A Shard Among Leaves: Blunder (Patreon)

[Blunder]

Hayate woke with a start.

Now, that was strange on two fronts. One, given what he last remembered, he never expected to open his eyes again outside of the Pure Lands, and this definitely wasn’t that.

Which brought him to point two. Everything hurt like hell and he was nursing a headache worse than any hangover his “cold medicine” had ever given him. The bright lights drilling into his eyes didn't help either.

“You’re awake. Interesting. Given your injuries, I expected you to remain in your coma for a considerable amount of time. Your constitution is rather impressive.”

Hayate turned and jumped as a pair of goggles slipped into his field of vision. Only the sight of the Konoha insignia branded on the headband just above kept him from reaching for his sword. Which he was just now realizing he didn’t even have.

“Whu?” He asked eloquently.

“You’re in the hospital. I brought you here after saving your life three nights ago.” The Aburame (because come on, what else could she be?) tilted her head. “As an additional note, you flatlined six times before the medical ninja were able to stabilize you. The wind jutsu nearly cut you in two in several places. You are lucky to be alive.”

That sparked a memory in Hayate, causing him to shoot up in bed. He immediately grabbed his bandaged torso as pain lanced through his entire upper body. Fuck, it felt like someone had used him to sharpen their katana.

“Moving is ill advised,” the Aburame said. “Your body is being held together by sutures. Medical chakra can only do so much.”

Hayate clenched his teeth, fighting through the pain as he gingerly pulled the sheets off of his body. Even that little motion made his head swim. “I need to get to Hokage-sama. Suna… Suna’s planning something. He needs to know!”

A hand pressed into his chest and pushed him back firmly. Hayate was embarrassed to say that he was in so much pain that the little girl was able to hold him down. Yellow and black drifted into his vision. “An Anbu operative went to retrieve Hokage-sama the moment you woke up. Please rest or I will be forced to sedate you. I’m unsure how the attempt will go as I have not slept in three days and my hands are shaking with fatigue, but I will try regardless.”

At the threat of possible medical malpractice, Hayate finally gave up and laid back. The hand left his chest as he regained his breath, staring up at the ceiling and the fluorescent bulb flickering there.

This place needs new lights, he thought deliriously. Turning his head painfully, he found the girl had pulled a chair up beside his bed and was just staring at him. Deciding to break the tension, he asked, “Hey, kid. What’s your name?”

“I am Hirari Aburame,” she said, solidifying his suspicions. “Chunin, registration no, 0833501.”

 A Chunin, huh? Good for her. He shifted on the bed. His body ached all over like a bad bruise. He glanced down at his bandages. They covered his torso from his bellybutton to his neck, and he could feel them down below as well. That Suna bastard got him good. He wouldn’t be surprised if parts of him fell out on the operating table. “Well thanks for saving me, kid. I would have been toast without you. Got any morphine?” 

Hirari’s head tilted to look at him, though the rest of her didn’t move an inch. “You’re being dosed with a considerable amount already. If we inject you with too much, we would need a Yamanaka mind reader to pry the secrets from your brain. I am told that can be quite painful.”

Hayate laughed. “You’re pretty funny, you know that?”

“I was not joking, but thank you,” she said, causing him to laugh even harder.

It took perhaps ten minutes for the Anbu to return with the Hokage in tow. It was a quick response time, though Hirari still found herself frowning at the cat-masked Anbu who followed their leader inside and lingered instead of disappearing as she should have.

Draped in his ceremonial robes, the Hokage’s wizened face wrinkled with his severe look. Hayate straightened in the bed, propping himself up on the frame so that he could address his leader from a more respectful position. The motion clearly caused him some pain by his grimace, and Hiruzen raised a hand to settle him.

“It’s good to see that you’re alright, Hayate.” Hiruzen smiled at his bedridden Jonin. Hayate chuckled.

“Bit of a subjective term, Hokage-sama. Guess I’m better than I could have been, if not for her.” He jerked his head at Hirari who nodded.

“You would have been dead.”

