#aic27

The absolute bastard stepped over Sasuke on his way to Kakashi. “If you wouldn't mind, Kisame-san.”

Naruto bolted past the bastard to Sasuke. No one stopped him so he dropped to his knees and shook his teammate. Sasuke's head sort of rolled on the dirt. It was so wrong that Naruto snatched his hand back. “What the hell did you do to him?”

No one answered him.

“Let me go! Stop, stop!”

Naruto looked up in time to see that the sharkman was walking towards them slowly, holding Sakura up around his head with one hand around her wrist. She was struggling and beating at his right hand and head with the arm she had free, but it didn't seem to register.

Kakashi-sensei's knees buckled. He fell to the grass as limply as Sasuke had. His face stared up blankly.

“No!” Sakura made a horrible sound that hurt to hear. She struggled even harder- and there was a really weird wet popping sound. She screamed and curled her legs up, clutching at her shoulder with her free hand.

Naruto got back up to his feet and stood between the intruders and his unconscious teammate. “Let her go!” The kunai shook, just a little.

For the first time, the assholes looked at him. The sharkman smiled at him with way more teeth than should fit in a mouth.

“Look at that, Itachi-san. Convenient, don't you think?” He hefted Sakura a little higher. She made a high sound that boiled Naruto's blood.

“Yes.” The one who must be Itachi had a voice that lower than he should. Naruto tried not to shiver. There was something really wrong with him. “I'm afraid that you will have to come with us.”

“Why the hell would I do that?” Naruto spat. His hand was so tight around a kunai that it was cramping.

The sharkman grabbed Sakura's shoulder and oriented her body front. Itachi seemed to see it as a cue because he glanced at her and she went as still as Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. Her hand dropped, her legs straightened.

“Because it will be easier for us to pass Konoha's security with a hostage.”

Sharkman tossed Sakura over his shoulder.

Itachi's voice was infuriatingly calm. “You should come with us. Someone will have to return your teammate here to Konoha, once we are done.”

Naruto really, really tried to see another option. “You'll let us both go?” he asked, as hard as he could. Kakashi-sensei really wasn't moving. Was he dead? Sensei and Sasuke and Sakura had all gone down just like that and Naruto didn't even know what Itachi had done. “What if you decide to keep us? Or kill us?”

Sharkman gave a mean, ugly laugh. “Don't think too highly of yourself.”

“Of course.” Itachi said it so matter of factly. “You can be of use to us for a time. With a hostage, we will not have to engage in combat with any other unfortunates.” His eyes strayed to Sasuke. “But you are only genin. We would gain nothing from killing one such as you. After you help us, you may go free.”

He felt sick. It was all so wrong. Was he really going to go with them? The fight had been so fast and so quiet- maybe it would be better to scream. If he yelled even once someone might notice before Itachi could shut him up.

But probably not. And if someone came, then they wouldn't need a hostage. Maybe they'd just kill Sakura.

Naruto swallowed. “Okay.”

He felt like the lowest of the low. But he followed. The really creepy guy, Itachi, led them through the brush of the training field and kicked aside nothing at all to reveal a hole with a metal ladder.

Naruto had no idea at all what was going on.

The shark guy went first, Sakura still and small over his shoulder. The creep came last and having that guy behind him in the dark made Naruto want to scream.  It felt like forever. His eyesight gradually adjusted to the darkness. The passage was only about a meter across. Sometimes there was another hallway, but they weren't all the same size. Some were smaller. Itachi quietly called out directions... He was the one who knew this place.

His forehead protector.... He'd been a Konoha shinobi, hadn't he? The line meant that he was a deserter. He had belonged to Konoha, and that was why he knew the way around.

Naruto felt so angry he might be sick. How could that utter bastard do this? How could a person betray his friends and attack people he should protect?

It got worse once they went back above ground because then they were running. Naruto was gasping to keep up. Once he began to fall behind but Itachi and Kisame didn't even seem to notice. They definitely didn't slow down.

