Kakashi was apparently not interested in explaining himself, since he just stood up and said, “Well, I promised my team I would actually be on time tomorrow, so I better get going.” Before Iruka could do anything, he promptly threw himself out the window.

“I hope they replace you with Anko,” Iruka screamed after him, not caring how late it was and forgetting that Mari sleeping on the couch. Luckily she did not wake up. “What is his deal?” he grumbled to Baki.

“I think that might have been his way of being nice,” Baki said after considering it for a minute.

Iruka turned and gaped at him, “In what world is showing up, asking that, and then promptly throwing yourself out a window being nice ?” he demanded.

“Obviously, neither of us would ever do it,” Baki allowed. “But to Kakashi, it probably made a lot of sense. Look, he was trying to throw you off guard the entire time-even using the door was part of that. And he knew just as we do that we are going to be questioned about our part in what happened with Orochimaru. I think he wanted to make sure you would be prepared to respond to those accusations, no matter when they were thrown at you.”

Iruka still could not process the idea of doing that, but once he calmed down, he realized Baki might have a point. To someone as poorly socialized as Kakashi, that really might have been his way of looking out for Iruka. And that was a truly terrifying prospect. “Why couldn’t he just send flowers or a card like a regular person does when they are trying to be nice?” Iruka bemoaned.

Baki raised his eyebrow at him and Iruka smacked him for it. “You know what I mean.”

Baki shrugged, “He’s Kakashi. I really cannot give you a much better explanation of his behavior. Now, we should also get some sleep. I have the feeling it will be a busy day tomorrow.”

Notes:

You get an early chapter since I need to spend my entire day tomorrow writing a paper that is due Monday and I have not started yet. My current plan is to have one more full chapter and then a short epilogue. We are really getting close to the end. I can hardly believe it.

While Tsunade is the only one of the legendary sannin who I like, I am fascinated with their dynamic. If Jiraiya's personality was not so focused on that & Orochimaru had a better reason for his actions, I think they would have been a really compelling group. Still, I think Tsunade always loves her team, even if she does not like all their actions so it makes an interesting situation.

Kakashi: This is how you treat friends, right? I'm helping.
Everyone else, with various levels of amusement & exasperation: No, not at all.

Chapter 30

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Iruka was right in his prediction that the kids would be eager to share their experiences last night at breakfast the next morning. Temari told them all about Naruto’s parents and Gaara talked about his conversation with Ino. Maki mentioned she had a nice conversation with Neji. Kankuro mainly talked about how much he liked the food, but he apparently had talked with Hinata and Hinabi about their clan techniques a little bit.

“Divide and conquer?” Baki asked after breakfast. Mari had been gone when they woke up, so Iruka assumed she was meeting with Leaf. He hoped it went well. But he didn’t have time to worry about that now. They had a lot to get done today.

“Agreed,” Iruka said. “Gaara, is Ino expecting you at any particular time?”

“No, she said I could come over anytime before noon. Her team is meeting up this afternoon,” Gaara told him. But Iruka could see how eager he was to go over there and Iruka wanted Gaara to be able to spend as much time in the greenhouses as he wanted.

“Why don’t you head over now?” Iruka said. He turned to Baki, “You good with accompanying him?” As much as Iruka wanted to go himself, he had some people to talk to. And he did not want Gaara to go alone. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Ino or her clan, but tensions were high right now and as a jinchuuriki, Gaara was always a potential target.

“Yep, I love flowers,” Baki said in a completely deadpan voice.

“Then I’m sure you’ll have a great time,” Iruka replied. “Temari, Kankuro, and Maki, can I trust you to stay together and not cause trouble?”

“That’s a big commitment.”

“No promises.” and

“Have you seen us?” were his answers.

“I deserved that,” Iruka said while Baki laughed. “Alright, let me rephrase. Will you promise to stay together as much as possible and not seek out trouble?”

The three of them considered that for a moment before agreeing, with varying levels of convincingness. Iruka would take it. He needed them to run some errands, and he had no doubt they were capable of at least raising a fuss if someone bothered them and they had enough allies in the village that someone would come to their aid.

“Here is a list of things we will need for the return journey. Try and find everything you can.” He gave them what should be enough money to cover the items and then some. “Be good,” he instructed them. “I have to speak to a few people but I should be back by mid-afternoon. Let’s meet up back here around then.” Everyone agreed.