Hayate laughed again and immediately clutched his ribs with a grimace on his face. “Ha! Ah, kid, you gotta stop making me laugh.”

He sobered after a moment, his face becoming serious. “Hokage-sama, Suna is  planning something. One of their Jonin are responsible for this, he—”

Hiruzen held up a hand. “Yes, we’ve gathered as much thanks to young Hirari here. She managed to get to the scene of the crime in time to pick up a trail. It led us back to Suna’s team, but unfortunately, we were too late. They fled the village the same night that you were attacked, in the direction of Wind Country.”

Hayate clenched his fists. “Damnit. That bastard cut me up and ran away?”

“It seemed the logical action.” Hirari noted. “Whatever cover he may have had is blown. Remaining in the village would be the same as giving himself up to us. The fact that they disappeared so quickly means that they prepared for this eventuality.” 

“They’ve got some sort of plan. I only caught snippets of their conversation, but I know that it has something to do with the exams,” Hayate’s expression turned stormy. “And one of ours is in on it. That Jonin, he was talking with someone from our village; I saw the guy’s headband, but I didn’t recognize him.”

Hirari frowned deeply and Hiruzen mirrored her. The Haimaru brothers had only detected one other person at the scene of the crime. Konoha shinobi or not, they would have alerted her if there was another strong scent in the area at the time. 

“Whoever it is must be capable of masking their scent extraordinarily fast,” Hirari said. The room turned to her. “Additionally, their stealth capabilities must be extraordinary because they managed to escape my own surveillance web. My kikaichu are capable of detecting even the smallest chakra signature, yet the only ones I found belonged to the Suna Jonin and Hayate himself.”

The rest of the room besides Hayate understood what that meant. Hirari was capable of picking out Anbu operatives with a glance. If someone was able to escape her senses, then it was likely they’d be able to do the same with most of the other actual sensors in the village. 

“We’ll need a description of this ninja as soon as you are able to provide it.” Hiruzen ordered. “They’ve almost certainly gone to ground, but blowing their cover right now would limit their ability to pose problems during the exams.” 

“Give me a pen and some paper and I’ll have a sketch out in an hour. Or whenever my hands start working right.”

Hiruzen nodded, the finger on his right hand twitching minutely. At the motion, one of the Anbu lingering on the roof moved to the front of the hospital to grab the supplies. Meanwhile, Hirari said, “I suggest we increase security on the Suna merchants or disbar them from the village altogether. Their shinobi force may have planted spies.”

Hiruzen stroked his beard, seeming troubled. “There are far too many of them to try something like that without causing a panic, and I’m afraid we don’t have the forces necessary anyway. We’ll have to begin vetting the shinobi that enter the village and hope that is enough.”

Hirari’s head snapped to him. “You’re going to continue letting their forces in?”

Hiruzen frowned. “We cannot bar an entire village from our gates without causing a diplomatic incident, especially during such an important event. The economy of the village depends on the boost from foreign wares, and it would be a bad look in the eyes of the other nations.”

Hirari could scarcely believe what she was hearing. “Hokage-sama, it is abundantly clear that our ally is planning something. Additionally, Orochimaru is still a factor that we have to consider. It would be best to limit the avenues that our enemies could use to get to us instead of opening them.”

Hiruzen's expression tightened. “Despite this incident, Suna is still our ally. Believe me, I know the risks all too well.”

Hirari was not convinced. That the Chunin Exams were even still continuing—inside the village, no less—was something she still didn’t entirely understand. This event was posing more of a possible threat to the village by the day. Pieces were moving and she felt that they didn’t have the full scope of the game.

“With respect, Hokage-sama,” Hirari said slowly, “awareness of risks does not equate to adequate response to them.”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop. Hayate's eyes went wide, his gaze darting between the Aburame and the Hokage, and even Cat shifted almost imperceptibly.

Hiruzen studied her for a long moment, the edges of his lip curling as if he were fighting a frown. Or a smile. 

