Choji was in bad shape. He seemed to have eaten something bad for him.

"Need to get him to the Village," Shikamaru said.

"Unless you can heal him," Kiba said.

Everyone looked at Momo.

"I can't," Shoto said.

"As far as you know," Dabi said.

Momo looked at her hands. "I've only just begun trying to do things like that.... It has worked."

"I forgot about that," Shoto said.

"Would it work here without Shine?" Dabi asked.

"I could try," Momo said.

"It won't hurt him if you fail, will it?" Shikamaru frowned at her.

"Oh, no...just nothing will happen," Momo said. "It's not really me anyway, I just...conduct it, sort of.... Let me see..." She knelt down and put a hand on Choji's forehead.

"This would be a complicated thing to cure, even for a professional," Neji said. "Perhaps Lady Tsunade could cure it, if we hurried. A novice, no way."

"Shut it, silver-eyed weirdo," Dabi said.

"What did you just call me?" Neji said.

"Can it, Hyuga." Temari was watching Momo closely.

Momo put her other hand on top of her first one and murmured a quiet prayer.

To her astonishment, her hands began to glow with faint light again--very pure, whitish-sliver light.

"Is that chakra?" Kiba asked.

"It's not like any chakra I've ever seen," Neji said. His eyes seemed to narrow, and the veins around his sockets bulged out.

Then he stopped and covered his eyes.

"What is it?" Kankuro asked.

"It...was so bright, it hurt to look at..." Neji said.

Choji suddenly moaned and stirred.

Momo pulled her hands back. Then she looked at her arm. "Todoroki...look." She held it up. "My burn is gone."

"Whoa..." Even Dabi had no snide remark.

"She didn't even apply it to that..." muttered one of the other guys.

"That's amazing," Shoto said point blank.

Choji looked up at them.

"Shikamaru?" he said. "Is this...am I dead?"

"No, but you tried," Kiba said. 

"Kiba!" Neji said.

Shikamaru looked visibly relieved.

https://youtu.be/BeTu8twnGvU

Just a minute after that, some more ninja, who appeared to be medics from Leaf, arrived to take the injured back to the hospital. They were surprised to find that only Kiba was really banged up. Neji was still wounded from his fight, and Choji would need some extra time just to be sure, but they weren't on the brink of death anymore.

"What do we do?" Shoto wondered. "Leaf won't let us in."

"They'll probably let you in," Temari said. "You healed two of them--they'll expect you to want something in return."

"But we didn't want anything in return," Momo said. "Freely receive, freely give. Shine is always reminding us of that passage."

"You'd be foolish not to mention it," Temari said.

"We can mention it," Dabi said. "What they do with it is their business."

The other two agreed to that compromise.

Following the Leaf, it was still a long way back to their village.

But the pace was slower now; the ninja were tired as it was.

Temari took advantage of this to speak to the heroes more apart from the others.

"So, I heard your little talk earlier," she said.

"I guess that shouldn't shock us. All of you have a serious spying issue," Dabi said.

"Not my fault you spoke where anyone could have heard you," Temari said.

"What about it?" Momo asked.

"Nothing.... Why did you come on this mission if you didn't want to?" Temari said. "I mean...were you given a choice? Usually we aren't, but your sensei keeps saying you do."

"Shine didn't make us come," Shoto supplied. "She asked us if we'd be willing, and the three of us felt it was supposed to be us."

"Actually, you picked us," Dabi said. "Remember, she left it up to you and your impeccable judgement."

"He has good judgment," Momo said.

"Sure," Dabi said.

"Well, I selected you, so it remains to be seen," Shoto said crisply.

Dabi just shrugged.

"I guess we've made a poor impression on you," Momo said to Temari apologetically. "I'm sorry." She bowed. "We've never...been out of the world before."

"Most people haven't." Temari seemed vaguely amused. "You don't like it much here, I've noticed."

