In which Toph stays with the Akatsuki until the end.

▪▪▪

"WHOAH!"

Strong hands pried Tobi off of her, practically throwing him aside. Kisame-sensei's familiar weight crouched down besides her as she hacked and coughed on nothing at all.

"Toph, you okay?" He asked. She felt his hands take her pulse and lever her up into a sitting position.

"Tried to kill me," Toph wheezed. "Wants to kill-"

Her words dissolved into a coughing fit.

"Kisame," Tobi chirped, an abrupt change from his previous demeanor. "You should move! She's a threat to the Akatsuki."

"She's not," Kisame growled.

"This isn't your call, senpai."

"She's my student. It is only my call. Now, you will move aside and let us through now, or I will kill you and tell Pein exactly why. You don't get to touch her."

"Kisame, move."

"NO!" Kisame roared.

The cavern echoed with the reverberations of his voice.

"I am going to take her with me," Kisame said, voice deceptively calm. "And she is going to forget whatever it is that made you think you had to kill her. Is that understood?"

Silence.

"Am I understood?" Kisame raised his voice, not quite yelling.

"Okey dokey, senpai!" Tobi saluted him. "If she forgets, I don't see any reason to hurt Tau-chan!"

Toph flipped him the bird. He gasped and stumbled back like he hadn't just tried to kill her.

"Come on," Kisame grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet and dragging her past Tobi.

"But he's-"

"Are you strong enough to defeat him?" Kisame asked lowly.

"Wha?"

"Could you take the twerp in a one-on-one?"

Toph thought back to the fight. She'd been relentlessly overpowered. It had been entirely one-sided. "No."

"Then shut up about what happened here until you are." Kisame's grip on her arm tightened. "Got it?"

Toph ducked her head. After a long pause, she nodded.

"Good."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

That night she tried to call for the onryo.

But no matter how many times she whispered the ghost's name, a reply never came.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph stabbed down with her weapon, heating the wet squelch as her blade entered her victim's body, killing him instantly.

"Hey, Kisame-sensei," Toph asked, pulling her sword free and giving it a decisive flick to get the blood off. "What are we going to have for dinner tonight?"

She felt her mentor turn to look at her from where he stood amidst a pile of bloody bodies. "Soba, probably. Why're ya still callin' me sensei? You graduated five months ago."

Toph shrugged, sliding her sword into her sheath. "Kisame-sensei is Kisame-sensei. What else am I supposed to call you?"

"Somethin' else," Kisame insisted, hopping over a disemboweled corpse and hoisting Samehada onto his shoulder. "Ya look too... too..."

He trailed off, then stalked past her.

"Too what?" Toph chirped, trailing after him. "Too what, Kisame-sensei?"

He growled in mild frustration. "Ya grew up, ya know."

She did know. She'd gotten tall enough to need two new changes of clothes, and there had been an awkward few months where she'd had to reorient herself to her new height.

That had been weird.

"So what? Being taller doesn't make you not my sensei, you know," Toph bounced on her heels. When no answer came, she changed the direction of the conversation. "What are we doing here, anyway?"

Kisame didn't bother to answer. He stuck a finger in the direction they were going, then continued walking.

Toph huffed, bouncing again. This time, though, she felt for vibrations and felt her eyes widen.

"Who's that?" Toph asked.

There was a camp up ahead. It was only manned by three nin; an older man, a smaller male figure, and a young woman.

"Hurry up," Kisame snapped. He seemed all tense and worried in a way he usually wasn't.

She followed him in silence, right up until they broke through the tree line and the three shinobi noticed them.

"Who goes there?" The older man shouted.

Kisame paused for a heartbeat, then stepped out into the sunlight. Toph stayed behind the tree for a second longer, then joined him.

"Kisame Hoshigaki," Kisame announced.

The two teenagers gasped disbelivingly.

"I, wielder of the sword Samehade, bring my student to the Trials, to fight for the sword Kubikiribocho." Kisame's hand rested on her shoulder, pushing her forwards a few steps.

Toph held herself poised for a second, then bowed. "Toph Bei Fong. I would say it's a pleasure, but I wouldn't want to lie."

Kisame slammed his hand on her head, keeping her still. "No snark."

She sighed. "My apologies."

"You lost your right to the Trials when you defected," the older man declared, voice trembling.

"Only the student of one of the masters of the seven swords can fight for a sword," Kisame told him. "My right to enter my student has nothing to do with the village and everything to do with Samehada."

The girl opposite Toph shifted, hand going to a broadsword strapped over her back. Toph tried to straighten, but Kisame's hand on her head was iron.

"You cannot-" the old man tried, but Kisame interrupted.

"Either you allow my student a chance to win Kubikiribocho, or I kill all three of you and take it for myself." Kisame snapped. "I'd hate to see how you fare against someone like me, someone who's wielded Samehada for decades."

Toph bit back a snicker as his hand finally slipped off her head, leaving her free to straighten and stretch her spine.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"According to the Sword Challenge laws, if she fails you loose ownership of Samehada," the man said harshly.

Toph felt her breath catch in her throat.

There was no way Kisame-sensei would risk-

"Very well," Kisame bowed his head, then pulled the greatsword off his back. He walked the short distance to the man, then sank Samehada deep into the ground.

"Your job," Kisame told her. "Is to kill them."

He gestured at the two teenagers. Toph felt their heartbeats fluctuate as they took an involuntary step back.

Her focus went from the two to Samehada, buried almost up to its hilt in the ground.

He trusted her.

He trusted in her, in her skills and ability.

Pride welled up in her chest.

They were dead.

"Yes, sensei!" Toph smiled, wide and toothy and ferocious as one of his own.

▪▪▪

Kisame stood besides the proctor, watching his kid stand across from the two others.

She had grown since that day she'd tried to kill Tobi.