“Your concern for the village is commendable, Chunin Hirari, but there are many things that you don’t understand. You’re a bit too young to be offering advice in such a direct manner.” He said. “True, it would be easier to cut relations with Suna over this, but there are constraints on what I can do that extend beyond what is easiest. Politics is a tricky battlefield.”

Hirari did not like it, but she understood the principle. Host Taylor had understood it too. The PRT had been full of people who made decisions based on appearance rather than logic.

If memory served, it rarely ended well.

“I understand,” she said, because she did. “But I disagree.”

Hiruzen's eyes crinkled, and the quirk of his lips rose a fraction of an inch higher.

“Noted.” He turned to Hayate. “When you finish your sketch, send it along with Hirari. She’ll be sure it gets to the proper place. Rest until then.”

“Will do.” Hayate sagged back into his pillow, seeming exhausted.

Hiruzen moved toward the door, then paused. He looked back at Hirari, pipe stem jutting from the corner of his mouth. “Continue working with Ibiki. Given your concern with village security, I imagine you’d be more comfortable with the matter in your own hands.”

“Understood, Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen eyed her for a moment, before turning and taking his leave. Cat lingered, staring at Hayate on the bed, but he waved a hand in her direction, mouthing something that Hirari wasn’t able to see. The operative inclined her head, and followed her kage.

Left alone, Hirari looked at Hayate, who was already reaching for the pen and paper the Anbu had left on the bedside table.

“You should not push yourself,” she said.

Hayate waved her off with the hand that wasn't already clutching the pen. “I've had worse.”

Hirari doubted that very much, given the extent of his injuries, but chose not to argue the point, instead watching as he sketched out a detailed face. After perhaps twenty minutes, he held the paper up and squinted at it, then handed it to her.

“This is the best I can do,” he said. “The lighting was bad but that should be close. His hair’s greyish-silver. Didn’t catch a look at his eyes.”

Hirari took the paper and studied the monochrome face that he’d stenciled on it. Sharp eyes, a ponytail; the man wasn’t very descript. He would be hard to parse out in a crowd, even with the silver grey hair. 

“I will take it to Ibiki.”

Hayate nodded, settling back into the bed. His eyes were beginning to droop, the morphine and exhaustion winning the war against his willpower.

“Hey kid,” he said. “Thanks for saving my life. I definitely owe you one. Hell, maybe a few more than that.”

“You do not owe me anything. I acted in the village's best interests.”

“Heh.” A ghost of a smile crossed his lips as his eyes drifted shut. “Sure.”

Hirari tucked the sketch into her tool pouch and left him to sleep.

The weeks that followed were… frustrating for Hirari.

Hirari found herself sitting upon the Hokage Monument, looking over the village. It was the first moment she'd had to herself in a long time, but she wasn't relaxing. Though that wasn't for lack of trying. An invisible tension had settled over the whole of Konoha, though she sometimes felt like she was the only one who actually noticed.

Below her, Konoha was busier than she’d ever seen it. Nations had begun pouring in for the spectacle and the business is offered. It felt as if the village had become home to the whole continent, and every new face was another variable she couldn't account for.

She had spent the past two weeks doing everything in her power to tighten the net. Working in tandem with Ibiki, she had created a web of security that was better than anything she’d even attempted to employ before. As it stood, she wasn’t sure it was enough.

The traitor in the ranks had still not been found; he very likely went to ground. Orochimaru was still an active threat. Possible hostile agents of Suna were wandering around with only the barest amount of oversight, and in addition to that, the other villages were only adding to the chaos.

The only possible silver lining to this situation was that Kiri was the only other great village that had bothered to attend. Things would be much worse if Iwa or Kumo decided to throw their hat into the mix.

Even so, there were so many unknown variables. It would be impossible to monitor one without deprioritizing another. It was making her uncomfortable.

For the first time in a while, she found herself missing her prior existence. Things were much simpler when she was part of the Cycle, beholden to no existence but the Warrior’s. Managing thousands of other Shards was child's play and most importantly, she didn’t have to ask for permission to enact a procedure to save the greater whole. 

Having a situation be so outside of her control was novel, and extremely disconcerting.

