After Pain
Chapter 2: For a Friend
Chapter 3: Anbu
Chapter 4: The Hidden Leaf Jounin
Chapter 5: A Worthy Opponent
Chapter 6: Kakashi Hatake
Chapter 8: The Right Moment
Chapter 9: The Quiet Before the Storm
Chapter 10: A Man of Many Shadows
Chapter 11: A Leaf on the Wind
Chapter 12: The Konoha 11
Chapter 13: Epilogue
Chapter 9: The Quiet Before the Storm
Sasuke lay there, staring at the ceiling of the Dojo that Lee had brought him to. It was well made. He wondered how someone as young and full of energy and purpose as Lee was could possibly have the patience to build such a thing. It was a type of discipline that Sasuke had forgotten.
A shooting pain in his eyes made him cry out. He closed them and put a protective hand over them but the pain was only replaced by the even more painful darkness. The darkness was so complete that he had nothing to distract him from his thoughts. Nothing to distract him from those eyes that had been carved into his memory. Over and over again he had defeated Danzo, cornered him, and over and over again Danzo had used those eyes to turn back time and make the situation more convenient for himself. He had wasted them, thrown them away as if they were worthless. The eyes of the Uchiha. So many of them, stuck inside Danzo's arm.
Sasuke felt nauseous. His eyes flew open and he struggled to a more upright position, balancing on his elbows. The nausea subsided, but the sunlight streaming in through the windows only forced him to face his failure. He had been unable to look at those eyes, garishly stuck inside that murderer's arm, and move beyond them. He had been unable to ignore them and keep his head. His entire body had been gripped by horror, moving only because team Taka had been moving, moving only because it would have burned his heart even more to stand still. He had been unable to stop himself from wondering, imagining, that those eyes belonged to his parents, or to that kind aunt with the sweet shop down the road who had always given him free snacks or...
This time he really did throw up.
He fell back down on his pillow, every muscle in his body in pain and rolled over so that he wouldn't have to see his vomit. He came face to face with a sleeping Jugo. Jugo had almost died for his, Sasuke's, cause and only because Sasuke had been incapacitated by the sight of those eyes.
"It's not your fault, Sasuke," Jugo said tiredly. "I would follow you into that same battle again and again."
"But I..."
"We didn't agree to join your team because you were strong or cruel. We joined you because we believe in you... because you're not as dark and cruel as you think you are."
Sasuke closed his eyes again. "But I wanted to be cruel then, in that one battle, so I could finish him! He deserved to be killed. I was more cruel to my own brother when I fought him!"
Another pang of pain in his eyes. Not Itachi's eyes too.
"But they were your family..." Jugo whispered. "We all have someone whose memory makes us weak."
Sasuke's eyes began to sting. He kept them tightly shut.
"You only failed because you thought you could do this on your own."
That was not Jugo's voice. Or Suygetsu's. Or Karin's. It was the voice of the darkness inside him. The voice of Madara Uchiha: the masked Akatsuki. Sasuke did not turn or open his eyes as the Akatsuki leader continued.
"You thought Kakashi could help you. What is Kakashi in the grand scheme of things? He's just a little insignificant piece of trash who has never been able to save his friends. You need me, you need the might of the Akatsuki."
"If you want to get Sasuke then you're going to have to go through me," Lee's voice broke in. "He's under my care right now!"
"Oh by all means keep him and heal him up. He'll come to me when he's ready."
A chill went up Sasuke's spine and he heard a crashing sound behind him. He did not look around. Lee was loudly nursing his own wounds. Madara was gone. He'll come to me when he's ready. Those words, familiar words that he had heard before.
...
"But it takes a long time to learn how to increase it, a lot of training, and a lot of stillness for a kid."
Shikamaru grinned. Kid, eh? Well, luckily enough he was a kid who thrived on stillness. Now he just had to put that stillness to good use. It would be troublesome, but the ceiling of this jail cell was boring and the ground was hard. He was getting tired of just lying here.
He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, crossing his legs in front of him and taking up the pose that the older ninja in the next cell had described. It was a strange pose where he had to put his palms to the ground and slowly lift his body up off the ground a few inches. It was hard on the muscles. This was going to be such a drag. Shikamaru didn't want to build - or destroy - his muscles, he just wanted more chakra.
"Are you in position?" the old man asked.
Shikamaru ignored him, focusing his energy, like he had instructed, on chakra awareness. This part was not too difficult. Shikamaru was good at Chakra control. He had to be when he had so little of it.
"Well, kid?"
Shikamaru sighed. "I thought you said not to talk when I was in position?"
"Just answer the question," one of the Cloud ninja said from the next cell over. That reminded Shikamaru that no one had bothered releasing them yet, or even questioning them. Proof, for anyone with half a brain, that it had really been the Anbu and not Shikamaru who had put them here.
"He's never going to master it, even if we stay in this jail for another fifty years," another one of the cloud ninja said. "I heard his clan have notoriously low Chakra levels."
This was true, but as his mother had a huge Chakra reserve Shikamaru felt he had a chance. His arm was already starting to hurt, but he closed his eyes and focused on the task at hand. The old man had said to try and picture the chakra flow in his body, he had said that would help, but Shikamaru suspected that was only helpful for people who couldn't handle not seeing things with their own eyes and always needed a visual image before them. He settled, instead, on deepening the darkness and feeling the chakra, focusing on it the way he focused on his shadow.
"Ok, it's been five minutes," the man's voice broke through his meditation. "Switch arms now."
"Seriously?" Shikamaru said. "I just now began to focus on my chakra."
"Doesn't matter kid, this fast method only works because it's a combination of meditation and physical exercise. You have to keep stopping and switching poses."
...
"She's not responding to the chakra shock," one of the people hovering around her said.
"So she's dying - or is she already dead?" another voice demanded.
"No, no," the first voice said. "Her chakra levels is decent. She should be alright. But she's in a coma now."
"When will she wake up?"
"We really don't know..."
Something loud crashed to the ground nearby. It was difficult for Tenten to keep herself from reacting to sudden sounds like that, but she fought hard to maintain her stable chakra flow and keep up the appearance of being unconscious.
"Lord Danzo needs the information that she has," the angry voice hissed. "She knows about Kakashi's plan. Things are moving beyond our control right now. We need that information."
"I understand, but there's not much we can do... perhaps at the hospital she might get."
"No," the angry voice turned firm. "You do the best you can - I want your full attention to this. You'll get the help of the other team too, once they've finished healing Lord Danzo."
So Danzo was injured. That was interesting. Tenten found it easier to fake a comatose state when she was busy thinking. And now there was something to think about. Hopefully, lying here under the care of the Anbu, supposedly comatose, she would hear a lot more information. She just had to hold out against their efforts to wake her up.
Another Chakra shock hit her, the power running like fire through her whole body. Luckily, they hadn't taken her scrolls off her so she was able to quickly and efficiently siphon most of the excess chakra off into one of them, letting the rest dissipate normally. As long as they didn't have a Hyuga or another sensory expert here she should be fine, but she would have to learn to dissipate the chakra in a less obvious way just in case. It went against all her training to waste chakra like this, but it was part of the mission.
Another jolt of Chakra hit her and this time her body went into an involuntary spasm before settling back down into a new position. She focused on siphoning off the energy into a scroll and this time, she also tried sending it off into the metal of her bed. The results made the Anbu medics attending her very excited for a few seconds before they settled back down.