"It's...very violent," Shoto said. "At home, people don't...do things like that."

"They do," Dabi said.

"Not like this," Shoto said.

"You're so naive." Dabi rolled his eyes. "As you can tell, Fan Girl, these two snowflakes are pretty sheltered. I lived on the streets for years. I've seen plenty of messed up stuff. Normally, I keep my head down and mind my own business...but I owe Shine big time, so I came."

"I suppose like how we came to aid Leaf, despite not liking them that much," Temari said. "I'm not real sensitive--you can dislike us all you want. I just don't see you doing anything either way...but..." She paused. "In all fairness, assuming I buy your story, you have no clue how things work here, so in two days, maybe it's a lot to expect that anything extremely useful would have happened."

They were surprised to hear her be that fair.

"I don't know what I think about you yet." Temari tilted her head. "Gaara seems to like you--Gaara doesn't like most people. But your story is crazy, and your offer is crazy. And we don't go out of our way to take in people who are crazy and not useful shinobi."

"Thanks," Dabi said.

"Still..." Temari said, "you seem to have some raw skills. Maybe we can keep you around a bit longer, but taking you back to our village is not a smart idea. You want to decide what you're going to do."

"You don't want us to go back there," Shoto surmised.

"What I want won't come into it," Temari said. "The elders will never allow it. Do you think we have power? We're still Chunin.... There's nothing we can do about it. You'd be better off trying Leaf--they're a bit more lenient. Long shot...but, still...I don't know what the new Hokage is like, maybe she'll allow it."

"You're trying to help us?" Momo said.

"Your sensei said I'd know what to do, right?" Temari said. "If I were you, that's what I'd do. It's not much of a plan, but you don't have a lot of options. Are you any good at being resourceful? Make it work." She put a hand on her hip.

"You cared what Shine said about you?" Shoto said.

Temari pursed her lips. "I've never heard anyone speak like her."

"Yeah, we said the same," Dabi said.

"No one has ever spoken to Gaara the way she does," Temari said. "At least not since..." She paused. "Well, anyway...Gaara doesn't have a lot of hope. Maybe it's a mistake to stomp out any spark of it if it might be useful."

"You mean you really care about him?" Momo said.

"Despite what you think--" Temari suddenly was frosty. "--Kankuro and I have not forgotten our family ties to Gaara. It's our job to guard him, in every way, if we can. And he is our little brother. You think we're selfish, I know...but whatever we did, we followed orders, same as everyone. And you have no idea what our lives are, here. You've already decided we're disloyal, but you don't know that you'd do any better here. I think you wouldn't last the week alone."

"I'm sorry if I offended you before," Momo said. "I was shocked to hear about your past. But I wasn't really blaming you or Kankuro. You must have been children also.... I just didn't see why you took it so cavalierly, but you're right--we know nothing of your lives or how things work here."

Temari softened slightly, unexpectedly. "In a way, it's a little interesting to see anyone think of it like it matters personally to Gaara...not a wise way to think, around here...but reminds me of Naruto, a little. I suppose that's why Gaara took to it. What good will getting upset about it do any of us? We can't change it."

"But you could change it now," Shoto said. "If you encourage Gaara to let Shine help him...his whole life could be different. Don't you want that for him? If you do care after all."

"Watch it," Temari said. "I want him to live."

"He won't die," Momo said.

"And have you thought about what might happen afterward?" Temari said. "Suppose you can actually do this thing. Once it got out that Gaara had no Beast anymore, everyone who ever hated him in our village for his rampages will go after him, and he will not have the power to stop them anymore. We can't be awake all the time or with him all the time...and there's always groups also. The One Tail may be the reason for his misery, but it's also the only thing keeping him alive. If he learned to control it, I'd prefer that."

"But to have evil inside you like that," Shoto said, "is that better? Isn't it better to be free?"

"I don't know," Temari said. "I've never heard of it. But if you upset the order around here, who will pay for it? Us. Did you think of that?"

