Looking Through the Mist (Old Version)

Ren and her team pulled the Konoha teams together before surrounding them to create a protective rim around them, and it was driving Genma up a wall. Even if he was pretty sure he knew one of them, he couldn’t stand being surrounded by foreign nin. It felt too much like they were being taken as war prisoners.

And as such, he was immediately relieved when their mission called for them to regroup in Suna, as Sakura and Team 9 had managed to recover the Kazekage with the help of several Suna shinobi.

Hopefully there was intel on Akatsuki from the fights that were had. Who knew? Maybe the Kiri shinobi would share their intel on Hoshigaki Kisame if Konoha gave over intel on Uchiha Itachi. Even if it wasn’t much, any piece of information could be vital.

The Kiri nin separated from the group, conversing in their language before a barked laugh from the white-haired one was followed by some shouting from the other three. Not entirely professional, but when the red-haired one in charge (he wasn’t sure what he felt about that being the Nara girl, so he just didn’t think about it. Besides, he had only met her a handful of times, maybe he was remembering her chakra signature wrong.) called them to attention, they all responded quickly and without a single protest.

Kakashi slipped beside him. “You noticed it too? She said we ought to ask the Hokage.”

Well, fuck. And hadn’t she mentioned they would be leaving soon?

This is why he never wanted to work near government. Send him on deadly missions any day, but don’t put him somewhere he has to make administrative decisions. It wasn’t for him and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. He didn’t want to be the one that risked screwing up peoples’ lives. No thank you.

Ren’s mission within Suna ended quickly, and it was made clear that she and her team were ‘welcome’ in the sense that they were too polite to turn out someone who had helped their ally, but they didn’t want shinobi from Kiri in their walls any longer than necessary.

The trip home was unremarkable, but Soo-Jung followed her home, insisting on her explanation. The argument that followed was... Colorful. They traded insults, threw out accusations they rightfully shouldn’t have, and then finally Suigetsu scolded them both for being childish. Ren wasn’t a traitor, the Mizukage knew full well there was a foreign shinobi serving within her ranks, and she had the complete trust not just of the Mizukage, but of everyone on her main team.

That had seemed enough, and while she was still tense around her, Soo-Jung had started spending more time around Ren.

“Seriously, I want to train my team, and if you’re following me around, it’s a distraction.”

“Eh, Chae-Seon-shi, I don’t think I need to remind you that I hold a secret of yours and I don’t trust you. Would it really be such a bad idea to let me trail you a few days, see what I think?”

This girl was just bored. That was the only excuse Ren could think of for why she was still following around.

“Besides, you’re molding the minds of the next generation of Kirigakure shinobi. Why shouldn’t I be worried?”

“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”

Soo-Jung let out the first bright smile Ren could recall seeing… not just from the girl, but probably one of the few since coming to Kiri. The death and destruction had kept smiles rare. “I pride myself on that, glad you finally noticed.

“You know, Soensaengnim talked about giving me a mission, but I declined. Said I wanted to trail you. Learn something about teaching so I could use it in the future. Guess you’re stuck with me, Chae-Seon.”

The flip in personality was slightly concerning, but not all together unexpected. No one was as strict of a person as they tended to be behind the uniform – hence some of the slips while on the Suna mission into more natural personalities – and Soo-Jung (even with her suspicions) had been a fairly relaxed, fun person throughout the mission.

Honestly? Ren should have seen it coming.

As they approached the field where Ren had switched their team training to, Soo-Jung threw her a scroll. “Besides. The Mizukage asked me to hand you this. You guys have had a couple local rebuild missions, but this one is further out, near some of the towns that got hit in the outbreak. She wants to get some of them rebuilt to get some positive lipservice from some of the civilians because your Genin are young and cute. I’m going with, but that’s mostly so there’s extra muscle in case anyone gets ideas about attacking your team.

“We leave in like a week, though, so get some training in with your team. Make sure they know what they’re heading into.” The civilians further out from the capital didn’t have the best idea of shinobi in general, but after the war public opinion was significantly lower than Mei had hoped.

