Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke stood in a loose, uneven triangle, all three staring down at the same object half-buried in the snow.
A kunai.
Not just any kunai—its handle bore a cleanly etched, three-pronged symbol.
Hiraishin, of course.
Naruto squatted beside it, poking the snow with a stick like it might explode. "I'm tellin' you, he's not coming. He would have been here ready by now if he could." Naruto squinted his eyes in clear disbelief.
Sakura spun on him instantly. "Shut up, baka-Naruto. Just wait, he'll come. You'll see."
Naruto shrugged. "Because last time we used it, he showed up instantly. This time? Nothing. That means he's either—" he ticked off fingers, "busy, asleep, ignoring us, or dead."
"DON'T SAY DEAD!" Sakura yelled, smacking the back of his head.
"Ow! That was an option, not a wish! I'll never do that, Sakura-Chan."
Sasuke leaned against a tree, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the kunai. He too got a kunai to himself.
At first, he didn't even believe that it was possible, but he did. The bastard was able to teleport to this kunai.
Honestly, he was jealous. He even wished to learn this technique. However, he remembered what Sukuna told him when he asked to teach him this technique.
"I can, though you have to get Hokage's permission before I do that, and also need a very good knowledge of Fuinjutsu. Without it, it's impossible. If you really wished to learn it, then I'd advise starting with Fuinjutsu first..."
That kind of halted his enthusiasm. He didn't have time to learn something like Fuinjutsu right now. He had to spend every possible time he had on getting strong.
"You're both idiots."
Naruto looked up. "Oh yeah? You've been staring at it like it's gonna talk back."
"At least I'm not poking it with a stick," Sasuke shot back.
Sakura huffed, foot tapping. "He said if we ever used it, he'd come. If he said then he'll."
"That was months ago," Sasuke replied. "Things change. And we are practically on the other side of the world at this point."
Naruto snorted. "See? Even Sasuke agrees with me."
"I don't agree with you," Sasuke said flatly. "I'm just not delusional."
Sakura opened her mouth to argue—
But at that time, the air bent.
Like materialised out of thin air...
Space folded in on itself like a page being turned, and Sukuna was suddenly there, standing beside the kunai as if he had always belonged in that exact spot.
He was in strange clothes, looking like he was ready to infiltrate a hidden village. From hood and cloak, he wasn't even recognisable by how it looked.
Naruto let out a very undignified yelp and fell backward into the snow.
"HE'S HERE—!"
Sakura gasped. Sasuke's hand was already on his kunai at the sudden appearance of him.
"Hahhhh." Sukuna let out a long sigh. No one knew whether it was from seeing them safe, or him crossing just a vast distance to come here. Most likely both.
He stood still, just observing them while his eyes roamed around to spot any hostile forces. But nothing. He only found snow and nothing more, honestly.
For a moment, he just stared at them. Now confused. There didn't seem to be any issue here. So why call him?
Then his eyes narrowed.
He asked, almost sweetly, already pissed seeing they weren't even paying him any attention, bickering in front of him after calling from half a world apart. They should have a very good reason for this, or...
"…Why," he asked slowly, "did you summon me."
Naruto blinked up at him. "Uh. Yes..." He blinked again.
There was a pause before he leaned sideways, asking to his two partners in crime, "...Remind me why we called him here again..."
Sukuna's jaw tightened. "You don't use that unless someone is dying."
Sakura waved her hands frantically. "No! No one's dying! Yet!"
"Then you call me here to change that status quo." Sukuna's eye twitched.
"No... nope, w-we have good reason, I swear." She repeated, already recognizing Sukuna's mad face and backing off.
Sasuke straightened. "We needed you."
That made Sukuna focus. He turned fully toward Sasuke. "You better explain what's going on."
Naruto scrambled to his feet. "Okay, so—"
Sasuke cut in. "Naruto, don't—"
"It's faster if I do it!"
"It'll be wrong."
Sakura shoved them both. "JUST TALK!"
Naruto puffed up. "Fine! So! We're escorting this actress—Yukie Fujikaze—"
"She's annoying," Sakura added immediately.
"She's loud," Sasuke said.
"She throws things," Naruto finished. "Anyway! Turns out she's actually a princess."
Sukuna stared. "…Let me guess, she's either kidnapped or someone wished to kidnap her."
Sakura nodded rapidly, baffled. "H-how you know that!"
"That's what princesses do when they are not breaking apart countries and popping out royal heirs... what more...!"
They were baffled. How come this guy was so unhinged at times?
"Koyuki Kazahana. Her uncle took over the Land of Snow. Murdered her family. Took the throne."
Naruto crossed his arms. "And now he wants her gone."
Sasuke continued, voice sharper. "We were attacked. Glacier. Snow-nin. Some sort of scientific chakra armor which absorbs chakra-based attacks..."
"All three of them!" Naruto said. "They all had it!"
"We handled them," Naruto said proudly. "Mostly."
Sukuna's gaze sharpened. "Mostly."
Sakura coughed. "The one I was fighting ran away, but to my credit, that was the boss there, and I don't have powerful techniques like these two here... if anything, it's your fault. You teach them powerful techniques and leave out your baby sister."
