THE INEVITABLE
Underlined - English
‘Italicised’ - Thoughts
In Text Bolded - Tailed Beast
TSUBASA NOA
“Little feather,” Tsunade calls out to me as the meeting ends. “A word.”
“Hai, Hokage-sama,” I affirm, turning to my squadmates. “I’ll meet you guys at the compound to talk about all this shit. Teach comes first, though.”
“Danzo can’t be trusted.”
“...”
I stare down my mentor for the last six years, and the only strong female role model that I had in this life. “Tsunade-shishou,” I start, my words deliberate. “I have never - from before I even met the slimy git - trusted Danzo nearly as far as I could throw him. And I am very interested in finding out how far that is.”
Tsunade sits back, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at me behind her desk. “Why?”
I blink, confused. “Why, what?”
“Why -” The Godaime starts, words carefully chosen but deceptively light “- Do you not trust Danzo?”
I slump back onto the couch, toying with the answer in my mind. I had been putting off for (what very well may be) too long finding someone to give the most of my information to. I needed someone who wouldn’t lose trust in me despite how much I had been lying.
Was Tsunade it?
No.
No. Because she has been betrayed by those that she has trusted before. I can’t do that to her. Not now.
“Because,” I start, tasting the words. “I hold no illusions that although Konoha may be the most peaceful of the Hidden Villages, that in no way means that there are no traitors or deceptors.”
Standing, I go to the shelves where I know that my drunk of a teacher hides her booze, and I remove a bottle. When I turn back to face the Last Senju, I can see her too-sharp eyes following my every move.
(Good luck unnerving me like that. I’m practically a Nara already at this point. They’re known for that kind of shit.)
“The Sandaime was not a good Hokage,” I declare with finality, knowing that Tsunade was fully aware of how I felt about her old sensei. “He let too much go. And when I saw one crack, logically I had to look for others. It didn’t take long for me to find … unsavory things.”
As I pop the seal on the sake, I count my lucky stars that I was actually able to find physical evidence that wasn’t just ‘P.S. I’m from another dimension.’ Just not as early as I was claiming. I poured us each a rather generous bowl, and down mine in an instant.
“You know about the massacre.”
The Legendary Sucker’s voice is low. Level. Steady. But I know that one false word, one false start, and it all goes to shit from here.
“As do you,” I shoot back, just as calm.
“Noa. This is not a joke.”
I furiously stomp down on my emotions - the seal on my back tingling. “Do you think I’m treating it like one?” I ask, voice mild but holding back poison.
There’s a tense pause.
“Do you really think you have family down Moeru?” Tsunade asks in a far lighter tone.
“My family is here, Tsunade.” I correct, choosing to ignore the subject change. “And I don’t know what to think about this claim to have clan members up north.”
Another pause, this one far more contemplative.
“Take a team. I’m limiting you to a squad of four - you, Kakashi, and two more of your choice who aren’t Sasuke or Naruto. I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket if this all goes to shit.”
“Hai, Tsunade-shishou.”
UZUMAKI NARUTO
When Noa enters the house only to immediately collapse onto the nearest coach, I know just how bad it all is.
“So it’s most likely a trap, then?” Sasuke comments mildly, humming thoughtfully at Noa’s tired shrug. “Your team?”
“Me, the Scarecrow, and two more who aren’t either of you,” Noa grosses out, and I have to hold back a groan. “Teach doesn’t want ‘all of her eggs in one basket.’”
“Which is bull,” I grumble. “Team 7 works better as a team. Splitting us up won’t help anyone. Six years was bad enough.”
“Which is why -” Noa starts with a tone of finality, sitting up. “When you become the Fire Shadow, you sure as hell have your head out of your ass and corrupt officials out of your councils!”
Sasuke just snorts, “As if we’d let him slide that far.”
“Point,” The medic volleys back lazily. “Who should I take with me?”
I sigh, preparing myself for a long discussion. “Well,” I start, pulling out a complex containment seal that was bothering me, “The question is what do you honestly expect to find there? I mean -”
“- What Useless means is that your response is different based off whether it’s a trap or not,” Sasuke cuts over me, smirking at my mock-hurt look. “Trap? Bring a White-Eye or a Dog.”
