They stayed in the forest to rest for several hours. Going back only to get themselves killed because they were too tired to fight hadn't really appealed to anyone. Instead Naruto, Haruka and Sasuke slept, while Shikamaru and Sai kept watch. The blond was still out cold by the time they switched, but almost all of his bruises had faded during the night.
Kakashi found them early the next day, or rather Haruka found him after sensing one of the dogs in the area. The jonin escorted all of them back to the village, after making sure that none of them would die without immediate medical attention. He also eyed her shoulder for quite a while and she got the distinct feeling that he'd claim to have a personal healer to get out of future hospital visits the second he found out Jubei was the one who'd stitched her up.
The east gate as well as a good chunk of the surrounding wall had been completely demolished by Orochimaru's three headed snake summon. A lot of the fighting had been in that area and around the arena, but some of the destruction had spilled out into the nearby residential districts. Naruto's flat was fine, but both Ibiki and Haruka would be homeless for the time being. She was a little surprised when Sasuke told her she could stay in the Uchiha compound for as long as she needed to, but grateful nonetheless.
Kakashi also informed them that the Hokage had died during his fight with Orochimaru, and that the funeral would be on the following day. Naruto was devastated by the news, but Haruka couldn't really relate and had no idea how to help him. In their little group Kakashi was the only other person who'd actually had a personal relationship with the Sandaime, and the only ways he knew how to handle grief weren't particularly healthy. He either ignored that something was wrong or, if he thought he was to blame, clung to his pain like a lifeline.
Haruka opted to watch the funeral from her usual spot on the Shodaime's stone head.
"Why let Suna's jinchuriki live?" Sai asked when he joined her an hour later. His voice was as flat as always, yet there was a note of desperation in it.
"If you're hoping for a logical reason…" Haruka sighed. "Suna has unconditionally surrendered, and I could probably come up with some bullshit about political capital or something, but the truth is I didn't have a logical reason. The decision was purely emotional. It might pay off at some point or it might bite us in the ass. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
Sai requested she explain anyway, and so she did. Haruka told him of the memories she'd seen, the pain she'd felt. Of how Gaara had been made into a monster by those that were supposed to protect him, and how he'd finally stopped trying to be good when the only person he still trusted had asked him to die.
"This world devours so many children, and then spits them back out as nothing more than shadows of what they could have been," she said. "Gaara isn't any different than you and me, and he deserves a chance to decide his own fate."
"One chance," Sai warned. "If he comes back again—"
"I'll kill him myself," she finished. If the mercy she'd shown turned out to be a mistake she would do whatever it took to fix it. People always said that killing was hard, but she found that deciding to let someone live wasn't any easier. In fact it might be more difficult. After all, death was rather final, whereas a living person had nearly limitless potential to make her regret not taking them out of the game for good. She really hoped that Naruto had gotten through to Gaara.
𖦹𖦹𖦹
Haruka went to visit Hinata in the hospital a few days later, but the young heiress was asleep when she arrived. One of the medics recognized her though and tried to make her give an explanation of what exactly she'd done to Shino. Luckily the boy in question saved her. He still couldn't talk in more than a whisper or use his chakra without pain, and it would take weeks before he had a reasonable amount of kikaichu again. His father Aburame Shibi was there as well. It seemed they had both come for the same reason as her. They were also more than willing to distract the doctor, so Haruka could make a quick escape.
It wasn't the first time one of the medics had flagged her down and it likely wouldn't be the last. They couldn't decide whether or not they approved of what she'd done to get the poison out of Shino's system. Some thought of it as luck, others as a brilliant remedy for all poisons, and some were of the opinion that she had deliberately tortured a fellow shinobi and should face reprimands. It was ridiculous, especially because they should have better things to do only days after an invasion. The Aburame clan had decided not to file charges of any kind. In fact, Shibi had thanked her on behalf of the clan and offered her sanctuary if ever she needed it.
Team 7 wasn't back on the regular mission roster yet and Kakashi had told them to take a few days off from training as well, so Haruka had some time to kill. She wandered around aimlessly for a while. Ibiki was busy doing whatever he did to the unlucky souls that had ended up in T&I's holding cells, including the guy Neji had brought in on her orders. Kumo probably wouldn't get that one back in one piece, or at all.
She was on her way to the Nara compound to see if Shikamaru would entertain her for a while, when a familiar chakra signature stopped her dead in her tracks. Haruka quickly crouched down and pretended to fish a stone out of her shoe, to avoid seeming too suspicious. As far as she could tell no one was watching her, but as Ibiki liked to say: better paranoid than dead.
There was no mistaking who the intruder was, even if she hadn't seen Itachi in years. He'd been one of the only constants in her life for a long time, and she wasn't likely to forget what his chakra felt like any time soon.
Finding him wasn't too complicated. Her sensing abilities got less precise the further away from her target she got, but a general direction was all she needed to get closer.
"Should have known you'd be here," she said, sitting down next to him. Itachi had a sweet tooth and the secluded outdoor eating area of the little dango shop was one of his favorite sports in Konoha. His choice of clothing as well as his companion were rather curious though. They were both dressed in a black cloak with stylized, red clouds on it, and wore traditional conical hats with white strips of fabric attached to them.
It worked okay for Itachi, she certainly wouldn't have guessed it was him if she hadn't been able to sense his chakra. The other man, however, was incredibly tall, carried a massive weapon around with him, and not even his outfit could hide that his skin was grayish-blue.