"Her wound is starting to bleed again," one of the voices said. "Better stop with the chakra jolts for now. She won't be any use to Lord Danzo dead."
...
"Good job, Ino," Shikaku said. His eyes were dark and hollow looking with all the staying up late and thinking. His wife's hand rested gently on his shoulder. "So which one would you recommend we use to get a team out?"
Ino couldn't help feeling a jolt of nervousness. Shikamaru's brilliant father, the Jounin commander, was asking her for her opinion. She pointed down at the unit by the river. "They're not the most inexperienced, but they are the most mentally vulnerable," she said. "After watching them I think that a skilled team could use the mind transfer on that tall one and then use him to fool the others into thinking everything was ok. They're a newly formed team and not very used to each other yet. That way no one would know our team got through there and we could keep using them to spy on the border guards."
"Excellent," Shikaku said. "And if we attack those other two teams openly at the same time it should provide enough of a distraction. Now, let's put the teams together..."
"Sir," Ino said. "With your permission I'd like to be on the team watching the vicinity of Shikamaru's prison."
"That team does need one more member, but it would be difficult to get you close enough to it without arousing suspicion as you are Shikamaru's teammate."
"Our house is pretty close to the place," Kiba said in his same too loud too excited voice. He leaned over her towards the map to point out his house, as if none of them knew where it was. Ino pursed her lips and inched away from him. He was only trying to be helpful, but she really didn't like him.
"You're only engaged, son," his mother said. "It would not be appropriate for Ino to stay at our house for more than a couple of hours. Nor would it be unnoticed..."
That gave Ino an idea.
"I could be taken ill or injured near your house," Ino suggested. "You would carry me inside to help me recover and then we could put on a show of mom coming over to check on me and staying with me because I'm very ill and so on. I could use the mind transfer Jutsu on someone through the window - to get myself even closer to the prison..."
She trailed off. Shikamaru had a knack for making his plans sound effortless and matter of fact - a kind of lazy way of making them seem so obvious that others gained confidence in them. Ino did not have this particular quality, but the others around her were nodding.
"Excellent," Kiba's mother said. "You and Kiba can take a stroll in those gardens down the road from our house and you can go from there."
Kiba turned completely red again. Ino tried not to sigh or roll her eyes. This fake engagement really was troublesome. But Shikamaru needed her, she wasn't about to let her dislike for Kiba get in the way of helping her friend.
...
Hinata set herself down on the ground in the doorway of Lee's dojo, her back resting against the door frame. This position provided her with a good view of both the inside and outside of the room. They had not yet had a chance to recover and catch their breaths, so they sat there, resting in silence and looking around them. Sasuke and his teammates were gravely injured and their Chakra levels were very low. Hinata examined their injuries with her byakugan. Lee had done a quick patch-up job on them, but they would need a more professional healer to actually get them up and about.
Sakura finished looking at Naruto's wounds and gave him a gentle tap on the shoulder. She stood up and began walking over to the most gravely injured of Sasuke's friends, a big, muscular man with a bird sitting protectively on his shoulder. Shino put out a hand to block Sakura's path. Hinata noticed that Lee, too, was shaking his head. She remembered that conversation in the village - it felt like ages ago, but it was really only a few days ago. They had vowed, all of them except Naruto that is, to deal with Sasuke themselves. And here he was, lying helpless before them. Well, perhaps not completely helpless. She was sure he would be able to defend himself to some extent were they to attack him. But did they want to?
Hinata was not sure how much of the rumors about Kakashi sensei were true. She knew that he did not accept Danzo as Hokage, but beyond that she could never be sure. Was he really working with Sasuke? Unless Sasuke had had some kind of change of heart, this did not seem likely. She looked down at him and felt pity. He had not looked around at any of them, had not made any moved to indicate that he was conscious or aware of their presence, but Hinata could tell from the excessive stiffness and stillness and from his chakra that he was wide awake and completely conscious of his surroundings. Weak, perhaps, but he would not be caught off guard.
Shino and Kakashi sensei were both ushering the others out now. Perhaps to talk about their plan. A surge of happiness welled up inside Hinata when she remembered that she was outside the Hyuga compound and the village, unaccompanied by Neji, free to act independently and help her friends. She smiled and Kakashi sensei's eyes smiled back at her.
Lee closed the door behind them and led them to a small clearing up the path where some conveniently placed logs and rocks made for good seats.
"Kakashi Sensei," Lee said. "I am not sure what you three plan to do. I know from the rumors that you are working against Danzo and that you want to get justice for people the Anbu have wronged, but we need to decide what to do about Sasuke."
"Thank you for helping him, Lee," Kakashi said gesturing around the circle to the others. "I know that you and the others had decided to do something about Sasuke yourselves before all this and I appreciate that you did not jump to action right away."
"But I did jump to action," Lee said. "I helped him when he was injured despite the fact that he has abandoned the village and his comrades and attacked many people. I am unsure if what I did by helping him was right or wrong. If he goes on to attack more innocent people I may regret it. That is why we need to decide what to do."
"First," Naruto said. "Can someone tell me why you guys are out of the village?"
Hinata fought against the sudden feeling of guilt that always accompanied someone staring straight at her. She had not done anything wrong. And certainly nothing that she would be answerable to Naruto for.
"It would take too long to explain the details," Shino said. "But we knew of the trap that was being set for Sakura and we did not have much time to act so it was decided that out team would be the best team to come help her."
"But why did Kiba go back?" Sakura said. "Is it safe for him?"
"Kiba is needed back in the village," Hinata said. "And since the battle took place near his family's training grounds he had a perfect excuse to be there."
"Yeah, but he'll need to explain why he helped me!" Sakura said.
"We all know Kiba," Shino said. "He acts before he thinks. He saw a friend under attack. He has a cover story and he's good at withstanding interrogation. Don't worry about him."
"What we need to worry about now is Sasuke," Lee said, steering the conversation back to their problem. "If we heal him up and allow him to recover will he follow your orders? Will we be able to restrain him? If we do restrain him will that masked Akatsuki come back to get him out"
"What?" they all said at the same time.
"He was here," Lee said. There was no hint of fear in his voice, but he was very serious as he explained. "He told me I was free to heal Sasuke up and that Sasuke would go to him of his own free will soon enough. We cannot allow Sasuke to join the Akatsuki."
Hinata looked back at the closed door. She felt a sudden kinship with Sasuke. He might be a rogue ninja but he was really being used by all these people from Orochimaru to the Akatsuki. When would he be able to break free of the chains that he was under?
"Kakashi Sensei," Hinata spoke up. "Why is Sasuke attacking Danzo? Is it at the orders of the Akatsuki? Is there really a five nation alliance with Danzo at the helm?"
"This will take a while," Kakashi said, "But I think we must invest in a few minutes of calm storytelling so that we all have all the facts before any confrontation begins."
...
"Did you make the report, son?" his mother demanded. Kiba looked around nervously. He knew that as soon as she was satisfied that that was done he would have to go on that walk with Ino. What had he gotten himself into?
"Yeah," he said simply.
"And?"
"They told me they might ask me to come back in for questioning later on. They asked about Hinata a lot and when I told them the story about her wanting to make a break for freedom out of the village they told me to wait as long as possible before informing her father."
His mother growled. This was why the Anbu had had no trouble believing him when he said he had not accompanied Hinata because if he left the village his mother would skin him alive. Right now, staring at her angry face, he almost believed it.
