"Welcome back, Mori!" Ishihara waved as Kei approached the cave.

"Ishihara," Kei coolly acknowledged the greeting. Despite her exhaustion, she made sure to keep her walking slow and graceful, in stark contrast to the other girl's undignified bouncing. But her resolve was sorely tested as she drew closer. The most wonderful, unbearably delicious smell was wafting out from the cave, begging her to run to it at once.

Her feelings must have shown on her face.

"I just finished cooking some wild boar," Akane explained. "We went hunting yesterday while you were with Wakahisa, you see, and Inoue-sensei was chatting with Hazō-sensei, and the conversation came round to the qualities that make a good hunter. Then Inoue-sensei started talking about how much skill and manliness it showed when a ninja was able to provide for his family with his own hands, and all of a sudden our escorts decided to show us some of their favourite hunting spots in the forest. They even helped us kill some of the boars instead of standing back and making sure we didn't wander off.

"Inoue-sensei is amazing," Akane concluded, echoing Kei's exact thoughts at that moment. Kei flinched, not sure at all how she felt about that.

"Anyway, come help yourself to some Ishihara-style grilled boar steak, envy of every cook in Hidden Leaf, and then Hazō-sensei wants us to talk through some stuff once everyone is together."

o-o-o-o

"I suspect it's going to be a rite of combat," Hazō told the group, brandishing a piece of boar bone for emphasis. "Remember that patient of Noburi's? We know the shrine has ninja guards, and it would make sense for them to choose some kind of champion to represent the village. Or maybe it'll be a series of battles against increasingly tough opponents, like the taijutsu aptitude tests in Mist's graduation exam—in which case for all we know we might see Kōta again."

"I think it very unlikely," Keiko commented, looking uncomfortably full as she sat on the ground next to the grill. "With the stakes so high, they would have to expect a battle to the death, and the village does not have the numbers to absorb losses easily."

"Then again," Inoue-sensei said, "if they count on being able to take you out, that would reduce our fighting strength much more than it would theirs. It could be part of a longer-term plan to eliminate us as a group, while testing our strength at the same time."

Keiko nodded uncomfortably.

"What if it's a gauntlet of traps?" Akane asked. "That would have the same effect, but instead of risking losing their own people, they'd just have to reset the traps afterwards."

"Possible," Inoue-sensei acknowledged. "It'd surprise me if the shrine wasn't trapped on general principle. It's the first thing I'd do if I had to protect something important.

"Well, no," she corrected herself. "The first thing I'd do is spread rumours that the item had already been stolen and was somewhere on the other side of the continent. But you take my point."

"They may be more subtle about it," Noburi chipped in. "I've been thinking about their purity rituals. If they say they suspect Keiko isn't pure enough to take the scroll—no offence, Keiko—then it'll probably be the Lorekeeper who does the testing, according to some ridiculous tradition that hasn't been practiced in hundreds of years. And you just know she'll find some way to trip us up. Ditto if she decides to test Keiko's understanding of local religion. You know, the one they refuse to tell us anything about."

"Yes," Hazō said. "I can definitely see them doing that. But let's keep going. We need to consider as many possibilities as possible. Perhaps we should make a list."

Noburi gave an exaggerated groan.

"Okay, fine, no lists. Keiko, what about the summoning? Could they do something to make it fail? Takahashi did say that the trial officially ends when you summon the creature and it acknowledges you before the villagers. It would be easiest for them to not worry about the other steps, and just sabotage that one."

Keiko shook her head. "That is not how summoning operates. I will know whether it is a true summoning scroll, and if it is, Takahashi-sensei has prepared me for every eventuality."

"Of course," Inoue-sensei commented, "everything you know about summoning comes from him. He could have lied about absolutely anything, and you'd have no—"

"Takahashi-sensei wouldn't betray me!" Keiko snapped. "He is not that kind of man."

The cave fell very silent.

"Well," Inoue-sensei finally said. "Either way, it's not like we have any choice but to trust him. The only other summoners we know are either far away, location unknown, or ready to kill us on sight. Just...please be prepared, Keiko. No matter how good Takahashi's intentions may be, he's never summoned anything himself. He could have taught you something wrong without meaning to."

