Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Against the World

“There are no good guys.”

-x-

Whoever told you that Hidden Leaf is the “nice” village, the “soft” village, is a lying liar who lies.

It’s really not. It’s just better at hiding its atrocities. Sugar coating them, if you will.

Look at the case of one of our most famous rogue ninja, Orochimaru. He left the village when the Hokage learned of his unethical human experiments. This is, relatively speaking, “public” information. What the village doesn’t tell us, is what was unethical about his experiments. I would eventually learn that the unethical part of his experiments was that he experimented on clan born, specifically, Uchiha infants.

His experiments on prisoners, civilians and young ninja without any close ties were sanctioned by the village.

The best part about Orochimaru’s banishment? He was still carrying out his research and sending the results to the Fourth Hokage. He was a traitor in name only, to appease the Uchiha clan.

But you see what they did? They spread rumours of what Orochimaru’s research entailed. Coupled with calling his research unethical, they make it look like they disapprove of what he did, not who he did it to.

What surprises me is that not only do civilians believe Hidden Leaf is sunshine, kittens, and hugs, but so do foreign ninja.

-x-

Zero

I remember my mother fondly. I remember her long, silky hair the same shade of purple as my own, and the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. My most precious memory of her was from when I was perhaps three years old.

“Hoshino Sekai,” she said, pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes. “Do you know why I gave you that name?”

I shook my head. It was just my name, not something I'd ever thought about.

“It is because you, Sekai, are my entire world.”

My mother was young when she had me, only seventeen, and she was alone. She had no family left, no close friends. She had worked as a live in maid for the Tominaga clan. Her employers belonged to the civilian faction of the wealthy clan, and social standing was of great importance to them. So when my mother’s pregnancy became obvious with no father in sight, they dismissed her.

Six months pregnant, alone without a place to live, let alone money to buy food, my mother felt hopeless. Until she met Hanako, formerly of the Tominaga clan.

Hanako was an elderly woman who was formerly a ninja. When she was young, she was cast out of the clan for finding herself in circumstances similar to my mother's.

Hanako heard of my mother’s situation through the grapevine, and decided to help my mother and herself at the same time.

Hanako was paralyzed from the waist down, and had limited mobility in her right arm. Her daughter, who had been her caretaker, died shortly before my mother was dismissed. It wasn’t long before my mother’s situation made its way to Hanako’s ears.

The arrangement was that Hanako would provide shelter and food until my mother was back on her feet, and mother would become her caretaker.

It was a generous offer—Hanako lived on a small stipend from the village for ninja permanently injured in the line of duty. Her apartment was small, but it became my mother’s home, and eventually mine as well.

-x-

My mother found work as a waitress shortly after I was born. She spent her days caring for myself and Hanako and her evenings working.

While she worked, Hanako volunteered to look after me.

I was a quiet baby at first, I’m told. I didn’t fuss or cry very often. But then I started “babbling” frequently as I approached my first birthday. And as I babbled, I grew frustrated and cried.

Eventually my mother and Hanako figured out what was going on. They noticed a pattern in my babbling. I made the same strange noises every time I wanted to eat. I made a different noise each time I needed to be changed.

“You came up with your own words for things,” Hanako chuckled years later. “It was the strangest thing. It took ages for you to start using the proper words for things.”

I don’t remember any of this, of course. But it’s not hard to figure out what happened—I was trying to speak my first language, one that doesn’t exist here.

-x-

It’s not that I always was aware of and remembered The Before. It’s also not that it came to me suddenly.

It’s like it was there but it took time for me to make sense of it. It was a process, but by the time I was four years old it was all fairly clear.

Once I lived, then I died. And now I live again.

Memories from before aren’t crystal clear. I remember I had a brother, but I don’t remember his name. Or my name. Mostly I remember things I read and learned. I remember English and math and science. I remember drawing and painting. I remember cars and planes, television and the internet. I don’t remember people.

The conflict of memories of The Before and the world I was experiencing now was hard to reconcile, but eventually I managed.

I looked at the differences and the similarities.

There was a mysterious energy called chakra here, that did not exist in The Before.

The geography of The Before and here are completely different.

People here are stronger, faster, and require chakra to live. They have strange birthmarks, strange hair and eye colours, and some have very strange features.

My conclusion is this: I have been reborn on a different planet, orbiting some distant star. The people here, myself included, are what people in The Before would call aliens.

There were still unanswered questions though. The language here reminds me of a language from The Before. I’m not sure which one. Maybe Chinese? I don’t know. I never bothered with knowing or recognizing different languages in The Before. It wasn't my area of interest. Regardless, it is not completely alien to my mind.

And for all the differences between people here and people from The Before, there is also a lot of similarity.

The calendar here has twelves months, and three hundred and sixty five days, plus one on leap year. They have seven day weeks. Sixty seconds in a minute, and sixty minutes in an hour. Each day has twenty four hours.

There are carrots and rice and apples and bread. There are cows, pigs, and chickens. There are cats and dogs, dear and rabbits. Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds...

My hypothesis is that I’ve been reborn many, many thousands of years in the future, after people from The Before found ways to travel through space. The people here are decedents of them, evolved to biologically suit this world. The question remains though, is if humans from The Before advanced enough to come here, why is this civilization so far behind? Perhaps there was some sort of natural disaster? Perhaps the people were brought here unwillingly and just left here without many resources?

Sadly, this world has no records dating back more than one hundred and fifty years, so there is no way to find evidence to support my hypothesis or answer any of my questions.

But for the sake of my sanity, I do my best to accept the explanation I’ve created as fact.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Asking about my origins gave me my first glimpse of the darkness that plagued this world.”

-x-

“Who is my father?” I asked my mother as I helped her peel vegetables for supper. She stilled for a moment, then sighed.

“You don’t have one, dear,” she said, an odd lilt to her voice.

“But you didn’t just get pregnant by yourself,” I argued. While I understood that there was no man raising me, I still received half of my DNA from somewhere.

Mother set down her knife, the handle clacked harshly against the counter. She took a deep breath. “As far as I can tell, I did.”

I stared at my mother. “What?” I eventually managed.

Was I like, some sort of Jesus baby? Or Anakin Skywalker?

“Let’s sit down for this,” she suggested quietly. I nodded and followed her over to the worn couch on the other side of the room.

We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but could have been only a few seconds. Finally, my mother spoke.

“I’m not sure what happened, Sekai. I never—I don’t recall your... conception. Or even that something like that even occurred. It’s... at first I... I had no idea I was pregnant. But then it became obvious and I had no idea how or when it happened,” she explained in a hushed voice. “I’ll never be able to say for sure, but Hanako-san thinks that maybe... Well, I’m a civilian working for a clan that includes ninja, even if my direct employers were all civilians. Ninja can cast illusions. Make you see or hear things that aren’t real. Or make you ignore things that are real... So I just... I really don’t know, Sekai.”

“Okay. I don’t need a father, anyways,” I said, understanding the implications of her words, though I'm sure she didn't think I would.

The most likely scenario was that my mother was raped by a ninja from the Tominaga clan, who used genjutsu to keep her from realizing it was even happening.

I finished helping mother prepare dinner in silence.

-x-

One

It took me one week to realize just how horrible life was in the orphanage. In that time, my few possessions—mostly clothes, Hanako insisted on holding onto anything of sentimental value—had been redistributed to “others who needed them more.” That was the theme here in the orphanage. The portions I received at meals were smaller. My were clothes of poorer quality and worn out. Little time was spent on my education. Showers were always lukewarm for a minute or so, and cold by the time I finished, no matter how quickly I washed. And I wasn’t the only one. About half of the children here were in the same boat as me.

It didn’t take me long to understand why this was happening.

When the orphanage took me in, they asked me a series of questions. One of them was if I wished to join the academy and train to become a ninja. I said no.

At first, I decided the trade off wasn’t worth it. More food and better clothes didn’t seem like good enough reason to become cannon fodder in the war.

But it wore on me. They fed me enough to get by, but I was never full. The chill from the cold showers lingered long after I’d stepped out.

The feeling of never being full gradually became the feeling of always being hungry. It was no longer a lingering chill from frigid showers, but a constant one. I was never warm.

Then there was the boredom. Once I proved I had mastered reading and writing to an acceptable level, they declared me finished with my required education, despite being all of five years old.

I had nothing to do. I wasn’t allowed to leave without an escort, so I couldn’t visit Hanako. There was nothing to pass my time with—the few books I had access to were extremely basic and held nothing of value. I read them once and got nothing out of it. I tried reading them again but it was almost more painful than passing the time doing nothing. The other children played with each other, but I had no interest in joining them, and they had no interest in inviting me.

I was the creepy kid of the orphanage. This body I was reborn in was inexpressive. Where in The Before I would laugh out loud at some of the jokes I made to myself, here my face barely smiled. When mother died, it hurt so much. But I couldn’t cry. It was like this body didn’t respond to my emotions the same way. Like there was a wall between my consciousness and my body. The other children found my perceived lack of emotion to be off putting.

Isolation. Hunger. Cold. Boredom. Each was bad enough alone, but together, it was horrible.

It wasn’t long before I could no longer sleep, either. I was tired, but sleep eluded me. When I did manage to drift off I woke feeling unrested and with the impression of nightmares I could not remember.

Sleep was the last straw. Without it, I could feel my mental health decline, my thoughts turned intrusive.

The thought at the forefront of my mind was of what happened to mother. It could happen to me, too, and I would never know.

After six months in the orphanage, I asked to start at the ninja academy.

-x-

“Hoshino Sekai.”

Startled, my head jerked in the direction my name came from, and my gaze landed on the medic across the waiting room.

I slid off of the hard, plastic chair and walked over to him. He nodded, and motioned for me to follow him.

The path we took was hard to follow. For a hospital, the layout of the building was confusing and seemed impractical. Finally, he ushered me into room 503. The number seemed to be arbitrary. The room next to it bore the number 1156. We were on the second floor.

He set a folder on the desk, and placed some sort of marker on the door. “Alright, kid. Tsunade-sama will be with you shortly for your physical,” the medic said, then stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Or maybe he wasn’t a medic, if he wasn’t the one seeing to me?

It didn’t matter.

It was my first time seeing a doctor of some sort in this life. Would it be similar to a doctor visit in The Before? Would it be drastically different?

Judging by the room, I figured it would be similar, to some extent. There was an examination table in the corner of the room, two hard, plastic chairs for patients, and a plush one near the desk for the medic. The walls were bare of the posters about STIs or heart disease I was used to seeing in The Before. There was also some equipment I had never seen before, but couldn’t really describe. From the chairs to the walls and floor, the colour scheme of the room was, of course, a cold, institutional white.

Without warning, the door slammed open, and a grumpy looking blonde woman strode in.

“Alright kid. Let’s get this started,” she grumbled and plopped down on the plush chair. She grabbed the file on the desk and flipped it open. “First some questions... You know, age, birthday, medical history, blah, blah, blah... you know the drill.” She paused. “Well kid? Don’t waste my time, answer the question!”

My lips thinned briefly. How was I to know she wanted me to answer right away? The way she phrased things didn’t seem like a fucking question. I thought she was going to actually ask.

“My birthday is December 31^st. I am five years old.”

“That doesn’t tell me your medical history, kid.”

It was clear from her tone that she was annoyed with being here. What a rude, impatient woman. Who the hell made her a medic?

“I have none, ma’am. This is the first time I’ve been seen by a medical professional.”

“Che,” she muttered, and threw the file down. “Course it is. Explains why the file is bloody useless. Those admin fuckers probably threw it together all of ten minutes ago.”

“Twenty,” I mumbled before I could stop myself. “The file has been in the room as long as I have, which is about twenty minutes."

“Whatever, kid. Hop up on the examination table. Might as well get started properly.”

“You really don’t want to be here,” I stated blandly, my gaze focused on the grouchy woman.

“No, I don’t. Say ‘ah,’ kid,” she agreed, and pulled my mouth open. She peered down my throat. “Pre-Acadamy physicals are a waste of my skills and time. Don’t know what Dan was thinking, asking me to do one...”

The medic poked and prodded me for what felt like ages. I was measured and weighed, blood was drawn and sent down to the lab, vaccinations were injected, and she practically molested me with green chakra. And then she held out a blank piece of paper to me.

“Well? Take it!” she ordered when I made no move to reach for it.

I did as she told me. The paper was thick, but smooth, and upon further examination I noticed faint scribbles of some sort decorating the back.

“Chanel your chakra into the paper,” she instructed briskly.

I stared at her, unimpressed. I was five god damn fucking years old. I was a civilian orphan. I had no fucking clue how to do that. Who did she think I was? Who did she think would have taught me this before? My mother? One of the workers at the orphanage? What a laugh.

“Jeez kid! Just do it!” she growled at me through clenched teeth, her left eye twitching. “...Fucking kid... Face is blanker than the walls...”

The last part was practically a whisper. I doubt she meant for me to hear it. My lips thinned.

“How?”

The medic sighed like I was a great burden and grabbed my hands. I wasn't sure what it was she did, but it felt fucking weird. Like she was pulling on something inside me, something I’d previously been unaware of.

“You feel that?” I nodded, and she dropped my hands, the pulling sensation coming to a sudden halt, but I still felt whatever it was she had been pulling at. “Good. Now, try to focus on where you felt it, and try to recreate the feeling by yourself.”

Her instructions were vague, but I tried to follow them nonetheless. To my surprise, I was able to do so with minimal difficulty.

“Now release it from your hands while holding the paper. And keep holding the paper until I say so.”

Again, vague. But now that I’d become aware of this thing inside me—chakra, I suppose is what it must be—it was like a limb, almost. My brain told it what to do, and my chakra did it. No conscious thought involved.

Strange symbols lit up on the top of the paper—they seemed to match the "scribbles" I noticed earlier.

The medic studied the symbols, like they made complete sense. Well, they must have to her. But to me it looked like nonsense.

After a moment her eyebrows shot up and she let out a low whistle. “I’ll be damned, kid. That is some seriously skewed chakra... Where’s your guardian? The blood work should be done soon and I need to go over the results of your physical with them.”

“...I’m an orphan. I don’t know who my legal guardian is, exactly. Someone from the orphanage, I assume.” Some guardian that is though. In The Before they would have been arrested for child neglect, if not child abuse.

“Right. In that case I’ll go over things with you. Wait here while I go check on your blood work. It’s been nearly an hour, even the idiots in the lab should have it done by now...”

I sat in silence, still holding the paper. I stared down at the strange symbols, idly wondering what they meant and how the whole thing even worked.

It took her nearly twenty minutes to return, and when she did it was with a scowl on her face and papers in hands. “Morons,” she muttered to herself. “Complete morons. Incompetent morons. Can’t do their bloody jobs in a reasonable time frame... I shouldn’t have to finish their job for them...”

She slapped the papers down on the desk and dropped herself onto the chair. “Alright. Mostly good news, kid. You are an acceptable height and weight for your age. A bit short, but that’s probably just genetics. Your heart and lungs are in good shape, so are your chakra pathways. Physically, you are more than fit to be a ninja, though in the future I suggest incorporating more red meat into your diet—your iron levels are a little low for a ninja, but it’s a minor thing.

“Your chakra is ridiculously skewed though kid. I’ve never seen it so bad.” She shook her head in amazement.

“What does that mean?”

“The paper you channelled your chakra into is a diagnostic seal, of sorts. It’s purpose is to measure the density of your chakra, its elemental affinity, and the ratio of physical to spiritual energies. When I say your chakra is skewed, I mean your spiritual energy dwarfs your physical energy. I’ve never seen such a major imbalance in all my years.”

Can’t be that many years. She doesn’t look a day over twenty five. “What does that mean for me? Am I unable to attend the academy?”

“What does it mean? That’s a complicated question, and I doubt you’d understand the details and technicalities at this point.” My eyes narrowed at her words. I wouldn’t understand? How insulting. I wasn't a moron, unlike some people. “But you’re more than able to attend the academy. To be honest, you’ll probably do well there. You might struggle in some areas, but no one is good at everything.”

“Please attempt to explain it to me. I’m more intelligent than you think.”

The medic crossed her arms and after a moment’s pause, she nodded. “Alright kid. Your spiritual imbalance certainly backs you up there. Here’s the deal: Few people have completely balanced chakra. Perfectly balanced would be fifty, fifty. But generally, people fall in the range of thirty five, sixty five or closer, favouring either type of energy over the other. Your ratio is seven physical, ninety three spiritual.”

Holy shit.

“Generally speaking, certain jutsu require more physical energy or spiritual energy. The thing is, you can’t separate your chakra into one or the other. So if a ninja with the chakra ratio sixty physical, forty spiritual used a jutsu that had a heavy physical energy cost, it would cost him less chakra than someone with a sixty spiritual, forty physical ratio.” As she spoke, her tone of voice lost the edge it’d had throughout most of the appointment. Probably because she was talking about something that was of more interest to her than a routine physical. “Do you follow, kid?”

“I will have trouble with jutsu that have a heavy physical energy requirement. But jutsu that are powered primarily by spiritual chakra will take very little. Am I correct?”

“Yeah,” she grinned. It almost looked proud. “Pretty much. Fortunately, your chakra is very dense, so it’s likely you’ll have decent reserves.”

“Is there anything I can do to reduce the skew of my chakra?”

“Good question.” She nodded in approval. “Your chakra will always be heavily skewed, but large amounts of vigorous physical activity can shorten the gap. At best though, I’d say you could maybe reach a twenty, eighty ratio, which is still considered a strong skew, but in all honesty it’s unlikely you’ll manage even that. Physical activity increases physical energy. Mental activity increases spiritual energy. I doubt you can keep yourself from intellectually engaging tasks for the rest of your life, which is what you would need to do to achieve twenty, eighty.”

“But physical activity will help?” I repeated for clarification.

“Yes. I suggest that say, if you need to study for a test, you keep your body active in some manner while doing so.”

“I see. Thank you for your time and advice, ma’am.”

-x-

The day after my pre-academy physical, one of the caretakers at the orphanage woke me up at the crack of dawn and escorted me to the academy.

He took me to the administration office, informed them why I was there, and then walked out without so much as a goodbye, leaving me standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Take a seat, Hoshino-chan,” the blond man sitting at the front desk suggested. He had a gentle face. My initial thought was that he was a secretary of sorts, but the forehead protector around his neck indicated his status as a ninja. Maybe a secretary ninja? Ninja secretary? I had no idea how this sort of thing worked. “Isamu-sensei will be with you shortly. You’re a bit early.”

Hesitantly, I took a seat near the entrance, hoping I wouldn’t have to spend as much time waiting as I did at the hospital. My hands tightly grasped my knees, but otherwise I gave no outward signs of my anxiety.

Awhile later, a boyish looking man with long, light blue hair strode into the office. “You're Hoshino Sekai?” I nodded, and he continued, “Come with me. I’m in charge of your assessment today. You can call me Isamu-sensei.”

He led me out of the office and up to a tiny room furnished with a single wooden desk and chair. Sitting on the desk was a thick paper booklet and a single pencil.

“Sit,” he ordered, and I obeyed without question. “The first part of your assessment for early admission is theoretical. The test in front of you is comprehensive of the academy’s four year curriculum. In addition, it also tests critical thinking skills and problem solving. Answer as many questions as you can. You will not leave this room until I come to retrieve you when your time is up. You may start as soon as I leave the room. You may ask no further questions. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Isamu-sensei.” And with that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I took a deep breath, and processed everything I just heard.

I was entering the academy early. From the way things were at the orphanage, I had assumed that wasn’t the case. But that wasn’t what was important right now. I could dwell on what that meant for me later. I had an exam to write and no idea how long I had to finish it.

I picked up the pencil, wrote my name where indicated, and decided to look over the entire test before starting. The first few pages tested basic reading, writing, and math skills—all things I was already well beyond. After that there were questions about chakra and the rules of ninja. A few of the questions on chakra I thought I could answer thanks to my discussion with the medic the day before, but I had no idea what any of the ninja rules were. Then came geography and history, which I knew a bit of. It seemed to focus on Fire Country, at least. I saw some more advanced math—though far from at the level I’d studied it in The Before, perhaps twelfth grade level—as I flipped through, and a bit of first aid. Logic puzzles popped up every few pages, as did decoding messages, and there was a section on human anatomy. The last section seemed to be several “What would you do in this scenario?” questions.

I decided to do the reading, writing and math sections first. I remembered much more advanced math from my previous life, and Hanako had tutored me in reading and writing, which I had picked up quickly. I sped through them with little thought, barely even processing them, and completely skipped the section on ninja rules.

Next I did the logic puzzles—they were simple enough, but I suppose considering this test was meant for children, I shouldn’t expect much.

I decided to try the first aid section next. I was able to answer a handful of the questions, but most were beyond the little first aid I could recall, and some were completely baffling. What is chakra poisoning and how does it affect treating a stab wound? Fuck if I knew. I knew you needed to put pressure when someone was bleeding and that if someone is stabbed the object stays in until they can receive proper treatment. Perhaps if the object was poisoning your chakra it needed to come out though...? My answers for the section were full of speculation.

I flipped to geography and history.

Name the current and former Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, in order. That was easy enough—I saw their faces on the mountain everyday. I scribbled my answer, Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Kato Dan.

The alliance of which clans provided the foundation for the formation of the Hidden Leaf Village?

The alliance of the Senju and Uchiha.

List the five great nations and their respective hidden villages.

Fire Country and Hidden Leaf. I wrote, then paused to think, tapping my pencil against my bottom lip. I hadn’t been taught a lot about the other countries, and while I’d heard some things in passing, it was mostly going to be a matter of guessing. The other four great nations were... Earth, Wind, Water, and Lightning, I thought. The names of the five chakra natures. I quickly wrote them down. The hidden villages... was trickier. I remembered there was Mist, Cloud, and Sand, but couldn’t remember the last one, or which went with what country, so I did my best to guess. Mist seemed very water-like, so I penciled it in next to Water Country. Clouds and lightning seemed to go together as well, so I put those together too. As for Sand... Sand was like, earth-y, so I put it with Earth Country. I figured I had a fifty-fifty chance with that one.

From there, the questions got a bit more difficult. I had no idea which battle was a major turning point in the second war. I didn’t even know which battles happened . Who were our allies in the third war? No idea, I didn’t even remember the names of the villages, but not Earth country—I remembered hearing about how one of our ninja was famous for killing a lot of the ninja over there.

After the list of questions, there was a blank map of fire country, and I was supposed to draw in the major towns and other landmarks from a list. The location of the capital, Hidden Leaf, and the rivers nearby it were no trouble, but most of the rest was guesswork.

Finally, I moved onto the questions about chakra. Thanks to my conversation with the medic, I knew that chakra is formed by the mixture of physical and spiritual energy, and had learned of the five main chakra natures, but soon what little I knew became unhelpful, so I had to skip most of the questions, and moved onto anatomy.

Anatomy had a diagram of the body that I was supposed to label with major weak points, and then there were questions about where to hit someone, depending on if you wanted to disable them or kill them. Some of these were obvious, but a lot of it was beyond me.

I decided to go for the scenario questions next.

You are being pursued in enemy territory by a pair of jounin. Of your two chuunin teammates, one of them is injured, and unable to move without assistance. As the team leader, describe how you would proceed.

Well, that wasn’t exactly straightforward. There were so many variables... Like, how far away were we from our village? What sort of terrain? Would the injured teammate survive long enough to get to a medic? Did we have sufficient supplies of food and water? If the village was too far away, we might not be able to get the injured teammate to a medic in time, unless one of the others was a medic(?), in that case the best decision might be to mercy kill them to increase our travel speed and prevent them from falling into enemy hands. But if the village is close enough, they had a chance and shouldn’t be abandoned. The terrain and severity of the injury would impact the decision of whether or not to flee or hide. I had no idea. There were too many unknowns. Finally, I decided to just write out a list of unknown factors that would impact the decision, and how.

The rest of the scenario questions were frustratingly similar in their lack of details, and I muddled through them as best I could.

Finally, I started on the decoding questions.

The following message from the south River County border outpost regarding activity of ninja from Hidden Valley is written in Simplified Leaf Standard Four. Decode it.

Well. I had no idea what Leaf Standard Four was, simplified or not, but this is why I saved these types of questions for last—I’d try to decode it on my own, which would be time consuming.

“Best get started then...” I muttered to myself.

The message took up about half a page, which was actually a good thing. It meant I had more of a sample to find a pattern. I also had some context. I stuck my pencil in my mouth and cracked my knuckles. This would probably take awhile.

This world didn't have computers, so I doubted the code would be too complicated. I read through the message, which was written entirely in hiragana. I knew u, n, i, and shi were the most common hiragana, so I picked out the most common hiragana in the message and checked for a simple Caesar shift, with no luck. Not that I really expected that to work. Next I used similar logic to check for an affine cipher, but that was no use either.

I blew air out my nose in frustration. While they used only hiragana for the message, I wasn't really sure how codes worked in this new language. Did they have ways of doing things that were different from English? Not to mention I didn't really know a lot about breaking codes in English, mostly things I vaguely remembered reading on my own about the history of cryptography when I was bored.

Still, I wasn't going to give up. Instead of checking the frequency of individual characters, I checked for pairs and strings, and counted how far apart they were. When I found most lengths between common pairs or strings to be multiples of three, I smirked victoriously. Some sort of Vignère cipher. Once I figured out the key length, it was just a matter of checking for Caesar shifts of the letters based on position. First I tried a key length of three, but didn't get anything, so I tried six, and then finally when I tried nine I broke the code.

-x-

Hidden above, Hara Isamu watched the purple haired child leaf through the test booklet.

She was a strange child, he concluded, and it wasn’t just her appearance, though that as a bit strange too. Her purple hair was long, straight, and flat. Several strands fell into her overly pale face and clashed with her yellow eyes, but if it bothered her, she didn’t show it. She didn’t show much of anything, even as she started scribbling her answers to the math questions.

He watched her and her answers carefully. She wrote quickly, he noted, not even stopping to think as she answered even the most advanced math problems that were actually beyond the Academy’s curriculum, and her answers were correct .

Isamu crossed his arms and smirked. He supposed he wasn’t terribly surprised. He had read Tsunade-sama’s medical assessment, which had detailed her vast amounts of spiritual energy, indicating high intelligence.

She proceeded through the reading and writing assessment and logic puzzles with equal speed, and her answers were once again correct, but she slowed down after that.

Isamu wasn’t surprised that she completely skipped the ninja rules, she was a civilian orphan, but he had to suppress a snort when she muttered “fuck ninja rules” in the blandest of tones. He wasn’t sure if she even realized she’d spoken.

It was interesting to watch her flip back and forth from one topic to the next. Most children her age without any formal education and exam-taking experience would do things in order, and only skip things if they were completely stuck.

When she answered the chakra theory questions, he noticed the questions she answered covered information discussed in her medical files, indicating she had likely only picked up what she knew from her appointment the day before. He was impressed—she wasn’t just regurgitating the information, but also applying it to concepts she hadn’t seen before.

He was further impressed with her answers to the scenario questions—other early entrants tended to realize they lacked information, but few of them actually gave detailed explanations of how specific information might impact their decision, and even fewer had the mentality to suggest mercy killing their comrade, even when it was the best option.

But what really surprised Isamu was when she got to work on decoding. He knew she was unfamiliar with the ciphers needed to decode the messages, and had been prepared to make his presence known a bit after she finished the scenario questions, assuming she had skipped those questions as she did the rules, but settled in to see what she managed. Her attempt would be telling.

It took her awhile, but after nearly an hour she had managed to decode the first message with surprising accuracy. It wasn’t perfect, and the message would have been easy for any experienced ninja, from Leaf or not, to decode, but for a five year old? It was pretty damn impressive.

He let her start on the next one, but appeared before she finished—he’d already seen what he needed to.

“Time’s up, kid.”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“I was so naive.”

-x-

“That the one?”

“Yeah, that’s the one our Eye mentioned.”

“I don’t see it.”

“Yeah, well, orders are orders. Higher ups decided for us.”

Their hands flew through a set of hand seals too quick for the eye to see, but in perfect unison.

-x-

Two

After Isamu-sensei announced my time for the written portion was up, he led me outside to the track.

My physical assessment was next. I did not foresee it going particularly well.

“Alright kid, here’s the deal. You are going to run as fast as you can for the first lap—it will be timed. After that, you’ll pace yourself for long distance running, and stop when I say so.”

Fuck. Running. Ew. “Yes, sensei,” I said obediently and got into position at the starting line. At his word, I took off as fast as I could.

To my surprise, it wasn’t so bad. In The Before I hadn’t exactly been an athlete and I hated running. I tired after just a couple minutes (if that, to be honest), and always lost my balance and ended up falling flat on my face. But here? I was already running faster than I ever imagined I would and wasn’t even winded by the time I finished the first lap.

It felt amazing. I felt so free. I swear, it must be the whole alien thing. Considering the things actual ninja could manage, I was guessing the people here evolved to have a higher capacity for this sort of thing, a higher baseline.

As amazing as it felt, it didn’t last forever. I wasn't sure how long I managed to run or how many laps I completed before I started to tire, but eventually it caught up to me. Still, I pushed myself to keep going. If I didn’t make it into the ninja academy, there would be no improvement in my treatment at the orphanage and I couldn’t deal with that. Moreover, I couldn’t deal with knowing what the ninja of this village could do to me if I remained a civilian, and it wasn't like I could just leave the village either. Where would I go? I had no resources and even just travelling was incredibly dangerous.

I was huffing and puffing by the time Isamu-sensei called for me to stop, and as soon as he did I let myself collapse on the spot.

I closed my eyes and turned onto my back, gasping for the oxygen my body felt deprived of. The coolness of the ground was refreshing to my sweat soaked body. Just as my breathing evened out, I felt a gentle kick to my shoulder. I cracked an eye open and saw Isamu-sensei holding out a water bottle. I pushed myself onto my elbows and snatched it from his grasp. I practically poured it down my throat.

“That was pretty pathetic kid,” he commented.

Well fuck him too. That was an Olympic level performance by my standards. I decided to ignore the comment in favour of quenching my thirst. It wasn’t long before the bottle was empty.

“Alright kid, get up. That’s enough of a break.” No. No it really wasn’t, but I followed his instructions regardless and slowly picked myself up off the ground. “Next is the obstacle course.”

The sadistic grin that spread across his face told me enough to know this was going to suck.

-x-

Two hours later, I found myself back in that tiny room where I wrote the exam, waiting for Isamu-sensei to give me his verdict.

After doing my best at the obstacle course, which amounted to getting a quarter of the way through, then being unable to get over this huge wall and giving up when Isamu-sensei started laughing at me, I was made to do as many push ups as I could. Which, to be honest, wasn’t many. And then came sit ups. And then pull ups. And on and on it went.

And now I was stuck here in this miniscule room, but this time with nothing to do but wait.

And wait I did. There wasn’t a clock in the room, so I couldn’t say for sure how long he kept me waiting, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he was doing this on purpose. Well, if he was, it wouldn't work. I wasn't actually sure what he thinks making me wait will accomplish, but I wouldn’t let him win. I would sit here quietly like I had nothing I'd rather be doing.

Unless that’s what he wants me to do. In which case, that meant he does win. Fuck. I was too tired for this shit. Running broke my brain. Why did any of that even matter? Who cared about mind games that they may or may not be playing?

An indeterminate amount of time later, Isamu-sensei returned, folders in hand. He set them on the table and sat down in a chair I was certain had not been there before.

“Your assessment is complete, Hoshino-chan,” he announced. “Quite frankly, saying your physical assessment was below average for a first year student is kind. Your speed wasn’t terrible, but your stamina and strength were deplorable. We didn’t bother assessing taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, or weapons—you’d have failed. Your flexibility is fairly good though.”

Well of course, I had no training and hadn't exactly been a physically active child, now had I?

After a moment of silence where I failed to reply, he continued. “Your academic assessment was all over the place. You solved the logic puzzles quickly and correctly. Your literacy skills are more advanced than many of our final year students, and your math skills are well beyond the academy. Where did you learn them?”

“Hanako taught me to read and write, and basic math,” I explained. “I loved the math, so once I ended up beyond her she gave me books to learn it from. My reading and writing skills improved from having to get through the more advanced math texts.”

That was actually true, though the word learn should probably have quotation marks around it, considering I knew it all already. But it was a refresher, and it was sweet of Hanako to think of me like that. She didn’t have to.

The man across from me nodded. “You completely failed all questions related to the ninja rules since you skipped them, and did poorly in regards to anatomy, chakra, and first aid. You flunked the history section, and barely made the cut for geography. However...” He folded his hands in front of him on the table and sighed. “Considering you have no formal education, we believe you did quite well in those areas. What really stood out to us however, were your responses to the scenarios and cryptography questions.”

“How so?” I inquired, fiddling with the hem of my shorts under the table.

“You were not expected to be able to answer any of the cryptography questions. There are several versions of the early entrance exams. Students from clans and ninja families are given much different ones. The purpose of the cryptography questions is to catch those who know things they shouldn’t and possible spies.” Isamu-sensei’s face was serious, his voice cold.

I swallowed and gripped my knees. Did they thin—

“Fortunately, I observed you the entire time and witnessed your process for decoding the message. Your methods proved you simply are incredibly intelligent and lines up with your demonstrated mathematical ability.”

I let out a small breath I didn’t realize I’d even been holding. Thank fuck. This place... It’s not hard to guess that if they thought I was a spy it would end with my death. And while my only fear in regards to death is “what if the next world is worse,” I was well aware that the sweet embrace of death would only come long after I’d given up begging for it.

-x-

I returned to the orphanage on my own. As a student at the ninja academy I was granted much more freedom. My days confined to the orphanage were over.

In the end, it was decided that since it was the middle of term, I would be provided with materials to study until the next term started in just over two months. A week before the new term, I’d be tested again.

For only two months to study, they gave me what seemed like an astronomical amount of information to learn. I was given so many books that they had to be sealed inside a scroll, just so I could carry them back to the place that was supposed to be my home.

Though perhaps it wasn’t just for ease of transportation that I was given the sealed scroll. Isamu-sensei made sure to emphasize the importance of keeping the small scroll somewhere safe and sealing away the books when I wasn’t using them.

I decided to run back to the orphanage. I was still tired, but my skewed chakra and poor physical condition meant I had push myself in this area. It wouldn’t be enough to train as much as the average student, I had to do more if I hoped to succeed.

I was going to be a ninja. I was going to be sent out to fight in a war in at most four years, possibly fewer if the stories I'd heard about accelerated students were true. If I didn’t want to die young, I had to do whatever I could to become better.

The run back wasn’t as bad as the laps had been towards the end, but it wasn’t as easy as it was on the first. Still, I managed to make it back without stopping to catch my breath.

That evening I was given a larger than usual portion of dinner.

“You had a long, hard day at the academy, dear,” the caretaker serving dinner chuckled when I stopped and stared at all that food instead of moving along. “You missed lunch for it, so have some extra now to make up for it.”

When I showered, my aching muscles were soothed by the warm spray.

By the time I made it to bed I was too tired to think. I was out just moments after closing my eyes.

That night was the first time in weeks I slept through one without any nightmares.

-x-

After breakfast, the caretaker from dinner the other night took me to a room I’d never been in before.

“Since you’re starting training, you’ll need more durable clothes,” she explained. “Pick out a few outfits. It’s all second hand, but in serviceable condition.”

The room contained racks upon racks of clothing and shelves of footwear. The caretaker, who I couldn’t help but think of as Two-Face after her personality transplant upon my admittance to the academy, directed me to a section with clothes approximately in my size.

The selection was minimal. It was mostly tops and bottoms of various muted colours in slightly different cuts. I ran my hands over the fabric of the tops and noticed they were all made of the same strange material. It wasn’t like anything I’d felt before—heavy, but soft, and strangely dense.

I chose a black t-shirt with the Leaf emblem proudly displayed on each sleeve, as it was on all shirts, and plain black shorts.

Two-face smiled at me and sent me to try them on. They were a bit large, but they weren’t falling off or anything and I’d grow into them. Folding up my old clothes, I went back out and grabbed several more t-shirts and shorts to bring back to my dorm. Next I grabbed a pair of standard sandals in my size. I tried them on and frowned. I couldn’t say I was a fan, but there weren’t exactly any other options. They offered good support and had a slight cushion to them for increased comfort.

After upgrading my wardrobe, Two-Face left me alone to study and train, much to my relief. I grabbed the scroll I’d been given from where I tucked it into my pillow the night before, and released the contents like Isamu-sensei showed me. In a puff of smoke, a stack of books appeared on my bed. I looked over them, trying to decide where to start. Finally, I chose geography. I figured it would be easy enough to finish quickly and then move on. I didn’t exactly have a lot of time.

-x-

I established a routine over the next two months. To my surprise, I found myself able to recall almost everything from the texts after reading through them only once or twice. I wondered if it was an alien brain thing? Perhaps the brains in this world were better at retaining large portions of information quickly? In a society where information was a luxury to be hoarded, I could imagine the brain evolving to accommodate having to memorize things quickly. Or maybe it was an individual thing and I was simply blessed with a brain that can handle these sorts of things this time around? It wasn’t exactly relevant. I was merely grateful.

Still, I had to do a lot of studying, and that meant I had to offset it with physical exercise in order to avoid skewing my chakra further.

I decided to work on speed, strength, and stamina rather than skill, since I didn’t want to learn any bad habits that would come back to bite me later. I mostly repeated the exercises I’d been put through in my assessment, figuring I couldn't screw those up, but added in a few other things I remembered from The Before, like jumping rope.

I studied in my rest periods, and eventually tried to find some activity to accommodate simultaneous studying. I started to train myself to read and walk at the same time, without losing situational awareness and running into things, or people for that matter. Eventually I hoped to be able to run while reading. I'd seen a few ninja doing it around the village and was quite impressed. I found that push ups worked well for reading as well. I just put the book in front of me and every now and then added in some one armed push ups so I could turn the pages. I hoped that my strength would increase enough that I could sustain one armed push ups long enough to be able to write as well.

I had a feeling that I’d become a master multitasker in the future.

My runs and reading-walks took me through the confusing twists and turns of the village until I knew the main areas well. To be honest, I couldn’t help but feel that village was a misnomer. It was a small city, albeit completely different from the cities of The Before.

Instead of wide, paved streets and towering glass and concrete buildings, we had gravel and cobblestone paths, and few buildings taller than six or seven storeys. The typical grid layout of streets was nowhere to be seen, and architecture favoured round, twisting designs over the straight and blocky ones I remembered. There was far more flora in one district of this place than there was in entire cities from The Before, but I supposed that was to be expected in a village named for hiding in leaves.

Getting out and training really drove home the fact that the sun I was orbiting was not the familiar but unnamed star I previously did.

I didn’t spend all my time training and studying though. I also took time to visit Hanako.

-x-

Finding the hospice Hanako was forced to move into only months before my mother died took some effort. I’d been there before, of course, but I’d never come from the orphanage and it was on the other side of the village.

It was a facility reserved for ninja injured in the line of duty. I was unsure of the exact details, but Hanako’s injuries were not just limited to her body, but her chakra was affected as well, and without constant care her organs would fail. From my memory of what little she told me, it was some sort of poison that they had been unable to fully cure and gradually got worse and worse. Previously it could be managed with regular outpatient treatment, but it had escalated to the point it was at now. Hanako was dying, slowly but surely. She could have months or years, the medics were uncertain.

In the months since I’d had the freedom to come visit the receptionist had changed. Instead of the kind, middle aged woman from before, it was an androgynous teen that greeted me.

“I’m here to see Hanako, room 1412,” I stated as I tried to peer over the counter.

The teen glanced down at me, and raised an eyebrow. “Name?” he—for his voice was clearly male—asked, snapping his gum as he pulled out a binder and flipped though half the pages.

“Hoshino Sekai,” I replied.

“Alright. You’re on the list. Please sign here.” A sign in sheet and pen was shoved to the edge of the counter. I gave the teenager a dark look, and pressed the paper to the wall so I could sign it, since the counter was almost as tall as me.

“Right, sorry, kid. Next time I’ll give you something to write on. You know the way?”

“Yes,” I replied. He performed a few hand seals and there was the click of a lock from the door next to the counter.

I made my way through a maze of hallways until I found myself standing outside a door marked by the number 1412. I knocked gently and said, “Hanako-san? It’s Sekai.” Upon hearing a soft “come in,” I pushed open the door.

“I’ve told you, Sekai-chan, to call me Hanako-baa-san,” she tutted in greeting, a warm smile spreading across her wrinkled face. Her left arm moved, and I noticed the files and folders spread out on her bed and the miniature table across her lap.

“What’s all this?” I asked as I took a seat in the chair by her bedside.

“Just some paper work, dear. It’s fairly boring here, so the village let’s me do clerical work to pass my time,” she chuckled. “But I’m surprised to see you here after all this time. Did you manage to convince one of the caretakers to bring you?”

“No,” I replied, dropping my gaze to the floor. Hanako knew very well that the orphanage only let those over the age of ten or those on the ninja path come and go from the orphanage without escort.

“Oh, Sekai-chan...” she sighed. “You told them you would join the academy when you're older?”

“Not exactly...” I bit my lip. “They tested me. I start with the new term.”

Hanako closed her eyes, trembling. She took a deep breath. “Sekai-chan, my dear... I’m so sorry. Aya-chan never wanted this for you...”

“It was my choice,” I defended. I wasn't actually a child. With the mentality of an adult, I understood enough about what I was signing up for to give meaningful consent. “It’s fine.”

Hanako remained silent. I knew what she was thinking. The Leaf Village was at war. It wasn’t fine. Eventually, she forced a smile on her face.

“Would you be a dear and fetch the jewellery box from my dresser?”

Bemused, I did as she bade. When I returned with it, she gestured for me to sit on the edge of the bed and turn my back to her. She took the box from me and pulled out a set of beautiful, but plain and clearly used hair clips.

“You need to do something with your hair if you’re to be a ninja,” she explained as she divided my hair into two sections, leaving out a few front strands to frame my face. “You can’t just let it hang loose and in your face like that.”

She took the left section and pinned the end of it to the right side of the back of my head with her good arm, and then pinned the right section to the left side, forming an x with my hair. “This is how I wore my hair back in the day. My daughter wore her hair short, so I couldn’t pass these clips to her. I’d hoped to pass them to any grandchildren... So I want you to have them. Go have a look in the mirror and put this back.”

Wordlessly, I obeyed. In front of the mirror, I tugged at my purple locks, but nothing came loose. My lips twitched.

“Thank you, Hanako-baa-san. I like it.”

“I’m glad, my girl.”

The rest of the visit was spent catching up. She was surprised to learn just how skewed my chakra was, and laughed when I told her about my complete failure at the obstacle course. When I told her about the orphanage and Two-Face’s change in attitude once I was accepted into the academy, she seemed to age twenty years in the span of seconds, her eyes bright with anger and something I couldn’t name.

-x-

I made sure to visit Hanako as often as I could. Not only was it nice to see a friendly face, but she was also full of tips for a ninja in training. With her help I started on stretches and exercises to improve flexibility, and she taught me the hand signs and how to best transition from one to another as best she could with her disability. She helped me study by quizzing me on the most important aspects of the book work I’d been assigned. It made learning the theoretical aspects so much easier.

When I finally finished the book work, I had just two weeks until the new term at the academy. I’d intended to focus on physical training, but I found myself incredibly bored without anything to keep my mind busy after just two days.

On the third, I decided to try heading to the library to find something to pass the time, but the library held nothing but fiction—no history or geography, nothing about chakra, not even any math. Part of me was surprised, but mostly it made sense. Knowledge was power, and ninja hoard it. It made little sense to store all your information in a place any one could access, especially since even the most innocent tidbit could be useful to an enemy. Still, it was disappointing, especially since none of the books there caught my eye.

And so I ran back to the orphanage from the library empty-handed. With nothing better to do, I liberated the scroll containing my academy texts from my pillow case and unfurled it. Just as I was about to release my books, I paused.

When I’d first received the scroll, I’d been curious about how the seal worked, but ignored it to focus on what had seemed like a mountain on work to get through. But now I had the time to look into it.

I plopped down on the floor by my bed, grateful that the children I shared the room with were busy in class. I tugged off my sandals and placed them atop the edges of the scroll to keep it from curling inwards, and stared at the seal, tapping my chin with two fingers.

It didn’t look like much—just some random scribbles and a few kanji. It was hard to read some of the kanji due to the thick lines, but I was able to distinguish the kanji for space, lock, and open.

With nothing else to be gained from observing the seal as it was, I shoved my sandals aside and released the books. To my disappointment, there didn’t seem to be any differences in the seal.

Frowning, I resealed the books and slipped my sandals back on. A dead end.

I wasn’t discouraged though. While there was nothing more I could gather from the storage seal and there were no available books to answer my questions, Hanako might know something. And if not, I was sure she would still find away to help me, like she did with those math books.

I stashed the scroll in one my pockets and started the long run to the hospice.

-x-

“Seals, Sekai-chan?”

“Yeah. I’m just—how do they work? How do you put an object much larger inside something so small? How do some kanji and fancy line work let you do that? How—”

Hanako chuckled. “Breathe, dear. I can’t answer your questions if you don’t give me a chance to speak.”

“Sorry, Hanako-baa-san.” I bowed my head and used her preferred address in apology.

“It’s alright, Sekai-chan. I just haven’t seen you this excited since I got you all those math books.” She smiled at me fondly, then sighed. “Unfortunately, I know little of seals. It’s an esoteric branch of ninja arts. Few people bother with actually learning more than how to use storage seals and explosive tags. There isn’t much reward unless you’re a master.”

“Oh,” I murmured, my bottom lip jutting out just a bit. “I still want to know, though.”

Hanako laughed. “I’ll see what I can do."

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“The Will of Fire... What nonsense.”

-x-

Patriotism, or dare I say it, nationalism,  was one of the defining values in this place. Everyone was so proud to be a citizen of The Village Hidden in Leaves. They spoke of the village as if it was a person. They loved it. They were devoted to it. They held nothing in higher regard. They would do anything for it. They would die for it. They would kill for it.

Whatever you did on the village’s behalf was right, it was for the greater good of the village. It was everyone’s duty, even civilians, to put the “welfare” of the village first, before anything else. Before yourself, before your friends, before your lover, before your own children.

It was disgusting.

Everywhere you went its symbol was in sight. I hated it. I hated that as an academy student from the orphanage all my clothes bore the symbol. I hated that as a ninja I had to carry the symbol, cloth and metal, like a chain, tying me down, restricting me—and every other ninja from this god forsaken village, too. Seeing it reminded me of just how little choice I had in this life. Even the ones I thought that I made weren’t even truly mine, I learned. They weren’t mine, really. Nothing was.

Sometimes I wondered if anyone else hated this village the way I did. Sure, those who found themselves on the wrong end of our figurative (and literal) sword hated us, but they hate from the outside.

I hate it from the inside.

But it didn’t really matter how much I hate this village. It’s not like I would be any better off elsewhere.

This world...

-x-

Three

Hanako pulled through. When I went back to visit her a few days later she had a small scroll for me.

“Keep it on your person at all times. Do not take notes,” she ordered sternly. “I had to call in a lot of favours to get my hands on that. Bring it back when you’re done, and I’ll get you another.”

I was so excited, I actually grinned at her. She smiled indulgently, and shooed me from her room. “I have work to do!” she said, but it was obvious she knew how badly I wanted to go read the scroll.

I gave her a quick hug, secured the scroll in my pocket, and headed full speed towards the orphanage.

I nodded in response to Two-Face’s greeting as I passed her on my way to my dorm room. I flopped down on my bed and pulled the scroll from my pocket. I unrolled it, but hesitated, glancing at my stack of notebooks.

Hanako said I couldn’t take notes, but... If no one could understand my notes but me, did it matter? From what I’d seen and heard, there was only one language in this world, and nobody here spoke English or French. There wasn't even a name for the language we do speak, as far as I knew. But dare I risk it? I could be wrong, after all. Information was so tightly controlled, it was perfectly plausible that there was at the very least records of English that I simply didn’t have access to.

I sighed and unrolled it further. I could decide later.

-x-

A week before the new term I was tested again. The written test was quite different from the last one. It tested me only on the subjects covered in the books I’d been given. Needless to say, I aced it. The physical portion was pretty much the same as before, however. Surprisingly I did much better this time. Not like, amazing or anything special, but there was definite improvement. More than I would expect in just two months. Perhaps the alien biology was kicking in again.

Which was why on the first Monday of October I found myself joining the third year class.

Apparently I wasn’t supposed to finish all those books and was further ahead in theoretical work than the class that had just graduated, so they decided putting me in first year would be a waste of time. Of course, my physical scores were nothing to write home about, hence not being placed in the graduating class. While my scores in that area were slightly below average for a first year, it was a drastic improvement from my initial assessment two months previous, and if I kept up that rate of improvement I’d catch up to my classmates in time for graduation.

The class was fairly large—I’d estimate at least fifty other students. Ages appeared to vary, but I was definitely the smallest and likely the youngest. I noticed that boys greatly outnumbered girls, nearly a two-to-one ratio.

After introducing myself at the front of the class, I chose a seat towards the back of the room. Once I was settled, the instructor, Kago-sensei, started the lesson.

To my disappointment nothing he was saying was new to me. I bit back a sigh, and opted to pull out the scroll on sealing I’d picked up from Hanako, but listening to the lecture with half an ear in case Kago-sensei switched topics.

-x-

Eventually we broke for taijutsu training. Kago-sensei led us outside to one of the training areas where three other instructors were waiting. I recognized one of them as Isamu-sensei.

“Hoshino-chan!” he called. “With me.”

Inwardly, I groaned. Working with him would not be fun. Between my initial and most recent assessments, I’d learned the man was... difficult, to say the least. It was clear he took pleasure in watching me fail and playing mind games. (Or maybe that last bit was my paranoia speaking.)

The blue-haired chuunin led me away from the rest of my classmates, and I felt their eyes on me as I followed him, undoubtedly curious as to why I was (probably?) getting special treatment.

“We’re starting with the basics,” Isamu-sensei announced. “Your classmates covered this ages ago, so you’re going to have to do your best to catch up, you got that?”

“Yes, sensei.”

“Good. First, we’re going to start with how to properly fall.” Oh good. Falling. That used to be my specialty. I—

My legs were swept out from beneath me. I tucked my head and turned so I landed on my side, rolling to reduce the impact.

“Passable,” Isamu-sensei commented, his arms crossed.

I glared at him as I stood. I wasn’t ready! I didn’t say. That was probably the point. Still, I was more prepared when I was sent flying just seconds after I stood.

Once again, I rolled with it. And then again, and again, until I felt like one giant bruise.

It seemed like an eternity before Isamu-sensei decided he was done literally throwing me around the training grounds.

Child abuse! Fucking child abuser, getting off on kicking little kids around! I wanted to scream at the tyrant. But this was a place where children are sent to fight in wars before they even hit puberty, so I bit my tongue. Besides, I wasn’t actually a child.

But they think you are, part of me argued . They think you are, and they do it anyways. They do it to others, too. Others who are real children.

I did my best to ignore that part of me.

I lived in a society where this was normal. It didn't matter how wrong I thought it was, no one would agree with me.

-x-

The days started to blend together. I woke up, dressed, ate, headed to the academy, and ran laps until shortly before class started.

During class, I’d listen with half an ear and focus on reading about seals. I learned the instructors were aware that I knew most of the book work, and while they were going over things I’d proven I’d learned, they cared little for what I did to occupy myself as long as it wasn’t disruptive. So I swung my legs in little circles around each other to keep myself moving and focused on something worthwhile.

My current scroll was dedicated to the history of sealing. It contained nothing about practical applications, but I found it fascinating none the less. Apparently, the reason seals were called such despite not always obviously “sealing” something away, was because back in the day that was all they could do—seal an object into something else. The only use in the past was storage.

But the Uzumaki clan revolutionized the art of sealing. To understand how they did so, you first need to understand how seals work at the most basic level.

Despite what most people thought, when you seal an item away in a storage scroll, you weren’t actually sealing it inside the scroll. The scroll was just a medium for the seal. The seal itself was basically a door to a pocket dimension. I wasn’t sure myself if the seal created the pocket dimension and acted as the door, or if the dimension was always there and we just found a way to access it through seals, but that wasn’t what was important.

Basic storage seals have been around for ages—no one knew who first invented them, the records were lost. But the Uzumaki were the first ones to successfully alter seals, and go beyond their typical use. The Uzumaki clan first started altering seals to fit certain conditions, like adjusting the temperature in the pocket dimension. They adjusted things so that they could seal away food and keep it warm or cold. Then they altered things to freeze time in the pocket dimension to prevent changes to what they sealed away all together, to keep it in stasis.

That was their first big mark on the art of sealing.

The second was sealing chakra.

Most people didn’t think about explosive tags as sealing something inside a pocket dimension—they didn't even realize that’s how they work. But that was how all seals work. Explosive tags sealed away chakra and imposed conditions on the chakra, directing it to create an explosion. It was funny, but apparently most ninja had no idea what they were actually doing when they use them. Explosive tags were doors to empty pocket dimensions, and when you “activate” them with chakra, what you were really doing was filling the pocket dimension with chakra. The seal then converts it and releases it as an explosion.

The Uzumaki clan were the ones to first figure out this sort of thing was even possible, and they found ways to do all sorts of things from there, leading to their rise to power.

Without them, we would—

A piece of chalk collided with my forehead, crumbling to dust upon impact. My classmates, the immature cretins that they were, snickered at me.

“Hoshino!” Kago-sensei scolded. “Put your scroll away. It’s time for weapons practice.”

“Apologies, sensei,” I demurred, rolling the scroll back up and tucking it into my pocket.

“Do try to pay more attention, Hoshino-chan. It is unbecoming for a ninja to have such poor awareness of their surroundings.”

With a sigh, I joined my classmates and instructor by the door, following them outside to the training ground with the targets.

Today, we were working with kunai. Unlike taijutsu where I was still taken aside by Isamu-sensei, after the first weapons lesson I was left with my classmates. Unlike my classmates, however, I stood much closer to the target as I threw the kunai, partially due to substandard aim and partially due to lacking the strength to throw the kunai far enough. Both, I was assured, would come with time. And they were coming, I thought. It was getting much easier to throw the kunai, but my aim wasn’t much better.

After missing the target with approximately sixty percent of my kunai, I sighed and retrieved them. Despite my poor aim, I consoled myself with the knowledge that the ones that did hit, hit hard enough that they were difficult to pull out of the target, and the ones that didn’t travelled a decent distance.

But my poor performance was still upsetting, so I mentally rearranged my training schedule for the evening to include extra kunai practice.

-x-

Two weeks later and even with extra practice, I made no further improvement with kunai. My vision was fine, unlike in The Before, so that wasn’t the problem. I asked Kago-sensei and even Isamu-sensei for advice, but their tips didn’t help. Throwing the knives at the targets repeatedly didn’t help either.

What I was doing wasn’t working, which meant I had to try something else. Brawn wasn’t working, so perhaps brains would.

So one day after trying and failing to improve, I pulled out a notebook and pen and thought back to my hazy memories of high school physics.

I wasn’t exactly a physics person. Sure, physics was basically applied math, but that was the thing. Applied math, which hadn’t been the focus of my studies in The Before.

Still, with half-remembered formulas and laws, a bit of experimentation and good spatial awareness, surely I could puzzle things out eventually? I was just glad that my brain was much better at judging distances in this life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fairly accurate, and much, much better than I’d been able to do in The Before. Though next time I’d bring a measuring tape, simply for precision purposes.

I remember when throwing a ball on a flat plane, to achieve maximum distance you should throw it forty-five degrees. If you’re throwing along a downwards slope, for every two degrees increase in slope, lower your throwing angle by one degree.

Which didn’t help me a lot with aim. But still, I wrote it down in the notebook, and wrote down anything else I could remember that seemed relevant. Then I wrote down the external forces that could act on the kunai as it traveled that I could think of, and properties of the kunai itself that might affect things, including, but not limited to wind, gravity, angle thrown, how hard it was thrown, the mass of the kunai, and shape of it.

Then I stabbed two kunai into the ground to mark my starting line, and two more further down but parallel to the first two. I marked these kunai each with a piece of paper tucked into the wrappings around the handle so I didn’t confuse them with the ones I’d be throwing. I then took the others, and carefully threw them at approximately the same angle each time, from the same position. Then, I recorded their position relative to the first four kunai and each other.

I kept at this for a few hours, until the sky started to darken. Only then did I return the kunai I’d signed out for practice and depart from the academy.

As an academy student, I had much more flexibility in meal times and was able to eat a large, if cold, supper before heading to my dorm. Though the other children I roomed with were present, they were mostly asleep or reading quietly. I grabbed my pyjamas from the chest at the end of my bed and headed to the showers. Discarding my dirty clothes in the laundry shoot after transferring my scroll on sealing to the pocket of my pyjama pants, I stepped into a cubicle and let the warm water soothe my aching muscles.

All too soon, I forced myself out of the shower before the water could turn frigid. It was something I’d learned I had to do. If I ended up losing track of time and forgetting, the cold water brought back memories of those first few months in the orphanage, which led to sleepless nights. With how hard I had to train my body to catch up to my classmates and offset my chakra imbalance, I couldn’t afford to lose sleep.

Returning to my dorm, I grabbed the notebook I’d filled with my observations earlier and settled into bed with it. After reviewing and processing the data, I let myself fall asleep.

-x-

The next day I borrowed a measuring tape from the orphanage. It was much too short to be of any use, so instead I made my own. I cut and glued strips of paper together, then used the measuring tape to mark the measurements correctly. My dorm mates gave me odd looks while I worked, but that wasn’t unusual.

With my new measuring tape finished, I went back to the academy and signed out the same set of kunai from the day before. I took note of the strength of the wind and its direction, and then repeated my actions from the night before.

I continued this for several weeks. Over time I purposely altered things, like signing out a different set of kunai that felt lighter and seeing how that affected things. I also started using shuriken. Eventually, I was able to calculate the angle and strength of a throw needed to hit the target. After I could consistently hit the target, and adjust it for different targets and distances, I had to work on my speed of mental calculations. It didn’t matter if I could hit the bulls eye all the time if it took me ages to throw my kunai and shuriken.

Once I was certain of the accuracy of my calculations, I stopped actively practising throwing weapons. Instead, I spent my time on my taijutsu and physical conditioning while mentally calculating trajectories required to hit random targets.

-x-

In the months since I’d joined the academy, I had yet to speak to any of my classmates. I had no interest in befriending children and they seemed to have no interest in befriending me.

The closest I’d come to interacting with anyone was that time this blond first year that was a couple years older than me almost ran me over while I was leaving the academy. He yelled something at me as he ran away, but his voice was drowned out by the bustle of the village and I wasn’t sure if he was apologizing or blaming me for getting in his way. I didn’t particularly care.

But interaction with my classmates was limited to sparring in taijutsu class, and I liked things that way.

Especially after I heard the gossip about me.

I had expected the “creepy” and “weird” ones. Those I was used to in the orphanage. What I hadn’t been expecting were the rumours of special treatment.

“She thinks she’s so much better than us,” I heard one of the older girls in the class say to her friends over lunch. They were sitting underneath the tree I was sitting in. I didn’t know her name, but I recognized her as the brunette who usually sat in front of me. “Getting special treatment—they let her do whatever she wants during lectures! And she gets private taijutsu lessons with Isamu-sensei! I’ve never heard of anyone getting private taijutsu lessons before, and neither has anyone else I’ve asked in my clan.”

“I know right? It’s not fair! I want private lessons with him!” one of the other girls, probably a Yamanaka by the looks of her, giggled. “He’s sooo dreamy!”

“They say it’s because she’s way behind in taijutsu,” the first girl continued, waving her chopsticks. “But if she’s so far behind why is she in the third year class? She’s like, five.”

“Yeah!” a third girl joined in. “Plus the times she does join us for spars she doesn’t do that bad. Sure, her forms are a bit sloppy, but she’s fast, and her punches hurt more than some of the boys’ do!”

“I bet Isamu-sensei is teaching her some secret taijutsu style, and that’s why she’s so bad at the standard one—she’s not used to it.”

“It’s not fair! Why her? She’s just some orphan.”

“Maybe she’s the secret love child of some super important ninja!” the maybe-Yamanaka suggested.

“Psh, yeah right,” The brunette dismissed, finishing the last of her lunch. “You guys done yet? I want to go see if Isamu-sensei can help me with my chakra control.”

“But Suzu-chan, you have really good chakra control!” The third girl frowned, slightly confused. “Why—ooooh. I see. Yeah. I’m done.”

The group of girls quickly packed up and set off to find Isamu-sensei, giggling the whole way.

I almost felt bad for the guy.

Once they left, I jumped down from the branch I’d been lounging in and headed back to my classroom. I slipped into my seat and folded my arms on the desk, resting my head on top of them. I felt strange. It wasn’t that I cared what the other girls thought of me. They were just silly little girls, jealous that their crush was spending time with me. No, what bothered me was the accusations of special treatment.

I hadn’t really thought about it before, but it was true that I was the only one getting one-on-one taijutsu training, even if it had been cut back to twice a week instead of everyday. I knew it was because I really was way behind, but I’d assumed this wasn’t something too unusual—that it wasn’t the norm, but it happened every now and then. From the sounds of that one girl, I was wrong. And I knew they let me do my own thing in class because I already knew the material. Was that not typical? I couldn’t be the first student to be way ahead.

What really bothered me was why I was getting special treatment. I wasn’t anyone special—an orphan, born to a poor, clanless teenager. Maybe that Yamanaka girl was onto something. I knew nothing about my father. My mother knew nothing about my father. But surely my father had put things together and knew I was his kid. He knew what he did to my mother, and likely knew she got pregnant since it resulted in her losing her position. Maybe he was important? Maybe he had some sort of influence?

But Hanako and mother assumed he was from the Tominaga clan, and for good reason. But while the Tominaga were an incredibly wealthy clan, they weren’t particularly influential. Their money was the only thing going for them, compared to other clans. They had influence over non-ninja matters through their wealth, but it didn’t give them any real leverage over the Hokage—if he wanted their money he could just increase their taxes. As for other ninja high-up on the food chain, accepting bribes was seen as treason—some of them had enough power to really screw over the village, even if it was just by looking the other way at someone’s activities. Not to mention, not just any random clan member could exercise what little influence they did have. It would have to be the main family, if it was due to a clan.

So maybe they were wrong, and my father wasn’t a member of the Tominaga clan, but someone who did have influence. I couldn’t be from a clan with a bloodline limits—they would have snatched me up regardless of the circumstances, lest I activate it. That goes for clans with secret techniques as well. If I were, then while I wouldn’t be able to learn their techniques alone, I would have a predisposition to their techniques, and certain obvious clan traits. Over time, these predispositions could eventually turn into bloodline limits, so they kept track of their members, in case that one bastard kid was the one who inherited or passed on the new bloodline. And again, only the main family would have enough influence—which means if I was a clan bastard, I’d be connected to the main family, hence even less likely to be left outside the clan.

But the rest of the clans, the ones that didn't have secret techniques or bloodlines, were generally worse off than the Tominaga in terms of influence.

That left individuals.

It wouldn’t be easy, but after finishing up my method for throwing weapons, I could use another project.

-x-

Since my heritage was a more sensitive topic than my previous topic, I decided to first make my first basic storage seal to keep my notes and research in.

It wasn’t advised to attempt to make a seal without supervision (or better yet, knowing what exactly you were doing), but I didn’t really care. After all, what was the worst that could happen? I die? Meh, been there, done that.

Unfortunately, I no longer had the storage scroll from the academy and couldn’t just copy it, and the scrolls from Hanako didn’t actually give instructions—they were still just theory and history based. But I figured I knew enough to take a stab at making one.

So I wandered around the village, looking for a secluded spot to practice without drawing attention. My usual haunts, the orphanage, the hospice, and the academy, were clearly unsuitable, so I needed to find somewhere else.

Eventually I settled on wandering deep into one of the forests by a park. It wasn’t a training ground, so I was safe from stray weapons and jutsu, and none of the kids really ventured too far into these woods.

I plopped down by a random tree and rummaged through my bag for my notebook and the sealing ink Hanako bought for me. Most people used brushes, but I didn’t like them, so instead I used a fountain pen, since it was just the ink that mattered. In theory, the supplies were for later, once I actually learned more, but I figured Hanako knew me well enough to realize what I would end up doing. If she didn't trust me to be careful with my experiments, she wouldn't have given me the ink.

The ink was expensive, and I didn’t want to run out too soon, so I decided to first sketch my prototype with a pencil.

Connections, balance, order, and flow...

After a half hour of erasing, drawing, and redrawing, I was ready to test my seal.

I filled my pen with ink and copied the array onto a blank page in my notebook. Then, I tore another page out and ripped it into rough squares.

My first attempt wasn’t a complete failure, but it wasn’t a success either. I was able to seal a few squares of paper away, but I couldn’t release them.

My second attempt took me another hour of re-configuring the seal and going over my kanji choices. This one released the squares... sort of. It released their ashes.

I spent hours redesigning the seal until I finally managed one that was able to store more than one item, release all the items, and not damage anything.

Fuck, it was like I was back in intro comp sci. I was far from a programming expert, but I did have to take two comp sci classes and learn basic java. I aced the classes, but there were hours spent trying to figure out which line of code was causing the bug. And if you fixed one thing it fucked up another.