"They said it was because they hoped the Anbu would be able to bring her back," he explained. "But we all know they to hurt Hiyashi now that he's openly opposing Danzo."
"And what did you tell them about why you fought with Sakura?"
Kiba sighed. The one person whose interrogations he could not withstand was his mother, but at least she had made him stronger for any other interrogations she would have to put up with.
"Just like we agreed, mom: I told them that we were just trying to get Hinata out of the village quickly and when we got spotted by the Anbu we wanted to distract them from Hinata's escape so Shino and I jumped in."
"Did they seem to believe you?"
"I dunno," Kiba shrugged. "They didn't ask too many more questions. They honestly didn't seem to care. They think it's a good thing that Hinata's left the village and they didn't seem to care that I fought with or against them as long as I came back and reported like a good little lapdog."
"Oh, they care," his mother said, getting to her feet. "They just don't want to antagonize any more clans right now. They're trying to keep a lid on this and stop it from turning into a civil war."
"Why don't we hurry it up then?" Kiba asked.
"All in good time, son, for now it's in our best interest to keep the villagers as safe as possible by playing it safe. At least until we hear the news from outside the village. Now, your walk with Ino. Go take a shower and change into something presentable. There's a bouquet of flowers from our field for her lying on your desk, don't forget it."
Kiba sighed and stomped up the stairs. How did his mother expect him to be a mature, married adult if she kept ordering him around like this? Ino didn't need more flowers in her life, did she? It was all so stupid.
...
A sudden surge of chakra brought Shikamaru out of his meditative state. His hand gave way and, since he was currently balancing on it with only the tiniest edge of his foot tucked into the windowsill he came crashing down to the cold, hard ground. But it didn't matter. He had done it. A wonderful, nourishing jolt of new chakra had built up inside him. He could literally feel that his Chakra reserve had grown. It might only be the tiniest increase, but he knew how it felt now.
"You ok, kid?" a voice came from the old man's cell.
"Yeah, I think I just felt something."
"Great," the voice sounded excited. It must be really boring in this prison if this was enough to get the man worked up. "Now you always have to push yourself a little further than you think you need to so switch to your left arm and keep going."
Shikamaru ignored this advice and sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor. He put his hands behind his head and lowered himself into his favorite cloud watching pose. With his eyes closed he focused in on his Chakra. He knew how it felt now to build his Chakra up, so maybe he could do it without the ridiculous and tiring poses? The two cloud ninja began arguing again, but he had learned to block them out long ago. He let every single one of his muscles relax until all he could feel was his chakra and he tried to picture it getting bigger, like a shadow he was trying to extend.
...
The message came hours and hours after they expected it. News of the battles on the outskirts of the village had already spread. Choji and the others had done their best to help spread the news, working hard to spread the rumor that Sasuke was targeting the Anbu and that the Anbu's openness had put the entire village in danger as they worked on their mundane building tasks.
"I heard he actually defeated Danzo," one girl was saying as she painted a door nearby. "And that Danzo only managed to escape at the last minute. And that he has such a huge team working with him... it must be them."
"They tore up half the countryside looking for him and now they're here," someone else said. "We might as well send out some elite units and go after them instead of sitting here under this imposed curfew-"
"But it's the Hokage's orders!" a Chunin gasped.
"Well, child," an older granny said. "The Hokage doesn't always know what's best and clearly this particular decision has been proven ineffective. People who really want to get out, like that Hyuga girl and the twenty teams her father sent out looking for her, have no problem leaving. And clearly Sasuke isn't having much trouble getting in through that Anbu barrier either. It's only good, law-abiding citizens like us who get stuck here painting walls when we could be doing something useful."
What they did not know was that Danzo wanted to keep them in the village so he could keep controlling them, not so he could protect them, but that detail didn't matter now. Opposition to Danzo was growing openly. And most importantly the plan to blame those attacks on Sasuke had worked. Hopefully their team was outside now, gathering information to send back in so they could make their final arrangements before the impending battle with Danzo.
"I heard that Sasuke has people working inside the village," Choji said. "Disguised as Anbu. That way he can get whoever he wants and intimidate whoever he wants and no one will complain, because they think it's the Anbu and they're scared of speaking out."
"Shhhh," a boy next to him said. "Are you crazy. Keep your mouth shut or they'll take you in like they took in your friend."
Choji shrugged. An hour later he heard someone whispering his 'theory' outside the vegetable shop. He grabbed the food his mother had asked for and hurried home to hear the real news.
...
"Sasuke?" a hesitant little female voice interrupted him. Sasuke continued staring at the roof, but he could see that it was Hinata with the edge of his eye. She sat down on a nearby mat, as if afraid to get too close to the scary Akatsuki. Why was she even here? He knew they had been talking about him out there, but why would they choose this timid little girl to tell him their decision? Did they think he would hesitate to be cruel to her? If so, they were sorely mistaken.
"Well," he said impatiently. "What did you all decide in your little meeting out there? They can't have sent you to kill me on your own!"
"They haven't decided anything yet," she said earnestly. She didn't even bother trying to reassure him that they weren't going to kill him and that they were his friends. At least that was a refreshing change from Naruto.
"I wanted to talk to you about something else."
"I'm not interested," Sasuke said. "You can go back out there and tell them that they can decide whatever they want, but they can't stop me."
There was a long silence, but of course she didn't leave him alone. Sasuke huffed impatiently, but even as he made the gesture he wondered what he was so impatient about. He had nothing to do, until he was healed but stare up at this ceiling and remember that arm with those eyes embedded inside it. Nothing to do but descend into his well of personal misery and helplessness.
"You're going to try and stop me from healing to keep me here, aren't you?" he said, suddenly realizing the possibility.
"I don't know," Hinata said. "They're still talking. What I do know is that no matter what someone does to keep another person locked up they will eventually get out if they want to. Even I did and I'm not nearly as strong as you."
Sasuke could not comprehend people who so casually and matter of factly admitted their own weakness.
"I think what we're most afraid of is that you won't want to be free," Hinata spoke up again. "That after Danzo is defeated you'll just find it easier to fall under the control of another... of that man..."
That chill swept through his whole body again. Madara had been so sure that Sasuke would come to him, just like Orochimaru. And Sasuke had ended up going to Orochimaru. He had wanted the power in order to defeat his brother, but he had not expected how much it would hurt to be kept at someone's bidding, like a pet. He had not predicted that burning feeling of being watched and analyzed by Orochimaru and Kabuto like the rest of their lab rats. It stung. He had killed Orochimaru because of that sting. Did they all really think he was weak enough to put himself in that position again?
When you've killed Danzo and you're left with an emptiness inside - a lack of purpose - what are you going to turn to?
Sasuke turned to look at Hinata. Anything to get his mind off those words that Kakashi had said. Those words that still rang in his ears. He had already felt that emptiness. Right after killing his brother he had felt that lack of purpose gnawing at his insides. His supposed victory had left him hollow. And then, soon after, Madara had come to him and brought him out of that emptiness and into another world of gnawing, burning, dark anger by telling him about Danzo.
Hinata inched closer. Sasuke made an abrupt, involuntary shooing gesture, but she just kept coming closer until her hand was almost touching his. She hesitated, looking down at him as if she was having some kind of raging mental battle.
But she wasn't weak. Her hesitation was born out of a discomfort with how other people saw her. She did not doubt whether he whole life had been for nothing. She did not battle with the guilt of having killed her own brother. She did not wonder if she was simply being lied to and used again. When everyone else left her alone she did not have to wonder who she was.
