Title: Into the Smoke

Summary: Fuyuki visits the Hamada compound, Setsuna is easily bribed, and Naruto is perceptive.

Notes: I was going through a period of very low self esteem when I got a series of very rude reviews on this story about a year ago, which I guess explains the extreme delay in posting. Sorry. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint—I'm a little rusty.

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Tension

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Fuyuki left his house with a skip in his step. He couldn't quite get his bag to close all the way, but he didn't really mind. He was going on a C-rank! Out of the village! Ami wasn't home, which was a little disappointing, so he'd left her a note on the refrigerator door, but she'd be super excited for him too when she found out! Maybe she'd even buy him a cake or something!

He thought about going to find her—she was probably still at the academy—but he was supposed to meet up with Touya in a half an hour. Touya would probably be super bitter, but it would be worse if Fuyuki just didn't show up. Inevitably, his visit was going to be spent mostly just listening to Touya complain about his team, but Fuyuki didn't mind that so much. Touya could be an ass sometimes, but Fuyuki knew that if he ever needed something, Touya would do it without question.

Touya lived all the way across town, in a district that was closed off with a secondary set of walls. Inside the Hamada district was like a whole other village—there were shops and restaurants and even some farms. Touya had always hated that it was so closed off and out of the way—he said it was like his family wasn't even welcome in the proper village.

Fuyuki, on the other hand, thought it was kind of neat. All of Touya's family was in the same place, and there was enough of them to fill an entire district! Growing up next to your aunts, uncles, and cousins sounded like it would be so warm and inviting! The neighborhood Fuyuki lived in could be kind of cold… Atsuchi, the homeless man who lived behind his apartment, would probably have an actual place to stay if they were all family…

But then, who knows? Maybe living next to an aunt is like the same thing as living next to a stranger when your family is that big.

Setsuna lived over this way, too, secluded in the thick woods. She'd probably climbed a lot of trees as a kid, much like Fuyuki used to climb fire escapes. On one memorable occasion, he'd climbed all the way onto a roof and fallen off, only for a police officer to swoop in and catch him. Out here, there probably weren't many patrols, even when the Uchiha were around. He wondered if Setsuna had ever fallen from a tree, and if so, if someone had been there to catch her.

"Gou-san!" Fuyuki called out as he approached the gate. "How are you?"

Gou sighed, placing his book down and crinkling his nose. "Back again?"

"Yup!" he said, bouncing on his heels. "Is Touya in?"

Gou narrowed his eyes at Fuyuki's bag, scowling towards him. "You're not staying the night, are you?" he asked, deliberately not answering his question.

Gou was always like that, but Fuyuki pretended not to notice. Gou was a lot like Touya in that he was kind of an asshole, but he was sure they could be friends if he was nice enough!

"No, I'm heading out of town for a mission after this!" he said, smiling widely.

Gou looked at him suspiciously. "What kind of D-rank happens outside the village?"

"Well, historically—" Fuyuki cut himself off. He doubted Gou would appreciate the little history lesson. "I mean, I'm going on a C-rank."

Gou looked taken aback. "A C-rank? So soon?"

"Yep! I think some of the other teams were probably upset that we kept taking the good missions, so he Hokage gave us a C-rank to get us out of the village."

Gou grunted. "Right. Setsuna's probably pulling all the weight. Try not to get her killed."

Eh? That was kind of out of nowhere. He had no idea Gou even knew Setsuna, although that would explain why she was allowed in last weekend without an invitation.

"I'll try?" he said. "Although I don't really think I have to worry about it. Our sensei's first rule for this mission is 'don't die' and Setsuna-chan takes rules pretty seriously."

"Alright," he huffed. He seemed like he was done talking for the day, eager to get Fuyuki out of his way. "Touya is home; you can go in."

Fuyuki grinned. "Thanks, Gou-san!"

He ran past him into the compound, rounding the corner onto Touya's street and bounding up his stairs. He rang the doorbell and listened to it chime through the empty rooms. He didn't have to wait long for the door to swing open—Touya had been waiting for him.

Immediately, Touya spotted his bag. "Where are you going? Did Ami kick you out?"

"Huh? Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. Did you track mud through the halls?"

"No, but even if I did the most she would do is make me clean it up."

Touya shrugged, but he didn't look convinced. "Did you bring home a stray dog?"

Fuyuki laughed. "Ami didn't kick me out!"

"Then what's with the bag? My mother won't want you to spend the night, but I could probably hide you in the closet if you were really determined."

"Good to know, but no." Fuyuki tapped his toe against the ground and tried to break the news as gently as possible. "I've got a C-rank."

"A what."

