A/N: Bonus 13 is on the forum. fanfiction [dotnet] /forum/The-Chiaroscuro-Effect/185326/

The Nara Clan Compound

I wasn't sure how many hours I had spent just lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Too many; that was for sure.

I felt like I was missing out on something important.

It wasn't just the fact that I wasn't allowed to train. I had been prepared for that unfortunate necessity. Every shinobi and their mother knew trying to overexert a chakra network while it was still in recovery mode just meant confining oneself to a longer recovery period.

There were many other productive ways I could spend my time aside from training. Like digging up information.

Unless no information was coming up. Like now.

I had no answers, just more questions.

It wasn't the matter of the foreign villages. That was easy enough to deduce. Orochimaru wasn't the type to share power so readily; his subordinates were probably falling apart quickly without him around. Sunagakure would still stand, because invading a desert just for revenge was absolute idiocy, but they would experience a severe drop in power, relegated to the same corner Kirigakure was in. At least, temporarily. Both Suna and Kiri were still dangerous, and even more so if they were in a position for people to forget about them. (That was the point of being a ninja – to be so invisible that you became forgotten, and then strike when people least expected it.) I didn't know exactly what would happen to the Genin dismissed from the exams, but I'd find out soon enough, seeing as the same thing would probably happen to every Sand nin still in Konoha.

Meanwhile, a power triangle would form between the remaining three of the five major ninja villages, then. Iwa, Kumo, and Konoha. Within those three, the relationships just got more complicated. Iwa and Konoha hated each other; Konoha could not trust Kumo; Iwa and Kumo might form some secret alliance against Konoha, or they might not because no one really trusted Kumo.

If the Sandaime didn't play his cards right and somehow ruin any potential alliances between Kumo and Iwa, we might very well be fighting a two-front war sometime in the near future.

But I didn't care about that. It was obvious that all the various ninja villages hated each other, what with the ever-present scramble for more wealth and power. Konoha herself would be fine; she was the first to stand and she would be the last to fall.

I was not worried about Konoha. I was worried about the people in it. Because here, my opponents were not so easily visible. Secret plotters disguised as comrades, harmful orders under the veil of service, dangerous positions hidden behind a mask of prestige and honor. This was what we were supposed to trust blindly. What we were supposed to die for.

It was as if the village and the people running it were two separate entities. What was Konoha, even? Who was really in charge? What intentions did they have for my friends, for me? Perhaps everyday ninja could just stand around doing their work, closing their eyes and ears to everything that was above their clearance level, but I certainly couldn't.

That was always my greatest weakness. I always had to know everything. I'd go mad, if I was stuck knowing that there was something I didn't know.

Some could argue that this was insubordination, this questioning of orders. But what sort of ninja would I be, if I didn't look out for myself? Shinobi rule number I-don't-care: know your mission. Not just the task, but the reasoning, the background, and the justification behind it as well.

If there was no time for them to explain at the moment, say, in an emergency, where orders had to be given and executed quickly, then fine. But I would expect an explanation after it was all over. This was a simple matter of survival. One day, the orders would become more difficult, more dangerous, and then where would I be? It was unreasonable, for them to expect such sacrifices from me, without giving me proper payment in return.

This wasn't the same as a field mission, where information was withheld so captured operatives wouldn't succumb to foreign interrogators.

This was my own village, and I didn't even know if my sensei was dead or alive.

My thoughts were interrupted by my father's shadow falling across the room. "It's two in the morning, Shikamaru."

Of course he would notice I was awake.

"I can't sleep," I whined.

My dad groaned. "You know your mother told you to go to bed hours ago."

"I am in bed."

"'Bed' implies 'sleep'," my father grumbled.

"Don't you like ignoring her orders, though?" I grinned.

He laughed. "Not when it involves her giving me permission to sleep."

"Dad," I asked, all pretense gone, "What was the real reason for entering all the rookies into the exams?"

My father immediately frowned. "Go to sleep, Shikamaru."

I was furious. We nearly got killed because of this...don't they owe me an explanation?

But the anger disappeared as quickly as it came, replaced with something darker and uglier.

No, they don't. The world owes you nothing.

You cannot imagine, how crushing this realization was for me. How helpless and insignificant I was in the grand scheme of things.