Toph was taller, yes, but also more mature. She didn't flinch when told to kill anymore, instead quickly and efficiently dispatching her enemies.

Aside from that, her beauty had matured as well. She was pale and leggy, with porcelain skin and soft features that contrasted heavily with the scar under her eye. Her hair was longer, too, and she wore it half up, the rest of it flowing around her.

Somewhere along the way, her clothing manufacturer had added in a lot more pink to her kimonos, giving her a soft, innocent look most nin could never hope to pull off.

Pair that with her blindness, and she'd look entirely harmless until she broke out that toothy battle smile and killed you, both with her wit and blade.

"How long have you been training her?" The man asked.

Kisame watched Toph stretch, rolling her head and reaching up.

"Three years," he answered.

The old man snorted in disdain. "Tomoko and Hisashi have worked for this their whole lives. Your little student is as good as dead."

Kisame actually laughed at that, a wild, savage laugh that made the two soon-to-be-corpses flinch.

"Ey, Tau-chan!" He called, ignoring her sudden twitch at the nickname. "Don't even think about holding back!"

She didn't reply, but he could sense her rage and slight pleasure.

After all, when she traveled with him, most Earthbending was off-limits.

"Draw your weapons!" The old man called.

The two teens were quick to pull their swords out, hefting them in the air, both blades angled at Toph.

Her own slim sword was drawn silently. Toph untied her tassels and wrapped the thin cords around her wrist. She calmly flipped back her sleeves and took her usual stance.

"Begin!"

▪▪▪

They jumped her first thing.

Toph supposed they did have a good reason for that; they each wanted the sword, but neither of them wanted her to have it more.

So she s m i l e d and unleashed a burst of killer intent.

The girl flinched, a minute motion, but exactly what Toph wanted.

She charged her, enhancing her strength as she swung, swift as a viper.

Her blade met metal; the girl had been aware enough to block her strike, but Toph forced her back and off balance before throwing herself aside.

The boy's blade dug into the ground where she'd been seconds before. Toph replied with a savage kick to his face and a follow up with her sword.

He guarded, feet set firmly against her barrage of blows. Her toes touched dirt, vibrations alerting her to the girl, and Toph rolled aside as the broadsword bit deeply into the boy's guard.

"Whose side are you on, Tomoko?!" The boy shouted.

"Mine!" She yelled back. "Stay out of my way!"

Heh. Toph felt her grin grow.

They both seemed to be pretty powerful, but they didn't know how to work together and were tripping over each other.

Toph bent down, grabbing a handful of dirt, and spun back into action.

Time to even the odds, ne?

The boy was so busy yelling at the girl, Tomoko, that when she threw the dirt at his face, he brought up his sword to deflect the attack-

Which did absolutely nothing to block it.

He yelped, eyes slamming shut as he drew back an involuntary step. The girl shouted and swung her sword, but Toph fell back out of reach, trying to go for the boy.

Tomoko stayed with her though, blocking her from her handicapped target as she hammered at Toph with a barrage of heavy strikes.

Toph continued blocking, waiting for her opportunity. The second she felt the boy stumble over a rock she twisted, sliding the blade through his throat and pulling up a rock wall to block the girl as she lunged for the opening the boy's death left her with. There was a thunk and a squeal as the girl's sword slammed into the wall and stuck there.

Toph turned away from where the boy was bleeding out and hopped easily over the wall. Tomoko looked up, eyes wide as she pulled fruitlessly on the handle of her broadsword.

Toph swiped at where she remembered the girl to have been and felt her blade bite into her somewhere. She landed on the ground and launched herself into a roll the second she felt the girl's position.

Even unarmed, Tomoko was very good at trying to kill her. Toph dodged a few of her barehanded swipes before slashing viciously at an outstretched arm.

Tomoko let out a cry, which Toph quickly silenced.

She crouched there for a moment breathing controlled, before straightening and swiping her sword right, then left, and into its sheath.

She hopped over to Kisame-sensei who stood by the elderly proctor. "Mission complete, Sensei!"

"Well done," he rumbled, tone proud.

She preened for a moment, then walked over to where Samehada was buried in the ground. Toph dug her bare toes into the ground and the earth surrendered the sword to her.

She hefted it up into the air and came back over to her sensei, offering the scaly blade to him.

"I would never fail you, Sensei," Toph told him.

He took Samehada from her and returned his blade to his back. "Would you like to receive your prize?"

She raked her brain for what he had said before the three way fight. "Kubikiribocho?"

"Yes," he rumbled, and Samehada's weight was replaced with a heavier one. The sword was almost as long as she was tall, and she almost tipped over.

Kisame-sensei laughed. "Looks like you'll be working on weight training for the next few months."

"Apparently," Toph wheezed.

"This is blasphemy!" The proctor cried.

"Get lost and be grateful we aren't cutting you down where you stand," Kisame-sensei growled. "Let's head, Toph."

She nodded, then almost fell over. "How heavy is this thing?"

"Better get used to it, kiddo," Kisame-sensei laughed as he began to walk away. "You're halfway to becoming one of the seven swordsmen of the mist."

"One of the what?" Toph asked. She repeated her question again, slightly panicked. "One of the what, Kisame-sensei?"

Behind them, two rapidly cooling bodies dripped their lifeblood into the dirt.

▪︎▪︎▪︎
Three years later
▪︎▪︎▪︎

"This is your partner, Hidan," Leader-sama told the older man disinterested. "Toph, you are to work with Hidan now."

"Eeh?" Hidan whined. "But why? She's just a brat!"

Toph stuck her tongue out at him.

"Be that as it may," Pein placed down the mission report he'd been reading to glare at the bounty hunter. "You've killed your last three partners and I am tired of trying to find you new ones."

"What's to stop me from killing her, too?" Hidan asked rudely.

