"Sensei, what are your plans for the future?" Keiko asked. "I am enjoying our time here on the beach," she added quickly. "I'm not suggesting we should leave, I just wondered."

Inoue reached behind herself to tie the strings of her swimsuit back on, then stretched before rolling over.

"That's a good question," she said, propping her head on one hand. "What do you think we should do?"

Keiko blinked. "Me?" she asked. "I'm not...why would...what?"

Inoue smiled. "It's okay, Keiko," she said. "Take a breath. I told you back when this all started that you were each going to get a turn as team lead. Well, today is your turn. We're in a low-pressure situation, we have a lot of options available to us but no time limits and no immediate threats. This is a good time for you to stretch your leadership muscles a bit."

"But I can't—"

Inoue laughed. "Relax," she said. "It's okay. You can do this, honest. C'mon, throw some ideas out. What do you see as our big priorities right now?"

"Uh...well...um...," Keiko said. "We could...stay here a while longer?"

Inoue nodded. "Good," she said. "That's a good start. What else could we do?"

From the corner of her eye, Kei noticed that the rest of the team were drifting in from their various beach-related pursuits. By apparently unspoken agreement they were all staying quiet and back a little bit so as not to pressure her. Despite their efforts, she felt panic fluttering up her throat like an angry butterfly trying to burst out her mouth.

"We could...go looking for where Akio went?" Keiko said. Oh kami, why was Mari-sensei doing this to her? She had to know that Kei couldn't do planning—no Mori could! They fixed other people's plans, they didn't make plans themselves!

"Good," Inoue said again. "That's definitely something we're going to want to do. What else? The trick to making plans is to generate as many options as possible first, then discard the bad ones and organize what's left. What are some other possibilities?"

"Um...." Suddenly a light went on in her head and she turned gratefully to the rest of the team. "A good leader solicits input from her team," she said, trying to project an air of confidence that she was very far from feeling. "What ideas do you have?"

"Stay here," Kagome said immediately. "Here is good. Nice place, plenty of food, pretty safe." He glanced out at the water and frowned. "Maybe a few more buoys, though," he muttered.

"I wouldn't mind finishing my research on storage seals," Hazō said. "That'll probably take another couple of weeks."

"We need to go after the summoning scroll," Noburi said firmly. "You wanted to get stronger, Keiko. We're your teammates, we need to support you in that."

"Right, um, thanks," Keiko said. Agh! This got more awful by the minute! Why couldn't they agree?! Then she could just fix their plan and everything would be wonderful. She didn't dare do nothing, though...Mari-sensei was looking at her expectantly, and Kei couldn't just give up, couldn't fail and see the disappointment in those limpid green eyes. Or, worse, the pity. Oh kami, oh kami....

"I think...we should do more training?" Keiko said. Immediately she felt a stab of disgust go through her; leaders should sound confident! "Yes," she said more firmly. "Training. Hazō, you should finish your seal research. Ishihara, you've been wanting to improve your taijutsu and Hazō has been neglecting that—"

"No I/he haven't/hasn't!" Hazō and Akane said at once, before glancing at each other in surprise.

"That sounds smart," Inoue said, smiling at her. Keiko flushed, relief pouring through her. She had pleased Mari-sensei!

"Okay, we'll train until Hazō finishes his research and everyone else is up to a decent level of skill," Inoue said. "Keiko, what's our next priority after that?"

"We should...make a base?" Keiko said. "Because living on the beach is nice, but we can't do it forever? Maybe?"

Inoue gave her an encouraging nod. "Good! See, you can do this. What kind of base? Where should we build it?"

Kei's mind went utterly blank except for the all-too-clear image of how disappointed Mari-sensei was going to be in her. She bit her lip and fought to keep her breathing even, to keep the panic down. Her hands were cold and clammy...wait. Cold. Cold, like ice.

She breathed out and dove down into the ice of the Mori bloodline, fleeing the embarrassment and incipient panic. As though from far away she felt herself straighten, felt her face go calm and distant.

Be still...be nothing...release your fears.... the Mori Voice whispered. Making choices leads only to humiliation and pain....

Through long practice, Kei pushed the whispering aside. She drew the ice up through herself until she became the ice, became a statue of herself. Build a base, she threw into the stillness of the ice. Be safe. Secure the team, protect Mari-sensei. How?

Fractures ran through the ice, the light dancing in rainbows of imagined scenes as it refracted through the frozen crystals that existed only in her bloodline. Her eyes drifted around, surveying and evaluating the immediate area. Possibilities danced before her, flickers of extrapolations pruning away the unlikely, the poorly-thought-out, the impossible. The ocean: a floating platform surrounded by Kagome's buoys. Ridiculous and full of so many failure modes the possibilities were blinding. The beach: too visible from the sea, vulnerable to storms. The forest...possible. Pro: Well-concealed. Easily supplied. Sheltered from storms. Con: Many chakra monsters in the area. Difficult for six people without construction experience to build anything significant or permanent. Conclusion: suboptimal but acceptable if no better option found.