Just like seals.

Once I had a successful seal, I re-sketched the failed seals and noted what went wrong with them and where it did. By the time I finished, I was straining my eyes in the dark. I sealed my notes into the functional seal and then tucked the seal into my sandal. The paper rubbed against my skin awkwardly, but I would figure something out later. It was long past time to return to the orphanage.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“What a tangled web they weave.”

-x-

“I don’t see why I should help you,” the woman snarled at the man standing at her door step. “I’m not involved anymore. I’m done. Done. I’ve more than paid my dues.”

“Please, if not for me, then for them. They don’t deserve this—it’s not their fault. They need help. I’m begging you.” The man dropped to his knees, his gaze pleading. “We can help you. You won’t be getting nothing out of this.”

“I said no,” the woman retorted, and slammed the door in the man’s face. She listened for his footsteps to fade away. Once they did, she spoke once more.

“I won’t have anything to do with your lot anymore.”

-x-

Four

I copied a storage seal onto the inside of my sandals. Eventually I hoped to have a storage seal on my person, but I wasn’t confident enough for that quite yet. Who knows what I could fuck up?

So my sandals would have to do. I chose them because they were almost always on my person, and even when not they were usually close by.

With my own personal and secret storage seal, I no longer hesitated in taking notes from the scrolls I got from Hanako. I wasn’t sure if English existed here, but my notes wouldn’t be left out for just anyone to stumble across. To be safe, I decided to switch between English and French in my notes, though I wasn’t nearly as good with French, but hey, inconsistent grammar and spelling could only help me here. In addition, I alternated the way I wrote letters, somewhat. Sometimes My l’s were straight lines, other times they were loops. Some times my E’s were blocky, other times curly, like epsilons. Sometimes I even substituted in numbers. (Leetspeak ftw, n00bs.) I also decided on throwing in Latin abbreviations and phrases, acronyms, chat speak, whatever. (Thank you internet.) Anything to make it more difficult to find a pattern if you didn’t speak English and French, and/or were unfamiliar with slang born alongside technological advancements of the twenty-first century.

Even to myself, my notes were a bit hard to look at, but keeping up with it would take care of that, and I’d soon be reading and writing like that just as well as I’d adapted to the language of this world.

It would still be a bit suspicious if anyone were to find my notes, but worst case scenario? They send a Yamanaka to mind rape me and get fuck all because I still think in English. Even remembering events in this life, I mentally translated it all into and remembered it in English. I processed and translated things so quickly no one even notices my short pauses before speaking.

And besides, even if they had records of my native language, I highly doubted anyone was even conversationally fluent.

Still, I knew I wouldn’t feel completely secure until I managed to create a seal only I could open and kept it on my person.

-x-

The whole “look for dad” thing was a lot harder than I initially thought. While some information was public, there weren’t convenient lists detailing who was in charge of what department and who was famous. And even when those things were recorded somewhere I could find them, there were almost always no pictures.

There were cameras in this world, but they were obsolete by the standards of The Before. They were big, clunky things that took up to thirty seconds to take a picture. On top of that, they were highly regulated. Very few people had access to one. There were a handful of licensed photographers, but they were extremely expensive. Most photos were for record keeping purposes and official events.

It was frustrating, because how the fuck would I know if some dude could possibly be my father if I didn’t even know what he looked like?

It was easy enough to rule out the men from clans and women, but it still left a lot of possibilities and unknowns.

It was maddening.

-x-

About half way through the term, Kago-sensei started teaching us ninjutsu. I was happy for something new to learn, but to be honest the subject stumped me.

We’d learned the twelve zodiac hand seals already, but I never did understand how they actually worked. I figured it would make sense when we actually started on learning ninjutsu, but alas, it was not so.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t for the life of me get the transformation jutsu to work. My hand seals were perfect, but I might as well have been flailing my hands around in a poor attempt at jazz hands. And it wasn’t just that I wasn’t getting the jutsu to work right. It was that nothing was happening at all.

I just didn’t understand.

“Kago-sensei? Do you have a moment?” I asked one day after class as the other students trickled out of the room.

“Of course, Hoshino-chan,” Kago-sensei smiled. “Is this about the transformation jutsu?”

“Yes, sensei. I just—ninjutsu as a subject isn’t making much sense to me. How does moving your hands a certain way cast a jutsu?” I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion.

Upon hearing my question, Kago-sensei’s expression could best described as a “light bulb moment.”

“Ah. I see. My apologies Hoshino-chan. It hadn’t occurred to me you hadn’t learned this.” Sensei blushed. “I completely overlooked it, it’s usually taken care of by parents for ninja-born students and in first year for civilian-born ones.”

“Eh?” I titled my head to the side. That answered nothing.

“There is nothing special about the hand signs themselves—they are more instructions of how to move your chakra, to shape it, for the jutsu. Each sign corresponds to a different movement of chakra,” he lectured.

“But how does everyone know which chakra movements are associated with each sign?”

“Young children, usually up to three or four years of age, have chakra very similar to their parents. This allows the parents to harmlessly insert their own chakra into their children's chakra network and move it for them while teaching them the hand seals. It is generally easier for the mother to do this, but the father can as well, though they usually have to start earlier. After the age of about five years children’s chakra becomes too... personalized, so to speak, for their parents to insert it without harming them, unless they have medical training.”

“But... then what about children like myself? Who never had a parent to do that?” I asked. Plenty of civilian-born ninja existed, there had to be a way.

“That was actually one of the villages first major struggles,” Kago-sensei chuckled. “Clan ninja have been doing this for generations, and before the formation of the hidden villages ninja only came from clans. Initially, they had medics do it for civilian children, but that became a burden on the medics as the number of civilian-born students increased. Eventually, someone created a genjutsu that shows students how to move their chakra. I had assumed you’ve already experienced it.”

“Oh. That... makes sense, I guess,” I nodded. I could have done without the history lesson though. “But...”

“Yes?” he prodded.

“Why do people always use them whenever they use jutsu?”

Like, what the fuck. If it was just a matter of moving your chakra a certain way, why not just do that without the hand seals so people couldn't predict what you’re doing?

“Generally, as young children ninja have the association of making a hand seal and shaping their chakra—they don’t even have to think about it, it’s instinctive. But without the hand signs they have to focus on each movement of their chakra, they have to consciously direct it, and that is generally slower for most ninja,” Kago-sensei explained with a smile. “You’re very interested in how’s and why’s, aren’t you Hoshino-chan?”

“I—yeah. I guess,” I mumbled. “I like to know how things work.”

“And that’s what makes you unique—most children your age, most ninja even, just care that it does. Now, I can’t cast the genjutsu myself, but I believe Iruka-sensei can, and he should be free at the moment if you’d like to do it now?”

“Sure,” I nodded, clenching my fists nervously. I couldn’t help but think about what genjutsu had done to my mother, and willingly subjecting myself to one made my instincts scream in protest. But I had to do it, so I would.

The chuunin didn’t seem to notice my unease and led me down the hall to an unfamiliar classroom, where a man with a scar across his nose was marking papers at a desk.

“Iruka-sensei?”

“Ah, yes? Can I do something for you?” the man, Iruka-sensei, asked.

“Hoshino-chan brought it to my attention that she has yet to undergo the hand seal genjutsu, I was wondering if you could cast it on her?”

“Of course. Just give me a moment to finish up and I’ll be right with you,” Iruka-sensei smiled, holding up a red pen. “You can take a seat, ah—Hoshino-chan was it?”

I nodded and took a seat in the front row as Kago-sensei excused himself.

I didn’t have to wait long, and after making sure I was ready, the unfamiliar chuunin cast the jutsu.

If I hadn’t known what was going to happen, I never would have guessed that I was in a genjutsu. It felt so natural to just start practising the hand seals, and as I made each one my chakra shifted, like it was following my command. I repeated them several times, familiarizing myself with the way my chakra responded to them.

“Why don’t you try doing it yourself now?” Iruka suggested, startling me. The genjutsu had been lifted after my last run through of the seals, and I hadn’t even noticed.

Disturbed by the subtlety of the genjutsu, I swallowed and took a deep breath. It was terrifying to know that I couldn’t pinpoint when it started and when it ended, and not only that, but everything I’d done in it seemed completely natural, like it was my own decision to practice the hand seals.

I pushed my thoughts aside and focused on doing as Iruka-sensei suggested. For the first time outside of the genjutsu, I could feel my chakra move when I cycled through the zodiac.

“Thank you for your time, sensei.” I bowed politely.

“It worked, then?” he smiled. “I’m glad. Have a good evening, Hoshino-chan.”

With that, I was dismissed, and decided to head out to my usual training field.

I took a moment to best organize my time, ultimately deciding to first run through my taijutsu forms, then move onto strength training, and finally practising the transformation jutsu.

It was my fourth month in the academy, and my taijutsu had improved by leaps and bounds. I was still a bit sloppy, though. In spars I had trouble smoothly moving from one attack to another and from offence to defence, but Isamu-sensei said that would just take time and practice.

He was impressed with the improvements to my speed and strength, though, and even let me sign out training weights for prolonged use so I didn’t have to turn them in before I went back to the orphanage every evening, and could wear them at all times.

As a result, I was building up some real muscle, and whenever I looked at myself in a mirror, I couldn’t help but be impressed by how toned by arms were getting, though I was by no means buff, and I never would be.

After working up a light sweat with my taijutsu forms and drinking some water to stay hydrated, I moved onto strength training. It was amazing to me that just six months ago I could barely manage a dozen push ups, but now I had worked my way up to over one hundred, and then could move on to other exercises without being completely exhausted.

At first, I worried about pushing my body too far. I vaguely recalled hearing that weights could stunt a child’s growth back in The Before, and other dangers of over doing it, but I hadn’t had any problems, and Isamu-sensei wouldn’t let me do something that was detrimental to my growth as a ninja. Either I was misremembering or once again, it was an alien thing. I’d already noticed that my bruises, cuts, and scrapes healed faster than they did in The Before, so I figured that might have been balancing out any damage.

After finishing my last set of pull ups, I finished off my water bottle and went to refill it at the training field’s tap.

I lay down on the grass, basking in the coolness from the ground. Once I had cooled down sufficiently, I reluctantly stood to practice ninjutsu.

With Kago-sensei’s image in mind, I attempted to preform the jutsu.

Dog, boar, ram.

Poof!

I coughed on the smoke the jutsu produced and tried to wave it away, but screamed when I caught a glimpse of my hand.

It was... I didn’t even have words. My arm was large and muscular, like Kago-sensei’s, but my shoulders and my hand had stayed the same size, except for my finger nails, which were huge. My skin was blotchy, a mix my own skin tone and my instructor's.

My lip curled in disgust and horror. It was just wrong. I stared at it in horror for ages before I realized that if I dispelled the jutsu I could make it go away.

And then I realized I didn’t know how.

Eventually, I figured out that disrupting my chakra flow would do the trick, but that experience was enough for me to put my ninjutsu training aside for the time being.

-x-

A kick swung towards my face and I bent over backwards to dodge, placing my hands firmly on the ground. I kicked off the ground into a flip, my foot connecting with the underside of my sparring partner’s chin. The force of the blow sent him reeling backwards, giving me enough time to right myself back to my feet.

Instead of waiting for him to come at me again, I charged forwards. He dodged my first punch, but on my second he grabbed my arm, flipped me over the shoulder, and slammed me to the ground. I let out a pained groan, but was too slow to stand because before I knew it, he had me pinned down, and Kago-sensei was calling the match.

My lips thinned in displeasure as my opponent and I formed the seal of reconciliation and then left the ring to make room for the next pair.

Part of me wanted to make excuses, I was barely six years old and he was the largest boy in class. But excuses were pointless. I had just over a year to go until graduation, and then I’d be sent out to fight grown adults. I had to be good enough that a size and weight advantage didn’t result in an automatic loss. I needed to hit faster and harder if I wanted to survive, to take out my opponents before they could fight back.

My gaze shifted to my sparring partner, and despite my loss, I was proud of the nasty bruise forming just under his chin.

-x-

Time passed and soon it was the end of February. I made little progress on finding a potential lead on my paternity, so I set aside that project for another time and focused on my training.

End of year testing was coming up, and I was frantically trying to perfect the transformation jutsu in time. I’d improved, but barely, and nearly everyone else was at least decent with it. After asking Kago-sensei, I found out my issues with the jutsu stemmed from my skewed chakra. Apparently the jutsu used mostly physical energy, and my spiritual energy was disrupting it.

It was frustrating, because there wasn’t much I could do about the issue. My classmates who had trouble, were having difficulty due to chakra control and could work on control exercises to improve. However I was already doing my best to build up more physical energy, but like that medic said, even at my most balanced, I’d still have a severe skew by regular standards.

On the bright side, aside from that I was confident with my achievement. Ever since I joined the class I was at the top for book work, and over the term I’d wormed my way up to fourth place in taijutsu and first in weapons. Overall, I ranked fifth in the class. (My ninjutsu rank was nearly dead last, sadly.)

As for seals, I’d finally designed a storage seal that I felt confident enough to place on my own body. Hanako had finally passed on scrolls that went beyond theory and touched on application, and with the knowledge gained from those scrolls I was nearly certain it was safe, and so, late one night I locked myself in one of the orphanage bathrooms and got to work.

After much deliberation, I finally decided to place it on my inner thigh. From what I’d read, placing seals on skin, on living beings, wasn’t like placing them on other mediums. As I drew the seal I had to channel my own chakra through it to essentially tattoo it onto myself, else it would eventually wash off.

The fact that I’d summed the process up as “tattooing it on myself” should have given me a hint to what it would feel like, but I was still unprepared for the pain.

Months of sparring with my classmates and Isamu-sensei had improved my pain tolerance drastically, but none of it had prepared me for this.

It took everything I had to keep my hand steady as I drew the seal onto my sensitive flesh. While it was an ideal place to hide it from others, it wasn’t in terms of pain reduction.

It was rather disconcerting to see steam trailing after the pen and ink, but in the end it was worth it. I had a secure place to store my notes. It wasn’t practical to store any old thing there though, so I also inked one onto my left arm, just above the elbow.

I was extremely proud of the seal, to be honest. It was completely of my own design, and the pocket dimension it was linked to even lacked a time component, so I could seal away perishables without worry of them spoiling.

The first thing I did after finishing the seal on my arm was sneak down to the kitchen and seal away a large container of clean water and two dozen niNRG brand meal replacement bars. You never knew when you’d need it, after all, and I doubted anyone would notice. The bars were bought in bulk. They would hardly notice a couple dozen missing when there were close to a thousand of them in storage.

Instead of going straight to my room, I stopped by the bathroom again, to admire my seal. I was very pleased with the design—two Fibonacci spirals connected together, with encircled kanji cluttered at the bottom, connected with straight lines to additional kanji closer to the top of the seal. It was beautiful—a work of art, if I did say so myself.

Content with my progress, I returned to my dorm, curled up in bed and promptly fell asleep.

-x-

The next day I was exhausted and my arm and thigh still stung slightly, but I forced myself to go through my morning exercise routine regardless, and upon completion I plopped down in my seat at the academy and rested my head on the desk.

“Hoshino! With me!” Isamu-sensei ordered, causing me to snap my head up in surprise.

“Sensei...?” I asked hesitantly, noticing that he’d left off the usual affectionate honorific.

“Now,” he snapped.

“Yes, sir,” I nodded and scrambled to my feet. He turned on his heel and marched out of the classroom as soon as he was sure I was following. The few students present snickered at me as we left.

He led me down to the tiny room I’d written my entrance exam in and motioned for me to sit at the desk. Instead of speaking, he spent an indeterminate amount of time pacing in front of me. (Mind games again, I noted.)

It took all my self-control not to flinch when he slammed his hands down on the desk. “Do you have any idea how stupid, how dangerous, placing an untested seal on your own goddamn body is?”

“I—what?” I blinked in surprise. He notic—?

“Of course I noticed, you stupid child!” he hissed, like a fucking mind reader.

I blinked, but remained silent.

“Well?” he barked. “I’m waiting!”

“Uh... Well... I mean, obviously it was a bit—dangerous... but I tested it on another medium first and was well aware of the risks—”

“Well aware of the risks, you say?” he scoffed. “You could have lost a limb! You could have died!”

“I know!” I growled. “I said was well aware of the risks! I knew what could happen!”

“And you did it anyways?” He gaped at me in disbelief, and shook his head. “I never would have thought you’d be so reckless—your classmates, I’d expect it from, Hoshino-chan, but you? I thought you were smarter than this.”

I shrugged. “Worst case scenario I died, and I’m hardly afraid of death. It’s but the next great adventure, you know.” I couldn’t help but laugh, actually laugh, at what I said. Man, who knew just how right Dumbledore was?

Isamu-sensei stared at me in disbelief. “I don’t—I can’t... Wait here, Hoshino-chan, I’m getting someone to come make sure your seal is stable and won’t blow your arm off if you use it.”

With a poof of smoke, I was alone. Huh, I was pretty sure he was actually worried about me. It was almost cute.

I huffed and crossed my arms, then tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling. My seal was fine. I’d already used it! I was surprised he hadn’t realized that himself.

When my sadistic sensei returned, he was accompanied by a woman with scarlet hair down to her ankles. (Distantly, I wondered how she kept it from tangling.)

“So you’re, like, the kid my scrolls have been going to, eh?” she said.

“Ah—I guess? I was never told where Hanako got them from,” I answered. “Oh, um. Thank you? I appreciate them?”

She raised her eyebrows. “You can thank me by not being so stupid in the future, yeah? Well, let’s see the damage.”

My lips thinned. “There is no damage,” I retorted and lifted my sleeve to give a better view of the seal. “But have a look, I guess.”

She snorted, but approached me and grabbed my arm, inspecting the seal closely. After several minutes she let go of my arm and stepped back.

“Where did you, like, find this one?” she asked. “I don’t think it was in any of the scrolls.”

“I designed it myself,” I replied, but she eyed me doubtfully.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hm... Well, it’s, like, a solid design, and looks to be fairly stable. I see it’s intended to be a stasis storage seal only you can open, yeah?” I nodded. “I thought so. It’s like, well balanced, and flows well. It should work just fine and be safe.”

“It does,” I affirmed, and her eyebrows rose again.

“You’ve already used it? That was dangerous, kid.”

“Yes, I did. And I tested it on paper first, I wasn’t going into this blind, I knew the risks and did my best to mitigate them,” I defended.

“You draw your first seal on your body and like, you think you weren’t going into this blind?” she asked incredulously.

“It’s not my first seal,” I scoffed. “This is my fourth, and the first I’ve used on myself. My previous versions all worked just fine, too, for the record.”

“Let’s see them,” she demanded, and pulled out a scroll from the pouch at her hip. “Sketch them in pencil on this.”

“Hold on,” I told her, and tugged off my sandal and held it out to her, indicating the seal. “My first successful design is here. It’s empty now, though.”

She looked at me strangely, but took my sandal and examined it. While she did so, I released a pencil from the seal on my arm and sketched out my other two seals.

She took her time examining them as well. When she finished, she broke out into a grin. “Well I’ll be. You’re, like, a natural! I’m super impressed.”

“Thanks?” I squeaked, surprised and a bit unsettled at her sudden shift in tone.

“Sorry, sorry!” she chuckled. “Man, it was so weird to come in here, like, all serious and stern! Usually they get Minato to do this, but he’s away at the moment.”

“Uh...”

“I’m not making much sense, am I?” The woman rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

“No. Not at all.”

“Well, what I mean is that while I’m the village’s best seal master, I’m not so good at the whole serious-stern-warning-lecture thing, yeah? My husband isn’t as good as me, but they usually have him do it ‘cause he’s so much better at serious stuff. Now that I know you’re not an idiot messing around with things you don’t understand, I don’t have to act all stuffy. Plus that teacher dude is gone,” she explained. Surprised, I noticed she was right, at some point Isamu-sensei had left the room, and I hadn’t even noticed.

“Oh... I see,” I said, even though no, I did not see.

“Heh, anyways. The name is Uzumaki Kushina! It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san. I’m Hoshino Sekai.”

-x-

“How is Hoshino-chan progressing?” asked the head of the academy. He was a short, stocky man with wild black hair and blue eyes.

“Well in some regards, poorly in others,” Kago answered, shifting through Sekai’s file. He pulled out her score card. “As directed, during most lectures we let her focus on her own studies so long as she isn’t disruptive. Academically she’s at the top of the class. Her taijutsu, speed, strength and stamina have increased substantially—she’s not quite top of the class in that aspect, but she’s close. She’s more than ready to move onto fourth year with the rest of the class. Wouldn't you agree, Hara?”

“Yeah, she’s definitely going to be a taijutsu user. I expect she’ll be top of the class by the time she graduates...” Isamu added with a nod.

“But?” the head prodded.

“She doesn’t interact with her classmates at all, and struggles with ninjutsu—though we’ve only covered the transformation jutsu, which was noted as likely to be difficult for her due to her imbalance. I suspect she’ll struggle less with the clone jutsu and replacement jutsu.”

“Her ninjutsu struggles matter little—we were expecting that, and she’ll never be a ninjutsu specialist. I’m more concerned about her relationship with her classmates.” The academy head rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Why is it so poor? Is she hostile towards them?”

“She’s not hostile towards them, sir,” Kago began, hesitantly. “It would be more accurate to say that she is apathetic towards them. She’s never outright said it, but it’s fairly obvious she thinks they’re stupid. I doubt she sees a point in spending time with them. As for how the other students view her...” The academy instructor sighed. “Their opinions vary. Most think she’s creepy—she rarely shows any sort of expression and that’s hard for them to process. Another common view is that she thinks she’s better than everyone, and they’re jealous of her.”

“She kinda is...” Isamu muttered, only to receive a glare from Kago. “Hey, it’s true. And if you think the whole lack of expression thing is creepy, it’s even creepier when she does.”

The academy head coughed to draw the attention of the instructors. “That will be a bit of a problem... Start to incorporate group work—perhaps an ongoing group research project?”

“Yes, sir,” Kago nodded. “We’ll come up with something.”

“We both know I’ll be the one coming up with the idea, bastard,” Isamu muttered to himself.

“Anything else?” The head cut in before Kago could respond. “You say she’s expected to excel in taijutsu? Any other expectations?”

“Genjutsu, obviously. We don’t do much with it in the academy, but after she graduates she needs to receive instruction in it,” Isamu answered promptly. “Also seals—she’s mostly studying those during class.”

“Good. Kago?”

“Nothing to add, sir,” Kago replied.

“Moving on then, how about Yamanaka Aiko?”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“This village is full of lies, but then again, so am I.”

-x-

They say that you either die a hero, or live to become a monster.

To be honest, I thought of Hidden Leaf as a monster, for all the horrible things it does, for all the lies it tells, for pretending to be the good guys.

But then I realized that I do those horrible things, and I lie to everyone, every day, and I pretend I’m better than them, that I’m good. So if Leaf is as much a monster I feel it is, then so am I.

It’s funny though. I didn’t live to become the monster, I died to.

-x-

Five

Uzumaki Kushina was an interesting woman, and aside from my mother and Hanako, the first person in this life I could say I genuinely liked.

She was a bubbly, happy person and full of energy. I found it hard to believe she ever got tired. Her verbal tic made her seem relatable rather than annoying me. She was kind to me, and the way she answered the questions I asked of her that day proved that behind her cheerful exterior was a keen mind.

I was disappointed when Isamu-sensei returned to drag me back to class, but on the bright side it was almost worth it to see his furious expression when he realized that Kushina-sensei (as she insisted I call her) was laughing and joking around with me instead of giving me hell for my “reckless” actions.

I would have liked to see her again soon, but I wasn’t holding out much hope.

-x-

Half way through March the new term began, and I became a fourth year student, along with most of my classmates.

The first day of term we went over the syllabus for the year, and it was interesting to note the differences between what we did in third year and what we’d be doing in the coming year.

In class book work was drastically cut back, but we would instead be working on a research project or something like that outside of class, details pending. To my displeasure, most of that time would instead be dedicated to ninjutsu, though I had made improvements on my transformation jutsu, and decided to cut out hand signs all together now that I knew they didn’t actually do anything.

What surprised me most though, was the addition of a sex-segregated class once a week. It wasn’t something I’d been expecting, and I couldn’t help but feel equal parts curious and apprehensive.

Unlike classes in The Before, we didn’t spend any time reviewing past material, but considering there was no break between terms, I supposed they didn’t see much point.

Instead, as soon as Kago-sensei was finished with the syllabus, we dove head first into taijutsu practice again.

As soon as we reached the training field, Isamu-sensei pulled me away from my classmates.

“Okay, so. First of all, I want you to know I’ll be pulling you aside a lot less year, Hoshino-chan. You’ve improved drastically, and there’s no point in giving you private taijutsu lessons anymore. This is probably the last time. Instead, I’ll probably be helping you with ninjutsu, since last term showed you struggle the most in that area. But for now, let’s have one final spar, m’kay?”

“Yes, sensei,” I nodded and shifted into my taijutsu stance. “Ready when you are.”

“Well then, begin.”

As soon as the words left his lip, I charged at him with my fist pulled back for a punch. Instead of punching him once I was in range, however, I dropped my arm and slipped around him to aim a kick at the back of his knee. He jumped off the ground to dodge, and I hurriedly backed away as he sent a kick of his own towards me.

I wasn’t quite quick enough and took a glancing blow that knocked me off balance, and prevented me from dodging the punch that followed. I grunted at the impact, but took the opportunity to grab his arm. I pulled myself off the ground and delivered a double footed kick to his stomach.

I let go of his arm and he doubled over. I took the opportunity to kick at his face, but he grabbed my foot and threw me across the training field. I hit the ground and rolled back to my feet, charging at my sensei once more.

Back and forth we went, for the next hour. I got in a few solid hits, but for each hit I made, I received two more in return.

I grew frustrated, and finally decided that fuck it, it was time to play dirty, and as soon as I got an opening, I kicked him in the groin as hard as I could.

“What the hell, Hoshino!?” he groaned, bent over defensively.

“I think that’s my win,” I smirked.

“Bloody hell, kid. Not cool. That’s a dirty move.”

“A dirty move that could save my life in the field,” I retorted.

“Fucking brat,” he hissed. “Go back to your class. And for the record, you are not to intentionally do this in a spar with me or any of your classmates again, got it?”

“Fine.” I crossed my arms and bit back a scowl. What a fucking pansy... It was ridiculous not to allow it in spars. Did they think the boys wouldn't have to deal with such tactics in the field? Better to prepare them now.

-x-

At the end of the week we had our first girls-only class. An older woman with salt and pepper hair was the teacher, and instead of using one of the classrooms, she led us out of the academy to a field of flowers and had us sit in a circle.

“Hello everyone,” she said. “I’m Sarutobi Haruka. You may call me he Haruka-sensei. I’m here to talk to you girls about the unique challenges you will face as ninja, compared to your male counterparts.

“In times of peace, you would have had these lessons throughout all four years, however I’m afraid we don’t have that luxury. If we did, we would spend time learning many non-combative skills that are useful for female ninja to know for espionage purposes, as that used to be our traditional role. I like to keep these lessons as informal as possible. Don’t think of this as a class, think of it as a gathering of girls and women to share our experiences and wisdom. Any questions?”

I raised my hand, and she motioned for me to speak. “What sort of skills?”

“Nothing terribly exciting, I’m afraid. Things like dancing, sewing and other needlework, cooking, and flower arranging,” she smiled wryly.

“Why?” I asked. It sounded like a complete waste of time.

“As I said, women used to primarily be spies. We would often have to disguise ourselves as servants, geisha, and noble women, so it was important to be able to blend in and have skills fitting for the role we posed as,” Haruka-sensei explained patiently. It was obvious she was used to that sort of question.

“So what will we be doing instead?” The girl I was pretty sure was a Yamanaka asked, adjusting her blue, thick-rimmed glasses. (Akira or something? Aika?)

“First of all, we will discuss the ways our female biology can affect our careers. Does anyone have any idea how?”

“Um, we’re usually smaller than boys?” one girl suggested.

Sensei hummed. “That’s one way. Anyone else?”

A few other girls made some suggestions, but I could tell it wasn’t what Haruka-sensei was hoping for.

“There are significant differences in bone density, muscle mass and ability to build up muscle, hormone levels, and lung capacity. In addition, females menstruate, and I imagine that has a big impact on things,” I pitched in, tapping my fingers on my knee.

“Excellent points, Sekai-chan," she smiled. “Are you studying to be a medic?”

“No, I don’t think that path is for me. Why do you ask?”

“I see. It’s just that most girls who have that level knowledge at this point tend to have an interest in medicine,” she explained. I was surprised, because it was all information I had picked up reading the textbooks before class started, but when I stopped to think about it I realized that while it had been in the anatomy textbook, I couldn't remember Kago-sensei ever discussing it.

“Now, your last point is the one I wanted to talk about today, as it is arguably the most important. Is anyone unfamiliar with what menstruation is?”

To my surprise, there were a couple of girls who didn’t know, so Haruka-sensei gave a quick overview of the female reproductive system.

“The reason I say this is the most important topic is because in the past it was the reason women primarily specialized in espionage. Your monthly bleeding can cause many difficulties in the field, especially if you’re unprepared for it, or the mission lasts longer than expected. Many ninja, especially trackers, have a strong sense of smell for blood—it stands out to them among other scents. This makes female ninja experiencing their monthlies easier to track. Many women experience severe cramping, which for obvious reasons affects performance in the field. In addition, our chakra grows erratic which affects our control, and many experience lower chakra levels,” Haruka-sensei explained. “Espionage was an area where none of this mattered, as we were passing ourselves off as civilians for long periods of time.

“Even only thirty years ago, nearly three-quarters of female ninja were espionage specialists. The rest of them would eat a special plant every few months that prevented them from bleeding.”

“If there was a way to stop it, why didn’t more girls do that?” the probably-Yamanaka-maybe-Akira girl asked in confusion.

“Because in many cases it rendered women barren, unable to produce children, Aiko-chan,” Sensei explained, which gave me the name of the blonde girl. Aiko, Akira... close enough. “Something that was unacceptable to many clans.”

“What changed?” I asked. “Something safer was developed?”

“Correct. About thirty years ago Senju Tsunade developed a jutsu to halt the reproductive system without damaging it. At first this jutsu needed to be applied every few months, but over the decades it has been refined to the point that it only needs to be cast once. The only downside is one much first achieve menarche before the jutsu can be cast. Many of you will be sent out into the field beforehand, and need to learn what to do if it happens on a mission.”

The lesson was actually fairly interesting. We were taught what herbs to take with us on missions that short term, would stop the bleeding without damaging our reproductive organs and how long they would work. She covered how long we could use each of them before we risked infertility. She taught how to prepare and store them properly, and those of us that had prepared it properly were allowed to keep them, and those who hadn’t were given pre-prepared sachets. (I sealed mine inside the seal on my arm as soon as sensei okayed it.) She also taught us where the different plants grew all over the continent and where to find them if for some reason we didn’t have any on hand.

After assigning us homework, which was to collect the correct herbs from the field after classes ended for the day and attempt to prepare them correctly on our own, Haruka-sensei dismissed us.

-x-

To say I was annoyed when I learned that the out of class research paper thing was supposed to be a group project was an understatement. I was pissed.

“...Group six will be Hoshino Sekai, Uchiha Katsuo, and Tominaga Taiki. Group seven...”

They put me with a Tominaga. A fucking Tominaga. Who the fuck thought that was a good fucking idea? Then again, it wasn't like the instructors were familiar with my family history. I took a deep breath, and told myself that they probably didn’t know what they did to my mom and Hanako, or that I might be an illegitimate Tominaga.

Maybe they would let me change groups.

“...And that’s all. There will be no trading partners. You are going to be graduating in less than a year. You will have to work with people you don’t get along with in the field, where it could be a matter of life and death,” Kago-sensei lectured sternly. “Think of this as practice.”

Or not. Fuck.

-x-

At the end of the day, Kago-sensei handed out the assignments and gave us five minutes to make plans with our group mates.

“Hello,” the Tominaga boy said as I approached him and our Uchiha partner. From the way they’d been behaving, it was clear they were already friends. “You’re Hoshino Sekai, correct?” I nodded. I’m Tominaga Taiki, and this is Uchiha Katsuo.”

“Hn,” the Uchiha grunted.

“Right well. We’ve been assigned Yanagikage Hibiki.” Tominaga said, looking at the handout. “Apparently he made a name for himself in the second war.”

“Anything else?” I asked.

“Nope. That’s for us to find out, isn’t it?”

“I’ll see if any of the textbooks mention him,” Uchiha volunteered.

“They don’t.”

“What?” The Uchiha boy, who’s first name I’d already forgotten, narrowed his eyes.

“They don’t,” I repeated. “I’ve read all the textbooks. He was never mentioned once.”

“Oh yeah?” he sneered. “You probably missed something, it’s not like you memorized them all.”

“Except I did. Not verbatim, but close enough.”

“Please, as if—”

“Katsuo! Hoshino! Shut up,” Tominaga interrupted. “Look, Hoshino, there’s no harm in him double checking, okay?”

“It’s a waste of time,” I argued. "Without an obvious source it will take longer to find information, we don't have time to waste."

“Too fucking bad. Katsuo will look through the textbooks. I’ll check my clan library for anything, and you can check yours, Hoshino.”

“Are you stupid?” I asked in disbelief. How out of touch was he not to realize that I had no clan? “I’m a clanless orphan.”

“Fine,” he snapped. “Then you check the textbooks again, and Katsuo can see what the Uchiha clan has.”

I sneered. “I just told you I have them memorized and there’s nothi—”

“Just do it, Hoshino!” Tominaga hissed. “Get off your high horse. Katsuo and me are the ones in charge here, okay? We’re older and have more experience, so just do as we say!”

“And yet I’m smarter than both of you put together,” I muttered to myself. And older than the two of them put together as well, if you counted my previous life.

The two boys traded a look and nodded. “Then write the paper yourself,” they said in unison, and stalked off.

I was furious. They were clan brats, they could get away with skipping an assignment. Or more likely, they’d be able claim I refused to work with them, and hand in the paper with only their names on it.

Meanwhile, I was fucked, because there aren’t any books available to me. It really wasn’t fair—clan kids obviously had an advantage.

It appeared I’d have to improvise.

-x-

“I know a bit about Yanagikage Hibiki,” Hanako said with a secretive smile. “First of all, despite the name, she was a woman.”

“What else can you tell me?”

“What do you want to know?”

It turns out asking Hanako was an excellent idea. Yanagikage Hibiki was born fifteen years after the founding of the village, died at the end of the second war, and was the first female ANBU captain.

“How do you know that?” I asked. That wasn’t the sort of thing that was common knowledge.

“She was my captain,” Hanako replied.

“You were ANBU?”

“Yes. In fact, the mission that crippled me, is the one that she died on. I was the only survivor.”

I took notes as Hanako told me all about Yanagikage Hibiki, or at least, the stuff that was declassified.

“Is it really okay for me to put this all in my report?” I asked once Hanako finished.

She chuckled. “Of course it is, I’m the one who created the assignment.”

“Wait, what?”

“Things like this are just one of the many jobs available to retired ninja, things that active ones don’t have time for. For this assignment, myself and a few others chose the ninja each group was to collect information about based on who they know. Each group has at least one person who knows someone that can give them detailed information.”

“Isn’t it not fair for you to have answered my questions in this case, though? Since you made the assignment?” I inquired.

“It’s fair because I didn’t volunteer the information,” Hanako replied. “You asked.”

-x-

My group mates were clearly unsuccessful in their search for information on our target, judging by their behaviour on the day the report was due.

Since the Uchiha and Tominaga boys were sitting up front, Kago-sensei asked them for the paper first. I was delighted to see their embarrassment and frustration as they admitted that they couldn’t find any information on our target.

By the time Kago-sensei got to my row, I was cackling with glee. Well, on the inside, at least.

“Kago-sensei...” I said as I innocently widened my eyes. “Uchiha-kun and Tominaga-kun refused to work with me, therefore I wrote the paper on my own. Is that acceptable?”

“That’s fine,” Kago-sensei replied with a wry smile. “We were expecting things like this to happen.”

After collecting all the assignments, he walked back to the front of the classroom, dumped them on his desk, and crossed his arms. “Okay everyone. Raise your hand if you wrote a report alone.”

I looked around curiously as I raised my hand. About an eighth of us had our hands up, and I noticed most, if not all, of us lacked a clan.

“Now, everyone who were unable to write anything, raise your hands.” Nearly a quarter of the class raised their hands. “Starting from my right, if you didn’t write anything, explain why. Uchiha-kun, you’re up.”

“Ah, well, Taiki and I checked our clan libraries and academy textbooks, but there was nothing about the guy we were looking for. Or if there was, we didn’t find it in time...” my former group mate explained.

The rest of my classmates in the same boat as him gave similar answers. Once they had all given their excuses, Kago-sensei spoke. “You failed because the ninja you were to research were intentionally chosen so that there were few, if any, actual documents relating to them.”

“But then how were we supposed to do the damn thing?” An Inuzuka boy protested.

“You were supposed to ask people,” I spoke up.

“Exactly,” Kago-sensei agreed. “This was information gathering, not researching. The best way to get information that’s not publicly available is to talk to people. I’m sure those of you who wrote their reports were handed the information as soon as they ask. Next time, this will not be so.

“That said, the second purpose of this assignment was to make you understand that those of you who come from ninja clans and families aren’t better than those who don’t. Every single one of you who handed in a paper by yourselves aren’t from a clan, and most of you who handed in nothing are from clans.

“Let that sink in.”

-x-

On the Wednesday after the first group project was due, we were given a second (and more interesting) one, (in my opinion.)

We were broken up into groups of three again. This time I was partnered with Yamanaka Aiko and some Aburame kid, in Team Twelve. We were given a list of genin who would be wearing red, numbered arm bands around the village, and the times they would be available over the next two weeks. They were our informants. Our job was track them down and find out what they knew.

Unfortunately, however, some of our informants had turned traitor. Loyal informants will always tell the truth, and traitors will always lie. (Don’t you just love the insinuation that traitors always lie, and loyal ninja always tell the truth? That anything a traitor says against the village is false, that their legitimate issues with the village are just a fabrication?) Our job was to figure out who the traitors were.

We were given ten tokens. For any question regarding other informants, it cost us one token. Once we figured out who was lying and telling the truth, we were supposed to write a paper detailing the correct intel that we gathered from the genin.

While I wasn’t exactly excited about working with two little kids again, at least the actual task was interesting.

“Hey, Sekai-chan! Shinji-kun! Over here!” Yamanaka Aiko called from the doorway just after the start of lunch. “Let’s eat outside and talk about the assignment.”

“Very well,” Shinji the Aburame kid agreed, inclining his head.

With a small sigh, I got up from my seat and followed Aburame and Aiko outside. The blonde led us over to the tree I’d been sitting in when she and her friends had been gossiping about me the year before.

“Right, so what’s the best way to go about looking for these people?” Aiko said, gesturing to the handout.

“Leave that to me,” Aburame said as he lifted his hand, showing us some sort of bug, and then a couple more came out of his sleeve to crawl along his hand.

“Is there a reason you’re showing us a bug?” Aiko asked, pushing her glasses up.

“It is a kikaichu, not a bug. My clan has a symbiotic relationship with them—they live in our bodies, and in turn we can control them and put them to use for various tasks. They can search the village for our targets and track them once they’re found.”

Jesus fucking Christ. That’s...

“If you ever put a bug on me I will end you, and your bugs too,” I stated blandly. The Aburame kid, who I decided would be Bug Boy from then on, turned to face me. I assumed he was staring at me, but he was wearing sunglasses so it was hard to tell.

“Sekai-chan!” Aiko hissed at me. “That’s not a nice thing to say.”

I gave her a blank stare, and she averted her eyes. “Yes well, bugs aren’t nice either.” I gave a small shrug. “Moving on, can your bugs find these people based on just a name?”

“My kikaichu cannot find someone unless I’m able to give them a description.”

“So we need to gather intelligence beforehand, then,” I said. “Any ideas? Would “red arm band” be enough for the bugs?”

“Unfortunately my kikaichu have poor red vision.” Did he not realize that the more emphasis he puts on the word kikaichu, the less likely I was to use it? I didn't care what species his little bugs were. They were bugs. Bugs were gross.

“Intelligence is my clan’s specialty. I’ll ask some of my cousins, see if they can give any descriptions,” Aiko volunteered.

“Then I will write the report and figure out who the traitors are.” Because I hardly trusted that those two could do it right. “We’ll meet up after school everyday and reevaluate our next move.”

With that, I turned my back on Bug Boy and Aiko, and took off for the orphanage.

The first thing I did when I got back was take a shower and make sure there weren’t any bugs on me anywhere.

As I scrubbed away at my skin, all I could think was thank fuck I wasn’t born into that clan. It would be a living nightmare. I would probably have offed myself at the first chance just to escape the existential horror of being forced to let bugs live inside my body.

-x-

“I have descriptions of five of them,” Aiko announced on Friday as she pulled a folder from her backpack and flipped it open. “And I got pictures of two of those five.”

Bug Boy took the photos from Aiko, studied them a bit, then passed them to me. I took a quick look, then passed them back to Aiko to trade for one of the descriptions of the remaining targets.

“I’ll send my kikaichu out to search for them, and to tag them if they’re found outside of their availability.”

“Wait,” I ordered. “Did you find anything about where they tend to spend their time? I’d assume they wouldn’t change things up just to make it harder for us—they’ll probably just do what they’d normally do, but get paid for it.” Or at least that’s what I would do.

“Yeah, Number One likes to hang out at the Amaguriama on Tea Avenue. Number Five likes to spend time at the hot springs, and Number Ten spends a lot of time in the library,” Aiko recounted.

“The three of us will go to Amaguriama first, while Bu—” catching myself, I faked a cough to cover up the fact that I almost called him Bug Boy aloud. “Apologies, I must be coming down with something. Aburame can send some bugs—” “Kikaichu!” Bug Boy hissed. “Right. You can send bugs to the other two locations to keep an eye out, and then some others around the village in general.” Finished giving orders, I started running towards Tea Avenue. It wasn’t far from the academy, it was just across the river, in the merchant district near the south gate.

“S-slow down, Sekai-chan!” Aiko hollered, prompting me to look back. Seeing the other two were nearly half a block behind me, I stopped to let them catch up. “You’re really fast, Sekai-chan,” Aiko commented, and I gave a small shrug of my left shoulder, then continued on at a slower pace.

Once we reached Tea Avenue, I slowed down to a leisurely stroll, and started to pay more attention to the people around me.

“Over there!” Aiko discreetly pointed to a pair of genin sitting on a bench just outside the entrance to one of the play parks. I nodded, and headed over there.

“Excuse us, senpai. We were wondering if we could have a moment of your time?”

One sighed. “What team are you?”

“Twelve.”

“Alright. Here’s what I know...” While One shared his intel, Bug Boy took notes and Aiko and I watched him for any signs of dishonesty.

Once he was finished, I handed over one of the tokens.

“At least one of Numbers Two, Three, and Four are traitors.”

-x-

Over the next week, we managed to find Five, Seven, Nine and Ten. With only a few days left, I made the decision to just ask some of the ones we’d already found (and tagged with Bug Boy’s creepy crawlies).

Aiko managed to suss out that Number One was almost certainly one of the loyal informants, so we used most of our tokens on him.

After using our last token, we had the following statements:

One:
At least one of Numbers Two, Three, and Four are traitors.
Six is a traitor.
Nine is a traitor
Twelve would say “Two, Six, and Twelve are loyal.”

Five:
Six is a traitor.
Three is loyal.

Seven:
Eight is a traitor.

Nine:
Four would say “Five and Eleven are traitors.”

Ten:
Eleven is a traitor.
Seven is a traitor and Eleven loyal.

Starting with Number Ten’s contradiction, it was easy to see that Eleven was loyal, and so was Seven, which meant that Eight was a traitor.

If One is Loyal, then Six and Nine are traitors, from which we get that Four and Five are loyal. Since Five is loyal, so is Three. Four and Three being loyal means that Two has to be a traitor. And finally, if Two is a traitor, then so is Twelve.

“I need the intel from Eleven, Seven, One, Four, Five, and Three.” I said as we were leaving the hot springs after using our last token on Number Five.

“Wait, what?” Aiko said skeptically. “You mean you figured it out already?”

“Yes. It wasn’t like it was difficult. It was a simple logic problem.”

“Are you certain?” Bug Boy asked. “I find it hard to believe that you worked it out so quickly.”

“Well, I find it hard to believe you can function with half a brain,” I deadpanned, causing Aiko to let out a snort of laughter. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a report to write.”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“I couldn’t help but wonder, why me?”

-x-

“Anything new to report on Interest 07-606?”

“Its chakra... I think there’s something wrong with it.” The Eye answered. “I’ve never felt something like that before.”

“Hm...”

-x-

Six

After turning in the report, I expected that would be the last of my interactions with Aiko and Bug Boy, but it seemed I was half wrong. While Bug Boy clearly didn’t like me (probably because of the things I said to him), Aiko seemed to enjoy my company and sought me out at lunch.

“Sekai-chan! Let’s eat outside, okay?” I stared at her a bit, wondering why the hell she expected me to eat with her, but eventually followed her out of curiosity.

“Why?” I asked her as we sat down underneath a tree.

“Why what?”

I stared at her for a moment, then clarified, “Why do you wish to eat with me?” She blinked, and adjusted her glasses. “Because I enjoyed spending time with you while we worked together.”

“Really.”

“Yes, really!” she affirmed.

“I find that hard to believe, considering last year you were gossiping about me getting special treatment and even suggested I was, I quote, “the secret love child of some super important ninja.””

Aiko blushed. “How did you hear that?” Instead of responding verbally, I jumped up into the tree, settling on one of the branches.

“Oh. You were in the tree...” she mumbled, more to herself than to me. I jumped down from the tree and landed in a crouch. I straightened up to my full height, though that wasn’t saying much. I’d barely grown at all since I entered the academy.

“I’m sorry!” she apologized, her face red. “I...” she took a deep breath. “I’m a Yamanaka. We’re encouraged to gossip. Gossip is a good way to gather and spread information, or misinformation. It’s considered training. I don’t even talk to those girls anymore—they were just convenient, but they stopped saying anything new after awhile. I didn't even like them, to be honest.”

I nodded, accepting her explanation, then sat back down to finish my lunch with her. I didn’t say much as we ate, but I listened to her talk instead, occasionally nodding or shaking my head. By the time lunch ended, I learned that her favourite colour was bright blue, she was an only child, both her parents were born to the clan, though her mother was from a less prestigious branch, and both were special jounin.

When class resumed, she stole the seat next to me from the person who usually sat there. It was quite funny watching the boy try to make her move, to no avail. It appeared Aiko was very stubborn.

The period after lunch was generally reserved for lectures, so when Kago-sensei started droning on about something I already knew from the textbooks, I pulled out some paper, a pencil, and the latest scroll I received courtesy of Kushina-sensei and Hanako for reference.

That day I was planning to sketch out a few possibilities for further securing the seals on my body so that only I could open them.

After double checking the scroll to see what it said about different ways to secure a seal, I decided to start out with my functional seals as a base and add on more security measures. On my first draft, I added characters for chakra and lock, which were connected with a thick line to the top of the seal, where it would be easiest to incorporate into the existing seal. The downside was that this unbalanced the seal, so I needed to add something to rebalance it. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. I considered adding a blood lock component to the seal, but if I did two different things at once, then it would be harder to figure out where I messed up when testing. (Because at the current stage, mistakes were inevitable. Only true masters were able to create new seals on the fly. I hoped I would make it to that point someday, but I wasn't even close to it yet.)

Frustrated, I discarded my first attempt, and started again. This time I drew the basic outline for the seal again, but left off all the kanji. This way I could rearrange things to fit in the new feature without completely unbalancing it. Once pleased with the placements, I tucked the paper into my bag. Then, I sketched out two more seal bases. On the first, rearranged the kanji another way from my previous attempt. For the second seal base, I changed some of the kanji. There were so many different characters that had similar, but not quite identical, meanings.

Before I began to sketch out another base, I felt someone poke my arm. Turning my head away from my work, I saw that it was Aiko who had disturbed me. Once she managed to catch my attention, she slid a piece of paper closer to me, and pointed.

‘What are you doing?’ it said.

I pulled the paper over and wrote a quick reply. ‘Trying to alter one of my seals.’

‘Shouldn’t you be paying attention, though?’ she asked.

‘I already know the things he’s talking about,’ I wrote. ‘I almost never pay attention, unless it’s something not covered in the textbooks.’

‘And you don’t get in trouble???’

‘No. Studying something else is what they want me to do.’

‘Why?’

‘Because if my physical scores weren’t so low, well that’s an understatement. If they weren’t abysmal on the entrance tests, they would have given me a forehead protector then and there.’ I scribbled out in explanation.

Instead of responding, Aiko turned her head to stare at me in disbelief. The light shined off her glasses, obscuring her eyes, but judging by the rest of her face, they were probably widened in surprise.

-x-

We had a girls-only lesson again later that day, and once Haruka-sensei dismissed us, I waited around until my classmates were gone.

“Is there something you need, Sekai-chan?” she asked.

I nodded. “I’m planning to visit my mother’s grave today. And the daughter of my obaa-san’s too. I was wondering if it was acceptable to take some flowers from the field, and if you’re willing to tell me which ones are appropriate?”

Haruka-sensei’s already kind expression softened further. “Of course.”

With her help, I made a simple bouquet for my mother. Sweet peas for goodbye, a white chrysanthemum for grief, aster for remembrance, and white lilies for purity. I didn’t arrange it to look nice and fancy or anything like that. I told Haruka-sensei what I wanted the flowers to mean, and she gave me suggestions.

For Hanako’s daughter, I opted to just take a chrysanthemum and a white lily, since I never met her. But Hanako was unable to make it to her grave, so I decided to do it for her. After everything she’d done for me and mother, it was the least I could do.

After thanking Haruka-sensei, I made my way to the graveyard. When I arrived, I decided to go to my mother’s grave first. Her grave wasn’t hers alone. Mother’s name was one of many on a large headstone, with her birth and death dates written in tiny lettering just under her name. This massive headstone was for civilians who were unable to pay for a whole plot to themselves.

When I came to it, I noticed that someone else must have been there fairly recently, as there weren’t any weeds to pull. I took a damp cloth and cleaned the stone, wiping away a thin layer of dust and grime. With that complete, I placed the flowers in front of it.

Part of me wanted to talk to the grave, but I was well aware it wouldn’t reach her, so what was the point? I couldn’t help but believe all the fuss about funerals and graves was pointless, and just for the living the dead left behind. Regardless, I sat at her grave for nearly an hour before making my way to the ninja cemetery, which was only a short distance away.

Most ninja clans had their own private cemeteries on their own land, but the ninja cemetery was for those not born of a clan.

The ninja graveyard was larger than the civilian one, and almost all of the ninja had there own headstone for themselves and immediate family.

I walked along the rows, looking for Hanako’s daughter. I’d never been there before, so I wasn’t sure where it would be, but on the sixth row, I found it.

Unlike mother’s grave, this grave was dirty and crawling with weeds. I plucked them out, and then cleaned the headstone. I set the two flowers before the grave, and started to stand up when I paused and looked at the dates.

Hanako told me she was seventeen when she was cast out of the Tominaga clan for falling pregnant with an enemy’s child. But from the date on the headstone, her daughter wasn’t born until she was twenty-three.

Which left me with many questions.

Why did she lie?

If her daughter was born years after she was disinherited, what did she do to be cast out?

She claimed the reason she helped mother was because she’d been in mother’s place before. But she hadn’t been. So what were her real motives for taking mother in?

A cold, heavy weight settled in my chest. The one person, besides my mother, in this life that I fully trusted was lying to me.

I didn’t know what to do.

When I visited Hanako the next day, I told her I had brought flowers to her daughter’s grave.

I didn’t tell her what I discovered.

She teared up when I told her, and pulled me close in a tearful embrace. I gently returned it, even though her hand on my back felt like a knife.

-x-

“Alright class,” Kago-sensei bellowed over the chatter of my classmates. “I have an announcement to make today before we start class.

“I have booked training ground fifty-six for three days next week. We will be having a survival exercise. Please inform your parents or guardians about the exercise. The trip is compulsory. Isamu-sensei has a hand out with some tips for packing for this,” Kago-sensei said, while Isamu-sensei started handing out the papers. “Now, for this trip, everyone will have a partner.” Groans filled the room. Nobody wanted another assigned partner. “Quit your whining,” sensei barked. “You lot can pick your own partners this time. There is an even number of you. If you have trouble finding a partner, stay behind after class and we’ll figure things out from there. Additionally, though the training ground is outside the walls, there will be many ninja patrolling it to keep you safe.”

Aiko poked me to get my attention. “Hey, you want to be partners?” I nodded. She was probably the best potential partner of the lot. She wasn’t a complete idiot, and in the time I’ve spent with her, I had to admit I’d grown rather fond of her. “Great!”

It took the instructors a moment to settle the class down for the lecture, but when it started, I was sure my classmates were paying no more attention than I ever did.

With the interesting bit over, I got back to work on my seals until it was time for ninjutsu practice.

Isamu-sensei pulled me aside again. While I hadn’t quite mastered the transformation jutsu, I had been improving with his help. Now I could manage to transform into someone of similar height without messing anything up. Unfortunately, I was still unable to transform into someone larger.

“Alright, Hoshino-chan,” Isamu-sensei said. “We’ve probably got as good at the transformation jutsu as you’ll get with your skewed chakra. At the very least you can alter your appearance if you can’t be seen as yourself for whatever reason.” Sensei sighed. “To tell the truth, we weren’t really expecting you to manage that much.”

My lips thinned at his words. I was not happy that everyone assumed I would completely fail at something. Which meant I had to prove them wrong.

“Today I’m going to teach you the clone jutsu.” He raised his hands and formed the hand seals a bit slower than typical to allow me to follow easily—ram, snake, tiger. With a poof of smoke three copies of my instructor appeared around him. “Try it yourself.”

I nodded, and formed the hand signs even though I didn’t need them. (After all, if people knew I didn’t need them, then it wouldn’t be as effective.) My chakra responded to my commands as easily as walking and four clones poofed into existence. Isamu-sensei’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. He came closer and inspected them. He poked at them and they poofed out of existence. From my reading I knew that as a low level chakra construct, touch disrupted the chakra, dispelling the clone.

“Well, looks like you’ve got that one down,” he commented. “I don’t think I know of anyone who managed it on the first try before.” I stared at him in response. “I guess it’s time to teach you the substitution jutsu...”

I watched his hands move, tiger, boar, ox, dog, and snake. With a poof of smoke, sensei was replaced with a pencil. I turned around and found Isamu-sensei crouched on the desk.

Before he could say anything, I tried the jutsu myself. I intended to swap places with the pencil on the floor in front of me, but only managed to bring the pencil over to where I stood.

While that wasn’t what the jutsu was supposed to it, I filed it away in my head to experiment with if I ever got the chance. Being able to get something without coming close to it could be very useful.

-x-

The days leading up to the survival training passed quickly. In an act of generosity, I gave Aiko a storage seal to pack her things in.

The list had some useful advice—don’t pack anything too heavy or bulky, a single change of clothes is good enough, bring a canteen, blah, blah, blah. It warned against bringing too much food, as it tended to be heavy and took up a lot of room, and it was generally possible to catch food as you travelled.

I, of course, ignored most of the suggestions, and packed in as many niNRG bars I could sneak from the kitchen, along with some instant ramen and rice into my storage seal. I packed two changes of clothes, a fuck ton of water, a bedroll, a stolen tarp and rope, a pot "borrowed" from the kitchen, a lighter, bandages, rubbing alcohol, and anything else I could think of.

Even though I was only going for three days, I had enough food to last me a month if you counted the meal replacement bars.

When I reached the academy the day of the trip, I couldn’t help but cackle (on the inside, of course) upon seeing my classmates. Most seemed to have packed more than they should have—some of their back packs were bursting with clothes and bed rolls, and others had sharp, hard corners threatening to rip the fabric.

My classmates gave me strange looks upon arrival, as to them it looked like I hadn’t packed anything but the kunai I signed out for the trip in my weapon pouch.

When Aiko arrived, I saw that she was as bagless as me. It seemed she made good use of the storage seal I gave her.

At oh-nine-hundred hours, we left the academy. There wasn’t much talking on the run out of the south gate and into the surrounding woods. It was my first time outside of the village gates, though the land itself was technically part of the village.

Kago-sensei stopped abruptly in a small clearing and the kid behind him almost ran into him, but sensei side stepped out of the way and the kid fell flat on his face.

Sensei sighed, giving the kid a disappointed look. “All right everyone. Get into your pairs.” Most of the students were already near their partner, but the others quickly paired up. “Your main task for today is to build yourselves a shelter to sleep in the next two nights. You may ask Isamu-sensei or I for guidance, but we will not be building them for you. Your shelter must be constructed no more than half a kilometre away from this point. If you don’t manage it by nightfall, tough luck. If you hear this bell,” Kago-sensei held up the bell and purposely rang it. I noticed it seemed unnaturally loud. “Then you come back to the clearing. Now get to it.”

I glanced at Aiko, and she nodded. The two of us walked through the woods, looking for a good spot but not wandering too far. We stopped when we saw a pair of trees that had low branches that were nearly touching.

“I have a tarp and rope.” I said. “We could balance the tarp on those two branches and tie it down.”

“Good idea. I have some rope, too. And some kunai.” my partner agreed.

We both unsealed our supplies, and got to work. I threaded the rope into the holes at the sides of the tarps, then climbed one of the trees and draped the tarp over the tree branches and secured it with another length of rope. With that taken care of, I jumped down to help Aiko tie the ropes to her four kunai that were stuck in the ground. All in all, it didn’t take us long, perhaps a half hour including the time we searched for a good spot, and left us wondering what we were supposed to do.

With a shrug, we opted to head back to the clearing where we’d stopped earlier.

“Having problems?” Isamu-sensei asked as we stepped into the clearing.

“No. We’ve finished our shelter and were wondering what we were supposed to do now.” Aiko explained.

“Done already?” he said. “Let’s see it.”

To say Isamu-sensei was pleased with what we’d accomplished would be a lie. Apparently we weren’t supposed to use the things we brought with us. Or rather, things that without our storage seals, we would be unable to take with us.

He tried to give us some lecture about not always having these sorts of supplies with you, even if you have a storage seal, as you might be separated from it. Upon hearing that, I looked him dead in the eye, pushed up my left sleeve, unsealed my canteen, and took a long drink from it.

-x-

For the first day, the academy instructors showed us how to catch the local wild life for dinner. They demonstrated how make a good snare, how to clean the game once caught, and how to cook it.

I watched in mute horror as they caught squirrels and bunnies, and then brutally murdered them.

“You okay, Sekai-chan?” Aiko asked, seeming to sense something was off despite my neutral expression.

“They killed squirrels and bunnies,” I mumbled. She gave me a strange look, and I felt compelled to explain. Or at least partially explain. “I am... quite fond of squirrels and bunnies. I’d rather kill and eat that annoying Tominaga boy than squirrels or bunnies.”

“...Really? You’re serious?” she asked in disbelief.

“Completely,” I shrugged. It wasn’t like I could explain that in my previous life I had a pet bunny and fond memories of trying to catch squirrels so I could pet them when I was a kid. Those were some of my stronger memories that weren’t information based. My reasoning was purely emotional, and I could privately admit to myself that with no other option I would likely consume them for survival. But at that moment it was not necessary for either myself or Aiko to do so, so I continued only half jokingly, “If you partake in the consumption of such pure creatures, I will never speak to you again.”

“Well, then what are we supposed to eat?” she asked with raised eyebrows. In response I unsealed two cups of instant ramen and two niNRG bars. “Alright. Sounds like a plan. No squirrels or bunnies for us.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“O-of course!” she stuttered. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you smile.”

“I suggest you don’t get used to it.”

She snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. “You know, Sekai-chan, you’re really funny. I mean, you can be a bit mean, like you were with Shinji-kun, but it’s still funny. Especially since you say things with such a straight face and serious tone.”

“Of course. I’m hilarious.” I paused for a moment in confusion. “Who is this Shinji-kun person?”

-x-

Like with the shelter, our instructors weren’t happy about our refusal to eat bunnies and squirrels, and gave me a look of pure disbelief. I supposed I didn’t seem the sort to have issues with that. This time though, they didn’t seem surprised that I had brought things that would normally not fit well in a mission pack.

Regardless, the incident with the shelter and the refusal to eat what the instructors caught seemed to set the tone for the rest of the trip. Repeatedly, Aiko and I did things our own way, and there really wasn’t much they could do to us, since we weren’t going against the letter of the rules, only the spirit of them.

By the end of the trip, it was clear Kago-sensei and Isamu-sensei were happy to no longer have to deal with us.

After the trip, the last couple of months of the term seemed to fly by faster than usual. Perhaps it was because I had a friend to train and spend time with that made things go by quicker, but in the end it didn’t matter. Soon enough, it was a week before the graduation exam and time for the pre-graduation medical exam.

A different doctor or medic or whatever gave the exam, rather than that rude blonde lady. The new guy was older than the woman, with grey hair and wrinkly hands.

He went through similar motions to the previous exam. I was weighed and measured, I channelled my chakra into a paper, blood was taken, and so on.

When everything was processed, the doctor/medic guy discussed the results with me. Apparently I’d only grown roughly five centimetres since my pre-academy exam. It wasn’t exactly normal, he said, but not something that would stop me from becoming a ninja. My chakra ratio had improved at least, if only barely. It was no long split seven to ninety three, but instead seven point five to ninety two point five. Much change. Very difference. Many progress.

To my relief, I was given the go ahead to take the graduation exam.

-x-

The week leading up to the exam was spent training with Aiko and helping her study. She sparred with me, and helped me test out my seals. In return, I quizzed her on the ninja rules and other dull, but allegedly important information.

The day of the exam the two of us met up early. Aiko seemed to be a bit anxious about the exam, but I wasn’t worried about either of us passing. Aiko wasn’t the best at taijutsu, but she was no slouch either. She excelled at ninjutsu, and was one of the best when it came to theoretical aspects. Still, it didn’t seem to matter to her that she was more than ready for the exam, so I suggested meeting up early so I could give her a bit of a pep talk.

“You’re not an idiot, like the rest of the class. You’ll pass.”...Or as close to a pep talk as I could do. Still, making the effort to help her seemed to clam her down a little.

“That’s not really inspiring, but thanks,” she told me with a lopsided grin.

I did my best to distract her from worrying about the impending exam, and it seemed to work. I didn’t do much, I just asked her a question and let her talk until she had nothing more to say on the topic, and then asked another one. By the time we took our seats for the written portion, she was much more relaxed.

On all the desks in the classroom, was a thick exam turned over. A few students tried to peek at it before the test actually started, but were quickly reprimanded by Kago-sensei, who threatened to fail them then and there if they tried again.

Finally, when the minute hand on the clock moved to the twelve, Kago-sensei had us start.

Without further ado, I turned the exam over, scrawled my name on the top, and got to work. I flipped through the pages to see what all they were testing us on, and after checking each page, I decided to start with the math section.

Unlike the first exam I wrote, all the math was very basic, so I finished the section in no time. Next, I flipped to the geography section, where I labelled a map and answered general questions about Fire country, as well as some of the nearby nations. I breezed through history and regurgitated the ninja rules they asked for. Chakra theory involved a bit of thought, but not much. Standard procedures and conduct were covered, but the longest portion was the scenario questions. Unlike the entrance exam, they weren’t as vague and didn’t take too much thought.

Finished, I turned my paper over as directed on the last page, and rested my chin on the desk. For the next two hours I sat there doing nothing but tapping my fingers against my knees and attempting to avoid death by boredom.

We had two and a half hours for the exam, but I finished just after the thirty minute mark. The next person to finish was done two hours in. (It was Aiko who finished second, which pleased me.) By the end of the allotted time, only a third of the other students had even finished the exam.

After that they tested our proficiency with kunai and shuriken, and then had us run the obstacle course and spar with each other. The last part of the exam was the ninjutsu portion. Thankfully, they didn’t ask me to do the transformation jutsu, and instead asked for me to make a few clones. After dispelling them, I was handed a forehead protector and congratulated on becoming a genin of Hidden Leaf.

Curious, I asked them whether they had even graded the exam papers, and was told that they were graded by a group of chuunin while we underwent the physical tests.

With that answered, I thanked them and walked down the halls to the exit. I stepped outside and took a deep breath.

I was a ninja.

-x-

“How are team placements coming along this year, gentlemen?” the Fourth Hokage asked the chuunin in front of him.

“Well, this is the year for the new team dynamic trial run, correct?” Isamu asked. “Then for those... twelve, was it?” The Hokage nodded. “Has it been decided which students have been selected?”

“To a degree. There are a couple that have yet to be finalized, but these nine here,” Dan said, holding out a piece of paper, “are what we’ve decided on at this point.”

Isamu took the paper and held it between himself and Kago so they could both see the names on the list.

“Any suggestions for team formations among them?”