I chime in seamlessly, following his train of thought, “And if it’s not? A Mind Reader or Shadow User. Someone good with words.”
Our honorary sister and teammate seems to think it over, humming slightly and eyes glazing in thought as she leans back onto the couch.
“You’ll need someone who can put up with Scarecrow’s quirks,” I point out with a laugh. “And if you want to keep up your charade with the whole ‘who’s dating who’ thing then you probably need at least one of your ‘dates’ with you, especially if the Council may find out you chose the team mostly yourself.”
“She does already have Scarecrow though,” Sasuke counters from where he settled on the couch to sharpen his tanto. “If it’s a choice between charade and keeping safe then I’d say safety first.”
“I think that I’ll be able to handle the talking, for the most part …” Noa interposes. “But if the Council is going to make a move, it isn’t going to be some little skirmish. It’s going to be big. I need a balanced team for that.”
Sasuke and I share a look above Noa’s prone form, and I can tell we’re both thinking the same thing.
‘Speculation is one thing, but she actually thinks it’ll come to blows?’
But we push past it. Put our faith in Noa as always. Look past the doubt to where the trust is.
“Balanced team means that you need real variety to tackle anything that’s thrown at you,” I vocalize instead of pondering on just what my fellow orphan was getting into. “You’ve got hand-to-hand, medical support, and weaponry. Scarecrow’s got his Eye, Illusions, tracking, and Special Ops training. You need a long range and possibly another support.”
“Just make sure it’s someone competent,” Is all Sasuke has to add.
Aneki purses her lips, “How do Shino andShikamaru sound?”
Sasuke pauses in the middle of a stroke of his whetstone, “Actually … that should work.”
“Long range, a ‘date,’ and people you know and trust,” I aquiess, nodding along. “You worked with Bug-Boy before?”
Noa just shrugs, pulling herself up from the coach (hopefully to cook, I’m starving!) “Not really, but we have sparred and I’m familiar with his techniques.”
She sauntered over to her shoe-rack, yanking her boots out carlessly. “I’m gonna go find my squad. I’ll say goodbye tomorrow, but -” Noa smirks, cocking an eyebrow suggestively. “Don’t expect me back tonight.”
I nearly gag at the implied reference to her sex life.
‘Didn’t need to know that thank you!’ My brain sputters out.
‘SAI’
I have my ink animals follow my target at a distance until she finishes what seems to be her official submission of her Squad.
Notable. I was unaware that Shinobi were permitted to have an opinion on whom they worked with.
She stops into a drug store - the address of which I dutifully note, as is expected of me - and I chose to use this opportunity to interact with my target.
(Idly, I realize I have never been inside a drug store.)
A bell chimes, and my instincts are to immediately wipe out any witnesses before I realize that the civilian owner of the shop was not a threat. And Tsubasa was my target, but not of an assassination. Only to talk to.
Talk. Right.
Tsubasa seems to be over near where the owner stores alcohol, picking up a case of beer. Why would she drink, if before a mission?
I approach her.
When my target turns, I notice first confusion and then surprise in her eyes. But then her eyes show something else, and I do not know what that emotion is.
I read that you should greet someone you meet for the first time by introducing yourself.
“Hello. I am Sai.”
Something flashes through her eyes - quickly, too quickly - at my name, but it goes quickly. “Hiya,” Tsubasa greets back. “Name’s Noa. I like your name, I actually use sai as one of my primary weapons.”
She … likes my name? That was a compliment, no?
“Why are you drinking before you go on a mission?” I ask.
After all, if you don’t know you should clarify, correct? Maybe she would correct her error now that I have pointed it out.
Noa blinks once, slowly, and I notice for the first time that her eyes vary in shading. Dark on the edges of the iris and light between. Something about them makes me want to take out my brush and paint them.
Her voice pulls me from my thoughts, “Because I can. And because I’m a medic and I can damn well metabolize it before I get hungover.”
I think on that.
“Sounds logical,” I decide aloud, and Noa laughs. Is she laughing at me?
“Yeah, I like the sound of that. ‘Logical.’ More like just irresponsible enough and just skilled enough to get away with a bad decision and breaking rules,” Noa … corrects me. But it isn’t a criticism. Odd.