"Um, it's not a big one or anything," he said, waving his hands. "It's going to be super simple, and we should only be gone for like at most a week and a half and I mean it'll probably be super unfun anyways since it's just going to be me and my team and—"

"Fuyuki."

Fuyuki fidgeted, pulling at the sleeves of his favorite green sweater. "Yes?"

Touya's lips were pursed and his nose was crinkled like he was angry, but he took a deep breath and the annoyance faded. "Your bag is a mess," he said. "Unsurprising, considering that you were the one to pack it."

"Eh? I didn't think it was that bad," he said, craning over his shoulder to look at it. Sure, it didn't close all the way, but it wasn't likely to pop open or anything. It would be fine (probably)!

"Come in. I'll fix it for you." He turned heel and strode down the hallway without waiting for a response. Fuyuki followed. It wasn't often that Touya actually invited him in—usually, he had to duck around him and invite himself in.

Touya's room was the same as always—not a single thing was out of place. His desk chair was even pushed in!

Fuyuki promptly flopped face down onto the floor, spreading out on the hardwood beside his backpack. Touya nudged him with his foot.

"Why?"

"I thought you would be mad," said Fuyuki. "I prepared a speech and everything."

"I am mad," he said, beginning to pull things from Fuyuki's bag. "It should have been you and I on a team with someone else who doesn't suck." He paused to think. "Ino, maybe. Instead, I'm stuck with Uchiha and Haruno, who by the way can't even handle a simple pet retrieval mission, and you're stuck with Suzuki and Uzumaki, who are probably just dragging you down. If we were together, I bet we would have been doing C's last weekend."

Fuyuki hummed. "They're not so bad," he said, even though it was kind of a lost cause at this point. It would take a miracle to get Touya to see Setsuna as anything better than an enemy, and Naruto as more than the deadlast.

Touya scoffed. "Sure." He was silent for a moment, sorting things into piles. "You know, I think the only good team the come out of this year was Team Eight. They're probably having a ball."

"I wish I was on a team with Kiba," Fuyuki sighed. Shino and Hinata were super lucky. They got to see Akamaru all the time, and were probably even allowed to pet him.

"No you don't," Touya stated. "You would die."

"Maybe I wouldn't! You never know!"

"I'm reasonably sure."

"I took a dog walking mission last week and didn't die!"

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Touya sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "You're a mess."

"Dogs are great!"

"A mess."

Somehow, in less than a half an hour, Touya had gotten Fuyuki's bag to defy the laws of space. Before, the bag had been overflowing with stuff, but now it was hardly full at all. Clearly, he'd used some sort of ninja tomfoolery, but Fuyuki didn't know where, when, or how.

"You cheated," said Fuyuki, eyeing the bag.

"What? How did I cheat?" he asked, sitting cross legged on the floor across from him. "You can't cheat at packing."

"Well, clearly you did. There's no way you fit everything in there."

"Not everyone is as horrible at organizing as you are. A toddler could have done it better than you did."

Fuyuki grinned and twirled his braid around his finger, turning his head sideways and winking. "A toddler isn't as stunningly handsome—" Touya threw a ration bar at him, causing him to duck out of the way with a laugh.

"You're ridiculous," he said, but he couldn't quite keep a straight face.

From Touya's doorway, someone cleared their throat. Fuyuki nearly jumped out of his skin, immediately sitting up straighter and attempting (unsuccessfully) to smooth the wrinkles on his sweater. "Hamada-san!"

She wasn't supposed to be home until seven, an hour after Fuyuki would have left the village. Why was she there now?

Hamada Haruna was a strict, domineering woman. She carried herself in a forceful, militant manner—her posture never seemed to droop, and her shoulders were broad and strong. She was tall, made taller by high heeled boots, which never made a sound unless she wanted them to. Her features were sharp and angular, much like Touya's, but there was a hardness to her forest green eyes that just didn't exist in his.

"Why are you here?" she asked, eyes unblinking, smiling fixedly. Even though she was smiling, Fuyuki knew that she was horribly angry.

Technically, Fuyuki wasn't supposed to be here. She'd told him around six months ago that he wasn't allowed to come by anymore. She'd tolerated him in the beginning because Touya had told her that Fuyuki needed tutoring, and he had offered to help, but come Touya's senior year she'd said that he needed to focus more on his own education.

Personally, Fuyuki thought it had to do with Ami. He hadn't missed her reaction when he'd mentioned her. There was bad blood there, for sure, but Ami refused to elaborate, and Fuyuki wasn't about to ask Haruna.

"He needed help packing his bag," said Touya, almost literally shrinking.

Fuyuki hated that.