Pein turned to Toph. "Hidan uses a special jutsu that turns the wounds an enemy inflicts back on him."

Ooo, that sounded cool. Toph nodded.

"To set up the jutsu, he needs to draw a special pentagram on the ground underneath him."

She nodded again.

"If he ever tries to take you down, simply destroy his circle. As knowledgeable of earth jutsus as you are, such a simple feat should be easy enough for you," Pein finished.

"Boss!" Hidan protested.

"Right!" Toph gave a mock salute. "And if he tries coming after me without using the jutsu?"

"I trust Kisame has taught you well enough to evade him until he remembers your teacher would kill him when he returned. It's hard enough trying to replace even one Akatsuki member. Two would only be double the headache." Pein allowed the scroll to snap shut. "Speaking of, you're a member of the Akatsuki now. Here are your robes and your ring. Don't shame our name."

Toph stepped forward, accepted the bundle, bowed, and stepped back. "It is an honor, Leader-sama."

"Don't lose anything. Hidan, here is your next mission scroll. I expect you to be back sometime next month. You are dismissed."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

She couldn't feel him.

She couldn't feel him.

Kisame's chakra, his drowning, undefeatable chakra, had blipped off her radar.

Toph rounded the overturned rubble and wreckage of the battlefield, reaching out with both her bending and her sensor abilities. She strained every fiber of her being trying to find him, Kubikiribocho heavy in her hands.

Somewhere up ahead of her, where she could feel multiple people standing around, water fell. It took a moment to reach her, a knee-high wave of water smashing into her legs, catching around the edges of her cloak and pulling it open.

The water smelled of iron.

"Kisame?" Toph called, a sinking feeling taking hold in her stomach. "Kisame??"

"B-Bei Fong?!" Someone asked, voice hushed with incredulity.

A step and a shunshin and she stood right below where she had sensed Kisame's chakra last. Her bending told her that a large heavy object lay on the ground there, not quite earth or metal, and shaped like Samehada.

It was ridiculous to think that it was actually Samehada, because Kisame would never leave his sword lying around like this.

"Are you Hoshigaki's Akatsuki partner?" An unfamiliar male voice asked.

Toph's cloak clung to her legs. She ignored him, stretching all her senses trying to find him.

He wasn't there.

Why wasn't he there??

She felt the two men taking combat positions, the rolling waves of whatever water jutsu had soaked her legs, the bugs and birds that had relocated from the massive battle.

There was no way Kisame could ever lose, much less to two subpar shinobi as stood before her. Toph turned her head to the two men.

"Where did you send him?" Her voice shook and she didn't know why. Kisame was fine, he was fine, there was no way he could be anything else.

"Did you not just see what happened?"

    no way

"Hoshigaki just committed suicide to prevent interrogation-"

     no possible way

"-too bad that's all going to be for nothing, now that we have you."

"Aoba!"

"You're lying," Toph felt her hands shaking, her breath coming faster and faster. Her chest was numb, empty. "You're lying."

There was no way Samehada sat at her feet.

She reached down, trembling fingers finding Samehada's rough hilt. She put a hand to the blade, to the scales, and it scraped her skin and drained her chakra and this had to be a dream but Samehada was real and the pain was real and that meant that Kisame-

That Kisame-

For one second the world held its breath.

Toph screamed.

She fell to her knees, and the ground all around her shrieked, erupting into jagged formations like they were forced to by an asteroid that had fallen from the sky, rather than just her knees. She clutched Samehada to her tightly, heedless of the way it drained her chakra and tore her robes.

The two shinobi were insidious specks, lost in the tangible waves of her grief. Toph buried her head into Samehada's hilt and wept.

There was no way, so why wasn't he here?

She cradled the sword like it was him and cried.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"She has genin level reserves, Genma," Aoba hissed. "Maybe low chuunin if you squint. There is no way she could pull a jutsu like that and not even have them dip."

They both peered at the impact point from their safe point on a nearby mountain. Fact of the matter was they had critically low amounts of chakra left, and that crazy chick over there would be a lot to handle even with full reserves and backup and-

Heck, nothing short of a jinchurriki, if Aoba was being honest with himself. That impact zone stretched for literal miles.

"We should get moving before she realizes we caused his death," Aoba said, pulling on Genma's arm. He ran through the list of known Akatsuki members and cursed silently. "We don't have any good intel on her. She must be Hidan's partner; the one we know almost nothing about."

The ground rumbled, and even as far away as they were hiding, Aoba felt exposed.

"Come on, Genma!" He tugged at his partner's arm.

"That looked like..." Genma's eyes were fixed on the epicenter of destruction. "That looked like..."

"We have got to go." Aoba hissed. "Now. Come, or I leave you. We are not going to win this fight."

Genma stumbled to his feet. "But how..?"

Aoba ignored him in favor of running.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

For a long time things didn't feel real.

Toph sat in that pit for hours, the faint spray of the water jutsu remains cooling her body, Samehada leeching chakra away.

She didn't even remember getting up, moving at all, but she somehow found herself back at their camp, standing in front of the ashes of their campfire.

Samehada fell from her numb hands. Toph clutched at her empty chest with chilly fingers, but there was no warmth, not without him.

Her hands crept up to cover her face, fingers splayed in grasping cages over her unseeing eyes.

If she fails, you get Samehada.

Come along, little pup!

You have to hold it like this to get the maximum firmness outta that stance.

Ultimate Shinobi Slayer.

"Tou-san," she sobbed.

Toph wandered the countryside for many days after that. The only thing she could do was keep moving, keep walking, even though both their bags dug into her shoulders and Samehada weighed heavy on her heart.

A few travelers passed her by, warily eyeing her torn clothing and shinobi gear. She ignored them for the most part, unless they made it impossible for her to.

Case in point.

