Due to the sudden attack, the village of Konoha was in a state of commotion. They couldn’t see a clear motive for the enemy. On top of that, there was the possibility of something similar happening in the future. Village security was enhanced, and a peculiar tension raced through the village.
After she had used Mind Transmission to save Aoba from the genjutsu trap, the damage to Ino was greater than expected, and she was in the hospital for several days.
Sasuke and Choji bought fruit, and went to her hospital room to pay a visit to their childhood friend.
“Oh? Sai?” When they went inside, they found Sai sitting on a chair, sketching, and Ino asleep on the bed.
“Hey.”
“What? You came to visit, too?”
They peeked at Sai’s sketchbook from behind, and saw he was drawing a flower. When they looked, there was indeed a dewy fresh flower in a vase by the window of the hospital room.
“… You didn’t actually bring that, did you?”
“I guess Ino’s mom brought it?”
“Oh, ohh. She did?” Noting that it wasn’t like Sai to bring flowers, Shikamaru set the fruit down on the shelf. His gaze then shifted to the garbage can immediately next to the shelf.
“We’re not gonna have any, Shikamaru?” Choji asked.
“Hm? Oh, Ino’s sleeping. Just hold on.”
“What …” Choji’s shoulders slumped in disappointment; he pulled a banana out of his clothes and shoved it in his mouth. Apparently, he had brought some fruit for himself, too. But he had used a secret ninjutsu and depleted his chakra and his fat stores, so it was no wonder he was trying to take in some extra calories.
“But this has turned into a serious drag,” Shikamaru said, sitting down on an extra chair. “It’s not just Konoha; the same thing’s happening in Kiri and Kumo.”
The evening the shinobi under the control of a genjutsu showed up in the village of Konohagakure, Kirigakure and Kumogakure had fought similar battles. The ninja who showed up in the other two villages had been a mix of Kiri and Kumo, and many of them had exploded.
“I’m glad we managed to send information to the other villages right away, so they could minimize the damage, but even so...”
They shared information via email. There were still more than a few ninja who resisted the shift to digital, but information that normally took a few days could be exchanged in an instant.
“They said that the mind-controlled ninja were basically people who had gone missing, right?”
“I guess they can’t say for sure, though. Kumo and Kiri are supposed to send over new documents, so the investigation’ll move forward in Konoha, too.”
They had confirmed that Tadaichi and the others were ninja of the village, but they still hadn’t fully gotten a full picture of the affiliation for the other villages.
“The genjutsu still hasn’t been undone, huh?” Choji said, eating his second banana.
Considering the risk of explosion, the people under the genjutsu were being kept in a facility a little ways from Konoha. Treatment was proceeding under Sakura’s supervision, but the medical ninja were still racking their brains as to how to deal with the suspicious chakra circulating in the victims’ bodies. Just in case, they had shinobi from the Nara clan and the Hyuga clan permanently stationed there; Shikamaru himself had just come from being on duty there.
“Sakura said she could almost see a way in, though. But I mean, talking about this in a person’s sickroom, we can’t help ourselves, huh?”
What Ino needed now was rest. They couldn’t cause a commotion and interfere with that.
Shikamaru stood up and looked down at Sai, who was indifferently sketching his flowers, not bothering to get involved in their conversation. “Sai, what are you going to do?”
“I’ve got nothing going on. Once I draw a picture I’m satisfied with, I’ll go home.” Sai grinned at Shikamaru.
It was a strange thing to sit and sketch in a hospital room when you were supposed to be visiting the sick person, and even more so to say you were going to go home once you drew something good.
But as if accepting Sai’s words, Shikamaru looked at the garbage can. Several unfinished drawings had been tossed in there.
After they left Ino’s room, they walked down the hall, and Shikamaru muttered, “I just don’t get it.”
“You don’t get what?”
“Oh, it’s like …” When they had first met, Shikamaru hadn’t felt any emotion in that smile that rose up onto Sai’s face. But such an enormous change that had come over him. You never knew what was going to happen in life.
Looking at the evasive Shikamaru, Choji started laughing. “Well, you’re like that, you know, Shikamaru.”
“That? What do you mean, that?”
“Come on, I mean, you were all like, ‘flowers?!’, weren’t you?”
“You know what? Just forget it.” Shikamaru interrupted whatever Choji was trying to say, and left the hospital. As he narrowed his eyes at the dazzling sunlight, a single hawk passed across his field of view.
Shikamaru recalled how Sakura looked after many sleepless days and nights of treating people.
I wonder what we’re going to do with them.
The face of Sakura came to life in the back of his mind, empty eyes filling with tears when Danzo gave permission to eliminate then-deserter Sasuke, and the thought came to him abruptly.
“Was that thoughtless?”
“Shikamaru?”
“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing.”
The first one to notice the hawk flying directly down to the Hokage’s office was Naruto, as he took up the papers that had just arrived from Kirigakure and Kumogakure.
“Master Kakashi, it’s Sasuke’s hawk!” Naruto raced over to the window and invited the hawk into the room.
“Oh, something from Sasuke? Perfect timing.” Ever since the attack on Konoha, Kakashi had been swamped with village business and communications with the other villages, but he had been just thinking he should really get in touch with Sasuke. He took the letter from the hawk.
“What’s he say?”
“He’s apparently caught this band of thieves called the Dark Thunder group that was attacking villages in the Land of Steam. The leader has a kekkei genkai.”
Sasuke had written that he wanted the Hokage’s judgement. At any rate, it was in the Land of Steam. It was hard to decide whether to leave it to Yugakure to handle, or to have Konoha take charge of it.
“We’ll have to get in touch with Yugakure about this.” Kakashi made plans in his head.
“No word for anyone in his letters, as usual.” Naruto cackled, looking somehow delighted. Maybe he was happy with what Sasuke was up to. “Alllll right! Can’t lose out to that guy!”
For Naruto, Sasuke was an eternal rival. This had apparently lit a fire under him. He picked up the papers once more and began flipping through them.
Amongst the documents were pictures of kidnapped ninja in this case. In the old days, they likely wouldn’t have been given this sort of information. The villages would have hidden it to keep it from being leaked to other villages. Noting that it was precisely now that the squabbling amongst the five great nations had disappeared that they could cooperate like this, Kakashi shifted in his chair, and went to write a letter to Yugakure.
Naruto cocked his head to one side. “Hmm?”
“What is it, Naruto?”
“There’s nothing on this one person.”
“Nothing? What do you mean?”
“I mean, there’s no paperwork for one of the controlled ninja!” Naruto made this declaration, even though he had only just glanced at the documents. He may have been rough around the edges, but Naruto had his clever side. He often found the path to solving the issue at hand.
“Naruto, could you double check to be sure there’s no mistake?” Kakashi asked.
“I’m telling you!” Naruto shouted, and jumped out the open window.