Iruka locked the door behind him and watched everyone split off towards their destinations before turning towards the Inuzuka compound. He had promised Tsume one more visit, and he doubted she would ever let him live it down if he broke his word. Besides, he wanted to talk to her about a few things.

The guard at the gate was used to seeing Iruka at this point and just waved him in. Iruka quickly made his way to Tsume’s house and let himself in the open door. “Hello,” he called out as he entered.

“Hey, Iruka,” Hana said, coming through the doorway to the kitchen. “Mom is in the living room. She was pointedly not invited to the important talks at the Hokage’s office and she’s still annoyed about it.”

“Bunch of cowards,” Tsume yelled from the next room. Iruka walked into the room, to see Tsume collapsed on the couch. Kuromaru was lying nearby and laughing at her.

“Mari is our representative, so I’m sure she’s giving them plenty of trouble,” Iruka assured her.

“Good to hear,” Tsume said, sitting up. “Tsunade’s there too, so it won’t just be old men convinced of their own importance.”

Iruka snorted at that. “Speaking of Tsunade…” he said.

“I figured who’d want to talk about her,” Tsume said. She patted the couch, “Come have a seat. Hana, go somewhere where you can at least pretend you aren’t eavesdropping.” Hana saluted and disappeared back into the house. “Fair warning, the most I’ve ever talked to her was in the last day. I was still pretty young when she was in the village the first time and we never ran any missions together.”

“You know more than me,” Iruka replied. “I think she’s going to stick around the village this time and if I’ve read her correctly, I doubt it will be too long before some sort of power struggle commences between her and the current leadership of the village.”

“That’s the sense I’ve gotten as well,” Tsume said. “You want to know if I think she’ll be able to handle it?”

“And what you think she would do if she comes to power,” Iruka said.

“I’m pretty sure I’m officially supposed to tell you that’s none of your business,” Tsume commented lightly.

Iruka shot her a look, “Please this is not the most treasonous thing we’ve done in the time we’ve known each other. It’s probably not even the most treasonous thing we’ve done in the last three days.”

Tsume shrugged, “You’re probably right. I’m just giving you shit. But more seriously, let’s talk.” She took a minute before continuing, “Like I said, besides her actions since she’s been back, I don’t have much personal knowledge about her. But the sannin certainly made names for themselves during the last war. Tsunade especially distinguished herself with her improvements to the medical teams that must have saved dozens of lives. But I’m sure the ones she remembers the most are the ones she couldn’t save. The necklace she wears, according to rumors, was her grandfather’s. She gave it first to her brother then to her fiance. She took it back off their bodies both times. I doubt she was ever the same since.” Iuka breathed in harshly. He knew Tsunade had lost people, she had lived through a war. But to lose what were probably the two most important people in her life... No wonder she had felt like the village had taken everything from her.

“I think it will be hard for her, lots of memories within these walls. But I doubt she will let that stop her. Maybe some time and distance was what she needed. From what I’ve seen from her lately, she is committed to taking care of the rot that has infected this village,” Tsume continued.

Iruka nodded, “She does. But it won’t be easy. For all that she is a legend, she has been gone a long time.”

Tsume shrugged, “You’re not wrong, but I doubt that will be as big a deal as you think it will be. Stories of Tsunade never stopped being told. And honestly, there is not a lot of competition for the spot as the next Hokage. Kakashi is still too young and needed elsewhere. Of the clan heads, all of us are competent fighters but none of us have the sheer power needed to be a strong kage. I’m sure Danzo will try and install someone loyal to him, but all his fighters move in the shadows. No one would accept an unknown as our next kage. And our current one will have to step down soon, even without Tsunade’s interference. He simply can’t keep up with everything he needs to nowadays.” Iruka considered that. He guessed he was analyzing the situation the way he saw their upcoming power struggle in Sand, where there would be multiple people vying for the position of the Kazekage. But thinking back to what he had seen from the Leaf jonin, he knew Tsume had a point. They had plenty of strong fighters, but either they were too young to be taken seriously as a kage or they would just not stand out as individual fighters.

“Assuming she can take power, how do you think she will deal with all the responsibilities of the job?” Iruka asked.

“You’re worried about her drinking,” Tsume guessed.

Iruka shrugged, “A little bit, yes. I get that it’s a symptom of another problem but it could become a problem in its own right.”

Tsume sighed, “Tsunade has always liked to drink. But I do agree it has gotten worse. However, I think the hat might actually help with that.”

