While Ino's world cleared, what followed was a sand wave, the small peppery particles stung Ino's eyes. The Yamanaka winced, raising her hands to cover her eyes. A familiar scream of pain tore through the air. Sakura! Ino tried to head towards the source of the sound but it was already taking her everything to stay where she was.
"Hold on!" The ground rumbled, nearly throwing Ino off balance before Haruto's voice called out, "Mokuton: Jukai Heki!" And right before Ino's very eyes, branches sprouted from the ground, interlacing one another, forming a rather impressive shield.
Haruto grinned, flashing her a thumbs-up. "All good." A screech of rage echoed throughout the now sand-covered forest. Haruto sighed. "Maybe not. Come up with a plan! I'll go get Sakura and Satsuki!"
Haruto didn't wait for an answer before he darted away, the sand raining down and just everywhere, hitting and sweeping the trees away. The Senju heard his friends's cries and shrieks but that was okay, screaming meant that they're okay. But ever since Sakura's scream, she was silent and he was starting to grow concerned; worse, he hadn't seen hide or hair of Satsuki, his heart practically lurched at the thought that she might be already—
"Oi, up here, Senju!"
"Haruto-kun!"
He glanced up and instantly, all his worries washed away at the sight of his teammates. "Girls!" he called as he leaped up to join them on the branch. "What's wrong?" he asked, regardless of the rampaging Shukaku behind them. Somewhere along the lines, Gaara had already been lost within the monster.
Had Haruto not known earlier, he'd never think the rampaging monster had a Jinchuuriki.
Then he glanced down at Sakura, her body encased by sand and he understood immediately. "Don't worry," said Haruto, grinning reassuringly, as he snapped his fingers. The tree Sakura was chained to detached itself, pulling backwards. Forming a handseals, Haruto spat out a water jutsu onto the sand, watching as it slid off in wet chunks. "Better?" he offered the pink-haired girl a hand which she gladly took, she blushed in pleasure but then darted a cautious glance at her raven-haired teammate.
Satsuki wasn't even looking at them, instead her eyes were on Shukaku. "I Chidori'ed the shit a few times now. And it did nothing ."
Haruto clasped his hands together, closing his eyes and mustering all the chakra he could muster for the following jutsu to be successful. " Mokuton: Hotei no Jutsu!"
The ground reverberated, giant wooden hands, almost as large as Shukaku rose and clawed at the monster. Satsuki's Sharingan spun but she grudgingly accepted that she wouldn't be able to use that technique as even her famed bloodline couldn't copy another bloodline.
"You planning on killing Gaara?"
Haruto flinched at the mere thought. He had no problem killing others, just maybe a little sorry for that guy, but killing a fellow Jinchuuriki was a whole new matter. Seeing his hesitance, Satsuki sighed. "I know you'd feel sorry for that nutso," she grumbled, crossing her arms but she didn't seem to be pissed off or surprised. "He's there, I see him, asleep. Wake him up, and just maybe, he'll be able to reign control."
"Very reassuring," remarked Haruto dryly. "and how do you propose I get there?"
Satsuki shot him a disparaging look which he allowed to slide past with a grunt of displeasure.
"Can't you make a bridge?"
He could. And in no time at all, he'd already located his friends and had placed them on a branch, flowing and stretching towards the Bijuu. "Okay, what now?" he demanded as the wind and sand threatened to knock him off board, if it wasn't for the chakra pooled beneath the soles of his feet, he was sure to be flying back to Konoha now.
"The Mokuton has the ability to restrain Bijuus. Knock him out." Satsuki glanced down at him, cocking an eyebrow. "Can you do that at least?"
Haruto scowled. "Yes, of course." He clasped his hands together again, his cheeks flushing a little as he thought of how silly the following jutsu's name was. "Whatever I say next, please don't laugh."
"Sure."
"Whatever."
That was not reassuring at all, Haruto thought glumly before he realized something. "I think I need to be in direct contact with Gaara for this to work."
"We can't get any closer," snapped Satsuki but when the redhead pouted, she sighed. "Fine, we'll hurl you there."
"What?!"
"Get ready!"
Before the Senju could protest, Satsuki shoved him off the tree. He yelped, barely able to gather his chakra to stay where he was but Satsuki used the momentum, pulled, and the next thing he knew, he was flying through the air. Sakura's "Oops" at Satsuki's wrong aim was heard even though the wind was peeling off his face.
Haruto panicked for a moment before he recalled that the Hiraishin Kunais were actually of use. Fumbling for it, he squinted and threw. It was hard to make things out with the wind trying to blind him, blowing sand into his eyes but he managed to see the kunai connecting momentarily with Shukaku's hand and that was when he teleported.
