Title: Dreaming of Sunshine

Summary: Life as a ninja. It starts with confusion and terror and doesn't get any better from there. OC Self-insert.

AN: When I go home very shortly, I will try to stop by the Set Location and take some photos, because I actually have a specific place that I'm now headcanoning as Hidden Mist.

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Chapter 138

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There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them ~ Winston S. Churchill

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Travelling with Tsunade was an interesting feeling. It wasn't like we hadn't before – the trip to Hidden Grass Chunin Exams – but that had been with a much larger group. This time it was just the three of us, because the competitors were already there and had been for weeks.

We pushed a little harder than I would have normally, but it wasn't like Sasuke and I couldn't keep up. There was something about being able to stretch out and go, anyway, because running circles around a training field was fine for conditioning but it didn't match the feeling of actually going somewhere.

And if I spent some time imagining a world where the three of us had been active duty ninja at the same time and this was an actual mission, well. That was entirely between me and myself. But it would have been awesome. Just saying.

We reached the Port City on the east coast, where a representative from Hidden Mist was waiting with a ship to ferry all the guests out to the island.

We made sure to approach slowly instead of just running through the city. Which was both polite and made it seem like we had just leisurely strolled here from Konoha without a care in the world.

At the docks there was a marquee and party tables with umbrellas and what looked like finger food and a drinks counter. There were plenty of people seated and chatting, some with entourages and their own ninja guards.

It was a little bit more than just herding people onto a ship and setting sail. It could have even been called 'posh' what with the ocean view and all.

"Hokage-sama," the Mist Jounin in charge greeted us, bowing politely. "You're just in time. We're going to begin boarding in about half an hour, so until then please help yourself to food and drinks. If you have any other requests, please let me know. I'm here to help!"

Tsunade demurred but I paused long enough to smile brightly at him. "Congratulations on your promotion, Haku," I said, tapping his vest teasingly. He was wearing a standard shinobi uniform, as were all the other Mist-nin here, so it was probably to help all the civilians identify who was who.

"And you as well," Haku murmured back, with a small smile. "I hope we'll be able to catch up later."

The food was fancy and I ate a few little shrimp on cracker things because they were there. It was a little bit weird given that we'd been eating regular camp food on the way here, rehydrated ration packs and whatever small game we could catch on the way. Such was ninja life, having to adapt to all kinds of situations.

Probably not what that rule was referring to.

Tsunade orbited the waiting site, exchanging pleasantries with the people there. I tried to commit faces and names to memory, who was important and why. There wasn't anyone I recognized, but there was probably more than one meeting point and / or departure time.

Haku seemed pretty busy, constantly moving around but always smiling. It seemed like Hidden Mist were really trying to go all out with impressing their clients. Which was fair enough, because this would be the first real chance for people to visit the 'new' Hidden Mist under Mei's leadership. They would absolutely want to make the most of that.

The ship we ended up boarding was different to the boat we'd used to go to Land of Snow, which made sense since this was going to be a much shorter trip. Thankfully. It had less outside deck space and was more of an enclosed ferry type thing.

It was a nicer trip, too, though that might have been down to the fact that I had anti-nausea jutsu now.

It became obvious when we started getting near to Land of Mist though.

On account of the mist.

When we'd gone to Land of Waves, we'd arrived stealthily under cover of fog so thick you couldn't see a foot in front of yourself. This wasn't quite so bad, but it probably covered a much larger area and I was willing to bet it made sailing conditions hell.

It was also full of chakra.

I exhaled slowly through my nose. I was really starting to hate sensing 'weird natural chakra'. I wanted to say 'who knows if it means anything' but that was starting to seem like a sucker bet that even Tsunade wouldn't take.

"Problem?" Sasuke asked, barely audible. He'd shifted at an angle, so we were facing different directions to maximize coverage.

"Chakra mist," I said back equally as quiet.

"Technique?"