“Well, I think it would be best if Yamanaka Aiko and Hoshino Sekai are put together,” Kago said. “Yamanaka-chan is the only one Hoshino-chan has any attachment to, and even then it took quite awhile for that bond to grow. Splitting them up at this point would lead to them drifting apart.”

“Yes, that would be best. Hoshino-chan has few ties to the village, it would be foolish to break one,” Dan agreed. “And for the third teammate?”

“I don’t have anyone specific in mind, but it would be better to place someone who’s intellectually equal to Yamanaka-chan, at the very least. Hoshino-chan has no patience for idiocy.”

“Hm... There’s a girl a year behind your class,” Dan started, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “There were plans to place her in the new program when she graduates—the girl is highly intelligent, though not comparable to Hoshino-chan. She might be a good fit. I’ll speak to the year three instructors about a possible early graduation and have her tested tomorrow.”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“The soil of the world is soaked in blood.”

-x-

Many felt there was barely a pause between the second and third war, and on top of that the third went twice as long as the other two before it.

It seems the fourth was destined to surpass it in all ways.

-x-

i
(The Square Root of Negative One)

The fourth war officially commenced nine years after the end of the third, shortly after the death of my mother, but everyone knew it was coming for years beforehand.

It started with a peace treaty, not even half a decade after the end of the third war. While the war was officially over at that time, the purpose of the treaty was to ensure the continuation of the non-aggression policy between the Village Hidden in the Leaves and the Village Hidden in Clouds.

At least that was the pretense. In truth, Cloud proposed the treaty in order to gain entrance to Leaf, to attempt to steal the Byakugan.

The details of what actually happened are up for debate, and I’m not too clear on them, even now, but what is known is that the head ninja from the Cloud delegation attempted to kidnap the Hyuuga heiress, but was caught in the act, and as a result of the ensuing scuffle, both the head ninja and the heiress were killed.

Cloud claims that it was obviously a misunderstanding, the head ninja was surely not attempting to kidnap the girl, perhaps she’d just wandered out and he was returning her home, and the hasty actions of the Leaf ninja are what resulted in the death of the heiress and the head ninja. As such, Cloud felt that Leaf was responsible for the unjustified death of their ambassador and owed them reparations.

What Cloud didn’t know was that their head ninja didn’t die in the ensuing skirmish, but shortly afterwards—by which point Leaf already had a Yamanaka read his memories, and as a result Leaf knew for certain that the peace treaty was a pretense for bloodline theft from the very beginning. Unfortunately, the Yamanaka’s jutsu put too much stress on the injured ambassador, which is what killed him. Leaf couldn’t admit to essentially killing the head ninja outside of battle, however, as it violated accords signed to end the third war and would reflect poorly upon them.

It was a messy situation, all around. Not that I remember it of course, I was only a year old at the time.

The head of the Hyuuga clan was up in arms—his heiress, his daughter, had been killed in an attempt at bloodline theft, and he was adamant Cloud had to pay. The other clans rallied around him, thoughts and fears of ‘it could have been us’ racing in their minds.

Things were tense, neither side ready to give in, and since it was just a few short years since the end of the third war, the samurai from the Land of Iron stepped in to act as peace keepers, hoping to avoid another violent war when no one, especially civilian settlements, had yet to recover.

Neither Leaf nor Cloud had any intentions of settling things peacefully, but both humoured the samurai, offering pretty words and making token efforts to work things out. No, despite the interference of the samurai, war was coming once more, Leaf and Cloud were just using them as an excuse to delay it.

It was five tense years before the official start of the war. Both villages had used the time to build up their forces and strengthen defences. Behind the backs of the naive samurai who believed progress was being made, alliances were forged between nations in preparation for battle. The samurai and civilians may have believed peace was possible, but every ninja village across the continent was well aware that was a fool’s dream.

Despite their animosity during the third war, Cloud and Rock put aside their differences in the face of a common and greater enemy, and forged a strong alliance. The damage Cloud did to Rock was nothing compared to what the Yellow Flash did to them.

Things were more complicated for Leaf, however. Despite the formal alliance with Sand, the ninja from the Land of Wind refused to stand by their word.

“We just ended a war,” I’m told the Kazekage said. “We have no interest in fighting another.”

Leaf ninja were furious, and I can’t blame them, but the Hokage was well aware there was little they could do. Indeed, they could not make Sand fight with them, and any attempts at retaliation would only lead to Sand siding with Cloud and Rock. Sand ninja were persona non grata in Leaf, and would be for years to come.

It was a betrayal, a deep one, considering Leaf wasn’t the one at fault for the conflict.

Fortunately for Leaf, they were approached for an alliance by Mist. Apparently, Cloud had a “treaty” in the works with Mist as well, and it wasn’t hard to guess how Cloud intended for it to end.

The alliance was tense at first, but during the Preparation Period as it would later be called, Leaf and Mist established a close, mutually beneficial relationship. The Leaf discreetly sent medical ninja to Mist, as medicine was an area they were sorely lacking in, and in return Mist shared their poisons and brought over many exotic, deadly plants for the Leaf’s greenhouses.

Trade boomed between the two villages—Leaf had exclusive contracts from mining companies in Mountain Country, and the ore was passed on to the expert weapon smiths in Mist, who forged blades sharper and more durable than the Leaf could ever hope to.

The two nations were lucky—there was only Red Bean Country and a few island nations separating them. Trade routes were long, but discreet. Supplies were sent south down the Yamato river in Fire Country until it joined the ocean. Then they sailed around the main land and up the Kurokono river in Water Country to Mist. Of course, once the war officially started and Rock and Cloud were aware of the alliance, the route was altered to prioritize speed over secrecy.

And of course, Leaf also had a hidden ally in the Land of Rice Fields, positioned half way between Lighting and Earth, keeping an eye on the comings and going of their enemies.

-x-

It was a waiting game for Hidden Leaf. The village had never eased up on war time protocols, and so the academy was churning out graduates in large batches every six months. Enrolment was highly encouraged, even among civilian families. If one had a ninja in their family, after all, they received more rations when the war started.

And unlike when the nation was actively at war, there was time to train the fresh graduates adequately. Most jounin in the village had taught a team of genin during the Preparation Period, if only until their chuunin promotions. The jounin who weren’t occupied training new recruits were busy running A and S rank missions, boosting the village’s income so there was a nice nest egg when the war started.

Similarly, less experienced ninja were working the farm land south of the village, their use of chakra increasing the efficiency of harvesting and growing. Crop yields were at an all time high, the excess stockpiled in the village. Storage seals allowed what would normally be perishables to be stored indefinitely.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves was ready for war, but they could not be the ones to abandon the peace talks—they were already able to largely portray themselves as the victims, and being the ones to officially start the war could turn sympathizers against them. No, they had to wait, and while they did so, they grew stronger.

Eventually, Cloud moved. Again, I hardly know the details, but from my understanding they accused one of the samurai leading the peace talks of being a spy for Leaf, though their evidence was circumstantial at best, and attacked. The Leaf ninja present jumped to the defence of the remaining samurai, and thus the first skirmish of the war began.

Personally, I’m willing to bet the samurai accused of espionage truly was guilty. That, or dead and impersonated by a Leaf ninja on a suicide mission to kick off the war. The fact that despite the samurai’s own skill at combat and the defence the Leaf ninja provided, the only survivors of the battle were ninja didn’t help my suspicions.

Like I said, Leaf may appear to be the nice village, but it’s only because they’re the best liars.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“They say four is death. We would see if that held true.”

-x-

“She requested information on sealing.”

“Is that so...? Very well, have Uzumaki-san pass along the introductory scrolls.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?”

“The Uzumaki boy was a complete disappointment—the son of two seal masters, yet he had no talent or interest. Minato and Kushina won’t live forever, we need to secure a seal master for the village. We already know the girl is one of the smartest we’ve seen in years, if she has any aptitude for the subject... She’s our best bet.”

-x-

Seven

The evening after I graduated I moved into the dorms—which was what the housing for ninja unable to afford anything better was called. The dorms were half way across the village, near the training grounds, and I was lucky to have my storage seals for the trip. I didn’t have many possessions, but I did have a couple box fulls that would have been annoying to transport otherwise.

I was assigned to unit 420, which amused me to no end. Heh, blaze it, man.

The dorm only had one room if you didn’t count the small bathroom. There was a small kitchen area with a stove, sink, fridge and cupboards in the right corner closest to the door. The floors of the room were scuffed and the paint on the cupboards peeling, betraying the fact that I wasn’t the first resident.

In the corner across from the kitchen there was a small table with two unmatched chairs.

The door to the bathroom, which was in the back left corner, was straight across from the entrance. A loft bed was nestled in the far right corner between three walls. It was already made, with plain white sheets and a grey quilt. Underneath it were multiple drawers for storage.

Anything else I’d have to purchase myself.

I unsealed my clothes first, and carefully placed them in one of the drawers under the bed. Then I moved onto the bathroom and arranged the toiletries. Finally, I put my spare sealing ink in the bottom drawer.

I was unpacked and the room was just as empty as it had been when I started. With nothing left to do, I climbed up onto my bed and lay down. I took my forehead protector from my pocket and held it up, trying to decide where I should wear it. The forehead was the obvious choice, but it wouldn’t work very well with my typical hairstyle, which I wasn't interested in changing. I closed my eyes and tried to recall as many ninja as I could. I’d seen it worn in several different places, like around the arm or waist. A few people wore it pinned over their hearts, but that was the last place I wanted to put it.

After a lot of thought, I decided to wear it around my neck. Like a collar. Like I was a dog, and belonged to Hidden Leaf.

-x-

“...Team Four is Hoshino Sekai, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Aiko,” Kago-sensei announced.

“Who’s Haruno Sakura?” I nudged Aiko, who was sitting next to me, as usual.

“I don’t know. She wasn’t in our class, I think,” the blonde whispered back. “I guess—”

“Ahem! Just because your team has been announced, doesn’t mean you can start talking!” Sensei barked.

“Apologies, sensei,” Aiko and I chorused. We remained silent for the rest of the team placements.

“Congratulations on graduating,” Sensei said with a smile. “I’m pleased that all of you have made it this far, and hope that you will do your village proud. Remember, the Will of Fire burns strongly in each of you, so you can always draw on its strength and endure. Its flame will keep you warm. Teams Five through Forty-one are dismissed for lunch, you’re expected to return here in an hour to meet your jounin instructor. Teams One through Four, please follow me across the hall.”

Aiko and I exchanged a glance, but dutifully followed the chuunin to the smaller classroom. At his gesture we all found a seat.

“I’m sure the twelve of you are wondering why your teams have been singled out,” he started. “The reason is that you’ve all been selected to be part of a trial run for a modified genin team dynamic.

“There are certain roles in the village that are extremely important, especially with the ongoing war. However it is also important that the these ninja pass on their knowledge and skills to the next generation. Therefore, each of you will be assigned a mentor for a specific field. Your mentors will teach you individually, for the most part, but will take turns leading your missions and overseeing mandatory team training. Any questions you have can be answered by your mentors. You have fifty five minutes for lunch—please return to this classroom within that time. Please take care.”

Kago-sensei left the room, and three of the other graduates followed after him, but the rest of us decided to eat and wait in the classroom.

“Haruno Sakura?” Aiko called. A pink haired girl looked up at us through her bangs.

“Yes?” she squeaked.

“I’m Yamanaka Aiko, and this is Sekai-chan. We’re the other two members of Team Four. Would you like to come sit with us?” Aiko asked with a kind smile.

“Sure,” she nodded and bit her lip, gathering up her bento and coming to sit on the other side of Aiko. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Great, a shy one, it seemed. “You too,” I replied.

The three of us ate in awkward silence until we finished our lunches.

“So...” Aiko started. Her eyes darted between Sakura and I. “Sakura-chan, me and Sekai-chan have been in the same class for about two years, but we haven’t met you before. Which class were you in? How old are you?”

“Oh, um. Well, I was supposed to have two terms left, but Michibi-sensei wanted me to try graduating early, and I passed. I guess it was because of this?” Sakura answered hesitantly. “Oh, um. And I just turned ten. What about you two?”

“Oh, you’re about a year younger than me, then. I’m turning eleven this year,” Aiko smiled. “Sekai-chan is seven. I’m wondering who my sensei is supposed to be, and in what. I’m a Yamanaka, so probably infiltration or interrogation. What about you two? Any ideas?”

“Seals,” I replied instantly. “I think Uzumaki Kushina will probably by my sensei—I met her a year ago. She’s the best seal master in the village, but usually very busy.”

“Seals?” Sakura asked, her eyes focusing on my left arm. “Is that what that is?”

“Yes. It’s a storage seal.”

“Cool. I think maybe a medic will be mine? I’ve been going to the introductory lessons for academy students, you see, and Nohara-sensei says I’m doing better than the rest of the class,” Sakura explained, fiddling with a strand of bubblegum pink hair. “Maybe she wants to take me on?”

For the rest of the lunch period, the three of us continued to get to know each other, and the more we spoke, the further Sakura crawled out of her shell. I noticed that like Aiko, while she was still a little kid, she was smart enough to be tolerable. Hell, she was probably even smarter than Aiko.

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a trio of jounin. Once they collected their genin, they left. Time trickled by, more jounin came and left, and soon it was just the three of us waiting on our own jounin sensei.

“They’re late,” I commented.

Sakura glanced at the clock. “Only by fifteen minutes. Maybe something came up? I doubt they’ll keep us waiting too long.”

“I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” Aiko agreed.

I shrugged in response, and we returned to waiting in a silence as awkward as when we ate.

Another quarter of an hour slipped by before the door burst open.

“Sorry we’re like, super late!” called Uzumaki Kushina as she burst into the room with another woman at her side. “Sakura-chan, your instructor is dealing with an emergency surgery, and so Kairi-chan and I were trying to decide if we should like, wait for her or whatever.”

“Obviously, we opted not to,” the second woman, Kairi-sensei, I inferred, added. She was tall for a woman, with long navy hair that covered the right half of her face. “We left a message for her to meet us at training ground thirty-two when she’s done.”

“So let’s get going, girls!” Kushina-sensei enthused. “C’mon!”

-x-

Training ground thirty-two was a clearing bordered by large oak trees near the Senju compound. There was a small, clear pond in the centre of the training ground. It didn’t look too deep, perhaps two metres, give or take.

The entire training ground showed no damage from ninjutsu, but looking closely I noticed that the bark on some of the trees was worn down, and the green grass had been flattened in areas. It must have been one of the grounds where ninjutsu training was forbidden. Though, I’d heard from Aiko that as long as you only used non-destructive ninjutsu, like the three jutsu we were taught in the academy, and most supplementary jutsu, everyone tended to look the other way.

Kushina-sensei plopped down on the ground and motioned for us to join her and Kairi-sensei, whose own descent was much more graceful.

“Alright, everyone!” Kushina began enthusiastically. “My name is Uzumaki Kushina, and this is Kojima Kairi! Sekai-chan will be my apprentice, Aiko-chan will be with Kairi-chan, and Sakura-chan’s mentor will be Tsunade-sama.” The redhead explained. “I specialize in seals, Kairi-chan specializes in espionage, and Tsunade-sama is a combat medic. The three of us our the best of the best in our respective fields, and we’ll be training you to eventually take our places. Any questions so far?”

Sakura raised her hand. “Um... When you say Tsunade-sama will be my mentor, do you mean Senju Tsunade-sama?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yep!” Kushina grinned and winked. “Apparently she’s had her eye on you ever since you started the introductory classes.”

“What Kushina-sama says is true,” Kairi-sensei added with a small smile. “You’re very talented, Sakura-chan. According to Tsunade-sama and Nohara-san, you’ve picked up things much more quickly than ninja twice your age.”

Sakura's round green eyes widened and she flushed, clearly flustered. “O-oh.”

“You said we’d eventually replace you,” I said. “Replace you in what, exactly?”

Kushina smirked proudly. “I’m the village’s Seal Master. A lot of what I do is heavily classified, so I can’t tell you much of what I do for the village quite yet, but it’s a vital position in the village, and because of it I’m near the top of the jounin hierarchy.”

“As for myself,” Kairi-sensei started. "Officially, I am the head of the Internal Espionage Division, and highly ranked in External as well. I would have been the head of both, but running two departments at the same time as performing missions isn’t feasible.”

“And of course, Tsunade-sama is the head of the hospital, and the only combat medic in the village,” Kushina-sensei added.

“Aren’t there quite a few combat medics, though? Nohara-sensei was telling me they’d just authorized several medics for mission duty?” Sakura asked with a furrowed brow.

“Those are field medics, kid,” a voice from behind the three of us genin interrupted.

“Ah, Tsunade-sama! You’re, like, done sooner than Kairi-chan and I expected!” Kushina said as she started vibrating with excitement.

“It was an easy surgery.” The woman waved her hand in dismissal as she sat down next to Kushina-sensei. “Brats, I’m Senju Tsunade. You can call me Tsunade-sensei.”

“What’s the difference between a field medic and a combat medic?” I asked, focusing on the new arrival. She seemed familiar.

“Field medics go on missions with a team, but they are not to join in on the fighting unless the rest of their team is already dead. Unlike hospital medics, they have sufficient skills to keep up with their teammates and defend themselves if necessary,” Sakura explained. “Combat medics do participate in battle, and are much more skilled in offensive and defensive capabilities than field medics. I just hadn’t realized that Nohara-sensei was speaking about just field medics—I assumed that combat medics weren’t so rare.”

“Exactly,” Tsunade-sensei nodded with a pleased smirk. “Most other villages don’t differentiate between field and combat medics, using the terms interchangeably. By our definition, many medics from other villages would be considered combat medics, however they also don’t actually meet our standards to qualify as one.”

“Now then, I think it’s time we explain to you how things are going to work on this team,” Kairi-sensei said. “First of all, there will be mandatory team training thrice a week. For some of these sessions, it might be all three of us there, for others it will just be one of us.

“Once we deem you ready, we will start you on missions. In village missions will only take a day, but eventually you will likely be running missions that can take up to a week or more with one of us. This rotation will allow us the time to fulfill our own duties while still training you three. Understood?” She finished.

“Yes, sensei,” us genin answered slightly out of sync.

“Alright then. Sekai-chan, you’ll, like, meet me tomorrow morning at seven outside the Hokage tower, okay?”

-x-

I was early. Not like, weirdly early, like, an hour or something. No, I was just fifteen minutes early. And yet, I spent forty-five minutes waiting for Kushina-sensei.

Was it normal for her to be late?

By the time it was ten after seven, I decided fuck it, and flipped onto my hands. I lifted one arm and simultaneously brought one of my legs down to meet it. I raised my leg and lowered my arm, then repeated the motion with the other arm and leg. It wasn’t strenuous or anything, but it was something to keep my body occupied while my thoughts drifted. I didn't know if what we would be doing today was strenuous and would require me to be rested, but even light exercise was better for my chakra than remaining stationary.

The chuunin “guards” standing outside the building and passing academy students gave me odd looks, but I didn’t particularly care.

“What are you doing?” Kushina-sensei asked upon her (late!) arrival.

“Keeping myself occupied,” I answered as I flipped back to my feet.

“Well, you do you, Sekai-chan,” she commented with a raised eyebrow. “Come on, let’s go to my office.”

I blinked in surprise. She had an office in the Hokage tower? That was... uncommon, to say the least. Very few people had offices there, and all who did were extremely high up on the village food chain.

Sensei said she was near the top of the jounin hierarchy, but she must have been more important than I assumed.

I followed her into the building, where she stopped and talked to the two women sitting at the reception quickly, then pulled me along. I was led through a maze of stairs and hallways—both going up flights of stairs and down them. I couldn’t even keep track of which floor I was on very well, as by my estimates, some of the rooms were only half a level below others. By the time we reached her windowless office, I had no idea what level I was on, and wasn’t sure if I was on the east side or the west of the tower.

“It’s confusing on purpose, isn’t it,” I observed.

“Yep! It took me ages to figure it out on my own,” Sensei replied with a giggle. “There are only a couple places that are fairly straight forward to get to. Hell, most ninja enter the Hokage’s office through the windows because it’s a lot quicker than navigating through the building.” She shrugged. “I mean, getting to the office isn’t too difficult comparatively...”

“I noticed things made little sense at the hospital as well. From the little I’ve seen of it, I can’t find a pattern in the room numbers,” I commented.

“Yeah, we do that a lot. Keeps civilians from nosing their way around, and will confuse an enemy impersonating a Leaf ninja.

“Enough about that though, I’m here to tell you about what we’ll be working on, and what you’ll be expected to do when you eventually replace me.” I tilted my chin in acknowledgement, and sat down in one of the armchairs at sensei’s direction. The chair was large, so I allowed myself to sit with my legs crossed, since Kushina-sensei didn’t seem the sort to care. My fingers started tapping my knees as I took a moment to take in my surroundings.

The room was covered from ceiling to floor with papers, books and scrolls. Ink stains covered the large desk and the wheeled chair behind it, as well as most other furniture, including the two arm chairs Kushina-sensei and I sat on. Brushes and pens were scattered across every available surface. Bookshelves lined all but one of the walls, which had numerous papers covered in half finished seals stuck to it.

“First of all, sealing is an old and dying ninja art. Seal masters are vital,” Sensei stressed. “The village needs them, and can't function optimally without one, but few show any interest in learning sealing. Which is why when teachers, or in some cases, clan leaders and family members, learn of someone interested in it, we provide basic information and see if they stick with it. Not only did you stick with it, but you’ve shown aptitude for it. Aptitude beyond what anyone would expect.

“Initially, the village hoped my son would replace me, as the Uzumaki clan, while almost extinct, is still feared today for our prowess with seals. My husband is also proficient with seals, so the village was hopeful. Unfortunately,” Sensei let out a long sigh, “my son has neither the interest nor aptitude for the subject, and refuses to study it at all. On top of that, it is too risky for me to have another child. It’s unfortunate...

“When I say my clan is dead, what I mean is that we used to be even larger than the Uchiha clan, but now there are only a handful of survivors scattered across the continent, and it’s doubtful any are proficient in Uzumaki sealing, aside from myself.” Kushina-sensei stared in the direction of the bookshelves, a faraway look in her dark blue eyes. “Uzumaki sealing is very powerful. It was the basis of my clan’s secret techniques, and, well... The village can’t afford to lose it. Which is why...” She fixed her gaze on me, the expression on her face conveying just how serious she was. “Under several conditions, I am willing to teach it to you.”

I was taken aback, and the tapping of my fingers faltered for a moment. Nobody showed an outsider family jutsu and techniques. It just wasn’t done. To be offered the chance to learn them? It wasn’t just something that rarely happened. No, I’d never heard of it being done before.

“Sensei... Are you sure?” I asked. She nodded. “What...” I licked my lips quickly. “What are your conditions?”

“All things considered, they are very lenient,” Sensei smiled reassuringly. “The first is that if I am no longer around to teach any of my grandchildren, that you teach them. The second condition, is that unless I have no grandchildren or they decide to follow Naruto’s path, you don’t teach Uzumaki sealing techniques to anyone else. Well, if another Uzumaki is found and proves loyal to the village, they fall into the same category as any of my future grandchildren.”

“Please clarify the second condition,” I requested.

“I mean that you can only teach this to students who are not members of the Uzumaki clan if there are no Uzumaki who are able and willing to learn. Uzumaki take precedence,” Kushina explained. “Furthermore, if you must take on an apprentice that’s not part of my clan, they follow the same conditions you do. And you may only teach a single non-Uzumaki apprentice my clan’s secret techniques in your lifetime, unless the apprentice dies before you. In that case you may take on another.”

I repeatedly tapped two fingers against my chin as I pondered her offer. It wasn’t just lenient, it may as well have been that there were no conditions at all. I was expecting to have to declare not just my own fealty to the clan, but the fealty of any descendants as well. Or something even worse. It was a no brainer.

“I accept.”

-x-

After I had accepted Sensei’s conditions, we spent time going over going over what I was already able to do with seals. The process was tedious, as it involved Kushina-sensei asking me increasingly in depth questions about different aspects of sealing, including some I’d yet to even hear of, like linked seals.

It was late afternoon by the time she declared she had a thorough understanding of where I was skill-wise. Once that was done, she had me spend ages doing paper work. I had to fill out what felt like hundreds of forms.

One was for clearance to learn the basics about defensive seals, apparently in preparation for eventually learning how the village’s worked and maintaining them, never mind that the stuff I was applying for clearance to learn was too basic to even be relevant to or of use against the village’s seals, but that was ninja hoarding and paranoia for you.

There were other similar forms that covered different areas of sealing, and they were pretty much the same as the other one and simple to fill out, but frustrating in that I’d had to write the same thing on at least six or seven of them.

Another was for clearance to wander the restricted areas in the Hokage tower unaccompanied. Which basically referred to most of the tower, excluding the academy portion, the Hokage’s office and the way there, the lobby, and the mission rooms. By the time I finished it all, it was late enough that sensei sent me home.

Fucking paper work. No wonder the founders decided to build the village in a forest, if they hadn’t, we’d never have enough paper to run this god forsaken place.

-x-

The next day I met with Kushina-sensei at one of the training grounds instead of her office. Once again, I had opted to arrive fifteen minutes early, though this time I brought a book to keep me occupied if sensei was late a third time. (One is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and thrice is a pattern.)

As I read my book, I ran laps around the training ground, and so that was how sensei found me.

“Oh my god,” Sensei groaned as she landed from her jump down from the trees. “You’re just like my husband’s student—he’s always reading, regardless of what he’s doing.”

“I must balance actions which generate spiritual energy by generating physical energy at the same time, or else my chakra imbalance will become even worse,” I told her.

“Well, at least you have a reason,” she allowed, and then crossed her arms and scowled. “Minato’s student just does it to be a little shit, if you ask me.”

I merely stared at her, having no idea what she was talking about. On the bright side, at least she was on time today.

My new teacher sighed at my lack of response with a small shake of her head. “Right, well, today we’re going to spar so I can assess your taijutsu.”

I nodded and fell into my preferred stance, watching her carefully. Unlike yesterday, when she wore a simple calf-length green dress, she was dressed in a much shorter, blue sleeveless dress, which showed off her muscular arms, with a thick black belt around her waist. Beneath it she wore black leggings which ended just above her knees. I supposed this was her training and combat attire.

Kushina-sensei held herself loosely, not even bothering to fall into any taijutsu stance. “Well?” she said. “C’mon. The time you spend just standing there is time I’m never gonna get back, you know."

I pounced at her. She gracefully dodged my first attack, and then my second, third and fourth as well, each without comment. My fifth attack, a kick aimed to her torso, she blocks instead. “Decent power behind that one,” she commented. “Room for improvement, but impressive for your age.”

Ignoring her comment, I continued my (hopeless) assault until she abruptly kicked me into the air. I flipped in the air and landed on my feet just in time to dodge her fist.

From there I was one hundred percent on the defensive. I did my best to evade her, and blocked what I couldn’t dodge but she still managed to get in several good hits that would leave ugly bruises. Despite the pain, I was sure she was holding back.

It felt like ages, but it must have been no more than twenty or so minutes before she called time. I was panting from exertion, but Kushina-sensei hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Not bad, Sekai-chan,” she told me with a grin. “You did a lot better than I expected. You’re pretty fast for a genin, yanno?”

I shrugged a shoulder. No, I didn’t know. It wasn’t like I knew how fast most genin were.

From there she went on to critique my performance. I faltered slightly when I had to go on the defensive, my transitions still weren’t the smoothest. Apparently I put to much thought into it, when my movements should have been instinctive.

“I shall endeavour to improve my taijutsu to an acceptable standard,” I told her once she was finished.

“Oh, um. No! I didn’t mean to say you were, like, doing poorly, or that you’re not suited for taijutsu, just that those were, like, the areas that needed more work! You’re good for a fresh genin!” Sensei rambled as she flailed her arms in an attempt to get her point across.

“Kushina-sensei,” I interrupted. “I understood what you meant.”

“Oh.” She grinned bashfully, rubbing her neck. “Right. Okay. Good.

“Anyways, aside from teaching you sealing, another reason I was selected as your sensei was because I primarily use taijutsu when engaging opponents, and since you don’t have much aptitude for ninjutsu, it will be one of the main aspects of your combat style.”

“I thought it would be, but I was also told I’ll likely have an aptitude for genjutsu. Will you be teaching it to me?” I asked.

“Well, to be honest I suck at genjutsu. Like most Uzumaki, I have skewed chakra, favouring physical energy. But! Don’t worry about it. I’m working on finding someone who can teach you genjutsu, okay? I know people.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Why did you decide to focus on taijutsu for yourself?” I couldn’t help but ask her.

“Well... I’m pretty good with ninjutsu these days, but when I was a kid and first starting out, I sucked at ninjutsu because of chakra control issues. I had to work really hard to bring my control up to standard and it took years. The closest thing to ninjutsu that I used was my manifestation of the Uzumaki bloodline limit, which worked really well with taijutsu. So, since you have a problem with ninjutsu like I used to, it means I know a lot of what you need to learn instead, especially fighting against ninjutsu specialists,” she explained. “Even these days I don’t use ninjutsu in direct combat—most that I know do large scale damage and are best for sabotage.”

I nodded slowly. It made sense. Learn how to fight without relying on ninjutsu from someone who primarily fights without ninjutsu. “Your bloodline limit?”

“Ah, you’ll have to wait and see, Sekai-chan!”

-x-

After training had finished for the day, I went to Suzuki Kashiya, which was a nice little cafe specializing in various sugary delights. It was one of my favourite places in the village, but not one that I made it to very often, owing to a lack of funds.

It was a cute little store, with a pale blue front, a black arched door and a large window framed with black shutters that bore the shop’s name in elegant lettering.

I pushed the door open, and saw that both Aiko and Sakura were already there and waiting for me.

“You look tired,” Aiko commented instead of greeting me. I shrugged. “Well, since you’re finally here—”

“Ah, Aiko-chan, you’ve only been here for a couple minutes...” Sakura interjected softly.

“Right, good point. Anyways, since you’re finally here, Sekai-chan, we can order now. C’mon. It’s my treat, so get whatever you want, Sekai-chan, Sakura-chan,” Aiko offered.

“Are you sure?” I asked. She nodded in response, so the three of us headed over to the counter.

“I’ll have the house tea with some hakuto jelly, please,” Aiko ordered, and looked at Sakura.

“I’ll have green tea with one of those pear tarts.”

I hummed as I looked over the variety of desserts and sweets available. “I’ll have green tea, two of the choco bananas, a slice of your strawberry shortcake, a candied strawberry—no wait, make that two, and a crepe—surprise me with the filling. Please.”

Aiko and Sakura gave me incredulous looks when I completed my order. “Is that everything?” Aiko asked sarcastically as she adjusted her glasses. I just nodded, and watched Aiko pay for the order. The price of my portion ended up being twice as much as my teammates’ put together. I didn’t feel bad about it though. Aiko was a clan kid, and I knew she was from one of the wealthier branches of the Yamanaka clan.

“...That’s quite a bit, Sekai-chan,” Sakura mumbled once we were seated with our orders.

My blonde friend snorted. “That’s a bit of an understatement.”

“I require sustenance,” I told them around one of the choco bananas. “I’m a growing girl.” I continued once I swallowed.

“Please, Sekai-chan. I’ve known you for almost two years and you’ve only grown like, two centimetres since your first day at the academy,” Aiko laughed.

“I’ve grown five , thank you very much,” I snapped. My height, or rather, my lack of it, was a bit of a sore subject, not that many knew that. The medic who did my pre-academy medical exam said I would always be a bit short, but I was a good bit beyond short—barely hitting the one metre mark.

“Oh, wow. Five whole centimetres. That’s soooo, impressive, Sekai-chan,” Aiko drawled, eliciting a soft giggle from Sakura. “I guess it seemed like less since I grew twelve centimetres in the same time period, so it just seemed like you were getting shorter and shorter.”

“Shut the fuck up, Aiko,” I grumbled and shoved a forkful of cake in my mouth. It was time to change the subject. “Sakura, you’ve been fairly quiet.”

“Yeah, you’ve been quieter than Sekai-chan.”

“O-oh,” Sakura’s eyes widened. “Well, I mean... The two of you seem very familiar, and I just didn’t want to intrude.”

“We invited you!” Aiko protested. “You can’t intrude when you’re invited. Besides, we’re teammates, so you’re one of us now!”

“One of us. One of us. One of us,” I chanted monotonously, and then shoved more cake in my mouth. It was absolutely delicious .

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“One of the most important things I've learned is this; follow the letter, not the intent.”

-x-

The sound of the door opening and closing roused me from my afternoon nap.

“Mother?” I said blearily as I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was only just past one in the afternoon. “You’re home early.”

“There was a bit of an accident at work, love,” she answered. “Someone ran into me while I was carrying a tray, and soup spilled all over me, so they sent me home. I’m exhausted, so I’m just going to bed, okay?”

“’Kay,” I mumbled, and flopped over to go back to sleep, not realizing that was the last thing I’d ever say to my mother.

-x-

Eight

Our first team training session was with Tsunade-sensei, since Kairi-sensei and Kushina-sensei were out running missions for the next few days.

“Welcome to your first team session,” Tsunade-sensei greeted. “Today, we’re going to do a little training exercise. Usually, genin teams are tested by their jounin sensei, and if they fail, they’re sent back to the academy. The three of you are lucky—you didn’t have to deal with that.” Sakura and Aiko, who both stood to my left, traded nervous glances, likely wondering where this was going. “But I’m going to give you the test I’d have given if that were the case,” Tsunade-sensei smiled cruelly. “If you pass, you will be rewarded. If you fail, you will be harshly punished.”

Sakura and Aiko gulped audibly, but I didn’t react to her words. Tsunade-sensei reached inside her green haori and pulled out two small bells from what I assumed was an interior pocket. She held the two bells in front of us, and jingled them, smirking all the while.

“Your task is to take one of these from me. I’ll be holding them in my right hand the whole time, and if I drop them unintentionally, then the test ends immediately. Whoever gets and keeps a bell throughout the test within the next hour passes. Those who don’t, fail. Understood?” she explained brusquely.

“There are only two bells though,” Aiko frowned. “Does that mean that at least one of us will fail?”

“I think the answer to that is quite obvious, isn’t it?” Tsunade-sensei replied. “And we begin now.”

As soon as she declared the test had commenced, all three of us put distance between both each other and Tsunade-sensei.

I took to the trees with the intention of taking a moment to plan and keep an eye on Tsunade-sensei while I did so. Tsunade-sensei was legendary—she was probably one of the top five most powerful Leaf ninja. There was no way I would be able to get one of those bells from her, let alone Aiko or Sakura.

That didn’t stop Aiko from making the first move, though. She burst out of the trees and bushes and made a mad dash towards Tsunade-sensei, throwing a handful of kunai. The legendary ninja easily side stepped them, but my blonde teammate aimed another volley of kunai at her new position. They kept up the dance of projectiles and dodging for almost a minute, until Aiko was right in front of Tsunade-sensei and pulled on something, a wire too thin to see, by my guess. All her projectiles were pulled from the ground and came flying towards the elder blonde’s back. Tsunade-sensei dodged them by jumping into the air, causing the ground to crack and shake from her take off, and Aiko was forced to release the wire she’d been pulling on and make a clumsy retreat, lest she end up impaled by her own weapons. With a scowl on her face, she leapt into the trees once more.

Aiko’s attempt made it all the more clear just how futile it was to face her head on. Not to mention, seeing Aiko’s strategy through, it was obvious that at most, all it might have accomplished is cutting the strings Tsunade-sensei held the bells by, and only if she was lucky.

Then it hit me.

If I obtained a bell within an hour I passed. If Tsunade-sensei dropped the bells unintentionally, the test ended.

If she dropped the bells before the hour was up, I could still grab one within the hour time limit. After all, she never specified that I had to get a bell during the test, just that I had to get one within an hour. Not only that, but she didn’t say we had to keep the bells after the test ends, so if we force it to end before we take the bells, then we can just pass the bells around between the three of us, and so we each got a bell within the time limit, hence we all pass the test.

By my internal clock, only about eight minutes had passed since the start of the exam. That gave me roughly fifty-two minutes to grab my teammates, make a plan, and execute it. Without further ado, I went off to find the other two genin.

I found Sakura first, and all I had to do was tell her that I found away for all three of us to pass, and she followed me in my search for Aiko.

Once we found her, I laid out the loophole I had discovered.

“Are you sure that will actually work, Sekai-chan?” Sakura asked as she gnawed at her bottom lip. “I mean, that’s clearly not how the test is supposed to work...”

I shrugged. “My suggested course of action falls within the parameters of the mission.” I paused for a moment, then corrected myself. “Test. The parameters of the test.”

“But the test has already ended at that point,” Aiko pointed out. “Can you pass a test that has already ended?”

I tilted my head and looked Aiko in the eye as best I could through the shiny lens of her glasses. “You can only pass or fail after the test, not during it.”

Sakura frowned in thought for a moment, but quickly came to a conclusion. “There’s no harm in trying...”

“I suppose,” The blonde finally agreed. “Do you have a plan?”

-x-

Sakura ran towards her mentor, attempting a direct attack with taijutsu, being sure to go after the arm that held the bells. Tsunade-sensei smoothly dodged her first few attempts, but eventually grew bored of dodging and flicked Sakura away with her free hand.

My teammate flew a short distance through the air, and finally came to a rolling stop. Instead of trying again, Sakura fled back into the trees, where I was hiding. I gave her a thumbs up, and we started counting silently.

Just as we reached a hundred and fifty-three seconds, Aiko burst forth from the opposite side of the clearing. Like her first attempt, she threw barrages of kunai and shuriken at Tsunade-sensei, which the combat medic dodged with ease. The training ground was half covered by the time the Aiko pulled back.

I had no idea if Tsunade-sensei attempted to move from where she stood, but if she did, she failed.

When Sakura had been kicked back by Tsunade-sensei, she had planted a handful of what I called freeze tag seals as she rolled, and Aiko herded Tsunade-sensei right on top of them.

With Tsunade-sensei disabled, I finally emerged from the trees, and slowly walked towards her, and then kicked the arm that held the bells with as much force as I could muster. Fortunately, it was enough to make her arm shake as the freeze tags resisted movement from the force of my kick, and the bells fell from her hand.

“Oh no,” I said as I bent down to pick up the two bells. “The test is over.”

My teammates walked over, and I handed each of them a bell.

“Indeed,” Aiko agreed with a smirk. “But each of us still managed to get a bell within an hour.”

“Which satisfies the conditions required to pass the test,” Sakura finished.

With that, I released the seals, freeing Tsunade-sensei, who took a moment to roll her shoulders and flex her muscles.

She gave us a long, considering look, and then burst into laughter. “You got me, brats. I suppose that’s what I get for modifying the test as I explained it to you.” She shook her head. “Congratulations. That said, it’s time I explained to you the real criterion for passing.”

“What,” the three of us chorused flatly.

Tsunade-sensei chuckled again. “All three of you met the criteria that I told you you needed to meet to pass, but that actually wasn’t the real test.”

“Fucking ninja mind games,” I muttered to myself in English, resulting in strange looks from Sakura and her mentor.

“Just ignore her, she just says gibberish sometimes,” Aiko, who was used to it, explained.

“Right. Anyways, you also accomplished the actual criterion for passing—you worked together,” she told us. “The test is supposed to discourage you from working with your teammates, which is why there are only two bells. Working together, however, is the only way any of you had a chance of accomplishing the task, or the mission as it were. If you’d chosen not to work together, you wouldn’t have put the mission first, and would have failed. But you were able to succeed because you put the mission before your own interests, and that is one of the most important lessons I can teach you.”

Inwardly, I scoffed. Put the mission first. Fuck that. I’m looking out for my interests first and foremost.

“Now, whoever came up with your plan, explain it.”

Aiko and Sakura, the traitors, pointed at me. Throwing me under the bus? I would get them back for that...

“I figured out the loophole, and went to collect my teammates. From there, I thought to draw up my freeze tags, but small enough that they aren’t obvious, and subtly place them on the ground, so their ranges overlapped. Once they were in place, it remained to force you over to them,” I explained, not letting my annoyance take the form of sarcasm and bleed into my explanation. “After Aiko’s initial display, I decided she would do the herding, and Sakura and I gave her all our kunai, shuriken, and senbon. When you stopped messing around with Aiko when she first attacked, I noticed that you sent her flying. Therefore I instructed Sakura to engage in a taijutsu battle with you, and when she was sent flying, to make sure to fall into a roll and discreetly place the seals.”

“Not bad, brats,” Tsunade-sensei acknowledged. “I’m proud of you.”

-x-

I had been Kushina-sensei’s student for just over a week when she asked me to join her family for dinner. I didn’t particularly want to, but I had the feeling there wasn’t really another option. So one Tuesday afternoon we cut training short and sensei led me to her home in the Senju compound.

“The Senju compound...?” I asked as we passed through the gate.

Sensei hummed. “Yeah. The Uzumaki clan was closely related to the Senju, so when I came to Hidden Leaf from Whirlpool Country I stayed here. Back then I lived with Mito-sama, who was an Uzumaki that married into the Senju clan, but when she passed I moved into my own home.”

“Oh,” I nodded. “Most of these houses look uninhabited. Why?”

“The Senju clan is nearly dead,” Sensei smiled sadly. “Tsunade-sama is the only one left, and she won’t be having any children. She lives in the main house with Dan-sama. Jiraiya-sensei has a house here too, but he’s not in the village much.”

“That’s...” I looked down, unsure what to say.

“After she dies, the compound will fall to me. I have plans for it, by then,” Kushina-sensei confided. “I haven’t told many people, just two or three other people know, but I figure if I can trust you with Uzumaki sealing techniques, I can trust you with this, yeah?”

I nodded wordlessly, unsure how to respond.

“Despite the fact that my clan was all but obliterated, there were a lot of survivors from the assault on Whirling Tides, the hidden village of Whirlpool country that was attacked because of my clan. Most of them came here, and I want to open up the compound to them, and rename it the Whirlpool compound.”

“You should,” I said, earning a soft smile.

The rest of the trip passed in silence, until we reached a large, round, pale blue house with a comparatively more saturated blue roof.

“Here we are!” Kushina-sensei announced as she unlocked the door with a pulse of chakra to the seal on the handle. “Come on in. My husband and son won’t be home yet, so I’ll give you the tour and then you can help me cook dinner, okay?”

I nodded as I followed her through the threshold. I slipped out of my sandals and into the guest slippers sensei pointed to, then followed Kushina-sensei around the house.

It was beautiful and had an open floor plan. The wooden floors were decorated with colourful rugs, and paintings hung on almost every wall. The ceiling was low, and stairs hugged the curved walls, spiralling around the house like a helix.

The first floor contained the dining area, kitchen and living room. A bathroom, a couple offices and a small library could be found on the second floor. The third and fourth floors held a bathroom and four bedrooms each. The furniture throughout the house was a combination of dark wood and bright fabrics.

“Is there anything you don’t eat?” Sensei inquired after the tour.

“Shellfish,” I replied. In The Before I’d been allergic. I wasn’t in this life, but the avoidance was ingrained in me, and the few times I’d tried it I couldn’t make myself eat more than a couple bites.

“Hm... Alright. How do you feel about tonkatsu for dinner?”

“That sounds good.” I agreed.

“Alright. Can you prepare the pork while I start on the miso soup and rice?”

I froze. “Sensei?”

“Yes, Sekai-chan?”

“... You should probably be made aware that I...”I paused for a moment, trying how to phrase it in a way that didn’t sound pathetic. “I am lacking in talent and knowledge of the culinary variety.” In other words, I couldn't cook.

What followed was an interrogation about my eating habits. Sensei was appalled to learn that the orphanage never taught me to cook, and that I’d mostly been surviving on instant ramen, raw vegetables, and plain rice since I left. In my defence, the foods here were very different from the things I ate in The Before, and even then I wasn’t much of a cook.

Once she finished scolding me, she proceeded to show me how to cut off the fat and flatten the pork cutlets, and then how to coat them and fry them.

Half way through, her son arrived home from the academy. He shouted a greeting to his mother, but didn’t seem to notice me, and headed straight up stairs, presumably to his room.

By the time her husband and a masked man with silver hair arrived home, I was setting the table.

“Oh, hello,” the mother fucking Yellow Flash said. “You must be Kushina’s apprentice. Sekai-chan, right?” I nodded. “I’m Uzumaki Minato. It’s nice to meet you. This is Hatake Kakashi, my own former student.”

“Yo,” the masked man waved lazily.

“It’s nice to meet you Uzumaki-san, Hatake-san. I’m Hoshino Sekai.”

“Ah, Minato-san is fine! We’re not very formal here.” The Yellow Flash smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. Part of me was in shock. I didn't recall sensei ever mentioning she was married to one of the most famous ninja to ever come out of the village.

His student nodded in agreement. “Kakashi is just fine.”

“Okay, Minato-san, Kakashi-senpai.”

“Naruto! Dinner’s ready!” Kushina-sensei hollered as she carried the serving dishes into the dining room with huge, glowing yellow fucking chains coming out of her motherfucking back. What the actual fuck??

Sensei noticed my staring, and smirked. “Bloodline.”

I let out a small sigh. Trust sensei to reveal her bloodline limit by using it to serve dinner.

A familiar blond boy came pounding down the stairs into the dining room. “Eh?” He squinted at me. “Who’s this kid?”

“Naruto, this is my apprentice, Sekai-chan. Sekai-chan, this is my son, Naruto,” Sensei introduced.

“Nice to meet you, Naruto-san,” I said blandly. This was the kid who almost ran me over in my first year. Small world.

“What?! Mom, this shrimp is your apprentice?” He scoffed in disbelief. “No way! You mean this baby is already a genin and an awesome ninja like me is stuck in the academy?”

My eye twitched, but I remained silent. He was a brat, but just a kid. Kids are brats, I reminded myself.

“Naruto!” Kushina-sensei scolded as her face went pink. “Don’t, like, be so rude!”

Naruto huffed, but quieted under his mother’s stern glare. “Whatever...” he muttered as he took a seat at the dining room table.

Sensei took the seat at the head of the table, and her husband took the one between her and their son. I took the seat across from Minato-san, and Kakashi-senpai slipped in the chair to my right.

“Thank you for the meal!” We all chorused.

Small talk was made while we ate, but I mostly kept silent, unless addressed directly. Unfortunately, Kushina-sensei wasn’t too pleased with my silence.

“Come on, Sekai-chan! Speak up. You’re family now.” She cajoled.

“Oh.” I faltered, unsure of what to say.

“You know,” she said, her voice taking on a sly edge. “Maybe one day you’ll marry Naruto and really become part of the family.”

Naruto turned red and choked on his food, and I wrinkled my nose slightly. “I’m not interested in little kids,” I said.

“Hey!” The blond boy protested. “Who are you calling little? I’m older than you! You’re like, what, five?”

“I’m seven,” I corrected with a sniff. “And I’ll have you know I prefer older men.”

Sensei burst out laughing, and Minato-san smiled too. “Well,” he began teasingly. “Perhaps you’ll marry Kakashi instead?”

Kakashi-senpai, who’d somehow managed to finish most of his portion without taking off his mask, froze, his single visible eye going wide.

“Well...” I said, focusing on the silver haired ninja and feigning consideration. “I don’t think that’s a viable option.” Kakashi-senpai let out a small breath of relief. “I hardly want to marry someone who’s old enough to be my grandfather.”

The chopsticks in senpai’s hands snapped in half, and the three Uzumaki burst into laughter.

-x-

Kairi-sensei led us on our first mission. Initially, I was excited for it, as were my teammates. Until we read the mission scroll.

Our mission was to act as intra-village carrier pigeons.

It was boring, but after going collecting the bag of mail to deliver, we didn’t complain. It was a lot, but it was doable.

But then after we started delivering, people would hand us more and that was how we ended up running back and forth to different departments across the village for a whole day, and all Kairi-sensei did was smirk at us the entire time.

And that was how the month passed—doing important, but boring and tedious D-rank missions, and training.

There was little to say about training, other than that all three of us learned a lot from our mentors in that period, and improved our team work.

Well, that and I demonstrated how much of a disaster I was with projectiles.

It started when Kushina-sensei took me to training ground eighteen. Eighteen turned out to be one of the handful of indoor training grounds. Specifically, it was the target room. The room was the size of a gymnasium from The Before, and was filled with circular targets and wooden panels every where.

“Welcome to training ground eighteen!” Kushina grinned. “As you can see, we will be training with projectiles today! We’ll start easy and slowly increase the difficulty!”

“...Must we?” I asked. I had a bad feeling about where this was going.

“Why are you so reluctant, your projectile scores were excellent at the academy?” Kushina-sensei asked with a furrowed brow. I didn’t answer. “It’s unlikely for you to ever be able to frequently use ninjutsu without risking chakra exhaustion, if you’re even able to make the jutsu work properly. You need something you can use at a distance if necessary. Kunai, senbon, shuriken and the like are the best option for that. Now c’mon, get in the middle, and I’ll go to the controls. Try to hit any target that you see, starting at the count of three.”

Without further protest, I followed her directions. “One…” Sensei began to count. “Two… Three!”

Just after she shouted the number three, a handful of boards descended, each bearing numerous circular targets.

I quickly reached for my kunai and started tossing them at the targets as fast as I could calculate the trajectory, which was pretty damn fast, at this point. Once all the targets had a kunai embedded in the bull’s eye, the boards rose out of the way.

“Good job, Sekai-chan!” Kushina encouraged. “There was no need to worry! You’ve got this! Time for round two!”

Round two consisted of moving targets. Fortunately, they were all moving at a uniform velocity, so it wasn’t too terribly difficult to calculate the trajectory, but it took a bit longer, I only hit a couple bull’s eyes, and even missed a couple targets. The reason it took longer than before was partially because I had to add in a new variable, the velocity, and partially the time it to observe the movement of the targets to figure out said velocity. That was also why I lost accuracy. My estimate of the velocity wasn't perfect.

From there, things only got worse. The targets started moving at varying speeds in unpredictable directions, and I completely fucked it all up.

After seeing my total failure, Kushina-sensei came down to talk to me about what was making things so difficult.

“My equations don’t work,” I told her.

“...What?”

“For calculating the trajectory. More variables have been added into the equation, some of which I can’t predict because there is no easily observable pattern to the speed and direction of the targets’ movement,” I elaborated.

“...What?” Kushina-sensei repeated.

“I have terrible aim without the equations I use to predict the trajectory of the projectiles.”

“...What?”

I sighed, and that was the start of a very long discussion. By the end of it, we concluded that training with projectiles would be a waste of time, and Kushina-sensei decided that putting time into genjutsu would be much more productive.

-x-

I walked through the Uchiha district, following the directions to their private training ground that Kushina-sensei wrote out for me.

It was strange. There were so many people, but nearly everyone was clearly an Uchiha. I supposed that it made sense, considering the Uchiha clan was by far the largest clan in the village, with a population of approximately three thousand. For comparison, the population of the entire village was roughly ninety-three thousand, and no other clan had more than two thousand members.

I was relieved when I got off the main streets and into the outskirts of the training grounds. My purple hair stood out and garnered more attention than I’d like. I didn’t think the clan was used to seeing outsiders too often.

When I finally arrived at the training ground it was already occupied by a young man with tousled black hair who was sitting in the middle of it.

“Hi,” I said, unsure if he was my genjutsu tutor or if I was in the wrong spot. Sensei’s directions weren’t exactly easy to follow.

“You must be Sekai-chan.” He stood with a smile. “I’m Uchiha Shisui. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Thank you for agreeing to teach me.” I bowed politely.

“Eh, well... It’s not going to be just me, really. My cousin will be teaching you too. Or anyone else who’s free and Kushina-nee-chan has blackmail on.”

“Blackmail...?” I inquired warily.

Shisui scratched his cheek as he spoke. “Yeah... She’s best friends with Aunt Mikoto, so she has loads of embarrassing pictures of me from my childhood. Among other things...”

“I see,” Leave it to sensei to blackmail someone into teaching me with baby photos. And leave it to the Uchiha clan to have the standing that they could even take frivolous childhood photos. Most didn't have that kind of access to cameras.

“Any ways, Kushina-nee-chan probably told you she’s horrible with genjutsu, right? Which is why she’s having us teach you. But Itachi and I are jounin, and frequently sent out of the village on missions, so we don’t have time for even a part time student by ourselves, so you’ll be shuffled around a bit,” he explained. “Sorry about that. Anyways, you can call me Shisui-senpai!”

“I understand, senpai.”

“Okay, then let’s get started. Have a seat.” He gestured for me to sit as he sunk down into the lotus position himself. “First, you need to understand that there are two types of genjutsu. The first, you cast on the environment. The second, you cast on people.”

“So, targeted and area of effect?” I repeated for clarification. He nodded. I had to stop myself from letting my mind drift off to memories of playing mmorpgs.

(I used to play as a necromancer, and I loved to lure in a bunch of monsters, since I had ridiculously high physical defense for a mage, and then unleash my AoE skills. I missed that game. But I was there to learn about genjutsu, not reminisce about gaming.)

“Exactly. We won’t be going too far into type one, or area of effect, as you call it, genjutsu, because in practice it should really be called ninjutsu,” he lectured.

“What, why?” I asked, fingers dancing across my knees.

“You know the clone jutsu, correct?”

“Of course. Why? Oh, you mean they function similarly to the clone jutsu?” I guessed.

“Exactly. They create chakra constructs that appears realistic, but you can dispel with contact. But they are tangible, and thus not technically genjutsu.”

“But why are they called genjutsu then? And why isn’t the clone jutsu considered genjutsu if it works on the same principle as techniques that are considered genjutsu?” My face scrunched up in confusion. (Well, scrunched up by my standards.My brow creased a bit.)

“It’s because people consider the chakra constructs illusions, though that’s not quite true. As for the clone jutsu, it’s a failed iteration of the shadow clone technique. Since it was intended to be a ninjutsu, it was classified as one. It really is a ninjutsu, too though. It's just everything else that is incorrectly categorized.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” I conceded, tapping my fingers together instead of tapping my knee.

“Usually people start with that sort of genjutsu, because while it’s really ninjutsu, it’s still similar enough to true, type two genjutsu that it acts as a midway point to it. In fact, type one is as far as most get. But Kushina-nee-chan said to skip it.”

“Why?”

“You ask that a lot, don’t you?” Shisui-senpai crossed his arms and leaned back slightly. I shrugged a single shoulder in response. “Well, I’m not actually sure. She just said it was a waste for you. Any idea?”

“I see...” I tapped two of my fingers against my chin as I thought. “Probably because of my skew? It makes me bad at ninjutsu.”

“You mean your chakra is skewed?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the ratio?”

“As of the pre-graduation checkup it’s sitting at seven point five physical, ninety two point five spiritual.”

"Holy mother of the sage,” Shisui gaped at me. “Are you serious?

“Yes.” I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. “I have no reason not to be.”

“Damn, no wonder she wants us to skip over that,” he chuckled. “I’ve never heard of chakra that skewed. It must be a record.”

“It used to be only seven physical,” I added helpfully.

“I don’t even—fuck, kid. I can’t...” he spluttered. “Uh, back on topic, we’re going to focus on type two genjutsu.

“First thing to understand is that type two genjutsu is very different, and very few practice it. Outside of the Uchiha clan, the village has maybe four others who are proficient with it, and only one of them could be said to have mastered it. Inside the clan, there’s probably about fifty. I mean, there are people who can cast some D- or C-rank type two genjutsu, but that’s it.”

“Why so few?” It was hard to believe in a village with over twenty thousand ninja had less than sixty practitioners. That was unreal. “Do other villages have more?”

“Well, it’s basically because it’s extremely difficult, and the true strength in it is to create and cast illusions on the fly. Other villages vary. Mist has a clan of true genjutsu users, but Rock and Sand have very few.

“Anyways, this type of genjutsu works by using your chakra to affect your opponent’s brain. Complex preset illusions, like the one I assume they used on you in the academy, are almost never used by a true genjutsu master, though are often invented by them. We do use simple preset illusions a lot though. For example, there is a genjutsu to affect the targets balance. That one is pretty common, and there are others like it. But anything truly complex needs to be immediately—” Shisui paused as some sort of black bird—a crow or raven, I didn't get a good look at the beak—landed on his shoulder. “—mutable. I’m afraid I must cut things short, I’m needed elsewhere.”

“Ah.” I nodded in acknowledgement, though I was a bit disappointed. It was an interesting topic.

“In the mean time...” he said, a hand rummaging in his weapons pouch. “You will need this.”

He handed me a rectangular piece of steel embedded with three flat, circular stones, each a different colour. I turned it over in my hand and noticed a sequence of numbers across the back of it. “What is this for?”

“This token is what will get you into the D-rank section of the ninja library archives,” he replied.

“The... ninja library archives,” I repeated, and my lips parted ever so slightly. They actually had a ninja library? I was shocked.

-x-

The ninja library archives were generally just referred to as the archives. They were split into four different buildings across the village. I wasn’t sure were the other three were, but the D-rank archives were hidden in the basement of an apartment building for retired ninja and other approved persons.

A very familiar apartment building. The building I spent the first five years of my life in.

Following Shisui-senpai’s instructions, I made my way up to the second floor and found the door marked “staff only.” Inside was a small, dark room with an elevator at the end. There were no buttons, but there was a slot for the token, which I inserted.

There was a loud clang as bars descended around me, and then clunking and hissing as the elevator descended. When it stopped, my token was ejected, the bars rose up again, and I found myself facing a woman sitting at a desk.

“Name, rank, sponsors, and token please.” She requested tonelessly.

“Hoshino Sekai, genin, Uzumaki Kushina, Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi,” I listed off, handing her my token. She took it, examined the serial number on the back and then touched each of the stones.

“Chakra signatures verified. I’ll check the registry,” she told me as she pulled out a thick black book. She flipped through it until she found what she was looking for. She compared the token to something in the book, then handed it back.

“Registration valid. You may access the D-rank archives, but are not permitted to remove anything. Food and drink are only allowed in the designated areas. Please keep noise to a minimum,” she droned.

As I walked passed her, I noticed she was missing a leg.

The D-rank archives were basically like a science library. There were no jutsu or anything of the sort kept here, just information. And even then, they didn’t share anything too advanced. The way I would describe it is if this were a library of sorts from The Before, you could find a book about chemistry, but you wouldn’t find one with information that would help you with creating a bomb. If you took the information from one (or more) of the books and applied it you could probably make one, but it wouldn’t give you explicit instructions.

It wasn’t surprising that they withheld so much information, even after all the hoops you needed to jump through.

The token I had was registered by Shisui-senpai, Itachi-san, and Kushina-sensei with the sensors who worked the front desk, and one of the flat stones was filled with each of their chakra. No one could use the token but me, and they cannot all register any other tokens together.

I was also forbidden from even mentioning the archives to any other ninja outside of the archives themselves. I assume the upper ranks don’t have to follow that rule, but a genin like myself was a security risk.

The reason I was given access to the D-rank archives was because to excel at true genjutsu, I needed to understand how the human brain worked.

Walking through the stacks, I ignored the temptation of the mathematics texts and worked my way into the neuroscience section to locate the texts Shisui-senpai recommended.

-x-

“It’s not fair!” Naruto fumed after Sekai left the Uzumaki home. He was standing in the middle of the kitchen while his father did the dishes and his mother was writing up a report at the kitchen table. “She’s just a little kid! When I was her age you didn’t even let me start the academy! I bet I could take her in a fight, believe it!”

“Naruto.” Kushina said his name sternly, turning away from her work to face him. “When other people start the academy and when they graduate is decided by other people. When you start is decided by your father and me, and we both decided it was best for you to start when you were eight. As for my apprentice... She may be younger than you, but she’s more skilled. She could beat you.”

“No way! That little kid can’t be stronger than me, the future hokage!” Naruto shouted back. “And why was it best for me to start at eight, huh? Why wasn’t it best for her?”

“Naruto, she’s stronger than you right now, but you’ll catch up, okay?” The redhead attempted to placate her son. The scowl on his face deepened, so she hurried to reassure him further. “She had an earlier start than you did, that’s why, okay? You’ll catch up, I promise. And she had that earlier start because she’s an orphan, and it was her own decision to do so. If I’d had any say, she wouldn’t have started so early, but it’s out of my hands.”

Naruto huffed and stomped his foot. “But why?” he repeated. “Why was is best for me to only start at eight?”

“Because war was coming,” Minato, who had just finished the dishes, said. “And now it’s already been going on for almost two years. We wanted to keep you off the battlefield for as long as possible, to let you have as much of a childhood as we could.”

“So what if there was a war coming! Why do you want me off the battlefield? I could have been out there kicking ass and the war would already be over if you let me start earlier!” Naruto protested.

Kushina shot Minato a look that seemed to say look what you’ve done now. “Naruto, even if we did let you start earlier, you’d still be only a genin, and you wouldn’t be strong enough to make a difference yet, to battle enemy jounin. It takes years of hard work to be strong enough to make a real difference on a battlefield.”

“Whatever! You’re wrong! I could make a difference!” Naruto snarled, turning his back on his parents. He stomped up the stairs, and shortly afterwards Minato and Kushina heard a loud slam.

“Why did you have to go and say that?” Kushina hissed at her husband.

“He deserved the truth, ‘Shina,” Minato said softly.

“Don’t you “‘Shina” me!” she snarled, her hair rising around her in her fury. “He has no understanding of why we don’t want him to go to war until it’s absolutely necessary! He doesn’t understand it’s not all glory and adventure and saving people! And he just proved it!”

“Kushina, if you didn’t shelter him so much—”

She barked out a laugh. “Me shelter him? You’ve sheltered him just as much as I have!”

“Oh really? Who decided—”

The argument between the two wouldn’t end any time soon.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“You can trust someone with your life, but not your secrets.”

-x-

I didn’t realize anything was wrong at first. I woke up from my nap, and assumed mother was still sleeping, so I opted not to disturb her, and pulled out the math books Hanako had given me before she moved to the hospice. It was high school level math, but it was better than nothing, and it was my goal to do every exercise in the textbook.

I was broken out of my work by the growling of my stomach. A quick glance at the clock told me it was nearly midnight—well past dinner time. I frowned. While mother often took a nap after a long shift, she was usually awake in time to make dinner for the two of us.

I put aside my textbook and papers and made my way to mother’s bedroom door. I knocked, and let myself in when there was no answer.

The door caught on something and when I turned on the light, I saw it was her work uniform, which was stained, presumably from the soup that was spilled on her. I kicked it away. When I reached mother’s bed, I noticed something was off. She was tucked under the covers with only her head and shoulders visible, but there was a strange, angry red mark on her neck.

“Mother?” I murmured, reaching for her, only to find that her skin was cold. I pulled my hand back. Something in my chest tightened. “M-mother? Mother!”

Hesitantly, I moved my hand to her neck. There was no pulse.

“No...” I shook my head. “No. No! No, no, no... This—this isn’t happening! What happened—this doesn’t...”

I pulled the blanket away from her, and inhaled sharply. Mother hadn’t bothered with proper pyjamas, and was just wearing a tank top and underwear, so the red, puffy welts across her legs and shoulders were on display. I pulled up her top slightly, and found the welts present on her stomach as well.

I backed away, shaking my head in denial, and tripped on mother’s uniform. I hit the ground hard, but I ignored the pain, and clumsily stood back up.

I took a deep breath, and left the room. “I—how—what... What do I do...?” I asked myself. I wasn’t prepared for something like this. Prepared to find my mother’s corpse.

“I want Hanako... She would know what to do... What do I... I need to tell someone. Yes. I need—help. I need help.” I rambled. “But who? Who... neighbours. Yes. Neighbours. Right. Okay.”

There was no answer from the first two doors I knocked on, but fortunately a young woman answered on my third try. (Third time’s the charm! I thought hysterically.)

“Can I help you?” she asked hoarsely, her voice sounded like she’d been coughing, and though her tone was polite, it was obvious she didn’t want to be bothered.

“Y-yes. I, um.” I licked my lips. “I live a few doors down... with mother... but—I... Uh...”

The woman’s demeanour immediately changed from distant to concerned. “Are you okay, sweetie?” she inquired, crouching down to my level.

“No. My... mother—she’s dead. I think she’s dead and I don’t know what to do.”

The woman’s already pale face turned white, and she stood back up to her full height. “Can you take me to her, sweetie?”

She held out her hand. I took it.

-x-

Nine

Shortly after I started spending my evenings in the archives, I learned from listening to other people in them that in the C-rank archives, they had basic personnel files and more information about department heads. Apparently there was nothing classified there, but I didn’t need that at the moment—I just needed their faces, and I was more likely to find photos there than anywhere else.

The C-rank archives could be a huge help in figuring out the identity of my father.

I also learned that they are open only to chuunin and above, and chuunin still needed two jounin sponsors. Which meant that unless I found a different lead, I was stuck until I was promoted.

It was disappointing that I couldn’t pursue my lead, but the feeling was outweighed by the fact that I had a direction to go in, instead of wandering around aimlessly waiting for information to just fall in my lap.

Sometimes, I wondered if I should even bother looking for my father. He obviously wasn’t a good person—he raped my mother, just because he was a ninja and had the power to, and my mother was a civilian who couldn’t do anything about it.

If he was important, and arranging things for my benefit, who cared? It helped me get ahead in this godforsaken world.

But I dismissed my doubts about searching for my father every time they passed through my mind, using the argument that if he was powerful, he could at some point make things worse for me, to justify my burning curiosity.

