Konoha Year Fifty-Eight, summer.
August in the Land of Fire was no place for human beings.
At noon, a faint breeze combed the treetops, yet the branches only sagged. The heat baked the leaves a weary green, as if they might skip straight to late autumn and turn brittle yellow.
At the village's main gate, two heavy olive-drab iron doors stood open like a wide V. The yellow dirt road that ran out from the forest lay empty of travelers.
Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo wore Konoha flak vests and sat on folding stools in the strip of shade that fell across the road.
"So boring," Kotetsu groaned.
Bandages wrapped his cheek and the bridge of his nose. His usual hedgehog spikes of hair drooped like sun-dried grass.
"In this heat even enemy spies would rather stay home," Izumo said. He narrowed his one visible eye to a slit and pretended not to hear the complaint. Being a tokubetsu jōnin stuck on gate duty every day was a hard pill to swallow.
Still, someone had to watch the village's first line of defense.
He remembered what the toothless old gatekeeper had told them after nearly twenty years on this post.
"The Will of Fire is to burn yourself bright so the young shoots can grow. When they bloom and become towering trees, they pass it on to the next generation. Now it is your turn to burn. I have a date with a very pretty lady, so I'll be off. Farewell."
The old man's legs were ancient but his heart was not. He waved and never came back. Kotetsu and Izumo had been guarding the gate ever since. Two years on, their early zeal had thinned into today's doldrums.
Izumo had just drifted into a daze when a small figure appeared on the road.
A white cloak draped the traveler's body. Only a delicate, pale face showed, the rest hidden by a black eye-band that covered her eyes and most of her cheeks. She tapped a blind cane as she walked, a heavy pack strapped across her back.
It was Konome Taketori, who had fled Kirigakure.
As she walked she lifted her chin. Beneath the hood, the eye-band framed a face as fine as porcelain. Under the translucent sheen of her bone membrane, milk-white irises and that dead-ash glow gathered at the center.
Whoom.
The village's sensory barrier slid into view like an overturned jade bowl. Red chakra coursed across its surface in rippling bands.
So this was Konoha's barrier.
How much chakra did it take to maintain something this large every day, and how many hands to tend it. The cost must be staggering. No wonder Konoha was the center of the shinobi world.
Money, power, and reach.
Konome, country girl escaped from the Mist, could not help a private sigh.
After tearing up her ticket for the Hope, she had paid Boss Chongryū to arrange a new passage. Money paved the way, and a month later, after crossing the sea and moving fast, she reached Konoha.
On the road she had killed off a few bands of pirates and robbers, and pounded several would-be traffickers into paste. Beyond that, the journey was uneventful.
She gazed up at the immense barrier.
Its dense chakra wove a three-dimensional circuit so complex she could barely follow it. She felt the bones of countless techniques hidden in its lattice, yet the pattern kept sliding from her grasp.
All she could do was scratch her head and keep looking.
One glance raised her estimate of Konoha's strength by a notch. The thought of everything in there made her blood run hotter than the August sun. So many arts to grow stronger.
Reluctantly she shut the Byakugan.
The chakra in her heart broke its circuit and stilled.
Darkness closed over her eyes.
Tap. Tap.
Her cane tested sand and stone. Konome hefted her pack stuffed with gambling winnings and moved toward the gate. She did not intend to expose her Byakugan.
She did not intend to expose that she had chakra at all.
Kirigakure's pursuit had wired her nerves tight. Who knew what state Konoha was in right now.
First slip into the village quietly, return to the Hyuga Main House, fix her identity, secure a backer. She was finally beyond the Mist's reach. There was no need to rush.
"Hey, hey, hold up there, little miss. You jabbed my foot."
Kotetsu stepped into her path. The cane's brown tip had landed squarely on the top of his foot.
"Oh, sorry."
Konome withdrew the cane, apology smooth and natural from someone who could see nothing after cutting the chakra to her eyes.
Kotetsu rolled his ankle with a hiss. For a small thing she had a good grip.
"Before you enter the village you have to register. This way, watch your step," Kotetsu said, guiding her cane toward the desk.
Izumo opened a thick ledger on the counter.
"Name?"
"Konome."
"What brings you to Konoha?"
"Looking for family."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
Question and answer. Izumo noted down the details and occasionally glanced up to take in her features.
"Are you a shinobi," he asked in a careless tone.
Konome tilted her head. "…What is a shinobi?"
"Oh. Nothing. What's in the pack?"
"Clothes. Some rations."
"Alright. You can go. Do not wander once you are inside."
Konome replied as naturally as if she truly saw nothing, hoisted the heavy pack, and walked through the gates of Konoha.
She had nearly blurted out no. Luckily she caught herself. Slipping through this easily, Konoha's front line did not seem as tight as she had imagined.
Outside the gate.
"Saw that," Izumo said, face gone serious as he watched her back recede.
Kotetsu clenched the senbon in his teeth. "Yeah. In this heat she carries a big pack and doesn't sweat. She thinks we are fools."
"How is her physical control?"
"Body doesn't look trained, but when I slid my foot under her cane on purpose, the force was no joke."
Izumo nodded. "No cosmetic hinge lines on the skin, so no Transformation Technique. Nails are clean. Either she has a partner or she is faking blindness. I lean toward the second."
"Either way she is a problem. I'll notify the Uchiha Police Force."
Kotetsu formed the seal for Shunshin.
"Wait."
Izumo caught his arm. He watched the last glimpse of the cloak disappear and smiled a thin, curious smile. "Barrier Team first."
"What do you mean?"
Kotetsu blinked, then got it at once. "If the Barrier Team sensed any abnormal chakra, they should already be on their way."
"And if the barrier failed to detect any chakra," Izumo said, squinting his left eye.
Kotetsu's brow creased.
If nothing triggered, either she was a civilian with a strong grip, or she had fooled Konoha's sensory net by some unknown means.
And the ones who could fool that net were never small fry.
"Go. If the Barrier Team confirms chakra, call in the Uchiha to make the arrest. If there is no chakra signature, we escalate to the Third Hokage and have ANBU handle it."
Izumo made the call.
Kotetsu nodded, pleased. "Looks like we reeled in a big fish. I told you spies love working in hot weather."
"Did you," Izumo said, doubtful.
"How could I not?"