"Are you alright, miss?" Someone asked her. She could tell the speaker was an older woman, voice soft and worried. The amount of chakra she had marked her as an ordinary civilian, and the large bag she carried announced her status as a traveler or merchant.

Toph tried to shrug her off and continue walking, but the woman grabbed her hand, pulling her to a stop.

Toph let her arm hang limp in her grasp, still turned half-forward.  "Tetsuya, I think there's something wrong with her."

Toph let them touch her, cool hands feeling her head and smoothing her hair.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" The woman asked.

Was she hurt? How could she not be, when Kisame was gone, gone forever, and she didn't even have a body?

"Just leave her, Masa," a man said. "She got here just fine, and she'll get wherever she needs to go just fine."

The woman lingered a moment longer, hand resting over the old line of her scar.

They continued on their way. Toph stood there a moment before resuming her endless trudge.

She'd barely gone any distance at all when shouts and screams erupted from behind her.

She didn't slow or stop.

Fast footfalls thudded behind her, and the couple that had just passed her came sprinting back. The man pulling the woman, who tried to keep up with him.

She wormed out of his grasp as they passed Toph, grabbing her arm and attempting to pull her forward, trying to make her run with them.

Toph felt her body jolt once before returning back to the same slow pace she'd been maintaining for days now.

"Come on, come on!" The woman hissed. "I don't know what they are, but they're coming! You need to run-"

"Leave her, Masa!" Tetsuya yelled. "She's hopeless!"

The woman pulled once more at Toph's arm, then shoved herself in front of Toph, facing back the way she'd run.

Their pursuers were half a dozen identical humanoids, all of them laughing with the same raspy voice.

One of them reached forward, grasping at Masa.

Its arms flopped on the ground a second later, cleanly severed.

Toph dropped the packs on the ground, then handed Samehada off to the woman. "Hold this."

It hit her then.

Kisame wouldn't want her to shut down.

He'd want her to fight.

So she did.

Kubikiribocho sliced through the humanoid creatures like a hot knife through butter. She swept the giant blade around her, clearing the area as she felled three of them with each swing.

A couple darted back to evade her blows. Steadying her sword against her shoulder, Toph widened her stance and pulled the earth underneath them away. They fell, screeching, and Toph fisted her fingers, crushing the sides of the stone chasm together.

She breathed in for a moment, feeling for any others nearby. There were none.

Relaxing her tense posture, Toph sheathed Kubikiribocho and bowed her head for one last moment of mourning.

Striding back over to the civies, Toph reclaimed her bags and Kisame's sword. She slung them all back in their place without a word and nodded to the two, who stared at her in unabashed shock.

"Thank you," Toph managed. Her voice creaky with disuse. "I know what I have to do now."

"What?" Masa asked in confusion.

Toph slammed a foot hard onto the ground. The vibrations rippled, stretching vast distances. After enhancing her senses with chakra, Toph could sense leagues in every direction, although the details blurred out the further it got.

"I'm going to go wreck stuff up," Toph snarled, a savage grin stretching her face. She took off running back the way she had come, towards where she could sense a squadron of shinobi making their way to the west.

'I will make you proud.'

▪▪▪

Toph stood alongside Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

She was tired, depressed, and injured, but they were there.

Together.

They hadn't all been together in years. Not since a better time, one before she was attacked, before Orochimaru and the Akatsuki.

Flowers stepped forward. She smelled more floral than she had, and her sillhoutte was actually quite similar to Toph's; long hair, half kimono, bare feet.

At least she wasn't dressed like a stripper, Sasuke.

"I've looked for you for so long," Sakura told her. Her voice wobbled a little, but she took a deep breath and continued. "I've trained myself. I've risked life and limb. I've become so strong.

"And now you're here," she touched Toph's shoulder, but quickly let her hand fall. "But you're so different."

"It's been a long few years for me as well," Toph remarked. Kubikiribocho was a comforting weight on her back, even when it pinned strands of hair in the harness. "We've all changed."

"Miss Toph," Naruto said softly.

"I can't talk to you right now," Toph replied quickly. "Kisame-sensei was the closest thing I ever had to a father, and because of your village, he's dead. I don't know if I'll ever be able to talk to you ever again."

"Oh," Naruto deflated. "That's fair."

"But that guy right there is threatening this entire world, and seeing as I'm stuck in it, I'll help you guys out."

"May the ground be firm under your feet," Sakura offered.

Toph patted her head. She actually had to reach up now, which was disconcerting in and of itself. Since when had tiny baby Flowers gotten so big?

She felt a big, savage grin stretch her face in the way it hadn't since Kisame-

Since Kisame...

Her smile dropped a little.

Don't think about it.

You have other problems to deal with right now.

She pulled the corners of her grin back up.

"Hey guys," Toph stretched and pulled Kubikiribocho off her back. She cracked her neck and took a step forward.

"Let's play some tag."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

She hadn't know that she could catch a meteorite, but with her chakra coursing through her body, and her own unbeatable tenacity, she'd been able to break limits she hadn't known she'd had.

Kisame-sensei, this one's for you.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph had a tidy reputation by now.

Although she'd made her peace with Konoha, and they'd made their peace with her, she couldn't quite find it in her to go back. She returned to Ame, and although she never officially joined the shinobi forces, she and Konan had a healthy understanding.

Even years after the fight with Kaguya ended, people would know her name and call out to her as she passed them by in the streets.

She had come kind of full circle by now, Toph mused, as a group of merchants bowed their heads slightly as she walked by them, murmuring her name almost reverently. From Lady to fighter to lost girl to shinobi and back to Lady.

She felt a familiar dissonance in the cobblestones up ahead, and skirted by Konan's stone mural. Hefting Kubikiribocho a little higher on her shoulder, Toph tossed the sealing scroll in her free hand into the air. She caught it a moment later, throwing it back up as soon as the paper touched her skin.