-x-

I hated the fact that I couldn’t take anything out of the library. Reading and studying while sitting still would only hinder me in trying to improve my imbalance, but there was nothing I could do about it but push myself harder physically in my training.

It didn’t help that I kept getting side tracked by the math section. I was curious about how advanced math was in this world, and was pleased to see they weren’t too far behind The Before. I couldn’t help but pick up some of the books to review material I had covered in my first two years of post-secondary education. I was disappointed to realize how much I had forgotten, and ended up taking notes in the notebook meant for my study of the brain until it was full of definitions, theorems, proofs, and exercises to work on in my spare time.

Ah, real analysis and linear algebra, how I had missed them.

Suffice to say, it took me awhile to actually learn about the brain. A lot of the information was review—I’d learned a lot of it back in high school in The Before, but it was review I needed. There was new information as well, since the presence of chakra affected the entire body and the way it functioned.

I wasn’t sure how much I needed to know for genjutsu. I knew the parts of the brain, about the cerebral cortex and the four lobes... But did I need to know the excruciating, boring details of precisely how all that worked?

And I didn’t even have anyone to ask—Kushina-sensei knew how to break out of genjutsu and a couple type one genjutsu, but she knew fuck all about true, type two genjutsu, and Shisui-senpai and the other person sensei recruited weren’t in the village. I think senpai said the other guy was his cousin, Taichi or something? Upon further thought I realized it was probably my third archive sponsor, Uchiha Itachi, but it didn't really matter.

After a lot of deliberation, I resigned myself to studying the tedious details, deciding it was better to know too much than too little.

Besides, I told myself. I can justify studying and copying the math texts as a reward for my hard work.

-x-

It was six weeks after graduation when they assigned Team Four our first C-rank mission.

Aiko, Sakura, and I were excited to finally do something other than D-ranks. We’d done quite a few of them, and all of them were as annoying as our first. A C-rank was a welcome change, and this time it was Kushina-sensei leading the mission.

“This should be a pretty quick mission, girls,” my mentor said with a smile. “We’ll be leaving the village, so take your mission packs, just in case. Meet me at the north-east gates in thirty minutes, okay?”

“Yes, Kushina-sensei,” the three of us chorused.

With that, the four of us went our separate ways to prepare for the mission. Aiko and Sakura presumably returned to their homes, and I assumed Kushina-sensei had jounin things to take care of before we departed. As for myself, I had all the supplies I needed sealed away in my left arm, so I opted to head straight for the gates.

While I waited for the rest of team four to arrive, I pulled out my math notes and a pencil from my storage seal and placed them on the ground, so I could position myself over them and do one-armed push ups while I practised evaluating triple integrals.

“What are you doing?” Sakura asked when she arrived, looming over my shoulder.

“Triple integrals,” I told her. I could practically hear her confusion, though she didn’t say anything. “It’s math. Multi-variable calculus.”

“You can do calculus? And triple integrals?” Sakura’s tone was incredulous. “I don’t even know what a single integral is.”

“Well, given a function f of x that is continuous on the closed interval—”

“I don’t think she actually wanted to know, Sekai-chan, or that she even cares,” Aiko interrupted. “And I don’t really care either.”

“W-well, I wouldn’t say that, exactly...” Sakura argued weakly.

“Yeah, you’re still too polite to say it outright like that,” my bespectacled teammate acknowledged. “But it’s what you’re thinking.” Sakura flushed. “Relax, you don’t need to worry about offending us or hurting our feelings, or just being rude. Sekai-chan may be quiet a lot of the time, but she can be mean as hell, and man, is it hilarious! And I’m her only friend, so I’ve learned to let the mean comments go, since when it’s me she doesn’t really mean them.”

“Really? I find that hard to believe.”

“One time, Sekai-chan was stuck partnering with this one guy, right? And he was a complete moron. He asked some stupid question about chakra—I don’t remember what, and Sekai-chan just stared at him for a moment until he asked if she heard him. She told him that yes, she did, it just took her a moment to comprehend how stupid he was,” Aiko recalled.

“I said it took me awhile to comprehend how completely the human race was failing, if it produced someone as moronic as him,” I corrected. “And then I asked if his parents were siblings.”

“Close enough” she dismissed. “Point is, she slays.”

“A shame you’re not a mind reader,” I commented as I packed up my study materials. “Then as long as you had me around, you’d never be bored.”

“I don’t need to read your mind to avoid boredom—I just need to set you free in a building full of idiots and watch what happens,” Aiko retorted as she adjusted her glasses.

“Set who free in a building of idiots?” a cheerful voice interrupted, startling us.

“Kushina-sensei!” Sakura squeaked. “Where did you come from?”

“Well,” Kushina drawled. “I originally come from Whirlpool count—”

I snorted and interrupted her. “Mission?”

“Ah, right.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I suppose I ought to give you lot an overview of what we’ll be doing.

“There’s a small watch station about one hundred and fifty kilometres from here. Our job...” Sensei reached behind her, into her waist pouch, and produced four scrolls. “Is to deliver these.”

“Scrolls?” Aiko wrinkled her brow.

“They contain basic supplies for the watch station.”

“So we’re just doing a long distance pigeon mission this time,” Aiko scowled.

“Pigeon mission?” Kushina gave her a strange look.

“Like carrier pigeons.”

“Carrier pigeons? Do you mean, like, the hawks we send out with messages—messenger hawks? Except a pigeon...?” Kushina-sensei looked utterly baffled. “But who’d use a pigeon to send messages... that’s a bit strange... unless it’s a summon?”

“I don’t know!” Aiko huffed. Her arms were crossed and she was fighting a blush. “Sekai-chan came up with the name for them! Ask her!”

I blinked. I hadn’t realized that carrier pigeons weren’t ever a thing here. Since this world actually sends messages with fucking birds, I figured it was.

“I had a dream about it,” I lied.

“A dream,” Aiko repeated. “You’re really weird, you know that?”

“I am well aware.”

She didn’t know the half of it.

-x-

When sensei said it wouldn’t take long, I think she wasn’t aware of how slow my teammates were. Not that they were slow for genin, but Kushina-sensei was fast , even for a jounin. I was pretty fast too, with respect to my rank. If it had just been the two of us, we probably could have shaved a lot of time off the trip, but alas, neither Aiko nor Sakura were able to keep up with such a pace.

The other two members of Team Four had substandard speed and stamina—not horrible, but it was a bit below average. So we let them set the pace, and so it took us just over three and a half hours to reach the watch station.

Upon our arrival, Kushina-sensei sent us to the mess hall to rest up while she met with the jounin in charge.

The mess hall was mostly empty, but for a handful of older ninja scattered about in small groups. Most of them looked to be at least twice my age, if not more, and the ones that looked at us when we entered seemed to wonder what three little girls were doing there. I ignored them, and led Sakura and Aiko to an unoccupied table. As soon as I was seated my fingers started to tap against the bench. I felt slightly ridiculous at the table—the top of it was nearly as tall as my shoulders.

“Why are they looking at us?” Sakura muttered.

“Because I look like a three year old,” I replied dryly. That was a slight exaggeration, but I was very small for a seven year old, and could easily pass for a five year old. Still, the comment seemed to relax Aiko and Sakura, which was my intention.

I had no idea what to do or say next, so I took out my canteen and chugged down a litre of water to avoid speaking.

“...Do you have any left, Sekai-chan?” Sakura inquired hesitantly. “I drank all mine and I’m not comfortable going to get a refill with all those guys over there.”

Well, I certainly had enough to share. “Pass your canteen.” She handed it over, and I poured all the water in my canteen into hers.

“You don’t have to give me all of it!” Sakura protested.

I ignored her and asked Aiko to pass hers. Once Aiko’s was in hand, I poured water into hers as well.

“What,” Aiko said. “How did you—I just saw you empty it!”

Internally, I smirked. “I have a seal at the bottom. I have about thirty-six litres of water stored away, and when my canteen runs dry, it automatically refills.”

“And it’s even cold!” Sakura added.

“That’s so cool!” Aiko marvelled, and took a sip. “Sekai-chan, if it’s not too much trouble...” She bit her lip. “Could you make one for me? And Sakura-chan?”

I blinked, surprised at the request. With a mental shrug, I figured Why not? And nodded.

-x-

A few hours later, Kushina-sensei entered the mess hall, which was now nearly empty aside from the three of us. She led us up to the serving station, and pulled our four numbered boxes from the fridge. She grabbed a clip board that was hanging on the side of the fridge and wrote out each of our registration numbers beside the numbers corresponding to the ones on the boxes.

“They’re very strict with supplies—everything has to be accounted for, including who took what,” she explained as she handed out our meals. “Any discrepancies can lead to a formal reprimand for anyone who’s been here since the last inventory. Never take something without recording it.”

Opening the box, I found a bowl of rice with some sort of (mystery) meat and vegetables on top. It didn’t look appetizing, but I went to warm it up with my teammates anyway.

After the first few bites, I found it didn’t taste appetizing either, but I forced my self to finish it, so as to not waste food. I mentally made a note to cook up several large meals, then portion them and seal them away.

After eating, we signed ourselves out of the encampment and took off towards home.

The trip back took even longer, as my teammates hadn’t fully recovered from the trip out. By the time we reached the village, the sun was setting.

My teammates each handed me their canteens, and sensei blessedly allowed us to go straight home instead of going with her to report the mission complete.

I wasn’t tired from the trip, exactly, but it was a long day and I was happy to go home.

Once inside, I stripped down to a t-shirt and underwear, and got to work on their canteens. The seal itself wasn’t too difficult, but it was tricky to draw it on the bottom of a relatively tall and narrow object.

Using a long, thin needle dipped in sealing ink, I carefully drew out the seal. Despite my best efforts, I messed up and had to restart twice, but I got them done. From there I set the seal to intake, and brought the canteens to my sink, where I proceeded to slowly fill them with water over and over again. It was monotonous, but it was something you did for your friends.

My brow furrowed. Friends. I’d thought of Aiko as a friend for quite awhile, but it seemed that Sakura wormed her way into that category as well.

It was baffling to me—I didn’t do the whole friend thing, really. I mean, not real friendships. There was never anyone I felt I could trust or talk to about my problems.

But now, in this life, there were two of them.

I had always considered this life, this world, to be horrible. To be a dystopia compared to The Before. But despite how horrible this culture of murder and war is, I supposed there were a few good points.

Even if there were still things I’d never speak about with those good points.

-x-

My next genjutsu lesson wasn’t with Shisui-senpai, but his cousin, Itachi-senpai. While Shisui-senpai had been rather cheerful and expressive, Itachi-senpai was quite stoic in comparison. His hair was a shade lighter than his cousin’s, and was long and straight, held back in a thin ponytail. His eyes were the same black colour, but he had deep bags below them, giving him a permanently exhausted appearance.

If I had to guess, I’d say he was constantly stressed and had too many expectations placed upon him. It almost made me feel guilty for taking up his time, but I consoled myself by believing that teaching genjutsu was probably more relaxing and less strenuous than most of the things he had to do.

Shisui-senpai had left him notes on what he’d been able to cover with me and what he’d asked of me a couple of weeks ago, so the first thing Itachi-senpai did after introductions was quiz me.

“Each cerebral hemisphere consists of which lobes?”

“Frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal, and insular.”

“Which of those is secondary?”

“The insular lobe.”

“Largest?”

“Frontal. It occupies about one third of the hemisphere.”

“The thalamus is important in...”

“Sensory motor integration and speech-language functions.”

“Functions of the parietal lobes?”

“Spatial computation, body orientation and awareness.”

And on and on it went...

“Which chemical has bearing on the body’s ability to experience pain and pleasure?”

“Dopamine.”

“Which chemical is responsible for arousal and alertness?”

“Norepinephrine.”

Senpai nodded. “Well done, you were able to correctly answer the entire list of questions, Sekai-chan. We can proceed to discussing how to use your chakra to manipulate the pathways in the brain...”

The ensuing lecture was long, but fascinating. He discussed how to use your chakra to stimulate the production of various brain chemicals, and how to interfere with executive functions.

Apparently, there was a lot more to genjutsu than visual illusions. You can affect mood, hearing, spatial computation, judgment, and even things like a person’s breathing.

You could use genjutsu to stop someone’s heart.

You could convince them that they’re breathing when they aren’t .

You could be in complete control of every bodily process .

The power of genjutsu... It was phenomenal. I definitely needed to learn it.

Even if most of those things were incredibly difficult to do and required years of training and excellent chakra control, as senpai said.

I would do it.

-x-

After that first C-rank, we started taking more and more of them, to the point that we rarely took D-ranks anymore. A lot of them were pigeon missions, but not all of them. Once we were sent out to help clear an important trade route that fell victim to a landslide, and we also played bodyguard to someone travelling all the way to Red Bean Country. Usually they don’t send genin on bodyguard missions because of the war, but since Red Bean was south-east of the village and most of the fighting is to the west or north, it was deemed safe enough. That mission took us nearly a month.

But after months of missions, I finally had saved up enough money for shopping. And so I found myself wandering through the business district with Aiko and Sakura.

“Alright, Sekai, clothes or home items first?” Aiko inquired.

“Clothes are a more urgent necessity,” I decided.

“Why? It’s not like you’ve grown,” Aiko teased.

“I’m still wearing clothes from the orphanage—I want my own,” I replied, though I doubted she wanted one.

“Makes sense,” Sakura agreed with a nod. “I usually go to Needles and Wire. They have a good selection.”

“Mine are clan produced, so I can’t really help you with recommending a place,” Aiko admitted with a small shrug. “But Sakura’s clothes are good quality, so we might as well go there.”

I nodded and gestured for Sakura to lead us to the store.

Compared to Ninja Outfitters, one of the biggest names in the industry even though their wares were of mediocre quality, Needles and Wire was fairly small. The building was white, with a faded sign over the door, and a small display window.

Sakura ushered me inside, and bells jingled as I stepped inside.

“Ah, Little Haruno!” An old woman crowed in a hoarse voice as she stepped out of a back room. “Back so soon? And you brought friends!”

“Hi, Arima-baa-san. My friend Sekai here needs an entire wardrobe,” Sakura told the woman.

“Is that so?” The woman hummed. “I’m not sure I have much field quality clothes that size—mostly just lower quality merchandise for academy kids.”

“Oh,” Sakura faltered. “I’m sorry then, I guess we’ll have to check elsewhere.”

“Oh no, Little Haruno, you and your friend browse around the store and find what sort of thing you like, and I’ll do a custom order for your friend,” the woman protested. “That is, unless she needs them right away?”

“No, I can wait,” I assured the old lady. “I appreciate your willingness to accommodate my... stature.”

“Oh, think nothing of it!” She dismissed. “Little Haruno’s family has shopped here for ages, doing a custom order for her friend is the least I can do to repay that loyalty. Just grab things that you like and I can make them in your size. Bring them up to the counter when you’re done, alright, little ninja?”

“Thank you, ma’am.” I bowed to her in gratitude.

“Oh, you can just call me Arima-san, dear! None of this ma’am business, you hear me?”

“Of course, Arima-san.”

“C’mon then,” Aiko declared. “Let’s browse!”

With Aiko and Sakura trailing behind me, I wandered down the aisles, taking note of what my options were as I went. After a bit of deliberation, I picked out a set of mesh armour to protect my torso, a thick, hooded vest, both a long sleeved and a short sleeved t-shirt, a pair each of cargo shorts and pants, and a pair of slightly taller than standard ninja sandals. Adding up the prices on display and factoring in some extra for the custom sizing, I estimated that I was within my budget.

With things picked out, my friends and I approached the counter and Arima-san came bustling out of the backroom again.

“I should have just told you to bring it back to me, instead of the counter. Oh well, follow me please,” she said.

I nodded and followed her down to the back room, which turned out to be a workshop. Arima-san gestured me to stand on a tall stool. “Come along, dear. I need to measure you up!”

I stepped up, and then a measuring tape was flying around me faster than I’d expected from a civilian. “Hm... You’re small, but young,” she commented. “You’ll be growing a bit for awhile, so I’ll make things that will fit alright even if you grow a few centimetres...”

She gestured me to step down, and then asked if I had any colour preferences. “Perhaps to match such beautiful hair?” she suggested.

“The shirts can match my hair,” I said after briefly contemplating the matter. “But the rest should be black.”

“Of course, of course.” Arima-san nodded eagerly. “Now, how many of each would you like?”

“Three pairs of shorts, one pair of pants, three short sleeved shirts, two long sleeved ones, and one each of the mesh, vest, and sandals.”

“Alright, little ninja. It should be ready in about two weeks. Do you want to pay now, or later?”

I decided to pay right away, so I didn’t have to worry about overspending at the next shop.

Once everything was hashed out, the three of us left the store, Sakura calling out a fond farewell as she stepped out the door.

“They seem to know you well, there,” Aiko commented, looking at Sakura out of the corner of her eyes.

“Ah, well...” Sakura’s cheeks reddened. “My grandmother was her first customer. And ever since then my family has shopped there, so she knows us quite well. Two of her grandnieces work there too, as her apprentices, and we’re quite familiar with them too. Sometimes they give us special deals and favours.”

“Wow, really?” Aiko’s eyes widened. “That must be really nice!”

“Thank you, Sakura,” I told my blushing teammate. “I appreciate you bringing me.”

“Of course!” She smiled. “Where to now? I don’t exactly know anything about buying furniture. Do either of you?”

Aiko and I both shook our heads. While I had experience doing it in The Before, I wasn’t really sure about things here. A lot of things were different. For example, there wasn’t mass production on the scale of The Before, so there were usually only a few pieces that were the same.

So from there, we decided to wander the business district and just wing it.

-x-

“Thank you so much, Sekai-chan!” Sakura squealed when the aforementioned girl handed back the modified canteens to both of the other girls, with instructions on how to refill the seal when the water supply runs out. “I really appreciate it!”

“Me too!” Aiko added. “Thanks Sekai-chan!”

Sekai shifted awkwardly, and mumbled incomprehensibly.

“What was that?” Aiko prodded.

“I said... you’re my friends, so you can just call me Sekai... Since I don’t really bother with them anyway, for you guys... Honorifics, I mean...” Sekai offered awkwardly.

Aiko felt a burst of warm affection fill her. After a year of friendship, her best friend gave her permission to drop honorifics. It felt like a major milestone in their relationship. Sekai tended to be a rather closed off and solitary girl, someone hard to get close to.

But at that moment, Aiko knew she’d managed to worm her way past the cold exterior and into the younger girl’s heart, knew that Sekai trusted her, and cared about her as much as she cared about Sekai. It was a wonderful feeling.

But a small part of her couldn’t help but feel just the tiniest bit jealous of their other teammate, who managed to earn the same privilege in only a few months.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Forgiving... was a mistake.”

-x-

Aiko watched me closely as I pulled back the left sleeve of my t-shirt and secured it in place with a thin needle.

Next, using clear ink, I primed my left arm and both sides of a piece of paper with the sealing ink. I let the clear ink dry until it was sticky, and then pressed the paper over my storage seal, which I had emptied just a few hours before. I held my hand over it, and using my chakra, I grabbed at the storage seal.

I grunted in pain, but it didn’t hurt as much as when I drew the seal onto my arm. “Are you okay, Sekai-chan?” Aiko asked me. I nodded, because I was, but that didn’t seem to appease her, judging from the way she chewed on her bottom lip.

Once my chakra had a good grip on the seal, I yanked, and then slowly pulled the paper away from arm, leaving my arm clean, and the storage seal transferred to the paper.

I flexed my arm, making sure that nothing had gone wrong.

“Thanks for watching me, Aiko,” I told my companion. “It’s not recommended to try this alone if you haven’t done it before.”

“Of course,” Aiko assured me with a smile. “But... What exactly happened?”

“I developed a much more secure storage seal, and wanted to replace my old seal with it. So I had to remove the original seal from my arm,” I explained. “To do this, I needed to coat my arm and the paper with clear sealing ink, to facilitate the transfer of the seal from my arm to the paper. The sealing ink coating the paper and my arm allowed me to grab the seal on my arm with my chakra, and pull it off onto a new medium, the paper. It’s dangerous if done wrong, which was why I had you watching me, so you could take me to the hospital if anything happened. But despite the danger, it is the most efficient way to remove a seal from flesh.”

“That’s pretty cool, Sekai-chan,” Aiko said in admiration. “That has to be a super high level technique, though.”

“It’s a B-rank supplementary sealing technique,” I informed her.

“You can already do B-rank techniques?” Her eyes widened in further awe behind her glasses. “That’s amazing—we haven’t even graduated yet!”

The corner of my mouth twitched in amusement. I was pretty awesome, wasn’t I? Now I just needed to remove the seal on my thigh, which I would do privately. I didn't need everyone knowing about that one.

-x-

Ten

Dinner at the Uzumaki household had become a weekly ritual. Usually we went straight to Kushina-sensei’s house after training, but often enough training ended a bit early and we stopped in the market and bought ingredients for the meal sensei would teach me to prepare.

It had become a fairly comfortable routine and the blue house in the Senju district became a second home to me. Sensei had even given me my own room there. I rarely used it, but the gesture meant a lot to me.

On this particular warm September day, Kushina-sensei was teaching me her secret ramen recipe.

“The three of us love ramen,” Kushina-sensei explained as we walked to her home from the market. “Naruto would eat a dozen bowls in one sitting if we let him, and Minato is quite fond of it too, though not to the extent Naruto and I are.”

“I’ve only ever had instant,” I admitted to her.

She gasped loudly, and stared at me in exaggerated disbelief. “Oh, you poor dear!” she wailed, throwing her arms around me. I froze as she awkwardly held me. “You’ve never had real ramen in your entire life?!”

I shook my head. Nor my previous life, if I wasn't mistaken.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m teaching you my super secret recipe, then! You’ll love it, I promise! Now let’s go! No time to waste!” Kushina-sensei released me, and I refrained from pointing out she was the one who had stopped us in the first place.

Sensei unlocked the door, and we stepped inside. I slipped out of my sandals and into a pair of purple bunny slippers, then dutifully followed the redhead to the kitchen, where she immediately put me to work.

Despite my distaste for cooking, I actually found making the noodles quite enjoyable, though preparing the soup base was as boring as cooking usually was.

Despite everything I’d learned here, I still hated the task, though I knew the importance of it, especially since I lived alone. But I still felt that it was the most boring of tasks. Wait for this to boil, stir that occasionally, watch the frying pan and flip when necessary. It was such monotonous, thoughtless work, but I had to pay attention to the monotonous, thoughtless work or the food would be overcooked at best and inedible at worst.

I had to admit, cooking with sensei did make it more tolerable, but still, by the time Minato-san and her son, who I had dubbed “The Nuisance,” arrived, I was glad to finally eat.

“What do you think, Sekai-chan?” Minato-san asked. “Kushina told me this is your first time having real ramen.”

“EH!?” The Nuisance exclaimed, noddles dropping from his mouth. “You haven’t had ramen before!? But it’s the best food ever!”

“Good,” I answered, ignoring The Nuisance. It was a bit of an exaggeration, to be honest. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really as great as I’d expected from the way sensei talked about it. Perhaps other flavours were better? It was different from the instant stuff, but I wouldn't say it was preferable.

“You need to slurp it!” Kushina-sensei enthused. “Ramen tastes best when you do—there’s no other way to eat it!”

Mentally, I cringed, but did as she suggested. While I had gathered it wasn’t considered rude to do so in this context, I felt uncomfortable slurping food when I wasn’t alone.

“See?” she chirped. “Didn’t that taste even better?”

I nodded even though I hadn’t noticed any difference.

“So what is the plan for tomorrow, Sekai-chan?” Minato-san asked me. He always tried to get me to talk more, and knowing his wife was going to be away for awhile practically handed him a topic, since I couldn’t say that sensei would know better than me.

“Training with Kairi-sensei.”

“Oh? What will she be working on?” he prompted.

I shrugged, and went back to my ramen, conversation over.

“I think Kakashi will be here for dinner next week,” he tried, knowing that I liked Kakashi-senpai, though he’d only been present once or twice since my first meal with the family. He was intelligent, and I liked his trollish personality.

Unfortunately for Minato-san, it wasn’t my attention he caught.

“Kakashi-nii is coming?” The Nuisance exclaimed, bouncing in his chair. “I haven’t seen him in forever ! When will he be back? For how long? Where has he been?”

Ah, well, while the kid was a bother, at least he took the focus off of me.

-x-

“Stealth,” Kairi-sensei began, her navy hair hanging in her face like usual. “Is an incredibly important skill that every ninja should be trained in. Unfortunately, most don’t bother with anything beyond the basics. That will not be the case for the three of you, do you understand?”

“Yes, Kairi-sensei,” we replied as we did our exercises. Whenever one of our sensei was lecturing, we were to go through a simple exercise routine until she was done.

“Good. Stealth has many applications—breaking and entering, hiding, escaping, ambushing, spying. Anyone who says they don’t need stealth is a moron of the highest order,” she lectured. “There are many factors you need to take into account when practising stealth...”

After giving us tips on how to move silently, how to remain unseen, and things to be careful of, Kairi-sensei left the three of us alone to work on a stealth exercise. The exercise, of course, amounted to glorified hide and seek, but I wasn’t going to complain.

At first, it was easy enough for all of us to find each other now that we knew what subtle signs a person left, but after each round we discussed what gave each other away, and how to avoid it.

We had to be careful of leaving behind footprints, of stepping on plants and of causing things in our environment to move, like shaking branches or swaying cloth. We had to move silently, quickly. If the seeker approached, we learned to run away without doing anything to draw their attention. It was a lot of fun.

Hide and seek became part of our daily training routine, and soon it was no longer the seeker that had the easier job, but the hiders. Every other day Kairi-sensei joined us and gave us further tips for improvement and taught us new ways we could be tracked.

“The biggest threat to stealth is scent,” Kairi-sensei explained. “And sadly there’s not much to be done about it—there is nothing that can completely hide your scent from a sensitive nose.

“If you’re being scent tracked, head to water. Either hide in the water until it’s clear, or if you can, discreetly travel through it.

“Once Sekai has improved with her genjutsu, she may be able to fool a nearby scent tracker, but that’s a bit far off. Sekai-chan, you will find that genjutsu can have some use in stealth, but you mustn’t rely on it—it only works if someone is immediately near you, and you often end up leaving tracks behind you if you’re not mindful. For now you won’t be using it for stealth training. Understood?”

“Yes, Kairi-sensei,” I agreed. It wasn’t like I knew any genjutsu yet—Shisui-senpai and Itachi-senpai were still going over theory with me.

“Good. Now, today is a test—you have to hide from me .”

-x-

I stood outside the doors of the hospice Hanako resided in, staring at the building blankly. It had been months since I’d come to visit her.

I’ve been busy. I told myself, but I knew that wasn’t the reason. After finding out she’d been lying to me, I avoided her.

A few weeks back Kushina-sensei mentioned that she heard I hadn’t been by to see Hanako in ages, and “suggested” that I go visit her, practically guilting me into it. I’d put it off, but the guilt just kept getting worse.

So here I was.

Would I tell her I knew she had been lying to me? That I was avoiding her?

Right. As if. That wasn’t happening. I would stick to the “too busy and tired” excuse.

With a deep breath I stepped into the familiar building and was greeted by the sterile scent I was no longer used to. I signed in, and made my way to room 1412. Just as I was about to knock on the door, it opened, revealing a middle aged man.

His short hair was greying, and his eyes were the same colour as Hanako’s. He wore simple, but high quality clothing.

“Oh, pardon me,” he said. He looked me over, and his expression changed, though I wasn’t sure what it meant. “You must be Sekai-chan. Hanako has told me so much about you.”

I inclined my head, unsure of how to proceed. Never had I seen anyone else visit Hanako, and I had no idea who this man was.

His lips twitched. “Well, Sekai-chan, it’s been a pleasure, but I’m afraid I’m already running late. If you’ll excuse me...”

I stepped aside, and he strode passed me, looking at me over his shoulder as he left. I stared at his back, fixated on the crest carefully stitched on his clothes.

Hanako was disowned, so what was a Tominaga doing visiting her?

With the mental equivalent of a shurg, I walked into Hanako’s room. It wasn’t really my business... But surely there was no harm in trying to find out?

“Sekai-chan!” Hanako beamed at me, her wrinkled face lighting up with joy. She looked like she lost half a decade. Guilt twisted in my stomach. Regardless of her lies, and whatever her reasons for them, her expression made it clear she loved me.

“Hanako-baa-san,” I greeted with a small smile, using her preferred form of address without prompting. It was the least I could do after avoiding her for so long.

“It’s so lovely to see you again, my dear. Come, sit,” she said, patting the chair beside her bed.

“No work today?” I asked as I took the seat beside her, noticing that her usual pile of paper work was absent.

“I’m taking a break for now,” she replied. “I caught the flu awhile ago and I’m still recovering.”

“Are you okay, though?”

“Yes, yes. I’m fine,” she assured me. “I’m just a bit tired. You know how these things tire me.”

I nodded, remembering the last time she’d been ill—it had taken her ages to get better. I bit my lip. Had Kushina-sensei known Hanako was sick? Was that why she wanted me to visit?

I was a horrible person. Hanako had been sick, and I left her all alone, I hadn’t been there because she had lied to me about something that, in the great scheme of things, didn’t really matter.

Maybe her motives for helping my mother and I weren’t what she said, but was it really that big of a deal? Maybe she just didn’t want us to know why she’d been disowned.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I should have come sooner.”

“Don’t worry about it, dear.” She smiled warmly. “You’ve been busy, I’m sure. They must be running you ragged.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “But I should have made time—you shouldn’t have been alone.” I paused. “Aside from that man...”

Hanako chuckled. “I was wondering when you’d ask. That was my younger brother, Junichi.”

“...As in Tominaga Junichi, the clan head?” My eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Indeed,” Hanako confirmed.

“He’s a bit young to be your brother,” I muttered. “I didn’t know you were from the main line.”

Hanako smiled sadly. “My parents needed an heir after I was disowned.”

“What was he doing here?”

“Jun-kun has always been rebellious. When he was a teenager, he sought me out, wanting to meet his big sister. We were hardly close, but... he always did consider me family, which is more than I can say about anyone else in that damn clan,” she explained. “We grew closer in recent years, and he does his best to help me when he can. He stops by when he has time, lately.”

“Lately?” I asked, seeking clarification. As far as I’d been aware I was Hanako’s only visitor.

“In the past six months he’s started to visit. Before that he came once or twice,” Hanako elaborated.

“I see...”

“Anyways, why don’t you tell me how you’ve been, Sekai-chan? About what you’ve been up to?”

-x-

Sadly, my next genjutsu lesson was far from learning to stop people’s hearts, but at least we were moving beyond theory.

Instead, Itachi-senpai was showing me a few useful, preset illusions, like one that affected balance that Shisui-senpai mentioned in our first lesson.

It took me only two tries to successfully cast the genjutsu, but according to Itachi-senpai the most important part of using the jutsu was timing it correctly.

“If your opponent is suddenly unbalanced for no perceivable reason, they are likely to realize that they are in a genjutsu,” he said. “You want to time the genjutsu to take effect after a blow to the head, ideally. From an ambush perspective, it works well to use it on a hot day and cast it at a low intensity, and then gradually increase it so they believe they are coming down with heat sickness. For now, we'll focus on timing in a combat situation, but as homework I'd like for you to come up with situations in which it's use won't be immediately obvious.”

And so the rest of the lesson was spent casting the jutsu while sparing with senpai in an effort to time the jutsu, which fortunately for most only required a single hand sign, with landing a hit. Senpai, being a jounin, was of course going easy on me, and permitted any hit I landed on him to count, not just ones to the head.

Once he had decided I had “progressed adequately,” the two of us sat down in the training field.

“Sekai-kun, as you know, both Shisui and I are teaching you, and after discussing things with him, we decided that it would be best if we each focused on different areas in our lessons with you.”

“May I ask why?”

“It’s easier for us if we don’t need to keep track of how much of a lesson the other has taught you,” Itachi-senpai explained. “This way the two of us can simply pick up where we left off with you the last time we saw you.”

I nodded. “Understood. What will each of you be focusing on?”

“For now I will be focusing on teaching you preset genjutsu and working with you to use them effectively. Shisui will begin teaching you to detect and dispel illusions.”

“Alri—” I begun, but was cut short by a shriek of “Aniki!”

I blinked in surprise, and senpai let out the smallest of sighs as a child invaded our training ground.

“Sasuke,” my senpai said sternly. He was on his feet before I even noticed he’d moved. “Now is not the time. I’m in the middle of something.”

The boy pouted. “Yeah, in the middle of training some little kid! You say you don’t have time to train me, but here I find you training someone else! It’s not fair! You say you’re busy with your duties as a ninja, but—”

“Sekai-kun is a genin I have been assigned to mentor in genjutsu,” Itachi-senpai interrupted smoothly, poking the boy on the forehead with two fingers. “Training her is one of my duties. The sooner I finish my lesson with her the sooner I can return home, little brother.”

The boy crossed his arms and stomped off in a huff. “Fine!” he shouted as he left.

“My apologies,” Itachi-senpai said as soon as his brother was out of range.

“It’s fine, I’m used to it,” I dismissed. “He reminds me of The Nuisance, though not as hyper.”

Senpai raised a single brow. “The Nuisance?” he repeated.

Oops. “...Sensei’s son.” I mumbled. “Can you please not tell her I that’s what I think of him by?”

To my surprise, senpai chuckled in response. “I can see why you do. I’ve met the boy myself, he’s in Sasuke’s class.”

“...Are you going to tell sensei?” I asked, since he didn’t answer my question.

“I suppose I won’t.” He inclined his head. “So long as you answer a question of mine.”

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Do you often do that?” I tilted my head in confusion, and Itachi-senpai clarified, “Think of people by names like that?”

“Yes,” I admitted shamelessly, and saw his lip twitch in amusement. "There was a kid in my class I called Bug Boy, the matron at the orphanage was Two-Face, another kid in my class was Probably Inbred..."

And on and on I went. Itachi-senpai's smile grew with each nickname I listed and I part of me was proud that he seemed to appreciate my little habit.

“Do you have one for me?” he asked when I finished.

“No, of course not. I actually like you.”

“Heh.” He shook his head. “Very well, your secret is safe with me.”

-x-

It was mid October when Team Four received our first solo C-rank. Kushina-sensei was still away, Tsunade-sensei was busy at the hospital, and Kairi-sensei was needed for higher ranked missions, so the village decided the three of us could handle a simple mission ourselves. (After all, they have to make their best use of us, right?)

The mission was one we’d done before—running supplies to an outpost, the one we went to on our first C-rank, actually. Just a pigeon mission.

Like the previous times we made the run, we sealed the supplies into my arm. But then we hesitated.

“How should we do this?” Aiko asked after an awkward silence.

“Uh...”

“Aiko, you’re still the slowest, so you will lead. Sakura and I will match you,” I announced, deciding to take charge. “We should move as quickly as you can handle—we want to minimize the time we’re on our own.”

“But what if that tires us out too much and we’re attacked?” Sakura argued.

“Anyone who makes it that far into Fire Country, past all the outposts and patrols, isn’t someone we can handle on our own. We’re better off running and getting help if we encounter anyone,” I countered.

“True,” Aiko agreed, and our pink haired teammate conceded the point.

Our plan in place, the three of us set off, leaping through the trees. The entire trip to the outpost was fraught with tension. All three of us were anxious to be truly on our own outside of the village. Usually, we would make conversation as we travelled, but without needing to verbalize it, we agreed to move as stealthily as we could without compromising speed.

Fortunately, we arrived at the outpost without issue. We turned the scrolls into the quartermaster and headed towards the mess hall for a quick meal and rest.

“Eh? Is that you, Sekai-chan?” A male voice exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

Turning towards the sound of the voice, I saw Shisui-senpai sitting at a table with a few others. “Senpai,” I greeted, and he motioned for me and my teammates to join him. I glanced at Aiko and Sakura, who looked a bit uncertain, but shrugged in acquiescence.

“We made a delivery run,” I told Shisui-senpai as we sat down, my fingers immediately moving to tap along the edge of the table. “We’re just taking a break to eat before we head back.”

“Oh, right,” Senpai grinned. “Guys, this is Sekai-chan, the genin Itachi and I have been tutoring in genjutsu! And these two are her teammates... uh...”

“Haruno Sakura. Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Sakura greeted politely.

“Yamanaka Aiko. A pleasure,” Aiko said, adjusting her glasses.

“Right, and these are my teammates, Hyuuga Kugi and Hayashi Takeru.” He continued, gesturing to them as he said their names.

“Yo,” Hayashi said. “You sure you’re old enough to be a ninja?”

My lips thinned in annoyance, but I didn’t bother responding, especially when senpai smacked him on the back of the head.

“Nice to meet you,” said the Hyuuga guy, who had the creepiest eyes I’d ever fucking seen. I’d heard of the clan and their eyes, but I’d never met one before, and man did I wish it stayed that way. I knew they had white eyes, but fuck, if you didn’t look closely it looked like it was all sclera. “Ignore Takeru, he’s an idiot.”

“Where’s Kushina-nee-chan?” Shisui asked once introductions were out of the way.

I shrugged. “Not here.”

“Then your team leader?” he pressed.

“Sekai’s team leader,” Aiko said.

Shisui frowned. “You mean it’s just the three of you?” I nodded, and his frown deepened. “You shouldn’t head back on your own.”

“Why not?” I asked, and stopped my tapping.

“Earlier the three of us encountered foreign ninja about a hundred kilometres from here,” Creepy-Eyes said. “We took care of them, but...”

“Yeah, from what Shisui-taicho has said, the three of you are pretty fresh genin, I don’t think any of us feel comfortable leaving you three to travel back alone.”

Sakura frowned. “But what should we do then?”

Senpai hummed in thought. “Well, we’re scheduled to head back the day after tomorrow. You can stay here for a couple nights—that shouldn’t be a problem. I can send a message to the village that you’ll be returning with us due to an increased threat level in the area.”

“Very well,” I agreed, and my team nodded. Shisui-senpai was a jounin, if someone’s not pleased with this, then we can just say we were following the orders of a superior.

“Can we eat now?” Sakura asked me.

“Yeah, food, Sekai.” Aiko added.

Right. I had almost forgot. I pushed up my sleeve and unsealed three of the bento we had stored up.

-x-

Shisui-senpai assured the three of us that he’d take care of arrangements for us, so after we ate the three of us decided to just chill in the mess hall until he came back for us.

Gleefully, I pulled out my math notes and exercises and got to work. It wasn’t often I had such a perfect opportunity.

“What are you doing?” someone interrupted me a couple hours later. Looking from the corner of my eye, I noticed it was one of Shisui-senpai’s teammates. It wasn’t Creepy-Eyes, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name.

“Math.”

“Okay. But what exactly?”

“I’m proving this theorem,” I replied, pointing to my notes. I’d copied the theorem from a library book that had ‘left the proof as an exercise for the reader.’

“What does that even mean?” He asked incredulously. "Uniformly continuous? Compact?"

I let out a small sigh. “I’m not your tutor. Go look it up.”

“Whatever. What are you doing it for?” he pressed.

“Fun.”

“I mean, how do you use it?”

“I don’t,” I snapped, irritated by his interruption. “Go away.”

Senpai’s teammate let out a low whistle. “Wo-ow. Someone’s grumpy.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself, and went back to my proof, ignoring him.

An indeterminate (due to being so immersed in my studies I tuned all else out) amount of time later, Shisui-senpai returned for us.

“What are you doing, Sekai-chan?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Math,” My teammates answered for me with amused smirks.

Senpai bent over my shoulder, taking a better look at what I was working on. “Where, exactly, did you learn how to do this, Sekai-chan?”

“...Books. I saw them when looking for information on the topic you assigned me in our first lesson,” I partially lied. A lot of what I was working on was half-remembered from university classes.

He snorted. “Right well, pack up. I’m showing you three to where you’ll be staying.”

I quickly packed up my papers, and followed senpai out of the mess hall. He led us through the maze of identical cabins, until we reached one that he knocked on.

A woman with hair just a shade lighter than my own opened the door. “What is it?”

Shisui-senpai gestured to my team. “Due to increased threat level in the area, these three are going to be staying here for the next two nights, until my team can escort them back to the village. Please help them get settled in.”

The woman sighed, but nodded. “Fine. Come on in, you three.”

After briefly bidding Shisui-senpai farewell, we followed the woman into cabin.

The inside of the cabin was lined with bunk beds, and not much else. Though there was room for at least thirty people, only four of the bunks seemed to be in use. There were two other women inside, and they looked over curiously at the sound of our entrance.

“Grab a free bunk, girls,” the purple haired woman said. “My names Uzuki Yuugao. Welcome the female barracks.”

“I’m Yamanaka Aiko, and these are my teammates, Haruno Sakura and Hoshino Sekai.” Aiko informed her.

“What brings you shrimps here?” One of the other women, who had dark green hair, asked. “You lot must be genin.” If nothing else, my size made out rank apparent.

“So what if we are?” Aiko demanded, crossing her arms.

“So nothing, really,” the green haired woman said. “It’s just unusual to see an all girl genin team.”

The third woman, who was an Uchiha, judging by the symbol on her shoulder, snorted. “Please, I’ve never seen a purely female genin team. It’s more than just unusual.”

Sakura and I exchanged glaces, and I lifted my shoulder in a shrug.

“So what are three baby genin doing out here, anyways?” asked the Uchiha.

“Delivery mission,” Aiko answered for us. “But we were told that the area is at a higher risk level than it’s safe for us to run by ourselves, so we’re waiting for a team that’s heading our direction to escort us.”

Uzuki frowned. “Why isn’t your sensei enough of an escort?”

“It’s just the three of us,” my teammate said nonchalantly.

The older women stared at us. “I see...” The green haired one murmured. She did not look pleased.

-x-

Myself, my team, and the three others from the barracks were the only girls in the entire encampment. Sakura must have been wondering too, since she asked Uzuki-san.

It turned out that this base was filled with combat focused ninja, and despite everything, there still weren't a lot of women who were combat specialists. Most women fell into other specialties, like sensors, intel related fields, medics... and assassins.

It was interesting to learn, and the older ninja were more than happy to give us advice and explain things.

I was almost disappointed when the day senpai and his team could escort us back to the village came. It was nice having so much free time to do whatever I wanted.

We left mid afternoon. For the trip back, Shisui-senpai’s team insisted on carrying us on their backs, since us genin were “basically snails.” A trip that took us over three hours took senpai’s team only an hour and a half, even carrying our additional weight.

Once we reached the village, our teams separated. I dismissed Aiko and Sakura since I had taken the role of team leader, and headed to the office that assigned us the mission. I filled out the mission report and the form explaining the extended duration in one of the office’s empty cubicles.

With all the monotonous work done, I headed towards the training ground my team had unofficially claimed, and found my teammates were already there, waiting for me.

“Finally!” Sakura sighed upon noticing me. “Aiko has something to say, but refused to tell me until you got here!”

I looked at my blonde teammate and cocked my head to the side, silently asking her to explain.

“I turn eleven at the end of the week,” she said. “And my parents gave me permission to invite you both to my birthday celebration, on Saturday.”

“Of course we’ll come! Right, Sekai?” Sakura exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement. I nodded in agreement. “How should we dress?”

“Formal.” Aiko winced as she said it. “My parents insist. It’s mostly just family, my parents, uncles, aunts and a few cousins, a clan thing. But I asked if you could come, since a team is pretty much family...”

“... I don’t have formal wear,” I mumbled, looking at the ground.

“Oh...” Aiko drooped. “Sorry, I should have realized.”

I shrugged a shoulder in response. It’s not like it was her fault.

“Um, I think my mom kept a few of my things from when I was younger,” Sakura interjected. “There’s probably something appropriate for you to borrow.”

Aiko brightened. “Really? Thank you so much! I really want the two of you there!”

“Thank you, Sakura. I appreciate it,” I said with a small smile. Sakura beamed in response.

-x-

The morning of Aiko’s birthday, I went over to Sakura’s house to get ready. Her mother had brought a few of Sakura’s old kimono out of storage, and with her help I picked out the one that would fit me best.

It was a gorgeous pale pink one with red and white flowers, and it paired with a fairly plain geometric patterned red obi. Considering it was fall, it was terribly out of season, but it wasn’t like I had many options.

Sakura’s mother helped the two of us get ready, myself more than Sakura, as I had no idea how to properly wear a kimono, or how to do much of anything with my hair.

“You look so pretty, Sekai!” Sakura squealed once her mother finished with me. “That’s such a lovely hair style on you.”

“You look very nice, too,” I replied. And she did. She wore a gorgeous brown kimono with red and yellow falling leaves and a red, flower patterned obi. Her hair was worn in an elegant updo that was similar to the one her mother did for me, and she wore just the slightest amount of make up.

We bid farewell to Sakura’s mother, whom I thanked profusely, and set off for the Yamanaka compound. We walked slowly, which was apparently proper etiquette when wearing kimono, so the trip took longer than I expected.

When we arrived at the compound, Aiko was waiting for us near the gates, in a lovely orange kimono intricately decorated with embroidered flowers, and a beige obi. She greeted us by complimenting our outfits, and then led the way to her home.

As soon as we stepped through the door, a blonde woman was upon us. “Oh! The two of you must be Aiko’s teammates! Hoshino-chan and Haruno-chan, right? The two of you look absolutely lovely! Such cute girls!” she crooned as she pinched my cheek. It took all myself control not recoil from her. “My Aiko is so lucky to be on a team with such sweethearts! Almost as lucky as you are to be on a team with my pride and joy!”

“A pleasure, ma’am,” I said once she backed away a bit, and bowed.

“A pleasure,” Sakura echoed, also bowing.

“Well, come in, come in, the two of you are a bit early, so why don’t the three of you have a seat in the front room while I finish up lunch?”

“Sure, mom,” Aiko said hurriedly, grabbing each of us by the wrist. “We’ll do that.”

Aiko hastily pulled us through the halls, her face crimson.

“Sorry about that,” She winced once we were seated. “Mom’s just kind of...”

“Proud of you?” Sakura offered.

Aiko nodded. “That’s one way to put it...”

-x-

Lunch was an awkward affair. To my surprise, the clan head was present, with his family, as he was apparently Aiko’s paternal uncle. Along with them, there were three aunts and two uncles on her mother’s side, and four cousins, all who were quite a bit older than Aiko, save for the clan heiress, who was a year younger.

I felt completely out of place, and only spoke when spoken to.

On top of that, Aiko’s parents seemed to be able to take anything someone said and turn it into how amazing their darling Aiko was. If I were more expressive, I would have been wearing a permanent cringe throughout the meal.

Like for example, when the head, Ino-something-or-another, was talking about how his daughter was doing in the academy, Aiko’s father started saying things like “Oh! I remember when my little Aiko was still in the academy! She managed to transform perfectly on her first try! She’s so talented...”

Unlike me, the heiress wasn’t subtle in her reactions, constantly rolling her eyes or snorting in disbelief. It seemed to be some unspoken agreement that no one did anything about it though.

Finally, the meal ended, and my team and Aiko’s younger cousin were chased outside while “the adults talked about boring things,” like we were two year olds.

Once the four of us were alone in the backyard my team started talking amongst ourselves, effectively ignoring the heiress. That is, Sakura and Aiko spoke, I mostly listened to them. We didn’t discuss anything important, seeing as we were in the presence of an academy student who still counted as a civilian, but said civilian seemed to grow angry the more we ignored her.

“Hey!” she snapped. “Stop ignoring me.”

Sakura glanced over at her, but Aiko subtly shook her head, telling Sakura not to bother, and kept our conversation flowing.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed the heiress puff out her cheeks in frustration.

“Whatever,” she scoffed. “You’re so stuck up, anyways. Always thinking your so much better than me. Meanwhile, you’re friends with two nobodies, one of which is a baby who can’t even pick out a kimono that matches her hair, let alone the season.”

Aiko’s eye twitched slightly, but still didn’t grace the heiress with her attention. Sakura on the other hand, was clenching her fists, and I could practically see the vein bulging at her temple. She was shooting sharp glares over at unfamiliar Yamanaka.

“I don’t know why daddy made me come to your birthday party, you four-eyed freak. I bet it’s because he feels sorry for you, what with having no friends but a baby and a girl with a billboard br—”

“Just shut the fuck up, piglet!” Sakura finally snapped, jumping to her feet and whirling around to face the heiress. I wasn’t quite sure why she called the girl Piglet, but I decided that would be what I would call her too.

“Do you realize who I am?” Piglet screeched. “I’m the heiress of the Yamanaka clan!”

Aiko muttered something quietly, but was drowned out by Sakura.

“Yeah, yeah,” she dismissed her words with a wave of her hand. “What’s your problem? Obviously you don’t like Aiko, but that doesn’t mean you should blatantly antagonize her!”

“Don’t tell me how to treat my cousin!” Piglet’s face was flushed. “You don’t know anything about this! She’s so full of herself and thinks she’s better than me, and that she deserves—”

“Shannaro!” Sakura shouted, and stomped her foot, making a rather large dent in the ground and causing it to shake lightly. “I don’t care! Leave us alone! I won’t let you talk about my friends like that!”

Piglet’s eyes widened, and I was betting that it was as much fear as shock. She took a step back, and just stared at Sakura for a moment. She composed herself, and said with a sniff, “Whatever. I’m going home.”

“Oh my god, Aiko! I’m so sorry!” Sakura wailed as soon as Piglet was gone. “I can’t believe I did that, and I’m so sorry about the yard!”

“Nice.” I complimented her with an approving nod. I really hadn’t expected that from her.

“It’s fine. I’ll just tell my parents Ino was bothering me again, and you stood up for me. Don't worry, they’ll thank you,” Aiko assured our pink haired teammate, and pulled her into a hug. “Thank you for standing up for us. It means a lot.”

I nodded in agreement

“Get over here Sekai,” Aiko ordered, and pulled me up by the arm to join in the group hug.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“I judge others for their failings, yet I make excuses for mine.”

-x-

“Your orders regarding Experiment 4869, Hokage-sama?”

“Continue. Orochimaru may be gone, but we’re not letting everything go to waste.” Dan answered after a pause. “His research is still valuable—if he perfects this, it would be revolutionary. Summon Tsunade—she can oversee it from here.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

-x-

Eleven

Kushina-sensei returned shortly after the beginning of November.

She was visibly exhausted, so I did my best to be as undemanding as possible. Unfortunately, her son wasn’t as considerate, and I could see the strain it was putting on her. Sensei had been gone for over a month, and during that time she had missed The Nuisance’s birthday, and he wasn’t letting her forget it.

He didn’t seem to understand that she’d had no say in the matter, and that her duty to the village took precedence over him. If this had been The Before, I would have agreed with him. But things were different here. In The Before parents were supposed to put their children above all else, or at least, that was what I was raised to believe. But here things were different, and The Nuisance wasn’t raised in a society that believed that, so I couldn’t help but feel he needed to get the fuck over himself.

He was even more furious that she spent most of her time since coming back with me. Again, The Nuisance didn’t seem to understand that she was spending time with me because it was her duty to teach me. No, the little brat seemed to think she was choosing me over him.

It got to the point where I refused to go over for dinner, because I didn’t want to deal with him and his attitude. Not that I told Kushina-sensei that, of course. I just told her I thought that her son needed her right now, for some one-on-one time.

I was quite proud of myself for that one. Instead of making her furious by pointing out how much I hate the boy, I made her think I was “so thoughtful and sweet!”

-x-

“Today we’ll be starting on linked seals,” sensei announced one morning. “What do you know about them?”

“Linked seals are two or more seals that are designed to be used in conjugation with each other, and seals that are connected to the same pocket dimension,” I answered.

“Excellent.” Kushina-sensei nodded in approval. “We’re working in my office today. Come on.”

We took a leisurely stroll from the training ground to the Hokage tower, in no particular hurry. Sensei even stopped and bought us some sweets to snack on. Once we reached the tower, she led me through the maze of corridors and staircases to her office. I had yet to memorize the route myself, as it wasn’t often she brought me there. Usually, she taught me sealing in her home, but with the way The Nuisance was acting, I wasn’t surprised she decided against it.

Entering the room, I saw that the wall that had previously been covered with papers and half finished seals was bare but for a large blackboard. One of the arm chairs had been moved to face the black board, and she had added a wheeled lap desk in front of it.

“Take a seat, Sekai-chan.” Sensei gestured to the arm chair. “And take out your notebook. Today is a lecture day.”

I slid into the seat, but had to sit on my knees to comfortably use the lap desk. I unsealed my notebook, a pencil, and my fountain pen and ink, and carefully arranged them in front of me.

“To start with,” Kushina-sensei began, pointing at me with a piece of chalk from where she stood at the blackboard. “I want to clarify that linked seals are specifically an Uzumaki technique. Some seal users from other clans and villages can make linked storage seals, but nobody outside of the Uzumaki has unlocked the full potential of them.”

I nodded seriously, understanding that she was finally teaching me some of her clan’s closely held secrets.

From there, she spent hours lecturing and drawing diagrams on the blackboard while I took meticulous notes. Sensei was a good lecturer. While discussing the concepts and theories, she brought up interesting and humorous anecdotes that made it easier to remember things.

For example, linked storage seals were actually a completely accidental discovery. Ages ago, a young Uzumaki apprentice was drawing her first storage seal. What happened was that her ink completely bled through the paper she was using, into the one beneath it. When creating a seal, you must channel your chakra into the ink. So since the ink bled through, she ended up channeling her chakra into both the seal on top and the bottom one at the same time. At first the apprentice just though she had accidentally made two storage seals at once. But when her sensei was testing them, he discovered that they accessed the same pocket dimension. From there, the Uzumaki clan put a lot of man power into researching the hows and whys of what happened, and later finding a new way to apply it.

Linking the two seals was found to have been the result of channeling the same chakra into the ink of the two seals at the same rate and time, as they were created. The two seals had to be created simultaneously.

At first it seemed useless outside of linked storage seals—the only way to do it seemed to be the way the Uzumaki apprentice had. But then an Uzumaki seal master who was well versed in ninjutsu found a way around it.

The main component to every non-storage linked seal was a specific sigil placed at the top. This sigil had to be drawn with your own blood. For the rest of the seal, you didn’t channel your chakra into it as you made it, leaving it what was typically considered a “dead” seal. Then, you used the first of two Uzumaki secret ninjutsu for linked seals.

From there, you went to create any other seals you wished to link with the first one in the same matter. Finally, you cast the second ninjutsu, which released the chakra from your blood and let it flow into each seal at a uniform rate, changing the seals from “dead” to “alive.”

There were limits, of course. Any dead seals you’ve created with the sigil will become live and considered part of a single linked seal. Meaning you can only create one linked seal at a time. Those who’ve attempted to make two different linked seals without activating one first often faced disastrous consequences due to the unstable nature of the seal. Fortunately, once one is live, you can of course create more.

Another issue is that if one part of the seal was destroyed without your knowledge before it became live, then activating the remaining components could have similar results as accidentally linking components of two unrelated seals.

There were far more drawbacks and dangers, but those were the two most pressing.

The two ninjutsu required for linked seals fortunately had a low chakra cost, so even with my imbalance it wouldn't be draining.

By the time Kushina-sensei had finished her lecture, I felt the same as I had when I’d learned the true potential of genjutsu.

-x-

After her lesson, Kushina-sensei dismissed me for the day with the explicit instruction to come to dinner that evening.

I spent the rest of the day reviewing my notes as I ran laps around the training grounds, and when evening was upon me, I headed towards the Senju district.

“Sekai-chan!” Minato-san called as I took my shoes off in the entryway of the Uzumaki home and slipped on the purple bunny slippers they acquired some time ago for my personal use. “Dinner’s almost ready! Come join me at the table, I have someone to introduce you to!”

“Hello,” I said as I entered the dining room. Minato-san, Kakashi-senpai, The Nuisance, and an older man were all sitting at the table. I blinked at the stranger, feeling rather annoyed. He was in my seat. I stared him in the eye as I took the available seat across from him. I could already tell I wasn’t going to like him.

Before anyone could speak, Kushina-sensei shuffled into the room, carrying several serving bowls full of her delicious food with her chakra chains. One by one, she took them from her chains and placed them on the table. “Alright guys! Dig in.”

“Thank you for the meal!” all of us said in unison.

The meal sensei prepared was phenomenal as usual. Minato-san briefly introduced me to the man beside him—he was Jiraiya of the Legendary Three, and Minato-san’s own genin sensei.

I opted not to speak much, letting the Uzumaki family catch up with Jiraiya. The Nuisance in particular seemed to be excited to see the man. He chatted away happily, flitting from one topic to another under the fond gaze of the legendary ninja.

When the meal was finished Kushina-sensei made a solid clone of some sort to clean up while we all moved to the living room to relax. The Uzumaki trio chose to sit on the couch, Jiraiya claimed the arm chair and Kakashi balanced on the windowsill while I opted to sit on the foot stool.

“I was thinking,” Minato-san started. “Since Sekai doesn’t really know Kakashi very well, and has only just met you, sensei, why don’t we all go around and introduce ourselves. You know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, that sort of thing. A get to know you game of sorts.”

It seemed the blond man was up to his old tricks, trying to get me to participate more in the conversation. Considering how well everyone else knew each other, it seemed silly to me.

“Yeah! Yeah!” The Nuisance bounced in his seat. “Can I go first? Can I?”

“Sure,” Kakashi-senpai agreed indulgently. “Go for it.”

“Alright!” the younger blond cheered. “I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, training with mom and dad, and the colour orange. I dislike sealing, studying, and people who look at me and only see other people. My hobbies are pranks and spending time with my friends. My dream is to be the best Hokage ever! You next, mom!”

“Uzumaki Kushina, also known as The Red Death and The Chains of the Shinigami.” I suppressed a snort. Sensei sure liked to brag about her bingo book monikers. “I like ramen and chatting with my friends, and most of all, my family. I dislike foxes and stuck up people, like Fugu-face. My hobbies are cooking, painting and pulling pranks. My dream...” Kushina-sensei faltered slightly. “Well, it was to be strong enough to protect my home, which I like to think I’ve accomplished, for the most part.”

“Uzumaki Minato, though most people still refer to me as Namikaze. I like Kushina’s cooking, spending time with my family and learning new things. I dislike pointless fighting. My main hobby is reading. My dream... Let’s just say I’ve always shared Kushina’s.” Minato smiled sadly, and I got the distinct feeling I was missing something. Before I could start to wonder what exactly I was missing, it was my turn.

“Hoshino Sekai. I like the colours purple and aquamarine, and math. I dislike stupid people and being bored.” And this village, I added to myself. “My hobbies are studying, especially seals, and reading. I don’t have a dream.”

“Are you serious, kid? You like math and studying?” Jiraiya asked. I crossed my arms and nodded. “Well, aren’t you a barrel of fun. You remind me of—eh, never mind. I guess it’s my turn, then.

“I am Jiraiya of the Legendary Three! The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku!” the man boasted. “I like receiving attention of the female persuasion and dislike kiwi. My hobbies include writing and peeping at the bathhouse! My dre—”

“You peep at the bathhouses?” I interrupted. “You’re a pervert—”

“Ah, ah! I’m a super pervert,” Jiraiya cut in.

“You’re a dangerous sexual predator is what you are!” I spat with disgust.

“Hey, that’s going a bit far, don’t you think?” Minato tried to deescalate, though I could tell he was surprised by the vehemence of my reaction. “He’s harmless, really.”

“Violating vulnerable women who believe they are safe from creeps like him is not harmless,” I seethed. “I can’t believe you, Minato-san, defending him.”

“Sekai-chan, Minato’s right,” Kushina placated. “Like, it’s really not a big deal. I mean, like, I don’t like it either when some perv is spying on me, but they get what they deserve when they do!”

The old pervert chuckled, then winced. “You certainly make sure of that. You’ve sent me to the hospital more than once...”

Words couldn’t describe how furious I felt. Children bathed in the local bathhouses. I sometimes did! And Minato-san and sensei, who I thought were decent people, were basically okay with this? They thought beating him up, which hardly stopped him, was an adequate punishment? I just... I didn't remember a lot about people I knew in The Before, but I remembered a friend, or maybe a classmate, being stalked and harassed by a man who’d spy on her, send her creepy messages, and that sort of thing. And I remembered how badly it hurt her.

It hurt my mother. This sort of attitude was how I came to be born in this world. A ninja took advantage of her. And Jiraiya, who was one of the best ninja in the world, was taking advantage of who even knew how many women. Who was to say he didn't go any further than just peeping?

It wasn’t harmless. It was a big deal. But these people, who I thought were the decent sort, didn’t see that. And I had no clue how to explain it to them.

So I took a deep breath and relaxed my facial muscles. “You’re right. It’s fine. I’m—I just over reacted. It’s a sensitive topic. Please continue Jiraiya-san.”

“Uh... Right,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Well... My dream is to end the cycle of hatred and bring about true, lasting peace.”

Minato and Kushina sent me a look, one that seemed to say See? He isn’t that bad of a person.

“Wow.” I resisted the urge to clap sarcastically. How naive can you get?

“What?” he demanded defensively. “What’s wrong with my dream?”

“It’s impossible.” I replied, leaving off the uh-duh. “How do you think you could accomplish it?”

“We fight because we can’t let go of old grudges. Someone killed your friend, so you kill them. Then their friend kills you, and some other friend of yours kills that person. It’s an endless cycle. It’s how this war got started,” he explained earnestly. “We need people to forgive others. If we forgive each other, if we understand each other, we can have peace.”

“You really are naive for an old guy,” I commented. “That won’t work.”

“Why not?” he said hotly.

“Because some people don’t want to forgive! They don’t want to understand people! There will always be people who want to fight. There will always be reasons to fight. It’s not always about revenge. Just look at the second war! It started because of economic disparity—because some nations were lacking in basic necessities such as food and water!” I argued. “Even if you manage to convince everyone now, all it takes for peace to fall apart is one person who is willing to destroy it gaining power and influence. It can’t last. For example, say twenty years after peace is established, a new Raikage comes into power and decides ‘fuck those Leaf ninja, they’re doing something I dislike’ and it just escalates from there. Leaf isn’t just going to stand by and let Cloud take and do whatever they desire. Leaf will fight to protect its people.”

“You’re such a misanthropist,” Jiraiya dismissed. “People can be convinced. There might be a few outliers, but most people don’t want to fight, to continue losing people. Humans have an amazing capacity for forgiveness and understanding, don’t underestimate it. People aren’t inherently bad.”

“They aren’t inherently good either. Not to mention, there is the existence of psychopaths. You know, people who completely lack the capacity for empathy and don’t care how their actions affect the rest of the world, so long as they benefit.” I rolled my eyes. “Also, you haven’t addressed my last point—you said it’s possible to convince people, which I still disagree with as you had no real argument based on logic and objective fact, but rather your subjective opinion. But you never refuted my argument on why it won’t last,” I pointed out.

“Che, I didn’t see the point. It’s obvious isn’t it?” he laughed. “Just don’t let those people come into power. The Kage pick their successors, and are careful to ensure they possess the qualities they value. A peaceful Kage will pick a peaceful successor.”

“Oh my god, this fucking moron,” I muttered to myself in English, and Jiraiya, who wasn’t used to it, gave me a strange look. I took another deep breath and continued in this world’s language, my words practically dripping with sarcasm. “Yeah, and someone who’s power hungry won’t pretend to be what their Kage is looking for in a successor and not reveal their true motives until it’s too late. How silly of me to think that. It’s not like ninja deceive people.”

“You really think someone can get away with hiding something that big for that long, kid? The Kage aren’t morons—”

“If you say so. Of course no potential successor is going to be in the same league as the Kage,” I scoffed. “Besides, there are times there are legitimate conflicts with other parties that aren’t easy to solve, especially if one party believes their actions are acceptable and moral, but the other believes the same action is immoral.”

“I think morality is pretty objective—”

“Obviously it’s fucking not. You three,” I snarled, pointing at sensei, Minato-san and the pervert. “All seem to think it’s acceptable to use skills you’ve learned as a ninja to prey on innocent women, whereas I can see that it’s fucked up and harms other people!”

“No it doesn’t!” Jiraiya protested, and Kushina and Minato-san nodded in agreement. “They may be embarrassed, but they’re fine! I dare you to give one legitimate example of when it hurt someone!”

I gave him a cold look. “It hurt my mother," I said through clenched teeth. “I have no clue who my father is—and neither did she. The best guest is that a ninja used his training to rape her, without her even knowing it!”

The adults all paled. “I—I had no idea...” Kushina-sensei breathed. “Sekai-chan...”

“Whatever, I’m done,” I declared. “Clearly there’s no convincing you about either subject, and you can hardly change my mind.” Erasing my emotions form my face, I turned to the couch where Minato and Kushina-sensei sat, wide eyed. “Sensei, Minato-san, thank you for dinner. I’d best be returning home for the night.”

Without waiting for a reply, I hurriedly gathered my belongings.

“Wow. I think that’s the most emotion I’ve seen from her since mom brought her around, believe it!” I heard The Nuisance exclaim as I slipped on my sandals.

I opened the front door to leave, and just before it closed behind me I heard Minato’s dry comment, “Well, that certainly went well.”

