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

"Holy cow, that worked?" Suigetsu said. "You kidding me? That's not even...kekkei genkai. That's not even really professional--that's just a schoolyard trick."

"Isn't that just what he wouldn't expect?" Hanabi rubbed her wrist. "Chalk one up for me!--well, us. Take that, Big Sis. I told her I could handle this."

"Okay, don't get cocky, kid," Suigetsu said. "Sasuke is just one person, and he is kind of a wimp when he's not on a rage spiral. What about Sand Man?"

"I think someone said his weakness was water," Hanabi recalled. "Why don't you just pour water on him?"

"What? Just get a big kaiju going and dump water on him? Please, I need the ocean for that." Suigetsu said.

"But you have hydro-flasks," Hanabi said. "And...ice is everywhere. Or was."

"Huh..." Suigetsu said, then he grinned toothily.

A few minutes later, Gaara, still focusing on Shoto and Temari, found a lot of melted ice just dumped on him from overhead.

Gaara didn't usually look up when he was fighting, as he usually was the highest person in the fight, but it happened too fast; even when he did look up, he only saw the shadow of the water.

Then he was soaked.

"Whoa," Temari said. "That was genius."

Shoto stomped his foot, and ice froze over Gaara's feet.

"That was close." Shoto was panting. "I haven't had to work that hard to hold someone off in a long time."

"What happened to Bakugo?" Temari looked around. "He just stopped coming."

"He must have maxed out his quirk," Shoto said.

"Where's Sakura?" Temari looked around.

The air was cleaner now.

Sakura had attempted to revive Naruto and had been pulled out of the fight by the DJs, who said that was cheating.

Karin was trying to help Naruto now. He was already awake, to Hinata's relief.

"Did we win?" Temari asked.

"I think so," Shoto said.

Sai peered out from behind a rock. "We won?"

"Whoo hoo!" Hanabi cheered. "We're awesome!"

"Who would have thought that would have worked?" Suigetsu said.

"What happened to Sasuke?" Shoto asked, with a note of disappointment--perhaps that he hadn't gotten a chance to fight him.

"Mini-Hyuga took him out," Suigetsu said. "It was a joint effort actually."

"You took him out?" Shoto looked at a Hanabi in disbelief.

"None of you take me seriously." Hanabi folded her arms. "I had a little help, but it just took a well-aimed blow. Seriously, why do none of you ever hit people in the neck? Why keep fighting if you can just knock someone out?"

"That worked?" Temari said skeptically.

"Sasuke doesn't have a lot of imagination," Hanabi explained again, "or, apparently, the most resistant chakra network to being jolted by a Soft Hand blow." [It was pointed out by my sisters that Sasuke also might have gone easy on her, if that makes any potential Sasuke fans feel better about this loss.]

"I wonder if that has to do with the curse mark," Suigetsu wondered. "It works its way through your chakra network, could have made it less resistant to those shocks."

"That would explain a few things," Shoto said. "But not enough."

"You want some pepper with that salt, Todoroki?" Temari asked dryly.

"I think he's got the pepper, if you know what I mean," Hanabi said.

"You kind of look like salt and pepper." Suigetsu squinted at Shoto. "Red pepper, but still."

"I do not."

"Paprika then?" Suigetsu said. "Cinnamon? Nutmeg? Ginger?"

"Stop." Shoto frowned.

Sasuke was up now, and maybe he could guess what they were talking about, since he had a very salty look on his face.

"I wouldn't look him in the eyes," Suigetsu advised Hanabi. "Just walk straight past."

Hanabi took his advice.

The others had plenty to say about that match.

"That was incredible!" Ino was impressed. "I didn't think you would do that well."

"Why not?" Kankuro frowned. 

"Someone's in a bad mood," Camie said.

"It's hard to be in a good mood when your puppet got broken by a mace!" Kankuro was still mad.

"Then you shouldn't have tried to trap me!" Tenten was also mad. But a little smug.

"I was worried about Bakugo breaking it, but this was a new turn," Shine commented to Wally.

"Hanabi kicked butt." Dabi was proud of her. "She held her own against all you crazy people. Even smacked down Sasuke. I mean, he's a b---h and all, but still, is he even in the same weight class?"