“Oh?” Iruka asked.

“Tsunade doesn’t do things by halves. And she’s very self-aware, even if she likes to ignore it. I think she’d figure out early on what level of drinking interfered with her ability to do her job and make sure she would not reach that point. Shizune would undoubtedly help with that.”

“And I think her time away from the village might make her a better kage. Besides her former teammates, she does not have many people who she was close to. She would be willing to call anyone out on their bullshit in a way Hiruzen is not,” Tsume said. “Plus, it’s not like she’ll be alone.”

“You’ll help her?” Iruka asked.

“Of course. No village is perfect, but things have been getting worse and worse over the years. I couldn’t change things on my own. But Tsunade can and I’ll support her the entire way.”

“That’s what I hoped to hear,” Iruka said. “I like Tsunade, but I can’t say I know her well enough to trust her. But I trust you and I believe you will help her do what is best for your village.”

Tsume met his gaze steadily, “I won’t betray your trust. It will take us a little bit to turn things around, I’m sure. But we’ll get there, if I have anything to say about it.”

Iruka nodded, “There is no one else I would rather trust it to.” He would truly miss Tsume when they left.

Tsume must have read that from his face, “Don’t think you’ll get rid of me that easily. I foresee a much closer relationship between our villages in the near future. I’ll be sure to visit you soon. Plus, I quite want to meet this Pakura of yours. Mari had some very interesting stories to tell.”

Iruka had resigned himself to the fact that he was surrounded by dangerous and slightly insane women who got along way too well, so he just shrugged, “I’d expect nothing less. And I’ll look forward to seeing you.”

As much as he wanted to talk to Tsume more, he had other errands to run. “I’ll say good-bye for now then.”

“Off to harass Kakashi?” Tsume asked, grinning wickedly.

“Among other things,” Iruka told her. “Remind me to tell you about what he did last night next time I see you.”

“Well that certainly sounds interesting,” Tsume said. “I’ll make sure to remember to ask.”

Iruka nodded. “Good-bye, Kuromaru. Thank you for all your help.” Kuromaru nodded at him and gave him a smile before closing his eyes again.

“Bye, Hana,” Iruka yelled out.

“Good-bye. The Haimaru brothers say bye as well,” Hana yelled back.

Iruka took his leave and made his way toward the training field he knew Naruto and the rest of his team would be at. Sure enough, as he got closer he heard Naruto and Sakura yelling about something and Anko’s laughter. He paused at the edge of the training field and just watched them for a moment. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were working together to try and take down Kakashi while Anko watched from the sidelines. She yelled out advice every so often. And the kids were doing quite well. Sasuke caught Kakashi off balance with a well-placed strike to the ribs and Sakura followed it up with a hard punch to the face. Naruto was behind Kakashi, trying to trip him up with a few clones. Unfortunately, Kakashi triggered a substitution jutsu and was able to escape. But still, it was a good match.

“Nice job,” Iruka called out.

“Iruka!” multiple voices called out. Naruto came rushing over with Sakura on his heels. Sasuke was slower but he didn’t try to pretend he was uninterested like he had before. Anko also waved to him.

Iruka greeted them all before pointedly waving at the tree Kakashi was hiding in. “Found you,” Naruto yelled and immediately took off full-pelt towards the tree. Kakashi let him get close enough to touch the tree before making his escape again. Iruka rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Alright, terrors, come and practice with me for now,” Anko announced. Naruto perked up at that and ran back towards her, grabbing Sakura and Sasuke as he ran past.

“I’m never going to get rid of her now, am I?” Kakashi asked, appearing behind Iruka, Icha Icha book already in hand.

“Nope,” Iruka said smugly. “Both her and the kids are attached to each other.” Kakashi groaned and let his head fall back against the tree. Iruka laughed at him, “That’s what you get for not making better arrangements before you left.” Iruka reached over and snatched the book out of his hands. He dropped it on the ground and contained it inside a barrier seal before Kakashi could react. He gave Kakashi a very unimpressed look, “If you want to talk, you’re not going to have that in your hands while we do.”

“What makes you think I want to talk?” Kakashi asked, eying the barrier seal.

“Don’t even think about it,” Iruka told him. “And I know you want to talk because you gave up your perfectly good second hiding space to come down here.”