He stumbled, dizzy when he felt the surface he was on swirled into itself. Wasting not a moment, he gathered chakra to his feet and made his way up to where Gaara's half sunk body was. He felt pity at the faulty seal forced upon the boy, knowing that this was none of Gaara's fault yet he was the one to endure it all. He blinked away the emotional tears when he recalled that his friends were nearby, he couldn't afford to hesitate against one who would threaten them, even if they were somewhat kin.
"Hokage-Shiki Jijun Jutsu—Kakuan Nitten Suishu!"
Haruto couldn't see it, but he could feel the kanji for "sit" burned into his hand by chakra as he slammed it into Gaara's chest. Pillars of wood erupted around them, odd spear-like things shot off, aimed at Gaara and it struck home. But when Shukaku remained beneath his feet, Haruto panicked, worried that his jutsu was an utter failure (this was his first time using it!) when Shukaku roared and crumbled in rain of sand.
The next thing Haruto knew, he was tumbling from the sky. He tried to command the trees to help but his chakra source had been depleted and he was simply exhausted.
"Gaara…" he stretched out his hand, trying to reach the older boy who was screaming in terror and pain. "Don't… listen to Shukaku… he's no mother of yours." Instead of responding, Gaara stopped screaming and stared at him as if he was some sort of creature from outer space. "I could never understand how you feel. I've never, ever felt isolation because my mom took me away from such life. I'm sorry you had to go through such things… but… you really have to let them go… start accepting, understanding and helping… the people… around… you…"
Haruto's eyelids drooped as he tumbled head-first down.
Gaara's sand cushioned his fall, he laid there, breathing harshly, eyes wide as Haruto's body continued to fall with nothing there to support him. He felt the irrationally instinctively urge to reach out and help cushion his fall but he was so confused by the sudden turn of events that he couldn't even move a muscle.
A shadow leapt over Gaara's view, silhouetted against the sun, but even then, he could see the clear crimson glow of the Sharingan which spared him only a brief glance before the wielder of the powerful eyes caught Haruto before he impacted the ground.
"Haruto. Haruto, wake up. Dammit, idiot!"
Gaara watched, baffled by human interaction as the Uchiha—who clearly cared about the boy—punched him in the cheek. It only served to further cement Gaara's view that pain was how you show someone your love. Should he punch Temari, Kankuro and his father too then? He should try that.
"Don't worry about us like that, man you are troublesome for a friend."
"H-Haruto-kun, i-it's n-not a-advisable t-t-to throw yourself i-into t-thin a-air…"
"I didn't!" the red haired Senju exploded, pointing an accusing finger at the Uchiha. "She threw me off."
"You survived, didn't you, die-hard?" Satsuki snorted softly, standing and turning away, her shoulders relaxing considerably but she still looked mad. "Hmph. Even dying is too hard for you to accomplish it seems." Her tone softened. "That's okay. It's the only failure I can accept from you."
Sakura wondered if this was Satsuki's demented version of I'm so fucking glad you're okay, please don't do that again . Haruto's rage slid off as he sprang to his feet and wrapped his arms around her, grinning cheekily, "Glad to hear you're worried!" before Satsuki elbowed him, sending him sprawling back to the ground.
Satsuki glared down at him but her Sharingan was off, which pretty much meant that she was okay with the situation now. "You're no different from your perverted teacher. Try that again and I'll cut your arms off."
"Flirt later," interrupted a bruised Tenten as she jabbed a thumb at two trees holding familiar wide-eyed captives. "What about them?"
Ino blinked. "How did they get here?"
"O-our battle b-blew u-us this f-far."
Kiba, equally bruised and dirtied, whistled appreciatively, cradling Akamaru in his arms. "Cool. What do we do with them now anyways?" He hesitated once, almost shyly, asking, "Are we going to execute them or something?"
It was strange for Kiba to be this shy, but then again it was strange for Ino to be so crazy about something. Life and death, this matter bothered Kiba greatly who had yet to make his first kill. Ino glanced at him with sympathy, wondering how he'd deal with it. Among them, she knew that Satsuki, Haruto and her were the only ones ready to take lives again and had, most likely in Satsuki's case, killed.
"That would be wise," said Shino, breaking through the silence and rustles of the trees. "Why? Because then we wouldn't have to worry about facing down a Jinchuuriki again." His grey eyes showed momentarily when he glanced at Haruto. "Even though we are predisposed to handling them. We have to be prepared for times where Haruto-san wouldn't be here to subdue the Bijuus."
Haruto flinched at the thought of putting down a fellow Jinchuuriki. He knew the vessels were all in different villages and there might be a day he would cross paths with them as enemies, they had duties to their own villages, they couldn't let something like kinship get in the way. This sort of attitude will get him killed someday, Haruto knew since his mother and Ero-sennin had repeated this countless times. Show no mercy, even to those like you .
Ino's glacier eyes met his from where she stood by her teammates. "They could be useful, for information gathering," she said thoughtfully.