"I guess this fan thing goes both ways." Temari found that amusing

"You're kind of embarrassing us," Shikamaru said to Dabi.

Dabi seemed to recall that he was supposed to be the cold, snarky one.

"I mean, it's not like it matters," he backtracked. "It was just funny."

Sasuke looked like he'd set Dabi on fire if he could have.

"You all are pansies," Bakugo said to his squad. "And what was Fish Boy even doing?"

He meant Naruto.

"I just got woozy all the sudden," Naruto said.

"I keep telling you," Karin said, "you used way too much chakra. You're not the Fox anymore. You can't make a million clones and not feel it."

"He could never make a million clones," Sakura commented, looking almost as salty as Sasuke. "I still don't think I should have been taken out for trying to do medicine. That's my job!"

"The other side didn't have a medic," Shine said. "It would have been giving you an unfair advantage."

"Oh, and letting them have 3 people who can do massive, nature-based moves wasn't?" Sakura said.

"You guys picked those teams, not me," Shine reminded her. "This is why I group people up more carefully. But if the point was to knock people out of the fight, you regenerating them like a video game would have been unfair. And enough bad habits. Naruto can't always rely on you to make up for his poor choices. Passing out served him right."

"What an insensitive thing to say," Sakura said.

"It sounds like what you say when you hit us for leaving the hospital too early," Sai picked the wrong time to point out. 

"Shut up, Sai!" Sakura snapped at him, making a fist.

Sai flinched.

Ino, who, after the little conversation earlier, was seeing this in a new way, winced. Shine and Wally were right after all. Sakura did scare Sai, and not in a good way.

"It's not our fault," Tenten told Bakugo. "Your plan was bad."

"My plan was fine!" Bakugo said.

"Maybe you're too used to relying on power moves to win," Momo offered.

She got a dirty look in response. She shrugged.

"It's a poor general who blames his troops, I hear," Wally remarked.

Bakugo frowned at him and huffed.

"It was still a decent challenge," Temari attempted to be nice by saying--which was a change from how she would have been years ago, Tenten noted.

"Don't try to make it sound better," Gaara said. "I'll admit you won. That last move was a surprise." Nodding at Suigetsu.

"Yeah, the surprise MVPs of this round were Suigetsu and Hanabi," Wally said. "Way to go, guys."

"Well, I guess I do have the advantage of being nearly indestructible," Suigetsu admitted modestly. "The kid has more talent than I expected, though."

"She's amassing fans of the guys in the team," Camie said.

"Hey, I like her too," Shine said.

"I'm both proud of you," Hinata said to Hanabi, "and horrified that you took chances like that, even in training. What if you'd gotten hurt?"

Or what if Sasuke took it personally, as he was wont to do?

They hoped Sasuke would find it ridiculous to hold a grudge against a teen-aged girl, but no one was sure.

Sasuke had nothing to say either way, at least for now.

"Interesting though--" Suigetsu didn't know when to shut up. "--Sasuke always used to have a major advantage when we were team Hebi/Taka, but these days I only ever see him get his butt kicked."

"Suigetsu," Karin warned.

"Maybe that's enough," Wally agreed. "None of you are bad fighters. Sometimes teams are just better matched, that's all. Or you have an off day. No need to make your whole identity about that."

Well, did he know who he was talking to here?

"It's hot out here," Camie said. "Let's head back. I want cold water or lemonade or something like that."

"Or Soba," Shoto said.

"Ew, cold soba? What kind of freak eats that?" Kankuro said.

"It's better that way," Shoto said.

"It is," Dabi said. "Hot has too much flavor."

"I forgot that your one common ground thing was that you both like gross cold soba," Camie said.

"Did you know that heat gives things more flavor?" Momo said. "It opens the flavor-receiving microscopic channels in our taste buds more, so hot food does have more flavor, but some people will prefer the lesser flavor of something when it's cold. And some won't care."

"Cold chicken is as good as hot," Shine offered. "Better with some stuff, actually."

"You know, you eat more chicken than a normal person should eat," Wally said.

"Fried chicken is one of the best foods in the world," Shine said. "Some people say in heaven all the chicken is fried."