Kakashi did not say anything in response, so Iruka let the conversation drop for now. He could be patient. Instead, he watched the kids and Anko spar. It was fun to see how much they had all improved in just the short time he had known them.

“They like you,” Kakashi suddenly said. Iruka raised his eyebrow at him, gesturing for him to continue. “You haven’t known them for very long, but they trust you. Even Sasuke.”

“They trust you too,” Iruka pointed out. “But you’re right. I like to think they all trust me, to some extent. Why? Are you worried I’m going to take advantage of them?”

“No,” Kakashi said. Iruka noticed how he refused to face him fully. “Just an observation.”

“Uh-huh,” Iruka replied, not buying it for a second. “It can be hard,” he said once it became obvious Kakashi was not going to carry the conversation forward, “to know how best to help them. I know I struggled with that quite a lot with Gaara at the beginning. I never wanted to lie to him, but there were some things I simply couldn’t bring myself to talk about in depth. It’s become easier over the years. Knowing what they all need and knowing what I can give. And while time doesn’t heal the wounds, it certainly helps.”

“Does it?” Kakashi said softly.

“If you let it,” Iruka said. “But you can’t just sit in your hurt forever. At some point, you have to push forward. Never forgetting the people you’ve lost, but not letting that loss dictate your future. You have a team that adores you, even if they show it in odd ways and friends that have supported you all along. They need you to be here in the present with them. Even though it hurts.”

Kakashi didn’t reply to that, but Iruka hadn’t expected him to. He didn’t know Kakashi’s story, but it was clear from his behavior that he was stuck living in the past. “I know I’m not your favorite person, but for what it’s worth, I think you are really trying to help these kids. And they adore you. There are certainly things I wish you would change about how you train them, but I do understand where you are coming from.”

Iruka was content to let the conversation drop at that point. He knew he had given Kakashi a lot to think about. But Kakashi surprised him yet again. “What would you change?”

Iruka grinned at him, “Oh, let’s go. First, you really need to talk to Naruto about how he uses Kurama’s chakra. He should not just be tapping into it when he is angry. That’s way too dangerous. And you should give Sakura more exercises that focus on building chakra control. She’ll never have the reserves of the other two, but by strengthening her already impressive chakra control, she won’t need those. I think Tsunade would be a good mentor for her, although she might be pretty busy for the next bit. I’ll also give you some seals that would be useful for her to learn. And while I understand Sasuke wants to learn powerful techniques, he really needs to learn some more tactics and less draining techniques so that he is not completely out of luck if his more powerful techniques do not work. And…” Iruka went on for the next ten minutes, listing off weaknesses he had seen and tips for improvement. He finally ran out of things to say and glanced over at Kakashi, half expecting him to have nodded off somewhere in the middle. But he was still paying attention. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

Iruka did not get a chance to ask him if he had any questions because Naruto had apparently gotten bored training with Anko and came over to ask if Iruka would teach him some cool seals. Iruka readily agreed, calling over Sakura and Sasuke as well. He taught them the barrier seal he was currently using on Kakashi's book and talked a little about time delayed and contact activated seals. Teaching them and watching them try on their own reminded him of his first few sessions with Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. He couldn’t help but teach them some of his more versatile pranking techniques as well. They could be used in fights, but the way Naruto’s eyes lit up assured Iruka he had figured out their more fun uses. The look on Kakashi’s face told Iruka he also caught onto that fact. He had to hide a laugh behind his hand. He was sure the next few weeks were going to be very interesting in Leaf, for a multitude of reasons.

The kids eventually decided they wanted to test out what they had just learned in a real match and Kakashi was not able to escape them this time. Anko plopped down next to Iruka as he watched, cheering on the kids. “They learn so quickly,” she commented. “It’s pretty amazing.”

Iruka nodded, “Yeah, they’re pretty great. I can’t wait to see what they get up to in the coming years.”

“Indeed,” Anko said, smiling. As soon as Iruka met her eyes, he did not need to ask anything, because they told him all he needed to know. Anko would be there to support those kids and she would help Tsunade in cleaning up the village. It was nice to have that assurance. “That mean you plan on coming back to visit?” she asked.

“Of course,” Iruka told her, “I have enjoyed my time here, except the part when we had to deal with Orochimaru. I will be back to visit the friends I have made here.”

“Good,” Anko said, laying down next to him. “Otherwise I’d have to come and bug you in Sand and I hate the heat.”

Iruka laughed at that, “Well we don’t want to inconvenience you, do we?”