"No," Momo said, sadly. "We didn't.... I apologize."

"I would still choose to have it removed," Shoto said.

"Suppose your dearest brother does decide that," Dabi said. "He has a mind of his own, when he's in it, anyway. You gonna stop him?"

"I couldn't stop him," Temari said candidly.

"Would you support him?" Shoto asked.

"I will support Gaara's decision, either way," Temari said. "Because I have no choice. It's my job to protect him. We're a team, whatever crazy thing he does..."

"I guess if he can rampage out and that's true, then it'd be dumb to change it now," Dabi said. "Didn't you say he'd be shirking his duty?"

"He's never given much thought to that," Temari said. "And he can't be reined in.... The only change I see, if he went through with this, is that perhaps he'd be calmer. But if it was found out...he might be kicked out."

"Perhaps there's a way," Momo said. "I mean...I just don't see how life lived under the control of that...thing, could really be considered living."

Temari pursed her lips again. "It's not our place to decide what is and isn't worth it for Gaara. But if you hurt him, or anything about this is different than what you promise, be assured, I will not rest until I've destroyed every single one of you."

"Whoa there, aggressive much?" Dabi held up his hands. "I guess you do care about the little punk."

"That's a relief," Momo said. "I had been afraid no one cared about his welfare at all, sort of like this other person we know at home...that he was just a weapon, even to his family, but I see--you do care.... You're just afraid."

Temari didn't care for her saying that, but she bit her lip. "Well, you watch your step," she said. "And be assured, Kankuro thinks the same as I do...only he thinks you shouldn't even try."

"Does that mean that you think he maybe should?" Momo noticed something odd about that sentence.

"I'm not giving my opinion one way or the other," Temari said. "I'd thank you not to tell me what to do. I'll return the favor--within reason. Otherwise you're dead anyway."

She turned her back on them and leapt farther ahead.

"She's pleasant," Dabi said sarcastically.

"But that was the first time someone really seemed like they were telling us anything personal," Momo said. "I wonder why she did."

"At least we know a little of what they're thinking now," Shoto said. "I'm not surprised that they don't trust this idea, but that wasn't exactly a complete refusal."

"I think she does want what's best for her brother," Momo said.

"You two snowflakes don't get this," Dabi said. "What we're suggesting is treason to them, practically. It's like me going rogue from the Todoroki family...worse, probably. I'm shocked she'd even consider it at all.... Tells me that maybe, deep down, those two never liked Gaara's fate to begin with. Nice to know they have a shred of common sense left."

"Perhaps like how Fuyumi never liked what happened to Shoto," Momo said gently. "Or Natsuo never liked what happened to you."

"He sure shows it now," Dabi said.

"Perhaps for the same reason though," Momo said. "It's such a break with tradition, people are afraid.... I mean, I've felt the same about Shine and Wally's guidance many times.... I know Iida has too. I wonder why some people just like to break rules and customs, and others don't."

"Personality," Dabi said. "I was a rule keeper once--realized finally it wasn't doing me any good, so I quit. Now I'm a rebel for life. Some people just have the ability to fit in, others don't. But I learned a little something from being the dregs of society: I learned that the people on top are never as put together as they seem. Some of them might be just a few steps from hitting the bottom too. I wanted to drag them all down...now I don't know. Seems I don't need to; they'll end up there on their own sooner or later...but for these ninja, maybe it's all circumstantial. You get this god-like power, but everyone hates you for it, sounds like. They fear you for it, too. At least for Gaara."

"When Shine and Wally started with us," Shoto recalled, "they asked us a lot about ourselves, and they participated in training a little, and they kept having issues with it. But I guess they experienced it firsthand. Maybe no one here would listen to us, if we haven't seen what they're doing with our own eyes."

"So...we need more time?" Momo said. "It feels like we're barely surviving as it is, but a couple days isn't enough, is it?"