"I thought we didn't eat in heaven," Momo puzzled.

"It's a joke," Shine replied.

"Fried chicken is special occasion food," Shikamaru said. "You really eat that a lot?"

"It's not special for us--it's more like a staple...too much of one, but it's so good," Shine sighed. "Great, now I want some."

"Me too," Wally said. "But a hotdog would be good too."

"Gross," Shine gagged.

"We'll win next time," Bakugo muttered as they went.

"It doesn't matter that much," Shoto said.

Bakugo gave him a look like he'd stood on his head.

"It was just training," Shoto said. "A real fight is when it counts. Real fights don't have rules. But maybe you should have listened to your teammates more."

"They didn't have any good ideas anyway," Bakugo said.

It was kind of true--none of them were strategists.

"I did, if you'd listened," Shikamaru pointed out.

Bakugo huffed.

"You'll get 'em next time, Babe." Camie patted his shoulder. "You did team up with Team 7 after all."

"You know, Shine called that you'd lose," Shikamaru remarked. "Because of Team 7. I thought that was interesting--it happened just the way she said, too."

"What did she say?" Naruto asked.

Sakura only glared at Shikamaru, but he wasn't looking at her so he didn't notice.

"That you didn't have good enough teamwork skills and, since that was half of your group, you'd fall apart," Shikamaru said. "And that you'd overdo it, Naruto. Well, I'm good at coming up with moves, but, I have to admit, I've never been as good at predicting people as she is. It's like if you know the person well enough, you don't need to know what the attack will look like to know the outcome. Choji's kind of like that also."

"Shine-san has no faith in us at all," Naruto said, but you could tell he thought she was wrong, not that he was taking it into consideration. "Team 7 was a really strong team."

"Was," Shoto repeated.

"Was it?" Camie said. "For real?"

"Yeah," Naruto said. "We could beat anyone."

"Together, how many people did you beat?" Shoto asked.

[Kaguya does not count, not only because she's not in this version but because they were so hopped up on borrowed powers by then that it wasn't the same as them really using teamwork.]

"There was Zabuza," Naruto said.

"Sakura didn't help," Bakugo corrected him.

"Sasuke also spent most of that fight knocked out," Shoto said. "Though, I admit, that might have been his best moment."

"You admit that, really?" Temari said.

"That was before he went wrong," Momo explained. "At that point, he seemed like a nice enough person to us. Of course we didn't learn any of that till after we met you the first time. We were surprised when we did."

"I knew, for the record." Camie put her hand up. "But yeah, that's so gone now. Sasuke would never risk his life for anyone else now. Unless maybe it benefitted him."

"You're sure?" Naruto said.

"Has he?" Bakugo snorted. 

"It's so sad," Momo said, "that he could have been a hero, if you consider that act of courage. And really, until the Chunin exams, I don't think he was so very selfish. A little arrogant, perhaps."

"A lot arrogant," Shoto corrected.

Momo sighed. This was again getting into dangerous waters.

"Back then, Noodle Boy also was a bit more humble," Bakugo added. "The useless chick was still useless."

Sakura glared at him. "I'm not useless!"

"Well, you were today," he shot back.

"I did stuff!" she said. 

"You got distracted," Bakugo snapped back. "When people are down already, you keep fighting. You don't stop to try to nurse them when someone else is attacking you. That's just stupid."

He had a point, actually.

[Which Sakura does a lot in the show. Rather than help, she just watches.]

"Bakugo did at least fight to the end," Kankuro acknowledged. "That's something. I mean, if he wasn't outnumbered, he probably would have won."

Bakugo smirked.

"You guys can't just attack our team," Naruto said. "You don't know us that well."

"Actually it sounds like they know a lot," Temari said. "They have the facts. But it's to be expected that your team sucks if you've been missing a member for years. And then, Sakura works as a medic more than she trains with you. Maybe your team should just dissolve and you should join a different team. That would make more sense."

"What? No!" Naruto said.

"That's a good idea," Momo said. "It's not practical to keep them assigned together when they have to divide their time, and with Naruto wanting to be Hokage too, that'll take up some time. Wouldn't it be best to let Sai join a different team also? That way he would have people he knows how to work with better. I can't help but feel he doesn't fit very well with anyone right now because he's so new."