-x-

I was relieved the next day when Kairi-sensei showed up at my apartment at five in the morning. Usually I wouldn’t be, but since she had an out of village mission for my team...

After the previous night’s explosive end, I wasn’t ready to see Kushina-sensei or her family yet. Or the legendary ninja that I had decided to call Sex Offender.

Sakura and Aiko, of course, were not nearly as happy about the early awakening as I was.

Once the team had all gathered, Kairi-sensei explained the mission. “Today, we’ll be heading towards Red Bean country. It will take awhile, and we’ll have to be very careful after we cross the border.”

Sakura frowned. “Why? We've been there before. They have no ninja, and none of our enemies are close to them. Our allies are the next closest nation.”

“It’s a... 'retrieval' mission, so to speak,” Kairi-sensei said with a sharky grin.

Suspicion was roused inside of me. “Define 'retrieval' mission.”

“We-ell...” she drawled. “We just need to pick up an item there.” Sakura and Aiko seemed to relax, probably assuming it was another pigeon mission, but I wasn’t so sure. “We just have to do it, ah, discreetly.”

“So we’re stealing it,” I stated, startling my teammates.

“My, aren’t you the clever one, hm? We are, indeed,” Kairi-sensei smirked. “Don’t worry. Our target is in the possession of some rich civilian. It’ll be easy.”

“Why are we suddenly taking this sort of mission, sensei?” Aiko asked. “It’s really not in our skill set.” I could almost hear her disdain for the mission.

“Isn’t it, though?” Kairi-sensei pressed, towering over us. “You’re all adequately trained in stealth for it, you all know how to pick locks, and it’s a civilian, so there shouldn’t be any traps to deal with, however if there are I’ll take care of it. Besides, three little girls with their older cousin is hardly suspicious in the first place.”

-x-

Morality here was confusing. Apparently, ninja had no problem with half the things that the people of The Before had deemed immensely immoral, yet they looked down on thieving. That wasn't to say they thought it was a terrible thing, they just though that it was distasteful. Or maybe dishonourable was a better word. I didn’t understand.

It was a bit complicated. Within the village, it was deeply ingrained into most that stealing was unacceptable. Part of it might have been a bit of a clan thing, that maybe bled out into the general ninja population. They were terrified of having their secrets, sacred artifacts, and such stolen from them. Therefore, stealing was something they grew up thinking of as wrong. Stealing techniques, information, or objects from other Leaf ninja was frowned upon, and using ninja techniques to steal from Leaf civilians was also heavily frowned upon and a crime with serious punishment, as it would discourage civilians from settling in the village. The civilians needed to trust that they were safe and the ninja of the village were on their side, otherwise they wouldn't settle in a hidden village, it just wasn't worth it.

Those attitudes didn't just disappear when stealing from foreigners though, even though legally it was a completely different matter. There were no laws against Leaf ninja stealing from anyone but fellow Leaf villagers. I didn't see why it really mattered. Stealing from a civilian was wrong, but peeping on them was fine? Assassinations, torture, espionage were all fine?

It was stupid, and the fact that Sakura and Aiko were so bothered by it annoyed me. I opted to ignore them for the moment, not wanting to snap at them and start a fight. It probably wouldn't have normally bothered me so much, but I was still upset from my disagreement with Kushina-sensei, and it bled into my interactions with my team.

The village we were headed for in Red Bean was over twenty-five hundred kilometres away from Leaf, and it took us five days to get there, even though we spent most of our waking hours running. I avoided speaking to anyone but Kairi-sensei for the entire trip, frustration with my teammates, Kushina-sensei, Minato-san, and Sex Offender still clouding my mind.

Awhile after arriving in Red Bean country, the four of us sealed away most of our gear and changed into civilian clothing. Kairi-sensei then instructed us each to use the transformation jutsu to modify our appearance. I was a bit worried since I was pretty terrible at the transformation jutsu, but fortunately it was only minor changes that I could handle.

Aiko’s hair was darkened to a dirty blonde, while Sakura and I both became brunettes, as did Sensei. While hair colour was the only thing Kairi-sensei and Sakura needed to change, Aiko and I were ordered to make our eyes brown.

Once we were sufficiently disguised, Kairi-sensei led us to the main road, and we travelled the rest of the way to the village where our target was located.

Traveling at a civilian pace was tedious and boring, so when we finally reached our destination, I was glad to get to work.

-x-

Our target was, of all things, a ceramic cat figurine. And if the sketch we were given was accurate, an ugly one, at that. It was, apparently, worth as much as an Uchiha cost on the black market. Naturally, I found that exceedingly difficult to believe. But hey, whatever floats our client’s boat.

We spent five days doing reconnaissance. It was Aiko’s job to chat up the townspeople to find out more about the owner of the home housing the figurine. Sakura’s job was to keep an eye on the residence and who came and went. Meanwhile, I was the one assigned to actually break in and “retrieve” the ugly ceramic cat.

On the third day, Sakura brought news that the homeowner left for the first time since she’d been keeping watch. Aiko had discovered that the man was a wealthy recluse who rarely left his house, except for the trips he took to acquire his “collectibles,” and would be gone for weeks at a time. Aside from that, he didn’t even go out for groceries—instead he ordered them in.

By the fifth day, we were certain that he had left town, so on the sixth Kairi-sensei helped me inspect the exterior security.

To my delight, I managed to spot everything myself. Not that that was saying much. The locks, unfortunately, were not something I could simply pick and be done with. The locks on the windows couldn’t be opened from the outside without damaging them, and using the front door increased the chances of being noticed. Fortunately, there were still options. It might keep civilians out, but it was nothing a ninja couldn’t handle.

That night, it was my turn to act.

I scaled up the house until I reached the roof. From there, I slipped down into the chimney, being careful not to get covered in soot. I landed in the fireplace, and discovered there were bars across it, large enough to easily place wood, but small enough that even a small child would have difficulty slipping through.

I checked myself for soot, but I was clean. It seemed the fireplace hadn’t been used recently. Likely because though it was now early December, Red Bean Country was much further south than Hidden Leaf, and the temperature was still pleasantly warm.

I delicately slid through the bars, barely making it through despite my petite stature. I rolled my shoulders to loosen up, and intently observed the room.

The room was filled with shelves along every wall. Some were piled full of books and others contained knickknacks, over flowing jewellery boxes, and more. The rest of the furniture in the room was piled with boxes. It was a hoarder’s paradise.

With a sigh, I decided to check out the other rooms before I started the actual search. With the exception of the kitchen, master bedroom, and bathrooms, the rest of the house was just as cluttered as the first room.

I searched room after room, until I came upon a room with piles of books all over, and tapestries hanging on the walls.

On instinct, I carefully lifted each one of the tapestries, and discovered a patch of wall that was unusual compared to the rest. The texture was rougher, like something scraped against it. I knocked on the wall, and my lips twitched up at my discovery. It was hollow. I slid my hands over the wall, exploring, until I put pressure on the correct place and the wall pushed inwards. I pulled on the edge of the wall, and it slid to the side.

Carefully, I stepped into the newly revealed room. Unlike the others, while it contained an assortment of items, everything was neatly organized. With a careful eye, I perused the shelves and surfaces of the room, looking for that ugly cat. After all, if it was worth that much money, it was likely kept somewhere safe instead of just lying around.

(Though there was admittedly a certain amount of security in tossing valuables in with a massive pile of junk. In order to find anything specific it would take a lot of time sifting through all the rubbish, and then there was the challenge of putting it all back exactly as it was before if one didn't want to alert the victim to the theft.)

My instincts were correct, and I found the figurine in a drawer of an old bureau. I carefully sealed it into my arm, and exited the hidden room, but paused after ducking out of the tapestries, and inhaled sharply.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a book. Not just any book though, but one with English writing on the cover.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to examine it. It was old—practically falling apart. The pages curled at the edges and the text was faded, but I was able to make out that it was a journal of some sort. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, staring at it. I sealed it into my thigh.

Well, I reassured myself, I’m already stealing, anyway. Why not take something for myself? And why stop at just this? There might be others English books here...

In the end, I didn’t find anymore books in English, but I did pilfer a few math texts that looked somewhat interesting. Our victim truly had an eclectic collection.

“What took so long?” Kairi-sensei asked when I met everyone back at the hotel we’d been staying in.

“Hoarder,” I replied, and she nodded in understanding. She’d probably seen a lot of them if she regularly did missions like this. “Furthermore, it was in a hidden room.”

“Detailed report later,” she ordered. “For now, get some rest. We leave in the morning.”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“You don’t need to use genjutsu to create illusions.”

-x-

It took me a long time to realize how lucky I am. Most no-name orphans end up as canon fodder. They used to think it was impossible for one to be a genius, a prodigy. But Namikaze Minato changed that.

So they started looking closer, paying attention. Most still end up dead on the battlefield. Most aren’t going to amount to anything special if they do survive.

Being picked out as special early on guaranteed that any teachers I had actually cared and trained me seriously.

I was lucky.

But then again, I wasn’t quite a no-name orphan, exactly.

-x-

Twelve

By the time we returned to the village, Kushina-sensei had already been sent back out. Part of me was relieved that I didn’t have to face her yet, but a larger part of me was worried that the disastrous evening where I met the Sex Offender would be the last I saw of her.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, and I knew that when she came back, I’d have to speak with her to clear the air. (It was definitely when she came back. Not if.)

Unlike the last time Sensei was out fighting, I found myself recruited by the village to take on some of the seal work in her place. As the apprentice of the village’s Seal Master, I was technically considered the interim Seal Master, despite the fact that Minato-san was quite obviously more skilled than me. As such, much of her work fell to me. I wasn’t naive enough to believe I was taking on everything though. It was not hard to deduce that everything I was working on was at or below my skill level, and nothing was too classified.

I learned quite a bit through it all, actually. Nothing about sealing, but plenty about how things worked behind the scenes.

One of my jobs was to check that the stamps used to mass produce seals lacked any flaws. The task seemed beneath me, but evidently most lacked the ability to determine if there are any errors in a basic exploding tag or storage seal. A handful had to be tossed out due to manufacturing flaws or damage from age, but most were of decent quality and would work just fine, even if the designs were unnecessarily complicated and convoluted. (Maybe that was on purpose though? To confuse enemies who found them, perhaps? Or to prevent them from getting their hands on anything worthwhile, anything they could learn from?)

More commonly, I was essentially told “make us a seal that does this specific thing.” I was vexed to discover that the limit of the ineptitude of these people was obviously approaching infinity. Do these pathetic excuses of sentient life even understand that sealing isn’t magic? That, unlike their stupidity, there are limits to what it can accomplish? That sealing doesn’t fucking work that way, you mentally deficient centipedes??

Someone wanted us to make a mind control seal! Seriously, who even let that get this far? It was completely impossible. How dare people waste my time on this sort of nonsense? I could never get those hours back!

For every towering stack of proposals, only maybe two or three were actually worth doing. The rest I was to sort into piles. One pile for proposals that were outside the limits of seals, another for seals that were mundane, a third for ones suggesting seals that already existed, and finally a pile of the more dubious requests.

I put things like “a seal to clean my teeth” in the mundane pile, and I won’t even get into the kind of seals that made it into the dubious pile. Suffice to say they were possible, but they sounded dangerous enough that I wouldn’t go making them without direct approval from the Hokage or Kushina-sensei. I don’t think some people realized how badly some things could be abused. Not that I didn’t find myself making note of some of them in the back of my mind for potential personal use at a later date.

Sorting everything was a pain. Fortunately, I had access to the stamps Kushina-sensei used for her paper work, so I could complete things more efficiently.

I took great pleasure in stamping “REJECTED” onto the ludicrous proposals, either accompanied by “STUPID” or “IMPOSSIBLE.”

But by far my favourite part was creating the seals along the guidelines of the actually useful proposals. Some of them were straightforward, but others I had to think about for a couple days and do some research. I loved the challenge.

-x-

I could count the number of times I’d seen my team in the month since Sensei left on one hand, and still have fingers to spare. It was unfortunate, but our schedules did not align.

All the paperwork I was doing kept me from doing any missions, though each week I was paid as if I completed a B-rank. It was time consuming, and by the time I was finished, I barely had time to keep up with my physical conditioning. I could practically feel my skew sliding back towards the spiritual end of the spectrum. All that progress and hard work, lost.

My teammates were busy too. Though they had plenty of time for team and individual instruction, they were occupied with their own tasks. I wasn’t sure what Aiko was up to, but I’d frequently heard about how busy Sakura was at the hospital. And from what I’d seen, it wasn’t hard to tell that the hospital was busy, either.

There were certain rooftop areas that were to be kept clear of traffic. These areas were the paths from the gates to the hospital. The purpose of them was so that severely injured ninja can get to the hospital without others getting in the way.

The paths had a lot of activity, lately. From what I heard, things were getting pretty bad out there, and field medics were just patching their patients up so they’d last long enough to get back here and get real medical attention.

I tried to ignore it—it wasn’t my business. But then one day I recognized someone.

Kakashi-senpai.

I stopped where I was, and fixed my gaze on the silver haired ninja. He was being carried over the rooftops by three ninja. Two were supporting him, and one appeared to be a medic, who was continuing treatment as they moved, his palms hovering over senpai and glowing bright green.

That wasn’t a good sign.

I licked my lips, my eyes following him until they couldn’t any more.

I didn’t know him that well. I’d only met him a couple times, and the last time hadn’t exactly gone well. But... from what I did know, I liked him. He didn’t treat me like I was a kid or too young to be a ninja.

With a sigh, I continued on to the Hokage tower. Even if I followed him to the hospital right now, no one would tell me anything. It was pointless, and I had work to do.

For now.

-x-

Two days later I went to visit Kakashi-senpai in the hospital. Initially, the receptionists were hesitant to tell me which room he was in. I suppose they thought I was some random child trying to get in to see a famous ninja. However a bit of name dropping and back up from a medic who knew Sakura got me through.

“Kakashi-senpai?” I said hesitantly as I knocked on his half closed door.

He responded with a grunt. Unsure of his ambiguous response, I poked my head in the room. Kakashi-senpai, who was lying in bed, heavily bandaged and with several machines hooked up to him, lifted his head from the pillow. “Sekai-kun?” he asked blearily. I nodded, and he gestured for me to come in.

I did as he bade, and took a seat in the chair beside his hospital bed. Unsure of what to say, I kept my mouth shut until he broke the awkward silence.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked in a tone that made it clear he was also wondering why I was here.

“I saw you when they were carrying you here,” I replied, wetting my lips as my fingers tapped at my knees. “It was concerning.”

“Ah.”

Silence fell upon us once more, and this time I was the one who broke it. “How bad is it?”

He winced. “Pretty bad.” It was clear he intended to leave it there, but I gave him a hard look, so he elaborated. “If I wasn’t who I am, they wouldn’t have bothered bringing me back, and just made it as quick and painless as they could.”

I sucked in breath through my teeth, and let out a stream of English curses. “How long will you be here?”

“Awhile,” he groaned. “I hate it here, but even I know it would be suicide to leave before the end of the week.”

“That’s not too long,” I encouraged, earning a snort in response. “What?”

“I’ll probably be here for a couple months.”

“What—why? Is it really that bad?”

“Sort of,” he said, attempting to shrug a shoulder, but wincing at the movement. “They won’t let me go home without supervision, and everyone I know well enough is out of the village for the foreseeable future.”

“I see.”

And then a thought struck me. Don’t do it, Sekai. Don’t do it. Bad Idea, part of me screamed, but I opened my mouth regardless.

“I... am in village until Sensei returns,” I blurted. Abort! Abort!

“...Sekai-kun?”

“Aside from my training, I am usually occupied with paperwork. Which can be done anywhere,” I continued.

“Are you trying say what I think you are?” Kakashi asked, eyes wide and glassy.

“I... Suppose,” I replied. “If you’d prefer it to the alternative.”

And that was how I found myself temporarily moving into Hatake Kakashi’s apartment four days later.

-x-

Looking back, I was fairly certain Kakashi-senpai must have been drugged out of his mind when he agreed to my proposal, and I wasn’t quite sure what was wrong with me when I offered, but clearly something was.

Still, we went through the processes of convincing the medics that though I looked like a five year old, I was actually seven and already a genin, and thus perfectly capable of taking care of Kakashi-senpai while he was injured. I’m not sure they really thought it was a good idea, but they relented in the end. Likely because it freed up a bed for someone else.

When he was finally discharged from the hospital, we faced the problem of how to get him home. The man was too weak to make it back on his own—he could barely stand without support, and I was far too small to provide said support while moving. We stood around outside like a pair of idiots while we tried to figure out how to get to his apartment. We must have been quite a sight—an obviously injured man only managing to stand with the support of a crutch and a small child.

After a bit of debate, Kakashi-senpai sighed as if he was about to do something he really preferred not so.

“Give me your hand,” he ordered, holding his right hand. When I tentatively did so, I felt a strong zap through my chakra system.

“What the bloody fucking hell!” I growled, then let out a slew of profanity in a mixture of English and French. The older ninja just looked at me strangely.

“What did you do?” I repeated so he could understand me. He ignored me, and bit his thumb until it bled.

“Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram, place your palm flat on the ground and step back,” he instructed, smearing his blood on my hand. (That could not be hygienic.) “This jutsu is chakra heavy. For it to work, you needed a bit of my chakra for it. I forced some into your system.”

Hesitant, but trusting Kakashi-senpai, I did as be bade. With a puff of smoke, a huge, dark grey dog appeared.

Oh. My. God. Instant Doggo!!!

“Hey Bull,” Kakashi-senpai greeted. “I need you to help me back to my apartment and show Sekai-kun the way. By roof.”

The dog nodded it’s head, obviously intelligent, and lowered itself to its stomach. With my help, Kakashi-senpai mounted the overgrown dog, who stood.

I took a step back, and found that calling the beast huge was an understatement. Bull was taller than me! Then again, that was hardly saying much...

-x-

Kakashi-senpai’s apartment wasn’t what I expected. The wooden floor was all scratched up and half the living room was dedicated to a pile of worn pillows and blankets, with a half dozen dogs sleeping on it. The remaining half was filled with a couch and a small coffee table. The kitchen was fairly standard, and rather clean, as was the bathroom.

“You have dogs,” I commented. The man, who was settled on the couch, gave me a dead stare that seemed to say no, really? I ignored it and approached the dogs. Their eyes opened, and I stopped just short of them, and held out my hand for them to sniff. “I’m Sekai. I’ll be looking after Kakashi-senpai for awhile. May I pet you?”

The smallest one, I think it was a pug, came up to me, sniffed my hand, and gave what I thought was the dog equivalent of a shrug. “Sure,” he said.

I blinked a few times, startled by the fact that he could talk, but reached out to pet him regardless.

“A little higher, right under the chin... yeah, that’s it...” The pug mumbled, and a small smile pulled at my lips. “Yeah, I like you, pup. The name’s Pakkun.”

“Thank you. It’s wonderful to meet you.”

“So what’s the story here, Kakashi?” The pug asked as he rolled over so I could rub his belly.

Kakashi-senpai sighed. “She’s Kushina-nee’s apprentice. They wouldn’t let me out of the hospital without someone to supervise me at home, and everyone is out of the village at the moment, so she offered. She’ll be staying with us for a few weeks.”

“Right. Can you watch him for me while I fetch my things, Pakkun-chan?” I asked the adorable fur baby. “I won’t be long.”

“Sure,” he nodded.

“You’re really going to let her call you that?” Kakashi-senpai muttered as I walked out the door.

“Why not?” I heard Pakkun say just as it closed.

-x-

The logistics of staying with Kakashi-senpai were a bit awkward to work out.

Nominally, I was sleeping on the couch, but more often than not I ended up joining the dogs on the other side of the living room. The big one, who’s name was Bull, took quite a liking to me, and would curl around me protectively as I slept.

As for my work space and storing my belongings... Well, Kakashi-senpai wasn’t supposed to move much, and the meds I’d been instructed to give the man really knocked him out, so I was left to figure it out on my own.

It felt weird, like I was invading his space, even though really I was the one doing him a favour. I still had no idea why I offered, and found myself really wishing that I hadn’t.

But at the same time, it was nice not being alone all the time. Kakashi-senpai’s pack was always around and more than willing to be subjected to belly rubs and ear scratches. Ever since that mission out to Red Bean Country, I had barely seen my team, or anyone else really. I hadn’t even had time to visit Hanako.

For someone who just over a year ago preferred solitude to the company of others, I felt pathetic about how lonely I was.

-x-

Three weeks into my stay with Kakashi-senpai, he had finally healed enough to be taken off the good stuff and move around a bit, which led to actually seeing and interacting with him and not just his dogs.

“Why are they keeping you in village?” he asked one day as I went through as much of my work out routine as I could in his apartment.

“Sensei is the village seal master,” I explained, flipping onto my hands. “As her apprentice, I take over when she’s gone.”

“They’re having you do that already?” My temporary roommate raised a silver eyebrow. “You must have a real talent for seals.”

I did my best to shrug my shoulders while doing a hand stand, but it was a bit awkward.

“Maa,” he sighed. “I suppose that’s to be expected of Leaf’s latest genius prodigy.”

I scoffed. “I may be smart,” I said as I shifted into a seated position. “But I’m not a genius.”

There was a long stretch of silence where Kakashi-senpai just stared at me. “You really believe that, don’t you?” he said, finally.

“Excuse me?”

“You really think you’re not a genius,” he repeated incredulously. “I don’t know where you got the idea that you’re anything but abnormally intelligent, but you’re definitely a genius.”

“Not really,” I said awkwardly. I was, essentially, an adult in a child’s body. “It hardly matters if I am or not, regardless.”

“If you say so, Sekai-kun.”

“...I need to go, I have a training session with Shisui-senpai,” I said. “Don’t do anything stupid. Pakkun-chan will tell me if you do. Right?”

“You got it, kid,” The pug replied, and held his paw up for a high five, which I of course gave him.

“Traitor,” Kakashi mumbled as he sent a one-eyed glare at his ninken. “You’re not supposed to take other people’s side.”

-x-

Training with Shisui-senpai was... interesting to say the least. While his younger cousin was teaching me simple genjutsu and how to best use them, Shisui-senpai was teaching me how to dispel the illusions. Which, despite my aptitude for casting genjutsu, was not something I excelled at.

To be frank, I fucking sucked.

Sure, I could notice if he made a sudden or obvious change in the environment, and then dispel it. But if it was something more subtle? Yeah, I couldn’t tell where it started and where it ended.

“Sekai-chan...” Shisui lamented, a crestfallen expression upon face as he shook his head. “How can you be so bad at this?”

I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks, and looked away. “Fuck off,” I muttered. “I’m trying my best.”

“I know you are, Sekai-chan,” he agreed. “How about you tell me what it’s like for you when you’re under a genjutsu?”

“It really doesn’t feel any different than usual,” I admitted. “If something is obviously different, I can deduce that I’ve been placed under a genjutsu and break it, but your more subtle illusions? Where nothing overtly changes? I don’t notice.”

Shisui-senpai hummed in acknowledgement. “I see. Well then, I think I have an idea.”

“Oh?” I prompted with a tilt of my head.

“Well, I’m on medical leave for the next few weeks or so, and you said you’re in village for the foreseeable future, yeah?” I nodded. “Well then, you’re going to meditate and focus on the flow of your chakra. And I,” he puffed up dramatically. “Shall follow you around and cast genjutsu on you when you least suspect it. Eventually, as you familiarize yourself with the flow of your chakra, you should be able to detect my interference.”

“What sort of genjutsu will you be using on me?” I questioned warily.

“Harmless stuff, don’t worry,” he dismissed. “Nothing that will interfere with your training and duties.”

I let out a small sigh and agreed.

-x-

Meditation was boring. Initially, I believed I could go through my kata as I did so, but found that even that was distracting from my concentration on my chakra flow. Which meant that I basically had to be stationary while meditating. I could just imagine how much this was setting me back at reducing my skew, especially since I already had other factors negatively impacting it.

It was also difficult to keep my focus on my chakra generally. It was so boring—my mind kept drifting to ideas about how to figure out proofs I’d been having trouble with, sealing ideas, and, well. Anything, really.

It was frustrating. It sucked. I hated it. But it was important, so I did it.

Not that it seemed to do much good, though.

For example, one day I had a lesson with Shisui, and he led me around the extensive Uchiha owned land. He said that while I worked on detecting genjutsu via the alteration in my chakra flow, I should also work on detecting small inconsistencies, like smells and sounds. So he took me to a flower field and had me smell a bunch of flowers, then altered their appearance with genjutsu and had me guess at which flower it was by smell. When we were finished, I decided to take a carnation back with me, and sealed it away in my arm. When I returned to Kakashi-senpai’s apartment, I unsealed it, only to find that there was no flower, only a taunting note mocking my difficulty with detecting genjutsu.

It was humiliating, especially when I had to explain to Kakashi-senpai why Uchiha Shisui was stalking me. (Of course he noticed, no matter that he was still far from fully recovered, and I had no idea when that stupid Uchiha was following me and when he wasn’t.)

It was, however, an excellent motivator in regards to the meditation. And by the time it was five weeks into the new year, I was able to detect when Shisui-senpai’s chakra was meddling with my mine more often than not.

Of course, instead of being proud of my achievements, he sulked. The little reprobate found joy in making a fool of me.

Though, I must admit, if I were in his position, I wouldn’t behave much differently than him.

-x-

The first time I saw Aiko and Sakura since my stay at Kakashi-senpai’s home was in early February, and a complete coincidence.

Since I’d finally made progress with detecting genjutsu, I decided to treat myself to some sweets at Suzuki Kashiya. I was enjoying an entire cake to myself (don't judge) when they entered the shop.

They didn’t seem to notice me at first, so I let them order in peace, and then waved at them once they started to look for seating. They startled when they noticed me, and exchanged a look that I couldn’t quite read. Nevertheless, I could tell that something was... off, to say the least, and gripped my knees.

“Hey,” Aiko said with a half smile and awkward wave. “It’s been awhile, huh?”

I nodded. “Yes, I’ve been extremely busy ever since Kushina-sensei was sent out.”

“Oh?” Sakura said, her voice a tad higher than typical.

I nodded again. “Yes, I’ve taken over much of her sealing work for the village. I’m not sure how she does it all on top of teaching me, spending time with her family, and all that. How have the two of you been?”

“Busy,” they replied in unison, despite having full mouths.

“Lots of hospital work, training and C-ranks,” Sakura added once she swallowed.

“Yeah. I’ve been working closely with Kairi-sensei, and stuff.”

“I figured,” I replied. “I’ve missed you two, but I haven’t seen you around much.”

“Yeah...” Aiko mumbled awkwardly.

I licked my lips, and couldn’t help but think they were avoiding me.

“I’d hoped to come here with the two of you for my birthday, a few weeks back, but I couldn’t find either of you,” I said, testing the waters.

“I-it was your birthday?” Sakura squeaked. “When?”

“A little over a month ago, on new year’s eve.”

“Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” My pink haired teammate cringed guiltily as she apologized.

“Yeah, sorry,” Aiko said. “I wasn’t even in the village.”

“It’s fine.” I shook my head. “We’ve all been busy. But I need to get back to work. Sorry to cut this short.”

“It’s fine!” The two hurriedly chorused.

“It was lovely to see you,” I said as I packed up the remainder of my cake. “Hopefully I’ll see you soon.”

With that, I left Suzuki Kashiya and headed for the training grounds.

I had thought Sakura and Aiko had been busy, and not had time, but after speaking with them it was obvious they were avoiding me. The only question was why? What had I done?

-x-

Chapter Text

Against The World

“Peace, whether personal or on a large scale, cannot last.”

-x-

Sometimes, I wonder if this is my second life, or just the second one I can remember. If it wasn’t the second, why didn’t I remember any others? Had something gone wrong this time around?

I wasn’t sure exactly how old I’d been before I died, but I think I’d been in my twenties.

Despite my physical age, I couldn’t help counting those years towards my actual age.

But it made me wonder. If this isn’t only my second life, does that mean I should count the years from other lifetimes? Since I’m not counting just my current one? But then how old does that make me? Hundreds of years? Thousands? Only a few decades?

I don’t know.

Even just counting this life and the one I remember, it makes things difficult. I’ve never been able to relate well to people my own age. I see them as children. I can’t imagine ever dating someone my apparent age, I’d feel like a pedophile.

But the people who I could see myself dating, see me the way I see those children.

It makes me wonder if I’ll end up alone.

But if this is just my second life, and I will remember every time I’m reborn, won’t it just get worse and worse?

Won’t I eventually consider myself to be hundreds or thousands of years old? Wouldn’t I be even further away from everyone than I am now?

-x-

Thirteen

It was the end of February, and my time staying with Kakashi-senpai was coming to an end. He wouldn’t be on active duty for another couple months, but by the end of the week he would hopefully be cleared to live solo.

To celebrate, I dragged him to the market to pick out his favourite foods, which I’d do my best to cook for him. For the most part Kakashi-senpai just trailed behind me quietly, but while I was examining eggplants, I noticed him speaking with another ninja.

Considering I had no idea what to look for in an eggplant, I gave up, just grabbed one, and slunk over to the silver haired ninja’s side.

“Oh? Who’s this?” The bearded man he was speaking to asked. “They got you on babysitting duty, Kakashi?”

I scoffed. “Hardly. If anything, I’m babysitting him.”

The man sent me a patronizing look, the kind you gave a kid when they told you they were going to be the next Hokage, that said uhuh, sure kid, you and everyone else.

“Mah...” Kakashi-senpai sighed dramatically. “I’m afraid it’s true. I’ve been on medical leave for the past few months, and Sekai-chan here, who is Kushina-nee’s apprentice, has been looking after me.”

“Hoshino Sekai. A pleasure to meet you,” I greeted him, bowing perhaps a bit too shallowly.

“Sarutobi Asuma. Nice to meet you, kid.” Sarutobi-san’s gaze was no longer dismissive, but rather assessing. “You’re Uzumaki-san’s apprentice, huh?”

I inclined my head. Wasn’t that what Kakashi-senpai just said?

“I’ve heard of you. Guess I’ll be seeing you around. Later, Kakashi.”

-x-

“How is it?” I asked at dinner that night. “Be honest.”

“Well... you made a good effort,” he began and paused. Likely for dramatic effect. “It’s decent. Not the best, but enjoyable.”

My lips curved into a small smile. “I’m glad. I’m not much of a cook, as you know.”

Kakashi-senpai’s single visible eye seemed to soften. “Eh, it’s the thought that counts, right Sekai-chan?”

“Indeed,” I agreed.

“You know, you’ve been more talkative the past few months than I would have thought,” Kakashi-senpai commented. “You barely spoke when you’ve had dinner at Minato-sensei’s house.”

I shrugged. “I talk with you because it’s enjoyable. Conversation with The Nui—” I faked a cough, and took a gulp of water, before correcting myself. “Conversation with Naruto is annoying. And when he’s around he makes it hard to have a good conversation with other people.”

“You don’t like Naruto much, do you?”

I paused, unsure what to say. He considered The Nuisance to be his little brother after all. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to be honest. “He’s annoying and unintelligent. I have no interest in that sort of person, and would prefer to avoid them. I haven’t the patience for people who can’t keep up with me to at least some extent.”

Kakashi-senpai chuckled. “He can be a bit much, huh? Don’t tell sensei, but he can be really annoying sometimes. Still, he’s family. But he’s not really that stupid, Sekai-chan. You’re just a genius.”

“Hardly. I’m above average, at best,” I dismissed. If he knew that I was mentally older than he was, he’d agree. But I couldn’t tell him that. This was the second time he called me a genius, and it seemed he wasn’t going to let go of it.

My temporary roommate frowned (I thought, it was hard to tell), and looked at me for a long moment. “I know you don’t believe it, Sekai-chan, but you’re smarter than most adults I know. Sometimes I forget you’re a kid, despite your size.”

“You better not be calling me small.”

“Of course not,” he placated.

-x-

I moved back to my own apartment two days later. To my dismay, it was covered in dust, and I had to sacrifice some library time to clean it and wash my bedding.

On the bright side, that night I slept in my own bed on fresh sheets, which was lovely.

Sadly, I was awakened only two hours after I’d gone to bed—which was at five in the morning.

“Guess who’s back~!” a voice shrieked as my covers were torn away from me.

“...The fuck?” I mumbled in English, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. I glanced at my clock, which read quarter past seven, and saw a mass of red hair standing by my bed. “...Kushina-sensei? When did you get back?”

“Yup!” My red-headed teacher beamed. “I got back last night. C’mon, it’s time to see how much of a mess you made as acting Seal Master while I was gone.”

I sighed, gathered my things, and headed to my bathroom, where I took a quick shower and got dressed. I stepped out, gave a forlorn look at my bed, and followed Kushina-sensei through the streets to the tower.

Once we were settled in her office, we went straight to business. I summarized the work I’d done as acting Seal Master in her absence and showed her the seals I’d completed.

“How do you do this all on top of everything else?” I asked her once I’d finished.

Her lips twisted into what could only be described as an evil grin. “Shadow clones.”

“Shadow clones?” I repeated in confusion.

“The most, like, awesome kind of clone ever, you know! Everything they do, you remember it once they dispel, they can use chakra and do, like, anything you know how to do.”

“That is so hax,” I grumbled in my native tongue. “That jutsu is so OP.”

I needed it.

“...What?” Kushina-sensei blinked dumbly.

“Irrelevant. Can you teach me?” Though phrased as a question, it came out as more of a demand.

“Probably not a good idea, at the moment.” she replied. “It’s a chakra intensive jutsu, and has a pretty high physical energy cost. Even if you have enough to make one, which I’m not sure you do, it would leave you basically useless.”

I visibly wilted. Of course. No OP jutsu hax for me.

Sensei sighed. “Don’t look so down, kiddo. If you keep up your work I’m sure you’ll be able to make one in a few years.”

“Sure,” I agreed halfheartedly. “How many can you make, anyway?”

“W-well, I’m like... I’m a bit of a special case, you see.” Kushina-sensei chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her neck. “I have... like, a lot more chakra than pretty much anyone else in the village, and the Uzumaki tend to have more physical energy than most people... So, I can safely make, like, about thirty in a day... but beyond twenty I start to notice the drain.”

I stared. What the hell. Making one could kill me—and I may be young and have severely skewed chakra, but I had above average reserves for a genin—but she could make thirty??

That... there was something I didn’t know about Kushina-sensei. There had to be.

With business out of the way, sensei dragged me back to the Uzumaki residence for lunch.

“Um. Sensei?”

“Yes, Sekai-chan?” she answered absently as she prepared sandwiches.

“I... wanted to apologize for how I behaved the last I was over for dinner with you.” I took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have let my emotions get to me like that, and remained polite.”

Sensei sighed, and set down the knife she was using to cut crusts off and turned to face me. The expression on her face was warm and gentle.

“Sekai-chan, there’s nothing to forgive,” she assured me, resting a comforting hand on my shoulder.. “Your feelings about Jiraiya-sensei are understandable, given your experiences. I won’t hold it against you, nor will Minato, and we won’t force you to be around him, kay?”

I nodded. “Still, I was very rude, and confrontational.”

“Maybe, but you’re hardly the first person to lose their temper in this house. It’s fine okay? Don’t worry about it.”

“...Alright.”

“This has been bothering you, huh?”

I swallowed. “I was worried that you wouldn’t come home, an-and the last time I’d seen you I’d been...”

“Oh, Sekai-chan!” Kushina-sensei wailed and pulled me into a hug. “Even if something like that happens again, I’ll forgive you, okay? You’re my precious student, after all.”

Hesitantly, I returned the embrace. “Thank you, sensei.”

“Now, is there anything else bothering you? You can talk to me about anything, you know.”

“Well, I think Aiko and Sakura are mad at me, and I don’t know why.”

Sensei frowned. “What makes you think that?”

I shrugged a single shoulder, and avoided her gaze. “I didn’t see them much while you were gone. I assumed it was because they were as busy as I was, however, then I ran into them a few weeks ago, and the way they behaved indicated they were upset with me, and avoiding me.”

“Honestly, the best thing you can do is talk to them,” she advised. “I know that kind of advice sounds unhelpful, but it’s really all you can do, if you want to fix things.”

She was right, and I knew it. “Okay. Thanks.”

She reached over and ruffled my hair. “Anytime.”

-x-

It was another week before I saw Aiko and Sakura again. Now that sensei was back and I was no longer babysitting Kakashi-senpai, team training had resumed. Our first session was led by Kushina-sensei, and it was awkward, to say the least.

As she ended the practice, sensei gave me a look that I interpreted to mean she wanted me to speak to my teammates.

“Sakura, Aiko, can we talk?” I asked before they could leave like they clearly wanted to. The two exchanged a look, but agreed.

“Sure,” Aiko said, her arms crossed over her chest. “What is it?”

My fingers tapped against my thigh restlessly. “Are you two upset with me?”

Aiko’s neutral expression morphed into a scowl. “Do you really have to ask?”

I lifted my chin. “Yes. I do. Because I don’t know what I could have possibly done to upset you.”

She scoffed, and Sakura’s expression was equally disbelieving. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, I don’t know!” My blonde teammate exploded. “Maybe you completely ignored us on the last mission we went on, and then avoided us for months!”

I blinked dumbly. “I—that’s—what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, Sekai,” Sakura spoke up. “We all know you’re far from it.”

I shook my head. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t—that mission we had, I wasn’t ignoring you. At least not on purpose,” I explained. “I was upset—I’d had a big fight with Kushina-sensei the night before, and I was just...

“And I wasn’t avoiding you, I was busy! With sensei out of the village, I was acting Seal Master, and I took over some of the administration work and a lot of the R&D work.”

“If you weren’t avoiding us, why didn’t you ever answer your door? We stopped by loads of times!” Sakura argued, though with less fire than she had before.

“I wasn’t living there for months. Kakashi-senpai was severely injured, and needed someone to supervise his recovery, so I was staying with him.”

“...Oh.”

“Still, you could have told us!”

“When? If I wasn’t working or taking care of senpai, I was training. And it’s not like I knew where either of you were,” I defended myself.

“You could have stopped by one of our places!”

We carried on like that in circles for ages, until eventually we got everything we were thinking out.

In the end, the two older girls felt guilty they hadn’t realized something was wrong and that I wasn’t just ignoring them on that mission, and I realized that it wasn’t normal to just not communicate or make much of an effort to for months just because I was busy.

“I don’t know what I expected, really,” Aiko commented once things were settled. “You’re brilliant, but socially you’re a moron.”

All I could do was shrug, since she wasn’t wrong. Before Aiko I never spent time with anyone but Hanako, who’d just always been there. Additionally, it wasn’t like either of us needed to make an effort to see each other before the last few months. We either saw each other regularly at school or for training.

“In the future I’ll attempt to at the very least inform you I’m otherwise occupied,” I promised.

“And we’ll try to take into the account the fact that you have no social skills in the future,” Sakura added wryly.

And that was that.

-x-

Over the next few weeks, I noticed that Kushina-sensei was different. The last time she came back after being away she’d been exhausted, but this was something else. It was hard to put my finger on it, but eventually I concluded that she was always on edge, never relaxed, like she was expecting an attack at any moment.

Would that be me, someday? (Probably)

I did my best to ignore it, to pretend that nothing had changed, and she seemed to appreciate that. Slowly, it seemed to lessen, but it didn't quite go away.

After the whole misunderstanding with my teammates, I tried to visit Hanako more as well. Because though I knew she understood why my visits were infrequent, Sakura and Aiko made me realize I could still make more of an effort.

To my surprise, however, Hanako was nearly as busy as I was, if in a different way. Whenever I stopped in, she had piles of paperwork strewn across her hospice room. She seemed harried a lot of the time, but she always had a warm smile for me when I made it to visit.

My visits weren’t always as long as they had been in the past, and some times we didn’t speak much, but I could tell she was glad to have me around.

Hanako wasn’t the only relationship I tried harder to maintain though. After living with Kakashi-senpai for months, I had come to consider him a friend, too, and so I tried to stop by and visit him and the dogs as well.

Currently, they were the only two I needed to try with at the moment, since I was once again regularly seeing my teammates in training and missions, and I saw Itachi-senpai and Shisui-senpai for genjutsu lessons semi-frequently.

My lessons with Shisui-senpai had finally progressed past him randomly trapping me in genjutsu, as I could now sense it whenever he did, one hundred percent of the time. He’d seemed very upset about that, but that was just because he enjoyed my embarrassment.

Our lessons now focused on genjutsu that were difficult to dispel even if you did detect them.

“You can’t just disrupt your chakra to get out of this sort of genjutsu,” he had explained. “You have to find the exact location of my chakra in your pathways and disrupt that.”

It was trickier than it sounded, too. While his previous lessons helped with detecting foreign chakra in my system, it was harder to pinpoint its exact location, as there were hundreds of minuscule pathways in my brain.

I felt bad about how difficult it was, but after Itachi-senpai mentioned that the sort of genjutsu Shisui-senpai was using were S-rank, and few ninja could break out of them without the aid of a bloodline, I felt a lot better about it.

Itachi-senpai was still teaching me preset illusions, including a handy one that put put the target to sleep, but he was having me focus more on what my chakra was doing when I cast them, to get an idea of what exactly it was doing. This included doing so while sparring, which still seemed impossible to me, even after several practice sessions, both with senpai and with Sakura and Aiko.

Team practices with Sakura were getting scary. She was creating craters with each punch, and was so used to using her chakra to enhance her hits, that sometimes she forgot to let up when sparring with us. This resulted in more than a few broken bones, which at least served as healing practice for budding medic, and pain tolerance for Aiko and me.

Aiko, meanwhile, had gotten better with her taijutsu, and learned several earth ninjutsu. Kairi-sensei had the three of us practice defensive maneuvers incorporating said jutsu, and combo attacks.

Team training was becoming brutal, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it had to do with the way things were getting worse with the war.

-x-

“Alright, it’s time to start you on one of the Uzumaki clan’s most prized secret jutsu!” Kushina-sensei declared one morning when we met for training at her home. “Let’s go out back.” she said, and gestured for me to follow her, which I obediently did, only to pause when I caught sight of the yard.

Spread across her back lawn were piles of huge chains.

“Sensei?”

She smirked, and flung her arm out to point at the chains. “The first step is to channel your chakra into these chains. Don’t worry, they’re made of chakra absorbing metal.”

“..Why?” I asked.

“You’ll see. Now hop to it! It’ll take awhile! They have to be completely saturated in your chakra!” Kushina ordered with a manic gleam in her eyes.

Without further comment, I plopped down near the pile and began pumping my chakra into the mental links as she demanded.

In the end it took me two weeks to finish saturating them with my chakra, and only then did Kushina-sensei tell me what they were for.

“You know how I have my chakra chains as part of my bloodline limit, right?” Sensei said. “Well, this is how they started.

“The next step is to create a seal to store them. Usually my clansmen had the seal somewhere on their body. But before we worry about that, we need to design the seal on paper, first.”

I nodded in understanding. We were both sitting on the lawn, surrounded by chains thrumming with my chakra.

“Each clansmen started with the base seal,” Kushina-sensei lectured as she placed piece of paper in front of me with an inactive seal sketched out in pencil. “Then built on it for their own needs.

“Now, I’m sure you’re wondering how these things are used. The seal allows you to connect them to your chakra pathways, and thus to control them like a limb. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the idea. Anyway, the chains are then used as they are for attacks, or as conduits for various jutsu.”

“Fucking sweet.” I whispered to myself.

-x-

The mission wasn’t anything new. We’d done several like it before. It was a simple run to one of the outposts to deliver supplies. Tsunade-sensei was leading us for the first half of the mission, and Kairi-sensei, who was at the outpost, would switch out with her for the trip back.

There were no problems on the way to the outpost near Pond Country, where our allied village of Hidden Waterfall was located. We made the trip in two and a half days, which was a reasonable time frame to travel almost five hundred kilometres for a team of genin. Once we arrived at the outpost, I unsealed the storage scrolls from my arm and passed them to the jounin in charge while Tsunade-sensei took Sakura to the medical station. Aiko and I checked in with Kairi-sensei, and then I drew up various types of storage seals for the ninja on base, according to what the jounin commander asked for.

The next morning Kairi-sensei asked me to store a couple of sensitive documents in my arm. Once I’d done so, the four of us took off.

In order to avoid a major battle that the three of us genin weren’t ready for, Kairi-sensei had us take a detour that brought us fairly close to Meadow Country and Hidden Grass.

“God dammit,” Kairi-sensei hissed after a few hours of travel. “We’ve got three chuunin level ninja incoming, four o’clock.”

“Orders, sensei?” Aiko asked, though we all knew what sensei would say. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. In retrospect, we would realize this is where things started to go bad, but at the time it didn’t seem like a big deal.

“The three of you keep going along the route planned, full speed. I’ll take care of these three and then catch up with you. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the three of us chorused.

“Good, now go!” Kairi-sensei shouted as she unsealed her spear and jumped down from the tree.

“Aiko, you set the pace,” Sakura ordered, since Aiko had the worst stamina. “Sekai and I will match you.”

“Right,” Aiko nodded. She sped up and took the lead. I let Sakura follow behind her, and took the rear.

We travelled that way for nearly three hours, hopping from tree to tree. But the longer we travelled, the more anxious we became.

“Stop for a rest,” I suggested when I noticed Aiko slowing down.

“Are you sure? We’re still really close to the border with Meadow,” she fretted.

“It’s fine. You need to rest and replenish your strength,” Sakura agreed.

Aiko nodded reluctantly, and the three of us retreated to the ground.

We each took out our water bottles and a niNRG bar, and collapsed on the ground in a tight circle.

“I’m glad we have you on this team, Sekai,” Aiko said around a mouthful of the meal replacement. “My cousin was so jealous when he found out I have a seal that keeps my water cold.”

“It is convenient,” Sakura agreed. “And we can carry enough for weeks, too.”

We continued to make small talk as we rested, but after an hour we were starting to grow anxious.

“It’s already been about four hours since Kairi-sensei sent us ahead,” I hedged.

“Yeah,” Aiko agreed.

“Usually she’s caught up with us by now,” Sakura added.

The fact that we’d been stationary for a quarter of that time went unsaid.

“...We should get moving,” I said as I stood.

“Yeah.”

And that was when things really went wrong.

“Ninja art: Binding Web!” I heard someone shout before the three of us were covered in a sticky white substance that pinned my teammates to the ground and myself face first to a tree.

Before I knew it, I felt pain in the back of my head, and I faded out of consciousness.

-x-

The first time I woke up, the only thing that registered was pain and something digging into my wrists and ankles before I drifted off again.

The second time I woke, I was being dragged along by two men. The sound of their footsteps and the clanging of the chains around my ankles against the floor echoed through the hall.

“Good, she’s awake.”

Abruptly, I was shoved into a chair. One of the men fastened my shackles to the chair, and the other left, a heavy metal door slamming behind him.

The remaining man circled around me. “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” he sneered. “Looks like it was a team of little girls who stole the key. And just where is it, hm? Is it in one of those pretty seals?” He traced the seal on my inner thigh, and I realized I was naked. “Or have you already passed it on?”

I blinked in confusion, but remained silent. What key?

“Not gonna talk? That’s fine. I have other methods.” He smirked, and took my face in his hands. I stared back at him, waiting for him to make his next move. He closed his eyes. And then I screamed.

I wasn’t sure what he did, but it felt like my head was being split open.

“God fucking dammit!” he shouted, and tried to throw me to the ground, but my restraints held me in place. “No wonder the three of you were sent. You’ve all fucking immune. Tch. Our fucking luck. Looks like we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“I don’t know what was worse—what was done, or how I felt about it”

-x-

Wait. Wasn’t she...

“Aren’t you the crabby medic that did my pre-academy medical?” I asked Tsunade-sensei.

“Yeah—hey who are you calling crabby, you little brat?” Tsunade snarled. I stared at her, unimpressed. She sighed. “What about it?”

“If you’re the top medic, why did you do my pre-academy exam?”

“I was on leave, and there wasn’t anyone else available.”

“Oh.”

-x-

Fourteen

“Oh my god, Sekai!” Aiko cried when I was dumped in a cell three hours later as both she and Sakura scrambled over to me, their chains clanging against the ground. She took in my bloody hands and bruised face. “What did they do to you?”

“He—my head hurt... and then he got angry... Immune, he said. All. I—I don’t... and then my fingernails, and questions...” I whimpered. “Wh-what’s happening?”

“Shh...” Sakura hushed. “It’s going to be okay.”

“That one guy is from the Satoi clan from Rock,” Aiko explained in a whisper. “They’re similar to the Yamanaka—they’re mind readers.”

“...Immune?” I mumbled.

“Why didn’t it work?” my blonde teammate whispered. I nodded. “As a Yamanaka, we’re all taught ways to protect our minds from foreign influence.”

“I...” Sakura bit her lip as Aiko and I focused on her. “I have a... I call her ‘Inner.’ She’s me. But she’s separate, too. She protected me.”

“Really?” Aiko breathed. “Fascinating. It’s never stopped me from...”

“Never stopped you from what?” Sakura hissed. “Have you been fucking with our head?”

Was that her ‘Inner’ speaking...? I shook my head. I’d ask later. (If there was a later.)

“Calm down, Sakura! Let me explain,” the Yamanaka pleaded.

“Fine.”

“It’s not on purpose,” she whispered guiltily. “You know how clans with secret techniques can eventually develop a bloodline limit? Well, obviously I can’t say much right now, but... I’ve manifested one, but I can’t control it. It’s um... It’s a passive ability. I can...” she glanced above her nervously. Perhaps that was the exit? The ceiling? It was too dark for me to tell.

“You can...” Sakura prompted stiffly.

“I can read surface thoughts.”

I inhaled sharply.

“I try to avoid it,” she added hastily, turning her gaze to me, and I realized her glasses were missing. “It’s one of the reasons why I like to spend time with you, Sekai. Even if I accidentally read your mind, I can’t understand it at all. It’s all jumbled. I’m guessing that’s why they didn’t get anything from you either.”

I frowned. “I want to try something. Do your thing.”

“What, I just told you...”

“Just do it, okay?”

“Alright...” Aiko agreed. She looked me in the eye, and even in the dim light I saw the blue of her eyes slowly contract to pinpricks on black. Can you understand me now? I thought in this world’s language. Aiko gasped, and nodded.

This can be very useful. I thought at her.

“How did you—no. Tell me later.”

“What?” Sakura glanced between us. “What did I miss?”

“It’s not important right now.” I dismissed. “Do you know what they want?

Aiko nodded.

-x-

Between the three of us, we worked out what was going on.

A team of infiltration specialists from Leaf had managed to learn or steal the key to the code Rock ninja were using to encrypt their messages. The Rock ninja stationed in he Land of Meadows found out, and were hunting them down. When they found us near the border to Meadow and far from any (known) Leaf encampments, they assumed the three of us were the infiltration team, based partially on our young ages, sexism, and the fact that Aiko was fairly obviously a Yamanaka. The fact that none of our minds were readable enforced their belief. We weren’t sure if there was something physical the other team had taken that was used to decode their messages, or if they had just memorized something.

The cell we were in had no doors or windows. According to Aiko, we were dropped in from above. In the time I’d been questioned, the two of them discovered that the walls repelled chakra, so there was no walking up them with chakra, and they were oddly slippery and smooth, so there was no way to get a good enough grip to climb up the hard way. To make matters worse, our chakra was sluggish and difficult to command, so it was unlikely we would have been able to climb the walls regardless.

“A common drug to use on prisoners,” Sakura whispered. “It numbs your chakra receptors, so signals from the brain don’t reach them, and you can’t consciously mould chakra properly. Involuntary chakra flow and activity is uninterrupted.”

That meant that while natural processes continued, including Aiko’s passive bloodline limit, I was unable to open either of the storage seals on my body.

There was little three little girls being held by high level enemy ninja could do.

But we were three highly intelligent little girls, with a medic, a mind reader, and a mathematician between us.

-x-

“Come on, Se-ka-i-chan,” the Satoi man, whom I decided call Fuck Face, cooed. “Can’t you just tell us if the key is in your seals, or just your head? Your friends were already nice enough to tell me you were the only one who knows anything.”

I ignored him, as I did each time they took me for questioning. It was only me they took, now. Sakura and Aiko had claimed that I was the mastermind, the one who solved the code.

They were lucky to be alive. Fuck Face and the other Rock ninja were only keeping them that way as leverage against me. It had been a risk for them to claim complete ignorance, but it seemed to be working out for them.

He traced the seal on the inside of my thigh. “Come now, can’t you at least tell us how it works?”

I ignored him.

His fingers slowly drifted up my thigh. “You’re a pretty one, you know?” he purred in my ear. “Such exotic colouring. If you won’t tell me, maybe we can have some fun?”

I whimpered.

“Oh? You don’t want to?” I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “Then maybe you should tell me how to open these?” he paused. “Well, why don’t I leave you here to think about it, huh?”

He left.

I took I deep breath. I could do this. Team Four was getting out of here. There were no other options.

Fuck Face leered at me when he returned. “Well?” he asked, playing with the waist of his pants deliberately. “Anything to say?”

“Nine drops of my blood on each seal,” I rushed out. “Then I need to use my chakra to draw the opening sequence with it.”

He grinned. “Good girl. You’ve earned a rest.”

I couldn't help but wonder if the man was actually a pedophile, or if he was just doing this to scare me.

-x-

Over the next few interrogation sessions, I carefully implied that I had the key in my seal and that I was dragging things out on purpose, buying time for my superior to access the pocket dimension it was kept in through her own linked seal.

And that was how I ended up chained down in the interrogation room free from the chakra blocking drug and four large men watching my every move.

“Now, you know better than to try anything, don’t you sweetie?” Fuck Face cooed at me. I nodded, and had him drop my own blood on my arm.

I took a deep breath, and started moulding my chakra. The blood on my arm started to slowly trace a pattern around the seal.

And then the men dropped to the ground. Immediately, I drew a low output explosion seal on the shackles, using my blood. It was a poor substitute for sealing ink, but it could conduct chakra and worked in a pinch. With a small flicker of my chakra, the chains broke. Quickly I unsealed a kunai and slit the throats of Fuck Face and the other three men before they could break out of the genjutsu I’d cast.

With the immediate threat gone, I stripped the Rock nin of their shirts, then sealed their bodies away. I slipped one of the shirts on, and made a break for the holding cell. There were two guards near the trap door, but I took them out with a couple well-aimed kunai before they could see me. (Fortunately, they were standing still.) With them out of the way, I sketched a linked explosion seal onto the ground with their blood.

I shoved their corpses off the trap door, and slid it open. I jumped down and used a seal drawn with the blood remaining on my kunai to break Sakura’s and Aiko’s chains. I handed them two of the shirts I’d brought with me, and they quickly pulled them on. While my shirt went down past my knees, theirs only barely made it to their thighs. Still, it was better than nothing.

I took their hands and sent a small jolt of my own chakra into their system, stimulating the chakra receptors the way Sakura told me too. They both let out a pained cry—my raw chakra did the job, but it did it more painfully and damaging than medical chakra would have. With free access to our chakra, we were able to jump up through the trap door.

Once free of the cell, Aiko took the lead, having found the exit route in the mind of one of the rock ninja she manipulated into thinking of it during her interrogation. We stuck to the ceiling, crawling across it under an AoE genjutsu Sakura cast that helped us blend in.

There were a couple close calls, but a quick genjutsu on my part kept them subdued, since we couldn’t afford to leave bodies lying behind us, lest someone stumble upon them and realize there was a prison break.

And then we were free. And surrounded by a rocky terrain of reddish brown sandstone. We didn’t bother paying attention to which direction we ran, we just focused on putting enough distance between us and the enemy base.

“Stop,” I ordered, and pulled out the second part of my linked explosive seal. With a quick pulse of chakra, I activated the seal. “Boom,” I said as I watched the Rock base go out in a fiery death.

“Where the fuck are we?” Aiko wondered.

“Earth Country, I figure,” Sakura replied.

“Obviously, I meant where in it are we?” Aiko huffed.

“Doesn’t matter. We should head south, southwest ish,” I said, unsealing my compass. “We can pass through Storm or Cliff Country to get to Wind, then head east through River and back to Fire country. Going through Meadow or Pond would get us killed.”

“What do you mean?” Sakura asked.

“Meadow is enemy territory, since Grass is allied with Rock, so going through it would be a horrible decision. But if we head north east to Pond, we end up passing close to Hidden Rock, and would likely end up being caught by ninja moving between Earth and Meadow.”

“Good point,” Sakura nodded.

“Let’s get going. We should put some more distance before we clean up.”

-x-

We ran south until nightfall, and then found a small cave to rest in. The ceiling was low—it was a bit cramped for Aiko, who was the tallest of us, but it was good enough. We debated lighting a fire, but in the end decided it was too risky. Instead, I unsealed a large pail of water from my arm, and we used the fourth shirt as a washcloth to get rid of most of the dirt and grime from our run through Earth Country and captivity. Once we were relatively clean, Sakura took time to heal our bloody and burned feet.

“Do you have any clothes and stuff in your seal, Sekai?” Sakura asked.

“I have a spare shirt and shorts, but that’s it. Well, that and a few pairs of underwear—but they’d be way too small for both of you.” They nodded. I was beyond small for my age, and only roughly came up to their shoulders. I suspect mother might have had poor nutrition while pregnant with me or when breastfeeding. Considering she had no idea she was pregnant, it wasn’t surprising. She may have dieted at first, simply believing she was getting fat.

“I feel so stupid—I should have thought to seal at least shoes.”

“Well, neither of us thought to either,” Sakura consoled. “You can’t think of everything. When we get back you can seal shoes and clothes for all three of us.”

“In the mean time, we should find a small village and send Sekai in to get some clothes for us,” Aiko suggested.

“With what money?” I asked. “I didn’t really have money to spare to seal away—I spend most of it on gear and supplies.”

“Steal it,” Sakura chimed in, like she hadn't been upset when we had to steal for a mission. I supposed she was more open to it in cases of emergency and felt it was more justified. “Use a genjutsu to make them think you’ve paid for stuff.”

“Very well,” I nodded. “In the mean time, do either of you know roughly where we are? And what villages might be close?” We didn’t really cover much foreign geography in the academy beyond the major landmarks and cities, and it wasn’t something sensei focused on.

“Well, we must be on the Red Plateau,” Aiko hummed. “I think the dropping point is just across the border with Wind. Wait, no, with Cliff, not Wind.”

“The Red Plateau doesn’t have any villages on it—the land is unfarmable, and it’s bone dry. No bodies of water. Basically uninhabitable,” Sakura added. “We’d be screwed if Sekai didn’t seal away so much water and niNRG bars.”

“So our best bet is to get to the drop off point, and then...” I trailed off.

“I think there’s a river east of it,” Aiko said. “There are usually a lot of small villages along rivers, so if we follow it we should eventually come across them. But we should avoid Storm Country, I hear they got weird after the third war, and Rain gained a lot of influence over the entire country. Apparently they don’t like outsiders, and have some way of knowing when undesirable people cross the border.”

“So we continue south for now, and then east,” I summarized.

With a plan in place, we decided to do three, three hour shifts for night watch. I volunteered for the middle shift. With only a single blanket and no fire, the three of us huddled close to share body heat.

-x-

The next day I changed into my spare shirt and shorts, and we tore up the one I’d been wearing to wrap around our feet to help prevent burns from the scalding heat of the stone beneath us on the plateau.

We travelled in silence, not wanting to use up our energy speaking instead of running. Progress was slower than we’d anticipated. In Fire country, we were able to jump from tree to tree, and until this trek I didn’t realize just how much slower running on the ground was. It took us two more days of travel to finally reach the drop point.

The slope down was beyond steep and it must have been at least a kilometre long. Not wanting to risk our safety for speed, the three of us slowly made our way down, using chakra on our hands and feet to adhere to the surface.

One we finally reached the bottom the sun was starting to set, so instead of heading east right away, we searched for a defensible area to sleep in for the night. When there was none to be found nearby, Sakura punched a small hole in the slope with her enhanced strength, and then a larger one further in and to the left. Aiko reinforced the cave we made with an earth jutsu, and we settled in for the night.

The next morning, we ran towards the river, avoiding Cliff country’s hidden village and the larger towns. Large towns meant more people, and until we were back in Fire country, it was best we avoided them.

Half a day’s trek from the plateau we found a village to “shop” at. It was small, but not so small that outsiders were rare. About a kilometre away from it, I unsealed some water to wash away most of the grime on my skin, and twisted my hair into a bun secured with a stick from the nearby bushes. When I was as presentable as possible, I left my teammates hiding in the bushes as I approached the town on the thin trail civilians used for travel.

Once I stepped inside the town’s boarder, I kept my eyes peeled for somewhere to “purchase” clothes for Aiko and Sakura. Finally, on the other side of the village from where I entered, I found a small clothing store that was empty save for the woman at the till and a teenage girl.

A bell above the door jingled as I stepped inside, drawing the attention of the employee. “Hello, welcome to the Silver Thimble,” she greeted. “Is there anything I can help you with? I haven’t seen you in town before, my dear.”

“I don’t think I’ll need any help,” I replied. “My sisters and me are just passing through, but our clothes are a bit worn from all our travelling adventures.” I widened my eyes and tried to make a smile that didn’t look too forced. I was trying to appear childlike and innocent, since my small stature made me look a few years younger than I actually was. “Sara-nee-chan and Ai-nee-chan said it was my job to pick something out for them while they take care of other things.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll do a good job for them, sweetie. If you need any help, don’t be shy.”

“Thanks!” I replied, looking away as if embarrassed. Once the woman was done speaking with me, I hurried further into the store. There weren’t a lot of options, and most of the clothes weren’t as durable as even the cheapest of ninja quality, but I made do.

I picked up three pairs of the sturdiest looking boots in the correct sizes for the three of us and three pairs of socks. I then picked out two simple t-shirts and shorts for Aiko and Sakura. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to sell underwear, strangely enough. Looking around, I also grabbed three white cloaks in case we had to travel through the desert.

With everything picked out, I browsed around until the other shopper left. Once alone with the woman behind the counter, I slowly made my way over to her.

“That’s quite a bit, dear. Are you sure you can carry it all?”

I nodded and hummed. “It’s okay! It won’t be for long.”

“Well then, let’s ring you up...” While she rung me up and folded the clothes and placed them in paper bags, I cast a small genjutsu to make her forget about payment. Once everything was packed away in the bags, I allowed myself a small smirk as I left the shop. I was lucky she didn't notice that I wasn't wearing proper shoes, though I had a story about mine being ruined during our travels prepared in case she did. Still, it would have been quite suspicious.

With my purchases in hand, I quickly left the village and returned to the bushes Sakura and Aiko hid in.

“I kept it basic, a shirt and pair of shorts for either of you, boots and socks for all three of us. There was no underwear, though. And I grabbed these cloaks for the desert,” I explained as I unpacked the stolen goods.

“Who cares that there was no underwear, at least we won’t be half naked anymore,” Aiko dismissed as she tugged on her shorts.

“What she said,” Sakura agreed while she changed her top.

“Can you heal our feet again before we put on the socks and shoes?” I asked while I unwrapped the ragged cloth from my raw feet.

“For sure,” Sakura agreed, adjusting her hair. “Do either of you think you could cut my hair off? There’s no fixing this mess.”

I nodded and pulled out a kunai and settled behind Sakura. I ran my hands over her head and hair, looking for the best place to cut off the mess, but keep a decent length. Unfortunately, I had to cut it right at the nape of her neck, leaving only a couple inches of her pink hair. I did my best to even things out, and while it ended up being a bit choppy, it would do. Hair grew back.

“Thanks,” Sakura smiled and turned around to face me. Her hands lit up with green medical chakra, and she healed first my damaged feet, and then her own. Aiko sat down next to us for her turn, and asked me to cut her hair too. I scooted behind her and cut her hair, which had grown out a bit and tangled, while Sakura healed her. Once the two of us were done, I gave the kunai to Aiko and pulled the twig securing the bun out of my hair. Without a word, Aiko cut off my hair too.

After pulling on our socks and boots, we sat in silence, except for the faint sound of my fingers tapping against my knees.

“We can’t follow the river the whole way,” Aiko said. “It curves into Storm for a bit. The curve is just east of the capitol.”

“We should move southwest a bit then. Not too far west though. Cross into Wind, and then head south to the river again. Then we can follow the main roads, which should take us into River,” Sakura rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

“Are you sure the main roads would be safe?” I asked.

“They should be,” Aiko agreed. “By then we’ll be far enough away from Earth country that it’s unlikely any enemies will be around. We’ll be deep enough into neutral territory.”

“Very well,” I said as I stood. “We should start moving again. Oh, we should stop by the river first, though. So I can seal away more water before we hit the desert.”

-x-

Over the next two days, we moved through Cliff country, avoiding the capitol, and then into the desert of Wind country, where our progress slowed. The white cloaks protected us from the sun’s damaging rays, but they didn’t exactly keep us cool. The three of us were sweating buckets, and on top of all that, we weren’t used to travelling on sand. It was oddly soft, and it shifted beneath our feet.

After the first day, we decided to sleep during the day and travel at night. During the day, Aiko dug us a hole in the ground with an earth jutsu, and hardened the hole with another. Since the desert was inhabited by many small, deadly creatures, we returned to our three hour watch rotation, so which ever of us was awake could kill or chase off anything that came near.