Of course not! They only needed one hostage. And they didn't really care if someone was there to help Sakura when she woke up wherever the bastards would leave her. He needed to keep up. He couldn't let her down again.

The nightmare went on for hours. Naruto ran harder and longer than he knew he could. They never went to the road team 7 had taken when they had gone to Wave Country. The whole time they were running in the trees, up high and if he messed up he could fall and lose them and Sakura would be alone-

They stopped, and then dropped down to the ground. Naruto copied quickly and his knees burned from the force of landing. Itachi gave Naruto a quick, dismissive glance. “Five minutes.” Naruto wanted to punch him.

“Is it that time already?” Kisame let Sakura hit the grass.

“Watch it!” Naruto yelled. No one looked at him. Not even when he went to check on Sakura and see if she might be waking up.

Itachi made a series of hand seals and then held his right hand in front of his face. He touched a ring he was wearing. Something really weird was happening.

Naruto leaned in to watch, fascinated despite himself.

A sheet of light rose up. It looked like the static on a tv, except there were a lot more colors.

“Leader-sama.”

The light grew a dark center. The darkness turned into a human shape. A guy, with spiky hair.

Itachi seemed to have been expecting that. “We have left Konohagakure and passed most of the internal security. There ought to be no trouble until the border.”

“Acceptable.” The figure wavered. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

Kisame glanced at Naruto.

'If I could figure out what they wanted, the old man will want to know.”

“One of two objectives has been fulfilled,” Itachi said.

That wasn't very helpful.

The stranger's voice sharpened. “Are you alone?”

“No.”

There was a moment of quiet. “Very well.” The figure seemed to nod. “Acceptable. I look forward to your return.”

They ran again after that. Naruto had no idea how long it was. His legs went through the cycle of tiring, hurting, and feeling fine again three times. And then Itachi slowed down a step and made contact with Kisame. “Aa,” he said.

Kisame snorted. “I wondered if we would really be so lucky.” He jumped to a lower branch and then to the forest floor. Naruto copied, because Kisame was the one holding Sakura. He didn't see Itachi for a couple of seconds but then he was right there with them.

Kisame and Itachi were both looking the same way, so Naruto did too. He didn't blink. But he still didn't see the other shinobi show up. One moment there was no one. The next, four people were outlined in the shadows.

One of them, he knew.

Kisame made a surprised sound. “Only one Konoha nin? And one without a hitai-ite.”

“And two from Kiri.” Itachi sounded bored. “Friends of yours, Kisame-san?”

“Can't say I know them. Peculiar.” Kisame sounded like he was smiling. “This is interesting, isn't it? Did you know we were here?”

“Put down the kids and I might not kill you.”

Aiko-san's voice was so cold. He was so glad to see her. She was making some handsigns he couldn't see.

Kisame laughed. “That's not very friendly, now is it?” He cocked his head. “I remember you. You're good at taxes, but mean. Not sugar-sweet enough to be from Konoha. You're with Kiri.”

Aiko-san turned her face away from Kisame, to narrow in on Itachi.

“Don't look at him!” Naruto heard himself shout. “He looked at Kakashi-sensei!”

It didn't exactly make sense and it was too late. She was looking right at him, Naruto could see it, and she was going to fall down just like sensei and Sasuke and how could anyone fight someone who could just look at you and-

There was a horrible, high pitched sound that hurt his ears. Blood was in the air. And Aiko's fist was sticking out the back of Itachi's chest, along with a shining mass of what looked like glass needles.

Itachi made a small, wounded sound. He looked down at her forearm. Then his knees gave out. Aiko jerked her arm in a funny way and pulled away from Itachi before her jutsu splashed out onto the ground. It wasn't glass. It was just water.

“Second warning.” Aiko was very calm. Something dripped off her arm and hit a stone beside her foot with a plop. She looked at Kisame. “I like that genin. Put her down and flee for your life.”

Kisame looked at Itachi- Itachi's body. Then he tilted his head at Aiko. “You're more interesting than I thought. What's someone like you doing with a failed village like Kirigakure?”

One of the other people made a sharp, angry sound.