Most of Touya's confidence was only an act, sure, but whatever he did have seemed to get sucked out of him whenever his mom was around. She was garbage. A horrible woman. Literally belonged in the trash. He would fight her, physically and verbally, if he didn't think that she would take it out on Touya if she lost.

"Oh?" she asked, smooth as silk but threaded with venom. "Where is he going?"

"He has a—"

"—Training trip," Fuyuki said. He could imagine her reaction if she found out that he was going on a C-rank, but not Touya. She would throw a fit. "With my team. We need to get stronger."

She eyed him up and down, scoffing. "I can see that. Get out of my house, Ishida, and stay gone. You're not wanted here."

Fuyuki scowled, but rose to his feet regardless. He took a deep breath and cleared his face of any anger before turning to Touya, his customary grin in place. "See you later, Touya-kun! Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone!"

He would get out of the house, but if Haruna thought he would stay gone, she was horribly mistaken.

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He waited outside of her window for the lights in her parents' room to go out. As soon as they did, he scaled the old oak tree in her backyard, heart pounding, aware that he shouldn't be there. Her blinds weren't closed, and so his view into the room was unobstructed. Hana, unaware of her silent observer, was going about preparing for her night's sleep. She didn't turn her onyx gaze towards the window, so Ken took a moment just to look.

It was interesting to see her like this—like she was a fish in a bowl, or a girl on TV.

God, what a creep. Hana would be better off with a literal fish than with Ken, but they were clearly going to end up together, just because that was the genre. Still, Setsuna didn't have to like it. She'd definitely tell Ino to pick up a copy of this book so they could trash it together. Ino would get a kick out of the chapter prior to this one, where Hana is trying on wedding dresses that are all very poorly described.

The door to the lounge clicked open, but it was only the secretary from upstairs who entered, walking right past Soma without even acknowledging him. The secretary was rude to everyone, so Soma was probably lucky she didn't stop to chat. She pushed open the door to the archives, easily dodging out of the way of a familiar face on the way out without even looking up from the file she was reading.

Setsuna hopped to her feet as her dad came through the door. "Hi Dad, sorry to bother you at work."

"Don't worry about it; I could use the break anyways," he said, smiling. "What do you need?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading out of town for a little—I have a C-rank."

For a second, Setsuna thought her dad looked surprised, but it quickly faded into his usual blank expression.

"A C-rank? Already?" he asked. "Are you already packed?"

"Yeah, mostly, I've just got a couple things to throw in my bag, and I still have to tell Mom."

"Let me walk with you," he said. "What time do you need to be at the gate?"

"I need to be there at six. Don't you have work, though?"

"I can take a break," he said nodding decisively. "I'll walk you to the gate too; I'd like the chance to meet your team, however briefly."

Yes! Setsuna loved walking with her dad! Well, actually she just liked spending time with him. He was usually pretty busy, so any time she could get with him was immensely valuable to her. Sometimes he would tell her cool stories about his old team, which was nice, but Setsuna liked it better on the rare occasions that he would show her a new seal. They were always super easy, almost too easy for her, but she liked learning them anyways. Maybe now that she was a genin, he would show her how to do something a little cooler than make a thermometer.

But, would it bother Uzumaki if her dad came to see her off? He didn't have any family to see him off, after all…

"What are you thinking about?" her dad asked as she fell into step slightly behind him. "You went from ecstatic to worried very quickly."

"You could tell that?" Of course he could. No matter how good she was at hiding her emotions, her dad always seemed to be able to read her. "I was thinking about Uzumaki-san. He doesn't have anyone to walk him to the gate."

"I see. You think he might be jealous?"

"Mmm, not quite. He doesn't really seem like the jealous type. I was thinking more that it would sting a bit."

"Maybe," he hummed, but he sounded unconvinced.

"You don't think so?"

"Uzumaki-san doesn't seem like the type to get caught up on that sort of thing."

Well, that sounded like a layered statement. It was something about his tone, some minute difference, that had her picking apart his statement like she was a scientist in a lab.

Was that a vague insult? Setsuna looked at her dad, but his face gave nothing away. Now that she thought about it, her parents had asked about Uzumaki much in the way that Soma had. Did the weird mistrust of Uzumaki extend to her family too? Her mom had seemed okay with him. Maybe she was reading too far into it.

But then again, maybe she wasn't. Everything surrounding Uzumaki seemed to be complicated—her dad's opinion of him was probably no different. Inwardly, she scowled. Her dad was about as likely to give her a straight answer on this than anyone else. He would just talk around her in riddles and she would come away with zero answers. Again.

What was it about Uzumaki that had everyone tight lipped?