It is one thing to lose a fight, because one can always train to get stronger. It is another thing entirely, to suddenly recognize the awful truth of just how little control one has over his own life, no matter how strong he becomes.

"Are you angry, Shikamaru?" my father asked, staring straight at me.

I was angry, but he used the present tense, so I just truthfully shook my head at him.

He looked at me a little while longer, and then he turned out the light and left.

And again, I was left in the dark.

Lucky, then, that I did not fear the shadows. I would not give up so easily. It was true, that learning how to spit fire would bring me no closer to my goal than I was now. But there were other forms of power besides muscle and jutsu, and just because I had none of it now didn't mean things would remain that way.

All of it, of course, was for the safety of the people I cared about.

Or so I told myself.

The Sunagakure Temporary Base

"You can't do this, Baki!" Temari yelled. "You can't just give him away like that!"

"I can, and I will," Baki sighed tiredly, having come back from an extremely exhausting meeting with the Sandaime Hokage and not really wanting to argue with yet another person. "Better one person than an entire village."

Baki was a shinobi, not a debater; he followed orders, not questioned them. Temari was much better than he was in that regard, being a teenaged girl who had also happened to grow up under the watchful eye of the whole Sunagakure council. For all his faults, the former Kazekage had really cared about his children (well, one could make a case against Gaara, but he had been a reasonable enough father to the other two), and he had allowed her, as the eldest, to act as the head of household while he was gone.

Forceful personality, semi-manipulative at the best of times, and often presented a cool and careless front. Typical oldest sibling behavior.

"All his life, he's been a sacrifice," Temari argued. "You're just going to hand him over like that? Not even without a fight?"

You didn't even care if he lived or died yesterday. "They'd crush us otherwise," Baki explained. "They knew about this invasion the whole time, Temari. They purposely let us come here with the intention of pulling something like this. Tell me, Temari: what was I supposed to do? Their Hokage practically demanded Gaara as a hostage. I was in no position to refuse."

"Couldn't we still fight? We're prepared – we can still deal lots of damage – "

She was young; she didn't understand. Baki didn't know how to make her understand. It was hard, admitting your own weakness. Especially in front of your former Kazekage's daughter. Every one of the Five Great Hidden Villages taught their children that their village alone stood out as the greatest and strongest; for a while that had been acceptable because they were all supposed to be around equal in terms of industrial power and military strength. But times were changing. Loyalties were shifting. Power plays were upsetting the balance.

And the Sand was on the losing side. If only their Sandaime Kazekage was still alive; he'd be able to match old Sarutobi. Not like him. Baki knew his own shortcomings. He was a skilled ninja, but he was never Kage material.

Baki was not a heartless man. He would, under no circumstances, send anyone out on a suicide mission. He would accept one, if his leaders gave the order. But he was the leader now, and his style was much different from that of his predecessors. Gone were the days of ruthless politicking; Baki had been out in the field himself numerous times and knew how terrible it could be for those actually executing the plans. He would not suffer someone else to the same fates he had already experienced - barely survived.

"One of their missing-nin managed to murder the most powerful man in our village. Now one of their men has managed to defeat Orochimaru. They outnumber us greatly, and while individually their men are weaker than ours, they know how to gang up on the enemy like wolves. Even if we manage to hurt them, we will come out of this with dead men, too."

"Sheesh," Kankuro rolled his eyes, less sympathetic than his sister. On one hand, that made Baki a little relieved, that he wouldn't have to argue with two people at once. On the other hand, he was a little disappointed in Kankuro, for not being more loving towards his younger brother, even if it was justified. "Why do you even care so much about the guy, Temari? Remember all the times he threatened to kill us – "

Temari turned on him. "He's our brother! Messed up or not, he's still – look, I understand your reasoning, and Gaara isn't my favorite person in the world, either, but he's still a person."

"Look, Temari – at this point in time, we haven't done such a great job caring for Gaara, either," Baki said softly. "His chances at a happy life were ruined the moment the demon was sealed into him. At least here, the Leaf promised to have their best sealing workers and mind specialists take a look at him. I don't know what sort of things they'll do to him, but he won't be losing control anymore. That I can assure you."

