It was a peaceful day in Konoha. The birds were singing, people were talking and laughing, and the smell of freshly baked bread filled the air.
A shout shattered the calm.
On a less busy street stood two kunoichi, one strong enough to kill you with a thought, the other a girl in grey with short pink hair.
Pedestrians filed around them, casting them stern looks, and muttering darkly at the disturbance.
Sakura didn't care.
"What do you mean Toph-sensei's gone?!" She yelled.
Anko frowned harder, if that was possible. "I mean that she left the village last night. And that was after breaking Orochimaru out of prison and fighting our shinobi."
It felt like the whole world had started closing in on her. Sakura stumbled, then plopped down hard on a nearby bench. "There's no way."
Orochimaru had attacked them. He had almost bitten Sauske and had just about killed Naruto. There was just no way Toph-sensei would help him. Not now or in any universe.
Sakura cradled her head in her hands. The collar of her coat padded the heels of her hands, soft and almost silky. "...why?"
Anko sat down next to her. There was a streak of what looked like dried blood on the sleeve of her overcoat; who's was it?
"Look, kid," she said in her usual brusque manner. "I don't know. None of this makes any sense to me, either. I especially don't get why she would help someone she captured in the first place, but-"
"Toph-sensei's the one who took down Orochimaru?" Sakura was starting to feel slightly dizzy. "Are you kidding me?"
"Well, yeah, she did." Anko stretched back. "And I don't see why she would do this either, but it's not my place to say anything. The council has declared her an enemy of Konoha, and I decided to let you know prior to the public announcement."
"Why?" This time it was hardly a croak.
"Because more than a few petty people know that you were her student, and I thought you should have some time to prepare yourself before they come egging your house and gossiping about you in the streets." Anko rested a hand on her head. "You're a good kid. If you ever need to get away from it all, you're welcome to stay at my place. I promise not to bring any men home while you're there."
"Thank you," Sakura felt tears starting to well up. "I really appreciate that."
She knew just how horrible some civilians could be. She'd seen it in almost every aspect of Naruto's life, in every vicious word or action. If that's what awaited her simply for being Toph-sensei's student...
The Jonin stood up. "You're a tough little genin, and you have incredible potential. If anyone can find out what really happened that night, it's you. Good luck."
"May the ground be firm underneath your feet," Sakura muttered, almost without realising it. Toph would say that when they split up after a good day of training.
"And yours," Anko replied, then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Sakura sat there for almost half an hour, mind whirring and debating. There was no reason for Toph-sensei to do this. What would make her do it? Genjutsu? No, illusions wouldn't work on someone who couldn't... see.
She realised she was crying. Sakura rubbed at her eyes, trying to stifle the tears, but they just kept coming.
She stood and took off running.
Now, more than ever, she was glad that she had made up with Ino.
▪▪▪
Kakashi arrived home to a village in total chaos.
This wasn't too far out of the ordinary, actually. It was only shinobi panicking after all. He slipped through their ranks with practiced ease and arrived at his apartment without anyone bothering him.
What he found there though.
That set him on edge. Pakkun was waiting with a slightly worried expression on top of the couch. There were still rumpled blankets laying on top of it (which was off because while she had an air of general unkemptness, Toph was really very tidy), and while her clothes were folded in four different shoe boxes, the laundry hamper wasn't any more full then it had been the day he left.
"Yo, boss," the pug said. "Toph broke Orochimaru out of prison and they left the village together."
Kakashi stopped.
Blinked.
"What?!"
▪▪▪
Sakura laid sprawled on the floor, her head in Ino's lap and her face buried in both her coat and the fabric of Ino's purple skirt. Her friend kept smoothing down her hair, letting her cry herself out in a place she'd done so dozens of times before.
When she had knocked on Ino's door, the Yamanaka had instantly seen that something was wrong. She had let her in, and after Sakura had choked out the whole story between sobs, she seemed to have judged that it would be best to simply let her cry herself out.
Which had been a really good decision an hour ago.
Now her legs were probably asleep.
Sakura slowly sat up. Her head was pounding, but she was simply all cried out. There was no more moisture left in her eyes.
Sitting up was too hard. Sakura let herself flop back onto Ino's squishy carpet, on her back this time, and squinted at the ceiling light.
"Feel any better?" Ino asked, sympathetically.
Rebelliously, Sakura shook her head. "Hey, Ino?"
"Yes?" The Yamanaka unfolded her legs and shook them out surreptitiously.