I shrugged one shoulder. It could have been it was probably too much for any one person to have set, unless Mist had someone like Pein hidden away, but it could have been seal generated. I was pretty sure Konoha's Barrier Team monitored the wall via seals and Mist could have been doing something similar.

Tsunade frowned minutely and tapped her fingers. "None I know of," she said.

Yeah, that wasn't reassuring.

I sighed and let my eyes sink shut as I tried to focus on it. There was plenty of it in the water too, so it might have been a natural chakra thing, like how Land of Snow had felt cold. That had been natural, until it had been hijacked to bring about spring, anyway. It wasn't uniform the way the Fire Temple had been, or the way a single persons jutsu would have been, but it was… scrambled. Like white noise.

Like screaming.

No, that was just being fanciful. It didn't feel sentient. Not focused enough. There was no intent to it.

Still.

I glanced at Sasuke. He nodded.

Good. Whether or not I was being overly paranoid, he'd be on guard too. We were as alert as we could be. I couldn't – wouldn't – second guess myself on a mission.

"Is there something wrong?" a quiet voice asked, and I was reminded that we were under very close watch here, however friendly. The fact that we were on alert was probably not very diplomatic.

I made an effort to relax my shoulders. "Sorry, Haku," I said, smiling sheepishly. "I get a bit sea sick. It's nothing, really."

"You should have seen her on our last trip," Sasuke said dryly. "I didn't think people could go that green without some kind of bloodlimit."

Deflect and defuse. It seemed to work because Haku laughed. "I see. Can I offer you anything for it? We have plenty of sea sickness pills."

"I've already had some," I assured him. "I'm fine. Just a little uncomfortable. I'd normally just go outside to get some fresh air, but it looks a bit damp out there."

"We brought out our best weather for our guests," Haku said serenely. "So, you can see all the wonders of the Village Hidden in the Mist."

"I'm definitely seeing mist," I agreed. "Very impressive."

"It's what we're known for," Haku said. "Are you sure there's nothing you need? Water? Ice?"

"Ice would be great, thanks," I said, amused.

He twisted a circle of it into being between his hands and the last time this had happened I'd been tired and feverish and I hadn't been able to appreciate how fine his control was.

"If you keep crowning me, people will get jealous," I said, allowing him to set it on my head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he demurred. "Now please, let me know if you need anything else."

We waved him off and settled in to wait.

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The island that was the Land of Water - or the one of the islands that we were visiting, anyway - loomed out of the mist in a very imposing sort of manner. 'Tall' was my first impression, with many craggy cliffsides facing the water. 'Barren' as well, since the grass was yellow and stalky and all the trees were stunted, lopsided things from salt and wind, but that was its own kind of ecosystem too.

The mist had started to thin out a bit, too, and wasn't so full of … whatever I was sensing. I was optimistic about that.

We curved around the side of the island, past the cliffs and a few beaches, before passing through a breakwater and into a reasonably busy harbor.

The security looked intense.

"Welcome to Kirigakure!" Haku announced to the ship. "Please remain seated while we dock. Then security is going to check the guest list and make sure we haven't lost anyone over the side-" there were a few giggles "-and you'll all be escorted towards the guest lodging and entertainment. Thank you for your cooperation!"

It took a peculiar sort of skill to get people to submit to ninja security with a laugh, that was for sure.

The guest accommodation was a hotel that was right beside a lovely little beach thing. We got a suite of rooms, with a living room type thing, a master bedroom and a twin bed room to the side.

All very fancy. All the type of place you would stash a visiting Kage.

"You're not going to ditch the crown?" Tsunade asked, sounding amused.

"Do you need me too?" I asked. I didn't know for sure but carrying around of chunk of someone else's jutsu was just asking for them to use it to monitor you. It wasn't like we were going anywhere or doing anything that I needed to duck surveillance for, and there were plenty of guards watching us anyway.

Diplomacy wise, there was the fact that it was a visible tie to our hosts for anyone in the know about Haku's abilities. There was also the callback to the last exams and to my nickname which… may or may not have been a good thing, come to think of it.

Well, it was going to melt soon enough, anyway.