Keiko glowered.

"What about the tapirs?" Akane said loudly. "Wakahisa and I got to pet one the other day, under close supervision. It was the cutest thing, and it made this high-pitched squeaking noise that really shouldn't have come from something built like a bear.

"Given how important they are to the local culture, maybe they'll decide Mori is worthy if the tapirs accept her, or if she can tame one. How are you with animals, Mori?"

"I love animals," Mori said quietly. "Especially cats. Nukumori, one of our family cats, used to let me stroke her sometimes. But most other animals are uncomfortable around members of my clan."

"My sealcrafting instructor had a dog," came a voice out of nowhere.

Hazō blinked. He had somehow managed to forget that Kagome-sensei was present, sitting in a shadowed corner of the cave where he'd have his back to the wall and a clear view of the entrance.

"Or he started out as a dog, before the sealing accident," Kagome-sensei continued. "Funny little thing. Used to catch rats with his tentacles. Stinkers never saw it coming.

"No one's saying the obvious thing. Those stinking stinkers from the Yoshida never managed to get the scroll open, right? So that means they want us to do it. And then as soon as we do, bam! Kunai in our backs faster than you can say 'I told you so.'"

"That...is actually a very good point," Inoue-sensei admitted. "Thank you, Kagome."

Kagome-sensei gave an awkward nod.

"All right," Inoue-sensei said. "We've got some ideas, and we can start plotting countermeasures. But Noburi's date with Yuno is in an hour, so right now we should focus on exploiting that. Noburi, do you think we could bring her here and ask her some questions?"

"No," Noburi said. "Her minders weren't happy last time she went to our fort on her own. They'd insist on coming in with her, and it would make things awkward for everyone. It's bad enough that they're there during the dates—I have a feeling Kannagi's deliberately choosing the ones with the worst stealth skills just to toy with me."

o-o-o-o

Yuno's two-handed vertical axe strike knocked Noburi's kunai out of his hands, throwing it to the ground where it nearly impaled his foot. Before he could make the tiniest movement, she twisted sideways, the axe handle catching his jaw in an uppercut that took him off his feet. The next thing he knew, he was lying flat on the ground and feeling axe blade press against his throat.

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" The axe blade disappeared, to be replaced by several overlapping Yunos, all gazing at him with the same expression of concern.

"N-No..." Noburi slurred. "My own...fault..."

"I'm terribly sorry," Yuno said urgently. "I wouldn't really hurt you. Not ever. If I'd realised your combat skills were...I mean, if I'd known you didn't know how to...I mean, I just thought since you were...Never mind. I'm very sorry."

"'s fine," Noburi insisted as the world stopped spinning and his confidence that he didn't have a concussion gradually increased. "What was that?"

"Oh. Well, I started out in Winter Stance—that's 'Lumberjack Prepares for a Long Winter Stance'—to break your guard, but then instead of following through and ripping out your sternum, I segued into Rolling Boulder Stance and put the momentum into a freestyle combo. That's actually a lot harder than it looks. And then I was going to use Dry River Channel to dodge your counter, but...well..."

Noburi wished the earth would open up and swallow him. He hadn't been so humiliated since...well, since the last time Hazō had showed off his new taijutsu style against Noburi while Keiko was watching. Hazō's heart was in the right place, but sometimes that guy could be such an insensitive jerk.

This whole thing had been Noburi's own stupid idea. Sparring practice was the one area in which physical contact between the betrothed was permitted even at this stage in their relationship, which was something he increasingly found himself interested in, plus the feelings of happiness and relaxation that followed a hard afternoon's exercise would doubtless make Yuno more relaxed about answering certain important questions.

He shook off Yuno's attempt to help him up, then instantly regretted it when he saw her hurt-puppy expression.

"Uh, I was really impressed by your fighting skills," he said emphatically. "I've..." he flailed, "I've...always found advanced weapons skills attractive in a girl." This was technically true, based on an analysis of his past and present crushes, which was important given Yuno's unpredictable lie detection ability.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Yuno's demeanour changed instantly. She blushed, and looked down at her feet.