Finally she seemed to have made up her mind because she grasped his hand in her tiny one and took a deep breath.
"Not being able to say no to someone hurts a lot more than being imprisoned," Hinata whispered, but her voice echoed over and over in his mind. "I was never able to say no to my father. Or to stop dreaming and hoping that he would be impressed with me. I let that weakness hurt me more than any wounds or any imprisonment ever could."
Sasuke was vaguely aware that she was healing him, that chakra was flowing into him through their clasped hands, but all her could see in his mind's eye was his own father.
"Maybe family deserves that kind of painful love," Hinata said. "They all tell me it's just a weakness. What I do know is that it really would be a weakness if you let someone else, someone who isn't even your family, who doesn't even love you at all, have that kind of hold on you."
Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to push her away, but although he was getting stronger by the second he found it too difficult to extract his hand from her vice-like grip.
"You can leave after I heal you, but if you go running to that Akatsuki you know what it will do to you. Stay here, be our prisoner for a little while, and we will help you get your revenge on Danzo without having to hurt yourself like that."
Sasuke did shake her off this time, but maybe that was because she let him. He rolled over to his other side and turned away, but she still sat right next to him, hovering over his shoulder.
"Stay with us and I will personally guarantee that you get to kill Danzo yourself - without having to sell your soul away to anyone."
"And what if Kakashi's method of justice means they sentence Danzo to prison time, or let someone else kill him, or let him get away!" Sasuke yelled. He was panting. He was not sure how, but his anger had propelled him into a sitting position so that he was staring straight at Hinata's Byakugan eyes. Those eyes had someone seen deep inside his soul. But she was just a weak little girl. If Kakashi defeated Danzo and became Hokage and had a big fancy trial for that piece of filth then she would not be able to make any objection.
"If that happens I will help you kill him."
"You'd disobey orders and go rogue just for-"
"Yes," Hinata said firmly. "I make my own decisions now and I never go back on my word. It's my ninja way."
It may as well have been Naruto. Sasuke found it easier to turn away from her when she used Naruto's words like that. He lay back down facing in the opposite direction. For some reason, however, he could not help believing that she would do it. He heard her get up and leave the room.
"I'm going to tell Sakura to heal your friends. I'll say that you promised to stay and that you don't want to talk about it. They won't bother you. Please consider my offer."
That's what it was. An offer. She had healed him even before making her offer. She had allowed him to get stronger and risked that he would leave without even hearing her out. And now she wanted to heal his friends and make everyone else leave him alone, so that he could decide for himself. His mother used to say that you couldn't make someone listen to you, or respect you or love you, you had to allow them to be themselves and show you love and respect in their own way. At the time Sasuke thought she was just trying to make him feel better about his father's disapproval, but now he thought that was just the kind of person she was. And Hinata was just like her.
...
Complete silence. They all listened with bated breath, watched through the bars, but there was no sign of any of the "action" the leaf kid had mentioned. The minutes ticked by.
"Hey, kid, are you ok?" Karui said.
No response.
"What did you mean by 'now it's time to put it to the test'?" she asked again.
"He's probably just going crazy," Omoi said. "He came in here expecting some kind of reward from his friends and ended up in jail instead. That's gotta be hard on the mind of a lazy little kid like him."
"Hey, Omoi, don't insult the kid, he might be able to get us out of here."
Omoi snorted. "That's not likely. Any attempt would probably end in a disaster, anyway, this place is probably very well-guarded. Besides, I think I read about this kid in Sasuke's file, they were friends or something."
"That's enough, you two," Samui said.
There were another few minutes of silence. Kamui started to fear that the kid had actually died. She was not alone. The old man in the other cell over spoke up worriedly.
"Are you alright, son?"
"Will you all please let me think!" the kid said with a long-suffering sigh. "It's really a drag having to work this hard while in jail, especially with so many people arguing."
"Work on what, though?" Karui could not help asking.
...
Shikamaru grinned, but did not reply. He carefully manipulated his new shadow trace so that it moved in the tiny shadow on the right side of the stairs. He did not bother moving, but he could see the stairs in his mind's eye and any minute now...
The footsteps came, slow and rhythmic as usual, and his shadow trace was ready. He felt it connect with the guard's chakra and felt the gentlest of movements as it moved along with the man's shadow, undetected. The guard came to each door and slipped their food in through the small opening at the bottom of the door. No one said anything until the guard's footsteps faded away up the steps again, taking Shikamaru's shadow with it. This should have given him time to think a few more steps ahead, but he was too busy wondering if the others had expected some kind of noisy break-out attempt.
Someone sighed from the next cell over. It occurred to Shikamaru that he might be being cruel by not explaining. After all, these ninja had been trapped down here for many days and Ino had always told him that it made people crazy when they couldn't guess what someone was thinking.
"Listen," Shikamaru said. "There aren't going to be any loud and spectacular break-out attempts any time soon. In fact, I'd rather stay in here for now, it'll be much easier to command the situation from in here where I have relative safety and quiet in which to think."
"Ahhh... I thought you sounded like a Nara," the old man said. "Didn't get a good look at you when you came in... I'm almost blind now."
"What does that mean, a Nara?" the impatient cloud ninja said.
"It's a leaf village clan," her much calmer team leader said. "Known for being excellent battle commanders. You don't want to let one of them get control of a battle situation or you could be in big trouble..."
"That's if you're on opposite sides of the battle," Shikamaru said. The guard he had a trace on had stopped moving. He must be standing guard somewhere on a floor up above. Time to test out his newly expanded Chakra reserves.
"I can't properly introduce myself," he said, making another shadow trace and extending his shadow as far as it would go in the middle of the cell floor and under the bars and around to the cloud ninja's cell. He concentrated hard, trying to mold the shadow trace in a way he never had before. Someone gasped appreciatively from the next cell over.
"So allow me to introduce my shadow," Shikamaru said. He was pleased to find that even while manipulating his two - no three shadow traces (one was still attached to Shizune) - he was still able to keep up the slow, but steady chakra training he has just learned and keep his chakra reserves steady. E
"It looks just like you!" the more pessimistic of the cloud ninja said. "Do you use it to send messages."
"Well," Shikamaru said. "I will be doing that today, but normally I would use it to paralyze or strangle or stab an opponent in battle."
"Enough games," the cloud team leader said. "What's your plan?"
"It would be too troublesome to explain," Shikamaru said. "I need to focus on manipulating it properly."
"And we're supposed to trust you and sit here waiting for your miraculous plan?"
"Well, it's not like we have much choice."
"Look," Shikamaru said. "Don't trust me. Just let me have some silence so I can think."
"One last question," the impatient one said. "Did you use this to find us when you came down here with those others...?"
"Yes."
They gave him the silence they needed after that, and perhaps a little trust too. Shikamaru would need it. He concentrated on counting the steps as soon as the man with his trace on him started moving. He tried to picture the building in his mind's eye from when he'd entered it before. Finally, he was certain that the man was outside and interacting with others because the shadow kept connecting with other new shadows and the man's movement became irregular, sometimes moving sometimes stopping for minutes at a time.