“I'm your Mizukage.” Aiko put a foot on Itachi's shoulder, a challenge in her body posture. “And you can't hope to stand against me.”

'Aiko is cool,' Naruto realized, kind of surprised.

Kisame snarled and the world exploded. Naruto choked on water and spun before he knew what was happening. He flipped in the tide and cracked his head so hard he saw stars.

Maybe that had been a push too far. She'd gambled, hoping to make him back down, and lost. Everyone leapt to the trees to dodge the water- except Naruto. Shit.

Aiko zeroed in on where a mop of yellow hair was tumbling in the impromptu ocean. She darted in, letting gravity speed her way.

Chakra twisted and two rows of teeth grinned up to meet her, leaping out of the water with a splash.

She clapped her hands and skewered the shark with mokuton. She hit the water feet-first, grabbed Naruto, and was dragging him up the bole of a tree before Kisame could clear the killed summon. Its fellows snapped at her a moment too late.

Someone took in a sharp breath.

Naruto coughed. Feebly at first, but then he began spitting up water frantically. No- he was vomiting water. Aiko put a hand on his cold back and looked for their opponent.

Kisame was up, up, up, outlined in the dying light. He held out his arm- he held out Sakura. He let her drop.

“Son of a bitch!”

Yamato caught her with mokuton, slamming a bridge into existence. Aiko could hear a bone crack at impact, but it was kinder than the sharks.

The water stopped at an invisible barrier, trapping them all in a fishbowl. It curled back in on itself and began to rise up, approaching 6 meters depth quickly.

She uncurled her fisted grip on Naruto's shirt, now that he was upright. She gritted her teeth. The tree she was standing on shook.

The sharks- the sharks were tearing down the trees with their teeth.

Kisame cut an enormous figure when she glanced up. The sunlight behind him cast his expression in shadow, but it was hard not to read him as malicious.

'I like you, you scary bastard,' Aiko thought. 'I'm going to feel sad about killing you.'

Thunk

“Whoa!” Naruto banged into the tree trunk and clung to it for balance, sopping with big black pupils blown out in pain. He was more disoriented than indignant. “Hey, hey!”

Well. Not that sad.

“Yamato, keep our footing!” Aiko raised her voice to a shout. “You two, get rid of those summons.” She glanced back to Naruto. “Get Sakura, keep moving.” She didn't wait for his response before splitting off two water clones. Naruto yelped when one of them urged him to move, but the other Aiko lingered a few steps behind him to watch his back. She didn't have to give orders aloud. The clones had been made after she chose tactics.

That clone was waiting for her sister to act- clone one would take the kids out of the trap, and then clone two would impersonate the whole group, as apparently weak targets to draw Kisame's opportunistic attention.

Of course, she had to make sure he was looking at her for a moment, he had to be really distracted for an instant at some point for the switch to be seamless.

Kisame was still watching with one hand ready on Samehada. No. Her heart jumped. He would have made a clone to even the numbers. That one was probably a clone. Where was he?

Her people were darting around, sure not to get caught on one tree. The sharks didn't seem to care- they were attacking the same two trees even though no one was standing on them. They were either a bit dim or they were thinking ahead- it didn't matter if they brought down a tree with someone on it. Their goal was to force Kisame's enemies into either the water or into close combat on one tree. Either scenario would go a long ways to neutralize the advantage of numbers in this enclosed space.

She lunged upwards at the clone of Kisame. He readied his sword, raising it above his head to strike her in two. At the last moment she used her hiraishin to change her midair trajectory. She put one foot down on Samehada and the other one in Kisame's face, smashing a boot into sharp teeth.

Like, really sharp teeth. Holy shit this wasn't the clone, what were his tactics? She felt bone break and snap off, but she also felt sharp points tear through the leather of her boot and into the tops of her toes. And then something equally sharp spat up through Samehada-

She took herself away before the spikes cut up into her left foot, but she could feel that the sole of her boot was shredded.

“Note to self,” Aiko said aloud. “Sword is pointy.”