"Anyway," Noburi said, "why don't we go get something to drink? There are some things I've been meaning to ask you about."

o-o-o-o

Earlier...

"Um, Inoue-sensei, are you all right?" Hazō asked cautiously after the third minute.

Finally, Inoue-sensei stopped laughing. "Oh, man, that was excellent, Noburi. Just what I needed after all that tension. Seriously, though, suggesting that you're a missing-nin who's never killed another ninja? If by some million-to-one chance they actually bought it, they'd just figure we were all much weaker than they thought, and we'd be screwed."

Noburi squirmed.

"What about my idea?" Hazō asked partly to redirect attention from his embarrassed teammate. "Tell them that in order to be eligible to marry according to our traditions, he, or maybe Yuno, must travel to a mysterious distant island and defeat a chakra ostrich or something."

"It'll need to be a better story than that," Inoue-sensei said, giving him a sideways look. "Bear in mind that they now know quite a lot about Hidden Mist. They might know about our marriage customs, or at least enough to guess that the modern shinobi world probably doesn't involve mass youth ostrich-slaying pilgrimages. But I'm not ruling the idea out."

"Then...well, Noburi is formally an apprentice. Could we insist that he can't marry until his apprenticeship is complete? It sounds like something they'd understand here."

"Wouldn't work," Noburi said. "They marry young around here, and they basically need all the children they can get. Since apprenticeships can last a long time, you can get a special dispensation from the elders to marry early."

"We could still claim our culture needs it."

"Could be worth a try," Inoue-sensei shrugged. "But I don't feel like we're coming up with any really strong options. Why don't we turn the situation around? What would it take for Kannagi to cancel the wedding?"

"Perhaps some action of Noburi's could disgrace the clan," Keiko suggested. "We could make it highly disadvantageous for him to continue formally associating with us."

"And then he'd want revenge," Noburi said. "They're big on avenging humiliation around here, and I don't think Kannagi would hesitate to throw us under a cart if it meant protecting his newly-gained position of power."

"Perhaps we could blackmail him?" Keiko asked.

Inoue-sensei frowned.

"Keiko, dear, are you feeling all right?" she asked gently.

"Why do you ask?"

"You've seemed a little...distracted all day," Inoue-sensei said, which Hazō read as "you're our smartest member and you've been saying one stupid thing after another".

Keiko shrugged and muttered "Takahashi-sensei...apprenticeship...nearly over..."

As far as Hazō could tell, nobody wanted to touch that one with a ten-foot pole.

"If it came to light that we'd attempted to blackmail an elder," Inoue-sensei went on, "the villagers would wipe us off the face of the earth, or at least try to. Kannagi knows that, and he knows we know it. There's no chance we'd try to expose whatever secret of his we found out. To say nothing of what it would take to find out a suitably dirty secret within the time frame we're working with."

"Hold on, "Akane said thoughtfully. "If we can't do anything to put him at a disadvantage, then we just need to make it an advantage for him to cancel the wedding, right?"

"Right," Inoue-sensei nodded. "Ideas?"

o-o-o-o

"And then when the tapir has given its blessing, the Lorekeeper reads one more passage from the Book of Benediction, and places a black glove on the groom's left hand," Yuno explained, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Then the groom pronounces the words of joining, and with his gloved hand tears off the bride's blue cloak of childhood to reveal her shining white dress. Then he casts the glove and the cloak into the flames. Then the next part depends on the season, because—"

"Uh, Yuno," Noburi interrupted, "I do want to hear the rest of this, but it would really help if you began at the beginning. How do people decide when the wedding's actually going to take place, for example?"

"Oh, that's simple," Yuno said. "The couple's parents get together and decide amongst themselves, and then consult with the Lorekeeper to determine an auspicious day.

"Of course," she said a second later, "you and I don't have parents who can do that, which means it's all down to Grandfather. But don't worry—I'm sure he'll declare us ready to get married really soon!"

"Yeah," Noburi agreed, his heart sinking, "I'm sure."