“Nope,” Anko said cheerfully.

They both looked up at the triumphant shout Naruto let out. They had managed to catch Kakashi in a barrier seal. Judging from their reactions, this wasn’t the way their matches usually went. “Iruka! Anko! Look, look,” Naruto yelled. “We caught him! We’ve never done that before!”

“Good job,” Iruka called back, holding back laughter at the contrast between Naruto’s enthusiasm and Kakashi’s facial expression.

“That’s such a cool seal. And it’s really easy to use,” Sakura said. “I just drew it on the ground and Naruto and Sasuke were able to chase him to it.” She moved to take a step towards them but stopped herself short, “I might have gotten a lot too enthusiastic in drawing them,” she admitted sheepishly.

Looking around, Iruka had to agree with that. There was hardly an inch of space around the clearing that wasn’t covered in a seal of some kind. Now it made much more sense that they were able to catch Kakashi in one. He didn’t have much space to maneuver. Iruka carefully picked his way through, disarming the seals along his way.

“Nicely done with the seals, but you may need to work on your placement,” he commented lightly.

She laughed, “Yeah, I guess I was just so excited to test them out that I wanted to use all of them at once. I’m surprised I didn’t catch Naruto or Sasuke in any of them. But they did mainly stay on the edges and try to force Kakashi towards the center.”

“It worked out in the end,” Iruka said. At this point, Kakashi seemed to get bored of Naruto making faces at him and Sasuke’s smirk because he threw a powerful wind jutsu at the barrier and shattered it. “We can talk about how to make your seals more powerful another time,” Iruka said. “That was very well done, but as you can see, some people have an absurd amount of chakra and can shatter things they really should not be able to.”

“Don’t I know it,” Sakura muttered.

“Iruka,” Naruto interrupted, “come to lunch with us. I want to show you my favorite place. You can talk more about your seals there. Kakashi is paying.”

“Does Kakashi know that?” Iruka asked.

Naruto shrugged, “He will soon.”

Iruka laughed, “Well, I can’t turn down that invitation.”

“Great,” Naruto said, already grabbing Iruka’s hand to drag him along. “I want to introduce you to Teuchi and Ayame too. Oy, Sasuke, come on, we can practice more later. Kakashi is taking us out to lunch.” Kakashi looked like he was going to escape after hearing that, but Anko grabbed him before he could. He looked around and seemed to decide that fighting against the idea was more trouble than it was worth because he just let Anko pull him along.

Naruto marched towards the village, chatting about what he wanted to focus on in training next. They soon arrived at a ramen shop and Naruto ran inside. “Hey, Teuchi, Ayame! Did you see me in the exams? Wasn’t I cool? And Sakura made chunin! And Sasuke managed to use the chidori.”

The man behind the counter chuckled, “Yes, you were all very impressive. We weren’t able to see all the matches, but we caught what we could. Congratulations to all of you on a job well done and especially to Sakura for becoming a chunin.”

“Thanks,” Naruto said. “Oh, and this Iruka.” Iruka waved when Teuchi looked over to him. “He’s from Sand. He’s really cool and knows a lot of fun seals. I wanted to make sure he had some of your ramen before he had to go back home.”

“Nice to meet you, Iruka,” Teuchi said. “I’m Teuchi and this is my daughter, Ayame. Always glad to meet a friend of Naruto’s. You a fan of ramen?”

“Yes, it’s one of my favorites,” Iruka told him, his eyes roaming around the shop. It was cheery and obviously well taken care of. Sakura asked Iruka a question about how to strengthen her barriers and Iruka was distracted answering that while their food was being prepared. Sakura absorbed knowledge at an incredible rate. Iruka quite enjoyed talking about seals with her. She would be someone to keep an eye on for sure.

“Enjoy,” Tecuhi told them all as he passed out their bowls. Sakura and Iruka wrapped up their conversation to focus on the food. And what great food it was. Iruka could understand why Naruto declared this place as his favorite. Iruka had eaten a lot of ramen in his life and this was some of the best. It might be a good thing he didn’t live in Leaf because he was sure he would end up eating here far too often.

“So how did you meet?” Teuchi asked Iruka as he was finishing up.

“I am the guardian for one of Sand’s teams. My kids ran into Naruto and ended up making friends. I’ve had him and the rest of his friends over to the apartment a few times for dinner. I’ve enjoyed the chance to get to know him and the other kids,” Iruka told him.