"Right, they'd die in there anyway," said Kiba dryly. "We all know that no one leaves T&I alive, whether they spill their guts or not."
Temari and Kankuro flinched. "Please," the fan-wielder pleaded. "Let us go. We swear we won't do anything. We'll head straight back to our village, regardless of our superior's orders, we won't harm your village again!"
The proud Uchiha snorted. "What makes you think," she drawled almost lazily, dangerously sensual. "There will be a next time once we're done with your forces? Konoha has both quality and quantity. Oto and Suna are very small in comparison."
"Satsuki," admonished Haruto to which she scowled and offered a few vulgar vocabulary. "We'll… uh…" he glanced at his friends, the silent what they should do hanging in the air.
"Please, I'm begging you, I'll-I'll do whatever you want me to." Temari's teal eyes, so similar to her brother Gaara's, shone, begging for pity from her captors. She saw no emotion on their faces except the cold disdain of the Uchiha and the hesitance of the Senju, whom she immediately turned to. "Please, just let my brothers go, I'll stay."
"See, Gaara? She's begging for your life as well, she cares for you." Temari glanced back at Gaara who stared back at her as if he was seeing her for the first time, stunned, confused but there seemed to be the tiniest shred of happiness, joy at finally being cared for and truly accepted.
"Oh please don't tell me you're going to let them go," growled Satsuki, pissed.
"I-I think we should let them go, everyone deserves another chance," said Choji shyly, speaking up for the first time since the discussion first started.
Temari nodded eagerly. "We don't actually know anything, we just followed orders."
Satsuki leveled the older girl a scathing look. "Of course genins don't know anything, and of course you follow orders. If every shinobi crossed paths with one another, forced to fight and gave the reason they're just following their orders and then it would be water under the bridge, there would be no fighting then. We wouldn't be fighting." The silent, mean, how stupid can you be? hung in the air; the message was clear in Satsuki's disdainful voice.
Haruto sighed, sensing Satsuki's anger and she was close to exploding, she didn't trust them and she wanted them out. He snapped his fingers, freeing Temari and Kankuro from their tree prison, whom upon their new found freedom, rushed to Gaara, supporting him and helping him rise to his feet.
Satsuki's eyes drilled holes into him.
"Go back to your village, don't threaten ours again. We won't let you off so easily next time."
***
When the Sand Siblings had left, Satsuki whirled on him. He held up his hands before she could explode. "Look, I know you're mad we let them go, and I know the risks we're taking," he said, rushing on before she had a chance to say anything. "but I assure you, I know what I'm doing."
"The fact that you're stepping on one of my wire traps?"
Yelping, Haruto jerked back just as the trees next to him exploded, sending a severe headache up his head. "Ouch." He massaged the pain in his head, snapping his fingers and the trees slowly regrew, the pain easing somewhat with that gesture. "There's a reason why I feel so sorry for Gaara."
"And that is?"
"I'm just like him." Satsuki stopped, staring at him, stunned. "Not hosting the Shukaku of course. I'm hosting the Kyuubi, you know, the fox with nine-tails that attacked Konoha thirteen years ago? I was born on the Kyuubi Festival. The villagers thought it the dead, not sealed away—please don't—"
"I'm not going to treat you any differently, stupid," grumbled Satsuki, knowing where he was going even before he'd finished speaking. "You're still a hopeless case, idiot. So merciful, someday, they'd come and bite you in the ass."
Haruto felt the weight in his chest lifted a little bit when she huffed. He felt like kissing her again, even a small peck to show his gratitude but he knew she'd probably send him flying and while he was recuperating at an alarming rate, that did not mean he was at full strength yet. "Say… aren't we forgetting something?"
"What?"
"Guys!" Haruto and Satsuki turned to see Kiba, panicked and pointed in the direction of Konoha. "The village is still under attack!"
The clan heirs only traded glances before they rushed off, towards their friends, all perched on top of tall trees to see. Hinata's Byakugan reported severe collateral damage but beyond that, she could see no more.
Grimly, Haruto said, "You guys go as fast as you can. I'll Hiraishin straight to them."
"Without a catalyst?" asked Shikamaru, eyeing the kunai in his hand.
"Er… well, the Hokage has one for emergencies, Ero-sennin and Kakashi-sensei had them too. I'll try reaching Kakashi-sensei." Closing his eyes, Haruto concentrated, pouring his chakra into the seal on the kunai but he only had time to realize that he didn't know how to choose which location he wanted, before he found himself landing on his ass.
"Ow!"
"Haruto…? What are you doing here? This is dangerous, you shouldn't be here!"
Haruto blinked, dazed, when he saw the Sandaime and Ero-sennin fighting for their life, against Orochimaru bastard and two familiar but dead people.
"Uh… can I go home?""