“Thanks. You sure you want to come?”

“It’s this or being thrown in the Academy to teach because I ‘have self-destructive tendencies’ and ‘go on too many consecutive missions with too few breaks’ and Seonsaengnim thinks it would ‘mellow me out’, and honestly being in one place too long drives me up a wall.”

She wasn’t the only one. A lot of the shinobi who got shuffled around the different camps were antsy upon giving a place to stay long-term. Some just hid it better. 

Her students were sparring when she arrived. Though, she supposed, it would be more accurate to say Jae-Un was fighting whichever one came at her first, and the other two were learning to strategize around her.

Mi-Na perked up when she saw Ren. “Seonsaengnim!”

The other two stopped fighting when Mi-Na ran over. At some point she had become close with the three of them, and she smiled. It meant something, something she couldn't define, that they were happy to see her. “We’re heading on a mission in two weeks, alright? So I want the three of you to be training on your downtime, too, but lightly. We don’t need serious injuries just before an out-of-village mission.”

“Ne, Seonsaengnim!” Mi-Na pulled out her notebook. “Where are we going?”

Ren pulled out the scroll before answering, checking the name and location. “Nogeun-Ri. It’s a village to the west, near the dock towns.” She tapped the notebook before dictating the spelling. “You can look it up later if you want. We’re going to be there for a while helping with the rebuild, but you will also have chances to mingle with locals and build ties to the community outside of Kiri.

“Now you girls have been doing a great job with chakra control, so we’re going to start working with jutsu now. Ji-Su, Mi-Na, I can help you two with yours, since my natures are water and air. I have a scroll for you, Jae-Un, but I’m not sure how helpful I’ll be. Worse comes to worst and I track someone down to tutor you in earth jutsu. Sound fair?”

The girls, like many shinobi, were more than eager to start working with jutsu. Like many shinobi, they didn’t think too much about the techniques themselves until Ren pulled them aside.

“You guys aren’t going to get these right away, but I want all of you to think about the practical applications. Tomorrow I expect a short written list.

“Tomorrow we’re going to be rolling, so make sure you’re wearing things you can get dirty.”

“Understood, seonsaengnim!” Jae-Un bowed the girls out before departing. Something about her had been uneasy the whole day, and while Ren had noticed it, she was hesitant to act. They all had baggage, best she wait for her student. If it continued, she would be having a lengthy discussion with her pupil.

She was two steps away from killing Suigetsu and making sure he stayed dead. The lightning arced up her arm, burning and feeling like it was literally ripping at her chakra. Haku had checked repeatedly, but it wasn’t doing any significant damage other than the strain of using an element she wasn’t familiar or natural with.

She was trying to sustain it longer, though, and despite the pain, she had managed a solid ten seconds before the lightning collapsed toward her arms again, dissipating.

She was breathing heavily when Suigetsu walked over. “You’re getting there. You still need some practice, though. Are you okay?”

She was still flinching from the burning sensation. How did Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei use this stuff so regularly like it wasn’t a problem?

“I literally burn myself on a daily basis for you, you asshole. No, I’m not fi-“ There must have been residual lightning chakra in her system, because she felt herself jerk forward and the same burning sensation she felt when she used lightning chakra. She found it hard to breath a moment, and coughed her breaths until she could speak. “No. I’m not fucking fine.”

Suigetsu had gotten tense. “I’m not sure we’re doing this right. That shouldn’t happen…”

“No shit.”

“I’m serious, Deongsaeng. That’s… I’ve never seen a lightning user react like that.”

Ren couldn’t have cared any less at that moment. She coughed through another spasm before gulping in as much oxygen as she could from where she was kneeling on the ground.

Haku was gone, so he couldn’t check her over, and Chojuro had been called for a mission over two hours before. As far as she knew, he was long gone.

Suigetsu’s arms were under hers, lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder. “I’m taking you to the hospital. This is… This is really worrying, Deongsaeng.”