“Guardian, huh? How long have you been looking after that team of yours?” Teuchi asked.

Iruka had to think back, “Almost seven years now. I can hardly remember what my life was like before then. I started out just watching Gaara, but Temari and Kankuro joined us soon afterwards. And we’ve been together since.”

Teuchi smiled at him, “You must care for them a lot.”

A few Leaf shinobi came in at that moment and Teuchi bustled off to take care of them. Iruka found himself smiling. He knew Naruto’s life had not been easy, but he had no doubt that Teuchi had helped where he could. The amount of care in his eyes when he looked at Naruto assured Iruka of that. He would certainly have to come back here if he was ever in Leaf again. Teuchi must have some great stories.

They finished up soon after that, and Iruka bid the Leaf shinobi good-bye. He had to get back to the apartment. Hopefully Temari, Kankuro, and Maki would be back by now and had not got into any trouble while he was away.

Sure enough they were sitting in the living room when he opened the apartment door. “Hey, Iruka, you took forever,” Kankuro complained.

“I had to talk to a few people and ended up getting ramen with Naruto and the others,” Iruka explained. “Did you get everything?”

“Yep,” Temari said. “We stacked it in the corner of the kitchen.”

“Thank you,” Iruka told them. “Have you started packing?”

Kankuro groaned at that. He would certainly take the longest to pack. It was amazing how he managed to get his belongings everywhere in the short time they had been there.

“We should probably start that, huh?” Maki said. She sighed and got up. “Well might as well take care of that now.” She hurried out the door, maybe thinking that if she waited any longer, she would lose her motivation.

“So how was shopping?” Iruka asked, heading towards the kitchen to check the goods they had bought.

“Fine,” Temari told him. “I made the chance to practice my haggling. And we didn’t start any fights, so you should be proud of us.”

“I'm very proud,” Iruka said, satisfied that they had indeed obtained everything he wanted. “Now, make me even more proud and start packing. I’m sure it will take at least Kankuro a while to find everything of his.”

Kankuro whined at that, but he obediently got off the couch and started checking around for things he might have stashed in the living room. The rest of the day continued along as they prepared for their departure. Gaara and Baki arrived a little while later, with tales of the impressive Yamanaka greenhouses. Iruka listened to Gaara chattering away while he packed. It was fun to hear how much Gaara had enjoyed the experience. He wondered if he could find a way to make Gaara a small garden by their houses. It certainly would not be the same as what Gaara had just seen, but it would be something.

By the time dinner rolled around, everyone was almost completely packed. Kankuro had taken the longest, of course. But even he had found and packed everything he came with. They had decided not to have anyone over tonight. They figured it was best to lay low for their last night in Leaf. Plus, they needed to get up early tomorrow.

With that in mind, they had a simple dinner and encouraged the kids to go to bed soon after that. Apparently, the past few days were catching up with them because they were all yawning by then.

Baki and Iruka settled on the couch. They didn’t say much. They were both waiting for the same thing. And then, it happened. A knock rang out and Iruka opened the door to reveal Mari. She looked dead tired and he helped her to the couch. She collapsed and rested her head on Baki’s shoulder. Iruka took a seat on her other side. “It’s done,” she finally said. “There won’t be another war. And Tsunade is definitely going to take power sooner rather than later.”

Iruka let out a sigh of relief and sank back into the couch cushions. There were still the internal politics of Sand to sort out, but it was a relief to know that they had been able to prevent an all out war.

“So on a scale of one to ten, how pissed is Pakura going to be about getting stuck with the hat?” Baki asked.

Mari grinned, “I guess we’ll find out.”

Notes:

I felt like the scene with Teuchi was kind of rushed, but I didn't know what else to do with it and I really wanted them to meet. I'm sure Iruka will be a frequent visitor to the stand when he is in Leaf, so they will have more time to talk in the future.

Just an epilogue left for this story. I plan for this to be the last long story in this verse. I do intend to write some additional scenes that I have in my mind that didn't fit into this fic, but those won't be very long, just snippets of what happens next.

I know I have been slow at responding to comments lately, but I please know how much I appreciate them.

Chapter 31

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Iruka!” is the only warning he gets before Pakura slams into him, nearly knocking him off his feet. Luckily Baki was able to steady them. “I heard you’ve had an interesting few weeks,” she said.