"We could take weeks and not learn all about this place," Dabi said. "But checking out another village couldn't hurt, see if there's any difference between that and Sand.... Might clue us in way more than any of these people will ever tell us."

"We should apologize to Shine also," Momo said.

Shoto didn't argue, but he felt still that he'd like to see more sign of anything around here looking up for them before he was so sure. Temari wasn't enough to convince him. She was not really supporting them, she just wasn't opposing them.

Perhaps he did not understand what Dabi's point was, that even that much was a huge leap for one of the shinobi, given what they'd made clear about how their society worked. Shoto, always allowed to do pretty much as he pleased, so long as he trained enough, didn't appreciate the fear and awe that some parents and elders impressed on the young.

* * *

Shine found the place where the dark chakra was coming from easily enough, but by the time she got there, the fight was over and all she saw of Sasuke was a small figure in blueish-black retreating over the mountains.... It stopped to look at her, so he must have had sharp eyes...but the ninja were always on guard.

Shine made no move to run from view, but she was too far for her to know what his expression was.

Apparently he decided not to bother engaging, because he turned and went on his way

Shine saw another ninja come down toward the water and pluck a kid in orange out of it, then carry him away.

Satisfied that that must have been Naruto, based on his picture, Shine portalled back to the others.

Thankfully, they were on foot.

And they'd literally just come up to the gate of Leaf.

"Shine-sensei!" Momo was startled.

"That was fast," Dabi said.

"Yes, there wasn't much to see," Shine said. "The fight was over."

All the Leaf turned to look at her, who could, and so did the Sand.

"And?" Shikamaru asked.

Shine shrugged. "Naruto didn't win, but I saw someone come and pick him up. No doubt he'll bring him back here...provided it wasn't an enemy, but he looked like he was one of you Leaf."

"And Sasuke?" Neji asked.

"Ran off," Shine said. "To the north."

"Towards the land of Rice, then," Neji said. "It's over.... We'll never catch up to him before he gets to Orochimaru.... We failed."

That didn't boost morale at all.

"Shikamaru?" A girl with pink hair and red clothes came running out of the front of the village. "Did you bring him back?"

But she must have seen at once he hadn't. She deflated.

"And...where's Naruto?" she asked.

"This woman said someone is bringing him back." Shikamaru gestured at Shine.

Another woman, taller and heavier set but looking only about 30, came out of the gate behind Sakura.

"Kakashi, he went to retrieve him," she spoke. "And who are these strangers with you?"

Temari crossed her arms.

"They are our allies," Gaara spoke up, surprising the others. "They just helped us save the Leaf."

To their relief, Neji at once nodded and agreed with this.

"Yeah, they did," Shikamaru said too.

"Interesting," the older woman said. "I see no headbands. Are you undercover?"

"Call it that if you like," Shine said smoothly. "And who might you be?"

"Tsunade of Leaf, 5th Hokage," Tsunade said. "Do you have a name?"

"Shine Likstar, of California," Shine said.

Shoto and Momo glanced at her nervously.

"This is my team," Shine added. "Shoto Todoroki, Momo Yaoyerozo, and Dabi."

"I've never heard of those clans," Tsunade said. "Are you trespassing? Sand didn't report 4 extra people."

"We picked them up on the way," Temari said. "Last minute idea."

She pointed to Shine. "They live in the mountains, that's why, but she can find anyone. That's how we found the Leaf fast enough."

Momo and Shoto stared at her now.

Tsunade pursed her lips, studying them.

But then she shrugged. "Very well. We've prepared a place for you Sand to rest before you return. Your friends can join you, but you're responsible for them. I'd better see to the injured."

She turned and left.

The pink haired girl looked pretty upset, but she said, "I'd better go wait for Naruto."

She left.

"I'll go to the hospital, to make sure Choji is all right," Shikamaru said. "Neji, you'd better go."

"Yeah, sure," Neji said. "We'll catch up with Kiba also."