She passed by an alleyway, not bothering to look down it.

On the wall of a building, a full-sized mural of a woman rested; obsidian carved in smooth curves for the hair, jade and adventurine depicting loose green clothing. Her massive sword was polished steel, as were her eyes, staring off into the distance.

Flowers hadn't been coming around as often, Toph mused. The Haruno's last visit had been almost a year ago, when she'd barged into Toph's home, smelling like fruit and flowers. After a relocation to the training grounds, the two benders had gone at it until Sakura surrendered, and then they had hit up the town.

She'd seen Naruto even less; the young man had been busy after becoming the Hokage's assistant, and his last official political visit had been...

Kami, Toph couldn't even remember at this point. A while ago. Two or three years?

She and Kakashi kept up a correspondence, but with the distance, it took a while for letters to reach her.

Toph arrived at her destination and tossed the scroll down on the desk of one of the paper nin. She rattled off her code and mission, then swept back around and back out of the commission office.

She'd learned her lesson about sticking around shinobi infested places like that. The first dozen times she'd lingered, she'd been absolutely swarmed by crazy little genin and crazy bigger chuunin. They'd been asking questions and asking for autographs, and if they were stupid enough to ask the blind lady for her name in writing, then they were stupid enough for it to be infectious.

Hmm. It would be nice to get away from the village for a while. Toph sheathed Kubikiribocho on her back and continued on her way. She was craving dango like never before, and, while Ame was very special and unique and had many delicious deserts, the sweets makers didn't quite make it like Konoha.

Maybe she should stop by and visit sometime.

▪▪▪

It had been a long time since the final battle. The years had passed quickly, almost before she knew it, she'd been in this world far longer than her original one.

"Who goes?" One if the two people in front of her asked.

Toph turned her face to him. She'd been leaning halfway back, feeling the immensity of Konoha's walls in a way she hadn't in...

A long time.

"Toph." She replied, waiting for the inevitable blowout. "Toph Bei Fong."

She'd earned quite the reputation since the fight against Madara. With her bending, Kubikiribocho, and all the training Kisame-sensei had given her, Toph was a force of nature. She'd killed hundreds, coined monikers, caused waves.

But none of it ever made up for Kisame-sensei not being there.

None of it ever made anything better.

There was a sharp intake of breath.

"You're the one mommy talks about!"

A child's voice, bright and innocent. There was a brief scuffle of motion, and then a girl dropped to the ground right in front of her.

She was small and cute, unarmed except for a single training kunai tied around her waist. She couldn't have been older than four, chipper and fearless.

"Chiyo!" One of the gate guards hissed. "Get back!"

She stood in front of Toph for a second, then latched her thin arms around her. "Mommy says it was thanks to you that Nii-san and Nee-san and Baby and I were born!"

What.

"Come on!" The girl chirped. "Mommy wants to see you!"

"No, Chiyo!" One of the gatekeepers came around and detached the kid, quickly taking a few steps back. "She's..."

She's dangerous.

She's a murderer.

Get back!

"I see," Toph forced the stab of betrayal and hurt deep inside of her and keeping her face composed.

She turned to go.

"Um, ma'am," the gatekeeper holding the kid called out to her. "We have very strict rules regarding missing and foreign nin, but if you agree to an escort and to leave your weapons here, I don't see any reason why you can't come in."

Oh.

"Very well," she swept a step closer, letting Kubikiribocho come loose and stabbing it into the ground. "If you loose this, your life is forefeight."

He nodded, then coughed and replied verbally. "Of course."

His partner gently set Chiyo on the ground, then nodded, allowing her to pass.

She'd never really picked up the hang of tree-walking, but the wall was rock, and she refused to let herself fall in front of an audience.

"So," a cheerful voice chimed in. "Where are we going first?"

Toph felt one foot slip, but pure force of will kept her on the stone. She didn't reply until she stood on top of the wall.

"We?"

"I'm coming with you!" Chiyo chirped. "Mommy and Auntie Sakura have been waiting for you!"

Wait a minute.

"Who's your mom?" Toph asked, crouching on the other side of the top of the wall.

"Mom!" Chiyo told her. "Mom is mom. Daddy teaches in school, and Nii-san is going to be a ninja. He talks about being top of the class alllll the time, but Nee-san says he's just talk."

"What's your mom's adult name?" Toph clarified.

"Anko," the kid replied.

Anko.

Lady Dango had kids.

"Right," Toph bit back the turmoil inside of her and reached out to the girl. "I think I'm ready to go see your mom, now."

"Really?!" Chiyo asked, taking her hand.

"Really really," Toph answered.

She was ready.

▪▪▪

Anko hadn't changed all that much. She was softer around the edges, both figuratively and literally, body and mind sanded by years of child bearing and rearing.

Her house was big, almost overrun by her four-and-a-half kids. Her oldest twins were both genin, serving on the same team with somebody named Kiba as their sensei. After them had come Chiyo, and there was a toddler crawling around the floor, drooling around the beginnings of two teeth.

Anko's belly was swelling with a fifth kid, but she didn't seem to mind.

Her hugs were just as hard and as long.

The very first thing she'd done when Toph had shown up on her porch was hug her.

▪▪▪

Toph tapped on the door to the Hokage's office.

It had been so long since she'd last set foot in here, way back when she'd been told Hayate had been murdered.

She remembered feeling confused and alone, not really mourning for him (she'd only known him for a few days, and he didn't really get along with her the way Anko had).

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph felt around the busy streets, searching for a sun bright chakra signature. Although there were hundreds of civilians and shinobi mingling on the streets and roofs, Naruto's was distinctive and warm and-

Right in front of a food stall.

She made her way there quietly and cautiously, avoiding other semi-familiar signals and coming up behind him without him or the man in front of him noticing.