"'He won't be losing control anymore'? Of course he won't; they'll kill him, take the bijuu, and seal it into another one of their own if he does!" Temari yelled. "You're just as bad as our father! Only you're letting a foreign village execute him instead of just giving the order yourself, you great big coward! Maybe Kankuro doesn't remember, because he was too young when Gaara was taken away from us, but I still know the real Gaara, before he went crazy after one too many murder attempts. He was a good kid. They'll turn him into a weapon, Baki. They'll turn him into a weapon, and they'll use him against us. Why can't you keep him? Ask them to trade something else! Money, or jutsu, or something. Gaara isn't useless to us, Baki. One day we'll need him. We'll need the power of a jinchuuriki. And then you'll be sorry, when the Leaf has two and we have none."

Temari had a point, there. But what purpose did her argument serve, if it could not be realistically carried out? Baki would have tried his best to keep Gaara, had he been able to. But the reason why they were in this situation in the first place was because they were in no position to negotiate. The Sand had broken the rules; they had been caught; now they were going to pay. And the Sandaime Hokage drove a hard bargain – he was milking this opportunity for all it was worth.

"Money? We have no money. Our currency is worthless. They don't want our money," Kankuro snorted. "We want theirs. It's why dad came up with this whole stupid plan in the first place. And our jutsu is useless to them, because those old softies don't have the skills to learn them. We have – poisons, and puppets, and stuff. Things that only we can use, even if we gave away those techniques to someone else. They have teamwork and friendship and a few geniuses that carry everyone else. If they could use our secret techniques they'd have copied it a long time ago."

"Isn't there something you can do?" Temari asked.

Baki only shook his head sadly. "When you become Kazekage, you can let me know."

"Maybe I will, then," Temari spat. "Obviously, no one else in this entire damn village is capable enough to wear that hat. I'll become Kazekage and I'll bring Gaara home and you'll all be sorry; mark my words."

"You do that, then."

Never had that old saying about not knowing what you're missing until it's gone had been so true. For all the times Temari had complained that wished that Gaara never existed, she now so desperately wanted to take him back.

The Hokage's Office

The Sandaime was not having a good day.

Actually, he had been having a good day – the negotiations with the Sand village were going just as expected. The temporary leader they had at the moment – a young Jonin named Baki – was skilled, but not smart. At least, not experienced enough in administrative leadership positions to match the political savvy of an old man who had dealt with the likes of Danzo Shimura for his entire life.

Although, to be fair, Danzo technically only disagreed with him on the execution, and not the final result.

Baki had caved easily enough. He had been even easier to play than originally anticipated. While most people in his situation would have blamed their situation on a predecessor whom they had no control over and repeatedly deny, deny, deny everything, Baki had been completely open and honest. He did not want a war. He did not want any more lost lives. He did not want to have any remaining ties with the Sound, and had already cut all communication off with Orochimaru's subjects already.

Hiruzen appreciated his candid nature and his nobility. He cared about his people. A man of war who wanted peace. He was an ideal model of a human being that anyone should live up to. Konoha was touted as the most honorable of the shinobi villages, but in reality, if every man on earth was like Baki of Sunagakure, none of them would be in this situation in the first place.

The Sandaime, on the other hand, was simply laughing his socks off at his naivete.

You didn't just do that; not in a political negotiation. The smart thing to do would have been to bluff his way out of responsibility so that when the bargaining round started, he would have begun with a higher hand, at least. Pretend that they were still considering war, and would do all they could to deal the same amount of damage to Konoha as Konoha would give, and be happy with whatever havoc they might wreak regardless of personal cost, if you will. Because it was true. Despite the fact that they were leaderless, the Sand could still do a lot of damage – both to Konoha's infrastructure, and to their reputation – regardless of whether Konoha actually knew about their plans to invade or not.

Of course the Sand wouldn't do that; taking such risks were rarely profitable – but when you were locked in a room with another man and the only thing you were allowed to do was talk, then it was always good to push your boundaries. It wasn't as if mouthing off a few empty threats was actually going to cost you lives (unless you were stupid enough to say something out-of-place that did end up warranting a few assassinations here and there); that was why verbal negotiation rounds like these were set up in the first place. They were testing grounds for theoretical war moves to take place without actually having to deal with the consequences.