Her fingers drummed against the Shodai Hokage’s hair, and she found herself wondering… What would Host Taylor do? She’d had control taken from her at several points in her life, yet she somehow seemed to always find her way back to it. It had been fascinating to watch, but looking back on those memories, Hirari found herself slightly confused at the accomplishments, and at a loss for how to emulate them. 

Hirari's fingers stilled against the stone as a presence made itself known to her. Heavy footfalls and heavier chakra bore down on her from the cliff above. It was a signature she recognized, but not one she expected to encounter again. Especially not here.

“There you are, brat,” a rough voice growled. “I've been looking all over for you. I was beginning to think you were out of town.”

Hirari turned to find none other than Zabuza Momochi staring down at her from the cliff edge. He grinned down at her with sharpened teeth as she stared. “You gonna keep me waiting? Or you gonna come up here and say hi?”

Deep in an underground lab on the edge of the Land of Fire, Orochimaru was absolutely fuming.

“That wretched girl! I should have killed her in that forest!”

Kabuto found himself witness to his master’s rage as a beaker flew past his head to shatter on the wall behind him. He didn’t flinch, moving only to replace his glasses which had slid down in the wake of the object’s passing. It had been quite a while since he’d seen Orochimaru-sama this mad, but he supposed he understood.

Who would have guessed that one Chunin would throw such a wrench into our plans, he thought, a frown falling across his face as another shelf came down. He watched as his master panted, a grimace crossing his face as one hand rose to scratch his neck. The pale skin there had turned dark and mottled.

“Shall I get another dose of medicine, Orochimaru-sama?” Kabuto offered. Orochimaru returned it with a poisonous glare.

“The remedy has become less effective. I must adjust the formula again.” Orochimaru walked to one of the few shelves that hadn’t been utterly destroyed, lifting a flask of off-colored liquid. He glared at it as if it was responsible for all of his troubles. 

“To think that a child her age managed to stumble upon a chakra virus capable of causing you of all people issues. Maybe you made a mistake not capturing her for study. I know I wouldn’t mind examining her cadaver.”

Orochimaru scoffed, uncorking the beaker with shaking fingers. “It was nothing but luck. If I had known how that girl’s parasites would interact with my mutations, she would have never gotten the chance to use them in the first place. It seems that my habit of playing with my food got the better of me.”

“And may have cost us our opportunity at revenge.” Kabuto noted as the Sannin began mixing medicine. 

Orochimaru’s eyes slid over to him. “You’ve made mistakes too, Kabuto-kun. Or do I need to remind you how you let a child blow decades worth of cover? Your indiscretion will make the invasion much harder than I ever planned for.”

“Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama.” Kabuto apologized.  “But if I may, there was no way to predict that the Aburame girl would stumble across Hayate at that exact moment.”

Orochimaru sneered as he poured his mixed concoction into a syringe, “Yes. And now not only have you lost your ability to operate within the village, the Ichibi host will not rampage as he should, and I will have to jump through hoops to see the look on my dear teacher's face as his precious village burns down around him!”

The Sannin lifted the syringe and injected it into his neck, where the mottling was the worst. He hissed as the medicine entered his veins before tossing the syringe away. It clattered on the ground near Kabuto’s feet. He leaned down and picked it up, frowning at the crack in the vial.

His master’s foul mood was not only because of the Aburame’s machinations, or at least not completely. Orochimaru was running out of time. Being forced to use his revitalization technique had taken a toll on his body, and the virus coursing through his veins was wreaking its own havoc. He would need to find a new host soon, or he wouldn’t be able to.

“We still haven’t managed to locate Sasuke.” Kabuto said regretfully. “It seems like Hatake has taken his team out of the village for personal training. It might be time to start looking for a new host. I have several candidates that might suit you.”

It was abundantly clear what Orochimaru felt about that proposal, but to Kabuto’s surprise, his master didn’t fly into a rage.

“Make a list. I cannot afford to be this week when I finally reveal myself to sensei.” Orochimaru licked his lips. “Konoha will burn. These setbacks will not stop me from taking my revenge.”