"You know I've quit with Sauske, right?" Sakura swiped angrily at her eyes again.
"Yes." Ino now held a slight hint of suspicion in her voice. "Why?"
"I'm going to grow my hair out again," Sakura said. "For me this time. That way, when Toph-sensei comes back to the village, she can teach me how to bend hair."
"Oh, Sakura," Ino said wistfully. "I have some great hair masks for you to try."
"Thanks," although she thought she was done, the rosette felt a few more tears leak from the corners of her eyes. "I'm so lucky to have you back."
"Heck yeah you are," Ino agreed. "Look, you're going to get through this. And when you bring miss Toph back, I want to have a few words with her, okay?"
"Okay."
Naruto wanted to be recognised.
Sauske wanted to kill a certain man.
And Sakura...
Sakura wanted to find someone.
▪▪▪
The next time Toph awoke, she didn't feel lightheaded. She had been lying on a hard, flat surface, not Kabuto's back, and when she opened her eyes she shot upright.
There was no sound of breathing or moving, so Toph deduced she was alone. She slid her legs off the bed and touched the ground; it was rock, uncovered by carpet or wood. From the vibrations she could suddenly see, she was in a cave.
She stood. Although her sides throbbed, she ignored the pain and walked towards where she could feel the absence of stone. It was a doorway as she'd suspected, and she wasn't locked in or restrained.
The ground was cool under her feet. Rocks stabbed into her skin, but she shoved back with the smallest bit of Earthbending and made them flat. A few more steps, and she could sense that she was in a maze of tunnels.
When Toph tried to feel it in its entirety, a stabbing pain worked its way through the base of her skull. She gasped and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to keep the pain at bay, but to no avail.
She felt someone coming, but couldn't tell who. Despite her condition, she bristled, ready to fight.
Kabuto laughed. Instead of relaxing her stance, though, Toph kept her guard up. "Where am I?"
"Easy now," Kabuto pushed something higher up his nose. Because her Earthbending was all strange, she couldn't quite make out what it was. "We're in one of lord Orochimaru's hideouts. You're safe."
"Is the treaty still in effect?" Oma and Shu, Toph hoped it was. She wasn't entirely sure she could fend off two ninjas in her current state.
"Lord Orochimaru did say something about that," Kabuto divulged. "Nothing specific, but if we had wanted to hurt you, we would have done it already."
This was true. Toph let her arms fall back to her sides. "Okay. Right. Yes. What's going on?"
Likely sensing her disorientation, Kabuto gestured back the way he had come. "I was scouting the perimeter when I noticed you were awake. Would you perhaps care for some tea? I have a kettle brewing in the dining area."
"You guys have a dining area in a cave?" Toph asked skeptically.
"Allow me to show you," he bowed slightly and let her pass him. Aside from stumbling over her feet a few times, she did pretty well walking on her own.
The cave was unfurnished. Orochimaru was seated on a cushion by a low, circular table. There was another cushion across from him, and that was it. Toph managed to plop down on the empty fabric and immediately rested her head on the cool wood.
Her hair, she noticed, was loose and down, a messy, wavy disaster, but she couldn't find it in her to really care. "Morning."
"Afternoon, technically," Orochimaru supplied. "You slept through the rest of that day, night, and this morning. I trust you're well rested?"
Toph moaned.
"I see. Is this perhaps a side effect from your...-"
"Bending," Toph managed. "And yes, it seems to be."
"Interesting," Orochimaru mused, almost to himself. "Why now? Do you have... side effects like this often?"
"No," she listened to Kabuto pouring her some tea. "Then again, I've never done anything like what I did to go us escape."
Ah. It was Jasmine tea. At least its existance was constant in this world too. She accepted the cup and set on the table in front of her face. Its smell reminded her of other times, times with Uncle and Zuko and Aang.
She shook off those thoughts and blew gently at the tea.
"Although I don't know much about your 'bending', I would suggest that you give it a rest. Only move small things like pebbles for now." Orochimaru seemed slightly pleased that they were in almost a reverse position of the interrogation of a few days ago. She was out of commission and he was the one ordering her around.
Toph yearned to be rebellious and say heck no, but that fit with what some of the healers her parents had taken to her had said. Because of her frailty, they had told her parents not to overwork her and strain her gift. They had also prescribed remedies for it if it did happen.
Orochimaru had told her just about what they had said so long ago.
She sighed, then sipped her still hot tea. "Yeah, yeah. I won't."