Ren didn’t have the strength to protest or speak, too busy focusing on breathing.

So much for no serious injuries right before a mission.

“She’s not a lightning user?”

Suigetsu shook his head. The medics had sedated Ren and put her in a room to be observed. She had minimal damage to her chakra coils, but some of the tissues in her body were reacting poorly to the lightning around it.

“I mean, she can use it fine, it’s just not her affinity.”

“Have her manifest her chakra around her to look lightning next time before she manipulates it into lightning.” The doctor was older, and it showed then, in the way he regarded Suigetsu. “I’ve met others who decided to take on lightning as a third element, and they had a similar problem. When they’re learning they’re so anxious to get lightning, they don’t realize that the way they manipulate it isn’t letting them control it or protecting their body from it.

“Making the chakra look like lightning out of the body before manipulating it isn’t exactly an official technique, but it’s what I’ve seen work in the past. Make sure you keep an eye on her, though. There was some light damage to the lungs and muscles because of how concentrated the chakra became. The coils are meant for that kind of abuse, especially in a shinobi who’s been doing chakra techniques for years, but the muscles aren’t as able to take long doses of concentrated chakra circulating through them. Even ten seconds can do damage if you aren’t careful.”

Suigetsu nodded. “Is this my fault, because I was pushing her?”

“She could have said no. She could have stopped, but she didn’t. I think you shinobi are a stubborn, stubborn lot.

“Just make sure to take it easy with the lightning, getting the chakra to manifest first, and make sure she’s getting some fluid and taking this,” he passed Suigetsu a bottle of medicine, “for the next few days. She should be fine soon. The muscle damage was bad, but it wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen before. It’ll recover fine, just make sure she’s not pushing it too hard with the lightning. If she goes on a mission, she shouldn't use it at all, and she should take it as easy as she can on her muscles.”

“Understood.”

Suigetsu hated that his teammate, his Deongsaeng, was in the hospital because of something he had inadvertently caused.

He hated even more telling the Mizukage about it. Mei looked down at her desk, concerned.

“Should we even be thinking about training her up for the Kiba if she’s reacted like this?”

Zabuza leaned back. “If that’s what you’re worried about then we might as well not give her one of the swords. She’s too slight for the Kabutowari, and the others are taken. Unless you think she’s suddenly able to defeat Kisame, your plans for her are screwed.”

Ao grunted before replying. “He’s right. It’s either this or you send her back without one. Either way, I’m pretty sure she can handle it. She’s an annoying brat, but she’s tough as nails.”

Suigetsu waited until he was sure the conversation had stalled. “The doctor said she could learn to do it, but she needed to take it easy. I’m pretty sure we could have her on the Kiba quick enough if you let her start using it earlier than we originally planned. Maybe having something that channels lightning chakra – once she gets the basics down – would help.”

Mei looked out the window. “It could help, but it could also just make things worse.”

She paused.

“Suigetsu, how likely is Ren to say something if the Kiba swords are slowly killing her?”

“She wouldn’t. She’d be honored you trusted her and wouldn’t speak against it. She’d take it as a point of pride and try to find a way around it.”

“Are you willing to take responsibility? If she’s hiding something and you don’t catch it, it could be fatal. We need to go into this with our eyes open. This is your comrade, your sister-in-arms. Can you be responsible for watching that she doesn’t hide something serious?”

“We live together, Seonsaengnim. Our whole team does. And her Genin pestered Chojuro about it while we were on our last mission together. Even if I don’t catch it, someone will.”

Mei looked to Zabuza and Ao, an understanding passing through the three of them. “Alright. We’ll go with your plan. You’ll decide when she’s ready, and then you’ll give her the swords. Until that time, you’ll continue training her on lightning chakra. Are we understood?”

Suigetsu nodded, bowing as he was dismissed.

What had he just done?

Kakashi enjoyed pestering people and annoying them as much as any other jounin did, but even he recognized when it was necessary to be serious. Sitting in front of the Hokage, demanding answers why one of his students was serving in the elite positions of another village’s black-ops division was definitely one of those times.