“That would be an understatement,” Iruka replied. “But how have things been in the village?”

Pakura shrugged, “Manageable. I’ve had to smack a few heads, but things have settled down for right now.”

“I’m sure things will become interesting again now that everyone’s back in the village,” Baki commented.

“Undoubtedly,” Pakura agreed. “However, we can focus on that later. Right now, I want stories. Maki, what did you learn during the exams? I want to hear all about the individual fights as well. “

Kankuro was quick to begin to fill Pakura in on what they had gotten up to during the exams. Iruka looked around, trying to gauge the mood of the village.

Their journey back to Sand had been much less stressful than their journey there. Iruka wasn’t oblivious to the gazes on him, trying to figure out how much he had known of Orochimaru’s plans and what he would do next, but they were much less menacing than Orochimaru had been. Iruka had grown up feeling the village’s scorn, their disapproval didn’t bother him at this point. And he knew he had played his role well. They could suspect all they wanted, they would never be able to prove anything. And without proof, there was nothing they could do. Pakura was the clear favorite to be the next Kazekage and while someone might have been able to use her connection to Iruka against her if they had proof, that same connection protected him. So Iruka ignored them and instead spent the journey enjoying himself with Baki and the kids. He was sure they would be very busy once they got back to the village so he would take advantage of the time they had together now.

In a way, Iruka was relieved when Scorpion brought them the news that Rasa’s body had been found the night before they would arrive back in the village. Now no one would be able to drag their feet about replacing him by claiming there was no proof he was actually dead. And their story was good enough that nothing about the body could contradict it.

Iruka could tell that most people in the village felt uncertain. There were some who were quite committed to one candidate or another for the next Kazekage, but most were just watching, waiting to see how things played out. Sand probably more than any other village knew the dangers of appearing weak to the outside world. So Iruka had no doubt that most, if not all, of the villagers would fall into line with whoever was chosen as the next Kazekage in order to present a united front to the rest of the world. The trick would be making sure Pakura was the one chosen. Of course, Iruka couldn’t do much about that. In fact, any attempts he made would probably hurt Pakura’s chances. But he wasn’t worried. The others were much better situated to help.

And help they did. Iruka could see Mari making her way through the crowd, stopping periodically to talk to people. Baki had disappeared as well, probably to talk to the other jonin teachers. And while he couldn't see Scorpion, he knew he was there, selling their act to the rest of the anbu.

It was only two days later when the council announced the next Kazekage. Pakura took her place as the head of the village and her smirk dared anyone who thought they could do the job better to challenge her. No one took her up on it.

She appeared in Iruka’s room after the celebration had died down and the children were asleep. “You know I’m making you help me with all that paperwork, right?” she asked.

Iruka shrugged, “I figured as much. Don’t think I’ll let you get away with completely slacking off though.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Pakura replied. She dropped down beside Iruka on his bed, “More seriously, I have something to ask of you.”

“What is that?” Iruka asked.

“Be my second. Not in name,” she cut Iruka off before he could protest that no one would like that arrangement. “But in all the ways that matter. I need to know I have someone who will keep me in check and force me to think my decisions through. I’m not too worried that I’ll be as bad as Rasa, but I know I can be hot-headed and I need someone who can balance me out. And you’re the only one I trust to call me out like that.”

Iruka’s breath caught in his throat. He had never imagined himself taking on that big a role in the village. He didn’t feel like he was qualified. He wasn’t even born here. But looking at Pakura’s face, all those protests disappeared. She was scared, he realized, even if she wasn’t saying it. And she was asking for his help. How could he say no? “Alright, I’ll do what I can,” Iruka promised.

“That’s all I ask,” Pakura said. “Swing by the office tomorrow morning and we’ll figure out a schedule of sorts. I hope you weren’t too attached to outside missions since I don’t think I will be able to spare you for a while.”

Iruka laughed, “I’ll be just fine. If I start going stir crazy, I’ll just force Baki to spar with me.”

Pakura laughed, “I’m sure he’ll love that.” With a sigh, she stood up and headed towards the window. “I better get back and start learning about more of the secrets Rasa kept. I’m tempted to bring that man back from the dead just so I can kick his ass. He really made a mess of things.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Iruka commented dryly. “But there’s no one else I would trust to set things right more than you.”

Pakura nodded, “Thanks,” she said quietly before disappearing into the night.