She opened her mouth, then shut it. What was she supposed to say? Hey, Naruto, long time no see. By choice. Sorry bout that.

Toph swallowed, then took a cowardly step back. Although she had easily approached him, escaping from his sight unnoticed seemed monumentally hard.

A child barged right into her, bouncing off and falling to the ground in a heap. Before she could even do anything, the gremlin in human form opened up his mouth and started talking in a loud, excruciatingly shrill voice.

"Watch it, lady! You're a shinobi, right? You should be more careful of where you're standing!"

Toph's hands had come up in a placating gesture at the first few words. By the time he got to being mindful of surroundings, she was almost ready to strangle him.

She snapped her senses back to the food stall, just waiting for Naruto's shriek at the sight of her.

A long moment later, Toph realized there was no spike of startled chakra, no shout of surprise (or anger).

He hadn't noticed her.

Huffing a quiet laugh, Toph pivoted on her heel and started to leave.

"...Toph?"

She stopped.

Turned.

Smiled.

"Hey, Sunshine."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"What's this?" Toph asked, flipping open the folder Konan had just handed to her and running her hand over the Braille.

She'd just gotten back from a five week mission and turned in a couple of storage scrolls filled with bandit heads before coming to the tower to give a hopefully short report before heading back home to crash.

She felt her lips pucker like she'd just taken a bite of a lemon. "Am I reading this right? Has my finger gone blind, too?"

Konan's soft chuckle resonated in the empty office room. "I do not think fingers can go blind."

"It must have," Toph said, voice loosing some of its jovial tone. "It says here that you're going to assign me a genin team."

"Well." Papers rustled on Konan's desk.

"Koh," Toph almost dropped the papers. "You're serious."

"Yes," Konan admitted.

"Aha ha ha!" Toph laughed, loud and fake. "No. I am not a teacher. No. Saddling me with a bunch of kids is only asking for trauma, doom, and like, just totally a bad idea all around. No."

Konan sighed. "You are one of my most valuable shinobi. Your skills in tracking and recon are unparalleled. You were integral in the fight against Kaguya and Madara, and thanks to you, our relations with other villages are at an all time high. Your legacy cannot die with you."

"'Die with me?'" Toph asked incredulity coloring her tone. "I'm not planning on going out any time soon. Mark my words, I'll outlive you."

"That's a treasonous statement if I've ever heard one," Konan said mildly.

"I'm not being treasonous, I'm speaking truthfully."

"Speak truthfully only when the occasion calls for it, lest you find yourself angering somebody you should not."

"Wise words," Toph bowed her head. "Still not taking on any brats."

"Bei Fong-"

"Not doing it!!"

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph sat on the wooden bench and contemplated the life choices that had brought her to that place.

In hindsight, they were very stupid choices.

"Hello?"

It was an annoying high-pitched voice, male, but prepubesent and squeaky.

She sighed through her nose and stood. The kiddies scrambled back, giving her a good five feet as she readjusted her silk clothing and Kubikiribocho's harness.

"Hello there," Toph cocked her head before continuing, folding her hands in a docile position. "I am Toph Bei Fong. Regrettably, the Kage ordered me to take you on."

"Regrettably?" The girl asked. Her voice sounded wonderfully suspicious.

"Regrettably," Toph grinned, all teeth on display. "Since I refuse to baby useless wastes of space."

There was a short, insulted silence.

The first boy inhaled in fury, ready to launch into an angry tirade.

Toph felt the girl raise her hand. She felt the tiny vibrations of body/facial language as the kiddies communicated in silence.

Her smile didn't falter as she waited.

The third kid bowed politely. "I believe there is some sort of mistake, ma'am."

"Oh?" Toph raised an eyebrow. "And what is that?"

"You seem to be under the impression that we shall slow you down," the boy said, tone respectful. "I assure you, that shall not be so."

"Yeah!" The first brat chipped in. "Mikoto's the fastest kunoichi in our class!"

"In the entire class, Kou. I'm faster than you."

"All right then." Toph folded her arms. "Tomorrow, meet me at training ground Delta. 7:00 sharp. Don't be late."

"All right!"

She felt them turn to go, congratulating each other.

"Oh," Toph pitched her voice to carry. "And you probably shouldn't eat breakfast. You'll all just end up puking if you do!"

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph woke up the next morning tangled in warm blankets. She stretched, feeling the warm sunlight on her face.

She had a leisurely breakfast, taking her time as she prepared the miso soup, rice, and a couple other side dishes. After she couldn't eat another bite, she cleaned the table and dishes, then took it a step further and tidied the kitchen.

She took a piping hot shower, then deliberated almost twenty minutes over which of her identical outfits she would wear. Toph almost picked one, but then stopped, her fingers running over a slight tear in the fabric.

It wouldn't do to look unpresentable to the kiddies, Toph thought.

Finally, after she had finished with her self care, she strapped Kubikiribocho to her back, bowed to Kisame-sensei's shrine, and left the house, meandering in the direction of the training grounds.

The walk took her quite some time, too. There were so many things she had to do! She picked up a bento from a small shop, bought a kebab and fed it to a couple strays, felt up some fabrics, and then had to make a detour around the quickest route to her destination, as some spice vendors had just set up shop in the area.

By the time she made it to her rendezvous, it was almost ten-thirty in the morning. Wonderful.

Much to her surprise, the kiddies were still there. She could hear the growling in their bellies from thirty feet away.

"There you are!" The annoying boy shouted. "We've been waiting for four hours already!"

"Oh, don't be dramatic," Toph hopped down from the rock but stayed perched on her metaphorical soapbox. "It was only three and a half."

"We're literally dying," the boy moaned.

"Uh-huh."

"Sensei," the girl (Mikey? Mako?) said, respectfully drawing herself into a slight bow. "We are ready for our test."