"I'll follow them," Temari said to her brothers. "Take our 'guests' to the accommodations. I'm sure they could use a wash."

"Hey," Dabi said.

Temari just smirked smugly before walking away.

"Why is she going to the hospital?" Momo asked.

"Eh, probably to keep Shikamaru company," Kankuro said snidely. "Come on, sad sacks, before someone mistakes you for circus clowns."

"Has he looked in the mirror even once?" Dabi asked.

"Let's just go." Momo was suddenly dead tired. "It feels like a week since we've been inside a house."

They weren't, in fact, taken to a house so much as something like a guest apartment suite in a larger building. Kankuro said it was the Kage house/office.

Leaf was laid out a lot like a small town in Japan would have been. There were trees outside the gate, but not inside that much.

The thing that struck Shine the most was the carvings of the Kages on the mountains behind the village.

Kankuro told them it was the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ones. All dead now.

"That's just like Mount Rushmore," Shine said. [Fun fact: That's because Leaf Village was meant to resemble America...sort of. I think each village was a different culture, none of them that accurate.]

"Welp, I'm beat." Kankuro clearly wasn't the worried about anything now. "I'm going to rest and clean my puppets. Gaara...?" nervously.

"I'll sit." Gaara sat down on the floor in a corner.

"What do we do?" Shoto said.

"I don't care," Kankuro said. "Just don't bother me."

"That's hardly productive to us," Shine said.

"Then wait for Temari if you want to get schooled." Kankuro went into a different room and shut the door behind him. Gaara went into a different room directly also.

"Better question is how the heck those puppets work," Dabi said. "They looked way too big to all fit on his back. And with the fan and the gourd of sand...there's a theme."

"I'd rather just rest." Shoto sat on one of the floor mats that traditional houses at home had, so he was well used to it. "I admit, at least the inside of these houses look familiar."

"It's extraordinary." Momo picked up a lamp and looked at it. "They have electricity, but all the homes outside looked like they were from 100 years ago or more in our world, and the decorations and writing styles look that way also. Their clothes I can't even place."

"Mixed timelines is a common thing in alternative universes." Shine sat down also. "Ideas are shared throughout a lot of them, but not at the same pace.... Well, now that we have a moment to think, we should talk about the day."

"Do we have to?" Dabi's introverted side was already so done with being around any of them.

"Wally and I always do," Shine said. "Helps us stay on the same page."

"It's a good idea." Momo was always ready to analyze and do her homework.

"All I learned today is that Leaf Village is seriously understaffed," Shine said. "And that PR between villages is pretty strange if the Sand is now its ally. Also, whatever is going on with this Sasuke person and the others is somehow twisted, I'm sure of it...just not sure how. I hope the letter will tell us more. Gaara and I also spoke earlier. He seemed quite open to what I was saying. He grasped the idea of sin very easily. I have hope that he's going to be open to help."

"Something odd happened to us earlier," Momo said. "After Neji, I was also able to partially heal Choji...but not all the way. But it was odd, when I did it, I noticed my fingertips were glowing.... That's never happened before."

"Weird," Dabi said. "But watch Likstar offer some explanation that somehow makes it sound normal."

Shine ignored his endorsement. "I've had similar experiences. My eyes are like that. They don't glow at home, you know...but in other worlds, they usually do. I think it's sort of a way of signaling to people that we have a gift. Many worlds have physical shows of power, so I think it's to make us fit in more. All things to all men, right?"

"Something else odd happened." Shoto was lying on his back now and looking at the ceiling. "Temari spoke to us after you left."

They told Shine what Temari had said, as well as they could remember.

"Remarkable," Shine said. "She's more open than I'd have expected."

"It sounded shaky at best," Dabi said.

"After 2 days? That's amazing," Shine said. "They must be starved for hope here.... Something is off about this place. I just can't put my finger on it. I feel as if there's something I keep waiting for them to say or do, and they haven't done it. But Temari talking to you is a promising sign. I like her. She seems kind."