Her eyes kept traversing, but there was nothing else to see. Very far away, she felt her face frown; she had found only one option and it was a bad one. She needed more; she would not see disappointment in Mari-sensei's eyes by proposing a stupid plan!

She allowed her mind to drift outwards, scanning through memories of recent scouting trips to see what her eyes could not.

The hill. There was a hill, perhaps two miles away. It stuck up through the trees and would provide a killing field. A palisade, Kagome's explosive seals worked into the outside...no. Too visible from afar by ninja in the treetops. Visibility not symmetric.

Stop, whispered the Voice. You have exhausted the options, and none are good. Release, give up, be still.... Be silent, be apart from all concern....

Build a base, she chanted to herself, beating the words like iron, forging them into a shield against the insidious poison of her blood. Build a base. Be safe. Secure the team, protect Mari-sensei.

She drew up her memories of the past and fed them to the ice, one freezing touch at a time. The ice gobbled them down, consuming them eagerly and turning them to crystal around her. Build a base. Be safe. Secure the team, protect Mari-sensei. Kei sent her mind ranging farther through the memories.

There. The village where they had met Kagome. Buildings: weather protection until better is available. People: help with building / supply local knowledge / provide food / provide equipment. Not so many that they would pose a threat. Anticipation: enthusiastic cooperation (79%), reluctant compliance (9%), barely-suppressed hostility (11%), active resistance (odds too small for meaingful calculation), unknown (1%). With Hazō's Multiple Earth Wall jutsu and Kagome's paranoia and explosives, they could make the town a fortress.

Foolishness..., whispered the ice. Choices, effort, will—weakness, misery, pain...be still....

She pushed the Voice aside and forced herself to examine the imagined fortress. It would be secure against any chakra animal, but not against ninja. It would also be very visible. Any ninja who went by would know that it was made by ninja. It would attract attention.

So. Not in the village itself. Outside the village, build the fortress in the woods. Inside the village, build bonds with the villagers. Information source, construction assisstance, supplies (including textiles and other things the team could not product). Yes. Bonds within, fortress without. Who? Hazō, Kagome, Ishihara, fortress. Kei, Mari-sensei, Noburi, village.

Wrong choice..., the ice whispered.

With careful precision, she plucked the memories back from the ice. She was too cold, frozen to the core; she couldn't feel her metaphoric fingers and needed to look carefully as she pulled their strings like those of a puppet. She fumbled, having trouble prying loose some of the memories, but forced herself to continue. Only after every single one was safely recovered did she push the ice away and climb back up out of its comforting embrace into the noise and clatter of the real world.

Not real, the ice whispered as she left it behind. Simply different. And so much more painful....

"We'll spend time training," she said. "Hazō, leave the research for now. You won't be able to spare the time, since you need to focus on helping Ishihara get her skills to a point where she won't embarrass us. Then we'll go find a small village like the one we were in when we met Kagome. We'll build a base outside it—fortify it, clear out the local threats, befriend the villagers." She looked at Kagome, who was just opening his mouth to say something. "Yes, you may be in charge of the defenses."

Kagome froze, mouth half-open, then closed it again and nodded.

o-o-o-o

"HAAAIIII!" Hazō yelled, leaping in the air to launch a snap-kick at Kagome's face. Akane came in from behind, fast and silent, with a front kick that would have smashed Kagome's spine out through his belly...

...if only Kagome hadn't suddenly switched places with her, leaving her to eat Hazō's kick. Hazō was so horrified at what he'd done that he barely landed cleanly, and would have fallen without the Iron Nerve keeping him upright. He started to reach for Akane, only for Kagome to switch places with her again and punch Hazō in the solar plexus hard enough to drop him. Without turning around he threw out a mule kick to Akane's head, knocking her flat on her back.

"Owb," Akane said, lying there and holding her mashed-flat nose. "Thad's cheading, Kagobe. Ad edeby wudnt have Subsdidushun pivleges wid be."

Kagome looked at her with a puzzled frown. "Ninja?" he said.

Hazō lay in the sand, focusing all his efforts on the simple task of breathing and wishing with all his heart that the Iron Nerve would allow him to control the movement of a paralyzed diaphragm.

Kagome watched the disabled genin, concern spreading slowly across his face. "You're, um, getting much better?" he said hopefully. When neither genin reacted he fidgeted for a moment. "I'll, um...I'll get Wakahisa," he said. "Um...sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just...I...I'll get Wakahisa." He hurried off to fetch the team medic, who was currently having a waterwalking race with Keiko a hundred yards down the beach.

o-o-o-o

They took care to 'walk' out of the trees instead of 'fade' or 'stalk' out. Inoue immediately called out, "Hello, the town!", waving one arm and smiling cheerily. The others trailed a few yards behind her, trying to think non-threatening thoughts.

The villagers looked up; fifteen of them were weeding a large garden while two stood guard, one with a spear and one with a bow.