Shikamaru waited. There were not many people whose shadows he would recognize, but his trace was bound to get to one of them eventually. It was a little dizzying trying to focus on so many different shadows and chakras as the man moved, but finally the shadow came into contact with one that was very vaguely familiar. He could not figure out whose it was, but it felt like a familiar shadow, one that his shadow had merged with on a few occasions. That was a start. What he really needed was Ino's jutsu so he could see what was happening to his shadaow traces. he was starting to get tired and had lost track of any mental map.
A Hyuga shadow running past. Perhaps even Hiyashi Hyuga's himself. Shikamary split his shadow trace one more time and attached to it, hoping against hope that it was someone who would get him where he needed to go. He closed his eyes. Four shadow traces were dizzying. He had to build up his chakra while he did this or he would run out again soon. He had to take advantage of these quiet moments before they were gone.
Sasuke felt nauseous. His eyes flew open and he struggled to a more upright position, balancing on his elbows. The nausea subsided, but the sunlight streaming in through the windows only forced him to face his failure. He had been unable to look at those eyes, garishly stuck inside that murderer's arm, and move beyond them. He had been unable to ignore them and keep his head. His entire body had been gripped by horror, moving only because team Taka had been moving, moving only because it would have burned his heart even more to stand still. He had been unable to stop himself from wondering, imagining, that those eyes belonged to his parents, or to that kind aunt with the sweet shop down the road who had always given him free snacks or...
This time he really did throw up.
He fell back down on his pillow, every muscle in his body in pain and rolled over so that he wouldn't have to see his vomit. He came face to face with a sleeping Jugo. Jugo had almost died for his, Sasuke's, cause and only because Sasuke had been incapacitated by the sight of those eyes.
"It's not your fault, Sasuke," Jugo said tiredly. "I would follow you into that same battle again and again."
"But I..."
"We didn't agree to join your team because you were strong or cruel. We joined you because we believe in you... because you're not as dark and cruel as you think you are."
Sasuke closed his eyes again. "But I wanted to be cruel then, in that one battle, so I could finish him! He deserved to be killed. I was more cruel to my own brother when I fought him!"
Another pang of pain in his eyes. Not Itachi's eyes too.
"But they were your family..." Jugo whispered. "We all have someone whose memory makes us weak."
Sasuke's eyes began to sting. He kept them tightly shut.
"You only failed because you thought you could do this on your own."
That was not Jugo's voice. Or Suygetsu's. Or Karin's. It was the voice of the darkness inside him. The voice of Madara Uchiha: the masked Akatsuki. Sasuke did not turn or open his eyes as the Akatsuki leader continued.
"You thought Kakashi could help you. What is Kakashi in the grand scheme of things? He's just a little insignificant piece of trash who has never been able to save his friends. You need me, you need the might of the Akatsuki."
"If you want to get Sasuke then you're going to have to go through me," Lee's voice broke in. "He's under my care right now!"
"Oh by all means keep him and heal him up. He'll come to me when he's ready."
A chill went up Sasuke's spine and he heard a crashing sound behind him. He did not look around. Lee was loudly nursing his own wounds. Madara was gone. He'll come to me when he's ready. Those words, familiar words that he had heard before.
...
"But it takes a long time to learn how to increase it, a lot of training, and a lot of stillness for a kid."
Shikamaru grinned. Kid, eh? Well, luckily enough he was a kid who thrived on stillness. Now he just had to put that stillness to good use. It would be troublesome, but the ceiling of this jail cell was boring and the ground was hard. He was getting tired of just lying here.
He slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, crossing his legs in front of him and taking up the pose that the older ninja in the next cell had described. It was a strange pose where he had to put his palms to the ground and slowly lift his body up off the ground a few inches. It was hard on the muscles. This was going to be such a drag. Shikamaru didn't want to build - or destroy - his muscles, he just wanted more chakra.
"Are you in position?" the old man asked.
Shikamaru ignored him, focusing his energy, like he had instructed, on chakra awareness. This part was not too difficult. Shikamaru was good at Chakra control. He had to be when he had so little of it.
"Well, kid?"
Shikamaru sighed. "I thought you said not to talk when I was in position?"
"Just answer the question," one of the Cloud ninja said from the next cell over. That reminded Shikamaru that no one had bothered releasing them yet, or even questioning them. Proof, for anyone with half a brain, that it had really been the Anbu and not Shikamaru who had put them here.
"He's never going to master it, even if we stay in this jail for another fifty years," another one of the cloud ninja said. "I heard his clan have notoriously low Chakra levels."
This was true, but as his mother had a huge Chakra reserve Shikamaru felt he had a chance. His arm was already starting to hurt, but he closed his eyes and focused on the task at hand. The old man had said to try and picture the chakra flow in his body, he had said that would help, but Shikamaru suspected that was only helpful for people who couldn't handle not seeing things with their own eyes and always needed a visual image before them. He settled, instead, on deepening the darkness and feeling the chakra, focusing on it the way he focused on his shadow.
"Ok, it's been five minutes," the man's voice broke through his meditation. "Switch arms now."
"Seriously?" Shikamaru said. "I just now began to focus on my chakra."
"Doesn't matter kid, this fast method only works because it's a combination of meditation and physical exercise. You have to keep stopping and switching poses."
...
"She's not responding to the chakra shock," one of the people hovering around her said.
"So she's dying - or is she already dead?" another voice demanded.
"No, no," the first voice said. "Her chakra levels is decent. She should be alright. But she's in a coma now."
"When will she wake up?"
"We really don't know..."
Something loud crashed to the ground nearby. It was difficult for Tenten to keep herself from reacting to sudden sounds like that, but she fought hard to maintain her stable chakra flow and keep up the appearance of being unconscious.
"Lord Danzo needs the information that she has," the angry voice hissed. "She knows about Kakashi's plan. Things are moving beyond our control right now. We need that information."
"I understand, but there's not much we can do... perhaps at the hospital she might get."
"No," the angry voice turned firm. "You do the best you can - I want your full attention to this. You'll get the help of the other team too, once they've finished healing Lord Danzo."
So Danzo was injured. That was interesting. Tenten found it easier to fake a comatose state when she was busy thinking. And now there was something to think about. Hopefully, lying here under the care of the Anbu, supposedly comatose, she would hear a lot more information. She just had to hold out against their efforts to wake her up.
Another Chakra shock hit her, the power running like fire through her whole body. Luckily, they hadn't taken her scrolls off her so she was able to quickly and efficiently siphon most of the excess chakra off into one of them, letting the rest dissipate normally. As long as they didn't have a Hyuga or another sensory expert here she should be fine, but she would have to learn to dissipate the chakra in a less obvious way just in case. It went against all her training to waste chakra like this, but it was part of the mission.
Another jolt of Chakra hit her and this time her body went into an involuntary spasm before settling back down into a new position. She focused on siphoning off the energy into a scroll and this time, she also tried sending it off into the metal of her bed. The results made the Anbu medics attending her very excited for a few seconds before they settled back down.
"Her wound is starting to bleed again," one of the voices said. "Better stop with the chakra jolts for now. She won't be any use to Lord Danzo dead."
...
"Good job, Ino," Shikaku said. His eyes were dark and hollow looking with all the staying up late and thinking. His wife's hand rested gently on his shoulder. "So which one would you recommend we use to get a team out?"
Ino couldn't help feeling a jolt of nervousness. Shikamaru's brilliant father, the Jounin commander, was asking her for her opinion. She pointed down at the unit by the river. "They're not the most inexperienced, but they are the most mentally vulnerable," she said. "After watching them I think that a skilled team could use the mind transfer on that tall one and then use him to fool the others into thinking everything was ok. They're a newly formed team and not very used to each other yet. That way no one would know our team got through there and we could keep using them to spy on the border guards."