After a few seconds, he rallied himself to fulfil the rest of his mission.

"I really don't want to embarrass you, Yuno, but I keep feeling like there's an awful lot I don't know about the village, and I'll need to learn if I'm going to fit in. Would you mind telling me a bit about its history, and how it got founded, and your religion and things like that?"

"Well," Yuno began, "the thing you have to understand is—"

There was a loud, meaningful cough from one of the nearby bushes.

"...that it's something we're not supposed to talk about with outsiders. I'm sorry, Endo. It really is nothing personal." Yuno bit her lip guiltily. "But it won't matter for long, right? Soon you won't be an outsider anymore, and nobody will have the right to argue if I want to reveal everything to you."

There was a millisecond's pause.

"Yuno, you..."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Yuno said hurriedly. "Well, I mean...when we're...you know..."

There was another cough from the bushes.

"The weather is very beautiful today," Yuno said in a voice approaching monotone, while staring blankly into space. "I think I should like to take a walk by the river."

"Yes, the weather is very fine," Noburi replied mechanically, as if reading off a script (though he hadn't needed one for weeks). "I, too, would like to take a walk by the river. I believe I shall do so at the same time as you, if it is not inconvenient."

The two slowly got up and began to walk, doing their best to ignore the rustling sounds from the various pieces of greenery along their route.

o-o-o-o

Inoue Mari, a.k.a Takahashi Shiina, a.k.a. Kawasaki Mai (a little earlier), breathed a silent sigh of relief. The elders had finished taking their seats, and nobody had tried to accost her in any way. Now she could stand behind Takahashi in peace, and see whether he would stab her in the back.

"Lorekeeper," Kannagi began in a honeyed voice once the formalities were over. "I have been pondering the prophecy. It is said that one day the successors of Ui the Beastmaster, may his name be forever sung by the ten thousand worlds..."

"May his name be forever sung by the ten thousand worlds," the other elders—and their attendants—echoed. Mari was painfully aware that there'd been a slight delay before she caught up, and that someone might have noticed.

"...will come to reclaim the scroll that Akio the Founder entrusted to us against that time."

"You are bold for one so new to our council," Rika commented in that all-enveloping, vibrant voice.

Kannagi kept a very straight face.

"As it happens, Lorekeeper, I see wisdom in the passion of his youth," Yoshida suddenly said of the calm middle-aged man. "After all, winter is upon us, and in winter even a lice-ridden garment may be used, though it shall surely be burned come spring."

Aida stood up. "One pure in body and mind can endure the winter even naked!" She said loudly, her expression tense. "Better that than to invite parasites within one's home. After all, is that not why we have temperature-regulating ninjutsu?" She looked meaningfully at Takahashi.

"I am not a sophisticated man," Takahashi replied drily, "and struggle with complex metaphors. Instead, pray permit me to speak simply, for I wish to speak of purpose. Our village has but one purpose, one reason for which Akio and his disciples laid the foundations for our existence. To say 'I fear that the unworthy will succeed where our teachings say they must fail' is to deny those foundations, to deny the teachings, and to deny the very source of our faith. Is this not so, Lorekeeper?"

Rika looked Takahashi in the eye. Takahashi held her gaze.

Time passed. Still, neither would look away.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mari noticed that Rika was holding her staff of office very tightly. Takahashi's hands were folded in his lap, his breathing even, but from her vantage point Mari could see the tension in his spine.

The pressure from Rika and Takahashi pressed against Mari like a form of killing intent, paralysing in its intensity. The other elders, she was sure, were feeling the same thing.

It was getting hard to breathe. And still neither would back down.

Then Shūsuke whispered loudly to Rindō, "I'm confused. What's going on?"

As one, Takahashi and Rika turned to kill him with looks alone, their standoff broken.

"Kannagi wants to let the outsiders take the trial of the scroll," a mortified Rindō explained, his voice very soft, but not too soft for a room full of senior ninja. "The Lorekeeper strongly disapproves, but Yoshida is trying to argue that we should use them to gain access to the scroll ourselves, then dispose of them. Aida is saying that it's too dangerous and we should handle things ourselves as we always have. Takahashi is saying that if we think they might succeed even if they aren't Ui's heirs, may his name be forever sung by the ten thousand worlds, that means we don't really believe in Akio's teachings."