"Won't bend more than pebbles or won't take my advise?" He asked.
Toph let out a delighted laugh. It seemed he had learned from the interrogation and had shut the loophole, or at least noticed it.
"I'll listen to you," she admitted. "Although you're a child killing freak who got cast out from his village because of your kidnapping and experimenting on them... Oh, wait. Why should I?"
"At least your memory wasn't affected," he remarked, ignoring all of her perfectly valid points. "I was slightly worried you'd wake up with a severe case of amnesia."
"Worried or hoping for it?" Toph snarked, taking another swallow of tea. It burned down her throat, puddling in a warm pool in her stomach. She took a deep breath, exhaling a whoosh of hot air.
"Both," the sannin seemed to know that she could tell when people were lying. That, or he had decided to offer her some common courtesy. "But you seem to be fine and that's what matters."
'Fine' was a relative term. "Why are you being so nice to me? I got the impression that you aren't usually."
He chuckled. "Call it scientific curiosity. You intrigue me. I've never seen anything like your power."
"And I could probably trounce you in a fight even in this state, right?" Toph finished off her tea and poured herself another cup. "Especially since you can't do your finger magic now."
"You would have little to no chance."
Lie.
"Not against Kabuto and my summons at least." Orochimaru continued.
Truth.
"Unless I was at full power," Toph finished for him. "I'm pretty awesome."
How strong was Kabuto? Orochimaru seemed pretty confident in his abilities.
Or at least in the giant snake's.
He made an annoyed noise, but didn't dispute her statement.
"I can see why you're being nice to me now," Toph said suddenly. "Its so that I'll owe you once I get over this 'illness'. Very sneaky of you."
"Ah, yes. That's the only reason," he deadpanned.
Lie.
Huh. Toph sipped her tea, feeling warmth in every part of her body. "Right then. I'll humor you and owe you a favor, even though it was me who got you out of Konoha."
"It was mostly me," the Sannin disagreed.
"Nope," Toph argued with a smile on her face. "If I left it up to you, we would never have gotten past the wall, not to mention that we would have been picked off by shinobi before even getting there."
"Do the words 'giant snake summon that we rode on' mean nothing to you?!"
▪▪▪
"Aah, Raaaan-chaaan," Tobi whined. "Can't you just tell me where she is and skip all the walking?!"
The spirit wasn't amused. "No."
There was a noise underneath them. The orange masked Akatsuki member halted instantly, coming into a crouch to shamelessly eavesdrop on what he discovered was a squad of Konoha ANBU.
"Find anything?" An ANBU member asked.
"Nothing," another ANBU replied.
A third ANBU sighed. "Are they even in the land of Fire anymore?"
Oh, and then a fourth ANBU pulled a kunai out of his pouch. He twirled it around his finger the exact way all academy teachers taught not to. Tobi stifled a laugh.
"They couldn't have gotten far. Orochimaru was still out of commission, and Bei Fong was unconscious last we were able to check."
The third ANBU shook his head. "What part of 'giant snake summon they rode on' skipped out of your empty head?"
Bei Fong.
Underneath the mask, Tobi's eye narrowed. That was a name he didn't recognise. It didn't sound remotely Konohan, or like any of the other elemental nation names.
His eye shot to the still present figure of the ghost who hovered above him in the air, long, unbound hair and robes billowing in a nonexistent gale.
"Is the she you're sending me after the one they're talking about?" He asked, not bothering to be quiet. The ninja underneath him silenced instantly, but he didn't care.
Ran's sharingan eyes caught his, tomoe starting to spin wildly.
The ANBU below them were surrounding them, weapons drawn now. "Remove your mask and put your hands in the air."
He didn't move, watching Ran.
Finally, she nodded. "Yes."
He rose, then addressed the shinobi around him. "Tobi's hands are in the air though. All of Tobi is in the air! You should ask for Tobi to go into something he's not in, like water! But then Tobi wouldn't be able to breathe, so Tobi guesses not. "
These ANBU would have to go. As Ran watched, Tobi slid down his overly long sleeves and projected a sword blade from his hand. "And Tobi doesn't want to take off his mask. Could you pretty please ask something else?"
They didn't get a chance to. Tobi attacked swiftly and ruthlessly, and within five minutes, all four ANBU were lying on branches, dead. Tobi shook off the blood and turned back to the Onryo.
"Which way is... Bei Fong?"
The spirit smiled a cruel smile, and pointed to the east.
Tobi sputtered. "But that's the way we just came from!"