[OP: "Passerine"--The Oh Hellos]

Meanwhile, many miles away, in Cloud Village, Lord Ay had called his faithful assistant to his office early that morning.

Mabui had plenty of work to do already that day, but Ay's personal requests always took priority.

"Yes, sir?" she said, when she came in.

"Shut the door," Ay said. "I don't want everyone to hear this."

Mabui shut the door.

"This goes no farther than this room," Ay said. "Only Darui knows about it already, and my brother, and now you."

Mabui had an idea what this was about.

"Is it the Kazekage's party, sir?" she asked.

"You guessed it." Ay nodded gruffly. "I'm guessing you didn't find anything new on them since we last talked."

"Since last week, no, sir." Mabui shook her head. "I have tried every avenue I could think of. Nothing. They covered their tracks well. Before the war, no one had heard of them."

"And of the Kazekage himself?" Ay asked.

"No sign of any ulterior motives in his other visits," Mabui said. "But, there's only so much I have been cleared to know."

"I've gotten nowhere with asking the Hokage directly." Ay shuffled his papers, just out of frustration--they weren't relevant ones to the case.

"So...what is the news?" Mabui asked, after it seemed he wasn't going to speak again.

Ay had been lost in thought. "Oh? I didn't say it, did I...?"

Ay didn't like others to know he tended to have an absent-minded side, but for his trusted officials it was common knowledge, and Mabui knew better than to act at all surprised by it.

"I've just had this report from an unexpected source," Ay said. "Tsunade of Leaf. Former Hokage, but she's retired now, you know that?"

"Yes, sir." Mabui had known it for months, as had everyone else on staff, but Ay wasn't asking her because he really cared.

"She's been in Stone with the Kasakage's party," Ay said. "Some sickness laid out the Tsuchikage, and she says she figured he wouldn't be up to writing us a report, so she and his little granddaughter are writing it for him."

"They're trusting her to write a report?"

"She said it's because she was dealing with the sickness, so she knows the details," Ay brushed it aside.

Mabui wasn't quite sure it was that simple. It didn't sound right.

But Ay didn't think Tsunade was up to anything. He didn't think she was that cunning. [He's right, too.]

"And the seal of the Village is on it." He showed Mabui a small message. "So it's reliable. The point is, the report is strange. It says they've done well in Stone, but Stone is not capable at this time of entering the alliance as a full member, and they will revisit it in the future when they've had more time to recover. Why go to Stone at all if it wasn't interested?"

"I don't know." Mabui knew he didn't care what she said--he just wanted to know she was listening.

"Yes, but they say that the Kazekage has been nothing but helpful to them, and they hope to revisit Stone in the future," Ay said. "Which sounds strange enough, but they also stated that the Kazekage has also been to Rain Village..."

Mabui lost her composure for the first time.

"Rain Village?" she repeated, forgetting to address him formally. "Impossible."

"Just what I say," Ay said. "But Tsunade would not make that up. So either she believes it and it's a lie, or it's true."

Mabui shook her head. "No one ever comes back from Rain Village, sir."

"I know that!" Ay was irritable. "But then, no one does any of the things Lord Gaara does, that I can see. He's a brash young fool, but, people respect him. So this is nothing I can just ignore either. As you know, I was not very in favor of them visiting here as a part of their mission, but, if Rain Village has been a part of this, then it would be unthinkable for us to be insulted by being left out."

"But are you sure that they didn't just...defeat the Village?" 

"I would have thought so," Ay said, "but our common scouts have reported that they've seen people going in and out of the Land of Storms."

Common scouts were people who informed all the Villages of different threats for a fee... There weren't many of them left after the war, but the few who were did good work.

"Sand Village people?" Mabui asked.

"I have no idea," Ay said. "But someone is alive there, clearly...and Mist's report of them was glowing. Mei is too sensitive, just like a woman."

Mabui didn't bother to notice that remark. "It was glowing, sir," she agreed.

She'd gotten to view it herself for the records. Mei had excessively praised Gaara's peace cohort, known as Team Zoe, she'd said.

A strange name, not anything they'd ever heard before.

"Tsunade, the Mizukage, and now Stone," Ay grumbled. "They're twisting our arm. If we say no now, the entire world will think Cloud is out of the swim. But I don't like it. I was sure this would never last longer than a few weeks. The idea is so ridiculous it's laughable...but leave it to these upstarts like Naruto to make something like this into a bigger thing."

Mabui didn't answer him; he wasn't expecting an answer, and it wasn't her business to.

But then Ay turned his attention back to her.

"And of course, you can't confirm any of this."

Mabui shook her head. "I told you, sir, I know nothing about them."