The guard with the spear half-raised it. "Hello?" he called. "Who are you?"

"I...am Hayashi Yuki!" Inoue said, striking a dramatic pose. "International woman of mystery, Goddess-Queen of the Universe, Mistress of Menu Making, Demoiselle du Danger, and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting." She grinned and walked the rest of the way over. "This is my team. We were hoping to do some trading." She glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the team, then looked back and dropped her voice to a stage whisper. "To start with: earplugs! The boy snores like a bandsaw."

The guard with the spear grinned. The one with the bow had drifted in as well; Kei noticed with carefully-hidden disgust that neither of them were paying attention to anything except the new arrivals. Civilians. Bah.

"We're ninja," Inoue said with a shrug. The civilians stiffened and she held up her hands reassuringly. "No, no, it's okay. We just want to trade, really. We're happy to help out—we've got wall-building jutsu, we can hunt any of the local critters that are causing you trouble, we can bring in meat for the pot, whatever you need. If you don't want us here, we'll leave. There's plenty of other villages around, I'm sure someone will want us to solve their problems in exchange for a little hospitality."

The guards glanced at each other, then back to Inoue. "We would appreciate the help," the older of the two said. He was probably in his early fifties, his hair already steel-grey and a stiffness about his movements. "I'm Sato Rokurō, this is my brother Hiraku. And yes, there is something we could use help with. We used to have a herd of pigs, but they got loose a few years ago and went feral. They've been tearing up the fields at night; we wouldn't mind at all if they ended up dead. If you kill them, we'll be happy to cook them and share."

"We can do that," Inoue said. "Although, we could probably just catch them for you, if you wanted...?"

Rokurō shook his head emphatically. "Please don't. We bought them from a caravan that said they were great farm animals. Damn things were more trouble than they were worth. Bit anyone who didn't keep clear, squealed so much none of us could sleep, tore up everything they could get their teeth on. Day they escaped would have been the best day ever, if they hadn't come back afterwards."

Inoue laughed. "Well, we'll bring the meat in, anyway. We've got a medic, too, if you've got any injured folk. Can't fix everything, though." She shrugged apologetically. "We're happy to try, and we'll do what we can, but I don't want anyone expecting miracles and then being angry when they find out that we aren't gods."

Hope and grim understanding warred for control of Rokurō's face. "Yes, ma'am," he said. "Trust me, we can understand that. Yes, if you have a healer we could use your help. My niece's son is sick, we've got a couple folks as got mauled by a chakra wolf, two young 'uns with gapmouth—"

"Gapmouth?" Inoue asked.

"Cleft lip or palate," Noburi said. "It's a birth defect, easily fixed with a minor surgery. No problem."

Kei sighed without making a sound. Trust Noburi to promise the moon before seeing the patient.

"We certainly appreciate all this, ma'am," Rokurō said. "What might you be looking for in return?"

Inoue shrugged. "Nothing fancy," she said. "Things we can't easily make for ourselves. Produce and grains. Weaving. Ceramics and worked metal. Charcoal. News from the outside that we don't have to go get ourselves." The smile fell away and there was a little more weight behind her words. "We're quiet people, interested in a quiet life. Don't particularly want our fame to spread, if you take my meaning.

He snorted. "Yes, ma'am, I think I do," he said. "Not so interested in fame our own selves. We get a caravan through once every few weeks or so, but that's about it. Pretty quiet otherwise."

Inoue nodded, smiling again. "Sounds good," she said. "Now, I think you had some sick people?"

o-o-o-o

"Sensei, I need a break," Hazō said, leaning over with his hands on his knees as he gasped for air. His coils were closer to empty than they'd ever been and his entire body felt like mud.

"But we're not done!" Kagome said, looking around in a panic. It was technically true; the shell for the main building of their little encampment was mostly complete, as was the innermost set of ten-foot-high walls. The second of the four cornerposts was up, but the next two rings of walls weren't even started, the abbatis was just a dream in Kagome's paranoid mind, and only one of the defensive walls was properly covered in explosives. It said something about Kagome that he prioritized explosive wallpaper above sealing the gaps in the walls of their living space. (It wasn't a terribly surprising something, of course.)

Hazō looked over at the living quarters with pardonable pride. Kagome had wanted to build the defenses first, but Hazō had semi-bullied him into doing the living quarters instead. The older ninja had grumbled, but had quickly put together a design: four walls of unequal height, two of them shorter in order to leave doorways open, then a fifth wall brought up at an angle to form the roof.

The part that made Hazō proudest of the admittedly rough-and-ready building was that he'd built it with his Multiple Earth Wall jutsu. An ability intended for war—designed to block projectile weapons and afford battlefield control—had been used to build shelter for his friends. They'd spent hours discussing codewords and how to best combine their skills, including MEW, in order to kill, and in twenty minutes he'd constructed a solid house. There were even internal partitions so that each person would have a private sleeping area. The partitions had been his idea. He was very proud.