"He would be a good addition to Team 10," Temari mused.

"Why?" Shikamaru said.

"Because you have the muscle, Choji, and the mind, Ino, and then you restrain people," Temari said. "But you're missing someone who can use numbers to create a diversion and can track. Usually every team has at least one tracker, but yours is short one. And since you lost your sensei, it's short one person anyway. You should really have had a replacement, actually. Even if you're a Chunin so you can be the leader, 4 people is more traditionally a good number. Sai would fit perfectly. And they're right--Team 7 isn't a practical place for him if they're going to be busy doing other things."

"Sai's good at fighting," Shikamaru said. "But I can't see that he has much common sense. Not sure he'd be a good full-time addition to team 10."

"I would argue that Sai has far more common sense than his teammates do," Shoto said. "Social awareness isn't the same as sense."

"At least he can tell right from wrong," Camie said. "That's a plus."

"We're right here," Sakura said.

"Well, I didn't really mean that to be a diss on you, but if you want to take it that way." Camie shrugged.

"You know, it was nice of us to even let Sai stay on our team after what he did." Sakura ignored her explanation. "And you treat him like he's above us."

"It must just be terrible to see someone treated by us the way you treat yourselves," Dabi cut in.

He'd been walking behind them a little, and the rest of them were farther behind him, Sai included, so thankfully, he hadn't heard any of this.

"What?" Naruto said.

"You act like you're better than everyone else," Dabi said. "Like your ideas are superior to theirs, and your 'way of ninja' is the only way anyone should follow."

"Well, it's how I feel," Naruto said.

"Feelings are not reality," Dabi said. "If they were, why are yours the most important? I think some people here have had some strong feelings of hatred or anger. What makes feelings of hope any better?"

"Because hope keeps us going," Naruto said.

"Perhaps," Momo agreed.

"So can anger," Shoto said.

"You could say that anger could have some hope in it, if you hope that you'll get to punish the person you're angry at," Kankuro suggested.

"That only makes it seem more like it's all the same," Dabi said. 

"You think your way is right for everyone too," Sakura pointed out.

"The difference there is it's not just based on feelings," Dabi said. 

"I'm sure you feel like it's right," Sakura said.

"Actually no, it feels uncomfortable a lot of the time," Dabi said. "And I didn't feel like it was right at all at first. I laughed at it. But it has a way of sticking with you till you confront it. And that's how you know it's not just a feeling."

"Do we have to start this again?" Shikamaru grumbled. "All you ever do is argue. What a drag."

"I think he's right," Momo said. "We shouldn't argue this often."

"Then tell them to stop criticizing me," Sakura said.

"You first," Bakugo muttered.

"You can dish it out, but you can't take it, sis," Camie said.

"Maybe pointing that out isn't helping either," Shikamaru suggested. 

"So what, do we just ignore what's right in front of us?" Shoto said in a harsh tone, then he sighed and quickened his pace to pull ahead of them.

"That hit a nerve," Camie observed. "Dang."

"I guess it's true that we're going to get on each others' nerves with all this close proximity," Temari noted. "It's not as if we'd always see things the same way, either. Still, Haruno, you're not even trying to see it their way."

"Excuse me?" Sakura said.

"Maybe this fight is dumb," Temari said. "And maybe they are irritating you more than necessary, though I'm not one to chafe at that. But, on the other hand, most of us have had moments of at least seeing their point about some things. But I've never heard you concede anything to them. Do you really think they're that wrong about everything? Some of what they said about Uchiha is just the truth. And Naruto too, no offense."

Naruto looked peeved anyway.

"And maybe about you." Temari shrugged. "No one is perfect. You could at least try to think if there's a way to make it better instead of arguing about it. And it's not as if the rest of us haven't heard you start the fights plenty of times. This is going both ways. Don't act like the victim."

[Oh, say it again for the pink one in the back!]

Sakura's mouth dropped open.

"'As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone,'" Kankuro quoted. "So if there's smoke, there's fire. We're all part of the problem."

"But why argue about things that don't matter?" Shikamaru asked. "That's what I don't understand."