Since it was still daylight, we decided to check out the beach. Like the docks in Port City, this was very clearly set up with the comfort of guests in mind; marquees, a bar, plenty of beach chairs.

The beach itself…

The thing was. I'd grown up on iron sand beaches. Black sand was my default and any time I went to a white sand beach it felt a little like visiting a story book. A thing I was aware existed and that other people talked about all the time but not my lived experience.

(Yes, I know. The irony. But it had been that way even before the whole 'world of fiction' thing.)

This looked like home. The path sloped down to a small curved beach, hemmed in by raw cliffsides and stony outcroppings.

"Black sand?" Sasuke said.

"Could be volcanic," I answered offhand, "which means it's probably basalt. Or could be iron sand which can be mined for steel. Or just sedimentary deposit."

Volcanic made sense, given that Land of Water was a chain of islands. But iron sand would maybe have explained how they'd developed such a strong swordsmanship culture. Or it could have been both.

Down on the beach the Mizukage was a vibrant spot of blue and red, moving around and making conversation. "Hokage-dono," she greeted, smiling. "And entourage, of course." She nodded in our direction. "Welcome to Kiri. I hope your trip was pleasant."

"Pleasant enough, Mizukage-dono," Tsunade greeted back. "My congratulations on your nuptials."

Mei fluttered and demurred, but I thought she looked genuinely pleased.

A little more small talk was exchanged and the Mizukage invited us all to dine with her tonight. "And I'd be delighted to give you a tour of my village, as well," she added. "Kiri has bound to have changed since last time you were here."

An approved opportunity to nosy around, in other words, while keeping us under the eye of people who could make sure we didn't nosy too well.

"No doubt," Tsunade said, a little dryly perhaps, since her last visit to Hidden Mist would have been before she left and therefore more than a decade ago. "But I am very interested in seeing the changes you've made."

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Dinner was at the Mizukage's residence – or whatever the main building was designated as – so it was private, as compared to the very bustling hotel restaurant.

We weren't the only ones there either.

"Onoki isn't scheduled to arrive until tomorrow," Mei said, "so I'm afraid it's just the three of us."

To be honest, I was more surprised by the knowledge that the Tsuchikage was intending on coming at all, than the fact that he wasn't here to make nice. I guess he hadn't quite decided on which way he was going to jump, though I don't think that any one held out hope it would be in our favour. The best we could hope for would be that he just stayed out of it all – and even that was asking for a knife in the back when the fighting with Cloud was over.

"Kazekage-dono," Tsunade said, nodding in Gaara's direction.

We all shuffled awkwardly around the circular table, Kage bookended by their bodyguards. I ended up next to Kankurou and Sasuke next to Zabuza, which left Haku and Temari as the third join. Not a bad placement, all told.

The room we were in was smaller and less ornate – more work like and functional. Still nice, still classy, but less embellished. Even that felt like a deliberate choice, as if saying that the excess in other places was a front for the pampered rich and that people like us, real ninja, wouldn't be impressed by it.

"Nice hat," I murmured to Gaara, across Kankurou's amused shoulder, as we took our places. "Suits you."

He was the only one wearing his but I knew what it was like to feel younger and less experienced than those around you and to try and shore that up with the image of professionalism. My entire look had been based on that feeling.

Sympathy for Gaara aside though, it was pretty neat to be in a meeting of Kage where the female Kage outnumbered the male. As in, I didn't really think that was a thing that happened anywhere in recorded history. Heck, with four out of nine, we were only one off from having a female majority in this room period.

Kankurou bumped my leg with his knee under the table. "You know I'm disappointed, sparky," he said quietly. "Only a Special Jounin? I was expecting more."

Quiet, sure, but everyone at the table was a ninja so there was no way everyone wouldn't hear it, even if they were having their own conversations. It made everything a little stilted when your boss was sitting next to you having an official diplomatic conversation. I was pretty sure that, as bodyguards, we were supposed to be seen and not heard.