"Are you saying he's stupid?" she asked, just a tad irritated. "Too simple to have normal human emotions? Or are you just saying that so I won't feel bad about doing something that could potentially hurt him?"

Her dad gazed at her, his brown eyes piercing, seeming to read her every thought.

"Touched on a sore spot, huh? That wasn't my intention."

"To call him stupid or to set me off?"

"Both," he paused, apparently searching for words. "I knew someone very similar to Uzumaki-san, a while back. She possessed a great deal of mental fortitude, and it is my understanding that Uzumaki-san is the same way. He's lived a harsh life, and to be as cheerful as he so often is, he must have become accustomed to brushing the small things off. I don't think he'll even blink a lash if you or Ishida-san showed up with family."

That reeked of a half-truth. What was the whole story? Who was the mysterious woman and why were the two connected in her dad's brain? Maybe that wasn't the important part. As far as Setsuna knew, her dad had only ever seen Uzumaki in passing. To have an actual opinion about him, he must have had more interaction with him than Setsuna knew about.

"When did you meet Uzumaki-san?" she asked. "You weren't home the night he was over."

"We've met in passing," he said, which also reeked of a half-truth, though she couldn't pinpoint why. "Why is Uzumaki-san such an issue to you?"

"Because we're teammates," she said. "People are weird around him."

Her dad didn't offer an answer to that. They walked in silence for a few moments.

"... How would you like to learn how to make a simple storage seal?"

Tempting. As much as Setsuna wanted to keep pushing the Uzumaki issue, she didn't really want to fight with her dad right before she left town. An argument was clearly where they were headed—her dad didn't want to talk about Uzumaki, and she didn't want to let it drop. A storage seal, though. It would be nice to know how to make her own, and she could always ask about Uzumaki later.

"...I'd like that."

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Naruto was the first of Team Four to reach the gate.

He came barreling down the street, sure that he was late, but when he looked at the clock, it showed he was half an hour early.

"No way!" he said, waving his limbs erratically. "I totally thought I was gonna be late!"

The list of items Fuyuki had given him was like crazy long, so he'd thought it was going to take a super long time. He'd practically flung everything in his bag!

'But,' he thought, vibrating with excitement, 'I have a C-rank! And Sasuke is probably still doing chores!' He laughed gleefully, thinking about what Sasuke's face would be like when he heard the news. So much for deadlast, huh?

What was he going to do with thirty minutes, though?

Well, he supposed he could repack his bag… It didn't really zip all the way, and some of his stuff was sort of popping out, but then, there was the little setback that he didn't actually know how to make it better.

He'd never packed an overnight bag before, because he'd never had a place to spend the night. Like, he knew how to fold clothes and stuff, but how did you make them all fit? Fuyuki had said to pack at least five different sets of clothes because there weren't any washing machines in the woods, but all of his clothes were sort of bulky, because they had built in armor to slow down kunai and stuff.

And then there was the other stuff! Ration bars and extra kunai and bandages and a blanket—way too much stuff! He doubted that even Setsu, who'd probably been to loads of sleepovers, would be able to fit everything into one bag.

But it seemed like Fuyuki had managed it. He came around the corner with a singular backpack, which didn't look half as full as Naruto's.

"Hey! How'd you do that!" he said, running up and pointing at the boy's neatly packed bag. "There's so much stuff you said to bring! No way you fit it all in there!"

"Oh, uh, I had Touya-kun help me," said Fuyuki, laughing a little. "I'm not a very neat person, you know? He put some stuff in a storage scroll, I think? And then like, he put different types of stuff in different pockets, like my rations are all in this front pocket."

Naruto groaned. "Sensei is going to think I'm so dumb!"

"I doubt it," Fuyuki laughed. "She'll think you're messy, at most, but then, so am I."

Naruto pouted, "I'm not messy though! My apartment is super clean!"

He blinked. A thought had just struck him. "Hey, how come you're so early? Like, I'm early cuz I thought I had to rush, but you're a lot smarter when it comes to timing."

Fuyuki shrugged. "I'm excited! Also, Touya's mom came home early, so I couldn't hang out longer."

"Huh, why's that? Is she mean?" Naruto was pretty sure that Touya was the green haired guy on Sasuke's team, but he'd never actually asked his name before. Like Setsu, Touya was part of a clique that Naruto had rarely interacted with.

Fuyuki shrugged again. "She's strict. She also, like, hates Ami or something. I don't know why, but I guess it goes back to before I even met Touya?"

"Oh. Ami's, like, your sister, right?"

"Yeah!" he nodded. "You should come over sometime! I bet she'd love you!"