"Hey, Shika--" Camie pointed at him. "--you're the one who thinks it doesn't matter. But did you ever think that it's just this kind of stuff that makes someone like Sasuke lose his grip? And makes someone feel lonely and unloved and not liked? All these little things that you think aren't important to fight over, like who says what and who treats who badly, might be huge to people who never had any choice about it."

"That's...the most articulate thing I've heard you say." Shikamaru was stunned.

"Shut up," Bakugo said.

"I didn't mean that in a bad way," Shikamaru said. "I just didn't think she could talk normal."

"I can if I try," Camie said. "But it's boring." She waved her hand dismissively. "Still, if I have to dumb it down for you, I guess I can."

Temari and Kankuro snickered at that.

"Do you honestly see a connection between poor teamwork skills and being a little difficult to handle and the kind of dark treachery that Sasuke would do--or the other things that happened?" Shikamaru  said.

"Isn't all that clearly context?" Momo said. "Isn't it just that, and forgive me for saying so--" looking at Sakura and Naruto. "--but if you don't know how to be a good friend, because no one ever taught you and maybe that wasn't your fault, but if it's the case, then if someone else is hurting, you won't know how to help them. You have to be helped before you know how to help. I think that's...well, we carry it too far, I admit, but pointing out the issues we see is just so that we can try to help. I'm not the perfect friend or anything, but I think my friends have taught me some things, like how to build up your teammates. And how that can make them able to do things they wouldn't otherwise do. And how taking the time to notice someone's fears and sorrows can make a world of difference to them. That's all we're trying to do. And it does matter, because all that adds up. People turn into villains sometimes because they have no one else, or so we're told."

"All true," Dabi confirmed. "That's why I turned into a villain (among other reasons). Spinner, Twice, they're rejects. Villains don't judge each other so hard, sometimes. And you know what? Twice might be nuts, but he's a nice guy. Loyal, brave, in his way. I didn't care much about any of them, but I thought he was too good for the LOV, almost. Maybe some therapy would have fixed him enough to be part of society. He drove himself crazy because he was lonely."

"I understand that Shine also thinks that your boss isn't so bad," Momo said. "Which...I don't actually understand."

"Well, he could be worse," Dabi said. "At least he bails us out when we're in trouble. Some people would just cut their losses. I'm not the sensitive type, but there're heroes who care less about their sidekicks than Shiggy cares about his underlings. Whatever that's worth."

"He was better than you'd think," Bakugo said. "But I still don't like him."

"But you gotta admit, a worse guy wouldn't have honored the deal," Camie said. 

"Deal?" Temari said.

"Some deal Shine made to get him off the students' backs," Camie said. "She's smart like that. "

"She offered us a deal so that she wouldn't turn us in," Dabi said. "Which we all resented, of course, and tried to cut her out of the picture. Shigaraki didn't like to be threatened. But then she and West showed honor by sparing us and protecting our lives when they didn't have to. Shigaraki changed his mind after that. He said we couldn't repay that with backstabbing. Fair was fair. Now the League has been leaving them alone, and they leave the League alone. I don't know if it can last, with tensions the way they are, but it's not from malice. That's plenty to accomplish in our...home."

"A daring idea," Momo said. "And one I, frankly, thought was crazy. I was upset by it when I found out. But I see now why they did it. They couldn't take the LOV down themselves, by their rules, so they did what they could to protect us from them. It was kindness. I hate to think how we got so angry at them for it. Now that I've done this myself, and seen how we can't just stop the bad guys, I feel even worse for judging them."

"Not even that--we can't even stop all the people dying," Camie said. "Like those people in the Intelligence Division who we couldn't stop even with knowing about it."

"What did you just say?" Shikamaru's face changed.

"I just said that--" Camie trailed off and realized her mistake.

A terrible silence followed.

"Did...did you know?" Sakura finally dared to ask, since Shikamaru wasn't daring to.

"It's...best not to answer that," Momo said weakly.

"Did you know?" Shikamaru said. "Did you know they would die?"

The heroes looked at each other.

Finally Bakugo said, "We had an idea they would."

"From when?" Shikamaru said, in a terribly emotionless voice.

"Does it matter?" Bakugo said.