"Oh. Got it."

"If you are quite done..." Rika's razor-edged tone left Mari half-expecting her to next ask the two Azai to share their conversation with the class.

Takahashi and Rika exchanged another look, but this one appeared to be commiserating.

"I propose a vote, Lorekeeper," Takahashi said. Mari approved, insofar as she had not been looking forward to hours of argument couched in increasingly elaborate analogies.

"Very well. I, Rika, sent by the Inoue to speak for the ancestors, vote no." She shifted her grip on her staff of office in a way that struck Mari as somehow meaningful.

"I, Saburō, sent by the Takahashi to speak for the ninjutsu wielders, vote yes." His spine relaxed, as if the die had been cast and now there was nothing more to be done.

"I, Tsukiko, sent by the Yoshida to speak for the sealcrafters, vote yes." There was something lurking behind that satisfied expression, Mari was sure, but she had no idea what.

"I, Rin, sent by the Aida to speak for the scroll guardians, vote no." She almost spat out the last word.

"I, Rindō, sent by the Azai to speak for the beastmasters, vote yes." It was as Takahashi had predicted. Just what were those concessions? How worried did Mari need to be, on a scale of "things are going to go wrong but it's somebody else's problem" to "Captain Zabuza"?

Rika turned to look at him as if trying to burn a hole in him with her gaze.

"I, Shūsuke, sent by the Azai to speak for the craftsmen, vote...yes." No surprises there. Shūsuke remained an enigma, whether because he was a blank sheet of paper or because he'd written all his secrets in white on white.

"I, Yoshirō, sent by the Kannagi to speak for the weaponmasters, vote yes." Now what was his game? Kannagi had no clear motivation to give them the scroll. Unless...

"It is decided," Rika said flatly. "The barbarians shall be permitted to attempt the trial of the scroll tomorrow at dawn. But hear this, Kannagi. As you proposed this, so is it upon you to deal with the consequences. If, against all possibility, they succeed in the trial, then you must bind them to us at once, and the cursed child will have to marry the boy Endo before the week is over."

o-o-o-o

The moon was hidden behind the clouds that night, and Hazō and Noburi's watch mainly involved starting out into the darkness, being deadly bored, and hoping they remained deadly bored.

"You know, Noburi, our time here is nearly up."

"Yeah."

"We still have to decide what to do about Yuno."

"Yeah."

"What do you think?"

"Yeah."

"Noburi?"

"Oh." Noburi didn't turn to look at Hazō—they'd been drilled about that sort of thing now—but he seemed somehow more focused. "I don't know, Hazō. I mean, I don't want to leave her here. She'll never be happy in this village. And...I do like her. If I just left her here, I'd always regret it.

"Except if she came with us and it meant somebody else getting killed, I'd regret it even more. And Yuno...I don't think she's been taught all the things that people are supposed to get taught growing up. About right and wrong, and self-discipline, and other stuff.

"It's not like we haven't added people to the group before. We brought Akane with us, and Akane is awesome. And we brought Kagome with us, and Kagome is batshit crazy, and even that's working out okay. But maybe the lesson to learn from that isn't 'recruit as many scarily unstable people as you like'? I dunno, Hazō. I don't feel like there's a right answer here."

Hazō nodded (though Noburi probably couldn't see that in the darkness).

"Yeah, I understand that."

There was movement in the darkness. A lot of movement. A scary amount of movement. A scary amount of very fast movement. Was the entire village coming for them?

But the sound was wrong. An army of ninja would be nearly silent. An animal stampede would be earthshaking. Instead, there was a silence broken by the occasional sound of shattering trees and thrown boulders.

The confusion cost Hazō an extra second, but then the wave of adrenaline hit and he stopped trying to figure it out.

"Get out of the cave!" Hazō screamed as a bonfire of guardian tapirs descended on them.