"Excellent," Shikaku said. "And if we attack those other two teams openly at the same time it should provide enough of a distraction. Now, let's put the teams together..."
"Sir," Ino said. "With your permission I'd like to be on the team watching the vicinity of Shikamaru's prison."
"That team does need one more member, but it would be difficult to get you close enough to it without arousing suspicion as you are Shikamaru's teammate."
"Our house is pretty close to the place," Kiba said in his same too loud too excited voice. He leaned over her towards the map to point out his house, as if none of them knew where it was. Ino pursed her lips and inched away from him. He was only trying to be helpful, but she really didn't like him.
"You're only engaged, son," his mother said. "It would not be appropriate for Ino to stay at our house for more than a couple of hours. Nor would it be unnoticed..."
That gave Ino an idea.
"I could be taken ill or injured near your house," Ino suggested. "You would carry me inside to help me recover and then we could put on a show of mom coming over to check on me and staying with me because I'm very ill and so on. I could use the mind transfer Jutsu on someone through the window - to get myself even closer to the prison..."
She trailed off. Shikamaru had a knack for making his plans sound effortless and matter of fact - a kind of lazy way of making them seem so obvious that others gained confidence in them. Ino did not have this particular quality, but the others around her were nodding.
"Excellent," Kiba's mother said. "You and Kiba can take a stroll in those gardens down the road from our house and you can go from there."
Kiba turned completely red again. Ino tried not to sigh or roll her eyes. This fake engagement really was troublesome. But Shikamaru needed her, she wasn't about to let her dislike for Kiba get in the way of helping her friend.
...
Hinata set herself down on the ground in the doorway of Lee's dojo, her back resting against the door frame. This position provided her with a good view of both the inside and outside of the room. They had not yet had a chance to recover and catch their breaths, so they sat there, resting in silence and looking around them. Sasuke and his teammates were gravely injured and their Chakra levels were very low. Hinata examined their injuries with her byakugan. Lee had done a quick patch-up job on them, but they would need a more professional healer to actually get them up and about.
Sakura finished looking at Naruto's wounds and gave him a gentle tap on the shoulder. She stood up and began walking over to the most gravely injured of Sasuke's friends, a big, muscular man with a bird sitting protectively on his shoulder. Shino put out a hand to block Sakura's path. Hinata noticed that Lee, too, was shaking his head. She remembered that conversation in the village - it felt like ages ago, but it was really only a few days ago. They had vowed, all of them except Naruto that is, to deal with Sasuke themselves. And here he was, lying helpless before them. Well, perhaps not completely helpless. She was sure he would be able to defend himself to some extent were they to attack him. But did they want to?
Hinata was not sure how much of the rumors about Kakashi sensei were true. She knew that he did not accept Danzo as Hokage, but beyond that she could never be sure. Was he really working with Sasuke? Unless Sasuke had had some kind of change of heart, this did not seem likely. She looked down at him and felt pity. He had not looked around at any of them, had not made any moved to indicate that he was conscious or aware of their presence, but Hinata could tell from the excessive stiffness and stillness and from his chakra that he was wide awake and completely conscious of his surroundings. Weak, perhaps, but he would not be caught off guard.
Shino and Kakashi sensei were both ushering the others out now. Perhaps to talk about their plan. A surge of happiness welled up inside Hinata when she remembered that she was outside the Hyuga compound and the village, unaccompanied by Neji, free to act independently and help her friends. She smiled and Kakashi sensei's eyes smiled back at her.
Lee closed the door behind them and led them to a small clearing up the path where some conveniently placed logs and rocks made for good seats.
"Kakashi Sensei," Lee said. "I am not sure what you three plan to do. I know from the rumors that you are working against Danzo and that you want to get justice for people the Anbu have wronged, but we need to decide what to do about Sasuke."
"Thank you for helping him, Lee," Kakashi said gesturing around the circle to the others. "I know that you and the others had decided to do something about Sasuke yourselves before all this and I appreciate that you did not jump to action right away."
"But I did jump to action," Lee said. "I helped him when he was injured despite the fact that he has abandoned the village and his comrades and attacked many people. I am unsure if what I did by helping him was right or wrong. If he goes on to attack more innocent people I may regret it. That is why we need to decide what to do."
"First," Naruto said. "Can someone tell me why you guys are out of the village?"
Hinata fought against the sudden feeling of guilt that always accompanied someone staring straight at her. She had not done anything wrong. And certainly nothing that she would be answerable to Naruto for.
"It would take too long to explain the details," Shino said. "But we knew of the trap that was being set for Sakura and we did not have much time to act so it was decided that out team would be the best team to come help her."
"But why did Kiba go back?" Sakura said. "Is it safe for him?"
"Kiba is needed back in the village," Hinata said. "And since the battle took place near his family's training grounds he had a perfect excuse to be there."
"Yeah, but he'll need to explain why he helped me!" Sakura said.
"We all know Kiba," Shino said. "He acts before he thinks. He saw a friend under attack. He has a cover story and he's good at withstanding interrogation. Don't worry about him."
"What we need to worry about now is Sasuke," Lee said, steering the conversation back to their problem. "If we heal him up and allow him to recover will he follow your orders? Will we be able to restrain him? If we do restrain him will that masked Akatsuki come back to get him out"
"What?" they all said at the same time.
"He was here," Lee said. There was no hint of fear in his voice, but he was very serious as he explained. "He told me I was free to heal Sasuke up and that Sasuke would go to him of his own free will soon enough. We cannot allow Sasuke to join the Akatsuki."
Hinata looked back at the closed door. She felt a sudden kinship with Sasuke. He might be a rogue ninja but he was really being used by all these people from Orochimaru to the Akatsuki. When would he be able to break free of the chains that he was under?
"Kakashi Sensei," Hinata spoke up. "Why is Sasuke attacking Danzo? Is it at the orders of the Akatsuki? Is there really a five nation alliance with Danzo at the helm?"
"This will take a while," Kakashi said, "But I think we must invest in a few minutes of calm storytelling so that we all have all the facts before any confrontation begins."
...
"Did you make the report, son?" his mother demanded. Kiba looked around nervously. He knew that as soon as she was satisfied that that was done he would have to go on that walk with Ino. What had he gotten himself into?
"Yeah," he said simply.
"And?"
"They told me they might ask me to come back in for questioning later on. They asked about Hinata a lot and when I told them the story about her wanting to make a break for freedom out of the village they told me to wait as long as possible before informing her father."
His mother growled. This was why the Anbu had had no trouble believing him when he said he had not accompanied Hinata because if he left the village his mother would skin him alive. Right now, staring at her angry face, he almost believed it.
"They said it was because they hoped the Anbu would be able to bring her back," he explained. "But we all know they to hurt Hiyashi now that he's openly opposing Danzo."
"And what did you tell them about why you fought with Sakura?"
Kiba sighed. The one person whose interrogations he could not withstand was his mother, but at least she had made him stronger for any other interrogations she would have to put up with.
"Just like we agreed, mom: I told them that we were just trying to get Hinata out of the village quickly and when we got spotted by the Anbu we wanted to distract them from Hinata's escape so Shino and I jumped in."
"Did they seem to believe you?"