"Right, right!" Toph laughed. "We're going to be playing a little game of catch. Nothing too hard. You three"- she waved a hand at them. "Are going to try and catch me. If all three of you can touch me, you pass."

"All right!" The first boy shouted.

Toph was reminded rather abruptly of kiddie Naruto. She stamped down the instinctive warmth and continued speaking.

"However, if I put all three of you out of commission until the game ends, I win, and you three are getting sent back to the academy. Got it?"

The quiet boy stiffened, but the other two jumped and exclaimed enthusiastically. "Can't be that hard, right!"

Kakashi was wearing off on her.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph strolled through the woods, hands behind her head and splashing through the puddles. She stopped, stooping, and picking a small flower. After sniffing it, she tucked it into her bangs.

All three of the kids were spread out over the forest, none of them anywhere near her small corner of the forest. Toph felt around with one of her bare toes and laughed as the annoying kid tripped over tree roots and faceplanted.

Should she take a nap?

Toph hopped over a small creek and yawned.

Two of the kiddos had joined up, the second boy and the girl. If she strained, she could pick up the boy's chakra as he tried desperately to sense her.

Ooo. They were trying teamwork. About time.

She paused, then pulsed her chakra.

The boy pointed at her. The girl instantly sprinted directly at her, and oh, she was pretty fast. Toph flipped the ground and suppressed her chakra signature.

The girl ran literally right over her.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

"Oii!! Toph-sensei!!"

"Sensei," Mikoto said quietly. "There's a foreign nin waving at you."

"Is there?" Toph asked, wryly.

"She has pink hair."

"That's nice, dear."

Sakura collided with her, wrapping all four limbs around her in a crushing hug. It probably looked absurd, seeing as her former student had kept growing almost half a foot after Toph had stopped.

"Sensei!" Sakura cheered. "It's been so long since your last visit!"

"Sakura, get off me before I suplex you." Toph turned to face her students, then carried on as if Sakura wasn't clinging to her like an overgrown limpet. "You guys better not embarrass me out there or so help me."

"She doesn't mean that," Sakura said warmly, still not moving. "She's a tsundere. Most of the time she's tsun, but every year the dere peeps out. If it sees itself, there'll be another month of tsun."

"Are you doing drugs?" Toph asked, attempting to pry the young woman off her. Sakura whined and stayed put, even with the application of chakra.

"Sakura-sensei?" A timid voice asked.

Toph whirled with the speed of pettiness. "You got genin, too?"

"You have a team, sensei," Sakura cooed. "It's not that hard."

"No, your kage thought enough of you to entrust the gullible minds of the next generation into your hands?" Toph whistled. "He crazy."

Sakura swatted at her. "Stop that. You're destabilizing political relationships."

"Who the heck is she?" Kou yelled. "She's a weird creepy foreign nin who's climbing all over you! She could be trying to kill you!"

There was a moment of silence.

Both Sakura and Toph erupted into uproarious laughter, the former actually losing her grip and falling to the ground, wheezing. They drew quite a few looks, but neither cared.

"Oh, sweetie," Sakura managed once she could manage words. "You're an absolute riot! I can totally see why Toph-sensei keeps you around."

"Back when I was still unaffiliated," Toph began explaining. "I stayed in Konoha for a bit. I taught Sakura while I was there."

"Oh, boo," Sakura clambered to her feet. "I was Sensei's beloved student. And her favorite, too. That's why I spent so long afterwards trying to find her."

"You're not my favorite, Flowers," Toph reprimanded primly.

"Yeah, we are!" Kou shouted.

Sakura squinted. "You remind me of someone."

"It's none of you brats!" Toph chopped Kou on the head. "You're all pains!"

There was a short pause as Sakura deliberated, counting on her fingers the number of students Toph had had before apparently deciding it was the tsun talking. "Hey, sensei, I bet more of my students'll make chuunin than yours."

Toph barked a laugh. "You're definitely drugged. Either that or not right in the head."

"Don't worry, sensei!" Mikoto glared at the teens standing across from her team. "We can take them."

"You wish," one of Sakura's boys folded his arms, voice dripping with contempt. "We are all Clanborn. You are not."

All three of Toph's genin drew in insulted gasps.

"Ramp down that blatant discrimination, Tatsuya," Sakura sounded a lot more mature in one sentence than she had in the ten minutes since they'd reunited. "Or do I have to remind you just what clan I belong to?"

"Yeah, sorry 'bout him," the younger konoha kunoichi agreed. "Most Hyuuga are inherently snooty."

"Indeed," said the third. "Although if your sensei does take up the bet, I must assure you Konoha will win."

"I am afraid you are mistaken," Haru gravely intoned. "No one taught by Toph-sensei could ever lose to anyone."

"Is that a challenge?!" The Hyuuga puffed up.

"That is absolutely correct," Sakura agreed at the same time.

"You're on!" Kou screeched. "We're all going to become chuunins and we'll absolutely crush you!"

"Yer on!"

The two senseis watched fondly as their kiddies squabbled. Well, one watched, the other was blind.

"How's Naruto?" Toph asked in a low tone.

"Eh, he's fine. Spends all his time following Kakashi-sensei around. Everybody knows who the next hokage will be." Sakura flapped a hand. "Nobody gives him trouble anymore, either. No one's quite that stupid."

"Some of those men came rather close," Toph said. "And Kakashi?"

Sakura laughed. "Kakashi-sensei's good too. Suffering, but in the way all kages do. Responsibility is a good look for him."

"... Shikamaru?" Toph tried to ask nonchalantly.

Sakura sideyed her.

"Ask me yourself."

She didn't quite start, but it was a close thing. Toph pivoted smoothly and folded her arms. "Why would I do that when Flowers here has all the gossip?"