The nights were cold, but it was better than travelling in the heat. At the least, our movements built up heat and the cloaks we initially wore for protection from the sun became cloaks to keep us warm. It was still chilly, but manageable.

It took us four more days to reach the river again. From there, we followed down until we came across a bridge. After crossing it, we were on a dusty, pale brick road that led to Wind’s capitol.

Not wanting to risk anything, the three of us veered off the path to travel around the capitol, and then returned to the brick road. We continued eastward, and decided to pass through the next town down the road, since it was a trading town on the border of Wind and River, and it was busy enough to lose ourselves in the crowds.

From there we took to the trees lining the main path, hastening our travel. When we came to a fork in the road, we turned north and travelled along the west side of River Country’s only lake, then turning east and walking along the northern bank. And then, we were finally back in Fire Country.

With renewed energy, we trekked through the highlands, crossing over one of Fire Country’s wider rivers, and skirting around Lake Tobirama, which was only a short distance from Hidden Leaf.

-x-

We shouldn’t have been surprised that our arrival at the village gates led to us being taken down to the Torture and Interrogation building. (It was our own village, somewhere we thought we could finally be safe.)

We shouldn’t have been surprised we had been gone for over two months. (The first month and a half of our absence covered our stay in the Rock base, and then the next three weeks covered our escape.)

We shouldn’t have been surprised that we were labelled killed in action. (They labelled us missing in action for the first four weeks, and then decided we must be dead, since three little girls who didn’t make it home from the northern edge of Fire Country, which should have taken only a couple days, couldn’t possibly have survived on their own for that long, regardless of who their teachers were.)

But we were.

-x-

We were separated this time. I had no idea where in the maze of cells my teammates were locked up, and wasn’t particularly sure where I was either. All I knew was that I was sitting in a small concrete cell. I was lucky—while it was large enough for me to lay down in, I doubt a full grown adult could have. There was a dull light from above, but it was impossible to reach it. The light gave off an annoying buzzing sound. A small pail of water stood in the corner.

They left me in there for four days. No one came by. No one brought more water, let alone food. All I had were my thoughts.

I couldn’t help but think that they were trying to drive me crazy.

My bottom lip had been chewed raw, and my knees were bruised from how hard I tapped my fingers on them.

On the bright side, I wasn’t naked. They did strip search me, but they generously allowed me to keep my underwear and my T-shirt, but only after thoroughly inspecting them for... I didn’t really know. Poison? Seals? Secret messages? Doomsday devices? But I wasn’t naked, which was what mattered. At least Leaf ninja didn’t strip a little girl and then lock her away when they’re not using her, like fucking pedophiles.

And so when the fourth day came, and a large man dragged me to an interrogation room, I decided to call him “Not a Pedophile.”

Not a Pedophile deposited me on a hard metal chair, and proceeded to shackle my ankles and wrists to it. Then he left.

It was a short wait for the interrogator to enter the room. He had long blond hair and the telltale eyes of the Yamanaka clan.

“Yamanaka-san,” I greeted him, inclining my head. “Lovely to meet you.”

He remained stoic. “State your name, age, registration number, and rank.”

“Hoshino Sekai. Eight years old. Registration number zero one two five oh seven. Genin.”

“Thank you, Hoshino,” the man said. “Please close your eyes and hold still.”

My fists clenched. That didn’t sound good, but I closed them regardless.

-x-

I felt a strange jolt, which shook me into consciousness, and it was clear that I was no longer in the interrogation room.

Where ever I was, it was swallowed by darkness that seemed to stretch on endlessly. Spaced erratically around the darkness were shiny, bright orbs. Some appeared larger than others, with some as large as one of those big exercise balls, and others were barely pinpricks. Perhaps the smaller ones were just far away? It was hard to judge distance. Occasionally, it looked like many of the orbs were flying by, leaving a trail of light behind them.

It took me a minute to realize that where ever I was, it was modelled on outer space. One thing stood out as odd though—a large, gated archway.

Was this some sort of genjutsu? Before I could try to dispel it, someone spoke.

Why can’t I understand you? How is she aware...?

A feeling of terror spread through out me, and several of the orbs seemed to shoot off into the darkness, like they were hiding. The flying orbs picked up speed and started to move erratically. I had no idea where I was, but instinctively I knew that voice didn’t belong.

I tried to move into a defensive position, but quickly realized I had no body. Panic overwhelmed me, and the orbs started vibrating. In the midst of my panic, I felt something relax, like there had been a threat present, but now it was gone.

I woke up.

-x-

“What the fuck was that?” I snarled, uncharacteristically enraged. I wasn’t sure what happened, but the feeling of violation was stronger than any other feeling I’d ever had. (It was wrong. WRonG, wrOng, WroNG!)

The Yamanaka stared at me blankly. He shook his head, and his slightly dazed expression reformed into careful neutrality.

The room was silent but for my rapid breathing.

“I’m not sure,” he finally said.

“What the fuck do you mean you’re not sure? You’re the one who did it!” I growled between clenched teeth.

“Yes well. You... ah, responded to the jutsu atypically.” His face remained neutral, but I could detect a hint of uncertainty in his expression.

“What. Fucking. Happened,” I demanded again.

Instead of answering, the Yamanaka stood from the seat across from me, and I couldn’t even remember when he sat down. He strode out of the room, and a heavy door slammed shut behind him.

Since he left me alone, I took a moment to compose myself.

I took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Never had my anger, or any emotion for that matter, been so strong that I reacted that way, and I couldn’t understand why I did now.

I didn’t yell or snarl at people—I would completely close off, I would disengage and give the cold shoulder. I would, as Aiko likes to say, slay the person who made me angry with cold, harsh words.

Before I could ponder the matter more, the Yamanaka returned.

“Hoshino. You will be released shortly,” he informed me. “Sensors have verified your chakra signature. Unfortunately the mind probe for mental tampering was inconclusive. You will be monitored for the next few weeks, to ensure you’re not at risk.”

My lips thinned. “Very well. But I repeat myself, what did you do to me?”

He sighed. “You were not supposed to be aware during the mind probe—you should have been unconscious.”

“Continue,” I prompted when it seemed he wasn’t going to speak further.

“We were in the jutsu’s manifestation of your mind. I was searching for thoughts, memories and feelings relating to being held prisoner and interrogated, which were the spheres.

“When I first entered, it was unusual not to see an avatar of yourself, but it didn’t seem to be an issue. Then I touched one of the spheres, and while it contained thoughts, I could comprehend them no more than Aiko-chan could.”

My eyes narrowed.

“Touching the sphere woke you, which shouldn’t have been possible. I could not see you, you had no form, no avatar, but I felt you. Then I left. Is that satisfactory, Hoshino?”

-x-

After being released, Kushina-sensei ambushed me.

“Oh my god, Sekai!” Sensei wailed while clinging to me. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come for you! They sent me out right after you left and I only got back to the village, like, a week ago! I had no idea before then!”

“It’s...”I hesitated. It wasn’t fine. I wasn’t fine. “Not your fault,” I settled for as I awkwardly patted her back.

My teacher sniffled. “Like, still! You shouldn’t—that shouldn’t have happened to you! I should have been there to protect you!”

“Kushina-sensei—”

She sobbed. “Oh! I didn’t think I’d, like, ever hear you say that again!”

“Sensei, perhaps we should take this elsewhere...” I suggested, since the stares of the street’s other occupants were starting to make me uncomfortable.

That seemed to snap sensei out of it, and she quickly whisked me away, to her home in the Senju district.

Once we arrived, she informed me that my apartment had been reclaimed while I was gone, but Minato-san had packed up my things and they were all stored in my room in the Uzumaki home.

“I don’t think it was assigned to anyone else, yet, so, like, we’ll try to get it back for you, but for now you’re staying here, okay?” Kushina-sensei informed me. “And, like, you’re staying here until I decide you’re ready to live alone again.”

“That’s not necessary, Sensei,” I tried to protest.

“It is. You’ve been gone a long time, and went through an extremely traumatizing experience,” she argued firmly.

With a small sigh, I nodded. I wasn’t going to be able to change her mind.

-x-

Team Four was given one month leave. The leave served two purposes, a supposed “recovery” period, and time for the three of us to get back into shape.

Of course, a single month was hardly enough time to get over being held captive and tortured, but I doubt they expected it to be. I was of the opinion there was a third reason for the leave—to keep an eye on us and make sure we weren’t a danger to the village. Not that I shared that belief with anyone.

It was strange to be back in the village. Constricting, almost. While the weeks in Earth were horrible, and the three weeks trying to get back home were terrifying, for those three weeks I had been free.

But it was best not to dwell on that.

Instead I tried to settle back in. Living with sensei wouldn’t have been so bad, but The Nuisance drove me crazy. Though, when he first saw me and started crying, that was sort of sweet. Only sort of though. I ended up spending my evenings and weekends training or visiting Hanako in order to avoid him.

My first visit to Hanako after returning was... overwhelming, to say the least.

Like everyone else, she had thought me dead. I was prepared for that. What I wasn’t prepared for was her guilt.

-x-

“We should keep them together,” an aging man said. “They work well together—they each specialize, but even if they go on a specialized mission, the other two have skills that could be of use.”

“Sure, but they don’t need the other two for specialized missions—the team was never intended to last, but to give them experience working with others and so they could run C-ranks,” A brunet argued. “It’s a waste to send along the ones who aren’t needed.”

“If I may, gentleman,” a Yamanaka interrupted. “I was the one who performed the mind probe on Team Four. From Aiko-chan, I’m familiar with their teamwork, and it’s better than teams that have been together years. They cover each others’ weaknesses, and have excellent non-verbal communication among themselves. From Haruno, I got similar results, albeit after much difficulty. As for Hoshino, I only found one thing—she is intensely loyal to Team Four, but not the village.”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘there are no psychiatrists’? Here, even after being tortured, there are no psychiatrists.”

-x-

“What do you recommend, Yamanaka-san?”

The Yamanaka sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I should clarify that while it seems she has no real loyalty to the village specifically, we can’t say anything for sure, as I was unable to make any sense of her mind, and thus unable to properly search through it for more details. Furthermore, our primary source has not indicated any feelings of malevolence towards the village on Hoshino’s part.

“I recommend keeping her with her team, and monitoring her closely for any troubling behaviours. Both Aiko-chan and Haruno are loyal to the village, so I do not believe we need to worry as of yet. It is also within our interest to encourage the relationships she’s developed with other loyal nin, such as Hatake-san and Uchiha Itachi-san.”

The Hokage acknowledged his words with a nod. “I see. Thank you for your input, Yamanaka-san. While it would normally not be terribly concerning that the girl’s loyalty is not tied to the village, with our intentions for her, we must remedy that. It’s a shame she was so resistant to the academy’s conditioning. Perhaps we should have left her there longer.”

Yamanaka shook his head, his long hair swishing behind him. “Frankly, Hokage-sama, I doubt that would have helped. From what I could gather, her fondness for the village increased after graduation.”

Dan hummed. “Is that so? Then perhaps we are not so worse off as I feared.”

-x-

Fifteen

The day after I was released, I went to visit Hanako in the hospice. I signed in as usual and hurried down the familiar halls towards her room. I knocked gently on her door, and opened it when she gave permission.

She looked up from whatever she was working on, and froze. Her brown eyes widened and filled with tears. “S-Sekai-chan?” she whispered, and let out a chocked sob.

“Hanako-baa-san,” I said in greeting, addressing her as she preferred. She closed her eyes, and her lips trembled. I walked over to her bedside, and she gestured for me to climb on the bed beside her, which I did without hesitation.

Her good arm wrapped around me, pulling me close to her, and she completely broke down sobbing. The position was awkward, but I did my best to return the hug. Her cries were equal parts pained and relieved, and soon she started speaking between them. Things like “I’m so glad you’re okay” and “I thought I lost you” spilled from her lips, but nothing was so frequent as her apologies.

I didn’t say anything, just let her hold me and stroke my uneven hair as she cried. When she finally started to calm, I decided to speak.

“The hair clips you gave me... I lost them. I’m sorry,” I apologized.

Hanako let out what must have been a cross between laughing and crying, but sounded like something was dying. “It’s okay, Sekai-chan. I have a few more pairs lying around. Though I guess you’ll need to grow out your hair again before you can use them, hm?”

-x-

“Kushina-sensei, what happened to Kairi-sensei?” I asked over dinner later that day. Ever since I’d returned to the village, the question had been nagging at me, though a large part of me was afraid I didn’t want to know.

Sensei’s face blanked, and she closed her eyes. “What I know, is second hand or third hand,” she started, opening her eyes, which seemed to have lost their shine. “But from what I understand, after she sent you ahead while she dealt with the ninja who were approaching you, reinforcements came, and ultimately it turned into a full scale battle. Kairi-chan... she’s not really a combat ninja, but she held off nearly two dozen chuunin and genin until ally reinforcements arrived, and the battle only got worse. She collapsed from severe chakra exhaustion, and at first those around had no idea that she had sent you guys ahead.” Sensei bit her lip. “They brought her back to the village, when they got the chance, but...”

“But?” I prodded gently.

“She’s in a coma. And we’re not completely sure why.”

-x-

I woke to a blow across the face, and a sore throat. Kushina-sensei was looming over me, hand raised.

“Wh-at?” I rasped, blinking. I looked around the room, and noticed Minato-san hovering nervously by the door, The Nuisance covered in snot and tears hiding behind him.

“You had a nightmare, Sekai-chan,” Kushina-sensei murmured soothingly, sitting next to me on my bed and running a hand through my hair. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head stiffly. “I’m fine. I don’t—I don’t remember anything.”

Sensei shot me a disbelieving look. “You screamed your throat raw, Sekai-chan.”

I shrugged in response. What was there to say? I was telling the truth. If she hadn’t woken me I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I likely would have dismissed my sore throat in the morning as getting sick.

She sighed, and motioned towards the door. Minato-san gave me a smile and pulled his son away, closing the door behind them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

“I really don’t remember, sensei.”

She didn’t believe me.

-x-

The room they kept her in was small, but there were still five others in the same room, separated by nothing but thin curtains.

Kairi-sensei lay on a small hospital bed, looking more fragile than I’d ever seen her. Her hair, which usually covered the right side of her face, was shaved off, revealing not only fresh, precise scars across her head, but also older ones covering the portion of her face she usually kept hidden.

They looked like scars from acid attacks.

She was missing an eye.

Did Aiko know that? Did Sakura?

Did it matter?

Why wasn’t she waking up?

The scars on her head, the fresh ones, looked too neat to be from an attack. Brain surgery, perhaps.

Did they have that here?

Was something so wrong she required brain surgery? Did they mess up? Is that why she won’t wake up?

Why wasn’t she—

A hand shook my shoulder.

I blinked, and looked up, seeing Itachi-senpai eyeing me cautiously. I blinked again, and my surroundings snapped into place. I was no longer in the hospital, but in the training ground where we met for genjutsu lessons.

How did that happen?

“Itachi-senpai?”

“Sekai-kun?” he said gently. “Are you alright?”

At a loss, I shrugged. He sighed in response, and lowered himself to the ground, gesturing for me to sit beside him. For what seemed like hours, but could have been just a moment, we sat together in silence.

“I thought you were dead,” he commented casually, as if discussing the weather.

“I’m not.”

“Clearly. How are you?”

I exhaled forcibly through my nose. “Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

Itachi-senpai gave me a look. “Perhaps because you were held captive for weeks and tortured. Or maybe because you look like you haven’t been sleeping. It could also be that you wandered into the training ground and didn’t respond when I called your name.”

“Then you clearly know the answer,” I grumbled.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

I glared at him. “No, I do not want to discuss how I was held captive and tortured for weeks, thanks for asking.”

Itachi-senpai shook his head. “Apologies, that was phrased wrong. I meant about what just happened—how you seemed not to notice me or your surroundings.”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I... I was visiting Kairi-sensei. And then I was here.”

Senpai stood, and held out a hand in front of me. “Let’s go somewhere a bit more comfortable, alright?” Ignoring how that could be taken as a come on in a different context, I grabbed his hand and let him pull me to my feet without comment. I wasn't in the mood to make sarcastic comments, even though normally I would have taken the opportunity to tease him about how forward he was.

His grip on my hand was immediately replaced with a grip on my shoulder, and he led me through the streets of the Uchiha district, until we reached what must have been his home.

“Mother, can you set an extra place for dinner tonight?” he called as he stepped inside.

“Is Shisui joining us again?” a woman, presumably his mother, replied from the other room. “I thought he was still out on a mission?”

I slipped on the oversized guest slippers, and followed Itachi as he walked though the entry into the kitchen, where I saw a beautiful woman with blue hair so dark it was nearly black.

“Not exactly. Mother, I don’t believe you’ve met Sekai-kun?”

“I don’t believe so. You must be Kushina-chan’s student, yes?” The woman smiled at me. It was warm and soft, and reminded me of my own mother.

“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-san.”

“Ah, please call me Mikoto-san,” she requested with a smile. She glanced towards my feet and frowned. “Oh dear, those simply won’t do. Let me find a pair of Sasuke’s old slippers for you, okay, Sekai-chan?”

“Ah, that’s... you don’t have to do that Mikoto-san. I don’t wish to trouble you.” I protested.

“It’s no trouble!” she assured me and bustled out of the kitchen.

“Sekai-kun and I will be in my room, mother.”

“Alright, dears!”

-x-

“They thought we had something, a... a key to their code, or whatever. We didn’t, but we also knew if they knew that, they’d just kill us. So we pretended we did,” I began.

The whole story came pouring out as I sat on Itachi-senpai’s bed, clutching a pillow, while he was seated on the chair by his desk across the room.

I told him the basics of our plan and how we escaped. I told him what they did to us, to me.

“I had it the worst,” I admitted. “They needed me specifically, or rather they thought they did. I’m—we were just lucky that they didn’t kill Aiko or Sakura. Because I was the one who has the information. I mean, we made them think that.” My words were clumsy, coming out quickly, as I just wanted to get it out already. I was in a hurry because I wanted this to be over, I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Except I did. I wanted to tell someone. I needed to.

So I told senpai how they stripped us, how they kept ripping out my nails and regrowing them, how they beat me. I told him about how they loved electrocuting me, and showed him the fading Lichtenberg lines scarring my skin. I told him how I hated those days, but I preferred them to the waterboarding.

“I kept reciting the Fibonacci sequence, over and over, to myself whenever... whenever. It was easy enough up until about the twentieth term, then things got harder to keep track of. It calmed me. I don’t think I’d have made it through without it.”

By the time I’d finished, I was crying. The older ninja looked horrified. I couldn’t say if it was at what had happened to me, or at the fact that I was crying.

He walked over to his bed and sat on the opposite end, opening his arm awkwardly. I bit my lip, and scooted over, burying my face in his side, and let him hold me.

-x-

Dinner was a traditional affair. I was seated next to Itachi at the low table, who was seated to the right of his father at the head.

Despite the traditional set up, it was a warm affair. Itachi-senpai’s younger brother rambled about his day at the academy, his mother asked questions, and the clan head, Fugaku-sama, and senpai smiled slightly, but indulgently.

Mikoto-san and Fugaku-sama carefully kept Sasuke’s focus off of me, deflecting any questions he had for me. Aside from a murmured blessing at the beginning of the meal, I didn’t speak. I used up all the words I had for the day.

After dinner was over, Itachi-senpai walked me back to sensei’s house, where I promptly excused myself and went to my room. Nearly three quarters of an hour later, I heard the front door close, and Itachi-senpai leave.

-x-

The next morning I lingered in bed. I woke up early enough, but I was exhausted from the previous day despite sleeping through the night. I tossed and turned, but didn’t get out of bed until I could no longer ignore my bladder.

When I opened the door to exit the bathroom, Kushina-sensei was standing outside of it.

“Come on,” she said, gently grabbing my hand. She led me up the stairs to the fourth floor. I hadn’t been up here much, but I knew Minato’s office was up there, and Kushina’s was too. Or at least, I’d thought it was an office until she opened the door.

The room had large windows covered with flowing curtains, which sensei pushed aside, letting in natural light. The rest of the walls were covered with dozens of paintings and drawings of various mediums. There was a large desk in the corner, covered with pencils and charcoal. Several easels were spread out over the room, holding oil paintings in various stages of completion.

Sensei dragged me into the room, and pushed me into a chair before pulling up another one. “The life of a ninja is hard. Sometimes people you care about are hurt, and sometimes you are. And as you move up the ranks, it only gets worse. Some people break. Others find ways to cope. This,” her arm swooped out, gesturing to the room. “This is how I cope. I create. I channel my feelings into something productive. I thought you might like to try. If you want, you can use anything here.”

I bit my lip, and nodded. I wasn’t sure if it would help, but I was interested. Back in The Before, I had dabbled a bit in art. I wasn’t amazing or anything, but I was better than average. Supplies were expensive though, even basic paper, due to the war driving prices up, so I hadn’t bothered with art in this life. There was too much to do, besides. But maybe it would help.

Under Kushina-sensei’s encouraging gaze, I wandered around the room, opening drawers and cupboards, taking stock of what she had. Finally, I grabbed a loose stack of paper, some pencils of various hardness and an eraser, deciding it was best to start with the basics. I wandered over to one the desks, absently pulling my chair over, and tried to decide what to draw.

I stared at the paper blankly for what seemed like ages, gripping a 2H pencil in my hand. Finally, I began to draw.

I started out sketching vague outlines, then adding detail, but it was hard. In The Before, if I was trying to draw something specific, I often used reference photos, but that wasn’t an option, so I was drawing from memory. I crumpled up more papers than I could count, unhappy with each sketch. The images in my mind’s eye were faded, but I did my best, and even used my reflection for reference.

By the end of the day, I had a sketch that reasonably resembled mother.

The next day I returned to the art room and transferred the sketch to canvas. I scuttled around the room, searching for any acrylic paints, but found only watercolours and oils, so I decided to try painting with the latter.

I’d never tried oils in The Before, so it was a new experience, and I messed up and had to restart a lot over the next few days. Once sensei caught me with the oils, she showed me a simple jutsu to make the paints dry faster, went over some safety precautions I hadn’t initially known about and showed me a handful of techniques and tips, like painting thin to thick, how to mix paint, some different ways to blend, and effects you could get with a pallet knife and different sorts of paintbrushes.

It was a lot of fun, and I felt closer to Kushina-sensei than I ever had before. It felt like she was sharing a piece of herself with me.

-x-

I was half done my eleventh attempt at painting mother when I felt a wet sensation on my ankle. Squeaking, I leapt to my feet and looked down, only to find Pakkun.

“Ah, Pakkun-chan. What are you doing here?” I asked as I bent down to pet him.

“Kakashi wants to know how you’re doing. It’s been two weeks since you got back and he’s worried.”

“Why hasn’t he come over and asked me himself then?” Kakashi-senpai had a standing invitation to dinner whenever he was in the village, and since he was still on medical leave, he had every chance to come over, but hadn’t.

Pakkun shifted, and I was pretty sure it was supposed to be a shrug. “He wasn’t sure if you were comfortable seeing him.”

My eyes narrowed in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We don’t know what happened to you while you were... away. He doesn’t want to intrude,” Pakkun explained patiently.

“So why send you?”

“He knows how much you liked us dogs. Kakashi figured that you would be okay with seeing one of us, at least, and I could pass on the message.”

Reading between the lines, my heart melted. Kakashi-senpai was worried about me, but was concerned that I’d been sexually assaulted and would be uncomfortable around men, so he stayed away to give me space. It was so sweet of him.

“I’d like to see him, if that’s okay.”

Pakkun nodded, and jumped up to my shoulder, then climbed onto my head. After cleaning up my work area, I slipped on my shoes and headed to Kakashi-senpai’s apartment.

I was going to knock on the door, but Pakkun told me to just go right in, so I did. “You lived here for a couple months, after all,” he said, and jumped down.

Kakashi-senpai was sitting on the couch reading. He looked up when the door opened, and quickly stashed the book away, rising to his feet. “Sekai-chan, it’s good to see you again.” His arms rose a bit, but quickly fell back to his sides, like he was about to reach out for me but thought better of it.

Hoping I was reading him right, I strode over and wrapped my arms around his middle. “Good to see you too, senpai.”

Gently, he wrapped an arm around me, and used the other to pat my head. “I was worried.”

Pulling back, I looked up at him. “Thank you. For being considerate.” I paused awkwardly for a moment, unsure of how to say that his worries had been for nothing. “I’m okay though. You... didn’t need to stay away.”

My former roommate eye-smiled, and ruffled my hair.

-x-

While art did actually help me cope, it wasn’t the only thing to help. After a the kick start it gave me, I fell back on my first love, math.

Sadly, I was (temporarily, they assured me) banned from the D archives, but I had enough content copied to keep myself busy, especially once I pulled out the math texts I’d liberated for myself back in November.

One was an algebra text, which covered groups, rings, and fields. It was good review of topics I’d learned back in Algebra I and II. It turned out I’d forgotten a lot, especially since I’d been focusing on calculus and analysis in this life. The other two were combinatorics texts, which ew, but I was sort of desperate. (Combinatorics really wasn’t my thing, aside from the glorious, simplistic beauty of the pigeon hole principle. And I suppose the Birthday Paradox, which wasn’t really a paradox so much as being something a bit counter intuitive, was pretty cool too.)

A lot of algebra proofs, especially things I learned in Algebra I, were very straightforward and relaxing, such as proving all cyclic groups of order n were isomorphic to the integers mod n.

The combinatorics work I did though, was frustrating and infuriating because I was making myself do it even though I just didn’t give a flying fuck how many ways you could do this or that or about generating functions or WHATEVER, but it was a good distraction late at night when I couldn’t sleep. Minato-san and Kushina-sensei were subjected to more than a few rants about how much I hated the subject when they felt the need to check in on me at three in the morning.

So between speaking to Itachi and Kakashi-senpai, taking up art, and studying math, by the end of the month off I was given, I was... not great, or even okay, but I was getting there.

And the fact that the mandatory leave ending meant I could see my team again? That was the biggest relief.

-x-

Our first day of training after returning was in early July. We were set to meet at seven in the morning, but all three of us arrived closer to five.

Words were unnecessary for those first two hours, waiting for our sensei to arrive. We just sat huddled together, basking in the closeness.

The logic behind keeping us apart for the past month had something to do with preventing us from becoming codependent, preventing us from collaborating if we’d been compromised, and some other bullshit reasoning I didn’t particularly pay attention to. If sensei hadn’t assured me it was standard protocol, and gave some examples of how things went wrong before they’d started doing that, I probably would have mutinied.

When seven o’clock rolled around, a woman I hadn’t seen before approached us. She had brown hair, green eyes, and wore light makeup. She was relatively petite, and reminded me of a doll. An overall average appearance. She looked less like a ninja and more like a civilian, except for the way she moved, gracefully and without a sound. “Good morning, girls. I am Maki Asami. I have already met Aiko-chan, but I am pleased to meet the rest of the team as well.”

“Why are you here?” I demanded bluntly, though I had a feeling I knew why. One that she confirmed the next time she spoke.

“I am filling in for Kojima-san until she is able to return to her duties.”

“So she’s expected to recover?” Sakura interjected, worrying her lip between her teeth. I was a bit surprised that she didn’t already know, but upon thinking about it I realized despite her status as a medic, they probably wouldn’t have told her anything while we were on mandatory leave since it was basically glorified probation.

“We’re optimistic,” she replied diplomatically. “Now, I’m aware that this is your first time seeing each other after being held captive in Earth Country. During the past month, many decisions have been made regarding your team.”

“Like what?” Sakura asked, continuing to nibble on her lip. The way she kept biting it convinced me that if she weren’t able to heal herself, it would be scabbed over and raw.

“Like the fact that the three of you will remain as a team permanently,” our new sensei smiled kindly.

My lips thinned and eyes narrowed. Aiko, who’s gaze had been on her ragged nails, snapped her head up to look at her temporary mentor. “You mean we weren’t before?”

“No. Previously, it was intended that you would be placed together only to learn to work with others and complete missions. Eventually, you would have been separated. However after reviewing recent events and your history together, it was decided that the three of you have a great deal of potential as a team, and it would be in the village’s best interest to keep you together.” The three of us relaxed, and the woman, who I mentally dubbed Dollface, paused for a moment. “This requires some changes in the way you three will be trained, starting today. Aiko-chan has underwent much of this training in the past, to prepare her for future missions that we initially did not intend to send the two of you on, Sakura-chan, Sekai-chan. That has changed, now, so you must learn, as Aiko-chan has, the art of infiltration.”

-x-

What followed was like the girls-only classes of the academy on steroids.

In the academy, we had learned the basics of applying makeup and disguising ourselves, but what Dollface taught us went far beyond anything we learned there. She showed us how to contour with makeup to alter our features without the use of ninjutsu, how to emphasize certain features and distract from others. We learned how to use common objects combined with E-rank fire ninjutsu to approximate a curling iron and straightener. She taught us how to extract pigments from various flora to create dyes, and which were temporary or permanent.

Once she deemed our efforts satisfactory “for now,” she moved onto acting lessons.

She made us practice walking over and over. A person’s gait, the way they walked, was distinctive, and she called out orders to stand straighter, to take shorter steps, to sway our hips more, to loosen our shoulders. She poked and prodded at us, physically adjusting us when we didn’t move the way she wanted us to. I hated it, the way she just placed her hands all over us, but it was incentive to do it right.

We each were given a set of gaits to practice, and we would be expected to fall into them at a moment’s notice.

For each gait, she slowly developed a persona we were to slip into.

It started with pitching our voices a different way, and then changing the cadence of our speech.

Each persona had preferences. Some liked tea, others preferred coffee. We had to keep likes and dislikes straight. Prejudices, mannerisms. She tested us on it daily. Soon, we learned to become different people.

The process took months, and Dollface was especially displeased with me. While I had an excellent poker face, my lack of expression was a hindrance in all of this. She spent hours with me, forcing me to copy expressions. They were stiff and plastic at first, and her fingers pulled and pinched at my face, constantly rearranging it.

My hatred for her touch spurned me on until she deemed me passable, but decided to keep my roles as shy and reserved as possible.

“You were never pegged for infiltration work,” Dollface told me. “In fact, it was specifically recommended that you’re kept away from it. But circumstances must, and I will not let you shame me by performing poorly, understood?”

She was an exacting, merciless mistress, and once she declared us fit, all I could feel was relief.

-x-

I almost wished to return to the infiltration lessons, however, when I discovered what we’d be doing next.

Interrogation.

It was a good thing that shortly after I returned to active duty, I was able to move back into the dorms. By luck, I even got my old one back, as it hadn’t been reassigned yet.

The dorms had excellent sound proofing, and so whenever I woke with a sore throat from screaming myself raw, no one heard.

It got easier though, and I came to realize that the interrogation lessons were being used to desensitize us to our trauma.

The three of us learned to work an interrogation as a team.

Aiko did soft interrogations, mostly. She would ask questions, and even if they didn’t answer, they frequently thought it. When they did speak, she could tell when they were lying. It was fascinating to see her in her element, and horrifying as well. She could lead a conversation exactly where she wanted it, and the subject didn’t even realize they were being lead to think about specific things, or that they were giving anything up.

Sakura, too, took surprisingly well to interrogations. Unlike Aiko, she got physical. With her medical knowledge, she knew precisely how to inflict minimum damage while causing maximum pain. She was capable of pushing the limits of how much damage she could inflict beyond what your average interrogator could, since she could heal them right up before it got life threatening. Furthermore, she was an expert at causing permanent, career ending injuries. It was almost surprising how many people crumbled at the thought of never being able to be a ninja again.

As for myself... I was also taught physical torture, we all were. But what I learned to do was play with their heads, I learned psychological torture. Genjutsu was a powerful interrogation technique, but few beyond the Uchiha clan, who were best served elsewhere, were capable of the subtle touch necessary for it to be the most effective. It was best, after all, if the subject had no idea they were under a genjutsu. No, it was best they believed they were hallucinating, going crazy. They had me amp up feelings of paranoia and panic. I made their skin crawl. They heard things, saw things. I stuck them in loops, making them think the interrogation had already happened, over and over until they couldn’t tell when the real one started. I played on their fears. I broke people.

It was hard not putting myself in their place. There were times one of the three of us had to stop, being overwhelmed by flashbacks. But we learned to cover each other, and the more we did it the less it happened.

A dark part of me wondered if this was the village’s sick form of therapy for us, but I dismissed it.

I doubted they cared enough to do even that.

-x-

In November, Team Four was summoned to the Hokage tower. Not just Aiko, Sakura, and me, but all three of our mentors as well.

Neither of the older girls had any idea why we were summoned—this sort of summon wasn’t common, but Kushina-sensei, Tsunade-sensei, and Dollface all seemed to know what was going on.

The six of us were led to the Hokage’s office, a room that I’d never actually been in before. While it wasn’t a restricted area like most of the tower, genin rarely had reason to meet with the Hokage.

His office was at the top of the tower, and was a large, circular room. It was mostly empty, save for a large desk and chair set in front of windows with a view of the mountain. Above the windows, were four portaits, one of each Hokage. The first two were paintings and the last two photographs. The desk itself was covered with scrolls and papers, and a nondescript man stood beside the desk with a filing cart. Sitting behind the desk, was Kato Dan, garbed in the traditional robes.

“Welcome. I’m sure the three of you are wondering why you have been summoned here,” he began with a kind smile that instincts honed over months of interrogations told me was false. “First of all, I would like to thank the three of you for your service to the village. Despite your age and rank, you performed better than the village could ever have expected while in enemy hands, and even managed to eliminate a major military base deep within Earth Country. Our reports in the following months show that this move has crippled the Satoi clan, as they lost the clan head and several other members. Shortly after your return, it was decided that these actions merit a promotion. In the past few months we have been preparing the three of you, and ensuring that your time in captivity will not hinder you in your new role. Congratulations, Team Four. You are now proud chuunin of the Village Hidden in Leaves.”

I felt sensei give my shoulder a proud squeeze. “Thank you, Hokage-sama,” Sakura spoke up for us. “We are truly honoured that you have seen to our promotions personally.” She bowed, and Aiko and I followed her example.

“It was my pleasure,” the man replied. “Now, I believe my assistant has some papers for the three of you to fill out and file. You are dismissed.”

We gave a final bow, but he was no longer paying us any mind, instead focusing on the documents on his desk.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“They tell you the clan precedes the individual.”

-x-

Being the first of a line to develop a bloodline isn’t all it’s made out to be. There’s so much pressure and so little choice.

-x-

2i

(Two Times the Square Root of Negative One)

Yamanaka Hikari and Yamanaka Inoshi didn’t know just how special their little girl was at first. They loved her dearly of course, but it took time before they noticed that her eyes seemed a bit strange, even for a Yamanaka. They didn’t think much of it, at first. Certainly, her blue pupils seemed to grow and shrink sometimes, beyond the norm, but it wasn’t so obvious they did so when she was young.

But as she aged, they noticed her pupils would shrink more and more, becoming just pinpricks of blue on black. So they kept her home, away from others, until they understood what was happening with their daughter’s eyes.

Eventually she began speaking, and they found she knew things they’d never told her. She would respond to things they hadn’t said aloud. It wasn't difficult to figure out what was happening. After all, the little girl was a Yamanaka.

Hikari and Inoshi were ecstatic. Their little girl clearly had a doujutsu! She could read minds!

So they tested her, and the limits of her ability, which they hoped would only grow as their beloved child did.

And then, when Yamanaka Aiko was four years old, her parents presented her to the head of their clan.

-x-

Yamanaka Inoshi wasn’t always resentful of his older brother. They used to be quite close, in fact.

Unlike some clans, where the firstborn inherits the clan headship regardless of aptitude, if the head had more than one child, the Yamanaka clan chose the one they thought was best suited to leading the clan.

And that was Inoshi.

That was Inoshi, until he wasn’t.

That was Inoshi, until he burnt out his chakra coils, and it was decided that a cripple couldn’t lead the clan.

His older brother didn’t even have the grace to pretend he was sorry to become the heir. Inoichi was happy. He’d always envied his little brother, he’d always wanted to lead the clan, even though he was already busy with his position high up in the intel division, which he’d only been chosen for because he’d been passed over for the title of heir.

But now Inoichi was able to have his cake and eat it too.

Inoshi couldn’t help but feel his brother was happy that he was now a cripple, and he hated him for that. He hated his brother, because it was his fault Inoshi was like this.

There was little Inoshi regretted more than saving his brother’s life.

So to discover that his daughter (who despite years of name planning was denied the right to the name Inoko, as she was not of the main family) had manifested a doujutsu—the first in their clan to display the beginnings of a bloodline limit, it was sweet, sweet victory. It was vindication. See? It said, they chose wrong.

(At least his brother had the good sense not to name is own daughter Inoko. Inoshi knew he wouldn't have been able to restrain himself if he did.)

-x-

It was a topic of debate for years, and even after Aiko became a ninja, the topic was not settled, and it would not be for years to come.

Should Aiko replace Ino as the heiress of the clan?

Aiko’s blood tie to the main family was just as close as Ino’s, only her grandfather’s choice in heir distanced her from the title of heiress, and even then, if it weren’t for her father’s unfortunate circumstances, she would have been the heiress. Furthermore, barring Inoichi siring another child, she was second in line, should anything happen to Ino.

And of course, surely the leading family should be those with the bloodline limit, at least until it spread throughout the clan.

But the head fought against the replacement of his heiress. There was no guarantee, he argued, that the ability would be passed on to Aiko’s children. And if it wasn’t, then they had messed with the succession, depriving his daughter of her birthright, for nothing. For a genetic fluke.

Inoshi, with the support of many clan elders, continued to argue in favour of his daughter. Even if it doesn’t appear in Aiko’s children, it’s possible to appear further down the line, and isn’t it best to keep that potential in the main family as much as possible?

The argument would rage circularly for years, and eventually be put to the side while they decided instead to focus on improving the chances of passing the trait on. Inoichi wasn’t stepping down any time soon, and his job kept him in village. There was time.

-x-

Yamanaka Aiko hated her bloodline limit. She hated being unable to look people in the eye without knowing their thoughts. She hated that she was not granted the ignorance everyone else was, that she knew what people were thinking. She hated the pressure they put on her. She hated the lack of freedom, the lack of choice.

By the time she was ten, the clan elders already sought to find her a suitable husband among her clansmen. By the time she was eleven they had narrowed it down to a handful of individuals, all of whom were at least ten years her senior.

Aiko did not want a husband.

The men the selected were optimal matches for passing on her doujutsu to her future children, based on genetic testing and analysis of herself and her parents.

Aiko did not want children.

Her parents and most of the elders were pushing for her to be named heiress, so that one day she would lead the clan.

Aiko did not want to lead the clan.

But she had a bloodline limit, so what she wanted did not matter.

-x-

When Hikari married Inoshi, she’d believed that she was marrying the future head of the clan.

Their union was not a love match, and she had little say in the matter. Her parents had pledged her to the heir, hoping to elevate their status within the clan, the head accepted, and so neither she nor her husband could protest.

It felt like it was for nothing when her husband was replaced as heir. Were she not already pregnant when it happened, she would have petitioned the elders for an annulment.

But the moment she held her daughter in her arms, she knew she couldn’t regret it. Her daughter deserved the world. So when Hikari discovered her precious Aiko was the first Yamanaka to develop a bloodline, she knew it was fate. Her daughter deserved the world, and with this, she could have it.

-x-

The question was, what else could this new Yamanaka doujutsu do?

While reading surface thoughts was certainly useful, it was far from the abilities of the village’s other doujutsu.

It would be years before the village had their answer, years before Yamanaka Aiko reached her full potential. But oh, how great she would become.

Her eyes may not have the combat prowess of the sharingan, or the insight of the byakugan, but they would be just as dangerous.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“There is little to do but move forward.”

-x-

“She’s abnormally small for her age.” Tsunade commented to the Hokage. “I’m not sure why—in my initial assessment I predicted she would be on the small side, but she’s barely growing. It is, quite frankly, worrying.”

Dan frowned, but didn’t look up from his paper work. “How so?”

Tsunade rolled her eyes, and launched into a long winded explanation.

The Hokage let her monologue for a few minutes, then sighed and cut her off. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“Let me be the one to go to the next meeting with Orochimaru, so I can discuss it with him, and have him do some testing.”

“On the girl?!” Dan looked up, eyes wide with alarm.

Tsunade scowled. “Of course not, idiot. I’ll give him a few samples and her file.”

“I suppose that’s acceptable. Very well then. Request approved.”

-x-

Sixteen

It was a small affair. There was no wake or funeral proper. Hanako knew so few people there was little point.

It was fortunate I was in village when it happened, and I was notified right away. With permission from sensei, I dropped what I was doing and headed directly to the hospice. They allowed me to sit with her body, and take the time to wash it. Once she was clean, I dressed her in a white robe, since a kimono was not an option, and brushed out her thin silver hair.

Then I took out a scroll and ink, and sealed her away.

When I arrived at the crematorium I was surprised to find Tominaga Junichi, the clan head and Hanako’s younger brother, standing outside.

“What right do you have to be here?” I demanded, furious at the audacity of this man. “She was done with your family. You weren’t there for her in life, why should I let you be here in death?”

“I did what I could, and she wasn’t as done with us as you think,” he replied calmly.

My eyes narrowed and my lips thinned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s none of your concern.” The aging man pursed his lips, and shook his head. “I loved her, allow me this,” he begged softly.

Reluctantly, I nodded. His claim of affection seemed genuine.

The way things worked here, was that this crematorium was specifically for ninja, and was basically a DIY sort of place. We checked in at the reception and were sent to one of the chambers. I unsealed Hanako’s body and placed her on the slab.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” Tominaga said, idly stroking her silver hair. “Even coming here for this is a risk. If the elders knew...”

“Aren’t you the clan head?” I asked curiously. “What could they do to you?”

He ignored my question and asked his own instead. “Will you allow me to be the one to burn the body?”

I nodded. If he hadn’t come I would have had to use a seal, as I didn’t have the skill with fire ninjutsu do to a proper burning.

And so, he set her ablaze.

I stood and watched, transfixed, until all that remained were ashes and bone.

I unsealed a simple urn from my arm. I’d picked it out nearly a year ago, when I noticed how poorly Hanako was fairing. I’d been carrying it around since, waiting for this day to come. It took longer than I’d been expecting. The past few months, whenever I visited her, she was no longer working on anything like she used to. She couldn’t. She barely had the energy for speaking.

I took the chopsticks that had been provided, and slowly started moving the bones over to the urn, starting with the feet. Tominaga joined me, and we worked silently in tandem.

Soon, all that remained of Hanako was inside the urn.

Tominaga told me go ahead to the graveyard while he took care of the fees, and he would meet me at the plot she would share with her daughter.

He never made it.

-x-

The days after Hanako died were hazy. I felt alone in a way I hadn’t before. Hanako may not have been a blood relative, but she was still family. She had been there for me my entire life. She was my last connection to my mother, the last person who’d known her.

And now she was gone too.

It was hard, and while my team and friends tried to be there for me, I just wanted to be alone.

In the years since I’d started wondering about my parentage, I’d let my research lapse. I’d hit a dead end, and then just never got back into it.

But now that everyone else was gone, it brought back the desire to figure out who my father was. So I pulled out my old notebook, and re-familiarized myself with the deductions and inferences I’d made back in the day.

With more knowledge of the system, there were a couple things I crossed out and added, but my analysis still seemed fairly accurate.

With the parameters of my search in mind, I headed over to the C archives.

I’d been granted access to them shortly after my promotion, and while they were in a different location than the D archives, they were pretty similar. They were deep underground, the entrance of which was in a residential building of an identical nature. The security was nearly the same, only tighter.

In the past I’d compared the D archives to a science library. The C archives were different. In set up, they reminded me a bit of what I’d heard about libraries prior to computers. Where things like newspapers and article clippings were stored in filing cabinets, and you had to manually search for what you wanted, instead of just googling information or looking up the location of a pertinent article or text in the system.

The archive was comprised of old, declassified personnel files and mission reports, maps and detailed geography books, both foreign and local, old bingo books, and other semi-sensitive documents.

Unlike the D archives, which were full of towering shelves packed full of scrolls and books, this place was filled with filing cabinets, with the occasional bookshelf scattered here or there. It was emptier, too, except for the geography section.

I wandered around, looking through old files, trying to suss out how they’d organized things here.

I found the names and pictures of both former and current department heads, and slowly made my way through them, marking out a handful of men who met the parameters of my search, and then moved onto the old bingo books. They were all at least a decade old, but I figured it was still possible to find something, and I added a few more names to my mental list of potential fathers.

I probably would have kept going, kept obsessively searching, but Team Four was assigned a mission.

-x-

After our promotion to chuunin, we were rarely accompanied by any of our teachers on missions, and while we had yet to be sent out specifically for fighting, the missions we got were of higher importance and increased danger.

Our current mission was a B-rank escort mission. Leaf had a trading deal with miners up north in Mountain Country, which was located between Pond and Rice Fields. Our mission was to guard the small mining caravan, composed of perhaps a dozen people, as they returned home.

Fortunately, as they had come here for a delivery, their carts were mostly empty, and only contained supplies required for the journey, making our jobs easier. It would be easiest if they let me seal away their carts and supplies, but I wasn't allowed.

A straight line from their town to Leaf was approximately 900 km, and since we were stuck travelling on the main roads, that added another 200 km or so to the journey. Furthermore, we would be travelling as fast as the miners’ team of oxen could pull their carts. On the bright side, the oxen in this world were larger, stronger, and faster than the oxen of The Before. I assumed it was something to do with chakra, as most such differences are. I vaguely recalled reading in The Before that an ox could travel at a speed of roughly 3 km per hour, but the ones here could push 10.

Doing some quick math, I estimated it would take us between ten days and two weeks to reach the miners’ village, and then two days to make it back. Perhaps one day if we pushed ourselves, and three if we took our time.

We were hardly going to dawdle, though. Currently, most of the fighting was over in Meadow Country and near Lightning, but we would be crossing through an area that saw heavy traffic between Earth and Lightning, which meant we were likely to be attacked once we crossed the border out of Fire.

Delays due to weather had to be considered too. It was February, and while the weather in Leaf rarely dipped below freezing, it would get colder as we headed north into the mountains.

I kept this all in mind as I prepared for the mission. I pulled on my mesh under armour, and then a thick long sleeved shirt and matching pants over top of it. I slipped my black and purple chest guard over top, and pulled on a pair of tall boots. Finally, I took out a blue pin and attached it to my forehead protector, right beside the plate.

The blue pin indicated my rank, and all chuunin and higher ranked ninja had to wear them when they left the village. Blue was for chuunin, purple for special jounin, and red for elite jounin. The idea was to recognize rank when dealing with unfamiliar but allied ninja.

Rank impersonation was a serious crime, of course. I’d actually been accused of it twice, however I wasn’t actually guilty so beyond Kushina-sensei teasing and laughing at me, it didn’t have much impact. Well, for me, at least. I hear the ninja who reported me got in trouble for insubordination when it came out that I held rank over them and they refused to listen to me.

I met Sakura and Aiko on the way to the north-east gate. Sakura was wearing her typical short sleeved qipao dress, however it was layered over a black, long sleeved shirt. She’d traded out her usual shorts for pants, and her sandals for boots. Aiko on the other hand had taken to wearing the standard navy sweater and pants that made up the official uniform of Leaf ninja. At thirteen, she had started to develop curves, and she hated them, so she did her best to hide it behind loose clothing. Both of them wore the standard beige travelling cloaks, which I had opted to leave sealed in my arm.

At the gate, we met the miners. Doing a quick survey, I counted thirteen of them, ten wagons, with five pairs of oxen. Two oxen each were hooked up to five of the wagons. Each of those five wagons had another attached to it from behind.

Sakura, who over time was elected our “people person,” greeted them. “Hello. We are Team Four. My name is Sakura, and these are my teammates, Aiko and Sekai. We are the team of chuunin sent to escort you back home to your village in Mountain.”

A large, sturdy man frowned, but greeted her in return. After a brief discussion, we left.

Aiko took the front of the caravan, Sakura took the rear, and I took the side. Ideally we’d have a fourth person for the other side, but there was nothing we could do about that.

We travelled mostly in silence along the roads. It had snowed recently, and though it melted quickly, it left the roads damp and muddy. More than once Sakura had to use her enhanced strength when one of the wagons got stuck.

It was boring, but we couldn’t afford any distractions, especially on the fourth day when we neared the borders.

We had two options, we could pass through the Mountain capital, or we could cross over into Rice Fields briefly, which was a slightly shorter path, but the roads were worse. Sakura said Tsunade-sensei told her that Rice Fields would always be a safer bet for us, but not why, so trusting her mentor, we opted to go that way.

True to Tsunade-sensei’s word, we passed through Rice Fields unmolested.

On the eighth day we approached the Continental River, which was both the widest and longest river on the continent. Beyond it lied the mountains the country was named for, and once we reached them the chances of attack dramatically decreased.

So of course, that was when things went wrong. Aiko barely shouted out a warning before they were upon us. The civilians were huddled in the first wagon, and Aiko hurriedly used an earth jutsu to erect a half dome protectively around them, leaving an opening to prevent enemies from tunnelling in from below without our notice. My blonde teammate proceeded to unseal her spear from her palm and position herself in front of the opening.

With knowledge that the clients were protected, I turned my focus to the enemy.

There were eight of them, half bearing the symbol for Cloud and half for Rock. Likely a team from each village, probably meeting each other.

A teenage boy came at me from the side, kunai swinging. I ducked out of the way, palming a kunai of my own. I used it to parry his next attack, and then jump back when one of his allies came at me from the other side.

I hastily cast a genjutsu on the two, using their distraction as an opening to attack with my kunai. I managed to shove my kunai up through the underside of the teenage boy’s jaw, but the other ninja managed to break free from my illusion.

“You bitch!” he snarled when he saw his teammate laying on the ground, unmoving. He attacked me in a rage, forcing me back towards the first wagon as I dodged his fists. He was fast, but I was too, and I’d been drilled on dodging the way a medic was thanks to Tsunade-sensei, so he only got in a couple of glancing blows.

In the distance, I saw Sakura land a hit on one of the Cloud nin, caving in her skull. “Shannaro!”

As I approached Aiko and the wagon housing our clients, I weaved another genjutsu over my attacker. Since I was only targeting one person, I was able to use a more complex illusion that wasn’t as easy to break out of. Someday, I would be able to do complex illusions on multiple targets, but that day was not today.

The chakra connection gave me the impression of what he was seeing, and I adjusted my chakra accordingly. I jumped up on his back so I was sitting on his shoulders, then grabbed his head and twisted. I jumped away before he even started to collapse. The connection cut out.

Surveying the area, I saw that Sakura was holding her own against a pair of enraged Cloud ninja, but that Aiko was struggling against the remaining three.

I hopped over, snaring them in a genjutsu as I approached, and their momentary distraction is all it took for Aiko to find an opening and thrust her spear through one of their necks. She shook him off her spear while using the blunt end to block the slash of of a sword from his teammate.

While Aiko handled the swordsman, the other began to sink into the ground, and I cursed, losing track of him.

The ground shifted beneath me, and I jumped out of the way of a massive spike, only for more to sprout from the earth where ever I stood, driving me further and further from the caravan. In my attempts to avoid being impaled by stalagmites, I forgot to pay attention to where the ninja creating them was hiding. At the last second I saw him coming at me with a kunai and managed to avoid a knife to the eye, but taking it in the shoulder instead. My under armour did it’s job though, and held up against the blade, keeping all but the tip from making it through.

He tried to disappear into the ground again, but I was expecting it this time. Before he was completely submerged, I slapped a seal tag on the ground, and instantly a smooth crater was created as I sealed the earth away... And the portion of him that had sunk into it, leaving behind a cleanly cut torso.

I sprinted back towards the others, and saw that while I was dealing with the earth user, Aiko had finished off the swordsman. Sakura, meanwhile, was healing what appeared to a broken leg and a nasty burn on her arm simultaneously, with the remains of the two Cloud nin at her feet.

We regrouped, and waited to see if anyone else was coming. When no one appeared after a few moments, Sakura ducked into the wagon to check on the miners.

“You good?” Aiko asked me, and I nodded. I had a few new bruises and a small shoulder wound, but nothing too serious. I tilted my chin at her, silently asking after her. “I’m fine,” she responded. Looking over her, I saw she had a few small nicks, but didn’t appear to be severely injured. “Thanks for the assist with your genjutsu.”

“Of course.”

After Sakura ascertained that everyone was alive and finished healing us, we examined the damage.

In the commotion, several of the oxen had come unhooked and run off. Two of the carts were damaged, one only mildly, but the other was unsalvageable. The road was a mess of craters and stalagmites, making it obvious that some sort of fight had occurred here.

I sent Aiko out to find the missing oxen while Sakura changed a wheel on the cart with the help of one of our clients. I gathered up the remains of our enemies and sealed them away. Later, Sakura would set them on fire, together with destroyed wagon.

When Aiko returned with the oxen, the miners hooked them back up to the wagons. Sakura and Aiko worked together to repair the terrain, using super strength and earth jutsu respectively.

By the time we were done, no one would know anything happened here.

-x-

That night, while our clients slept, we discussed the team that attacked us in a mid-mission debriefing, to make sure we were all up to date on anything important.

“It wasn’t a planned ambush,” I deduced. “There were no traps, and they had little strategy. A team from Cloud and one from Rock, obviously working together, but no practice fighting alongside each other. They separated, mostly, when they attacked, instead of working together.”

Aiko nodded in agreement. “They saw us and thought we’d be easy pickings.” She tapped the side of her glasses, a signal indicating she’d read it in their minds.

“What rank do you suppose they were?” I asked. Unfortunately, if other villages had rank indicators, my team had not been informed of them.

Sakura hummed, gently nibbling on her lip. “I think the one who burned me was a special jounin, and the other two I took care of were definitely chuunin.”

“I think the earth user I took on was a special jounin, too. They were probably the leaders of each of the teams. I think one of the ones I took out was a genin, maybe a chuunin that wasn’t a fighter.” I tapped two fingers against my chin. “He probably had some sort of skill that was needed for whatever their mission was. The last one I got was a chuunin. Aiko?”

“Chuunin, the both of them,” she offered. “I didn’t learn anything about their mission.”

“That’s fine,” I dismissed with a shrug. “That’s not our job anyways. We'll report the activity in the area once the mission is complete.”

"Should we have kept the bodies? To turn in? Maybe that would give a hint as to what they were doing." Aiko asked.

"No, there weren't any clear indications of bloodlines or anything, and it's doubtful they would have revealed anything important," Sakura answered. "Leaf medics and scientists have too much work to do to check every body."

-x-

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Once we crossed the river and started climbing the mountain trails, the temperature began to rapidly drop. The ground was littered with snow and ice, and we relied on cycling our chakra to keep us warm, while the miners bundled up in heavy winter coats and blankets in their wagon together.

We reached their village a week after the attack, slowed by the steep and icy roads. We were thanked for our services, and the leader of the miners let us spend the night at his home. We left early the morning of the sixteenth day.

Aiko took point and set the pace, as usual, and we skidded down the sides of the mountain instead of wasting time taking the roads. As we approached the Continental River again, we slowed down and employed every stealth technique Kairi-sensei taught us in an effort to avoid further conflict. Successful efforts, to our relief.

Once we returned to Fire Country, we picked up the pace again.

We crashed as soon as we got home, well after midnight. We all piled into my apartment to avoid dealing with other people. The three of us squeezed into my loft bed, lying on on top of each other.

-x-

We woke up slowly, languidly, until Aiko started stretching and accidentally shoved me off the bed. I scowled while Sakura and Aiko laughed at me, but I took the opportunity to get first dibs on the bathroom.

I took my time, taking a long, steaming shower, that left barely any hot water for my guests.

Once I was done I pulled up a rickety chair to my wobbly table and began writing my mission report. Meanwhile, Aiko took her turn in the bathroom and Sakura started on breakfast.

“Sorry, Sakura,” Aiko said, towelling off her hair as she exited my washroom. “Someone used up all the hot water.”

Sakura giggled as she set down two plates on the table, and left a third on the counter. “So that’s what that scream was about. I’ll just shower at home. Where I can take a bath after.”

Aiko took the second chair at the table, and Sakura jumped up on the counter. They made light conversation while we ate, but I ignored them to focus on my report. I wanted to get it done soon, I was hoping to meet up with Itachi or Shisui later to work on my genjutsu. Preferably both, really.

The mission made it clear that I need to improve my multi-target genjutsu skills. I’d grown too used to only having a single target during interrogations. The only time I’d been using multi-target illusions was on missions within Fire country, or sometimes Red Bean, and not on any ninja.

I finished about an hour later, by which time my teammates had already left, so I headed to the tower to turn my report in.

By pure chance, I ran into Shisui as I was leaving the tower.

“Shisui! Do you have a moment?”

“For you Sekai-chan? Of course,” he replied with a smile. “What can I do for you.”

“I need your help with genjusu. Or Itachi, if he’s in the village,” I explained. Though our lessons had ended a few months back, both Uchiha had told me I could still come to them with any problems I was having. After our lessons ended I stopped referring to them as my senpai at their request, even though they still had seniority over me. They probably expected that I would continue to use honorifics of some sort with them, but I took the opportunity to completely drop them. They didn't seem to mind.

“You’re in luck, he’s in village too.”

A half hour later the three of us were sitting inside Suzuki Kashiya, discussing the issue.

“It sounds like your problem is splitting your concentration,” Itachi suggested, nibbling on his dango.

Shisui hummed. “Perhaps. Are you using enough chakra? That could also be it.” I shrugged. “Well, try a genjutsu on us, individually and then at the same time.”

“Ready?” I inquired. Itachi and Shisui both nodded.

This was one of the great things about genjutsu. I mean, what other jutsu can you practice inside a store without getting in trouble?

-x-

It turned out both Itachi and Shisui were right. It was mostly a concentration issue, but I was using less chakra than I should as well, which weakened my genjutsu. The latter was easy to fix. The former... not so much. It was just a matter of practice.

Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to practice, because Team Four was being sent out to the frontlines.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Them or me? It’s an easy choice.”

-x-

It sounded terrible, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember my first kill. I know it was before my team and I were captured, and after our first C-rank, but that was all.

I don’t remember who it was. I don’t remember if it was a man or a woman. I don’t know how old they were. Was it an adult? A child? Someone in between? I haven’t the faintest. It was all in the heat of the moment. I see their faces only enough to recognize “not an ally” before I move in for the kill. They blur together, unimportant. Just one more down.

I don’t particularly care that I can’t remember. Maybe I should. Maybe, earlier on, when I was new to this world, this way of life, I would have.

Now though?

What does it matter? It’s not like death is the end. I know that better than anyone.

-x-

Seventeen

With the announcement that Team Four would be heading out to the front lines shortly, I knew I had to be more prepared than ever before. This was different from my previous missions.

The first thing I did after finding out about our assignment was head back to my apartment in the dorms to do an inventory on my storage seals.

I cleared a large space, which wasn’t difficult considering how sparsely furnished my apartment was, and slowly started unsealing everything from my arm. Once that seal was empty, I moved onto the one on my thigh, and repeated.

I tapped my chin and stared at the seal on my thigh. I would be leaving the village soon, for who knows how long. I would be in a place where, potentially, a lot more people could see it, and worse, in a situation where I might be captured, and my captors probably wouldn’t have any reason to keep me alive. While it was hard to break that seal, if I was dead, it would be possible to brute force it. (If I was dead, sensei could brute force it.) I didn’t want anyone getting their hands on some of this stuff, even if I wasn’t around any more.

It took me some time, but a few hours later I had a new and improved seal. It would be troublesome to unseal things from it, but if I died, everything inside it would be destroyed.

With that out of the way, I started sorting everything I’d removed from my seals. Anything sensitive from my thigh seal went right back in to the new and improved version, though things that were less sensitive but frequently used were moved to my arm seal. I only paused when I picked up an old journal with English writing on the cover. Vaguely, I recalled stealing it on a mission ages ago.

I’d forgotten about it, which begged all sorts of questions because how the fuck did I forget about evidence that someone, somewhere, knew English when all my private notes were written in it? But still, I didn’t have time to deal with it now, so I sealed it back in my thigh, made a mental note about it, and continued with inventory.

In the mess of items covering my apartment, I found many things. Among them were several sets of clothes that proved I had, in fact, grown over the last few years, if not all that much, an armoury’s worth of kunai and shuriken, several odds and ends I’d lost over the years, and the documents Kairi-sensei had me seal in my arm before That Mission oh so long ago.

I’d forgotten I had them, and with Kairi-sensei being the only person to know I had them, and still in a coma, no one had ever asked for them.

Unable (or perhaps more accurately, unwilling) to fight my curiosity, I couldn’t help but look over them. Most of it was written in code, so I sealed those parts away in my thigh to decipher later. While it was probably outdated information, it was undoubtedly something I wasn’t supposed to know, and as it was, I wanted to know everything I possibly could about the war.

One of the parts that wasn’t coded though, elicited a broken, bitter laugh. Turns out we did have the key, all along.

-x-

While I was away, I knew there would be no one to tend to Hanako and her daughter’s grave, so once I was all packed I headed to the cemetery.

I stopped by my mother’s first, in the civilian graveyard. Since she shared a headstone with many other civilians, the grave was in good shape, and didn’t need any cleaning. I didn’t have to worry about it being taken care of in my absence.

I sat in front of it for a bit, taking time to remember my mother. It had been a long time now, since she died. My memories of her were fading, and I hated it. If it weren’t for the pictures I had been painting, I doubt I would even remember her face all that well.

Eventually, I pulled myself away, and headed towards Hanako’s grave in the ninja cemetery.

Unlike my mother’s grave, the one Hanako shared with her daughter was in much worse shape. It was dusty and surrounded by weeds. The flowers I’d laid on it were long since dead. I hadn’t been back since I brought her here after she died, and it looked like no one else had either. I frowned. For all Tominaga Junichi acted like he cared, it seemed he couldn’t even be bothered to visit.

Bitter thoughts of Hanako’s younger brother filled my mind as I picked away at the weeds and wiped down the grave. Once it was clean, I traced my fingers over the engravings reverently. After everything, It didn’t matter that we shared no blood, Hanako was the only family I really knew. The only family I could remember.

Even if, I thought to myself as I eyed the dates on the grave. Even if she was a liar.

I wished I had a chance to ask her about that lie. But it was far too late.

-x-

The next day I received notice of the designated meeting place for those of us being sent out.

Two days after that I showed up in one of the large training fields at four in the morning. Inside my seals, I had enough supplies to last me a year, and had scrolls with three months worth for Sakura and Aiko. I considered sealing away a year’s worth for them, but I’d already spent more than I could afford stocking up, and unlike the seals on my body, the scrolls could easily be lost. It wasn’t worth it, even if I knew they would pay me back later on.

I was early—very early. Officially we were supposed to arrive by six, but I couldn’t sleep. The field was one of the largest I’d seen, empty, and completely flat. It was one I’d never been to before. I jumped up into one of the trees at the edges, and settled in to wait.

I’d been a ninja for three years, chuunin for over a year, and this was the first time I was being sent out on for a long period of time. My team had been lucky so far. Or fortunate, rather. Luck had nothing to do with it. We were valuable. We’d been chosen for important positions, were being groomed for them. They’d already almost lost months of effort put into training us, they didn’t want to risk it again. Not when it was now years of effort.

So we’d been protected, trained, and kept away from the worst of the war as much as possible. We were, as much as was possible, coddled.

As the hours ticked by, other ninja trickled into the field. Most were wearing the standard navy uniform, but there were others who were like me and decided to stick with what they usually wore. While wearing your own clothes instead of the uniform could make you a target, some of us had gear tailored to our fighting style, and the standard navy blues just didn’t cut it.

I was broken out of my musings by a hand on my shoulder. Jumping, I reflexively palmed a kunai, only to be met with a low chuckle.

“Relax, Sekai-kun,” said a familiar voice.

I sighed. “Oh, it’s just you, Itachi. Are they sending you out too?”

He hummed in agreement. “Come on, Sekai-kun. It’s almost time to fall in, and your teammates just arrived.” He pointed to the opposite side of the field, where Aiko and Sakura had appeared while I was speaking with him. “Go join them.”

I nodded. Waving a temporary goodbye, I jumped down from the tree and headed towards my team.

“Sekai!” Sakura called as I approached. “We were wondering where you were.” I noted that like me, she forewent the uniform and stuck to her typical red and black attire. Aiko, of course, wore the uniform, as she usually did.

“Sorry,” I said, shrugging a shoulder.

Beyond that, we didn’t have time to talk, as we were called to line up for attendance and briefing.

We fell in line towards the front, standing at ease. Around us, the other ninja did the same, except for Itachi, who I noted with some surprise was the leader of the this company. When everyone was in line, he pulled out a scroll and started roll call.

I noticed most teams didn’t have a number, but were instead named after the captain, though we weren’t the only team with a number. When Itachi got around to Team Four, I answered, as I was the nominal leader of the team.

I also noted we were some of the youngest ninja present. Most everyone was at least chuunin, and despite most people graduating from the academy by age ten these days, with the exception of children who’s parents had the pull to keep them there until twelve, most took a few years to reach chuunin, if they did at all. (If they lived long enough to.)