Kisame spat out blood with a laugh and lunged at her. He covered an alarming amount of distance-ah! There was the clone, coming from behind to pin her in a trap.

She side-stepped, and dodged, dodged, dodged and then suddenly she was only fighting one Kisame. Metal clanged behind her and it was near-painful to focus on ducking Kisame when she wanted to see what was happening. Her hands itched for her own blade, but that would be a fatal mistake. Kisame was a swordsmaster and he would defeat her if she engaged on his terms.

Instead, she twisted around and behind him. She was aiming to touch him, to lay down a hiraishin seal. But he reversed so quickly that she had to flip backwards off the branch to avoid decapitation. She nearly lost her footing on the landing- she'd moved to a weakened tree and the whole damn thing made an alarming crack and jerk at her momentum. It tilted- and began to fall.

“Fuck!” She escaped into the tree with Kisame for lack of options, at a lower elevation. She was too near the waterline. She could tell because a shark leapt with a triumphant roar and would have eaten her whole if she didn't have hiraishin. One of her people took the opportunity to cook the fucker with subpar fire ninjutsu. Seared shark smelled a lot like dinner. It fell back into the water, lifeless.

From her new position, she opportunistically sent three kunai winging at the back of Kisame's head before he turned. One connected. The clone dispersed with a splash.

Intuition warned her. She hit her knees and just barely kept her head, because he was back. Samehada's spikes dug into her scalp as it passed- Kisame kicked at her and she viciously impaled the kunai in her hand into his ankle before the blow connected. The force of his kick would have damn near killed her,  might have ruptured her organs if she hadn't moved with it and mitigated the power.

It still sent her rolling into freefall.

Yamato's mokuton flew out to catch her, smooth and pale wood connected from a neighboring tree. Before she could land, there was a massive crack and then an upward explosion of splinters. The wood fell away around the oversized shark. All she could see was a gaping red maw lined with hungry teeth. Rude.

She whipped through handsigns she could do in her sleep and twisted to face the shark torso first. With a snarl, she pulled her sen tsurara through the beast's teeth, savaging the roof of its mouth and breaking more than a few fangs off. The shards fell into the great monster's throat. She hiraishin'd away before the unharmed lower teeth could trouble her.

Blood was splashed on her arm, but when sen tsurara fell apart to liquid, it washed away most of the mess. She shook her arm briskly.

“Left!”

She moved before Yamato's word really registered. The jutsu rounded on her again, despite her dodge. Aiko pitched forward and twisted to see what she was dealing with- a water dragon?

“Shit, that's really cool.” She dodged once more. The next movement was strategic- her maneuver forced the jutsu to collide into a branch she was no longer on. It splashed apart, but sent a good 80 kg of wood crashing down. “Heads up!” Aiko yelled out. She had to keep her eyes on Kisame, but she heard an enormous splash and no screams that would indicate the debris killed one of her people.

“May I suggest that you take decisive action before there is collateral damage?” Sanbi asked wryly. “Your followers are not a limitless resource.”

She felt one of her clones dissolve- her bluff had been called, but the kids were out safe. Kisame was coming at her with a grin. She hiraishin'd away to the position of her defeated avatar right after the sword passed through.

'I'm not exactly sitting around knitting, testudine. What have you done today that was more productive than this?'

The grin on Kisame's face froze- or was this one a clone? Were both clones?- and she managed to touch him once, twice, before he could duck back and get his sword into position to be dangerous.

Aiko bared her teeth at him in a grin- his free hand flew up to check the spot on his left pectoral and abdomen where she had placed a seal.

Kisame seemed a bit confused but he tried to kill her, like the unphased champion he was. God, he could have been her employee if things had gone differently. So unfair. She would have had a great time with him.

She cheerily re-positioned and sent a gout of fire screaming at him, because she was also great.  He dodged and didn't give the tree behind him a glance. That was a shame because she'd scorched completely through it. The upper bits of tree, suddenly unsupported, dropped.

A mid-sized knot of wood thumped her opponent on the head. Kisame made an “erp” sound and went down with it before he kawarini'd away.