Iruka felt beat, but he didn’t go to bed just yet. There was another visitor he was waiting for. And he didn’t have to wait long. He felt more than saw Scorpion settle next to him. “I’m sure you’ve had a busy few days,” Iruka commented.

Scorpion shrugged, “Yes, although it was not as bad as I feared it might be. Most of the anbu supported Pakura from the beginning so I did not have to convince too many.”

“And what about the other business?” Iruk asked.

“No one will contradict our story,” Scorpion assured him. “There are a couple who don’t fully believe us, but they trust me enough that they are not going to question me further.”

“Thank you,” Iruka told him sincerely. He hated the spot he had put Scorpion in. He didn’t want to force his friend to lie to people he respected and needed to have trust him, but there was no way around it. And Scorpion, bless him, hadn’t complained once. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“I wanted to expose Orochimaru and protect the village just as much as you did,” Scorpion chided him, probably guessing the path his thoughts had gone down. “You did not ask of me anything I would not freely give.”

“Still,” Iruka said, “I appreciate everything you have done, both during this incident and over the years.” Iruka remembered the years when weeks would go by where the only other adult he would talk to was Scorpion. He loved his kids dearly, but he had depended on Scorpion to keep him sane. He could spill his deepest fears and draw comfort from Scorpion’s calm assurances.

“And I appreciate all you have done,” Scorpion replied. “You have helped this village far more than most people will ever realize, including yourself. You helped Gaara in a way I never could. And you are one of the best friends I have ever had. I will always be grateful for you.”

Iruka swallowed the lump in his throat and let himself lean against Scorpion’s side. He figured that the other man considered him a friend, but to hear Scorpion actually say it meant more than he could say. “Things are going to change so much now,” he said quietly.

“Yes,” Scorpion agreed. “The village will have to adjust to a new kage and I’m sure Pakura is going to make her mark sooner rather than later.”

Iruka laughed, “You’ve got that right.”

“But I do not think that these will be bad changes. They will be changes Sand has needed for a long time and Rasa refused to give,” Scorpion continued. “And however much things change, you will always have those who care for you by your side.”

Iruka’s small social circle had certainly expanded over the years, from just Scorpion and the kids initially to include Mari, Maki, Pakura, Baki, and others like Naomi on a less frequent basis. And it had certainly expanded during his time in Leaf. And thinking about things in that way, it made everything look brighter. At any moment, Rasa could have destroyed those Iruka cared for. Iruka had spent years playing Rasa’s games in order to protect the kids. And now he didn’t have to. Pakura would never put him into that type of situation. With everything that had been going on, Iruka had not really had time to process the fact that he would never again have to bite his tongue to protect his loved ones from his own kage. And it felt liberating.

“Yeah,” Iruka said, not able to put his realization into words just yet. But with Scorpion, he doubted he would need to. Instead, he just let himself relax and look out the window to the village. Things weren’t perfect, there was still much to do. He needed to figure how to permanently deal with Sasuke's mark for one. But for the first time in a very long time, Iruka would be able to sleep without the fear that come morning, everything he had worked so hard for would be ripped out from under him. Instead, he felt excited to see what they would accomplish the next day. He had braved his insane kage, and even crazier S class missing nin, and helped prevent an all out war to protect his loved ones. He could deal with whatever the future threw at him.

“Get some sleep,” Scorpion told him, nudging him until he laid down. “I’m sure tomorrow will be quite the day for you.”

Iruka hummed, thinking of the mountains of paperwork Pakura will surely dump on him, his plans to teach the kids some new seals, and the letters he wanted to write to their friends back in Leaf, “I can’t wait.”

Notes:

And that's wrap! For the main story at least. Thank you to everyone who has followed this series, especially those who left comments and kudos. I've loved getting to hear what you all think of my stories.

Like I mentioned last chapter, I do plan to write some one-shots for this series. Some will be future moments, things I wanted to tie up and others will be moments from characters I did not get to write during the series proper. I'll probably not write until Christmas and then I'll try to publish once a week for those. I'm challenging myself to try and keep those under 1,000 words, which should be interesting given my writing style.

Over the next few days, I'll go through doing minor edits for this story, just fixing typos I've found. I'll also be updating the tags. That's always a difficulty for me because I want to accurately reflect the relationships, but given how many characters are involved in this story, I don't want to tag a relationship that only comes up briefly. So let me know if you have any recommendations of ones I should add/ get rid.

Series this work belongs to: