Naruto: Dreaming of Sunshine

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. ~ Helen Keller

.

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The next day, the Bingo Books had finished their formal assessment and been released, so after our shift finished – and it actually finished on time, for once – Aoba dragged me out of the tower to a reasonably close by shinobi bar. It was the kind that was like an office bar, but for ninja who worked at the tower, as opposed to one of the shinobi bars that had perpetually broken tables and kunai stuck in the walls.

There was a door guard who didn't check ID but who appeared to let us in based on the fact that he recognized Aoba.

"We hired the place out for the night," he explained to me cheerfully. "Makes it easier."

The place wasn't packed but it was still relatively busy. There were a few people I recognized, but so many more I didn't.

We wound our way towards the bar. "Coffee?" I asked hopefully, because it was late and I was tired and I was adamantly not drinking anything alcoholic. I'd never been a chatty drunk, but it was 100% not a risk I was willing to take.

Aoba got his drink and then was drawn into a conversation with someone at the bar that I didn't know. I stood awkwardly beside him for a second, scanning the place for people I did recognize. There was Anko, but she was in the middle of a group of people and I hardly wanted to interrupt. There were the other proctors from the exam, and the more familiar faces, but none of them I knew so well as to approach.

But tucked away in the corner there was an empty table with someone I did recognize. It seemed a better option than standing by myself.

"Ibiki-taicho," I greeted, having edged my way around the room. "This seat free?"

He gave me an amused smile. "Help yourself."

I slid into the bench. "I don't know many people here," I said, a tad apologetically. "I thought you would have already gone over the Bingo Books?"

I knew he had, as a matter of fact.

"I don't know if you've noticed," he said dryly, "but these occasions are mostly just an excuse for a party."

I nodded. Holding it at a pub seemed to be a bit of a giveaway. It was much less the 'work gathering' that I thought I'd been agreeing to.

"Still," he went on, "it is interesting to see how they react to it."

The books were already out and circulating. I watched as one group turned a page and there was a sudden, raucous, burst of laughter. Clearly at someone's expense, because there was a large amount of arm waving going on in protest.

"Ibiki! You have to see this!" Anko called, bursting into the booth and knocking over his drink. She paid it no attention, draping an arm over his shoulder and mashing a book in his face, far too close to read.

He pushed it to a more reasonable distance. "Fascinating."

I barricaded the spilled drink with napkins and tried to mop it up before it ran over the edge of the table and dripped all over me.

When I looked back up she was grinning wildly. "You're making friends, Ibiki. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Anko-senpai," I said, giving her an awkward wave. "Hi." I grasped around for some kind of conversation opening. "How's your team?"

"Really good," she said, looking genuinely pleased. "Yakumo has been asking the rest of the girls all about the exams – I think she's looking forward to taking part in one. You should stop by, sometime, and give her your version."

I nodded. "I haven't had much free time lately," I said. "But I absolutely will."

A gaggle of Special Jounin followed her over, probably because she'd taken the book with her. There were a few familiar faces amongst them – Genma with his senbon and Hayate from the Exams. Aoba popped up only seconds later, apparently looking for me.

"Of course you're over here," he grumbled. Whatever that meant.

I squeezed along the bench so that people could pile in. It was a little crowded, but Anko put the Bingo Book down on the table. It was apparently the Hidden Cloud one.

"Look, Hayate," Anko said. "They've raised your status to 'kill on sight'. Guess trashing whasshisname must have really pissed them off, eh?"

Hayate coughed. "They're just jealous Konoha has better swordsmen," he said. "It's not even our specialty and we kick their ass at it."

At least half the table jeered.

I smiled politely and awkwardly and drank my coffee. They teased each other about new rankings and status's – and whether they were true or exaggerated – and compared the profiles of people they had fought in the past.

Which was nothing I could join in or add to. I was thinking about making a quiet escape – surely this was long enough for a polite showing of face – when I was forcefully dragged back into the conversation.

"No, really," Genma said. "What did you kids do at the exams? All of you are in the book. And I'm pretty sure I saw some of you in Rock's as well."

I flicked through the pages. He was correct. It was … a little unnerving. Not just that we were there, but that they seemed structured in a way to make us targets rather than as warnings. "Kicked Cloud's ass?" I said. "I mean, apparently the Raikage thought we were plants or something."

Anko laughed, like that was the best joke she'd heard. Or maybe she just liked the idea of pulling one over the Raikage.

"And you've got the Sword of the Thunder God?" Hayate asked. "I thought that got stolen years ago."

I made an affirmative sound, casting an uncertain look at Ibiki. That whole mess... probably best not to get into too many details. "We ran into that guy on a mission. And then Tsunade-sama said I could keep it." I shrugged. "It's useful."

"Useful, she says," he repeated, drooping. "Legendary sword is useful."

Genma patted him on the back. "I'm sure it is," he said. "Very useful. Legendarily useful, even."

Thankfully the topic of conversation shifted away from me and I was relieved enough to stay a little longer and tentatively offer some comments on the other new inductees. Maybe 'Haku is very kind' wasn't quite what they wanted to hear but at least the 'Naruto thought he was a girl' story still got laughs.

We traded books with another group and it all started over again. At least Hidden Sand had been kind enough to leave the exam group out of their book, though I did admire the double page spread they'd put together on Gaara as Kazekage. Which mentioned a lot of things in very impressive ways and completely left out the fact that he was thirteen.

Probably for the best, really.

But even when the Bingo Books had been investigated and mocked and laughed over, things didn't really wind down. I listened with fascination to weird and wild story after story, to the jokes and references that seemed to be familiar to everyone else.

And one story demanded proof, so Genma rolled up his sleeve to show the scarring left behind from, apparently, exploding-tree-sap-due-to-lightning-jutsu. Which prompted someone else to show off equally weird but bad scarring.

"Last year only," Anko chimed in. "Otherwise Ibiki always wins these games."

Ibiki gave the impression of looming, darkly. "You think I can't win under those terms?" he asked.

"Go on, then," she challenged, unintimidated.

He regarded his hands with concentration, then lifted a single finger. "Papercut. Departmental budgeting requests."

I giggled. It was the only sound in a hushed silence, and I stopped as quickly as I could, hand to my lips.

Ibiki nodded at me, clearly not upset at the laughter. It had been a joke, then. "Go on."

Me next? I blinked, then rallied. "Okay, uh. Bone spikes," I said and pushed my sleeve up to show the torn skin on my forearm and the spot on my hand where it had gone straight through.

"Your bone or someone else's?" Anko asked, squinting at it. "You get bonus pain points for your own, creepy points otherwise."

"Someone else," I clarified.

"Sick," she said, appreciatively. Genma elbowed her in the side. "Yeah, okay. Acid spray burns," she went on, picking up the game.

Aoba had apparently been clawed by a hawk, though he refused to confirm if it was one from the Konoha Aviary or not, and Hayate had a couple of knife wounds that people argued were too common to be included.

"Kunai?" I offered, tracing the line along my neck. "It was a weird gold alloy."

"No knife wounds," Genma said, "way too common."

I bit my lip, then shrugged. It wasn't like people didn't know. I shimmed out of my vest and turned my back to them. "Sword," I said, dragging the back of my shirt up so that the scar was visible.

There was a metallic 'tnk'ing noise, like someone dropping something light and metal.

"I could show you the front," I said wryly, smoothing it back down, "but we'd all get in trouble." I slipped my vest back on.

"Okay, I think you win," Hayate said, after a pause.

"I know they say Tsunade is good," Genma said with a strangled voice, hands groping the table for his lost senbon, "but that's good. That was a through and through?"

I nodded, suddenly unsure that that had been a good idea after all. Maybe I'd just got carried away with the atmosphere. I stopped the senbon rolling away and offered it to him, eyes kept low. "Yeah."

"Well that round goes to the newbie," Anko said, impressed. "I'll buy you a drink. Something hard?" She winked.

I gave a lopsided smile. "Just coffee, thanks. I have training in," I checked the clock, "… two… hours…"

That was terrible. We'd been here for three? I was absolutely not sleeping tonight, was I? Damn. I'd have to cope with a nap after sensory training.

"Who's making you get up at five for training?" Aoba said with a frown. "Tonbo doesn't meet you till eight; I asked him."

I blinked. 'Don't tell anyone,' Kakashi-sensei had said. And yeah, that was mostly only a joke because he didn't want to be hassled about it but, yknow, he didn't want to be hassled about it. "Never mind," I said. "It's not important."

They looked at each other with the most significant of looks. I sighed. I would absolutely regret letting them come up with their own explanations for this, wouldn't I?

"You're a terrible liar," Aoba said, breaking the silence. "Word of advice, don't bring it up if you can't explain it."

"Thanks," I said drolly. "I'll keep that in mind."

After that, there wasn't really much point in trying to leave or go home. I wouldn't get anything done before I had to turn around and leave again. So, I just hung around while people started to filter out and leave, and when it was uncomfortably quiet in the bar I left to get something to eat from one of the early opening bakeries.

I'd just go to training a little early and warm up.

I yawned, purchasing some warm buns to eat, and let my chakra sense wander. It has to be first nature, Tonbo-sensei liked to say, not second. You had to be paying attention to it constantly, be aware of what was going on around you, for it to be an effective warning system.

There weren't that many people around, this early in the morning. A few ninja darting over the rooftops. A few people starting work. A small gaggle of ninja two streets back.

That's definitely Aoba-senpai. And Anko. I paused, chewing thoughtfully on my breakfast. Paranoia said 'they're following you'. Which…. The easier answer was just that they were continuing their party somewhere else. I couldn't name the other ninja from here, not being so unfamiliar with them, but it was likely to be a few from the group I'd been hanging out with all night. They were clearly all friends, so really, they were probably just continuing to catch up.

I moved on, dismissing the thought until I was closer to the training fields.

And they were still… there. A few streets back. Following me.

Hair stood up on the back of my neck. Paranoia, I scolded myself. Why would they be?

But I couldn't help it. They're following you, my brain insisted. I didn't want them to be following me. So I had to lose them.

I didn't head towards our training field. I leisurely finished eating, did a few stretches, disengaged my resistance seals, then shot off in a sudden burst of speed in the complete opposite direction. I wove through the trees, attention half on them and half on where I was going.

I had a vague plan. I needed a distraction. Something to catch their attention so I could slip away.

And who else was awake and training at this hour?

I wasn't quite at Team Gai's training field when I felt Lee's chakra, moving around at a high speed. He was probably doing laps, or something. I changed course so that I could intercept him.

"Good morning!" Lee beamed at me, looking surprisingly pleased. "Is it not a lovely morning for exercise?"

I fell into step beside him. "Sure is," I agreed. "Hey, I'm playing escape-and-evasion with some people, can you help me?"

He agreed cheerfully, though my hastily cobbled together plan had a bit of a hiccup when I was reminded Lee couldn't actually use transformation jutsu. Never mind, I could fix that with a seal.

We stopped running. I kept a mental check on how close our followers were. We'd put a bit of distance between us, but this had to be done before they had line of sight.

"May I?" I asked politely, and when Lee extended a hand I painted an anchoring seal on it in blood and dropped a transformation jutsu over him. My own face beamed back at me.

I became him in turn. "Okay, so just disrupt the seal when you want to cancel it. You don't have to do anything special, just go back to training. Let's see if they notice, yeah?"

If they weren't putting serious effort into following me, it might. This wasn't a trick that would fool a real pursuit but… they'd given themselves away so easily that it probably wasn't. Hopefully.

I waved Lee goodbye and turned around, tree jumping until I passed them at relatively close range. None of them broke off to follow me – that I could tell, and I was focusing plenty hard – so I did head towards our training grounds this time.

Kakashi-sensei was already there, looking slightly confused.

I hit the ground and dropped my transformation. "Sorry," I panted. "I had to lose some tails."

He tilted his head back oddly. "Late night out?" He asked.

"The Special Jounin got together to talk about the Bingo Books," I said. "I didn't realize it would go on for so long. And then… I don't know, they were following me."

I was upset about it, I realized. Because it hadn't just been paranoia and I couldn't work out why. Was it dangerous? Had I done something?

Kakashi-sensei snorted. "They're all nosy," he said and shook his head. "Never mind. Has anyone taught you how to scent block? Or sound suppressing techniques? Evasion techniques? How did you get away?"

Oh, that was what he'd been doing. He'd smelt me. Weird. Slightly unnerving, actually.

"Uhm," I said. "Only what you taught us before the Konoha Exams, really. I, uh, I ran into Lee and got him to help me. They should currently be following him to Team Gai's training."

There was a look of peculiar glee that came into his eye. "I think you're my favourite Genin," he said, sounding like he really wanted to laugh. "Gai is going to have so much fun with that. I'll make sure to ask them how they liked their run, later."

"They shouldn't have followed me," I said, a tad petulantly.

Kakashi-sensei nodded. "We'll do that, instead. More important. So the first thing you'll want to do is…" he started.

I sat down, glad this seemed less exhausting than kenjutsu, and learnt.

.

.

It wasn't the first time I'd ever pulled an all-nighter though it seemed like a much less wise decision less than half way through sensory training with Tonbo-sensei.

Tsume Inuzuka turned up, Kuromaru at her heel and a mission scroll in her hand.

She eyed me critically. I tried to look less like I'd been awake all night and really wanted a nap.

"Are you mission capable?" She barked.

"Yes, Tsume-sama," I said, because I was. It wasn't ideal, granted, but I wasn't impaired either.

"Meet me at the gates in thirty minutes," she said. "We'll need to travel fast, so pack light. It should only take us a few days."

I nodded, the mission parameters forming a vague outline in my head. It wasn't much information. Not enough to guess what we were going to be doing, or where.

I bowed goodbye and darted home. My mission pack was already ready to go, and storage scrolls meant it was always 'light'. But thirty minutes was more than enough time to have a shower and get clean and slightly more awake, so I did. If Kakashi-sensei could smell the bar on me, I had no doubt Tsume could, and that was a slightly embarrassing thing for your boss to know.

Bad timing that the mission had come today than, yknow, any other day. But that was just how things were, sometimes.

I felt like I should have left a note for the Intel Division that I wasn't going to be there – but if I was registered as being on a mission then that information would be passed along anyway. There were systems in place for when missions just happened.

"The tracking team often gets rapidly deployed," Tsume said, as we left the village. It wasn't quite an admonishment – I got the feeling she wasn't the type to be gentle if she really felt there was something to be criticized – but it was also clear why she was saying it. "And being a specialist – the only specialist – means that if a mission needs you it needs you. You'll have to learn to cope with being basically on call. I'm not saying don't do anything or don't have fun," she clarified, "but it's a good rule of thumb not to get into a state that you can't easily reverse."

"I understand, Tsume-sama," I said. It wasn't like the promotion didn't come with catches. Responsibilities. "I am mission ready." Chakra could do a lot to get rid of exhaustion. It wasn't a long term fix – unless you were Gaara, maybe – but I wouldn't be falling asleep in the middle of a fight, or too exhausted to think straight.

"I wouldn't have brought you if I thought otherwise," she said frankly. "And you can stop with all the 'sama'ing."

"Tsume-senpai, then," I said, because it was what all the other sensor-nin called her. It still felt a little too informal. "What is our mission?"

She smirked. "The Sangaku Outpost sent a hawk for an emergency response. They caught a Rock shinobi scouting around and want someone who can find out where he came from, and if there was anyone with him."

I nodded, slowly. "The Sangaku Outpost isn't on the border." Which probably was why they really wanted to find out where he'd come from – because it meant he had got through the border first. But it wasn't a small outpost either, because it was a fallback base in the mountain range that provided support to the border outposts. "They don't have a tracker on roster?" Or they couldn't ask for one from somewhere closer?

"They've got two," Tsume corrected. "A Hyuuga and an Aburame."

And she'd deployed an Inuzuka and a sensor. Really covering all bases there. Maybe I was even understating how much people would want to know how this shinobi had got so far into the Land of Fire.

But it also meant we would have to travel fast if I was going to be of any use. Chakra signatures didn't linger that long before they dissipated, especially for smaller jutsu. It varied but given the time it would have taken to search, decide they couldn't find anything, send a hawk to Konoha and deploy us… I would be really lucky if there was anything left by the time we got there.

We pushed a fast pace, not stopping unless we had to and reached the outpost just after night had fallen.

I hung back while Tsume touched base with the outpost commander – an older Jounin named Hayama Shirakumo – and met up with the two sensor squad ninja that had initially tried to track this guy.

"Tokuma. Muta," Tsume greeted. There were no points for guessing who was who; they were both picture perfect examples of their clans. Tokuma could have been Neji grown up, and Muta was dressed in a heavy Aburame overcoat and glasses, and carrying a buzzing gourd on his back.

And focusing on an Aburame with my sensing abilities was an interesting experience now. They weren't just a single static signal like people usually were – they were a hive, truly. A hundred thousand small points swarming in constant motion, each individual kikaichu too small count on its own, but contributing to the overall result. It was… different.

It was probably going to give me a headache.

"The outer patrol encountered the shinobi this morning," Hayama explained. "He tried to flee immediately, but the squad was able to pursue him. He fought with a distinct Rock style but was killed in the conflict rather than be captured. He was wearing no identifying symbols, including headband, and carrying no ID or paperwork."

"Missing nin?" Tsume asked.