Even if the temptation was there to mess with Tsunade for payback, he had to stay focused on the matter at hand.

“Hatake, I’ve told you as much as I’m going to tell you, now get out of my office!”

Kakashi remained seated where he was. “Not until I get a good explanation for the logic behind sending a twelve-year-old into an active war-zone.”

“We did it all the time in the ninja wars, or have you forgotten?”

“We aren’t at war, Tsunade! We don’t have to send our children into one just for the hell of it! What if she had gotten killed? Were you going to be the one to explain that to her teammates? What about her family? Or were you going to let me do it for you?

“She was twelve years old. There had to be another option!”

“There wasn’t. Now get. Out.” Tsunade hadn't looked up from her desk. She had paperwork in front of her, but she hadn't moved it. Kakashi suspected that was just for show. 

“What if she comes back broken? You remember the wars. I remember the wars. I was that age in the wars. It messed a lot of people up Tsunade. What are you going to do then?

“What about that language the Kiri shinobi speak? Are you going to rip her brain open so you can learn it and use it for intelligence gathering purposes? At what point do you stop and think that these are human beings, not senseless tools?”

“They are soldiers, Kakashi, and you would do well to remember that. Now get out of my office before I have you removed by force.”

“Whatever damage has been done to her, emotionally or physically, I hold you responsible for.”

He was bluffing. He would hold himself as responsible, and he knew it. If he had known, had checked about the arrangements made for his other student, he could have prevented this. But he wanted information, and if a guilt trip was the only way he was going to get it, it was worth a try.

“Get out, Hatake.”

He walked out without the information he wanted, but he knew another source that might have something.

Nara Yoshino wasn’t the biggest fan of her daughter’s teacher. She knew his reputation both for laziness and for reading that poor excuse for literature, even in front of his students. If she knew from an unnamed source that he had gotten her daughter into it, well, that was a fight for another day.

Seeing him walk up through the compound, escorted by a disinterested Chie, she fought the urge to pull out her water whip and run him through the gauntlet. She didn’t want to give him the technique, anyway, with that damn Sharingan.

“Hatake-san. How may I help you?”

His smile would be disarming to a civilian, given his reputation, but Yoshino was a shinobi as much as she was a mother. She wasn’t fooled. “I believe I ran into your daughter on my latest mission.”

Ah. That’s what this was about. “Does she have any titles other than Bloody Flower, then, or are you just here to share information that I already know?” Chie looked intrigued at the mention of her cousin, her eyebrows pulling in like she was trying to piece together a strategy or a complex puzzle.

“I believe I heard the term ‘sunbae’ used, but I’m not sure. The Kiri team switched languages a lot.”

Yoshino froze a second before considering the words of ‘English’ she had heard Riko an Shikamaru use when they were younger (they may have been future shinobi, but children weren’t exactly sly), and she couldn’t recall ever hearing ‘sunbae’ as one of them.

“You said she was called the Bloody Flower. Am I to assume her undercover identity is Akagi Ren?”

Yoshino sighed. She wasn’t getting rid of this man anytime soon, not if the topic for discussion was her wayward daughter. “Why don’t you come in. I’ll make us some tea.

“And Chie-chan, how about you go find Shikaku for me, hmm? Tell him I said it was important.”

There was a system in the Nara family for ranking how quickly someone needed to respond when called. ‘Important’ meant, come if you can, but if something else is immediately pressing finish that first. Urgent was a step up, but still allowed a slight hesitation; something along the lines of come when possible, find a stopping point on what you’re working on. Emergency was the one used most sparingly, for obvious reasons. Drop what you were doing and run, was what emergency generally meant.

Chie caught on, nodding before she took off.

Kakashi followed Yoshino into the kitchen of the house, sitting at the table when prompted. “So what do you know, Nara-san?”

“I know what was in the file Shukaku brought home, but that’s about it. I know she has the respect of her peers, I know she’s a good fighter. I know that whatever happened at Sapphire Lake messed her up, but her report was succinct. She probably won’t want to talk about it, even after she gets back.”