“One should follow the rules set by superiors,” I reminded her.
Noa doesn’t seem to take my warning to heart. She cocks her head, those shaded eyes studying me.
“Maybe,” She finally says. “But as shinobi we must always be aware that as much as we lie, those around us will lie as well. A rule set by a superior or a client may not be in the best interest of ourselves, our teammates, or the village. If we know for sure that a rule is ineffective, or that a rule may do more harm than good, must we still follow it?”
I blink, and she’s gone - the bell chiming behind her.
What did that have to do with drinking?
HATAKE KAKASHI
The ANBU that lands in front of me is frankly unexpected. After all, I already have a mission tomorrow, and I haven’t broken any more rules than usual.
“Hatake-san. You are to report immediately to the Hokage Tower to meet with Hokage-sama,” The Mouse masked ANBU reports. Aw, one of Sasuke-chan’s little ANBU is branching out with his captain gone.
Cute.
Well, the Hime can wait a couple hours.
“Glad to see you finally dignified us with your presence, Hatake,” Is my greeting from the Hokage when I finally vault in through the window.
‘Us’ meaning Gai, Shikaku, Tsunade, Tonton, Shizune, and myself.
This isn’t just some little meeting.
‘Maybe I should’ve been on time …’
“What is this about?” I get out, examining the room. With this assortment …
“Nothing discussed here leaves this room,” Tsunade orders in place of a response. “This is about Noa.”
I feel my stomach drop, but the Godaime’s expression is grimm and frustrated, not worried or angry. She’s probably fine. Probably.
“What about Noa-hasu?” Gai asks, abandoning his headstand and sounding the kind of serious he only gets when Noa is the topic of conversation.
The Head Medic massages her forehead, and I feel myself getting more and more on edge. “In recent years,” Tsunade grits out in an impossible to name emotion, “Shikaku, Shizune, and myself have all started to notice things about Noa that don’t line up.”
“You don’t mean that you think she’s a spy? A traitor?” I ask in horror, unable to even comprehend the accusation.
Thankfully Tsunade simply shakes her head, “No. She has proven her loyalty to this village and those in it far too much and too early on for any chance of that. No, it’s more like she happens to have the village’s interest in mind while also knowing more and being able to do more than she’s letting on.”
Gai vocalizes my thoughts before I can, “How do you mean?”
Shikaku chips in for the first time at that, expression typically blank. “Her vocabulary for one.”
Immediately I make the connection, “You mean her English.”
The Jonin Commander simply nods, “I may not be one of the people that was taught English, but a toddler should not have the vocabulary to understand and explain detailed concepts in her native language with only one person to teach her. I looked into the reports of the ANBU assigned to attempt to decode her language and then cross referenced them to the reports that you, Kakashi, made. They gave up too early: the issues of syntax, pronunciation, homophones, and general sentence structure would’ve been overcome over time. The problem was vocabulary.”
“They were looking for patterns in the kinds of words that a three year old would’ve known,” I finish for him, feeling grim. “And because her vocabulary was so advanced they never found one.”
“I once asked Noa-hasu where it was that she learned such unyouthful cuss words…” Gai muses, “She told me it didn’t matter.”
Tsunade sits forward at this, seeing that Gai and I were finally realizing just how significant this all was. “Noa always seems well informed on the kind of things that only the Hokage and those directly involved should know. She claims that she listens, goes looking on her own but that can’t all be it, though I’m sure that’s it's part. Kakashi, Gai. Are there any times where Noa did something - said something - that she shouldn’t have known to do? Anything at all?”
I think back. I don’t want to, but I do. But once I look it’s all there: Noa knowing about me, the bell test. Asking for the escort mission as our first C-Rank, her talking down Zabuza. Her family, her bloodline limit. The fights, the forest of death. When she lectured the Sandaime, Jiraiya and my relationship with Naruto. Her attitude towards Danzo …
“Yes,” I confirm when I find my voice. “Yes, she has shown that.”
Tsunade sits back in her chair, her mouth fixed into a grim line. “Well then. We compare notes on Noa, and then tomorrow when Kakashi goes to Moeru, you are find out everything you can about where the hell my mysterious apprentice came from.”