Once certain everyone was present, Itachi began the briefing. We would be travelling to Base 121 in Hot Water Country, which was a minor base, intended for surveillance and as a place for the ninja fighting skirmishes in Frost Country to retreat to.

It should be relatively safe, since as far as I knew, most of the fighting was on the western front. I couldn’t help but wonder if that influenced the decision to send my team to this specific base.

-x-

While in Fire Country, we moved as one large group. We travelled slower than my team was used to, but I suppose that was to be expected travelling with a whole company of ninja instead of just a team.

In further contrast, it was much quieter. Aiko, Sakura and I had a tendency to talk when we travelled, unless stealth was required. Now, no one spoke, and almost everyone was able to move silently.

The combination of a slower pace than I was used to and the silence made the journey drag on.

Shortly before the sun set, and close to the border with Hot Water, we made camp for the night. It was all done quietly and efficiently. Once we were done, a watch shift was established, we ate, and aside from the first watch, we all went to bed. Unsurprisingly, my team was one of the lucky ones that were not assigned a shift.

We woke early the next morning, and Itachi divided us into smaller groups. Team Four was paired with Itachi himself, and two men we’d never met, but appeared to be in their early twenties, and based on their purple pin, they were special jounin. They did not introduce themselves, and we did not introduce ourselves either. We simply followed Itachi’s lead.

As a group of six, we moved faster than we had as an entire company, but equally silently. Itachi was careful to set the speed at something my team could reasonably maintain without exhausting us, though I was sure he and the two special jounin could have travelled faster.

It was still a long journey into Hot Water, as the base was located deep into their territory, near the small stretch of northern coast.

The base itself was fairly large, with space for about three hundred people, though according to Itachi it typically only houses about two thirds of that. It was semi-underground, built into the base of a steep, but relatively short grassy mountain. The entrance was wide, almost half a kilometre across, and there were several outdoor log buildings nearby.

Itachi led us inside, through cramped corridors reinforced with earth jutsu for stability, to an office area. There, we each filled out forms verifying our arrival and making sure we would be allotted spaces in the barracks and regular provisions for the duration of our time at the base. When we were done, we were sent to the women’s barracks.

Unlike the previous barracks we’d stayed in for only a few days back when we were genin, these ones were almost full. With a cursory glance around the room I counted about fifty beds, and only a handful weren’t in use or marked with a reservation number.

My team found our designated bunks easily enough, and fortunately they were all clustered together.

“Swap you?” Aiko asked, indicating her bunk, which happened to be right below mine. I scoffed, but didn’t otherwise answer. I was used to sleeping higher up. I wasn’t going to switch to a bottom bunk, and she knew it before she even asked.

It didn’t take long to get settled in, but we were told to wait here until we received further orders, so wait we did.

Sakura and Aiko took the time to converse as they typically did, but I used it to study. Before I left, I copied out several interesting looking exercises from textbooks in the D-rank archives, so I wouldn’t get bored during my down time on base. I’d been advised that life on base could be quite boring.

Hours passed while we kept ourselves busy, and other women joined us in the barracks. Most appeared to be in their late teens to early twenties, but unlike our previous experience in the barracks, no one made a move to introduce themselves. Roughly half of those who joined us, left soon after, taking their things with them and leaving empty bunks. They must have been some of the ninja our company was sent to relieve from duty. The other half seemed vaguely familiar, and I guessed that they were part of the group we’d split up with before crossing into Hot Water.

The last group arrived early the next morning when I was sleeping, just before sunrise, but before they could even settle in, our first orders as ninja stationed at base 121 arrived.

They needed back up in Frost, immediately.

-x-

We were sent out in the same groups we’d travelled in, so my team was joined by Itachi, and the two special jounin from before.

“The three of you are fresh—you’ve never been in a situation like this,” Itachi said. He held himself stiffly, and the stress lines beneath his eyes seemed deeper than ever. He stared at us sombrely. “You’ve fought other ninja before, but this is different. It’s going to be chaos. Things move fast. You need to pay attention at all times, and be careful to avoid friendly fire.” He sighed. “I was hoping we’d have more time to prepare you for this, but the situation has escalated since the village has heard from this base.” Itachi’s gaze moved on to the other two males. “Kumasaka, Hayashi, do your best to watch over them.”

The men looked at each other, trading a loaded glance, but nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“We need to arrive as quickly as possible, so until we cross into Frost, we’ll each be carrying a member of Team Four, understood?” We nodded. “Sekai-kun, you’re with me. Kumasaka, you can take Aiko-san, Hayashi, take Sakura-san.”

The three men all leaned forward, and the three of us girls leapt on their backs. I wrapped my arms loosely but firmly around Itachi’s shoulders, and his arms supported my legs. Without further ado, we took off.

We ran like that for hours until Itachi signalled for everyone to stop, and gently set me down. The other two men quickly followed suit in urging Aiko and Sakura off their backs. By this time the sun had long since risen, and was reaching it’s peak in the sky. We took a quick break to rehydrate ourselves and eat a niNRG bar. After refuelling, we continued on. Itachi took the lead, with my team following behind him, and the pair of special jounin behind us.

Trees hand long since thinned out, forcing us to move on the ground.

I could tell we were approaching the battle. Shouts and crashes could be heard in the distance, mingled with the screech of steel meeting steel. I noticed stray weapons littering the thinning grass, and the occasional corpse was lying around. It looked like we were succeeding in pushing the opposition back, at least.

The closer we came, the worse it was.

Before I knew it, we were almost in the thick of it. The six of us were forced to scatter when the ground beneath us collapsed from an earth jutsu.

I paid no attention to the appearance of the people around me beyond checking whether they bore the Leaf’s symbol (or an allied symbol) or not before attacking anyone who didn’t, and helping those who did.

My small size left me largely ignored by the enemy at first, and I used the opportunity to ensnare enemy ninja in genjutsu, disorienting them long enough for allies I’d never met to catch them unaware and dispose of them. Some of the more basic genjutsu Itachi taught me back in the day were ineffective, so I abandoned them for more subtle and less common techniques. It was a trade off, increased effectiveness for increased effort, but I didn’t have to worry about my jutsu being shrugged off or ignored. One by one, I caught dozens of foes in my illusions, and they all perished, either at my hand or that of someone else. Sooner than I’d hoped, the foreign ninja who had yet to be caught in my illusions realized what I was up to. They shouted off a warning I barely heard, but I gathered they were identifying me as the one responsible for catching their ninja in genjutsu. Ninja who previously had no real target shifted their focus to me. I had become a target.

Unable to concentrate during the onslaught, I had to abandon my genjutsu efforts, and focus on close combat. With a kunai in each hand, I did my best to block and deflect strikes from fists and blades, countering where I could, but I was soon overwhelmed.

My size made it easier to slip in between enemy nin and dodge, but it was harder to attack them in turn. If I was out of their reach, they were even further out of mine.

I could fix that, though.

For the first time outside of training, I channelled chakra to the seal on my upper back.

Before she could react, the woman coming at me from behind was impaled by the small, sharp point at the end of one of my chains as it burst from my back with incredible speed.

I released a total of three of them, each a steely grey, and glowing faintly with chakra saturation. The connection to my chakra network allowed me to control the chains with little conscious thought, and I used my two free chains to bat away attackers while I pulled my third chain free from the dead woman’s chest cavity.

With three long, extra “limbs” to fight with, I was able to distance myself from my attackers. In the brief reprieve I’d earned with the revelation of my chains, I took note of my condition.

My breath came in short, quick pants. I deliberately took a deep breath and slowed my breathing. I had no idea how long I’d been out here fighting. It could have been less than a minute or more than an hour, but I was already badly bruised and bleeding from the cuts of kunai and other blades I hadn’t managed to completely dodge. (Fortunately it didn't seem any of the weapons that had cut me were poisoned.) There was nothing to be done about it, though, and I wasn’t gravely injured, so I ignored it and reentered the fray, stabbing at another Cloud ninja with my bloodied chain.

I used one to attack, two to defend, and with the extra breathing room my chains gave me, I was able to focus enough to start casting genjutsu again. It wasn’t as effective on the ninja who were directly attacking me, as most were expecting it, so I focused strikes with my chains on the people coming at me, and returned to using my genjutsu to assist the other Leaf ninja.

Despite the low cost of genjutsu and my chains, after using them so much, I eventually started to feel the drain on my chakra reserves. The movement of my chains grew sluggish the longer I used them, and eventually I decided to pull one of them back to reduce the chakra consumption. The chains may have been saturated in chakra, but I still needed to keep up a small, steady flow of chakra to connect to and control them.

With only two chains left, I had to use them more wisely, so I ceased using genjutsu, which had the added benefit of cutting back on the chakra drain. A single genjutsu may not take a lot out of me, especially with my skewed chakra, but I must have cast over a hundred by that point, and it added up.

I had some soldier pills Sakura made, but they were sealed away in my arm, and I didn’t have the time to unseal them and take one. In the future, I’d have to keep them somewhere more accessible. I’d never been in a situation where I didn’t have time to unseal what I needed. Perhaps a seal on my tongue, that could release them one at a tim—

“Sekai!” I whipped my head to the direction of whoever called my name, but it was too late. While I was distracted thinking about a new sealing idea, a man with glowing fists had come up in my blind spot. He swiped at me, and while his fist itself missed, I wasn’t quick enough to duck out of range of the chakra encasing it. It brushed up the back of my arm, from the elbow to the shoulder, peeling away the skin.

I screamed, dropping to my knees. My eyes watered and my vision grew blurry with tears. I blinked them away.

Furious, both with myself for not paying attention and the man for causing me such immense pain, I lashed out with my chains. I wrapped one around his torso, circling up to his neck. I tightened it, squeezing until his head popped off. Instead of dropping his corpse, I used it to block a barrage of projectiles, and swung it at his allies.

“Sakura, on Sekai!” The voice seemed distant and far away, but it was the same that had warned me of the man approaching. It was fortunate I heard, because I only barely restrained myself from swinging the body at the pink and red blur that raced towards me.

Sakura let out a roar, punching anyone who got between us, and sent them flying. When she reached me, her palm immediately lit up with green healing chakra. I hissed when it made contact and she began regenerating skin on my shoulder. She picked me up, holding me with one arm and healing with the other, and began to run away. I pulled my chains back, so it wasn’t as awkward to carry me. Behind us, Itachi covered our retreat.

I realized it was he who had called out the warning that had probably saved my life. The man had been aiming for my head.

Once we were out of the thick of it, Sakura set me down. With one hand, she kept healing, and the other she reached into the pouch on her hip.

“Dammit Sekai, how did you let your chakra levels get so low?” she growled. “You’re exhausted. Don’t you have the soldier pills I made you?”

“No time t’un—” I hissed in pain as Sakura prodded a particularly sensitive area. “—t’unseal ‘em. Too many of ‘em at once,” I slurred.

Sakura huffed. “Of course you’d jump in the thick of it. Reckless idiot... You need to pace yourself. Here, open up.”

I opened my mouth, and she shoved two pills inside. A familiar black pill and something else I didn’t immediately recognize. I started chewing. The distinct flavour of iron told me she’d given me a blood-replenisher along with the soldier pill.

As she healed me, the world slowly came back into focus. Colours intensified and sharpened. Sounds no longer seemed distant and muddled. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized just how much I had filtered out.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood, but you’ll be okay. The skin on your arm will be sensitive, and you have a mild, concussion. There’s nothing I can do for that right now, so be careful, okay? Don’t run off on your own again, like an idiot, shannaro! Stay with Itachi-taicho,” she ordered.

I nodded absently, and followed her back to the battle.

This was far from over.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“I am not perfect. I do not always know best. I can make mistakes. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget this.”

-x-

Minato sat in his office, staring at a series of photographs. No one else knew about them, not even his wife. They existed only because he was fortunate enough to be able to steal a camera and develop the film without anyone’s knowledge. The benefits of his rank and position in the village, you know. It also probably helped that he could functionally teleport.

There were only six photographs, one for each page of the notebook he’d found in Sekai’s apartment when he’d been sent to pack up her things. Originally he’d intended to keep the notebook, but when Sekai returned after escaping and destroying one Rock’s larger bases, he knew he couldn’t. So he took photographs.

Her room had been bare, most of her possessions sealed up in scrolls and stowed away in drawers under her bed. He was sure though, that that was only a fraction of her belongings. He didn’t doubt she kept almost everything sealed up on her arm.

The notebook had been one of the few items left scattered around the room, and the only one that seemed of any particular value.

He’d gone through the other scrolls, and found notes on genjutsu and mathematics that made his head spin. Nothing else like the notebook.

Each page was covered in the strangest symbols he’d ever seen, with a few numbers and the occasional kana thrown in. He couldn’t make head or tails of it.

It was clearly a code of some sort, but he couldn’t decipher it. It was hardly his specialty, but Minato was no slouch when it came to code breaking. Still, even after months, he was no closer to a breakthrough.

The symbols repeated themselves far too often to be substitutions for kana. He tried matching groups of symbols to kana, but that didn’t work either. Without understanding how the symbols connected to words or sounds, he had no way to meaningfully check for other specific types of ciphers.

The symbols seemed to rotate, and he had no idea if there was significance to it, or if Sekai simply was trying to obscure things further.

When basic tactics didn’t work, he had a clone visit the library to study advanced code breaking, but nothing he learned seemed at all helpful.

He couldn’t figure it out. He doubted even the likes of Nara Shikaku could decipher it without extensive time spent on it, and even then he was doubtful.

And that terrified him.

He sighed, and locked the photos away in a seal drawn onto the back side of a false bottom of a drawer in his desk.

How had an eight year old come up with such a complex code? And more importantly, why?

-x-

Eighteen

Shortly before nightfall, Itachi gave the order to retreat. By that time I’d already taken two more of Sakura’s soldier pills, and had been considering taking a fourth, despite the fact that it was inadvisable to take more than two in a twenty-four hour period.

I’d been sticking close to Itachi since Sakura healed me, as she recommended, and we worked surprisingly well together. It wasn’t as smooth as working with Aiko and Sakura, but the years of periodic lessons with him paid off. His superior experience undoubtedly helped, and he covered my back more times than I could count, but I knew he was getting exhausted too. He never did have the best stamina, if Shisui was to be believed.

After giving the order, he took yet another soldier pill, and told me to stay with him. Instead of pulling back with everyone else, he pushed forwards, slicing at the Cloud nin with his katana, helping fellow Leaf nin disengage. I followed him closely, providing back up where I could.

The number of Leaf nin around us declined as they obeyed his orders and ran, and I began to understand what Itachi was doing. I redoubled my efforts, even releasing a fourth chain, to help him keep the Cloud nin back, away from our retreating comrades.

Abruptly, he grabbed me, and slung me over his back as he too ran away, dodging the nin that came at us, and leaving a trail of black flames, burning tall and wide, behind us. Sweat dripped down my entire body from the intense heat. As we ran, Itachi let out a gasp, and though he didn’t stop, he was no longer producing that eerie black fire.

It didn’t matter. The fire spread out in every direction behind us, consuming the entire landscape. From my perch on Itachi’s shoulders, I stared behind us in wonder.

Cloud nin tried to extinguish it with earth and water jutsu, but they only succeeded in feeding the flames further. I didn’t even want to describe what happened to those who tried to go through the fire. They never even got the chance to scream.

To my horror, of those who I saw try, at least two were from my own village. I didn’t want to imagine how many were stuck there, abandoned and doomed to death, either at the hand of the enemy or the fire, while we ran away.

Itachi stumbled, so I jumped off his back and ran by his side. It made no difference, even without my weight, he continued to falter. He wasn’t going to be able to go on.

Why did he bring me as his backup for this? Sure, I did okay until now, watching his back and defending him, but I was far too small to help support him, let alone carry him!

Looking at him as he struggled to keep upright, I let out a slew of curses in both English and French. His face was pale, a stark contrast to the blood that dripped down his cheeks from his eyes. The blood did little to obscure the deep, dark bags.

I spread my chains out behind me, crisscrossing them into a facsimile of a net and gestured for Itachi to climb on. With a small, relieved smile, he did. He didn’t even protest. That was how I knew it was bad.

It wasn’t long before he lost consciousness.

The effort of maintaining four chains and bearing Itachi’s weight on them was a constant drain on my already dwindling reserves, so I caved and took a fourth soldier pill. With the additional weight, I was far slower than usual, and it was taking me longer than I thought it would to catch up to everyone else. My own exhaustion certainly further contributed to my slow pace.

We must have fought far longer than I thought after the order to retreat was given. It seemed so quick, but the sun had only begun it’s evening descent when he gave the orders, but now there was little light beyond the faint illumination from my chains, and the stars above us.

I ran, and ran, and ran.

Corpses littered the way. Some belonged to Leaf nin, but most were from Cloud ninja who had tried to give chase. The further I travelled from the battlefield, the less bodies I saw, until none remained.

I never did catch up to everyone else. The longer I ran the slower I moved, but I didn’t stop.

We arrived back at the base almost an hour and a half after everyone else, and Itachi was still out cold. We were both immediately herded to the medical sector of the base. They tried to take him from me, and carry him the rest of the way there themselves, but I refused to let him go until Sakura came for him.

Despite her youth, Sakura had been appointed the base’s head medic, above the two others stationed with us. The perks of being the apprentice of the legendary Tsunade, I supposed.

I could tell she was exhausted, but she still pulled herself together for me, and by extension Itachi.

It probably also had to do with the fact that she was one of the only medics to have clearance to work directly on an Uchiha’s eyes, again due to her position as apprentice to the world’s best medic. The blood staining Itachi’s face made it clear something was happening with them, not that I had any idea what could have happened. I never saw him take any damage to the face.

In an emergency, if no one with clearance was available, other medics could intervene, but Sakura was present, so the task fell to her, exhausted as she surely was.

“Take care of ‘Tachi, s’one else can take care o’ me,” I told Sakura, as clearly as I could.

“I will, Sekai. Why don’t you just lay down right here for the moment, okay?” she suggested with a smile. “Someone will be here for you shortly, while I handle Itachi-taicho.”

“’Kay,” I agreed, climbing onto the cot she indicated, and promptly passed out.

-x-

I woke up two hours later, sore and cranky. It was still the middle of the night, and the medical sector was dead quiet.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, despite my body’s protests, and let my eyes adjust to the low light. On the cot across from me was Itachi. He was sound asleep, but the blood had been cleaned from his face and he no longer looked ghostly pale.

Reassured of his health, I was able to focus on my own. I was still exhausted, and my chakra coils burned, but my head felt a lot clearer, and I knew my concussion had been healed.

Sakura had cautioned me about taking too many soldier pills, and I could tell the burning in my coils was from over production. It was unfortunate, but I’d have to refrain from even the most basic of chakra use for the next twenty-four hours. I would need a big meal, too. Soldier pills contained a lot of concentrated chemicals to help with chakra production, but even the best still forced the body to consume fat and tissue. Taking too many soldier pills had effects similar to starvation, and if you didn’t have much fat to spare, it went after muscle. Generally speaking, a woman could usually consume more than a man, since we tend to carry more fat.

I was mostly fine in that regard, though. Sakura’s soldier pills were better than most publicly available, and she packed them with calories. The downside to that was that they were more difficult, time consuming, and expensive to produce.

I bit my thumb, and let the blood drip onto the seal on my arm, releasing a steaming container of Kushina-sensei’s ramen. The use of chakra stung, but I ignored it. It was just this once, and then I’d be a good girl and stop.

While I still wasn’t sold on ramen the way sensei and her family were, I appreciated that she had made a batch for me to seal away, and it was a high calorie meal, which I needed. I slurped up my ramen, barely tasting it, tossed the container in the bin by the door, and curled up on my cot again.

-x-

The next time I woke, it was to the sound of someone entering the room. I tossed myself out of the bed, reaching for a kunai in my weapons pouch, only to discover I didn’t have my pouch on me. As awareness returned to me, I realized where I was and relaxed.

“Hoshino, you’re awake, I see,” a man said. He was sort of familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He was probably in his late thirties or early forties, with dark green hair. He wore his forehead protector in the standard position, and there was a red pin fastened to it, indicating he was an elite jounin.

I nodded, but remained quiet.

“Your medic advises that you are recovering from a soldier pill overdose and are to remain here until further notice, however you are sound of mind,” he said. His tone carried a hint of derision. “Do you agree that you are of sound mind?”

I pressed my lips together. Who was this man? “Yes,” I finally answered. “I am.”

His expression grew pinched, like he wasn’t happy with me. It was, quite frankly, an expression I was intimately familiar with. However, I wasn’t actually sure what I did this time.

“Very well then. Hoshino Sekai, you are hereby ordered to report on the events leading to the hospitalization of Uchiha Itachi,” he barked.

My eyes narrowed. “On what authority? Who are you, exactly?”

I was hardly going to tell just anyone anything. He may be a jounin, but that alone didn’t entitle him to a report, and he didn’t identify himself. I wasn’t going to risk spreading information to someone without authorization.

The tips of his ears turned the slightest bit red. “I am the commander of this base, Hoshino,” he ground out between clenched teeth. “And you will afford me the proper respect.”

“That doesn’t tell me your name. And can you get someone to confirm that for you? I don’t believe we’ve properly met.”

He exhaled heavily through his nose. “I am Aoki Fumihiro, and we indeed met, shortly after you arrived on base.”

I blinked and things clicked into place. Oh. I did meet him. Very briefly, when I arrived on base, as he said. Itachi introduced me. I hadn’t really thought much of it, to be honest. Generally speaking, I was to report first and foremost to Itachi, who would then report to this guy. In most situations, I would hardly see him, let alone speak to him. So when we met, I didn’t deem him to be terribly relevant to me, and paid him no mind. But Itachi was out of commission, and now I would have to report directly to him.

Oops. My bad.

“I do not recall,” I lied. After all, I was hardly going to admit I was wrong and had just forgotten him, because he hadn’t seemed important enough to remember when we met. “I suffered a concussion during the battle. It was treated, but nonetheless, perhaps that has impacted my memory. Could you please get someone to verify your identity? I don’t want to give my report to someone without authorization by mistake.”

In lieu of replying, he marched out of the room and returned a few moments later with Sakura in toe.

“Haruno-sensei, please verify my identity to Hoshino. It appears due to her head injury she is having memory problems,” he commanded.

Sakura, whoseusually neat hair was pulled back in an unusually frizzy bun and had large bags beneath her eyes, gave me a look that said she knew head trauma was not the reason for my lapse in memory, but dutifully confirmed his identity for me, then promptly excused herself again.

“Ah, thank you, Commander,” I said, widening my eyes to give off an aura of innocence, as Dollface had taught me. I doubt he bought it. “If you are ready for my report?”

He grunted in affirmation, and I launched into my report. My usual monotone lost the little warmth it held, becoming cold and detached as I described the events to the best of my ability. He asked a few follow up questions, but I deflected by insisting I couldn’t speak to Itachi’s thought process and did not understand the nature of the jutsu he used.

Fortunately for him (or perhaps more so for myself), as he was cross examining me, Itachi woke up.

He looked exhausted, and like he wanted to just go back to sleep, so naturally I drew attention to him. The commander seemed like he wanted to question Itachi immediately, however I helpfully reminded him that Itachi needed to be cleared by a medic first, and went to fetch Sakura again. I found her in a small little office, trying to curl up for a nap on a desk.

“What is it now, Sekai?” she asked. “I’m exhausted. I’ve been up and down all night. I only got two hours of rest since we retreated.”

I frowned. “Are they allowed to do that to you?”

She sighed. “When they need a medic, or a medic with certain clearances? Then yes. What is it?”

“Ah. Itachi’s awake.”

She grabbed a pencil from her desk and threw it at my face. I caught it on pure reflex and set it back on a different desk. “Next time lead with that, idiot,” she grumbled as she got to her feet and headed towards the door, tugging at her clothes to straighten them. Abruptly, she paused. “Sekai...”

“Hm?” I tilted my head.

“What the hell are you doing out of bed?!” she screeched, swatting at me gently. “Get!”

We arrived to the commander, whose name I’d already forgotten again, pestering what appeared to be a barely conscious Itachi. Sakura promptly lost it.

“Excuse me, commander!” she snarled, hands on her hips. “Given the serious condition he arrived in, Itachi-taicho needs to be cleared by a medic before you can question him, which has yet to be done, as you very well know.”

As the commander turned away from Itachi, the latter seemed to perk up and look much more awake. Heh. The faker.

“You realize, Haruno-sensei, that the situation is urgent, and as your teammate has proven not to be able to provide answers, Uchiha-san is the only one who can,” the commander said.

Sakura shrugs. “Then you’ll be happy to step outside so I can examine the patient and clear him as soon as possible.”

He opened his mouth, but Sakura glared at him, and cracked her knuckles. He closed his mouth and exited without further protest.

“Sekai, bed, now!” she ordered as she pulled the curtain between my side of the room and Itachi’s closed.

Knowing how stressed and tired she was, I obeyed, and climbed back under the sheets of my cot.

She and Itachi spoke quietly. I could hear the murmur of their voices, and see a faint green glow through the curtain, but that was all. After a few minutes of this, Sakura pulled the curtain aside again, and left with a nod.

“You cleared?” I asked Itachi, who had moved to a sitting position.

He nodded. “Unfortunately.”

I would have snorted, but at that moment the commander reentered the room, and promptly demanded Itachi to report.

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to hear it, but the commander didn’t ask me to leave the room or do anything to maintain privacy, so I listened in. Perhaps they figured it didn't matter since I had been present for the events in question.

From the report and discussion Itachi had with the commander, I learned many things. First, that the commander was furious with Itachi for ordering a full out retreat back to the base. It was against protocol, as in most cases it would just lead the enemy right to us. Essentially, if he wanted to retreat, what he was supposed to have done was leave the expendables behind to hold them back while the rest of us ran.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel so sick about the handful of people we left behind. It was much better than the alternative.

Itachi defended his actions, in that he was able to prevent the enemy from following us, which the commander grudgingly accepted. This of course, opened questions to the jutsu Itachi used.

The black flames, or Amaterasu as I learned they were called, were part of his bloodline limit. Because of that, he was not obligated to say much about it to anyone but the Hokage. He did say that the flames of Amaterasu would burn for seven days and seven nights, minimum, and it was the most destructive fire in existence.

I got to hear Itachi’s reasoning for many of his decisions in the field. We were losing, badly. They had reinforcements coming in and we didn’t. Amaterasu was too dangerous to use around so many allies, so he waited until almost all of ours had fled. To use it to the extent that he did utterly exhausted him, and without me he wouldn’t have been able to make it back.

He chose me because I was the only one here he trusted enough to see him in the state he knew he would be putting himself in.

I couldn’t help but smile at that. Just a little. It quickly evaporated when shortly afterwards, the commander finished with Itachi and turned to me.

“Hoshino, for the record, I’m being lenient this time, given the circumstances,” he growled. “But in the future, you will address your superiors with due respect. Your behaviour today has been borderline insubordinate. If you don’t shape up, I will give you a citation. Understood?”

I nodded from my position in bed, trying to look as small and contrite as I could. Small I had down pat. Contrite, I doubt I pulled off. “Understood, sir.”

He stomped out the door without looking back, leaving me and Itachi alone. Itachi just looked at me and sighed.

“Sekai-kun, what did you do?”

-x-

I was released the next day, and moved back to the barracks. I was on light duty, since I still wasn’t supposed to use chakra too much, which meant I was essentially given chores to do around the base.

It was boring and tedious. You’d think life on a secret ninja military base would be more exciting, but it really wasn’t. I felt like I was a genin again. They kept me on light duty for a week, and during that time I barely saw anyone I knew, except at night.

The first few nights I didn’t see Sakura, but as everyone recovered from the worst of things, she had more free time and was able to make it back to the barracks to sleep.

Aiko, fortunately, made it through the battle with only mild chakra exhaustion and no significant injuries. She had stuck it out with a group of other chuunin, and mostly fought defensively, instead of jumping in the fray as I did. Now that we were back, she was kept busy with the base’s intel department.

I was cleared for active duty just after Itachi was released from the medical wing, and was immediately summoned to his office.

“Sekai-kun, have a seat,” he said absently from behind his desk.

His office was small. Just a closet, really. But it had a desk, shelves behind it, and a small chair in front, which I sat on.

“Why did you call me here?” I asked bluntly. It was clear that it wasn’t often one was summoned here.

Itachi let out the barest hint of a sigh. “First of all, Commander Aoki has informed me of your behaviour.” He paused and gave me a significant look, but I maintained my blank expression. “Sekai-kun, while in the past you have been afforded leniency, that is not the case out here. Before you only interacted with people who didn’t care, or overlooked it due to your position. People here care about hierarchy and order. They expect you to be professional. Do you understand?” I nodded. “Good. Next, we need to discuss your performance on the battle field.”

“What about it?” I asked, tapping on my knees.

“I want to preface this with saying I know you’re inexperienced. In the past you have never had to deal with so many opponents at once,” he said. “We had hoped I would have time to prepare you, but there was obviously a breakdown in communication.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Irrelevant,” Itachi dismissed with the slightest shake of his head. “What matters is we did not intend to send your team out immediately, but I was overruled by the commander.” His voice was steely, and I could tell he was angry, or perhaps frustrated, with the commander. “With that said, your initial performance in the field was unacceptable.”

I carefully kept my face neutral despite his blunt tone. I nodded without responding verbally. He didn’t want a verbal response.

“The moment we were attacked, you went off on your own. You didn’t even think of regrouping or working with your team. You were reckless. You weren’t paying attention to your surroundings. You didn’t think, you just acted. You had no plan, you didn’t even think about conserving your chakra, and ended up wasting it. You could have died, Sekai-kun.” With each sentence he spoke, I felt a weight against my chest grow heavier and heavier. “Do you realize this?”

I swallowed, and nodded.

“Do you realize this?” he repeated.

“Yes, sir,” I whispered.

Itachi closed his eyes and sighed. “You don’t need to call me sir, Sekai-kun, and I want you to know I’m not blaming you, or upset with you. Your performance did improve significantly after Sakura-san healed you, and you began working with me. It also was not a unique response. Many other ninja have similar experiences when first put in that sort of situation. Do not be ashamed.”

His tone was gentle, comforting. He meant well, but it made me feel like a small child. I nodded anyways.

“With that said, since your restriction to light duty has been lifted, it’s time to discuss your next assignment...”

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“We didn’t notice the storm coming, but we certainly enjoyed the calm.”

-x-

A thick, sealed envelope was dropped on the desk.

“Results?”

“Failure, Hokage-sama.”

“Where did it go wrong this time?”

“That’s all in the report, sir. I am simply the messenger.”

“Very well, dismissed, Sparrow.”

The ANBU known as Sparrow bowed, and then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Kato Dan grabbed the envelope and broke the seal. He scanned the first page, which summarized the report, and sat back and slowly let out a long breath when he reached the end of the summary. That was it, they were done. No more chances. They didn’t have the resources or time to continue investing in Experiment 4869. They needed their people working on other projects, ones that were viable. While Experiment 4869 was a brilliant idea and, if it worked, would provide a huge boon to the village, it was just too unstable in its current stages, too wasteful.

Unlike some people, Dan was Hokage. He couldn’t just toss resources at a top secret project that seemed to go nowhere. For him it wasn’t a matter of passion, it was a matter of practicality. He may have been the one in charge, but people could still question him and make things difficult for him. And of course, it was hard to argue in favour of the project because of the (quite necessary) secrecy involved. He could tell them how great it would be for the village if they succeeded, but without details his promises were just hollow words, they meant nothing.

If he continued the project he would risk people losing respect for him, or worse, thinking he made poor decisions. That was not acceptable.

“Hopefully he’s had more success than us...” Dan murmured to himself, flipping through the rest of the report, paying specific mind to the section detailing the differences from their last attempt. He would have Jiraiya drop the report off on his next visit.

-x-

Nineteen

I was assigned to the next patrol rotation. Rotation teams usually consisted of two regular three-man teams, but since Sakura was needed in the base’s medical sector, there were only five of us.

Aiko and I were paired up with two men and a woman, all of whom appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties.

One of the men was a Hyuuga. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place where I might know him from. Then again, the entire clan looked eerily similar. Not just in colouring, though they all had white eyes and dark hair, but they all had the same facial structure, too. Too much inbreeding, probably. Some clans were weird like that.

The other man had pink hair, a shade paler than Sakura’s familiar bubblegum hue. I could imagine he was teased for it quite mercilessly as a child. He had a strong jaw and a serious demeanour though. He didn’t seem like he would tolerate any nonsense from us.

The woman was tall and plain looking. She could easily be anyone or from anywhere. She made me think back to the infiltration lessons I’d been put through after my team escaped from that Rock base. Dollface would have loved her.

All three of them wore blue pins, indicating they were chuunin, too.

They introduced themselves, but I promptly forgot their names. Perhaps I should know better and tried harder to remember them, it was only just recently that forgetting someone’s name had caused me problems, but I really couldn’t help it. Names just didn’t stick with me in these sorts of situations. The pink haired man was the leader of the team, so I could simply call him Taicho. The Hyuuga I could address by his family name, and the woman I would call senpai, if necessary. If I ended up needing their names Aiko could tell me. Perhaps in the future we could arrange a signal to indicate I needed her or Sakura to inconspicuously tell me someone’s name... I would bring it up to her privately when I got the chance.

Pinky-taicho gave us a run down of what to expect on the patrol rotation. We would be out for a week at a time, patrolling a specific area west of the base, near the border with Rice Fields. Aiko and I relaxed when he mentioned that, knowing Rice Fields was safe territory for whatever reason. Taicho noticed and gave us a strange look, but continued on with briefing us, pulling out a map to give us a visual of the area we would be covering.

When he finished, he made sure Aiko and I were packed for a week off base (which we obviously were), and led us out.

Pinky-taicho arranged us in a diamond formation for travel. He took point, I was directly behind him with Aiko and senpai on either side, while the Hyuuga took the rear.

“Let us know if we’re going too fast for you,” the woman said as we picked up speed. Her words may have seemed kind, but something about her tone made it sound less than. “It’s also important that we remain quiet and don’t leave noticeable traces. We’ll be patrolling about twenty kilometres out. To our knowledge, this base isn’t known to our enemies, so we don’t want to leave a trail to it.”

Aiko and I nodded. We were well trained in not leaving a trail, and Aiko said so.

Our older teammates nodded, though they looked doubtful. It didn’t matter, we would prove them wrong.

-x-

Two days into our week long rotation and I already hated my temporary teammates. Aiko was not fairing much better.

It was like these people assumed we were fresh genin instead of chuunin. They were babying us, treating us like we didn’t know how to do anything. I had no idea why they were acting that way.

That first day when they assumed we didn’t know how to cover our tracks properly, fine, okay. It really was reasonable to assume we weren’t well versed in it, though it was rude to doubt us when we said we were. Plenty of sheltered chuunin fresh from the village who had never done this sort of mission wouldn’t be very good at it. (Clan kids, mostly, who graduate later and think they’re better than everyone else. Who run easy missions as genin, then get promoted to chuunin with little practical experience outside the village.)

But it didn’t stop there. They explained every little thing to us like we were both as young as I appeared. They gave us a half hour lecture about how to do night watch properly. Night watch! Like we hadn’t been doing it for years. It may be our first patrol rotation and our first time stationed at a base, but it was hardly our first time out of the village overnight.

To add insult to injury, they insisted on one of them joining us for our watch shift, “just in case.” It was beyond insulting. It was implying they didn’t trust us to have their backs while they slept. (Maybe they didn’t.)

I wanted to talk to Aiko about it, vent, but we were never alone long enough to talk without being overheard. It was doubly frustrating because she had signalled to me that she wanted to tell me something non-urgent when we next got the chance to talk, though with the way things were going, that wouldn’t be until we returned to base.

It was likely an explanation for the way the these people were acting. She must have seen something in their heads.

There were so many times I wanted to snap at those three, to make a sarcastic comment or call them out on their poor behaviour, but I held back, Itachi’s words still lingering with me.

I couldn’t do that out here. People wouldn’t put up with it, they would just think I was disrespectful (which was true) and immature (less true, I liked to think), and it would make me look bad. I didn’t particularly care what people thought of me in general, but I’d been made to understand that I had to care what people thought of my capability as a ninja when in the field.

-x-

The older chuunin didn’t get any better, but on the third day I came up with a way to let off some steam.

I couldn’t make my sarcastic comments out loud, but I didn’t need to do so for Aiko to hear them.

After a particularly annoying lecture that morning I looked towards Aiko and rubbed my eyes with my thumb and forefinger, bringing them together over the bridge of my nose. She tilted her head a bit, probably curious at what I needed to communicate to her immediately, but she made eye contact regardless.

‘If they like giving lectures like these maybe they should apply for positions at the academy,’ I thought at Aiko.

She snorted and broke eye contact, but nodded.

After that I no longer even had to signal to Aiko I wanted to communicate something to her after a lecture, she just immediately made eye contact and I supplied her with my thoughts on the matter.

‘Wow, thanks for changing our diapers, senpai!’

‘Thanks for holding our hands while we walk through the village! We would have gotten so lost without you.’

‘This is brand new information that I never would have known without it being spoon fed to me.’

I think they caught on that something was up, but they didn’t know what. I doubt it endeared us to them.

I didn’t care. They couldn’t prove I had been anything less than respectful.

I just wanted the mission to end and to get back to the base.

-x-

When we did get back we were ordered to write up individual mission reports. Barring certain circumstances, it was usually up to the team leader to write the mission report, to remove unnecessary redundancy. It was a waste of time for admin and intel to read the same thing multiple times. Pinky did specify that we were to hand them in to him, not the base’s office, so it was likely he just didn’t want to do a verbal mission debrief with us before he wrote the official report to be turned into the base’s admin office.

Still, it was annoying because a verbal debrief was faster for everyone involved. I pointed that out to him, but he just said it would be good practice for if I led missions in the future. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when he said that. “I’ve been writing mission reports for years as the leader of Team Four. I don’t need practice.”

“Then I expect an excellent report from you, Hoshino,” he retorted. “I expect the two of you to bring me your reports by the end of the day.” With that he and the other two left me and Aiko alone.

Aiko made a mocking face at me, and I nodded in agreement with the sentiment.

“Pinky sure is a piece of work,” I said to her.

Aiko laughed. “That’s for sure. The other two as well.” She shook her head. “Come on, let’s go take a shower and then find Sakura. I have stuff to tell you.”

“I have some things I want to bring up with the two of you as well.”

We walked back to our barracks, where we found Sakura asleep in her assigned bed, still wearing her lab coat. It was the middle of the day, but I was willing to bet that medical had been working her to the bone for the past week. It was rare that a base had access to a medic of her calibre. Sakura may have been a few weeks shy of thirteen, but she’d been Tsunade’s apprentice for close to three years and had studied at the hospital since she started the academy when she was seven. With her natural talent, it was hardly a surprise she was the village’s third best medic. Another few years under Tsunade and she would be her equal, if not better.

The base’s admin probably had her working harder than reasonable, taking care of things other medics couldn’t, and she wouldn’t say no. Sakura was no longer as shy as she was when we met, and was certainly no push over, but she would want to bring the base’s medical sector up to her standards while she was here, regardless of how much work it was.

By the time Aiko and I returned from washing up, Sakura had shifted, but was still in deep sleep. Aiko and I silently agreed to let her sleep and work on our reports.

An hour later Aiko lost a game of rock-paper-scissors and left to hand in our reports while I unsealed some of the algebra exercises I copied from the D-archives before I left. I scanned through the list, looking for an exercise that would make for a nice warm up, and settled for showing that at least one of e times pi or e plus pi was irrational.

Two hours after that I was half way into proving an abelian group had a composition series if and only if it was finite when Sakura finally woke up.

She let out a low groan, slowly rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” I said to her. She pulled her hand down her face, turning towards me.

“Sekai, you’re back,” she mumbled around a yawn. Her eyes flicked down, to the bunk below me where Aiko was reading, having returned from submitting our reports some time ago. “Hey Aiko. Good to see you guys. How was patrol? When did you get back?”

Below me, Aiko’s book snapped shut. “Not bad, we got back a few hours ago. You up to a conversation?”

Sakura groaned, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “Oh hell, what did Sekai do now?”

I scoffed, slightly offended. “I didn’t—why do you think I did anything?” I grabbed the papers that I’d strewn around my bed as I worked and organized them quickly before sealing them away in my arm. Hopefully I remembered my train of thought when I came back to the problem. With everything put away I leaned over the edge of my bunk, arms dangling, so I could see Aiko.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and looked at Aiko, who smiled.

“She was on her best behaviour,” Aiko confirmed. “Whenever she had a comment to make, she just...” she gestured to her eyes.

“Clever,” Sakura said. “Then what is it?”

Aiko looked around the barracks. It was almost five thirty, so most people would still be busy working or heading to the mess hall for dinner. There were a few stragglers relaxing in their bunks, but it was as quiet as the barracks were going to get. Aiko gestured for us to join her on her bed.

Sakura, who must have been more exhausted than I thought, practically crawled over from her neighbouring bed while I flipped down onto the bunk below.

“First, Sakura I want you to tell us what it’s been like here for you this past week,” Aiko said.

“Why?”

“I’ll explain after,” she promised.

“Well...” Sakura gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment, then sighed. “Busy. It’s like everyone except the other medics think I’m incompetent and got the position as the base’s head medic just because I’m Tsunade-sensei’s apprentice. Yet they think she hasn’t taught me anything.” She shook her head and shrugged. “Whenever I try to delegate to the other two, someone makes a comment about how I’m passing the hard work off... So I end up doing more. It’s been exhausting.”

My lips thinned in displeasure. How dare they treat Sakura like that? I expected her to be overworking herself, but not because of something like this.

Aiko ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I figured something like that might have happened.”

“What did you learn?” I asked, apparently clam. My frustration on Sakura’s behalf didn’t leak into my tone voice. “You...” I vaguely gestured to my eyes. “Right?”

“I did, yes,” Aiko admitted. “And I’ll get to that, after we fill Sakura in on what happened on our end...”

By the time Aiko finished, with some interjections from myself, Sakura was scowling.

“Why were they treating you like you’re incompetent?” she asked.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you both about. Apparently, the team we were with was informed that this was our first time stationed at a base, and they were told to show us the ropes.”

“So?” I asked. “They could show us how to do patrol without the attitude.”

“They were also told that if we died, it better be because they’re already dead,” Aiko responded gravely.

Sakura frowned and began chewing her lip. “They were angry about that.”

Aiko nodded. “Yes. We know our team is different than most, that we’re all apprenticed to important people with the intention of eventually replacing them. But most people don’t realize how much of an investment the three of us are for the village, and how they almost lost us once and don’t want to lose us again. They just see us getting special treatment, they see privilege that isn't afforded to them.”

Sakura groaned. “They just think we’re spoiled kids with connections and resent us.”

“Yes. It doesn’t help that word got out that Sekai got away with being disrespectful to the base’s commander and appears to be close with Itachi-taicho, who is third in command.”

Ah yes, apparent favourtism. No one would appreciate that.

Sakura glared at me, and I flopped back onto the bed with a small groan. “Sorry,” I told them. “Itachi already lectured me, I’ll do better about the disrespect thing. But it’s not my fault he and I are friends.”

“The damage has already been done, Sekai,” Sakura hissed, her green eyes narrowed.

“Exactly. I can’t undo it. I won’t repeat the incident with the commander, and I’ll stay away from Itachi, that’s all I can do about what already happened,” I argued. “Instead we should focus on how this is going to affect us and what we need to do going forward. Suggestions, Aiko?”

“Pay attention to how people treat you. I’ll keep an eye out and report back my findings if I get anything important. Right now, my best guess is that we’ll be protected in the field, but people are going to try to waste our time or make us miserable without putting us in danger,” she replied.

I nodded thoughtfully, tapping my chin. I could just imagine all sorts of things that we would need to deal with. “They’ll be passive aggressive, but careful not to overstep and get in trouble. They’ll have a justification for everything they do.”

My team nodded in agreement.

“I’m not sure what they’ll have us do next, but we need to do check-ins like this as often as possible, so we know what’s going on and who to trust. While I believe that in a situation like running patrol we don’t need to worry about our allies watching our backs, if we end up in large scale combat situation where there are too many involved to place blame on anyone specific...” I trailed off.

“They would likely put the focus on their own survival despite orders and leave us to fend for ourselves,” Aiko finished for me. I nodded in confirmation.

“Moving on, we need to establish a signal for the two of you to unobtrusively tell me someone’s name. That will go a long way in keeping me out of trouble.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “You could try just remembering it when they tell you.”

“It’s not that easy,” I protested. And it really wasn’t. Generally speaking, I had trouble remembering names unless I saw them written down or heard them often enough. I didn’t mean to forget names, though admittedly I didn’t consider them terribly important most of the time. But that lack of consideration was more of a side effect of my difficulty recalling names than anything else.

It was just really hard. When I thought of someone I knew, in my mind I didn’t pull up their name, I pulled up their image. It was only when I had no image to connect to a person that I substituted their name, and when I did have an image and knew the name, it was usually filed away in a subsection under that image, like any other information I had on the person. It was just easier for me to remember people I met that way.

On the other hand, if I had a name and information before I saw someone, the order of information swapped. I drew up the name, then the image.

It was weird and not terribly efficient for a ninja, but I really couldn’t help it.

When I did remember names after first hearing them, it was usually because I could relate them to something to help remember them. For example with Sakura, she had pink hair, like cherry blossoms, so her name was easy to remember.

But usually I needed repetition, and often people didn’t use names out loud! On our most recent mission Pinky and the others didn’t actually address each other by name very often, and Aiko barely spoke to them, so I never heard their names beyond the introduction.

Sakura looked surprised upon hearing my explanation. Unlike Aiko, I was no mind reader, but I got the feeling she thought I just didn’t care about people enough to remember “unimportant” names. It likely never occurred to her that I genuinely had trouble with it. It kind of rankled me, because she was my friend and it felt like she thought so little of me. But on the other hand it was what I wanted other people to think, rather than admit I had trouble with something that seemed so simple.

Aiko seemed to consider what I said seriously. She had a pensive look on her face and remained quiet for several seconds, even stopping Sakura from commenting with a raised finger. Finally, she nodded, and started suggesting subtle ways to indicate whose name I needed to know.

-x-

We spent the next two weeks on base. Sakura continued to work in medical, and Aiko returned to the intelligence unit. I was passed around to do whatever was necessary. I made some sealing scrolls to be used on base and did some menial work, like running deliveries between departments or cleaning, but mostly I was left to train.

There wasn’t a big training ground or anything, but there were small areas that were dedicated to sparring and physical training (no ninjutsu). We were expected to control ourselves of course, and be careful not to destroy anything. I mostly trained alone, but got in a short spar every couple of days. Most of the other ninja didn’t care to spar with me, whether because I was disliked around the base or because of my apparent age. I wondered if the ones who did agree to a spar genuinely were willing or if they were ordered. Sadly, Aiko wasn’t around for my spars, so I didn’t find out that way.

Then again, those who agreed were usually special jounin and seemed to be particularly vicious in our spars. I often had to stop by medical or ask Sakura to patch me up afterwards. Perhaps that spoke to their motivations for agreeing.

When the two weeks drew to their end, Aiko and I were sent on another patrol rotation, again with Pinky’s team. It went much better than the first patrol since they didn’t have the same excuse to go too far with their “teaching," but they did keep up the whole “teaching us” thing by constantly quizzing us on what we should do.

We patrolled the same area as before, near the border with Rice Fields. Once again, our patrol was clear. We saw no sign of enemy activity.

I wasn’t sure if I hated patrol because I genuinely found more enjoyment on base doing menial chores or whether it was because I disliked Pinky’s team. I mentioned it to Aiko once we returned, and she said it was probably the patrol I disliked.

She felt as I did about Pinky’s team, but she also felt the same about her coworkers in intel, and she still preferred being on base. Apparently her coworkers completely ignored her clearance level and didn’t share all that she was authorized to see. It frustrated her because there wasn’t anything she could actually do about it, as those who were making the decision all had high clearance as well, but they also were of higher rank. She was treated like all the other chuunin were, even though they all had lower clearance than her.

They didn’t know about her bloodline though, as while most of her clan was aware of it, few outsiders did, so they were still vulnerable to it. She managed to gather information that way.

Not that they had much to go on. Apparently it was mostly trading messages about supply runs, reading mission reports (nothing interesting), and stuff like that. There were no prisoners to interrogate, any enemy intelligence we intercepted was mostly just sent back to the village, nothing exciting.

Over the last few weeks things had quieted down for Sakura as well. Most everyone had stopped bothering her about little things and had begun to trust her competence.

Overall, life on the base was quite boring, nowhere near as exciting as our introduction would have led us to believe. The most interesting thing of note was when we had quiet celebration of Sakura’s thirteenth birthday, where I revealed the small birthday cake I ordered from Suzuki Kashiya and a present I had sealed away when I realized we’d be here for her birthday. Other than that, it was just missions and work on base and periodically being sent out to patrol that same stretch every couple of weeks.

At first the other ninja were as prickly as we predicted, but eventually our comrades on the base seemed to warm to us, no longer being as condescending or distant. I was no longer seeking Sakura or medical out after my spars, and I was finding more willing partners. Perhaps they got used to us, perhaps we proved ourselves.

We settled into a routine, weeks passed, March blurred into April, which faded into May, and little changed. We were never sent back out to any major battles, and according to Aiko there was no news of any significant skirmishes, or atypical enemy movement either.

Perhaps that was why when the base caved in we were completely unprepared.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Did you know? In this language there are two ways to pronounce the word four. The first was yon, which is what was used in the beginning for our team. The second was shi, which is what people would use in the years to come.”

-x-

Itachi did not hesitate when the base began to collapse, he immediately got out. His primary orders were to protect Team Four, but he was far enough away that he could not get to them in time to be useful in this situation. The girls should be in the barracks, sleeping and surrounded by capable ninja. He had to trust that they would be able to get out alright, that the others would keep them safe during the collapse and find a way out.

He was the first to exit the collapsing base, but it was merely seconds before the few who had also been in the above ground portions exited as well. Those in the underground portions—like the barracks or the infirmary—would take longer, given the exit tunnels were surely caving in.

A collapse like this shouldn’t have happened. When the base was constructed the lack of alternative exits and the risk of something like this happening was taken into account. There were safeguards in place. That the base caved in regardless was worrying. Very few people would know how to disable the measures in place, and fewer knew how to get around them without doing so and consequently setting off alarms. Without that knowledge, it would be a challenge that would take long enough for someone to notice, and act as warning to evacuate before things went south.

Itachi activated his sharingan. Though the darkness of the night impeded his regular vision, it was inconsequential with his doujutsu activated. Taking in the sights before him, he couldn’t help but mutter a quiet curse.

“Avoid the top of the base as much as possible, we don’t want to be in anyone’s way of getting out,” he ordered. With the base coming down, he wouldn’t be surprised if those trapped decided the best way out was up. His superiors had yet to emerge, and until they did he was in charge. (If they did.)

He bit his thumb, ran through a series of hand signs faster than you could blink, and slammed his hand down. Six crows appeared before him in a puff of smoke.

He spoke directly to the crows, his voice quiet enough not to carry. “Base 121 requires immediate reinforcements. Three priority 1 assets present. We’re outnumbered, with at least two S-rank threats.”

As soon as Itachi finished speaking, his murder of crows took off, scattering across the sky in six different directions. They adeptly dodged the projectiles aimed their way until they were beyond human reach.

Itachi reached into his weapons pouch, pulled out a kunai and charged forwards, eyes blazing.

-x-

Twenty

I woke to a piece of ceiling debris hitting my forehead and panicked shouts. Perhaps there were cons to the top bunk I had not considered. I was sure Aiko and Sakura did not have such a rude awakening.

“Earth users, reinforce the walls and ceiling!” someone shouted. Below me, I heard Aiko slap her hands to the wall, and as I looked around the room I noticed perhaps a little less than a dozen of the other women present doing the same thing. “Everyone else, get ready, we’re under attack.”

I hurriedly jumped out of my bunk and got dressed, checking to ensure I had a handful of soldier pills in my pouch for easy access. I’d learned my lesson about keeping them in my seal last time. Once I was ready, I turned to Aiko. “Will dressing you disturb what you’re doing?”

“As long as you leave my arms alone, go for it. Set out anything you can’t put on me,” she replied. “Hopefully I’ll have time to get it on later.” Sakura and I immediately got to work stripping her of her pyjama bottoms and getting her as ready as possible. Around us, I noticed the other women doing the same for the earth users near them.

I grabbed Aiko’s storage scroll and put it in my pouch, then made sure Sakura had her own. With the amount of stuff in them, it was a bad idea to leave them behind. We really didn’t want someone combing through the ruins of the base later on and finding them intact. They shouldn’t contain anything incriminating, but you could never be too careful.

“What do we know?” I asked the room at large, when no one else spoke up. I stood ready next to my bunk like everyone else who wasn’t busy reinforcing the room and preventing its collapse.

Was this natural? An earthquake? Or...

The woman who spoke earlier was now standing in the middle of the room with her eyes closed, making a hand sign. I recognized her as a jounin I’d seen around the base quite often. I was pretty sure she worked intel with Aiko. “There are over two hundred enemies within my range. Based on their chakra signatures I’d assume they’re all at least chuunin, with several jounin mixed in. I’m certain there are more further than I can sense.”

I pressed my lips together. This wasn’t good. Overall, we had just over two hundred of us stationed here, and sixty of us were in this room. We needed to get out.

“I don’t think we can hold this much longer!” One of the earth users shouted. “They’ve got someone trying to break through, a team probably. We need to find a way out!”

“But how?” Someone else shouted, sounding panicked. “The hallways and tunnels will be collapsed by now, there are no exits!”

“So we make one!” A third person replied, voice full of bravado. “If we can’t go out, we go up!”

“How many are above us?”

“Directly, about a dozen.” The jounin in the centre of the room, who must have been a sensor said. “But there are plenty more nearby.”

“How do we make it through?” another of the earth users asked. “I don’t think we can afford to spare one of us to make an opening.”

“I have a seal,” I said, drawing the attention of the women around me. “It will seal away anything within a given area—but only that area, which I can control the size of. I can seal away anything above us—including people.”

“How long will it take you to get it done?” the sensor asked.

“Less than a minute once I know the dimensions of the space to seal.” I said. I’d made the seal plenty of times, it was rote by now.

“Do it. Someone give her the dimensions.”

Someone—one of the earth users—told me how far underground we were and how wide the area of the seal should be. I quickly unsealed my ink and some blank paper, and got to work on the seal. While I did so, everyone got in position near the walls.

“Are there any allies above us? Anyone caught in this will die or lose body parts,” I cautioned once the seal was complete and my supplies were returned to my arm. I was standing on the ceiling, seal ready to be activated.

The sensor focused, and after a second she said it was clear. I activated the seal and jumped off.

Instantly everything above us disappeared. Half of a sword and a couple dismembered bodies fell in, only partially caught in the seal. We ignored them. (I desperately ignored the decapitated head full of familiar pale pink hair, I couldn’t think about what that meant.) The paper with the seal started to flutter down without anything to support it and I snatched it from the air and stuffed it in my pouch. The earth users released their hold on the walls, and we all ran up and out of the pit the barracks had become.

“Four! Stay together! That’s an order!” someone shouted.

I’d run up the wall near my bunk, so Aiko and Sakura were right beside me. We briefly exchanged a look, silently promising to do better at staying together than last time.

It was dark out, but looking at the sky I could see dawn was within sight. An hour away at most. I didn’t have a lot of experience fighting this sort of battle in the dark, but it wouldn’t be a concern for long, and I was sure I would adjust.

We were completely surrounded. The sensor had said at least two hundred, and it definitely looked like it. Unlike last time I immediately released two of my chains. The faint glow was a comfort in the darkness, though they made me a visible target. That didn’t matter, they were my best weapon and we had to thin this down fast. Beside me Aiko, who was still in her pyjama top, unsealed her spear.

We immediately got to work, attacking anyone we didn’t recognize—it was still too dark to check their forehead protectors. On top of that, while the majority of the women had time to get properly dressed thanks to the work of our earth release users, most of the men from the base apparently hadn’t and lacked a forehead protector. I saw far less men than I expected. Perhaps they got out sooner and were too far from us, or perhaps fewer of them made it out at all.

At least the months on base had granted us at least a passing familiarity with most everyone here, so friendly fire wasn’t much of a worry.

“Default formation,” I told Aiko and Sakura.

Our default formation played to our strengths, Aiko handled defence, I focused on support, and Sakura was our main attacker. With her strength a single direct hit was enough to take out almost anyone. Even if someone anticipated her strength and reinforced their body with chakra the damage would be severe and leave them vulnerable.

We worked efficiently, I used genjutsu and my chains to distract and restrain our enemies so Sakura could get a hit in and Aiko used her spear to block incoming attacks. After all the time we spent together we fought like a well oiled machine. Despite my focus on creating openings for Sakura, I took out my fair share of enemies with my chains and a kunai. Likewise, several fell under the might of Aiko’s spear.

Still, any we took out seemed to just be replaced by another. It was soon becoming clear that the sensor had been right, there were far more than the two hundred or so she had sensed. I didn’t even want to think about the numbers. Ours were dwindling, and I was becoming more and more certain a good chunk of us didn’t make it out, but more and more enemies seemed to come out of the woodwork.

Still, we were doing relatively well until beams of light broke through the darkness, felling anyone who was in their path. Yet they were controlled, twisting around our enemies and leaving them unharmed.

Who the fuck had a laser jutsu?

The beams moved fast, and there were too many of them to easily dodge, but fortunately Aiko had a trick up her sleeve, courtesy of my own seal work.

Sakura and I ducked behind her as she brought up the end of her spear and pointed it directly at the oncoming beam. It hit the seal I’d placed on the shaft and was absorbed safely into a pocket dimension before it could hurt us.

The creator of the beams seemed to notice we overcame his or her jutsu, and focused more of those beams at us. We dodged what we could, but they chased after us, and we relied on Aiko deftly manoeuvring her spear to absorb them one by one.

It was unfortunate the seal was still unfinished, in it’s final form it could potentially have been a great help. Unfortunately, my plans for it were beyond my current abilities, and the addition was recent enough that even if it were complete, it was unlikely that Aiko would be effective with it without more time to train it. The next step was perhaps months or years away.

“What is this?” Sakura demanded with a snarl, quickly healing her arm where she’d been clipped by the jutsu. As talented as she was at dodging after training with Tsunade-sensei, the control our opponent had over the jutsu made it difficult to avoid. I was only unharmed because I was hiding behind Aiko more than she was, my small size making it much easier.

“Storm release,” Aiko answered. “A element combination bloodline from Cloud. Water and lightning.”

Storm? This didn’t seem very storm like to me. Whoever was in charge of naming these things sucked.

“We need to do something, whoever this is has made us their main target,” Aiko said, absorbing another beam. Around us our fellow Leaf nin fell to stray beams, but a couple Cloud nin got caught, too. “Sekai, is there a limit on how much this can take before it fails?”

“There shouldn’t be, as long as you keep timing it right. If you don’t open the seal in time it could get damaged, but by that point we’re already hit, anyway,” I responded. “Let’s get this bastard, maintain default formation.”

My teammates nodded, and we took off towards the source of the beams of light, taking care of anyone who got in our way. Several times I used my chains to grab a corpse or cloud nin and used them as a human shield from the beams. The storm release user was clearly trying to keep us at a distance. Our fellow Leaf nin seemed to realize where we were headed, and helped clear a path for us.

I was almost surprised they seemed to trust us to handle this. They must have come to the conclusion that Aiko was best suited to defending against the storm release jutsu after seeing her in action.

Eventually, we got close enough to get a good look at our adversary. He was a tall man with dark skin and off-white hair, probably in his thirties. He ran through a series of hand signs just as we got into range.

“Storm Release: Laser Circus.”

Oh fuck, so that’s the jutsu responsible. Fucking laser circus was right.

With my target in sight, I tried to catch him in one of my genjutsu, but he shrugged it off like it was nothing. I tried again several more times and got the same result. My lips thinned in frustration. While I didn’t think it would be quite as easy to take this man down—he was clearly on a whole other level—he was far better at detecting and dispelling genjutsu than anyone else I’d encountered. A genjutsu could trip up most for even half a second, but he didn’t seem at all bothered by it. He just kept dodging Sakura’s fists and shooting laser beams at us.

I would have to do better. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. He broke out of a C-rank genjutsu like it was nothing—I wasn’t sure it even had a chance to affect him before he broke it. I had four B-ranks in my arsenal and two A-ranks. I’d bet none of my genjutsu could delay him for more than half a second, a whole one if we were lucky. This man was good though, a second was unlikely to be enough with the distance he was keeping us at with that damnable storm release of his.

But... three seconds could be.

I signalled to Sakura that I would try to make her an opening, but that it would take time. This wasn’t something I’d done in live combat, and even in practice it took me a long time to set it up.

I had to look busy, like I wasn’t bothering with genjutsu anymore, like I was completely focused on using my chains to try and corral him into Sakura’s fists.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t make eye contact with Aiko to convey my plan, but hopefully my “defense, me” signal was enough to get her to understand that I would be unable to adequately protect myself going forwards.

My chains chased after the Cloud jounin, but he dodged them like they were an annoyance at best, comparable to a fly buzzing around his ear. That was fine. That was all they needed to be.

Carefully, I started to shape my chakra. The thing about layering genjutsu was that it was hard. Really hard. The end result would be that every time they escaped one genjutsu, another took affect, until they broke through each layer. Sure, you could cast genjutsu after genjutsu in rapid succession on a target and get a similar effect if the target was slow to break the genjutsu or you could cast them fast enough, but that wouldn’t work with this man and lacked some of the advantages of a properly layered genjutsu. In this case I would need to do a proper layering, preparing each genjutsu all at once, and then inserting the chakra into his system.

One of the benefits of this were that it would only be one immediate disruption to his system. When Shisui was training me to detect genjutsu, layered ones like this were the hardest. I would catch one when the foreign chakra entered my system, but the next would often take hold without my notice at first. I expected this man would notice—I had to plan for that.

Furthermore, each genjutsu only took effect after the preceding ones were broken. You couldn’t break them all at once. The target was forced to break each one successively. The more you layered, the longer it would take. It could be enough to distract him.

Of course, the downside was that, as I said, it was really fucking hard. The more layers, the more difficulty. You had to be careful to hold the shape of the preceding genjutsu as you added new ones. It was ridiculously easy to destabilize the previous layers, and collapse the whole jutsu, wasting (in this case) precious chakra. Layering two D-ranks bumped the difficulty up to B-rank. What I was about to try would be more than I’d ever done before, and effectively be an S-rank genjutsu.

I started with a C-rank. It was best to do lower level genjutsu first. Then I added my first B-rank on top of it. I started to add a second B-rank, but a beam that Aiko couldn’t block distracted me and I lost it as I jumped out of the way.

I took a deep breath, and started again. That time I made it to the fourth genjutsu—an A-rank, before it destabilized again when I split my focus too much in favour of my chains.

I had three more false starts, but on the sixth try, I got it.

C-rank, B-rank, B-rank, A-rank, B-rank, A-rank, C-rank. Seven layers. On the last C-rank (the same as the first) I started making hand signs.

The man shrugged off the C-rank easily. It was a simple blinding genjutsu. The next one would induce an intense sense of fear. He broke that as well.

Sakura, who realized her opening was coming when I started making hand signs, started her approach.

The third made him dizzy and see stars, he slumped for a moment, but broke it.

A second had passed. Sakura was closing in behind him.

The first A-rank hit him. It made him forget where he was and what he should be doing.

Another second passed.

He broke it, and the next B-rank hit. He couldn’t feel anything, he was numb.

Sakura was almost right behind him.

The second A-rank took effect. This was my best genjutsu, my most versatile. It wasn’t as hard to break as some of the others, but it was my most complete. I could alter perceptions of ongoing events. I made him believe Sakura was further away than she was, and that he was going through the hand signs for his storm release ninjutsu. While this genjutsu was easier to break, the layering would disguise it’s presence, and since I was keeping it fairly close to reality, hopefully he wouldn’t realize he was even in it. Hopefully he didn’t think I had the skill to layer a sixth (and seventh) genjutsu.

Three seconds, he broke it too late, right before Sakura’s fist collided with his skull and turned his brain to putty. Clumps of brain, bone, and blood splattered everywhere as his corpse went flying east, towards the sun as it began to peek over the horizon.

I couldn’t help but laugh, elated. I did it, and it worked. High off my success, I barely noticed the kunai flying towards me until Aiko deflected it.

“Head in the game, Sekai!” she said. “It’s not over yet.”

I nodded and licked my lips, she was right. I refocused, and threw myself back into the fray, with my teammates by my side.

-x-

The battle went on without end in sight. I couldn’t count how many people my team killed, or how many were killed over all. From the number of corpses littering the ground I knew that it was hundreds, but the tide of enemies didn’t seem to subside, no matter what we did.

I wouldn’t be surprised if my kill count had already doubled. (In the heat of the moment this gave me a burst of pride, but later I knew I would feel sick.)

The number of people they sent after us—it didn’t make sense. Yes, this was a Leaf base, but it was small, out of the way, and for the most part unimportant. An attack to thin our numbers a bit would be reasonable, just enough to chase us out of Hot Water but that wasn’t what they were doing. They were out to completely destroy us. You didn’t send this many people for such a small target unless you wanted to leave no survivors.