"I dunno," Kiba shrugged. "They didn't ask too many more questions. They honestly didn't seem to care. They think it's a good thing that Hinata's left the village and they didn't seem to care that I fought with or against them as long as I came back and reported like a good little lapdog."
"Oh, they care," his mother said, getting to her feet. "They just don't want to antagonize any more clans right now. They're trying to keep a lid on this and stop it from turning into a civil war."
"Why don't we hurry it up then?" Kiba asked.
"All in good time, son, for now it's in our best interest to keep the villagers as safe as possible by playing it safe. At least until we hear the news from outside the village. Now, your walk with Ino. Go take a shower and change into something presentable. There's a bouquet of flowers from our field for her lying on your desk, don't forget it."
Kiba sighed and stomped up the stairs. How did his mother expect him to be a mature, married adult if she kept ordering him around like this? Ino didn't need more flowers in her life, did she? It was all so stupid.
...
A sudden surge of chakra brought Shikamaru out of his meditative state. His hand gave way and, since he was currently balancing on it with only the tiniest edge of his foot tucked into the windowsill he came crashing down to the cold, hard ground. But it didn't matter. He had done it. A wonderful, nourishing jolt of new chakra had built up inside him. He could literally feel that his Chakra reserve had grown. It might only be the tiniest increase, but he knew how it felt now.
"You ok, kid?" a voice came from the old man's cell.
"Yeah, I think I just felt something."
"Great," the voice sounded excited. It must be really boring in this prison if this was enough to get the man worked up. "Now you always have to push yourself a little further than you think you need to so switch to your left arm and keep going."
Shikamaru ignored this advice and sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor. He put his hands behind his head and lowered himself into his favorite cloud watching pose. With his eyes closed he focused in on his Chakra. He knew how it felt now to build his Chakra up, so maybe he could do it without the ridiculous and tiring poses? The two cloud ninja began arguing again, but he had learned to block them out long ago. He let every single one of his muscles relax until all he could feel was his chakra and he tried to picture it getting bigger, like a shadow he was trying to extend.
...
The message came hours and hours after they expected it. News of the battles on the outskirts of the village had already spread. Choji and the others had done their best to help spread the news, working hard to spread the rumor that Sasuke was targeting the Anbu and that the Anbu's openness had put the entire village in danger as they worked on their mundane building tasks.
"I heard he actually defeated Danzo," one girl was saying as she painted a door nearby. "And that Danzo only managed to escape at the last minute. And that he has such a huge team working with him... it must be them."
"They tore up half the countryside looking for him and now they're here," someone else said. "We might as well send out some elite units and go after them instead of sitting here under this imposed curfew-"
"But it's the Hokage's orders!" a Chunin gasped.
"Well, child," an older granny said. "The Hokage doesn't always know what's best and clearly this particular decision has been proven ineffective. People who really want to get out, like that Hyuga girl and the twenty teams her father sent out looking for her, have no problem leaving. And clearly Sasuke isn't having much trouble getting in through that Anbu barrier either. It's only good, law-abiding citizens like us who get stuck here painting walls when we could be doing something useful."
What they did not know was that Danzo wanted to keep them in the village so he could keep controlling them, not so he could protect them, but that detail didn't matter now. Opposition to Danzo was growing openly. And most importantly the plan to blame those attacks on Sasuke had worked. Hopefully their team was outside now, gathering information to send back in so they could make their final arrangements before the impending battle with Danzo.
"I heard that Sasuke has people working inside the village," Choji said. "Disguised as Anbu. That way he can get whoever he wants and intimidate whoever he wants and no one will complain, because they think it's the Anbu and they're scared of speaking out."
"Shhhh," a boy next to him said. "Are you crazy. Keep your mouth shut or they'll take you in like they took in your friend."
Choji shrugged. An hour later he heard someone whispering his 'theory' outside the vegetable shop. He grabbed the food his mother had asked for and hurried home to hear the real news.
...
"Sasuke?" a hesitant little female voice interrupted him. Sasuke continued staring at the roof, but he could see that it was Hinata with the edge of his eye. She sat down on a nearby mat, as if afraid to get too close to the scary Akatsuki. Why was she even here? He knew they had been talking about him out there, but why would they choose this timid little girl to tell him their decision? Did they think he would hesitate to be cruel to her? If so, they were sorely mistaken.
"Well," he said impatiently. "What did you all decide in your little meeting out there? They can't have sent you to kill me on your own!"
"They haven't decided anything yet," she said earnestly. She didn't even bother trying to reassure him that they weren't going to kill him and that they were his friends. At least that was a refreshing change from Naruto.
"I wanted to talk to you about something else."
"I'm not interested," Sasuke said. "You can go back out there and tell them that they can decide whatever they want, but they can't stop me."
There was a long silence, but of course she didn't leave him alone. Sasuke huffed impatiently, but even as he made the gesture he wondered what he was so impatient about. He had nothing to do, until he was healed but stare up at this ceiling and remember that arm with those eyes embedded inside it. Nothing to do but descend into his well of personal misery and helplessness.
"You're going to try and stop me from healing to keep me here, aren't you?" he said, suddenly realizing the possibility.
"I don't know," Hinata said. "They're still talking. What I do know is that no matter what someone does to keep another person locked up they will eventually get out if they want to. Even I did and I'm not nearly as strong as you."
Sasuke could not comprehend people who so casually and matter of factly admitted their own weakness.
"I think what we're most afraid of is that you won't want to be free," Hinata spoke up again. "That after Danzo is defeated you'll just find it easier to fall under the control of another... of that man..."
That chill swept through his whole body again. Madara had been so sure that Sasuke would come to him, just like Orochimaru. And Sasuke had ended up going to Orochimaru. He had wanted the power in order to defeat his brother, but he had not expected how much it would hurt to be kept at someone's bidding, like a pet. He had not predicted that burning feeling of being watched and analyzed by Orochimaru and Kabuto like the rest of their lab rats. It stung. He had killed Orochimaru because of that sting. Did they all really think he was weak enough to put himself in that position again?
When you've killed Danzo and you're left with an emptiness inside - a lack of purpose - what are you going to turn to?
Sasuke turned to look at Hinata. Anything to get his mind off those words that Kakashi had said. Those words that still rang in his ears. He had already felt that emptiness. Right after killing his brother he had felt that lack of purpose gnawing at his insides. His supposed victory had left him hollow. And then, soon after, Madara had come to him and brought him out of that emptiness and into another world of gnawing, burning, dark anger by telling him about Danzo.
Hinata inched closer. Sasuke made an abrupt, involuntary shooing gesture, but she just kept coming closer until her hand was almost touching his. She hesitated, looking down at him as if she was having some kind of raging mental battle.
But she wasn't weak. Her hesitation was born out of a discomfort with how other people saw her. She did not doubt whether he whole life had been for nothing. She did not battle with the guilt of having killed her own brother. She did not wonder if she was simply being lied to and used again. When everyone else left her alone she did not have to wonder who she was.
Finally she seemed to have made up her mind because she grasped his hand in her tiny one and took a deep breath.
"Not being able to say no to someone hurts a lot more than being imprisoned," Hinata whispered, but her voice echoed over and over in his mind. "I was never able to say no to my father. Or to stop dreaming and hoping that he would be impressed with me. I let that weakness hurt me more than any wounds or any imprisonment ever could."
Sasuke was vaguely aware that she was healing him, that chakra was flowing into him through their clasped hands, but all her could see in his mind's eye was his own father.