"When?" Shikamaru snapped, a bit sharper.

"From when we arrived," Momo admitted. "But we hoped we could stop it--"

"You knew all that time, and you didn't say a word?" Shikamaru said. "That was hours before it happened. A day almost."

"We couldn't have told you," Momo said. "It was too risky."

"So why didn't you at least warn them?" Shikamaru pressed. "Was it just not important enough?"

"Easy there," Temari warned. "Maybe they had a reason." She gave them a look like please have a reason.

Momo knew there had been one, but her mind went blank, since she didn't like people being upset at her.

"It was no use," Bakugo said. "West tried to save them, but they wouldn't have it."

"If they knew in advance, they might have just not been there," Shikamaru said.

"But they couldn't have moved that whole building," Momo protested. "It's probable they would have chosen to stay put anyway. Just like they did in the end."

"Well, you didn't know that," Shikamaru said darkly.

"Playing God is a bad idea," Bakugo said. "Warning them could have had other consequences. Big picture: could have lost the war."

"There would have been a way to work around it," Shikamaru said. "I'm sure of it. You just did not give us the chance because of what? I don't understand that decision at all."

"That's terrible," Sakura agreed.

"How could you guys?" Naruto finally understood what they were talking about.

Momo felt like she might cry. "We really didn't want to do it that way, but it wasn't our right to interfere that far."

"Your right?!" Shikamaru said, hotly. "This is...unbelievable."

He walked away from them and into the village, which they'd reached by now.

"Oops," Camie said. "I'm sorry, fahm. I totes forgot about that part being on the Q.T."

"Camie," Momo sighed, "some things should not be said."

"I don't think that hiding it was a good idea either," Temari said. "Maybe I'm with them--you're just assuming that we couldn't do anything about it..."

"But that would have stopped him from trying," Momo said. "What if our telling him had led to him being in the building with his father?"

Temari looked a little wan. "I...could see how that might have happened," she said.

"Or anyone else could have," Dabi said. "Trying to stop it, we could have been there, or Gaara, or another kage, or you. Or Naruto. See, once you throw information like that into the mix, it's a chain reaction. Unless all of them moved, it would do no good. And if that Monster was aiming there on purpose, wouldn't he have aimed at them wherever they were moved to? Unless they could have gone underground, but does that seem like it would have happened?"

"It might be well and easy for me to believe that it wouldn't have made a difference," Temari said. "But it was not my father."

"I hope he doesn't tell Ino," Momo worried.

"He probably will," Kankuro said. "I would tell my team if I found that out."

"Maybe it's easier to just have it out," Temari sighed. "But if you'd told him up front, it might have been better than letting it slip. That doesn't look good."

"We thought he would be crushed if he thought it was possible to change anything," Momo said. "We concluded it wasn't, other than by direct interference, which Wally tried, and that failed, save for that one woman."

"Yes, you've mentioned her before. The assistant from Cloud, Mabui is her name," Temari said. "Again, she really wasn't anything that important. I guess it's fine that you saved her, but Shikaku was more valuable--" She stopped suddenly.

"A bit of a tricky thing you just stumbled onto," Dabi said. "I have a feeling that Shikamaru is going to think the same thing. But how do you really know? Everyone dies, Fan Girl. Shikaku and Inochi are no exception. They didn't even mind it. There are no guarantees they'd have lived much longer anyway. Forcing them to be brought out of there, maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but it's also not always right to ignore people's choices. They at least made a choice. The others made a choice not to leave their post either. Cloud Lady didn't make the choice. It's as simple as that."

"I thought she didn't get the chance," Momo said.

"Still, that's not a no," Dabi said. "If she'd said no, she'd have died too. West couldn't risk stalling. And even warning them a whole day in advance, maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. We've warned our guys about stuff before that didn't change anything. Shinobi are stubborn people."

"Even if that's true," Temari said, "it's a tough pill to swallow. Maybe you could have stopped it... You'd have listened also. But it would piss me off to learn that too."

"I...wonder if he'll ever forgive us," Momo worried.

[Well, the reveal was a long time coming. But I always figured it would take about this far into the trip for it to come out.

Now there'll be drama.]