Aiko couldn't help herself, she let out a peal of laughter. It was tinged with victory. The blow to the head hadn't dissolved Kisame- it wasn't a clone. He kept doing that- he would make clones but most often it was the real man who fought head to head. That was an interesting peek into his mindset.

But more relevantly, she had two explosive seals on him. The match was over.

She turned to look at him, still smiling. She widened her stance.

Killing Akatsuki- yes, that needed to be done. But having a tag on one of Akatsuki's big players could be more useful than having him dead. And she could use him to distract Pein.

Kisame could have attacked, but something in her body language must have piqued his curiosity. He paused.

“It's over,” Aiko said, tossing her hair. “That was good, fuck, you're fantastic. But I won.” She tilted her head at him and curled her fingers into her hips, as though she was already clawing through the delicate strings holding together her seals. “Do you want to live or not?”

Kisame's alien eyes narrowed, weighing up her words. He didn't understand how she knew she had won. But her confidence seemed to convince him. “What do you want, kunoichi?”

Her attention flickered, just a moment, to where she could feel her surviving clone ushering Naruto and Sakura away.

Itachi and Kisame had snatched Naruto with what appeared to be minimal difficulties. Gaara might be nearly as vulnerable, if Akatsuki knew where he was. And so many others- she didn't want these bastards coming after sweet little Fuu, or Utakata. He was a precious princess and honestly, she didn't think he'd fare much better than the baby jinchuuriki. Akatsuki was made of monsters that most people just couldn't face.

Aiko mustered up her sweetest smile. “Why don't you carry a message to Pein for me?” She batted her eyes at Kisame, whose expression didn't change. “You'll never get a jinchuuriki as long as I'm around. Tell him he should kill me first, if he can.”

Comprehension dawned.

“I see.” Kisame straightened. He sheathed Samehada on his back. His grin was fierce and genuine. “Thank you. We wondered where the Ichibi went.”

She felt a lightning bolt of cold fear- no. He meant... He thought that she had taken it into herself.

Her expression hadn't changed,  thank god. Aiko shrugged at him. “It's kind of obvious, isn't it?” She turned her tone scornful and her volume conspiratorial, because actually she did not want to risk Yamato overhearing this. “An Uzumaki wanders into town, a bijuu disappears- it's amazing that Konoha is this fucking thick.”

He took the information with a nod.

'Wait. Did he know that Konoha thinks Orochimaru has the Ichibi?'

She couldn't tell from his face.

“I'll be seeing you around.” Kisame glanced back at the forest floor, where Itachi's body had fallen. It wasn't there anymore- had he managed to snatch it up, or was it floating somewhere in the water and debris?

The look he gave her actually seemed respectful. “I look forward to killing you, Mizukage-sama.”

Aiko nodded. “I'll enjoy your attempts,” she responded, and actually kind of meant it. Damn. He was fun.

He bounded away. The instant he cleared the barrier it fell apart, sending water cascading out into the forest.

Maybe she should have turned to check on her team and Yamato, but she kept focusing on Kisame. He was covering ground fast, her hiraishin seal burning through Fire Country. He didn't change trajectory towards Aiko's clone, which might have been purposeful or might have been because he actually didn't know where she was hiding Naruto. She was still looking off into the distance when Yamato landed beside her.

“Mizukage-sama,” he said stiffly.

“Un.” She didn't look at him.

He took a deep breath. “How old are you?”

What? Aiko gave him her full attention and a baffled expression. She tilted her head. “Is now the time for that? Are we getting to know each other?”

His dark eyes were still and serious. “I was Orochimaru's first success, he said.” Yamato looked distant and a little lost. “Of course, he does lie a lot. Were you... before or after he left Konoha?”

She just looked at him. She belatedly understood what he thought- he had seen her mokuton and thought she was like him. It was reasonable and clever and she could use it, sow yet another contradictory theory about her past and existence. But the thought made her tired and she just looked at him until he ducked his head.