"Special Jounin is perfectly respectable," I told him, though yes, Sasuke and I were clearly the lowest ranked people in the room. Everyone else was a Jounin. And Haku, Temari and Kankurou had all managed it in the year since the Grass Exams as well. "But I just got caught up with training and fuuinjutsu and stuff. And I was hospitalized for a while, so that didn't help much."

"Yeah," he said, very casually, "I heard about that. Sort of. What happened?"

Subtle, Kankurou. "Orochimaru, what else?" I said with a shrug. "Or his minions anyway. Tsunade-sama managed to come up with an antidote, but it was a pretty close call."

That was the official story. That was the only story.

Kankurou didn't give any indication whether he believed it or not. And… without all the pieces of the puzzle there was no real way for him to know what had happened. But the Sand Siblings had been there for Gelel, and that wasn't the same but it definitely gave them a perspective that no one else really had.

"Between that and Shikamaru, it's been a rough year," I tacked on, a slight but subtle shift of conversation.

"I knew something was rotten with that mission," Kankurou said, with a slight frown. "How's he doing? Temari's been worried," he tacked on, apparently not being able to pass up the chance to goad his sister.

Temari gave him a death glare across the table that said no, shut up more eloquently than words and turned aggressively away.

"He's fine," I said, smothering a smile. "Back to taking missions and everything. I'll pass on your well wishes."

"-I've heard your Academy program has been… drastically overhauled," Tsunade was saying to the Mizukage, which was a much more official topic of conversation.

"Oh, yes," Mei said coyly. "Zabuza has done an excellent job with the training of our next generation. I'm sure you'll see plenty of evidence of his methods tomorrow during the exams." She reached for his hand, which was resting on the table, without looking and patted it.

Zabuza looked like he would have rather been anywhere else than having this conversation, up to and including stabbing himself in the face with his own sword.

"I'm sure I will," Tsunade said, mildly. "He's certainly a … bold choice for the Academy Head."

"Zabuza has always had strong opinions on the Academy training program," Mei said. And wasn't that a giant understatement and euphemism. Strong opinion.

And as much as I could see where Tsunade was coming from, and as much as the idea of Zabuza; Demon of the Bloody Mist as an exasperated Iruka-sensei type figure getting mobbed by thirty pre-teens made me want to laugh… Haku was pretty solid evidence that he wasn't bad at it.

The topic of conversation also, eventually, tackled the giant elephant in the corner – the looming war with Cloud. Because when else were the three Kage involved going to be able to communicate face to face about it? Outside of this room, we might end up pretending everything was fine, but it started to become very clear just how fragile this alliance was.

Mei prevaricated on the topic. "Of course, we stand by our allies," she said. "Though at the current time it's difficult to say what kind of assistance we could provide. The situation could evolve in so many different ways and we just don't have the information to anticipate what those will be."

Gaara was far more blunt.

"We don't have the ninja," Gaara said, terribly flat and maybe giving away just a little too much. Well, it wasn't like we didn't know how bad the situation in Sand was. "We can assist Leaf with any operations in Wind Country or River Country, but anything more would be overstretching. In a worst-case scenario, the most we could send a squad of Jounin."

That wasn't nothing, but it also wasn't a lot. And since Cloud was (so far) the one we were fighting, we wouldn't exactly be carrying out war operations in the west. Which meant, basically, that anything we'd be funnelling off to Hidden Sand would be regular missions - and that would mean Konoha itself wasn't able to carry it's workload. Even if we contracted them out and still took some fee on it, it wasn't a great situation for a ninja village to be in.

"I understand your positions," Tsunade said carefully, and that dragged everything into another round of careful negotiating.

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I was pretty interested in the tour, if I was honest. I didn't really think we would get to see very much that they didn't want us to see – all the real snooping would have been done by the Jounin-sensei like Anko while they were waiting – but what they chose to let us see was enough.

Because it was clear that Mist was putting on its best face for the exams and all the people that had visited for the exams. But how much of a step up was it? What was that best face covering and at whose expense?