"Maybe family deserves that kind of painful love," Hinata said. "They all tell me it's just a weakness. What I do know is that it really would be a weakness if you let someone else, someone who isn't even your family, who doesn't even love you at all, have that kind of hold on you."
Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to push her away, but although he was getting stronger by the second he found it too difficult to extract his hand from her vice-like grip.
"You can leave after I heal you, but if you go running to that Akatsuki you know what it will do to you. Stay here, be our prisoner for a little while, and we will help you get your revenge on Danzo without having to hurt yourself like that."
Sasuke did shake her off this time, but maybe that was because she let him. He rolled over to his other side and turned away, but she still sat right next to him, hovering over his shoulder.
"Stay with us and I will personally guarantee that you get to kill Danzo yourself - without having to sell your soul away to anyone."
"And what if Kakashi's method of justice means they sentence Danzo to prison time, or let someone else kill him, or let him get away!" Sasuke yelled. He was panting. He was not sure how, but his anger had propelled him into a sitting position so that he was staring straight at Hinata's Byakugan eyes. Those eyes had someone seen deep inside his soul. But she was just a weak little girl. If Kakashi defeated Danzo and became Hokage and had a big fancy trial for that piece of filth then she would not be able to make any objection.
"If that happens I will help you kill him."
"You'd disobey orders and go rogue just for-"
"Yes," Hinata said firmly. "I make my own decisions now and I never go back on my word. It's my ninja way."
It may as well have been Naruto. Sasuke found it easier to turn away from her when she used Naruto's words like that. He lay back down facing in the opposite direction. For some reason, however, he could not help believing that she would do it. He heard her get up and leave the room.
"I'm going to tell Sakura to heal your friends. I'll say that you promised to stay and that you don't want to talk about it. They won't bother you. Please consider my offer."
That's what it was. An offer. She had healed him even before making her offer. She had allowed him to get stronger and risked that he would leave without even hearing her out. And now she wanted to heal his friends and make everyone else leave him alone, so that he could decide for himself. His mother used to say that you couldn't make someone listen to you, or respect you or love you, you had to allow them to be themselves and show you love and respect in their own way. At the time Sasuke thought she was just trying to make him feel better about his father's disapproval, but now he thought that was just the kind of person she was. And Hinata was just like her.
...
Complete silence. They all listened with bated breath, watched through the bars, but there was no sign of any of the "action" the leaf kid had mentioned. The minutes ticked by.
"Hey, kid, are you ok?" Karui said.
No response.
"What did you mean by 'now it's time to put it to the test'?" she asked again.
"He's probably just going crazy," Omoi said. "He came in here expecting some kind of reward from his friends and ended up in jail instead. That's gotta be hard on the mind of a lazy little kid like him."
"Hey, Omoi, don't insult the kid, he might be able to get us out of here."
Omoi snorted. "That's not likely. Any attempt would probably end in a disaster, anyway, this place is probably very well-guarded. Besides, I think I read about this kid in Sasuke's file, they were friends or something."
"That's enough, you two," Samui said.
There were another few minutes of silence. Kamui started to fear that the kid had actually died. She was not alone. The old man in the other cell over spoke up worriedly.
"Are you alright, son?"
"Will you all please let me think!" the kid said with a long-suffering sigh. "It's really a drag having to work this hard while in jail, especially with so many people arguing."
"Work on what, though?" Karui could not help asking.
...
Shikamaru grinned, but did not reply. He carefully manipulated his new shadow trace so that it moved in the tiny shadow on the right side of the stairs. He did not bother moving, but he could see the stairs in his mind's eye and any minute now...
The footsteps came, slow and rhythmic as usual, and his shadow trace was ready. He felt it connect with the guard's chakra and felt the gentlest of movements as it moved along with the man's shadow, undetected. The guard came to each door and slipped their food in through the small opening at the bottom of the door. No one said anything until the guard's footsteps faded away up the steps again, taking Shikamaru's shadow with it. This should have given him time to think a few more steps ahead, but he was too busy wondering if the others had expected some kind of noisy break-out attempt.
Someone sighed from the next cell over. It occurred to Shikamaru that he might be being cruel by not explaining. After all, these ninja had been trapped down here for many days and Ino had always told him that it made people crazy when they couldn't guess what someone was thinking.
"Listen," Shikamaru said. "There aren't going to be any loud and spectacular break-out attempts any time soon. In fact, I'd rather stay in here for now, it'll be much easier to command the situation from in here where I have relative safety and quiet in which to think."
"Ahhh... I thought you sounded like a Nara," the old man said. "Didn't get a good look at you when you came in... I'm almost blind now."
"What does that mean, a Nara?" the impatient cloud ninja said.
"It's a leaf village clan," her much calmer team leader said. "Known for being excellent battle commanders. You don't want to let one of them get control of a battle situation or you could be in big trouble..."
"That's if you're on opposite sides of the battle," Shikamaru said. The guard he had a trace on had stopped moving. He must be standing guard somewhere on a floor up above. Time to test out his newly expanded Chakra reserves.
"I can't properly introduce myself," he said, making another shadow trace and extending his shadow as far as it would go in the middle of the cell floor and under the bars and around to the cloud ninja's cell. He concentrated hard, trying to mold the shadow trace in a way he never had before. Someone gasped appreciatively from the next cell over.
"So allow me to introduce my shadow," Shikamaru said. He was pleased to find that even while manipulating his two - no three shadow traces (one was still attached to Shizune) - he was still able to keep up the slow, but steady chakra training he has just learned and keep his chakra reserves steady. E
"It looks just like you!" the more pessimistic of the cloud ninja said. "Do you use it to send messages."
"Well," Shikamaru said. "I will be doing that today, but normally I would use it to paralyze or strangle or stab an opponent in battle."
"Enough games," the cloud team leader said. "What's your plan?"
"It would be too troublesome to explain," Shikamaru said. "I need to focus on manipulating it properly."
"And we're supposed to trust you and sit here waiting for your miraculous plan?"
"Well, it's not like we have much choice."
"Look," Shikamaru said. "Don't trust me. Just let me have some silence so I can think."
"One last question," the impatient one said. "Did you use this to find us when you came down here with those others...?"
"Yes."
They gave him the silence they needed after that, and perhaps a little trust too. Shikamaru would need it. He concentrated on counting the steps as soon as the man with his trace on him started moving. He tried to picture the building in his mind's eye from when he'd entered it before. Finally, he was certain that the man was outside and interacting with others because the shadow kept connecting with other new shadows and the man's movement became irregular, sometimes moving sometimes stopping for minutes at a time.
Shikamaru waited. There were not many people whose shadows he would recognize, but his trace was bound to get to one of them eventually. It was a little dizzying trying to focus on so many different shadows and chakras as the man moved, but finally the shadow came into contact with one that was very vaguely familiar. He could not figure out whose it was, but it felt like a familiar shadow, one that his shadow had merged with on a few occasions. That was a start. What he really needed was Ino's jutsu so he could see what was happening to his shadaow traces. he was starting to get tired and had lost track of any mental map.
A Hyuga shadow running past. Perhaps even Hiyashi Hyuga's himself. Shikamary split his shadow trace one more time and attached to it, hoping against hope that it was someone who would get him where he needed to go. He closed his eyes. Four shadow traces were dizzying. He had to build up his chakra while he did this or he would run out again soon. He had to take advantage of these quiet moments before they were gone.
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