“Someone will have noticed all that chakra.” Aiko changed the topic. “We can expect someone from your border patrol within twenty minutes or so?”

Her bodyguards cut in to flank her. Neither of them looked the least bit dead, which was nice.

Yamato had to take a step away. His lips pursed. “I'm not sure they would be that close. But any sensor within 100 kilometers would have noticed that. Hoshigaki-san does not favor subtlety.”

She nodded and reached out to her clone, touching its consciousness and giving a new order. It was only as she did it that Aiko realized that should be impossible. She kept the confusion off her face and probably looked hella cool when her clone hiraishin'd back, Sakura on her back and Naruto clinging to her side.

Her brother's eyes widened at the scene. “Did you beat those guys?” Naruto winced. “I mean, the shark guy. Who were they? What did they want?”

She could tell him about Akatsuki. She knew a lot more than even Jiraiya did, at this point.

Aiko pursed her lips and glanced at Yamato. Konoha wouldn't like her sharing that information with him. Probably. But being ignorant hadn't kept Naruto safe- he'd been running on his own power. Would he have done that if he knew that he was Akatsuki's target?

'Fuck, probably. They were obviously using Sakura against him. But maybe not.'

“I beat him, but he's not dead. Let's talk about that after Sakura has been taken care of.” Aiko reached out to Sakura. Aiko's clone bent to make it easier, and Naruto hurried to help her shoulder Sakura. Aiko bounced twice, trying to adjust the genin's weight. She glanced at her people. “You wait with Yamato-san. Meet me at Konoha general hospital when you can.”

When she reached out, Naruto took her hand without thinking about it. It sort of made her want to cry.

Konoha was a blur she didn't really concentrate on. She had lied to Yamato about going to the hospital, just a bit- the first thing that she and Naruto did was collect Kakashi and Sasuke from where they were laying dangerously hot to the touch in the training field. She took them all to the hospital and then let her mind wander as the adrenaline fled her system.

'I never know what to do anymore. I miss certainty.'

She was aware enough to note that Naruto clung to her side, putting up a fuss when nurses attempted to sort them apart. Aiko roused enough to play along, having her vitals checked and assuring the staff that she and Naruto would wait patiently for whoever would come to debrief them.

It was fairly obvious when Konoha realized who the unmarked kunoichi was, because suddenly there were no civilian personnel to be seen. Someone she didn't know from Intelligence came by for her account of events while someone else prodded Naruto for details about the fight in Training Field 7.

She gave them a fairly detailed account of her motivations and how the fight had played out. They pushed to know how she'd known to come to the fight, and they definitely wanted to know how she had arrived on the scene so quickly.

'I should just talk to Minato. I need to make a decision either way about my strategy for disclosure and just go with it.'

Aiko yawned and pretty much waited for someone with clearance to be worth her time to come up.

Naruto squawked again about being pried from her side, but eventually acquiesced when told he could go see his teammates. Aiko waved goodbye. “I'll talk to you soon,” she promised. As soon as she'd decided what he ought to know, she'd seek him out.

He hesitated at the doorway, blue eyes flicking between her and the medic ushering him out. Then Naruto darted back into the room to throw his arms around her ribs. His nose collided with her collarbone. Startled, she brought a hand up to rest in his hair. An instant later she slid the other around his back.

'Small humans seem to like you.' Sanbi seemed bemused by that.

Naruto sniffled.

Aiko felt her heart melting a bit. “You're a good kid.” She rubbed his scalp and ducked her nose into that blonde fluff. It smelled like sweat and fear and forest. “Your team is going to be better soon. You did well, shinobi.”

Her brother shook in her arms. She did not choose to see how the Konoha shinobi watching reacted.

When Naruto finally let the door shut on his way out, two ANBU were already entering through the window.

“Hello,” Aiko said mildly.

One stood stiffly by the door, while the other lingered at the window. They didn't say anything or even look directly at her, probably because they were inherently rude and bad people.

She sat on the chair meant for the doctor and crossed her legs at the knees.

