Chapter Text
It's not with a bang or a flash or anything out of the ordinary, but the universe does still in anticipation.
One second, they are drilling evasion tactics with Towa and Komachi on a strictly ANBU-only training ground, the next they are separated from their teammates.
Falling into well-practised stances, ANBU Captain Hawk and ANBU Bat cover each other's backs. They assess and then immediately assess again, both not quite believing their eyes.
Appearing in their immediate vicinity, Haku and Shikamaru look just as baffled as the two of them, displaced as they all were. Shikamaru angles himself towards them, quickly recognizing them as allies. Haku, while vaguely recognizing their allegiance, is more cautious. It's understandable, given that he has just recently become a jinchūriki.
Then, further afield– ANBU Bat's breathing pattern does not change. She is a professional, thank you very much.
Dimensional Travel, that's fine. She is surrounded by allies in what seems to be seal space, she has previously thought-exercised through different scenarios and her notebooks are always with her– and yet she simultaneously has to worry about infosec and not blowing herself up with hammerspace. And not to forget her brother’s reaction if he finds out she joined ANBU.
ANBU Hawk angles his hands in a way that only she can read his signs, rapid-fire questions following. She flicks her hand in acknowledgement, answering that Yes, this is exactly what it looks like and yes, they have been expected. It’s a Not sure to compromised identities, a Not yet to unmasking and a Negative to knowing how this happened.
He promptly agrees, and then it’s him that spells out that she can’t try and force a way out of seal space because they can’t be sure her hands will stay attached to her, even before she can ask.
Shikamaru and Haku have patiently waited for them to hash it out, Shikamaru’s eyes surely catching on to little variations similar to standard Konoha sign and piecing a rough outline of their conversation together.
Their seconds-quick exchange has been long enough for even this different Naruto to finally catch sight of their little group, mouth hanging open and a finger pointed at Haku.
His shout is loud in the silence: “Woah! It’s really him if he was a little older!”
Haku frowns in response, mouthing the words to himself. His brows proceed to unknit themselves, as he then seems to grasp the situation.
She wonders what Haku sees because to ANBU Bat it’s more or less a mosaic of all that went wrong and all that went right in her life.
Uchiha Sasuke didn’t defect Konoha, didn’t become a puppet to Orochimaru, and Uzumaki Naruto is already searching for a way to peace that doesn’t involve neccessary evils. Haruno Sakura is still Senju Tsunade’s apprentice, Hatake Kakashi awoke the Mangekyou Sharingan by reading graffiti, Sai has already confessed to being ROOT.
Hidan is out of commission, there’s information on Sasori, Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame and Kakuzu, and four of the nine Jinchūriki have been warned of the danger that the Akatsuki pose.
And then… Ino’s slitted pupils. Shikamaru’s missing arm. Aoba is dead and gone, ash in the wind. (The prelude of the Fourth Great Shinobi War that triggered years too soon.)
But the Ino and Shikamaru and Aoba standing across from them don’t show any of these marks.
Ino’s mind is hale and healthy and she will never have to worry about whether it’s Orochimaru’s serpentine influence or truly her decision that makes her pick up a book on toxins. That Shikamaru didn’t have to relearn everything with a shadowy extension to his- stump, struggling with the most mundane of things. Aoba was never assigned to be the Jounin Commanders' daughter’s senpai, he never went on that one intel mission to Land of Hot Springs, his glasses never broke and he never died and turned to ash with the taste of his blood still lingering in his kouhai’s mouth…
No, she's sure Haku doesn’t see the mosaic of Nara Shikako’s influence on the world, good or bad, he only sees people that ought to recognize him but surely don’t.
The Tsunade that hasn’t coined the Lucky Sevens opens her mouth, smirking in the way that tells them she’s reluctantly amused but still wary. “At ease, Agents Bat and Hawk.” It hardly works or even matters, she is, after all, not their Godaime Hokage.
“Your identities are already compromised, so you can de-mask yourselves at your convenience, Captain Hawk.”
With a flick of ANBU Captain Hawk’s hand, Red Team’s ANBU Bat leaves the comfort of her anonymising mask alongside him, becoming Uchiha Sasuke and Nara Shikako once more.
Haku’s eyes roam over her face, a small sigh escaping the mild-mannered boy. She doesn’t want to look at Shikamaru’s face, already knows his eyes have become impossibly dark, in the same way she already knows what he will say to her when he gets the chance.
He doesn’t get the chance to say anything, however, because it’s Ibiki that speaks up.