He laughed, voice deeper than she remembered. "That's true. Gossip is too much of a drag to keep up with."

"My point exactly," Toph nodded and hooked her elbow around Sakura's arm. "So, how is Shikamaru?"

Sakura cleared her throat. "Um. Well. Oh! It looks like all the kiddies are dogpilling Tatsuya! As his sensei, it's my duty to bail his sorry hide out! See ya!"

She shunshinned at the speed of someone trying to exit an awkward conversation.

Toph shook her head. "Walk with me?"

"Sure," Shikamaru sauntered over and they strolled around the waiting area in silence.

"So," Toph said after a while. "How's life?"

"It's a drag," Shikamaru replied. "I'm a diplomat now, so I have to be at all these sorts of things. I never get any rest anymore."

"No time to cloudwatch?" Toph teased. "Oh, the agony."

"Yeah." The conversation trailed off awkwardly. They walked in silence for a few moments, rustling clothes the only sound.

"Okay, there's no easy way to say this," Shikamaru said abruptly. "I'm engaged."

"Oh," she caught herself and only barely faltered in her step.

"Yeah."

They took another few steps.

"Are you happy?" Toph asked.

Shikamaru ducked his head. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Good."

They meandered back to the group, where a bunch of Iwa genin had alienated both her troop and Sakura's, and now they'd formed an unlikely alliance.

Toph swooped in and grabbed Mikoto before she could land a heavy kick to somebody's groin and tucked the girl under her arm. "Now, now. No fighting quite yet."

Sakura laughed uneasily. "Listen to your Kaa-san, dearies."

"I am not their mom." Toph caught Kou with her free hand and hung the back of his shirt on Kubikiribocho's hilt. He squirmed, trying to get free.

"Keep telling yourself that," Sakura shot back. She ushered her own genin over to where Haru stood placidly.

They both relocated their kiddos (Kou and the Inuzuka girl making passionate threats towards the Iwa genin in low tones offset by violent gesticulation).

"Sorry," Sakura said quietly.

"For what?"

She shrugged. "Dunno. Not telling you?"

"About what?"

"Shikamaru?"

Toph hummed. "It's not your fault. It's been years. I'd be more surprised if he hadn't moved on by now."

The exam proctors came out and began attempting to round up the rowdy kids. They did not have very good luck until one Suna Kunoichi threatened their lives and continued good health. The speed at which the group of teens shut up was astounding.

"Still sucks, though."

"Yeah. It does."

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph walked through a desolate landscape. The earth, though worn down by years of wind and rain, still held the giant impact mark she had driven into it. She trailed her fingers along the stone but didn't slow.

Her clothes were heavier than usual; a formal set of her shinobi uniform with a lot less of the maneuverability. Rather than pants, she had robes. Instead of armor, jewelry. Kubikiribocho, strapped into its usual harness, was her only weapon.

She held a large, heavy object swaddled in soft silk. It came up to her eyes standing upright, absolutely huge in every way.

Toph came to the epicenter of the deformed landscape and sank into a seiza, legs folding smoothly as she set Samehada's wrapped form on the ground in front of her, where she had picked it up so many years ago.

She bowed her head.

"Kisame-sensei," Toph said aloud. "I'm here."

No one answered. Toph cleared her throat, swallowing back the slight embarrassment of talking to herself.

"I'm sorry it took me so long," she continued. "I couldn't make myself come back here for the longest time."

She ran her fingers down the hem of her kimono. "I've been really busy. I made a name for myself. I'm in the top fifty in the Bingo Book. I'm not a flee on sight like you yet, but I should be there in another few years."

She continued talking about unimportant things, catching up on her life from that point everything had changed.

"- and I know Ame isn't really one of the Five great ninja villages, but Konan has raised our firepower so we're now stronger than Suna by a fair amount. The Kazekage's strong, but Konan and I could take him!"

She laughed, a painful, lonely sound.

"I miss you so, so much," Toph's eyes started to fill with hot tears. "Why did you have to die? I needed you so much."

Her hands fisted in her silk robes. "It's not fair. You left me alone. I needed you."

There was no answer, other than the wind sweeping over the shattered plains. Toph lifted her face to the sky, letting the tears stream down her face.

She let herself cry for a few minutes, but she'd cried so much there weren't many tears left.

Toph mopped her face off with her sleeve and stood. A moment later, she'd retrieved the sword, wrapping both hands around the hilt.

"You were the best father a girl could ever ask for," Toph told the air.

She allowed some of the wrapping to fall away from the blade, lifting Samehada high into the air and driving it down into the stone. The earth shattered further, her bending driving the length of the blade halfway into the ground.

She stepped back and raised the sword into a sort of dais three feet high. Later, she'd ask Ame's seal division to make it impossible to withdraw the sword from its final resting place.

No one would ever be worthy enough to wield Samehada now that Kisame no longer did.

For now though, she bowed, lower than she would to anyone living. "Thank you for letting me be your daughter."

Toph stood straight, pausing aimlessly for a moment before brushing her bangs behind her ears and sliding Kubikiribocho back to where it belonged.

"Goodbye, Sensei. May you rest in peace and find happiness, wherever you are now."

She strode purposefully out of the crater, not once pausing or turning back, her face turned towards her future, whatever it would be.

Behind her, the silk wrappings around Samehada's hilt came loose, waving gently in the air, even though there was no wind.

The air shimmered for a moment, and a beautiful woman with sharingan eyes took the hand of a man with shark teeth. They lingered just a moment before fading away.

Toph turned her face towards the sun and began her way back home.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Aaand that's a wrap!! Thank you so much for reading Boulders!! I hope you enjoyed the ride.

I do not think I'll write any more of Toph's story. It's ended with Boulders. Sakura, however, might be getting a short story sometime in the future.

Once again, thank you, and I hope you have a wonderful day!!