They didn't try to talk to her the whole time, which verged on unfriendly but didn't really bother her. When the door opened, Aiko was not surprised to see the Sandaime. He swept in as though he met foreign leaders in examination rooms often.

“Good morning,” she offered.

He hummed. “Good evening.”

Aiko shrugged at the correction. She could not imagine caring less. “I assume that my people have made it to the hospital by now?”

The Sandaime nodded. “Two Kiri shinobi passed into the village borders about an hour ago, along with a member of the border control and one of our senior shinobi.”

“Yamato-kun,” Aiko said idly. She pretended not to notice just how the Sandaime froze up at that. “He's a very nice young man. I enjoyed his stay in Kirigakure. He likes wood, I like wood, we have a lot in common.”

The Hokage took a long moment to reply. “I am glad to hear that.” His robes rustled as he came to stand in front of her.

Aiko tilted her head up and gave a moment's thought to the arrangement. It was inappropriate to have the Sandaime stand while she sat- it was arrogant and rude, as though he was subservient to her. She stood and kicked the chair back so she had some space to breathe.

The old man met her eyes with a bit of amusement.

She tucked a thumb into the waistline of her pants but didn't slouch too obnoxiously. Gotta hit the perfect balance of respect and careless self confidence.

It seemed like he was going to wait for her to speak. Smart.

“You should watch Naruto a bit more,” Aiko suggested. “And tell him things. He had no idea that he was Akatsuki's target.”

“Your opinion is noted,” Sandaime said coldly. Ah. She'd overstepped. “It is very kind of you to have such a personal interest in one of my shinobi.”

“We're related,” Aiko pointed out.

“Closely.”

She felt her brows raise. Did the Sandaime know? Aiko tilted her head slightly but she couldn't tell.

All in, all out. All in?

“Yes,” Aiko said, as though sharing this meant nothing to her. “Not as closely as you'd think, but I'm as closely related to the other person you think I'm related to as I am.”

Might as well take the risk, rather than be dragged kicking and screaming to it. There'd be no correcting damning misunderstandings if Konoha was allowed to come to them organically.

There was the strangest muscle movement in the Sandaime's face.

“Minato is a good man in most respects,” Aiko said placidly. “But there's something he should probably tell you. I'm sure he's thinking about it. It's not the thing you think I mean.” She gave the Sandaime a polite smile. “Unless you know what I think you think you know, but you know that you know more than I think you think you know?”

He took a bigger breath than was entirely dignified and collected. His wrinkled old brow was twisted in consideration, his mouth turned down. “Mizukage-sama, I ask that you dispense with the nonsense.”

“I am being perfectly truthful and concise.” Aiko shrugged. “I'm known for my clarity. I can't help that you don't understand. To be honest, I think that you lack the educational background to guess at what I'm saying.” That was incredibly offensive on its face, so she moved on quickly to soften the apparent blow. “Jiraiya probably could guess what I mean. And could confirm that one major school of thought presupposes that the underlying factors exist.”

“Are you offering to speak plainly with my student?”

She considered it. “If you'd like, but I don't have time to do it currently. I need to get back to work. You know how it is.” Aiko tried not to let the despair creep up. “But you know that Minato and I have had no chance to collude, given that you obviously suspect him of the only thing you could conclude without more information. Ask him first. Push him.” She shrugged. “He's loyal to Konoha over anything else, certainly over petty shit like his kids.” She bared her teeth and pretended not to see one of the ANBU freeze in horror. “After he's spilled, send Jiraiya to me. I don't have time to keep coming here every time you have a personal drama.” Aiko crossed her arms and leveled the senior kage with a cold look. “We're finished here. I'll be taking my genin team with me as well, since you owe me. Thank you for your time.”

There was a long, dangerous moment where she thought she had pushed too far. The Sandaime couldn't do much to a fellow kage, especially not when his country was weak, and when he wanted to work with her against Orochimaru. But she wasn't invulnerable.

Sandaime bowed slightly and gestured to the door. “Vole, please reunite the Mizukage with her people and escort them to the village gates.”