"Are we talking about the same girl?" Dabi said. "She's a bully."

"She's said some pretty inconsiderate things," Shoto said. "She basically called Momo and I useless, just because we've not used our quirks that much. We didn't have a reason to."

"Perhaps she's hazing you," Shine said. "This whole thing feels like a gang in a weird way. We're lucky they let us into this village at all. I see favor in that. I don't get a mean vibe from Temari, personally. Just tough and hard, but considering what she's had to deal with her whole life, it's only surprising she's not more so. Can you imagine growing up with the One Tail? It reminds me of how my father told me horror stories about his childhood that kept me up at night, and I didn't even have to witness them firsthand."

Momo leaned on her hand. "Perhaps...but what are we supposed to be doing here, Shine? We couldn't even help them get their friend back. That at least seemed like a hero mission."

Shine leaned back. "Well, honey, I'm not sure this is like a hero mission. A lot of what I do is just talk to people, and listen closely."

"How is that supposed to change anything?" Shoto asked.

Shine looked at him intently. "Change is not the issue for us, it's convincing people to change and showing them what to change. And doing that is often the work of one or two moments in a sea of other ones. So we talk, and then we listen, to figure out what the right moment and the right thing is. All we do around that is just to make it easier. What do you think is the most important, Shoto? Truth? Or heroism? An action that will last for one minute in time, or a thing that will always be a part of your life? You must decide at some point what to pursue in life. I know what I chose."

"Didn't we choose to do as you taught us?" Momo spoke. "Yet I feel lost here. Except when I helped Choji.... That was one good moment."

"Well, don't be hard on yourself. It's been 2 days," Shine said. "Trust me, this is going better than you think it is.... I'm going to take a shower. I think they have one, and I want to get all this grit off me. We can talk about this more after we've all had a decent meal too, I think. We're all tired. You'll feel more optimistic with more calories and sleep."

She got up and went into a different room, then they heard water running.

"Where'd she find towels?" Dabi asked. "I'm going next. I hate the feel of sand and grit. I'll get sick."

"I did bring shampoo..." Momo reflected.

"See, only a girl would bring shampoo on an urgent mission like this," Dabi said.

"It's a good thing she's prepared," Shoto said.

"Why do you even bother to pack, with your quirk?" Dabi retorted.

"Because I want to save it for a real emergency, not making essentials," Momo said. "It's much easier to just bring them. Didn't you prepare?"

"I left house-arrest for this--I was lucky I had anything to bring at all," Dabi said.

"Can we just rest?" Shoto said, putting a hand to his head. "Not sleeping and running around is giving me a headache, and listening to you argue isn't helping."

"Sorry," Momo said. "I'll be quiet. You should sleep."

"I'm looking for towels," Dabi said. "And a mini bar, though I don't have much hope of finding one."

He left the room.

It was so quiet that Momo was dozing in place before she knew it, and even Shine's singing in the shower didn't keep her awake, though she did hear it almost as part of a dream.

Gaara, who didn't sleep hardly ever, and was just resting in a zen-like state--or as close as he could manage--listened to it with some bewilderment about why anyone would be singing to themselves. Such a carefree practice wasn't much known to ninja who had to be on guard 24/7.

https://youtu.be/Snh8gWHfnhY

"Been a bad day, you've been looking back, and all you can see is everything you wish you could take back, all your mistakes, a world of regrets, all of those moments you would rather forget...

Yesterday, is history, and history is miles and miles away. So leave it all behind you, let it always remind you of the day, the day that love made history!

You know you can't stay right where you fell. The hardest part is forgiving yourself. So let's take a walk into today. Don't let the past get in your way!

...Every choice that you are making, every step that you are taking, every chain that you are breaking, history is in the making.

Every word that you are saying, every prayer that you are praying, every chain that you are breaking, history is in the making."