Obviously, they'd changed the Academy system. The famous Bloody Mist graduation exam had been gone for years, but that was still all anyone really remembered about schooling system.

"Kiri Academy currently consists of seven different training halls," Mei said, leading us into a long, brick building with a flourish. She flicked on the lights.

It was definitely a training hall, long and empty. There were storage rooms to the side and a bunch of dummies set up against a wall down one end – round targets for throwing weapons and wooden peg targets for Taijutsu practice. It smelt faintly like feet and sweat. Pretty normal.

"No classrooms?" Tsunade asked, quirking an eyebrow. "An… interesting choice."

Mei let the criticism roll off of her. "We value a practical education," she said. "Students in Kiri learn by doing. When they're not in the training halls, our teachers have them outside learning how to deal with the natural environment."

"Kids get bored when you make them sit still and shut up," Zabuza said, not quite growling. "And that's not what we're training them for anyway, so it's a waste of everyone's time."

Given the timelines and when he'd become a missing ninja, about ninety percent of Haku's training had probably happened on the road. Zabuza was probably pretty good at just using natural opportunities.

"We don't neglect basic skills, of course," Mei said smoothly. "We simply try to have the teaching of reading and writing, for example, incorporated or interspersed with other training. It's been working well for us, so far."

Konoha had had a lot of outdoors classes, compared to what I was used to, but it'd still been very classroom based. "What's your student to teacher ratio like?" I asked, curiously. "It must be pretty low if you're being that hands on."

Mei paused. Whoops, that's probably too classified, my bad. "About twenty," she said. "Ideally, we'd like it to be lower, but we're being very particular about our teachers so we don't have as many as we'd like."

Konoha had about thirty students to teacher, though that was with an assistant, so maybe it worked out to fifteen?

Further along from the training hall was a low, artificial beach with a breakwater that created a kind of lagoon – for the kids to practice water related skills, Mei explained. I figured that covered water jutsu as well as more prosaic things like swimming and fishing and how-not-to-be-eaten-by-sharks.

I mean, there probably weren't sharks in there. But it seemed like an important skill to learn.

We also got to see the hospital. Or rather, an empty wing of the hospital that seemed to be new.

"We don't want to disturb the patients, of course," Mei said, smiling.

But this was definitely Tsunade's element and even an empty wing gave her a lot to work with. It wasn't quite the interrogation I'd seen her level on members of our hospital, but she was very interested.

Personally, I thought there were a lot of people here. Even if I assumed that they had more medical ninja than Konoha (which was an odd assumption to make) the number of patients in overnight, or in the waiting rooms exceeded what Konoha hospital would have had. I'd never given much of a thought to how quickly Konoha rattled through patients, but clearly it had an important effect.

There were other places we went, though none quite so important as those. I spotted quite a few guard posts and patrols, though I couldn't exactly call that unusual, could I?

Overall, well. I didn't really know what I expected. Mist was still one of the big five villages, so of course it was still a functional village but it had been in a civil war for so long and had so many blood thirsty ninja that I was still a little bit surprised by how nice most things were. I was sure there were poor corners of the village that we were being kept away from, but nothing we'd seen indicated crushing poverty or lack of civilization.

There was a beautiful mural made of sea glass on the ground of the open plaza, blues and greens and sharp red – Mei, rising out of the ocean – that was commemorative of her coronation and beautiful without being a terrible expense. It seemed very fitting for her, if you could say a thing made of recycling that everyone walked over was fitting. I wondered if it was their version of faces on mountains, or if it were Mei alone that had one.

When we returned to the hotel, I left the melting remains of Haku's crown outside feeling … contemplative.

"Opinions?" Tsunade asked, when we were alone in our rooms.

"I wouldn't want to go to their hospital," I said, after a pause when I couldn't come up with anything better to say.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You don't ever want to go to Konoha hospital," he pointed out.

"There are definitely more patients there," I said, giving a brief explanation of what I'd sensed. "The Academy system seemed interesting, though."