"I know, I know," Ay grumbled. "It's just a little too convenient how they've gone through all the other Villages with so little effort." [Oh, if he only knew, right?]

He shook his head.

"So do you want me to send an invitation to them, sir?" Mabui asked. "Or are you going to do it yourse--?"

"I don't have time for such things," Ay cut her off. "Go ahead and draft it. But, I have another job for you."

"Sir?" Expectantly.

"For whatever reason," Ay said, "it seems they've seen some potential in you. I want them monitored closely while they're here. I know there's more to this peace mission than they've let on--it's too simple otherwise. You do your job well enough; it shouldn't be anything you can't handle. And I want it to be someone they won't want to get rid of. You're the safest option."

"You think that the Kazekage would get rid of someone, sir?" Mabui said.

"Maybe he wouldn't, but his siblings are another story, and they'll be with him," Ay said. "That, and I think their team has grown.. Nno news about who's on it other than him, though. I find it a little suspicious that Mei never mentioned it and neither did Tsunade. I'd like to know just who's on it that it needs 25 people."

"25!?" Mabui again lost her composure.

She could just see the inn expenses in her head.

"Something like that," Ay said. "Where we'd put them all...well, my brother had an idea, but you'll have to arrange it. Darui is too busy with official shinobi matters to worry about doing things like this, so it will be your responsibility..."

He didn't say what Mabui knew perfectly well, which was that Darui was not suited to diplomacy any more that Lord Ay was--well, maybe slightly more, but not by much.

She had anticipated this being her job if the Peace Cohort did actually come to the Village, but she'd really believed Ay would never allow it. He'd been nothing but wary of the idea since it was broached.

It was only his pride that didn't want Cloud to be the only Village not considered important enough to visit that was changing his mind now.

And the idea that Rain Village could possibly have entered the alliance, though that seemed very far fetched.

It wasn't up to her to comment on any of this though, and she didn't.

"I will do my best, sir," she said dutifully.

"Good," Ay said. "Send the message soon. They'll be leaving Stone, according to Tsunade, and they'll turn the other way if they head home."

Mabui privately wondered if the Kazakage would feel a little as if Ay was treating their own convenience as nothing and demanded they meet his whims.

After all, Cloud could have sent them a message long ago saying they could come, if it was only about whether Stone Village had approved them or not. Hadn't they been there for weeks?

But when had they gone to Rain then?

Something about it didn't add up.

She had the idea that Ay might know it but wasn't going to discuss it with her. He was still hoping she had information on them.

She left the room and started to dictate her message while still pondering this.

Granted...after their male leader had pushed her out of the building section before it exploded--and with speed unlike even Lord Ay's, if she remembered right, but it might have been such a shock she'd exaggerated it--Ay had assume they spared her out of some wish to earn his favor. At least, since he initially hadn't cared for them, that was his best guess.

But then they'd never asked him for anything and had disappeared, by all accounts, till they'd showed up again and joined the peace mission.

And all her digging on them had yielded no record at all of the strangers...and Gaara's own Village had not revealed anything about them, even through asking them by proxy so they wouldn't know it was Cloud doing the digging.

But either the Villages didn't want to share it...or they didn't know either.

Ay had been wary and even less enthusiastic about letting them come to Cloud, but, on the other hand, what other way was there to find out what was going on?

Mabui was not of the mind that inviting the dragon into your castle was the best way to kill it, but she knew that Lord Ay would invite a dozen dragons into his castle and crush them all by willpower if he thought it was a good idea, and that was his decision.

Still...she didn't know if her job would be so easy...especially...

But it did no good to dwell on the hard part. She had other work to do.

[Hmm...bet you didn't expect this preview.

I thought I'd do something a little different for the end of this story.

But we have one more scene before it's over.]

* * *

It was the very end of the day, when Shine and Wally finally returned and were in a much better mood, when Kurotsuchi suddenly knocked on their door.

"If it's like last time, tell her we're not home," Dabi called.

"Someone gag him," Temari said as she opened the door.

But Kurotsuchi was holding a scroll.

"This just came by messenger hawk," she said. "I wanted to give it to you in person, since it's classified. But it's from Cloud Village."

Temari blinked at her.

"It..." She swallowed to get her composure. "Of course, thank you."

She shut the door before Kurotsuchi could ask any questions about it.

"It's from Cloud Village," she told Gaara.

"It is?" Gaara said.

The others gasped or sat up.

"Wait," Gaara said. "It may well just be them politely declining. They've heard probably that we're finished here...but I don't know how."

"Stone was supposed to send a report also," Kankuro reminded him. "I'd think they didn't actually do it, but if they did, then...oh gosh, it probably is a rejection notice."

"Well, open it and see," Camie urged.