Maybe it might have worked, or maybe it might have not. A bluff like that would be easier to see through – but at least by then, the negotiators would be too sick of the nonsense to push the case any further, and he might get to walk out of there with something useful on his side.

Instead, Baki had placidly agreed to everything that the Hokage had dished out, and now, the Sand was stuck in a highly disadvantageous treaty. The loss of their jinchuuriki (though they hadn't had much use for it in the first place anyway) and the disqualification of all of their Genin from this Chunin exam round had been just the beginning.

Really, Baki was just too accommodating. Not even a single word of protest. Just because you were in no position to argue didn't mean that you still shouldn't try.

Obviously this man had never bartered at the farmer's market by himself before. The sellers always started at at least twice the actual price of their product. And, if they employed enough brute force and stubbornness (there was this one fishwife on the east side that refused to say a lower price out loud even if it was obvious that no one would buy it at that price), they might actually get high above the norm.

Hiruzen liked Baki. He truly did. An honest, open, man. But he was also the leader of a ninja village, and it would be embarrassing if he didn't take advantage of qualities like that.

In all honesty, the Sandaime wasn't sure if Baki even understood all the implications of all the political terminology they had used during the discussion. God, he hated lawyers. It was why he had studied all the books and tricks himself, instead of relying on one to do it all for him. Too bad most other shinobi, Baki being one of them, didn't think this way. Then again, if every shinobi and pickpocket out there also had such skills, the world would be doomed.

All that was left now was to actually sign the accords and start putting them into effect.

So, if the negotiations had tipped almost completely in Konoha's favor, then why was he having such a bad day?

Well, there were certain people in the world with the uncanny ability to ruin anyone's mood regardless of where it was before, and Kakashi Hatake was one of them.

Although, to be fair, this time, it actually wasn't his fault.

The conversation had started simply enough. A minor debriefing of everything that had transpired in the past few days, just to get Kakashi caught up to all that he had missed while he had been under Jiraiya's care.

"...So you're saying Orochimaru killed the Kazekage, but before that, they were planning this full-scale frontal assault together. As in, walking in and blowing stuff up in the same exact non-ninja way I've spent the past few months beating out of Naruto," Kakashi deadpanned.

"For the fifth time, yes. And before you launch into a tirade about how stupid that is – "

"Orochimaru was planning to use the invasion as a distraction for his personal plans, and Sand was hoping that would make us look like idiots in front of all the foreign dignitaries. Yeah, I got it," Kakashi said. "Now what?"

"In return for selling out everything they knew related to Sound, I allowed the Sand one hour to get all of their affiliates out of the village, with the exception of one hostage to ensure they wouldn't be pulling this trick again."

"Might I ask who?" Kakashi asked.

"You get three guesses, and the first two don't count."

Kakashi frowned, and then blinked. "Really? Their only jinchuuriki? I thought you were good, Hokage-sama, but damn, that's just cold."

Half a second. Impressive. It had taken Danzo five.

"They never liked him much. The Fourth Kazekage was the only one who could control him, and with that man dead, he is more of a liability to them than he is an asset," the Sandaime shrugged. "Better for us."

"I'm pretty sure they didn't like him because he was an unstable, homicidal maniac."

The unspoken words - Konoha, on the other hand, had no reason for disliking Naruto - were ignored. Because now that Naruto was officially a ninja, and no longer an undignified prankster, his presence was much better tolerated among the general populace.

"I'm fairly certain that a faulty seal was causing the brunt of the...mental problems. They had a medic-nin do it, not an actual sealing expert."

"That's why Jiraiya was already headed here when I was bitten?" Kakashi asked. The Sandaime nodded. "Huh. I expected you to just extract the bijuu and stick it in someone we know for certain is loyal to Konoha."

Hiruzen glared, offended that Kakashi thought so lowly of his mercy. "You think I'd kill him?"

"It would be the logical thing to do."

"One, I don't murder children, even if they are 'homicidal maniacs', as you put it, and two, I would rather not condemn yet another child to that fate if I can help it."

Kakashi was forced to concede that point, because it was true. He wasn't THAT far gone yet. A tiny victory for Hiruzen Sarutobi, but a victory nonetheless.