Sukuna felt like taking her baby sister back to the cradle at this point. Did she have any idea why she called him here? He was fighting fucking Akatsuki. And they can't handle a bunch of chakra armor-wearing idiots...
Sukuna exhaled, expression darkening. "And that's why you call me here. Because you can't handle those snow-nins...!"
"NO...! We can handle them. It's not that." Naruto quickly shook his head.
"Then?!"
"The problem is… the Hokage recalled us. Escort only. No interference."
"Politics," Sasuke said bitterly. "If we interfere, it becomes an international issue."
Naruto kicked at the snow. "Which is stupid."
Sukuna was silent, listening.
"So ?" Sukuna asked, still annoyed, that reason didn't dissipate his anger at all.
"SO..." Naruto said, suddenly brightening, "we thought you could just teleport in, grab the bad guy, and—" he clapped his hands, "—problem solved!"
Sukuna stared at him.
Then at Sakura.
Then at Sasuke.
Slowly, he ran his hand over his face, calming himself before he started beating the shit out of these brats.
His face was tight, eyes dark, jaw clenched so hard Sakura thought she heard teeth grind.
"And why should I help?" Sukuna said carefully. "It's your mission, isn't it. Why should I interfere!"
Dead silence.
Naruto's mouth fell open. "…But... but if you don't, then Yukie, she will be?"
"Die," Sukuna added.
"Yes...!"
"Then let her... why should I care? It's neither my mission nor my problem. Or I'm getting something out of this... So tell me, why should I bother getting involved in this issue with me having no stakes..."
Naruto shut up immediately.
"I felt the signal," Sukuna continued, voice low and dangerous, "and came as fast as possible. Had to change clothes so no one would recognize me. You know leaving the village without Hokage's order is almost defection, right. And what I find, this nonsense..."
He gestured sharply at himself. "Do you know how bad that is?"
Sakura shrank. "B-but if we don't help then…"
"If she wanted help, she could always put an official notice. If she does, then I'll take the mission," Sukuna snapped—then stopped, inhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"However, if the girl doesn't wish to fight for her own cause, she's hopeless. If the story checks out, then she had years to get ready, build power. But she did nothing. Yes... she was young. But so are we.
She doesn't even have the decency to be present when asking for help.
Tell me, even if we were to give the country back to her on a pedestal, what are the chances she'll be any better than that uncle of hers?"
"That's not possible, Yukie will never be like that Doto...!"
"Cruel and ruthless, perhaps not. But she'll surely be incompetent the way I see it. Ultimately, how will that be any better than Doto right now?"
There was a pause. Of all things, they weren't expecting this.
"So, you won't help...!" Sasuke asked meekly.
"No... at least not until I see any value in helping. Even god only helps those who help themselves. There is no such thing as a free lunch... in fact, helping her without her asking for it would only make things worse..." Sukuna firmly denied it.
Another silence.
Sasuke frowned. "Then why bother coming if you didn't care, you could've ignored the signal."
"Oh, I did care. My care is limited to you three," Sukuna agreed. "Why should I care about some runaway princess who has nothing to do with me!"
Sukuna exhaled, long and tired. "You're asking me to infiltrate a sovereign nation. Remove a ruler. Without authorization."
Sasuke met his gaze. "Yes."
Sakura bowed her head slightly. "We can't just abandon her."
"Then just do it yourself..."
"We can't, we need Hokage's order."
"Then abandon her."
"No... Absolutely not."
Sukuna frowned. "If you can't go against the order, then you probably don't care about her that much either way. Why bother..."
"But we do, we just can't act without the orders. Kakashi-sensei will know immediately and it would cause an international—"
"Then make sure it doesn't happen." Sukuna stopped them before they even completed the sentence.
There was a pause between them.
"Look, there are two ways this goes. One, you go against Hokage's orders. Two, you abandon your princess..." Sukuna paused for a second before continuing.
"And neither is what you want. So there is only the third option left..."
"Third option? What's the third option?" All three of them looked at him, waiting for some sort of revelation.
"Just accomplish both. Make sure the Land of Snow is liberated while Hokage doesn't get to know of this and this doesn't become an international issue..." Sukuna shrugged.
"Ah, there is an option like that?" Naruto yelped.
"Who knows, it depends on your ability to come up with one, and how important that girl is to you to push you past the limit that you're ready to break Hokage's orders...
Ultimately, you guys are the only ones who can solve your problem. Expecting others to do that for you will only bring disappointment...
If you think you can't do it, then perhaps being a ninja is not for you... I'll say to give up.
Either way, I'm not helping. It's your mission and it's on you how you wish to complete it." He said before waving his hand, ready to teleport away again. However, before he did so, he left this line behind.
"Remember, deception is the core of a shinobi. How you use it will define what kind of shinobi you're."
He said, and with that he was gone.
Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were left there without words. Of all things, they weren't expecting this...
xXx
A/N : Ah, just a chapter showing Sukuna really doesn't care much about others. He care about his friends and family. He could let others die, he wasn't a hero or he wasn't a the village either.
Another reason he deny is to make them grow themselves. He can't solve their problems for them all the time after all.
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