“We have received intel that you are from a dimension that used to run mostly parallel to ours. Our universes’ dissonance originates in Nara Shikako dying as an infant in one world, and surviving in another.” Sasuke subtly shifts his stance, just barely shielding her body from view. Maybe it says a lot about herself and her mission history that she doesn't even blink at the news. Maybe it says a lot about her influence on her family and friends that neither do they.
“Shikako died? How?”, her Shikamaru asks, and she’s not sure he’s aware, but he has lost everything in his body language that deferred to her and Sasuke before they took off their masks.
“During the Kyuubi attack,” Nara Shikaku answers. His eyes are roving over his cross-dimensional daughter’s features.
“My chakra hypersensitivity killed me,” Shikako guesses, already knowing the answer before Shikaku nods. Her heart is pounding in her chest, caught wrong-footed despite what she portrays. “How did me surviving past an infant in our universe change anything enough for it to make such a difference?”
“The source didn’t say, but we are gathered here to find out.” Ibiki’s eyes on her are calculating, and she just knows he has omitted critical intel.
“How are we supposed to do that?” Sasuke demands, eyeing his original version critically from across the room. She can't really blame him, those clothes sure are eye-catching, albeit in a bad way.
“Did you guys meet Princess Fuun too?”, Naruto asks enthusiastically, barely waiting for their affirming nods and not noticing or ignoring how she and her brother tense, “Cool! So remember how they did movies on her? Yeah, it’s kind of like that, except it’s about Shikako and what she changed! It’s so amazing, I wish there was a movie all about me, too!”
Well, she guesses nobody knows what TV shows are in the Elemental Nations, so calling it a continuous movie works just as well.
“But, why? We have nothing to gain by being here,” Sasuke contends, frowning. “If it’s really about Shikako, then we have to worry about inter-village infosec for multiple S-ranked secrets, incidents and missions, never mind general village secrets.”
What follows are sceptical huffs and wary looks. She has to admit that it doesn’t sound very pretty or believable at all, but everything Sasuke said is the truth. She shudders to think of what they would make of the Land of Hot Springs. Does she really need to be there for it?
“It’s not like most of us want to be here either, so suck it up, little Uchiha,” Jiraiya intones, drawing attention for the first time. “By all that’s holy, just sit down already.”
Sasuke scowls, clearly unused to such frosty behaviour directed at him by Jiraiya of all people. But what he and she are used to are the looks that follow them when they acquiesce and stride across the room towards the end of the curved couch that has been left entirely empty so far.
“When everyone has sat down, it’s supposed to start,“ Ibiki continues to inform them, “it will supposedly pause and continue automatically when ‘longer discussions ensue’.” The last part sounds very much like a direct quote, most likely from that, by all means dubious, source.
Shikako exchanges a look with Sasuke and sits on the floor before him, Haku and Shikamaru settling to his left and right, respectively.
“Hey, hey! We should totally introduce ourselves! ‘Cuz only Sakura-chan, Teme, Kakashi-sensei and I know Haku, but he doesn’t know anyone here! We can just go around the- circle! Haku can even start!”
Sasuke gives Naruto a disconcerted look, then exchanges a Look with Haku, bemused at that (fair) assumption.
They go around, as Naruto said, and state their names, simple as that.
Haku sits on the left outermost seat, followed by Sasuke with herself at his feet and then her twin. One seat is left empty, then come Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shikaku and Kakashi. To Jiraiya’s feet sits Sakura, sandwiching Sasuke between her and Naruto, who sits at Kakashi’s feet. Sandwiched again is Sai, between Kakashi and Ibiki, followed by Aoba, Ino and Shikamaru, Chouji down on the floor and leaning against Ino’s legs. One seat is empty again, followed by Temari, Gaara and Kankuro, whose reason for being there she can’t quite discern.
True to Ibiki’s words, after everyone has sat down, the lights in the studio-like environment darken.
The screen at the front of the room activates, momentarily ruining everyone's night vision. Shikako sighs, already hating everything about this.
(0) OUTTAKES.
[She is a professional, thank you very much.] Though to be fair, dimensional travel has been on her agenda for so long, it is true Lucky Seven luck that it comes back to haunt her when she has yet to finish that particular seal array.
[“Your identities are already compromised, so you can de-mask yourselves at your convenience, Captain Hawk.”] ANBU Captain Hawk knows that keeping their masks on is not going to matter much anymore sooner rather than later. He says goodbye to the Hawk mask and already starts formulating an extensive apology to Tsunade-sama, while giving ANBU Bat the signal to comply with what the other Tsunade said.