Sasuke made a noise of agreement. "A little more like… other training," he said. "More practical experience, less bookwork. Could be good for some skills but if you don't already have the basics down…"

"It does seem like they're trying to push out Genin as fast as possible," I said. "I didn't ask about their graduating age but… the twins were pretty young. I hope they're an unusual case."

"The other competitors in the exams are older," Tsunade said after a moment's thought. "So, they're probably only graduating promising genin early. We'll have to see what the quality of their forces are like over the next few years. I don't see that kind of teaching working in Konoha, it'd be detrimental to our medical and administrative staff for starters, but it might be worth modifying for field shinobi…"

I shrugged. I was definitely no education expert. "The rest of the village seems… well maintained. We didn't see many people so I can't gauge the mood or anything, but nothing seems to be falling apart. The shops have plenty of inventory. None of the advertised prices seemed too unusual – produce seemed high, but if they have to import a lot of stuff then it makes sense to be more expensive."

Admittedly, I'd just been glancing in through windows to make those observations, but they counted.

"Security was high," Sasuke added, "but unobtrusive. Probably higher than normal because of the number of guests, but the guardhouses looked like permanent locations. I'd say security is normally pretty high here."

"It used to be," Tsunade agreed. "Mei has certainly made it much friendlier. On the surface, anyway."

And with that ominous statement, we concluded our assessment for the night.

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The next morning was bright and a little cold, but the mist rising off the water was eerily beautiful in its own way. The exams didn't start until mid-morning so we had a bit of time to ourselves before they started.

There weren't as many people out on the beach as there had been the previous day, but those who were there were watching Zabuza lead a few other ninja through sword kata. I saw Chojuro but no one else that I really recognized.

"Well, you have to give Terumi that," Tsunade said, casting a judgmental eye over them. "She's knows how to show off her villages … assets."

"Reforming the Seven Swordsmen would be a pretty impressive move," I agreed.

"That too," she said dryly. She took a seat, brushing the morning dew off it with a wave of chakra. I found a nearby rock to perch on and Sasuke folded his arms and lurked.

They weren't really going through any particularly fancy or secret moves, given the whole… audience thing, but no one ever passed up the chance to study other ninja's techniques. The katas ended and Chojuro was paired up with one of the other ninja – the one holding Nuibari - to spar.

Zabuza stalked around them for a little while, before apparently being satisfied with their form or whatever, and retreating off the water.

"Come to see how actual swordsmen use legendary weapons?" he asked, propping one foot up on the rocks beside me. "Or did Leaf realize you're pathetic with a sword and give the Raijin no Ken to someone more skilled?"

"I still have it," I said mildly. "And I've been practicing."

I would never be a kenjutsu expert, so I didn't feel to insulted but… I felt a little insulted. Just a touch. Because there had been that whole thing where Zabuza had declared us 'not good enough to be ninja' and yes, while I technically met his criteria of being in the bingo books now, there was a small part of me that wanted him to acknowledge it. With, like, words.

"Heh," he said, "words are just words. If you're serious, prove it."

I had a lot of experience reading masked faces, so I knew without a doubt that the smile underneath those bandages wasn't a nice one.

I leant backwards, bending at the spine so that I was looking at the Hokage behind me. "Tsunade-sama," I singsonged. "Zabuza wants me to go beat him up. Is that okay?"

She gave me an amused look. "Keep it contained, Nara," she said. "The Mizukage won't be impressed if you injure the groom."

Well, that definitely sounded like an okay. I pulled myself back upright and twisted the lightsaber out of hammerspace, enjoying the way Zabuza's eyes narrowed when he couldn't tell where it came from.

"After you," I said, gesturing at the water. Yeah, lightning on the ocean. No way this could go wrong at all.

His smile was definitely not a nice one.

I smiled back.

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AN: I'm a little sad I didn't get to write my initial idea of meeting up in Mist, which was for Shikako to walk past a class of Zabuza teaching and try not to die of hilarity. But it didn't fit with how strictly managed a visiting Kage must be.