“And knowing Tsunade,” Kakashi made a face as he talked about the Hokage, “She’s going to want to drag it out of her. What else?”

“I know that she’s got people who care about her, I know she has a reputation.”

“Yeah, as the Bloody Flower.” Kakashi didn't speak as though he had an opinion one way or the other, but if Yoshino had to guess, there was definitely something to it that suggested he wasn't exactly comfortable with his own student having a reputation like he had. 

“But also for keeping teammates alive, even if it means putting the mission on hold. I should thank you, Hatake. I have no doubt you taught her that.” The missions were never listed as failed, but instead 'Incomplete', something the Mizukage had signed off on each time, citing that she had saved her teammates. 

Kakashi looked uncomfortable at the indirect praise. By all accounts, he probably was. While details were hazy, it was no secret that the mission Obito died on was one of the ones that did the most damage to his psyche. Being thrown in ANBU so soon after likely didn’t help.

“She specialized in assassination after that, and it would seem she got very good at it.”

Kakashi choked a bit, meeting Yoshino’s eyes. “She hates killing, though.”

Yoshino shrugged. “You’d have to ask her.

“Speaking of, Hatake, what was she like on the battlefield?” Kakashi hesitated before answering. He staggered the beginnings of a response before Yoshino interrupted him. “Don’t worry about making me angry, I’m just asking as a mother. She’ll need support when she comes back, and I want to know what I’m getting into.”

Shikaku had come in quietly and was standing at the entrance of the kitchen. No doubt Kakashi knew he was there, but this was important.

“She was a good fighter. Strong, but also quick. She was loyal to her team and focused on making sure they sustained the least damage possible while they finished the mission.

“I can say without a doubt I am extremely proud to call her my student.”

Yoshino smiled, hearing that. She had read the reports, but hearing it from someone who had trained her when she was young and then went on to fight alongside her meant something more. This man knew her as a child, and from what she could tell he still knew the young woman he worked alongside, she had just changed a bit.

“Thank you, Hatake. I believe my husband can answer any other questions you have.”

Shikaku came in, nodding at Kakashi as he walked past him to sit beside Yoshino, who stood to grab the water for tea. She had left it to boil manually, opting into the conversation instead, and now she could listen in as she prepared it.

“You want to know about my daughter?”

“I want to know about my student.”

Well, this conversation was going to be interesting.

Shikamaru walked in to shouts between his sister’s teacher and his father.

How troublesome.

Instead of engaging, he opted for walking toward his mom, passing her a message from the Hokage. It was a hospital report form from Kirigakure, with a translation attached behind it. There weren’t medical records for Riko, but this had happened inside the village, where, according to the note, there wasn’t as much a strain for resources and they could afford to make a report for emergency cases.

Yeah. His sister collapsing and having spasms or seizures (he wasn’t sure which. The translation didn’t specify) was an emergency. His mom scanned it quickly, pulling out the important details. “What was she doing using lightning chakra?”

Shikamaru shrugged. “Don’t ask me. Hokage-sama handed it to me when my team reported on our mission earlier. Told me you could add it to the file in my room.”

Evidently that was the wrong thing to say, because his father and Hatake – both of whom he was sure had been listening in, if only a little, turned. His dad looked pissed that he had mentioned the file, and Hatake looked curious. Damn him. Why’d he open his mouth?

“File?”

“Shikamaru…”

“I’m going to my room now.” Going and napping was definitely his only safe option. “I’ll take that.” His mom passed him the paper, nodding at him.

Yeah, if his mom was telling him to go and sleep the rest of the day away, he definitely needed to be out of there. He needed to be out of there five minutes ago.

“See you on the road of life, or some crap.” He waved a limp hand at them as he backed out of the room. 

The way his father cringed and Hatake’s face scrunched was satisfaction enough, but knowing that Riko would love hearing this story when she got back? Well, he had started that journal in his room for a reason.