"So?" Haruka demanded, when she didn't get a reaction. "Why come back now?"
"We're looking for someone," Itachi sighed, offering her one of his dango sticks. She raised an eyebrow at him, but stuffed one of the sweet dumplings into her mouth so she wasn't tempted to comment. The Uchiha had been an ANBU captain by the time he was thirteen. If he had actually been trying to find someone he would have snuck in, gotten the information and then snuck out again. He certainly wouldn't be sitting around in plain view, and right after an attack at that. The two of them already looked suspicious in their odd clothing, but right now people were especially wary of strangers.
"Who's the brat?" The other one asked, flashing a row of razor sharp teeth. Haruka blinked at him, once, twice.
"You're not related to Zabuza, are you?" She blurted, and startled a laugh out of the blue guy.
"How's a little thing like you know Momochi?"
"Ah well, he was supposed to kill us, but it didn't go so well," she shrugged. "Stuff happened. Anyway, in the end we got along fine and he taught me a few tricks."
That rather vague explanation earned her another laugh. He almost choked on his tea a second later though.
"Nice to meet you Hoshigaki-san," she smiled. Haruka hadn't been entirely certain about his identity, but that reaction was a dead giveaway. Hoshigaki Kisame the Monster of the Hidden Mist, sometimes also referred to as the Tailed Beast without a Tail. He was one of the Seven Swordsman as well, and also a nukenin that had no business being in Konoha.
If that alone hadn't made her uncomfortable, the fact that Itachi's Sharingan was activated certainly did. It didn't use up nearly as much chakra for an Uchiha to use it as it did for Kakashi, but keeping it active outside of battle still seemed like a waste. Not to mention that it puts a considerable amount of strain on the eyes over long periods of time.
She'd already established that he wasn't trying very hard to be stealthy, but then he wasn't actively provoking a confrontation either. He'd inevitably be noticed at some point though. Still, he was more than skilled enough that he wouldn't need the Sharingan against most opponents. Did he just keep it active all the time?
The appearance of Kakashi on the edge of her range startled Haruka out of her thoughts. She immediately masked her scent and chakra, which had both Itachi and Hoshigaki staring at her.
"What?" She snapped at them, suddenly realizing that being seen in their company would get her into a lot of trouble with Danzo, and likely whoever became the next Hokage.
"How long can you keep this up?" Itachi asked, voice mild, but curious.
"Just scent and chakra? Pretty much as long as I feel like it, provided I'm not fighting of course." All masking her chakra took was a little bit of concentration, anything else also required some energy, but for scent that amount was negligible, to the point that she regenerated the chakra faster than she used it up. The amount of energy masking body heat took varied with the temperature of her surroundings, but by now she had enough practice to do all three of those things even while asleep. The Camouflage jutsu was an entirely different beast though. It required a lot of attention and chakra to keep it active. Too much of the latter produced an effect like shimmering air, and too little would create odd shadows where there shouldn't be any. Both effects were equally obvious and the reason precise chakra control was needed to successfully use the technique.
Haruka almost had a heart attack when Kakashi decided to stop right outside of the dango shop and lean against the wall. The man didn't even like sweets, there was no way he just happened to be here by coincidence. The two nukenin had gone silent and she sighed, chewing on the rest of her dango. Might as well wait and watch what happened. It wasn't like she could get away without her sensei noticing anyway.
She seriously reconsidered that decision when not only Asuma and Kurenai, but also Sasuke showed up a few minutes later. Considering that Kakashi had gone out of his way to greet the younger Uchiha by name he probably knew the identity of at least one of the men at her table. It seemed they had come to the same conclusion because they were gone a second later, leaving Haruka alone with two cups of tea and another stick of dango.
While both Asuma and Kurenai moved on, Kakashi took a seat next to her.
"I'm pretty sure Naruto is at Ichiraku's," he said over his shoulder, dismissing Sasuke. The Uchiha glared at the back of his head at the treatment, but gave up soon enough. It wasn't like that ever worked anyway. Kakashi waited until the boy was well out of earshot before he continued.
"Intriguing choice of company."
"Quite," Haruka agreed. "He said they're looking for someone, but I don't think that's true."
"Oh?" Kakashi actually sounded interested in the answer for once, so she explained her reasoning instead of giving him a cheeky comment. Itachi's behavior didn't make a lot of sense because it would inevitably lead to a confrontation, and he generally avoided those unless there was no better option.
"If he wanted to be found he could have just walked in without the hat. The Sharingan alone is enough to let anyone know who he is."
"Yeah, but he doesn't want to fight," she insisted. Walking in like Kakashi had described would mean attracting a lot of attention very fast, which would end in a large-scale battle or force him to leave. "He isn't hiding, so he wants someone to know that he is here. Or maybe that he was here, considering that he doesn't seem to care who finds him. A small confrontation wouldn't be made public knowledge to avoid a panic after recent events, but at least the council and all ANBU and jonin would hear of it sooner or later."
"A message then, or maybe a reminder that he still exists. As far as we know he hasn't done anything noteworthy since he left the village. But why call attention to himself now?"
Haruka shrugged at her sensei. She knew Itachi well, but she couldn't read minds, and it wasn't like he shared his plans with her.
"Maybe you should go see how Naruto and Sasuke are doing," Kakashi added after a moment. Both of her eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she nodded and left to do as ordered anyway. He clearly knew something he wasn't willing to tell her yet, but she'd probably find out soon enough.