"It's possible," Hayama agreed calmly, "though he isn't in the latest issue of the Bingo Book. My gut feeling is 'no'."

Which was an answer that meant it was highly likely that Rock was running some black ops bullshit in Fire Country that involved not identifying as Rock shinobi in any way. Or someone was, and trying to blame it on Rock. Either way, not good.

"Right," she agreed, a little sourly, no doubt thinking the same thing. "And what did you two find?"

"Starting from the location of the fight we were able to retrace the steps of the patrol squad to the point of initial contact," Muta said, after a quick glance at his comrade. "From there the trail went north for approximately two kilometers before fading. We suspect that he was using Earth Walking Jutsu prior to that point, however, neither my kikaichu nor Tokuma's Byakugan were able to pick up a satisfactory trail."

"We'll start at the first contact point," Tsume said, giving a nod to Hayama. "Let's find out how this sucker got so far in."

We took off, Tokuma taking point and leading the team. I fell back, fanning out into the side of a 'v' formation, perfectly willing to just follow along because it was dark and I had no idea where I was going.

The place we stopped looked no different to the other places we'd passed, but it was obviously correct. Tsume and Kuromaru paced around, picking up scents. Tsume grinned, a sharp toothed thing. "Got him," she said. "They fled that way, yeah?" She jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

"Correct," Tokuma said.

I squinted, and tried to pick up anything. Nothing. If I'd been by myself, I might have set up some LED's but no one else seemed to be having trouble with the dark. There was Shadow Sight, if I had to, but I had no idea how long we would be out here for and how long I could hold it.

We went north, about two kilometers. We stuck to the ground, this time, not the trees which was clearly how our subject had travelled. But if he hadn't been using jutsu, then there was nothing for me to pick up on, and I was completely and totally extraneous.

"He went underground here," Kuromaru said gruffly, nose pressed to the ground.

Tsume drew in a deep breath through her nose. "Yeah," she agreed. "I'm getting nothing from the surroundings, either. He didn't surface anywhere upwind."

"We performed several sweeps of the area," Tokuma said, "and could find no further signs of him."

Tsume nodded, almost in resignation. "Alright. Shikako, you're up. See what you can see."

I nodded and slid forward, until I was standing next to where they'd indicated the jutsu started. On one hand, this jutsu had been used more than twelve hours ago. On the other – an Earth Walking Jutsu was probably one of the best options for lingering chakra emissions. To use it, you had to force chakra into the dirt and change it and move it, which meant it retained more chakra. And just like heat dissipated slower in solids than in air, so did chakra.

Different types of earth and stone had different dissipation values, and wow, I had never thought I would be putting my chakra stone storage knowledge to use like this.

Go figure.

There was too much noise. The ambient levels of chakra in the air were so much lower here than in Konoha – a side effect of so many ninja in one place basically excreting chakra everywhere – but there were four of us hovering around while I tried to pick out faint whispers.

I reduced my down to a tight ball in my chest. That helped, a little. I knelt down, damp grass immediately soaking the knees of my pants through. But in a way, the small discomfort was a focusing point too, something physical and grounding. Cold and wet and uncomfortable, but undeniably right here.

Yes, maybe. I thought I could feel it. Something particular about this point that wasn't present elsewhere. Like trying to feel residual heat in something – there wasn't enough to call it 'hot', only to say that it was warmer than the thing next to it. I followed that feeling down, three, nearly four meters. Then it was a game of picking which direction it traveled in – checking all and finding which was warmest.

I followed it, which was a slow and uncertain trip because the trail wobbled, probably to avoid roots and things. It just wasn't always in ways that were appropriate for me to mimic above ground, since I had to avoid trees and things.

No, I didn't walk into one. I would deny that forever.

We went on and on and it was slow and exhausting and I was concentrating so hard on trying to sift through these faint emanations that grew fainter by the hour. The trip would have taken us only a fifth of the time to run, maybe, if we'd known where we were going. It wasn't the distance that was the problem.

"I – shit," I said, as I lost it. I swept the area, around and around, trying to pick it up again. This way? Or this? I weighed both paths against the other, trying to see if one had more. But it was so faint now… I couldn't tell. "It's gone."

I tried again, tried harder, because this was my first mission as a sensor and it was going to be a failure.

"Wait," Tokuma said, suddenly, and a hand fell on my shoulder.

I looked up, and his Byakugan was blazing.

"We need to get back to the outpost," he said, grimly. "They didn't come through the border. They have a bunker here."