Three, because the Yondaime Kazekage's family still holds a good deal of influence in Suna, and his life might be advantageous to us later.

"Like it or not, he's still a member of a rival village. What will you do to make him loyal to us, if he was barely contained by his own village? Put him in some secret ANBU operation until he's so brainwashed that he'll be even less human than he is now? "

That was exactly what Danzo had suggested, actually. But given how restless the clans were growing, the Sandaime had decided to even out the playing field a little bit this turn by placating them instead. "I intend to hand him over to Inoichi Yamanaka for his re-education. The subtler methods are more effective."

There. That should be enough to get the clans to calm down a little bit. Maybe forget about their – whatever they were planning. But if they didn't, then that was fine, as long as the target of their ire was just Danzo and not Konoha itself, like the Uchiha had done. His job was only to keep the village stable, and the Fire Daimyo happy. This was already the case, and it would remain so, as long as neither faction outgrew the other in power. Eventually, of course, that equilibrium would break, but he'd be dead of old age or out of office by then, and in all honesty he was just so sick of caring about a bunch of petty selfishness that wouldn't even be his problem anymore in a few years' time.

Really, why couldn't those bastards just all shut up and start thinking about the village instead of themselves? They called him an asshole (that, he couldn't dispute), but he was only the one stuck making those difficult decisions because of the bullshit they pulled. All of this could have been avoided if everyone just put aside their pride and let things go.

(Actually, all of this could have been avoided if Danzo hadn't let his greed get the better of his common sense. Shibi Aburame and Inoichi Yamanaka by themselves would have let him get away with it, but Shikaku Nara was as vicious as the rest of them when provoked.)

"That still leaves the problem of two jinchuuriki in Konoha. How do you know this won't cause another round of bijuu-napping by Cloud?" Kakashi said, cutting into his thoughts.

"We will deal with them, should the need come to that."

"So what happens in the finals of the Chunin Exams, then?" Kakashi asked, giving up on that other topic. "I don't want any my kids becoming Chunin so early."

Your kids, Kakashi? Hiruzen thought. "You won't have to worry about Shikamaru. He didn't make it to the final round."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said, sounding a little more pleased than you'd expect from a man who was just informed that his star student had failed.

"Chakra exhaustion. He was not in fighting condition when the preliminaries rolled around, so we were forced to disqualify him."

"I see."

"Of course, the fact that he stood up to Orochimaru one-on-one and walked away with only chakra exhaustion warrants a field promotion to Jonin in and of itself – "

Kakashi cleared his throat.

" – but like I said before, I will put them on a probationary period. They will remain Genin under your care. When you feel that they are ready, or when they come of age I will give them their promotion. They will not have to take the exams again."

"So, since we've established they have no hope of being promoted, I don't suppose I can just withdraw Naruto and Ino from the finals, then?" Kakashi asked hopefully.

"For fuck's sake, Kakashi, they'll be fine! And shut up about that 'I care about their safety' shite; I know you're just being contrary for the principle of it." Kakashi smirked at him insolently, and the Sandaime shot him a nasty look before continuing. "If we're going to get some raised eyebrows from the dignitaries for having an all-Konoha final, we might as well give them our best."

"It's not like any of the other major villages are around to complain," Kakashi muttered. "You made sure of that."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to say, 'That sounds perfectly reasonable, sir,'" Kakashi snapped sarcastically.

It better. "Would you like to explain to me why you're acting brattier than usual today?"

Kakashi crossed his arms and looked away. "Not really."

Hiruzen rubbed his nose. "Tell me, Kakashi, how are you really feeling right now?"

I care about you, Kakashi. Seriously, I do. I care about your wellbeing, and it's not just because I need strong ninja like you out there after we've already lost so many other good people like Minato Namikaze and my students and Itachi Uchiha.

I swear. I care about you as a person. You are not just a valuable asset. Even though you are.

Kakashi looked as if he would argue again, but instead, to Hiruzen's relief, he simply deflated and answered the question honestly. "Not bad. My team is safe, and I'm alive, so…" his voice trembled and trailed off.

So something was wrong.

"Kakashi, please. How bad was the damage?"

Kakashi paused, and then lifted his headband to show a deactivated Sharingan.