Gaara opened it.

"'Respected Kazekage,'" he read, "'this is an invitation on behalf of Lord Ay--'" He stopped short and then went on, more slowly. "--to visit the Village Hidden in Clouds at your soonest convenience. Understanding that there may be bad weather on the way, we'll not look for your arrival for a week at least, and your accommodations will be ready by then. If you do arrive early, just send a message ahead of you. Give our regards to Lady Tsunade and the Tsuchikage."

"Is that all?" Momo asked.

"Lord Ay is not one for long speeches," Gaara said.

"I'll bet you anything that was his assistant who wrote that," Temari said. "I can't believe he even has that good handwriting, with one hand, too."

"I forgot about his hand," Momo said. "How sad."

"Maybe you should just heal it when we get there," Sasuke said sardonically. "Maybe that will dissuade him from killing us all when he finds out I'm in this team."

"Wait, what?" Momo said.

"So you're going?" Bakugo said.

"Missing the chance to see his reaction would be unthinkable, wouldn't it?" Sasuke replied. "You've all been so afraid of going to Cloud, after all."

"Does he...seem a little...different today?" Camie asked Bakugo. "Like...didn't that sound a little upbeat for him?"

"Upbeat? I think he wants us to die," Bakugo said.

"Well, that's nothing new," Camie snorted.

"You're saying we're allowed to?" Temari said. "But...I..." She looked flabbergasted for once. "I mean, I guess we were supposed to, but it's so late. It's winter now, and then... Gaara, is it even wise to do it?"

"I think we have to vote now," Gaara said. "I half hoped we wouldn't go till later in the year if we went, but, he said a week, and, if we don't do it, he'll be offended for certain and we'll never get another chance. I think we have no choice."

"Great, that makes you feel welcome," Kankuro said.

"I guess we got our answer," Shine said easily. "I knew it would all work out. And you said Cloud would never invite us after the fiasco of Stone."

"And that's just what I'm suspicious about," Gaara said. "Why would they?"

"Either they thought it was a positive that you pissed off Stone," Wally said, "or they don't know...and how did they know you were done here anyway? Kurotsuchi?"

"Yeah, something about this feels a little...too quick," Shikamaru said. "And I have a sneaking suspicion that Tsunade has something to do with that. Aren't she and the Raikage...friends? Is that the right word?"

"I ship them," Camie said. "They've got real chemistry."

"Camie, shipping people in real life is...weird," Momo said.

"But they're cute together," Camie said. "And scary. Isn't that the ninja way?"

"You're so weird," Tenten sighed. "So that's it? We're going to Cloud Village?"

"Well, hold your enthusiasm," Wally said.

"Just minute," Karin said, nervously. "Isn't Cloud Village the one place we can't go? I mean...Team Taka... They hate us there."

"They hate Sasuke too," Suigetsu said. "I know he's apparently into that, so he's fine, but I like being alive."

Shine shrugged. "Listen, I have given this some thought, in case we went, and I do have an idea for how to get you in...if you want to risk it. But if you don't, we won't make you."

"I don't mind risking it," Jugo said. "You've got a plan--and it can't be worse than Rain."

"Uh, it can be," Karin said. "Because Rain had no idea who we were, and we went to Cloud, and, oh I don't know, cut the arm off their Tailed Beast?! We thought we had him, too."

"But you didn't," Camie said.

"Well, they don't care! They hate us anyway," Karin said.

"Are you sure they wouldn't let him go? I mean, since Bee turned up alive after the Summit," Momo said.

"Cloud Village would never let him go," Hinata said quietly. "They killed my uncle over a problem that they caused."

Awkward silence.

"Do you not want to go?" Wally asked her. "I mean, I get it. It might be painful."

"No," Hinata said. "I want to face it. Doing the different things has been how we've gotten stronger every time... I want them to see that we're not afraid of them in the Hyuga clan."

"Right on, sis," Hanabi said. "I'll go too."

"Wait, Hanabi--" Hinata began.

"Don't even try to talk me out of it," Hanabi said. "It's no worse than anywhere else. Dad doesn't have to know."

"He will have to know," Hinata said.

"Tell him I want to get revenge for Uncle then," Hanabi said. "That'll work, right?"

"Yeah, the pint-sized pitbull and her wallflower sister are going to get revenge for their uncle," Dabi said.

"Oh, shut up," Hanabi said. "You can be our secret weapon."

Maybe Karin didn't want to be outdone by the 14-year old.

"Okay, fine," she said. "You have a plan, Miss Likstar?"

"Yeah," Shine said.

"I guess it's okay then," she said. "I mean...your plans always work, right?"

Shine just shrugged.