Naruto felt his heart jump to his throat. Setsu's mom had liked him, but then, that could have just been a fluke. She wasn't a ninja, and she seemed sort of foreign, so she maybe just didn't know about the kyuubi...

"... Am I late?"

Naruto jumped. "Setsu-chan! I didn't see you!"

She, too, had a very neatly packed bag. She was also walking with someone—tall, dark haired, and vaguely familiar. Naruto squinted. Had they met before?

"Mmm, you seemed pretty lost in thought." She paused briefly, adjusting one of her shoulder straps. "This is my dad. Dad, these are my teammates, Uzumaki Naruto and Ishida Fuyuki."

Her dad? But Naruto had definitely seen him before. Or maybe it was just that he was about as generic as Setsu, so he just seemed familiar. The only thing he had that made him different from the other run of the mill dudes Naruto had seen was the blue scarf around his waist.

He squinted, then his eyes widened.

"Oh! You're the guy who told me how to fix my door!"

Setsu's dad didn't even twitch. Maybe it wasn't him after all?

"Or, at least, I think you are," Naruto continued. He looked between Setsu and the guy, silently pleading for help. "I mean, you have a useless waist scarf?"

Maybe it was Naruto's imagination, but the guy seemed to twitch.

"... It's not useless."

"Really?" Naruto stared incredulously at the scarf. He supposed it could have secret pockets or something, but honestly it just looked dumb. "What does it do?"

He didn't answer, which Naruto took to mean that the guy didn't have an answer.

This, too, might've been his imagination, but Setsu seemed almost amused.

"Yes," she said. "You can't go wrong using useless waist scarfs as a way to identify people. Are you the guy who told him how to fix his door, Dad?"

There was a long pause. "...Yes."

Fuyuki burst into laughter. "Oh my god. Naruto, you can't just wreck a man's life like that."

Was that insulting? Shit, he would never like him now! Setsu's mom would probably change her mind about him too!

"I didn't mean to!" he said, waving his arms around. "I'm sorry, Setsu-chan's dad! Your scarf is super cool and probably super useful!" He banged his fist into his palm. "Mmm! Definitely useful! You could strangle someone with it probably!"

"If you don't relax he'll probably strangle you with it," Setsu said.

Before Naruto even had a chance to be afraid, Setsu's dad said: "I'd never strangle you with my scarf."

There was a sudden poof, the kind that typically accompanied his sensei's arrival. "Strangle who with your scarf?"

"Naruto," answered Fuyuki. "Hello, Sensei!"

She waved, then turned to Setsu's dad.

"Why are you threatening to strangle my cute little genin with your useless scarf?"

He seemed to twitch again. "Hello, Mitarashi-san. It's good to see you."

"Well, obviously," she said, striking an exaggerated pose. "I'm always a sight for sore eyes."

"Sure," he said, deadpan.

Fuyuki snickered, but was silenced by a glare sent his way by Sensei.

"But I will probably fight you if you come after this sweet, sweet boy," she said, pulling Naruto into an almost painfully tight side hug and ruffling his hair.

"Only probably?" said Setsu. "That's very reassuring."

"I'm glad you're reassured. I, the mighty and powerful Mitarashi Anko, aim to please."

"That's great, Mitarashi-san. I trust that my daughter is in capable hands."

"But if she gets hurt you'll come after me blah blah blah, yada yada yada. Got it," she said, releasing Naruto to wave him off. "We're only doing the Kobayashi mission. Simple stuff, very boring and regulated. Escort the caravan and try not to fall asleep from boredom. A real snoozefest. My adorable students could do this mission even if they were Hatake's brats."

Setsu's dad gave the impression of raising an eyebrow even though his face didn't move at all, which was honestly pretty impressive. "I have full faith in their capabilities."

"But as a father you have to worry. Yeah, yeah, I got it," she said, rolling her eyes.

"... No. I'm just here to assure that Setsuna is on time. She tends to run late."

"Rude," said Setsu. "And also not true. I would rather be buried in eighteen pounds of grass than be late."

"I'm sure you would, sunshine," he said. "Now that you're here with your team, I think I should get back to work."

"Have fun," said Setsu. Almost before she finished, he had poofed away.

Sensei clicked her tongue. "Not one for small talk, huh?"

"He's easily overwhelmed by social interaction," said Setsuna. "Like a very small, easily terrified bird."

For some reason, Sensei thought that was very funny. Naruto was mostly just confused. Had he missed something? He thought that Sensei was making really weird motions with her hands—maybe they were talking in code or something?

Weird people. Really weird people.

But who cared! Now that Sensei was here, they could leave! Out of the village! Naruto had never been outside the walls before—maybe they'd run into bandits, and then he could save the day!