Never Forget

Forgiveness

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Chapter 19

We had all returned to Konoha, several days later. I'd left Sunagakure early, after the door-slamming incident, but I'd apologized to Gaara via telepathy and had asked him to go ahead and send the others home when they were ready.

Kakashi and I had not spoken a word to each other since then. I didn't know about him, but I was going out of my way to avoid him, teleporting rather than walking and flying long distances and jumping across rooftops. If Tsunade noticed, she didn't say anything, but I had caught her honey-colored eyes flitting between me and Kakashi several times already.

I had updated my notebook and contacted Naruto, letting him know about Pein's imminent attack. He was almost finished with his training, fortunately, but didn't know exactly when he'd be back. I suspected that Fukasaku was less of a slave driver than Naruto was to himself.

'I have all Jonin teams on hold, ready to go,' said Gaara. 'As soon as there is any sign of attack, contact me and I shall dispatch them.'

'Excellent, thank you,' replied Tsunade. 'Lord Onoki – '

'No need to say a word. If it comes down to it, we will join the battle as well.'

'I was actually going to say that since you're much farther away, we'll figure this out to the best of our ability.'

'And if Pein overwhelms you?'

'Let's just hope that doesn't happen,' I cut in, before they could argue. 'But I think that once Naruto masters Sage Mode and comes back, that'll give us a much better chance against Pein.'

'Should we come up with a strategy?' Gaara suggested. 'What are Pein's specialties, and how do we counter them?'

'Somehow, all we've figured out is that Pein can make people he's met into his puppets. They all have different abilities, and they're all overwhelmingly powerful. I was blown back by one of them, and he never even touched me – kind of like the Hyuga clan's Air Palm, but stronger.'

'So is there danger of him acquiring new puppets during the battle? What if he can control an infinite amount of them?'

'I don't think that's the case. If it were, he wouldn't have let Jiraiya's body sink to the bottom of the ocean and would've made him into a puppet as well. I also doubt that the puppets' abilities have anything to do with their abilities when they were alive.'

'That is reassuring,' said Gaara. 'So, a strategy?'

'Unfortunately, it's difficult to come up with a strategy without knowing the opponent at all,' I said. 'And personally, I don't know how many ways there are to approach the guy with the Air Palm powers. Maybe pop up from underground?'

Tsunade snorted. 'Good plan.'

'It actually is, thank you.'

'Sounds like one of Kakashi's favorite tricks.'

I couldn't tell if she'd said that on purpose, but I quieted immediately. Gaara didn't say a word. It was silent until Onoki said, 'What about the matter of Sasuke Uchiha?'