"Okay, fine," Suigetsu sighed. "I guess I'll probably not die anyway, right? Just...be a puddle somewhere. That's better, isn't it?"

"I won't waste my time saying it's a bad idea for you to take Sasuke there," Sakura said. "I think that you could piss off the Raikage, but, you won't listen to me anyway."

"Not if you talk like that," Shine said. "But also, yes, we're not going to leave him out. It's more important that Sasuke wins over Cloud more than any other Village, if you think about it, so we might as well try it."

"I guess you can just portal him if it gets rough..." Sakura contented herself with saying.

"I thought you didn't care what happened to him anymore anyway," Dabi said.

"Not him. It's Leaf Village I'm worried about," Sakura said, which they knew was a lie. "We could take the heat for it."

"Oh, 'cause you're from the Land of Fire?" Camie joked.

"No." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I guess we're going to Cloud Village," Wally said. "Man...I need new running shoes."

"We'll need a lot of new things if we're traveling that far," Momo said. "I better make a list."

"What about Eichi?" Hanabi asked.

"If he wants to go, fine," Gaara said, "and his mother...but I say we drop her off first, actually, wherever she wants to go. Cloud may have to wait a little longer."

"Well, serves them right for only inviting us at the last minute," Temari said. "I guess I'll just go send them a reply. Don't worry, I'll make it a nice one."

"Nice," Kankuro said. "Okay, so they won't throw rocks at us when we arrive?"

He got a glare.

"Sorry...uh, not funny," he said more meekly.

"I see Cloud more as the type that would throw boulders, anyway," Wally mused.

So they split off.

Eichi did agree to go with them, though his mother was a bit worried about the idea of him going to the...well...crazy Village out of the 5 Villages, but, after bandits, it had to seem like a safer option.

They all got ready in record time, since they were used to it by now.

[And that is the end of our Stone Village book.

I hope you enjoyed all the twists and turns.

The next book will of course have Cloud in the title, and it will also be probably twice as long as this one was. I made each village longer than the previous one when I wrote it originally.

We'll see if I can fit it in 200 chapters, but I'm not betting on it.

There's a lot more development in that book--and a lot more shipping, of course. And a much more lengthy finale, so if you missed that for this one, look forward to it.

What did you think of this story? 

Where each character is now? 

Who do you want to see more of? 

And who is your favorite so far?

Did you think this one was better than Mist, or did you find it more infuriating because of Stone's reactions?

I'm just curious. I have my own opinions of it, but that's me, the author.

The next book will also introduce two new theme song EPs, Boreas and Zephyr, the last two Oh Hellos albums, as well as using the previous ones when necessary.

Here's a preview:

https://youtu.be/DvM4JpJ2aZE

["Rio Grande"--The Oh Hellos]

A note about the theme albums for this story:

You may know that Dear Wormwood is about both leaving behind an abusive relationship, and about turning aside from our sinful temptations and nature and learning to love in a pure way. Most of the songs are about that theme, and the ones that aren't, like "Caesar" and "Soldier, Poet, King" are about the power of Christ to deliver us from the sin and the abuser.

The allusions made in the songs "Pale White Horse" and "Where is Your Rider" to the end times, as well as the Egyptians, show the themes of the oppressor/abuser, while songs like "This Will End", "There Beneath" ,and "Dear Wormwood" are more clear about your sinful nature and needing to leave behind its influence.

I used it  because in many ways Stone Village represented the old nature, the "stony heart" instead of the heart of flesh the Bible mentions.

It also references the abusive pasts of many of the characters like Sasuke, Karin, Suigetsu, Naruto, Sai, and Sakura even, and how they had those issues come up a lot for them in the story, as well as Shoto and Dabi, who had theirs resurface.

The other album I used, Eurus, is a continuation of Notos, which is about setting up our ways to reach God, but we can't do it alone.

Eurus builds on that theme by saying that we also try to gain wealth for ourselves and crush our fellow man in order to get what we think of as God, but it's really just our own wishes. The songs "Eurus" and "Passerine" allude to this, while the EP tells us that God's true nature is more wild and more natural than the constructs we make of Him, in the song "Grow" or "O Sleeper" and "Hieroglyphs".

I used them all when I thought they fit best, and they are meant to allude to how Stone's idea of God was so based on their own small efforts of being Stone Village that they wouldn't even notice that they'd become stagnant and hard like stone and they had no life anymore.

Also how many of the team had stubborn, stony hearts and wouldn't allow that they could be wrong, but they needed that to change.

Clearly, we're still working on some of them, but that will all be coming in the Cloud story.

Confession: the Cloud one was my favorite part originally, so I'm looking forward to getting to it and camping there for a while. I hope you're in for the long haul.

See you there!--Natasha Queen]