Was this revenge for what happened in Frost? That was too petty. It had to be something else. Once this was over I would ask Aiko. While she’d never said anything to us these past few months on base, and kept saying everything was routine and boring, it was possible she’d learned something either officially in her capacity as an intelligence officer or through her doujutsu and didn’t want to risk being caught telling us.

It had been four hours since we were rudely awakened, and Sakura had already taken two soldier pills. It was worrying, because there was no end in sight. Over a dozen times we’d grabbed injured comrades so Sakura could heal them while Aiko and I acted as bodyguards, and the intense field healing was a strain on her reserves. As our best medic her constant use of her skills was necessary, and it made me sick to think how many soldier pills she would take over the course of the day—or days.

Even with the efforts of Sakura and the other surviving medic, our numbers were dwindling. There were maybe thirty of us left, perhaps less. We couldn’t keep this up without reinforcements. We needed to retreat, surely Itachi—who was the highest ranking person left—realized this?

Then again, I wasn’t sure where we could even retreat to.

-x-

The first crow to return brought nothing but bad news. As did the second, the third, and the fourth.

Several of the nearby bases were running on a skeleton crew. They couldn’t afford to abandon their positions, and didn’t have enough combat capable ninja stationed there to make a difference. They asked that Base 121 not attempt to retreat towards them unless they could guarantee that they were not followed.

With how things were going, Itachi did not think that was possible.

The fifth crow returned with an offer of support, but not enough. As powerful as their ally in Rice Fields was, it might not be enough with this never ending tide of Cloud ninja, not to mention potentially blowing their ally’s cover and ruining work and plans several years in the making. Still, as a last resort, Itachi would take the girls and run, leaving the others to cover their escape. There would be some unfortunate losses, but worth the sacrifice.

There foes would surely give chase, but Itachi was hopeful that he and Team Four could make it, even if he had to resort to amaterasu and a handful of soldier pills.

The sixth crow arrived a half hour after the fifth, and brought better news. Reinforcements. They were over a day away, but if they could draw away from this main battle, if they could run, and meet them half way, they might be able to make it.

Itachi sent the sixth crow off again, towards Rice Fields this time. It was best to keep their ally updated on their movements. Rice Fields was in the opposite direction from the reinforcements, but it never hurt to keep Orochimaru on alert.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Trust. For ninja, it is both a necessity and something we can not afford.”

-x-

The man walked with confidence. He walked like he was exactly where he was supposed to be. He stood tall, but kept his shoulders relaxed. His strides were long and even. He didn’t smile, but he was careful to keep his face “neutral” rather than “blank.” He was just going about his day, perhaps a bit bored, not hiding anything.

As long as he looked like he belonged and knew what he was doing, no one would question him. It was one of the most important lessons he had ever learned.

It was much less suspicious to confidently go somewhere you weren’t supposed to be than to sneak in, especially in these circumstances. Because he did actually have proper clearance to be there. He just didn’t actually have a good reason to be. If someone questioned him he had an excuse ready, but it would still cause problems and draw attention to his presence. It would make it more memorable. Something for people to check into later on. No, it was better if he was left to his own devices. Better for people to perhaps remember seeing him, but have no idea why he’d been there in the first place. It was probably just routine business.

-x-

Twenty One

The signal to retreat came as if Itachi had been reading my mind. A high pitched whistle coming in bursts. Coordinates, three sets. The final destination and two rendezvous points along the way. We were heading south east, towards the other coast of Hot Water. Even without running from enemies it would be quite the trip.

I wondered what was there. Another base? Allies? Was it just a random place to run to and hope for the best? It didn’t matter, Itachi said that’s where we were supposed to go, so that’s where we were going.

I could only hope Cloud hadn’t figured out the code we used for our signal.

Unlike the last time we retreated, there was nothing to cover our escape. Itachi obviously didn’t think that fire jutsu of his, Amaterasu, was enough to stop all those people, and he couldn’t afford to end up in that exhausted state. Instead, we were forced to fight as we fled.

I grabbed two kunai from my pouch and checked the general area behind us for allies. If any were present, they were completely surrounded by Cloud nin, and were unlikely to be able to disengage and escape. I silently apologized to any Leaf nin behind me and threw the kunai as hard as I could. Cloud nin easily dodged them, but that was fine. Thirty seconds later, the explosive tags on their handles detonated, taking out everyone and anything in a thirty metre radius of each kunai. I could feel the heat of the explosion behind us, but we were already far out of the blast radius. By my estimate, I’d probably taken out at least thirty people with those explosions. At least a few of them were probably allies. (I would have to process that later.)

I threw two more with similar results. After that, there was little point in continuing with the explosives. We were breaking off into small cells to escape, and Cloud was breaking into similarly sized pursuit teams. Explosives would just give away our position, acting as a beacon to the other Cloud nin. Using them might as well be saying hey, we’re over here!

My team was joined by two other Leaf ninja, the other surviving medic and a very large man who I believed to be a special jounin. I had sparred with him a bit on base. With my chains and genjutsu, I was best suited to covering the five of us while we ran. I ended up on the back of the special jounin so I could focus entirely on defence, while Sakura took the lead with Aiko and the second medic close behind her.

I didn’t know the name of the second medic, but he was a young man with dark hair and incredibly talented with senbon and a jutsu that multiplied a single senbon into a shower of them. Combined with my liberal use of multi-target genjutsu, we were able to pick off or slow down a good portion of the Cloud nin coming after us. My multi-target genjutsu might have been relatively low level and a large portion of those I hit with it broke out of it like nothing, but repeatedly casting it on the same targets slowed them down, the senbon caught the ones who were still ensnared, and the four chains I released from the seal kept the rest at a distance, batting away projectiles as needed.

Meanwhile, Sakura punched through anyone and everything in front of us. More than one she created a path for us where before there had been none.

We ran for hours. The second medic and I were popping soldier pills like candy. Near constant use of four chains and multi-targeted genjutsu was a massive drain on my reserves, and that senbon jutsu seemed to deplete the medic at a similar rate. The two of us were undoubtedly going to crash hard when all of this was over. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were out for weeks. Fortunately, Sakura had a bottle of supplements on hand to take with the soldier pills, so that would at least allow us to keep using them for another two or three days like this before the side effects of the two pills caught up with us.

The supplements were one of Sakura’s original creations, inspired by the too frequent need to take an inadvisable number of soldier pills. They were jam packed with calories, and infused with chakra to help the body immediately turn them into fat, which meant more fuel for the soldier pills to use in chakra production. The down side was that in their current state, they severely screwed up the body’s natural metabolism and ability to process food. Without medical intervention it would take weeks for my body to start digesting and processing food properly.

I wasn’t too worried, though. Sakura would be able to take care of it before it seriously fucked me and the other medic over, and it was preferable to being dead.

Over the hours we’d lost track of the other Leaf nin, so it was just the five of us against our pursuers until we rendezvoused at the first set of coordinates, near the shores of Lake Hibara. Despite how many we killed, it seemed like there was always another team right behind the last, right on our tail.

At least we had moved deep into the forest now, which left us less open and gave us a terrain advantage. Few were as adept at running through trees as Leaf ninja, and it helped us create some distance to give us some breathing room, allowing me to completely pull back two of my chains.

Another hour of running in the woods allowed us to pick off our closest pursuers. I was sure that there were still Cloud nin after us though, and if we stopped running it would be just a matter of time until they found us.

We would reach Lake Hibara soon. Hopefully we weren’t too late and everyone else had already come and gone. No one could afford to linger at the rendezvous point for too long, a couple minutes at most if they were in a situation like we were, where there was some breathing room. The idea was that it should take everyone roughly the same amount of time to reach it, and if someone had lost most of their group they might have the chance to join with another. It also kept us from getting too far away from each other on the way to our final destination.

-x-

Itachi and four others were waiting for us when we arrived at Lake Hibara. And they were quite obviously waiting, judging by the mutilated corpses nearby. I supposed that if anyone could afford to wait around it would be Itachi.

“Good, you’re the last we’re expecting,” he said in place of a greeting. “Sekai-kun, eye contact.”

He had his sharingan active, but I met his eyes without hesitation. I barely noticed them swirl into a new shape before I felt myself get caught in a genjutsu. It was eerie. Things stayed the same, but lost colour except for the sky, which bled from yellow-orange into crimson, and the people around us who faded away completely. Instinctively I tried to break it, but found that even with my extensive training in breaking high level genjutsu, I couldn’t.

“Please don’t, the more you resist the more this drains me,” he said wryly. “The genjutsu has a time dilating effect. We can spend days talking and only a second will actually pass outside of the genjutsu.”

“Sorry,” I said, not really meaning it but halting my attempts to break the genjutsu. He would have been disappointed if I didn’t try. “What do you want to talk about then?”

“First, a few teams have already found us, but we took care of it,” he informed me. “However I would still expect a good portion of their forces to pass through here once we leave. Do you have seals prepared that might be handy for trapping? Ideally something to go off after we’ve had enough time to get clear of the area.”

I frowned, and thought about it. I could easily whip something up like that, but I didn’t really have the time to. The only premade seals I had on me were explosives, and most of those were primed to go off a minute or two after I applied chakra. I had maybe three with a longer delay intended for trapping, which would go off after about twenty minutes.

I told Itachi as much, and he frowned. “That will have to do. Give them to me then take your group, and run as fast as you can towards the next check point. You should make it there around midnight.”

I nodded. “Anything else?”

“What is your group’s condition?”

I sucked in a breath. “No major injuries on any of us. Some bruises, cuts, and scrapes are the worst of our physical injuries. However... Sakura’s had three soldier pills, Aiko has had two. I’ve had seven, five of them taken with Sakura’s supplement—you’ve heard about that right?” I asked. The supplement’s experimental status meant few were aware of it, but I suspected Itachi would be. My suspicions turned out to be correct, so I continued. “The other medic with us has had four doses of soldier pills and supplements as well. I don’t know what he might have taken before he joined us. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had another pill or two on top of what I’ve seen. The big guy hasn’t taken anything since he joined us.”

Itachi frowned. “Seven?” He sounded both surprised and concerned.

I shrugged a shoulder and looked up at the deep red sky. “I took two before you ordered a retreat. After... We’ve had a hard time escaping. After we killed that one storm release guy they’ve been really coming after us, and running hasn’t stopped them. We’ve been relying heavily on my chains and I’ve been spamming genjutsu at whoever gets close while the big guy carries me. The other medic has been using some jutsu to multiply his senbon that’s pretty draining, too. It was only a couple hours ago that we managed to get some space.”

His frown deepened. “How many teams?”

“Since we started running? I’m uncertain, it didn’t seem important to keep track. At least a dozen, probably. They were usually teams of three or four.”

“That’s... concerning,” Itachi brought hid hand up to his face, covering his mouth. He rubbed his thumb across his cheek, apparently deep in thought.

“...Is that not normal?” I asked when the silence dragged on.

He dropped his hand. “No,” he said bluntly. “It’s not. I’m faster than you, but even taking that into consideration, I only had to deal with a quarter of that. In theory I’m the biggest threat and the one in charge. I should be the one they focus their resources on. That they’ve dedicated more to anyone else is concerning and unexpected. They very specifically are after your group, though I don’t know why. That’s a problem.”

“Is it because we took out that storm guy?” I suggested. “That’s when they really took notice of us on the battle field.”

“Partially, maybe, but that wouldn’t be enough to justify that many... a dozen teams? That’s forty to fifty of them specifically on you. The fact that they kept actively engaging instead of just tracking you even after you took out so many of them says a lot,” he explained. “They took notice of you when you took out one of their major players, yes, but on the battle field it was because you had proven yourself to be an active threat. They needed to take you out for their own safety. If that was the only reason they wouldn’t have sent a dozen teams after you when you fled, unless they felt the risk that you’d take them out was worth the chance of eliminating you.”

When he put it that way... that was a lot. And it raised the question... “How many are after us? How many did Cloud send in the attack?”

“By the last estimate of our sensor before she died, about a thousand of them,” Itachi answered grimly. “They came in three waves. First was two hundred, then two waves of four. When we ran they were down to about six hundred. Given what you’ve told me, I would say closer to five, now.”

A thousand? That was... Probably close to five percent of their entire force. It was just further evidence that there was something going on. There was something special about Base 121 that I didn’t know about. Considering my team was sent there, I had to guess that Leaf didn’t know what was so special about it either.

“How many of us are left?” I asked, dread pooling in my stomach. If they sent that many... I had no idea how many of us were even left to run, and I was certain we lost some along the way. We’d started out with around two hundred, there couldn’t have been many of us left.

“About twenty of us,” he answered. I wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than I expected. Twenty versus five or six hundred?

I didn’t notice the panic creep up on me until Itachi knelt down and grabbed me by my shoulders, his fingers digging in painfully. His grip was all that kept me from collapsing.

“Sekai-kun, calm down. Panicking just makes it worse. We’ll get out of this. Do you understand me?”

“H-how?” I demanded, clenching my fists around the hem of my shorts. “We can’t fight off five hundred of them. No matter how good you are. We’re tired. It’s already been close to sixteen hours since the attack started and we’re exhausted and no one has come to help and—”

My head turned with the force of the slap to my face.

“Listen to me Sekai-kun. Breathe. It will be okay. We’re meeting reinforcements. Mist. They have a base a few kilometres off shore from the eastern coast of Hot Water. They’ll be lying in wait at the second rendezvous point, and there will be a group at the final check in to take anyone who can’t fight to their base. We’re not alone,” Itachi assured me, his voice warm and steady.

“We’re not alone...” I repeated. I took a deep breath. “Okay. I can do this. Just a few more hours of running until we get reinforcements, then a couple more until we can rest.”

“That’s right, Sekai-kun.” Itachi smiled and poked my forehead gently. “See? It’s all going to work out.”

“Right,” I agreed. “Sorry. I—I don’t know what came over me.”

He shook his head. “It’s a fair response. You’ve never been in a situation like this before, and things sounded pretty dire without knowing about our reinforcements.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have assumed none were coming.”

“That’s exactly what you should have assumed, actually,” he assured me. “If you haven’t been told reinforcements are coming you can’t assume they will be.”

“I shouldn’t have panicked though,” I argued. “I should have kept calm, I can’t afford to panic, it makes things worse, like you said.”

He sighed and sat back on the ground, gesturing for me to sit down across from him. I did so, and immediately began tapping my fingers across my knees restlessly.

“Stop being so hard on yourself.” He reached out and grabbed my hands, stilling them and rubbing his thumb across the back of them soothingly. “You received a lot of information at once, and you’re in a place where you have time to panic. I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t prepared for this reaction. Sekai-kun, this is a highly stressful situation that you were never meant to be in yet. You aren’t prepared for this and you weren’t expected to be.”

I nodded in acknowledgement, and sighed. I needed to get my mind off of this. While I wasn’t panicking anymore, I was still quite high strung. I needed to focus on something else. Something like...

“Do you have any ideas why Cloud is dedicating so many people to this attack, Itachi?” I asked, pulling my hands back. Itachi let them go easily. I returned to tapping my knee, though at a more sedate pace than previously. “I was under the impression the base wasn’t terribly relevant, that we weren’t doing anything particularly important.”

Itachi looked at me, assessing, then shook his head. “Nothing concrete, to be honest. You’re correct that the base itself wasn’t of great importance. It was established primarily as a rest stop and for observation of the area. It was not of any particular strategic value. We have dozens of similar bases across the continent.”

“So it’s not us. It’s them.”

“Almost certainly. We’re in their way, or they think we’re a danger to them. I’m uncertain why. If I had to guess...” he paused, bringing his hand to his chin. “The biggest hint is likely the way they’re going after your team. I’m not sure which of you has drawn their attention, but at least one of you has. Likely before the attack even began.”

I pressed my lips together. “But that would mean they knew who we were. That’s not common knowledge, Cloud shouldn’t know about us.”

“It’s not,” he agreed. “Even on base, it’s known that you’re a priority, but few know exactly how important you are or why. They believe the priority is because Aiko is a potential Yamanaka heir as the niece of the clan head, Sakura is Tsunade’s apprentice, and because you have some connection to me.”

“So it’s likely not because of what we’re intended to be. It’s who we are now,” I reasoned.

“Most likely. They may be able to determine that Sakura is intended to be Tsunade’s replacement, but that’s it. Of your team, her skills and role are the only one easily extrapolated. While some may know you are adept with seals, they wouldn’t know the significance of that. The only people on base who know of Aiko’s doujutsu are myself and your team. It’s possible they’re after Sakura. Her medical talents are prodigious, and they likely want to avoid her reaching her full potential. One Tsunade is bad enough, but two?”

“So you think it’s because of Sakura?” If I sounded skeptical it would be because I was. If that was why they were going after us, it still wouldn’t explain the attack on the base as a whole.

He shook his head. “No. It’s a possibility, but a slim one, and it doesn’t tie in to my theory that their motive for going after you and the attack in general are linked. Even if they take her out, they would just expect Tsunade to find a new apprentice. Sakura is already her second one. They’ll assume she’s replaceable.”

“So we rule that out. They’re not interested in Sakura,” I concluded. “What about me? Any reason they would want me in particular gone?”

Itachi considered me carefully and took his time to answer. “We can rule you out using the same logic as Sakura. The abilities you demonstrated in the field indicate you’re an Uzumaki, but that’s not really enough to go after you this hard, and that wouldn’t tie into a motive to attack the base.”

“Maybe there isn’t actually a connection,” I suggested.

“That’s possible,” he acknowledged with a tip of his head. “But my instincts tell me otherwise. They wouldn’t go after you so hard for anything else.”

“So Aiko,” I concluded, tapping my chin with a finger. “You said we’re not common knowledge, even on base. So how would outsiders know about us? How would they know about Aiko, or any of us, if they weren’t on base?”

“Yes, I believe we had a mole,” he said grimly. “I don’t know how else they could have made it past the bases defences to collapse it.”

“What was common knowledge about Aiko...?” I wondered out loud, preparing to brainstorm. “Her clan, for sure, including her relation to the head. And that comes with a bunch of implications about jutsu she could use. That she’s a priority of some sort...”

“Her position!” Itachi announced with a victorious smirk. “It wasn’t a secret she was assigned to intel on the base. She’s the last surviving member of intel.”

Oh. Oh. Yes. That made perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that sooner? “They assume she knows something. Or at the very least has the pieces.”

“I believe so.”

“But if they infiltrated us then this isn’t some sudden attack. It’s been planned for awhile,” I argued. “Surely any important intel would have been sent back to the village by now. And wouldn’t you know the intel as well? You’re third in command, right?”

Well, he was first now. The other two were dead.

“I don’t read all the intel reports, just a summary. There’s far too much to read all of it. It’s possible it wasn’t in the summary, and they were aware of that. And yes, any important intel would have been sent back as soon as possible. However if we didn’t realize it was important, it wouldn’t be. It’s too much of a risk to send messengers carrying intel back to the village too frequently,” he explained patiently. “We have to worry about them being followed and compromising the location of the base or worse, being intercepted. Instead we send an intel report to the village every seven to thirteen weeks. The next one was due to go out in three days.”

“So they knew when the intel report was going out and that it wasn’t in the summary. Who would know?”

“That’s what the timing of the attack would indicate. Intel division, myself, Commander Aoki, his second, Hayashi.”

I nodded. “So the infiltrator was one of them. I’m betting on Hayashi.”

Itachi tilted his head. “Why?”

“I figure you would have noticed if it was Aoki, and Aiko frequently used her doujutsu on her coworkers. She very likely would have noticed if someone was a spy.”

Itachi hummed thoughtfully, stroking his chin. “You’re possibly right. I think you might be, though I also think it’s possible Aiko missed something. She wouldn’t have read more than surface thoughts, it’s possible the infiltrator never thought about it around her. She’s a Yamanaka. Even without knowing about her doujutsu, infiltrators would guard their thoughts around her, just in case.

“However, I haven’t seen Aoki or Hayashi since the attack began. I assumed they died in the cave in, but now that I have time to think about it, Hayashi should have been on duty. He wouldn’t have been in an area affected by the cave in, and he would have known the defences...”

“Sounds suspicious.”

“Yes. I’ll be sure to report it once we’re back in the village, but at this point I’m more concerned with what they think Aiko may know.” Itachi ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. “I honestly can’t think of anything. Aiko will need to do a full debrief once we’re back in the village. They’ll be going over her memories with a fine tooth comb... Possibly any survivors, so prepare yourself for that.”

Ah, so Itachi didn’t know I was immune. They wouldn’t get anything helpful from my memories, so I doubt they would bother. I decided not to mention that to Itachi, and just nodded in acknowledgement.

“She may not actually know anything,” I frowned. “Intel was treating her like a regular chuunin, they ignored her clearance level.”

Itachi frowned. “They shouldn’t have done that. Why didn’t you bring this to my attention?”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at him. “Everyone was treating us with kid gloves, we thought it was more of the same. I didn’t want to be seen running to you with all my problems, everyone already thought I was your favourite. Taicho’s pet.”

“Next time tell me,” he ordered. “Still, she may know more than you think, or even more than she thinks.”

“We can hope,” I muttered.

“The fact that we don’t know why they’re doing this indicates that we had something but didn’t know it. If they didn't think it was important, then they wouldn't have classified it beyond her access. Chances of Aiko knowing something are actually pretty high,” he argued, and I had to admit he had a good point.

“Alright, new plan,” he declared, changing tracks. “The others can set the explosives. I’ll be joining your group until until we meet our reinforcements from Mist. You’ve been doing well on your own, but I’d rather be on hand to protect your team. I initially believed you’d be less of a target without me, but I was wrong.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “What happens when we reach the rendezvous point?”

Itachi hesitated. “That’s up to you. You and your team can continue on until you reach the Mist base, or... you can let the others go ahead without you. We fought well together before, I would appreciate having someone I’m familiar with to watch my back. I would encourage you to consider your own well being first and foremost. I’m certain your team will be fine without you, but I don’t want you staying if you aren’t up to it. You’ve already taken a lot of soldier pills.”

I pressed my lips together while I thought about it. Obviously Aiko couldn’t afford to stay and fight, she was too valuable for that now. Sakura was better off going back to the base and resting so she could heal the survivors once things were over. But there was no reason I need to go to the base over fighting besides resting and a higher chance of survival.

The fact that Itachi was asking me to stay and work with him... it meant he thought I’d be useful and that he was confident he could keep me alive. I didn’t need to be too concerned with my survival.

“If I get injured or tired, is there a chance to get to the base before the fighting ends?” I asked.

“Yes. As long as we can safely disengage, there will be someone who can lead us to the base.”

“How much do you need me?” I asked. “Be honest.”

“I will get by without you, but I would strongly prefer your presence. I believe I may need to use Amaterasu again, and I’d rather not fall unconscious without someone I trust present.”

I took a deep breath and made my decision. “Okay. I’ll stay.”

He looked relieved. “Thank you. Let me know if that changes. I won’t hold it against you.”

I nodded. “Anything else we need to discuss?”

He shook his head. “No, just pass your explosives to the others so they can set them as soon as I end the genjutsu.”

“Okay.”

The genjutsu broke. Barely a heartbeat had passed.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“It’s only fitting for legends to have grand beginnings.”

-x-

“I understand she’s your student, Kushina, but she’s upsetting your son. He thinks you’re replacing him!” Minato bellowed, looming behind Kushina as she stirred a pot far too aggressively. Liquid splashed out of the pot with her harsh movements, but she didn’t care.

“It’s hardly her fault, Minato! She deserves to have people who love her! Naruto is just jealous—like Kakashi was when he was born. He needs to learn to get over it!” she hissed furiously.

“It’s not just jealousy, Kushina! You never spend any time alone with him anymore—she’s always there, and you take her side whenever they argue. The way Naruto sees it, you didn’t have time for him before, always busy with R&D work or running missions, but then out of the blue you make time for a complete stranger. He sees you treat her like a daughter, Kushina, but doesn’t feel you treat him as your son. You punish him for causing problems, even when it’s Sekai who starts them! And he’s not wrong, Kushina You prioritize her over your own flesh and blood!”

“It’s not like I have a choice! It’s part of my fucking job!” Kushina screeched, slamming a second pot down on the stove and violently turning on the burner. “At least since I started teaching I’m actually around more, even if Sekai is here too.”

“You don’t have to invite her over all the time!” Minato insisted.

Kushina glared at him. “I told you, I don’t have a choice! I’m—I can’t... You think I don’t know how my son feels? You think I don’t know how inadequate she makes him feel? Like he’s not good enough? Like I’d rather have her? Well I know how he feels, Minato! I’m not blind! And I don’t like it, either!”

“Then why the fuck do you do it!?”

“Orders, Minato! I’m under orders!” she snapped, then took a deep breath and deflated, the fight leaving her.

Minato recoiled a bit, not expecting that response. “What do you mean by that?” he asked quietly.

“She... Sekai is a coerced recruit, Minato. And she’s smart enough to figure it out if we’re not careful. And if she does—or more realistically, when she does... She won’t be happy. We need to make sure that won’t drive her away.”

Minato ran a hand through his hair. “...I didn’t realize. But that’s—”

“I wasn’t done, Minato, Kushina interrupted her husband. “Like I said, she’s a coerced recruit. They wanted her. Badly. I don’t know how or when she caught anyone’s attention, but she did. I don’t know who either. They have high expectations for her. They’ve been watching her for longer than I like to think about.”

“Is that what happened—” Minato began, voice barely above a whisper, but Kushina cut him off.

“Don’t. You know better.” Her voice was firm, scolding, but just as quiet. Even being who they were, it wasn’t something they should talk about. At least not in the kitchen where anyone could walk in. She was already stretching it by discussing Sekai’s status. Louder, she continued her previous train of thought. “She has no close ties, Minato. She has no family in the village, and almost no friends, besides a dying old woman and maybe her teammates. There’s nothing tying her to the village.”

Understanding dawned on her husband’s face. “...You’re trying to create those ties. Her loyalty to Hidden Leaf is questionable at best. You’re ordered to ensure it. By bringing her into the family.”

Kushina nodded sadly. “It’s not her fault. She’s a sweet girl, Minato. In her own way. I do genuinely care about her. But Naruto’s jealousy is making it hard for her to really bond with us...”

“What you’re doing isn’t working. You need to handle Naruto or this won’t work.”

“I don’t know how. God, what kind of mother am I? I don’t even know how to fix things with my son.” Kushina buried her head in her husband’s shoulder, choking back a sob. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

“I’ll help you. With both of them,” he promised.

-x-

Twenty Two

Just over twenty minutes after we departed with Itachi, the explosive tags went off and set the forest aflame. We were probably a good fifteen kilometres away by that time, and well out of the quarter of a kilometre blast radius of the tags.

Leaf had few interests in Hot Water Country, so we didn’t have to worry about serious political ramifications. Cloud, on the other hand, received a lot of their lumber from Hot Water County’s forests and the two countries had much closer ties between their Daimyo. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of the Cloud forces stopped to put out the fires.

Furthermore, the blast was far enough from any towns or villages that they wouldn’t be damaged in the initial explosion, but they were in danger if the fires didn’t get under control. We may be the ones responsible for the actual explosion and fires, but as participants in the conflict with a positive relationship to Hot Water, Cloud would face a lot of ire if they didn’t clean up the mess when they could.

Hopefully they decided appeasing Hot Water was more important than killing us. And hopefully at least a few of them got caught in the initial explosion.

As Itachi predicted, we arrived at the second rendezvous point around midnight, by which point everyone else had been told about Mist’s aid. Despite his insistence on accompanying my team, we made it without any further enemy encounters.

This rendezvous point was not near one of the country’s large lakes, but instead a much smaller one that didn’t make it onto maps and that I didn’t know the name of. There was a forest line on one side, the lake on the other, and a good bit of open space in between. I supposed he proximity to the lake made sense, given Mist’s affinity for water ninjutsu. Having a water source nearby was certainly an asset.

The darkness of the night was the perfect contrast to the burning horizon behind us. I wasn’t actually sure if the continued burning was because Cloud didn’t care enough to do damage control, or if it was because even with water ninjutsu and a nearby lake, a forest fire was difficult to put out.

I couldn’t help but feel a shiver go down my spine when we stopped. Though the distant fire gave more illumination than there would be otherwise, it was dark and difficult to see more than a few metres ahead. Yet I felt like I was being watched, despite not being able to detect anyone. Based on what Itachi said, I was fairly certain there were Mist ninja hiding in the area, well aware of out presence.

“The Great Fire has come. How many Flames have passed before us?” Itachi said, seemingly to no one. I had to bite back a snort. Was that some sort of code phrase? It sounded fucking stupid, and was pretty obvious what it meant. Then again, it was almost certainly the phrasing that mattered. If someone went hey, I’m the dude in charge. How many other Leaf ninja have made it? I didn’t think they’d get a friendly response.

A deep, seemingly disembodied voice responded. It sounded like it was coming from every direction at once. “The Largest Ocean welcomes you. Two Undiminished Flames have joined the Waves.”

So two other intact groups had made it. Largest Ocean probably meant the guy speaking was the one in charge of the Mist contingent. Joined the Waves probably meant they were present. God, the whole thing sounded so fucking pretentious. Like something out of a bad spy novel.

Itachi seemed to lose some tension. Perhaps he had been worried about the other groups, or perhaps he was relieved to hear the code he expected.

He turned to me, his expression solemn. “Will you be staying or going, Sekai-kun?”

Aiko and Sakura tensed. They were unaware that I may not be continuing on to safety with them. I met Aiko’s eyes and apologized, explaining that she and Sakura could not stay, but I would be. She pursed her lips, but nodded. She grabbed Sakura’s hand to assure her that this was okay.

I turned to face Itachi, meeting his crimson eyes. “Staying.”

“Very well. Sekai-kun and I will be staying. Can two of you accompany the other four from here on?” he requested, seemingly to no one.

Instead of a disembodied voice answering again, a man appeared as if from nowhere. He was tall, with bandages covering the lower part of his face, much like Kakashi-sanpai’s mask, and had a massive sword strapped to his back. He seemed vaguely familiar, like I may have seen him before, but I wasn’t sure where. I’d never met a Mist ninja before, despite our rather close alliance.

“This the priority?” he asked, eyeing Sakura and Aiko.

“That’s right, Momochi-san,” Itachi said, but shifted his gaze towards me as well. Momochi followed it, and raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

“Understood. I can spare Seki and Hashitaka,” As if summoned by their names, two other ninja emerged from the darkness. Both male, seeming to be in their early twenties. He turned to them. “Escort them. Keep them safe, or it’s on your head, understand?”

“Yes, Zabuza-sama,” They chorused, then turned to the others. “If you’re ready, we shall proceed immediately.”

Ah, Momochi Zabuza. I hadn’t paid quite as much attention to foreign sections, but he’d been in several of the old bingo books I’d looked through.

Everyone turned to Itachi, who nodded his approval. Without further ado, they immediately took their leave.

“Haku,” Zabuza called, and a fourth Mist ninja appeared. This one was quite young, perhaps mid-teens, and incredibly pretty. Probably the prettiest person I’d ever seen. That was seriously saying something considering I spent so much time with some of the Uchiha clan’s finest. The boy didn’t speak, just waited patiently for Zabuza to continue. “I’m assigning you to these two, unless you have any objections, Uchiha?”

Itachi stared at the boy, head tilted, considering. He lingered on the boy’s forehead protector, or perhaps more accurately the pin on it. Red. I wasn’t actually sure if Mist used the same system, but if they did, this boy was an elite jounin. Considering that we were in a fairly strong alliance and it was information that would be helpful when interacting with each other, I was going to assume it was a joint system.

For this boy to be an elite jounin at such a young age meant he was very likely just as prodigious as Itachi. From my understanding, Zabuza was not assigning him to follow our orders. No, if that was what he meant he would have said he was assigning the boy to Itachi. He wouldn’t assign a jounin to obey a chuunin. What Zabuza meant was that he was assigning him to protect us, or more likely, me. That meant Zabuza, that Mist was taking my value seriously.

While it was good in the sense that it meant I was going to be protected, it was a bit concerning for Mist to know I was valuable at this point.

With our alliance strong and necessary, it was fine. But in the future? Once the war is over? There would be no telling what could happen. The fact that I was valuable now, while still mostly anonymous and untested, said my worth wasn’t in my fighting capabilities. That indicated my value would last beyond the war.

While it wasn’t exactly top secret on the level that Aiko’s doujutsu was, it wasn’t common knowledge that Kushina-sensei was the village’s Seal Master, despite her wide renown across the nations. In fact, most Leaf nin seemed to think Minato-san was. (Likely because he was often the one sent to do the “don’t mess with seals” talk when required, which was more often than I had expected given how few seal makers get recruited. Perhaps he was a bit too good at that speech.) My eventual status as village Seal Master would similarly be kept fairly quiet. Seal masters were incredibly valuable on their own, but the village Seal Master (with a capital ‘M’) was privy to many of the village’s secrets and defences.

Hopefully, Mist would not deduce my exact importance, but if (or more likely, when) I used my chains that would be a big hint.

The case of Aiko and Sakura was a bit different than mine. Aiko’s clear clan affiliation was enough to explain her value to some extent. Her position as second in line to inherit headship was enough for her to be important, we could give them that if they didn't already realize it. Perhaps Mist would wonder if there was anything else to it, but they were more likely to conclude that Aiko was actually first in line and the other heir was a decoy than that Aiko was developing a bloodline limit. Itachi would probably share that she may have knowledge Cloud was trying desperately to cover up in order to spare her further scrutiny on that matter. A clan heir with valuable information would be the perfect explanation for making her a priority.

Meanwhile, Sakura was a medic. Those were valuable in general, though perhaps not quite valuable enough to justify further escort. On the other hand, Sakura was advancing quickly and soon there would be no hiding her connection to Tsunade. Having Mist find out a year or two early wasn’t concerning.

Eventually, Itachi nodded at the boy. “As long as he’s willing to cooperate, that is acceptable.”

“Of course, Uchiha-san,” the boy said politely. “You will have my full cooperation.”

(Haku, the boy’s name was Haku. I was trying to be better about names, and this was a boy who had just been ordered to protect me. Remembering was the least I could do.)

I waved at Haku, feeling awkward and uncertain. I wasn’t actually familiar with proper protocol for interacting with foreign allies and I didn’t want to mess up like I did with the commander on base and cause an international incident.

Zabuza snorted, but Haku smiled kindly, and wow. If I thought he was pretty before, he was absolutely otherworldly when he smiled. Thank god I wasn’t a teenager yet, because if I had to deal with Haku and hormones that would not be pretty.

-x-

After we concluded our discussion of any important matters the Mist nin returned to their hiding places and Itachi and I made use of our own stealth skills while we laid in wait for Cloud’s forces or the last group of Leaf nin.

(The last group did not arrive.)

The first Cloud group arrived twenty minutes later. Since this was where we wanted them, we would have to draw their attention here. That meant we needed something big, something flashy.

Fire (and consequently explosives) were a bad idea. We didn’t want to start another forest fire, because that could get out of hand very quickly and force us to leave the area, which was chosen for the tactical advantage of the nearby water source.

Water was no good either. We had plenty, but it wouldn’t draw attention. Ditto earth and wind.

Lightning, on the other hand, was perfect for several reasons. The illumination would draw attention and while Cloud ninja were hardly the only ones skilled with lightning ninjutsu, it wouldn’t be wise for a Leaf nin to use something so attention grabbing when fleeing. It would very likely be taken as a sign that a Cloud team had finally caught up with us and summon more of them our way.

We wanted as many of them drawn here as possible to keep those who went on ahead safe and the location of the Mist base a secret. There were cells of Mist nin lying in wait between here and the final location Itachi had signalled. Each cell was adept at Mist’s silent killing technique. They would pick off anyone who got too close before they even knew what was happening. For this to work though, it required that we didn’t let too many get past us.

Itachi made the opening move. We didn’t want them to realize that we had joined up with allies quite yet. The Mist nin needed to remain hidden for just a little while longer. Similarly, too many Leaf nin in one area was suspicious. For now the others hid as well.

He darted towards the four Cloud nin, fingers twisting through hand signs faster than the unenhanced eye could see. Once he was right in front of them he unleashed the jutsu.

“Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder.” A wave of lightning seemed to explode from his hand, crashing into them. They screamed in pain, but were quickly silenced by the slash of a kunai to the throat, courtesy of yours truly.

I couldn’t help but smirk at the way Itachi announced the jutsu. It was completely unnecessary. All it did was tell the victims what was coming when it was too late for them to do anything about it. A flex, if you will, that he had stolen one of Cloud’s prized lightning ninjutsu, very likely only hours earlier. This whole thing only served to make Itachi stronger.

Hopefully, the large lightning jutsu and their screams attracted the attention we needed.

I released two chains from my back, which glowed in the darkness. Itachi and I ran around the area, not bothering to try and be quiet. The noise and light of my chains would help draw people to us. It would let them know someone was still here.

It wasn’t long before another team arrived. This one we played with. We didn’t go for the immediate kill, we let them make some noise, but kept them too busy to signal an ambush if they caught on to what was happening. They were still unaware of Mist’s presence and the other Cloud nin being dead didn’t necessarily mean anything other than that Itachi and I had ultimately over powered them. But if they looked closely and realized that the corpses of their comrades showed that they were the victims of lightning release, not the users, they might realize something was off. It was best to keep them busy.

A third team arrived shortly after, and that’s when we turned up the heat again. Itachi used a simple but eye catching lightning ninjutsu to take down one of his opponents.

I started targeting them with genjutsu, catching them one by one and slaughtering them until none were left.

A fourth and fifth team arrived at nearly the same time. They recoiled at the number of bodies strewn about the area, looking towards Itachi and me with fear evident in their expression.

One of them ran through a series of hand signs, and I tensed, ready to move at a moments notice, but all it did was release a massive burst of light. It burned my eyes and I was forced to snap them shut. I brought up my chains and spiralled them around myself protectively.

Was Itachi okay? His eyes were a valuable weapon. I wasn’t sure if this could mess with his sharingan or not.

The light dimmed, and I hesitantly opened my eyes. I had to blink away the bright dots dancing across my vision as my eyes adjusted. I felt someone come close and leapt away, unsure if it was an ally or enemy.

It was another few seconds before my vision returned to normal, and I saw that it was was just Itachi. He still had his sharingan activated, but continued to blink rapidly for several more seconds.

While the jutsu could very well have been an attack designed to target Itachi’s doujutsu, it was also undoubtedly a signal.

Both teams of Cloud nin, however, had perished during my distraction. Though our friends from Mist had not emerged from hiding, the icy senbon littering the bodies was evidence that they had acted to protect us while we were disabled.

“You okay?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“Yes, it just took a moment,” Itachi assured me. He had stopped blinking so much.

We ran out of time to talk when the next wave of foes arrived. This time it wasn’t just a pursuit team or two. It was at least a hundred of them, all at once.

My lips twitched in excitement. It was time for the tide of this battle to turn in our favour.

-x-

The expression on their faces once they realized we had reinforcements was priceless.

They charged at the two of us, but before the could reach us two thin but nearly unbreakable sheets of ice appeared before us, halting their attacks. Haku emerged from one of the sheets and charged the shocked Cloud nin. His finger tips were glowing with chakra, and each blow that he landed left the skin it made contact with black. Frost bite.

A second, smaller boy leapt out of the second sheet with some sort of short sword made from ice in hand. He was a viscous thing, going right for the neck of anyone in front of him. Like Haku’s taijutsu, this boy’s sword left blackened skin on contact.

Meanwhile I leapt back and began casting genjutsu. I was using a simple modification of the usual blinding genjutsu to give the targets severe tunnel vision. Coupled with the darkness of the night it would greatly limit their vision without being too obvious.

Itachi stayed close to me, but out of the way of my chains. His eyes were spinning, indicating that he was casting genjutsu even as he darted around, stabbing and slashing at eyes, throats, and other soft spots with a kunai.

There was a tug on my chain and I turned my attention to the man who had grabbed hold of the end of it. He grinned and tried to wrap it around his arm. I held back a smirk and let him. I knew what he was about to do and I’d been waiting for someone to try. Lighting crackled around his free arm. He grabbed hold of the chain with that arm as well and tried to channel it along the chain, but the lightning fizzled out on contact.

He gaped, unable to comprehend that his masterful plan had failed and I used the opportunity to stab him through the heart with my free chain and then hurl his body across the battlefield. He crashed into one of his allies who was in the middle of casting a jutsu, disrupting it and creating an opening for a Mist nin to tear the man apart.

Kushina-sensei had told me to expect this tactic and had gleefully explained why it would never work. My chains were so hyper saturated with my chakra that they destabilized foreign chakra that came into contact with them, including most elemental ninjutsu.

Of course, it only worked for the area that was actually in contact with the jutsu. If I tried to block a great fireball with my chains, it wouldn’t stop the whole jutsu, the portion of the fireball that didn’t touch my chains would continue on unhindered, likely turning a single large fire ball into two smaller ones on either side.

Still, it prevented people from using my chains against me, and that was the most important thing.

I reached out with my chain and grabbed a woman who tried to attack Itachi from behind. I wrapped it around her neck and pulled it in as tight as I could. Her head popped off like a barbie doll.

Behind me I felt a cold breeze and then heard the clang of metal on what I suspected was ice. Turning slightly, I saw that while I had Itachi’s back, Haku had mine. His entire left arm was encased in hard ice and he was using it to deflect the attack of a swordsman with well practised ease.

I nodded at him in gratitude and got back to business.

-x-

As the battle raged on, I got a better understanding of how many reinforcements had come to our aid, and was shocked at how few there actually were, because despite there only being about sixty or seventy of them on hand, they completely changed the tide of the battle.

Haku and the other Ice Boy were absolutely deadly. Haku left me with no doubt that he was an elite jounin, and though likely closer in age to me than Haku, Ice Boy was nearly as talented. I hadn’t been able to see his pin, but if it wasn’t red I would put good money on him getting one soon.

Both used their bloodline as if it came as easy as breathing. They managed their most basic jutsu without a single hand sign and frequently made use of half signs for more complex ones. There were thin, door sized sheets of ice scattered across the area, and their ability to merge with the ice and travel between the sheets in the blink of an eye reminded me of Minato-san’s famed Hiraishin. While the ice jutsu was far more limited, in such close quarters the effect was certainly comparable.

Zabuza was an absolute tyrant. Seeing him fight brought the details of old his bingo book entry to the forefront of my mind. S-rank. The Demon of the Bloody Mist. One of Mist’s famed Seven Swordsmen. Allies avoided him, refusing to get within more than a couple meters of him lest they get cut down by his sword. He could lift that massive thing and swing it like it was nothing more than a kunai.

He alternated between using his sword and a wealth of close range water ninjutsu I couldn’t name. At one point I saw him grab someone’s face, and shove water down the woman’s throat, into her lungs, drowning her on land with only a litre of water. He released her long before she actually died—death from drowning was not as quick as one would think. When he let go she collapsed, flailing, desperately trying to hack up the water in her lungs but unable to do so.

He’d done it effortlessly, like it was no more work than just grabbing her face.

He wasn’t the only one using water jutsu though. The entire battle field was covered in a thin layer of water, excess from the countless ninjutsu the other Mist nin used. The grass squelched under my sandals with each step.

And Itachi—I had no words. I hadn’t been able to pay attention to him when we were fighting back at the base. I was too focused on Aiko and Sakura and living. But now, fighting side by side, I got a front row seat to just how absolutely dangerous this man was.

Even as hours passed and the night wore on, Itachi didn’t have a single scratch on him. Some dust and dirt? Yes. Injuries? No. A combination of his fantastic speed and the predictive abilities of the sharingan, I was sure.

He ensnared them in genjutsu that left them screaming—in pain or terror I couldn’t say—and unable to move. He was in no hurry to finish them off. They had no chance of breaking out of the genjutsu, there was little point when there were bigger fish to fry and he knew I’d get to taking care of them for him.

He tossed around S-rank genjutsu with more ease than I could cast D- or C-ranks. I couldn’t help but be envious of his skill. His doujutsu admittedly eased his way, and it would be far more difficult for me to ever reach his level.

Once or twice I was pretty sure I saw someone meet his eyes and almost instantly drop dead. A genjutsu to trick the brain into believing the heart did not need to beat. The absolute pinnacle of genjutsu. Even with his doujutsu that was no easy feat.

I wondered how he decided who to use it on. It was draining from what he and Shisui had told me, and it was something they had only recently achieved. Did he use it on people that he needed to take out quickly? Or did he select the targets based on who he thought would be most vulnerable? Perhaps a combination of both. I would have to ask him later.

Uchiha Itachi was the sort of ninja who didn’t waste time or chakra on flashy ninjutsu when it wasn’t absolutely necessary. All he needed were his eyes and a kunai and he was more dangerous than Haku with his ice or Zabuza with his sword.

On this battlefield I couldn’t help but compare myself to the three of them and come up lacking. I was competent well beyond what would be expected of someone my age and I knew I would only get better with time. Yet I felt so small and insignificant. Practically powerless. Why did someone like Uchiha Itachi ask me to stay and watch his back?

Fighting alongside these utter legends was probably one of the most motivating experiences of my (admittedly short) life. I cast genjutsu after genjutsu. I grabbed people with my chains, threw them, tripped them, stabbed them, ripped their heads off.

By the time Cloud began their retreat I’d popped three more soldier pills and supplements.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“It always happens just when you think you can rest.”

-x-

“Hello, Hanako-nee-san,” Junichi said as he entered her room. He sat down in the chair at her bedside. “How have you been?”

“As well as can be expected,” Hanako replied. “I’m tired. I grow weaker by the day. I don’t think I can work much longer.”

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to. I’ll take care of things,” Junichi promised, taking her hand and running his thumb along the back of it. “Has Sekai-chan visited you recently?”

Hanako finally smiled. Asking about Sekai always brought a smile to her face. “Yes, just the other day. She’s been making an effort lately.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I think she knows I’ve been running out of time. I wish I didn’t have to leave her. The poor girl, she’s been through so much already.” Hanako paused to take a shuddering breath. “I wish I could have done more for her. I wish I didn’t have to—”

Junichi cut her off with a shushing sound. He reached out and tucked a wisp of silver hair behind his big sister’s ear. “You don’t need to worry about her.”

Hanako closed her eyes. “I can’t help it.”

Junichi decided to change the topic for now. “Let me tell you what my wife got up to yesterday.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, she and my son—”

“Stop. I don’t want to hear about him.”

Junichi flinched. Right. How could he forget? “I’m sorry. How about I tell you about the time...”

-x-

Twenty Three

I barely remembered the trip to Mist’s base. This time no one carried me, instead I ran side by side with Itachi and a woman I recognized from the barracks but did not know the name of. The three of us were the only Leaf survivors. Assuming Aiko, Sakura, and the other two made it to the Mist base safely, it meant that from over two hundred of us, there were only seven survivors from the initial attack.

Cloud had come incredibly close to achieving their goal of completely annihilating us.

Mist was doing much better by comparison. They were in far better condition when they joined the fight, and they suffered perhaps a dozen deaths, though a good half of the Mist survivors were returning with not insignificant injuries.

Which circled around to why no one was able to carry me despite the fact that I could barely keep up, even at our relatively slow pace. Itachi and the woman from the barracks were too tired to do it. The Mist nin were either too injured to carry me or carrying someone too injured to travel on their own.

Or they were carrying one of our six prisoners.

There were five men and a woman. Two jounin, three special jounin, and a chuunin from what I’d gathered. I wasn’t sure how or why they were selected as prisoners over their comrades. Perhaps it was based on rank. It could have been about who they were related to. Maybe it was based on who was easiest to capture. It could be a combination of those factors, or it could be something else entirely.

There was no real concern of them escaping before we got to the base or getting free and attacking us. Itachi had placed each of them under S-ranked genjutsu. Their chances of breaking out were practically nonexistent, but just to be safe all their weapons were taken and they were restrained. Someone from Mist had injected them with a chakra inhibitor as well, similar to the one that had been used on my team back in Earth Country.

The base was located on and spanned the entirety of an incredibly small island about twenty kilometres off of Hot Water’s north-eastern coast. I suspected the island was man made by Mist specifically for this base.

We arrived well after sunrise. Since the three of us from Leaf were exhausted rather than seriously injured, they took us to some sort of office and had us fill out a bunch of paper work under the scrutiny of several fresh faced Mist nin. By the time I was done I was so tired I didn’t even remember what the paperwork was for, only that Itachi had needed to help me fill it out properly and ensure I didn’t say something I wasn’t supposed to. Once it was done they gave me a green bracelet and told me I needed to wear it at all times while on the base. Itachi and the woman, who was named Kaori, got matching bracelets of their own.

I was also instructed that I was expected to wear my forehead protector with rank pin visible whenever I was moving around the base. I was permitted to remove it for sleeping, bathing, and if I was in the infirmary, but it had to be close by and on display. I was given a run down of which areas I was allowed free access to, which amounted to the mess hall, the barracks I would be assigned to, and the corridors between the two. Anywhere else, I needed explicit permission and/or an escort.

Once the bureaucracy was taken care the three of us were escorted to the infirmary, where Sakura was waiting for us at the entrance. It had only been about nine hours since I’d seen her, but I felt like it had been years. She looked tired, but more rested than the last time I saw her. She probably caught a few hours of sleep and had something to eat.

Mist graciously allowed Sakura an entire room in the infirmary to care for us. There were two beds and three chairs crowded into the room, leaving barely any space for Sakura to work. One bed was occupied by the second medic who was unconscious and had an IV hooked up to his arm. His forehead protector and rank pin were prominently displayed above the bed. The other bed was empty, but Aiko and my valiant steed were dozing in two of the chairs. They woke briefly when we entered, but once ascertaining that they were still safe they returned to their slumber. I wasn’t sure Aiko really processed that I was here.

We would have no medical privacy from each other here, but at least we had it from Mist. That was better than nothing, even if I’m sure all of us would prefer the kind of privacy we got back in the village or even on a Leaf base.

Sakura directed the three of us to all sit on the empty bed. We sat practically squished side to side, my legs dangling freely over the edge while theirs reached the floor proper. She summoned green chakra to her hands and did a quick diagnostic on each of us.

Kaori was mostly fine. Exhaustion and soldier pill overdose. Sakura prescribed rest and food, and forbade her from using chakra for the next few days. The woman had a few gashes and bruises that Sakura promised to properly treat later, but for the moment she roused Aiko and directed her to clean and bandage the cuts.

Aiko grumbled at being woken but did as directed even though she seemed half asleep. Tsunade-sensei had mercilessly drilled first aid and proper wound care into the two of us even if we weren’t actual medical ninja. While neither of us could perform any medical ninjutsu and weren’t experts by any means, we were well suited to assisting Sakura with basic tasks and triage.

Itachi received similar diagnosis and directions, though he was distinctly lacking in battle wounds.

Since it seemed he wasn’t going to mention it, I told Sakura about that blinding light Cloud had used and how Itachi had his sharingan active for it. She frowned and admonished Itachi for not mentioning it sooner. She requested permission to check his eyes, to which he reluctantly agreed. She spent a good ten minutes on them before she was satisfied, though she told him to follow up with her sometime in the next five days. With his medical assessment finished, Sakura directed him to take a seat in one of the empty chairs.

Since I had taken the supplements, I didn’t get off nearly as easily as the other two did. On top of that, I had some minor damage to my hearing and apparently had a cracked rib. Sakura was distinctly unhappy with my lack of awareness, but given how badly my chakra coils stung and burned, she had to admit she wasn’t surprised that most other pain seemed minor to me. She gave my eyes a quick check as well before declaring them to be fine.

As soon as Aiko was finished caring for Kaori’s wounds, the older woman was kicked off the bed. Aiko graciously let her have the remaining chair and found a spot on the floor to curl up in.

Sakura directed me to lie down on the bed and brought a glowing hand to my temple, knocking me out.

-x-

When I woke up the room was considerably emptier. The other bed was still occupied by the other medic, but he was awake and no longer connected to the drip. Two of the chairs had been removed, and the one that remained was right next to my bed, unsurprisingly occupied by Aiko.

“Sekai!” she exclaimed, beaming in excitement at seeing me awake. “Stay here, I’ll go get Sakura.” She was gone before I could respond.

“Do you know how long I’ve been out?” I asked the man in the other bed. I really needed to learn his name, but no one had ever said it. Might as well ask. “...What’s your name?”

The corners of the man’s lips tugged up in a small smile. “Hara Satoshi, thanks for asking,” he said dryly. “You’ve been out for about three days.”

It was only my natural stoicism that prevented me from blushing. I was quite certain he was indicating he was aware I typically didn’t bother learning other people’s names. However even if I never saw him again, he was one of the reasons I was still alive. I probably owed it to him to learn and remember his. I repeated it to myself several times in my head in an effort to remember.

“Three days, huh?” I murmured to myself. That wasn’t too surprising. My chakra coils still stung a bit from all the overproduction, but they felt a lot better. I was out long enough for them to start to recover, but not entirely.

“I was out for a bout a day and a half,” Satoshi offered. “My coils are almost recovered. Sakura-sama said that ordinarily she would have released me, but given the circumstances she’d prefer to have me here with you, even if I’m not in top form.”

My lips curled into the slightest of smiles. Sakura-sama, huh? That was certainly new. I’d never heard someone refer to her that way before. Sakura must have really impressed Satoshi at some point.

“How is she?” I asked him. It hadn’t occurred to me when I first came in, but Sakura had taken several soldier pills herself. She may have had a chance to rest between treating her group and mine, but it wasn’t long enough for her coils to recover.

Satoshi seemed to know exactly what I was worried about. “From what I know she hasn’t used chakra since she finished with you. According to Aiko-san she’s been taking it easy and resting.”

It was then that Aiko returned with a freshly woken Sakura in tow. I could tell by the scowl on her face and her unbrushed hair.

“Good to see you’re awake,” she said as she examined me. “A little sooner than expected, but not to a worrying degree... You should be able to eat just fine, but no chakra for at least another two days do you understand?”

I nodded obediently.

“I’m serious, Sekai. The supplements prevent the pills from consuming your body, but they don’t protect your chakra coils. They’ll need as long to recover from a dozen soldier pills as usual,” she emphasized.

And yeah, she was probably right to remind me of that. While it hadn’t quite been a dozen solider pills, it wasn’t far off, and I hadn’t been thinking of my chakra coils when I was downing the pills. I really should have been more conservative of my chakra during the last battle. I could have made it without any if I hadn’t pushed myself trying to keep up with the likes of Itachi and Haku. They weren’t necessary to stay alive like the ones I’d taken earlier were.

I wasn’t going to tell Sakura that, though. She’d be furious.

-x-

It was two days later that I was finally released from the infirmary and directed to the barracks.

Unlike the Leaf bases I’d been to, Mist apparently gave their ninja some semblance of privacy. Instead of two large rooms separated into male and female barracks, Mist had dozens of smaller ones designed to fit six people each. All seven of us from Leaf were shoved into one of them. Sakura and Aiko played rock paper scissors to determine who would be sharing a bed with me. Sakura lost, but argued her way into switching off every other night.

No one was sure how long we would be staying, but Itachi was frequently in meetings. I wasn’t sure what they were meeting about, but he frequently came back with an air of frustration surrounding him so I had a feeling they weren’t as productive as would like. Perhaps they were arguing about something?

The rest of us mostly stayed in our room, occasionally wandering to the mess hall for a meal. Haku and Ice Boy, who I learned was his younger brother Yuzuru, frequently say with us while we ate. They were both friendly and kind, but it felt weird talking to them, so I finished my meals as quickly as I could.

During our down time I learned the big guy’s name was Kumasaka Bou. I made sure to thank him for carrying me, but he just waved it off. Apparently he was a taijutsu expert with few if any ranged skills and if he wasn’t carrying me he felt he wouldn’t have been contributing much to the group. It frustrated me that he didn’t accept my gratitude when he’d been stuck with a role that many would feel demeaning, but I let it go. He knew I was grateful, that was all that mattered.

I also discovered that Kaori was from the Kojima clan and distantly related to Kairi-sensei. She and Aiko had met a few times.

We were careful not to discuss anything of importance out loud in case Mist was listening. One night when I was sharing a bed with Aiko, I told her what Itachi and I had deduced about the attack via her bloodline. She wasn’t able to respond verbally, but given her expression and solemn nod I knew she was already running through everything she’d seen while working intel on base.

We spent a week like that. After quietly consulting Itachi, he gave me permission to work on my math in our room. I got the impression that he would have preferred it if I didn’t, but he knew I needed a distraction. Without it I doubt I would have been able to keep putting what happened to Pinky-taicho and who knew how many others into my mental “deal with it later” box, and processing that was not something that was safe to do until we were back in the village.

Though the actual weight of the seal slip was negligible, I couldn’t help but feel like it was weighing me down from where I kept it in my weapons pouch.

-x-

On our thirteenth day at the Mist base Itachi brought Aiko with him when he left. She returned with him later that night looking exhausted. Despite our curiosity, Sakura and I knew better than to ask.

The day after that he took me and Sakura, too. Haku met us outside of our room and escorted the four of us through a labyrinth of corridors that I did my best to memorize.

He stopped outside a door and knocked. It was promptly answered by someone I vaguely recognized from when I did all that paperwork. The man stood aside and gestured for us to come in. The door closed behind us, leaving Haku outside.

The room appeared to be some sort of conference room. The walls were plain white without any decoration and the only furniture was a large table and a dozen or so chairs surrounding it.

Three people were already sitting at the table, two women and a man, and the rest of us joined them, bringing the total to eight. Four for Mist, four for Leaf.

A woman with light blue hair scoffed, drawing our attention. “Really? This is the rest of your interrogation team? No.”

I stilled, resisting the urge to grab my knees. I couldn’t afford to do that in front of these people, no matter how anxious I was at the prospect of doing an interrogation again. We hadn’t done one together since we finished our training.

“I assure you, despite their age they are well versed in the art of interrogation,” Itachi responded. “I have every confidence they will perform adequately.”

The woman, who appeared to be in charge, sneered. “The Yamanaka already failed on the woman, you expect the medic and the academy student to do better? I said no.”

“The prisoner in question has mental defences that rendered Aiko-san’s clan jutsu ineffective,” Itachi replied, his voice like silk. “This happens sometimes, but that does not mean the prisoner isn’t susceptible to other methods. Aiko-san is not dependent on her clan jutsu to carryout an interrogation, and her team is trained to support her.”

“We tried traditional methods and got nothing, which is why we agreed to let your Yamanaka take a crack at the prisoners in the first place,” Belligerent Blue argued. “I don’t see what more these three can do that our interrogators can’t.”

“Aiko-san made more progress in a day than you did in two weeks,” Itachi reminded her viciously. “What reason do you have to deny us the opportunity to try? There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. Should they fail then you can pick up where you left off.”

Belligerent Blue pursed her lips but didn’t respond.

“Let me remind again that the capture of the prisoners was a joint effort and we’re trying to discover why they attacked Leaf,” Itachi pressed. “The information could be urgent, we’ve already delayed long enough letting your people try and fail to get anywhere.”

“Fine,” Belligerent Blue snapped. “Your so called interrogation team has the day to see what they can get out of her.”

Itachi scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. You had her for two weeks and got nothing. Not even a name. Give us at least a week.”

Belligerent Blue leaned back and crossed her arms. “Three days. Final offer.”

“Acceptable. I’m sure that’s plenty of time for my team to break her,” Itachi agreed with a satisfied smirk.

-x-

Mist wanted to lead us directly to the prisoner in question, but we asked them to give us a room where we could prepare privately first. They seemed disdainful of our need to prepare but allowed us use of the conference room, which I doubted was actually private, but it was better than nothing.

“What do you recommend?” I asked Aiko once we were alone. (Or as alone as we could get.)

“She’s a mother,” Aiko said. I didn’t ask how she knew. Her bloodline usually worked even when Yamanaka techniques failed. The woman probably thought of her own child when she saw Aiko last time. “We’ll use that against her. Do you still have our disguise kits, Sekai?”

“Yes, it’s been awhile since you two updated yours, but as long as you included something a few sizes up like recommended I should have what we need,” I said as I unsealed three backpacks and a makeup kit from my arm.

“What roles should we play?” Sakura asked as she dug through her bag, sorting what looked like it might fit into one pile and anything too small into another.

“The prisoner is in her mid to late thirties. That makes it hard to narrow down the age of her child. For now we want to look as young and harmless as possible. Innocent,” Aiko told us. She looked down, curling her upper lip. “I’ll need to bind my chest for this.”

Under Aiko’s direction I chose a delicate lavender dress that covered the seal on my arm and matching Mary Jane flats with white, frilly socks. Sakura was forced to go for a pastel green summer dress, as the better suited white one was too small. She matched it with a pair of white ballet flats that pinched her feet. Like Sakura, Aiko had little choice in her attire due to a growth spurt since we last updated our kits. She ended up in a white and blue civilian school uniform.

We quickly changed, aware we were likely being watched. Once we were dressed we got started on our hair and make up.

We decided I would keep my hair down, but with a large bow on the top of my head that matched the dress. We used a bit of white eyeliner to make my eyes seem wider, and I popped in a pair of blue contact lenses. Blue eyes were far more innocent looking than yellow. Finally, I added a bit of blush to give my face some much needed colour.

Aiko’s hair was too short to do much of anything with, so she just combed it and donned a beret that matched her uniform. She chose a light pink, shimmery lip gloss, purposely applying it poorly. She added a touch too much blush to her cheeks. She wanted to look like a young girl experimenting with makeup for the first time.

Sakura braided her hair into pigtails and tied floppy green ribbons at the ends. She didn’t bother with any makeup. Despite being thirteen, she was still fairly baby faced.

While we did our hair and makeup we discussed our strategy for the first session. I would be shy, hiding behind Sakura and Aiko as much as possible. Sakura would be bubbly, eager to see the woman. She would get close, sit on her lap. Compliment the prisoner’s hair, tell her she’s pretty. Ask what happened to her. Offer her clumsy first aid. Aiko would be protective of the two of us and seemingly keep her distance, but really she would constantly reading the woman’s thoughts.

During this session we weren’t going to bother trying to get her to tell us anything about the attack or Cloud. We would spend it learning about her instead. We would discover her weak points, what to exploit when it really came down to it.

Once we were ready I pushed up my sleeve and sealed our kits and clothes back in my arm. We got strange looks from the Mist ninja as we exited the conference room, but Itachi just looked amused. I had a feeling that once were were back home he would tease me about this.

-x-

The prisoner was sitting in a chair, restrained, in the middle of a concrete room. They kept her dosed with the chakra inhibitor and her wrists were shackled to the armrests, her ankles to the legs of the chair. The chair itself was made from concrete and directly attached to the floor.

The walls were spattered with a disturbing number of blood stains, and the floor was even worse. It was particularly bad at the foot of the chair and around the drain.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. “This place is gross,” she declared as she entered, running ahead of us. “Why would they keep such a pretty lady here, nee-chan?”

The prisoner in question was indeed a very beautiful woman, even dressed in scraps and covered in barely scabbed over wounds.

“Sa-chan!” Aiko scolded and as stared at the prisoner. “Get back! You have to be careful here!”

“Nee-chan, please!” I whined, clinging to Aiko’s hand. I positioned myself so that it looked like I was trying to hide behind her, but ensured the prisoner got a good look at me and how small I was.

“It’s fine!” Sakura giggled, skipping closer to the woman and climbing on her lap. “I just want to see the pretty lady.”

The woman looked sick. She probably knew what we were doing but that wouldn’t stop it from working. She squirmed, trying to get Sakura off her lap, but Sakura just wrapped her arms around her neck and squealed, like the lady was playing a game with her. She eventually settled and pressed herself as far back into the chair as she could. Sakura let her.

“Sa-chan, get away from her! They told us she’s dangerous! We’re not even supposed to be here!” Aiko protested, and I nodded vigorously in agreement.

“It’s fine, nee-chan, I bet the pretty lady is super nice! She looks like a mom!” Sakura said with an innocent smile. “Hey, pretty lady, do you have any kids?”

The woman didn’t answer. Sakura pouted. “Aww, won’t you talk to me?”

The woman swallowed and turned her head away. Sakura grabbed her cheek and forcefully turned it back. “That’s not very nice,” she pouted. “You won’t talk to us, you won’t look at us... So mean...”

She hopped off the woman’s lap and returned to me and Aiko. She picked me up and held me in front of her. I looked down, away from the prisoner. “Nee-chan!” I protested, squirming slightly.

“If you won’t talk to me, how about my imouto-chan?” Sakura suggested. The woman looked like she wanted to puke. With my small stature and the way I was dressed I looked to be maybe six years old.

“Nee-chan... I think she’s hurt,” I whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear me. “Maybe that’s why she doesn’t want to talk to you.”

Sakura gasped. She set me down and ran back to the woman, hovering around her, examining her for injuries. “Oh, no! I think you’re right. Imouto-chan, why don’t you go get a first aid kit? Maybe if we help her she’ll talk to me!”

I looked to Aiko for approval, and she sighed but nodded. I left the room, closing the heavy steal door behind me. The Mist nin keeping guard raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t comment. He looked interested in what we were doing. I nodded at him in acknowledgement. The first aid kit was right outside the room, but I waited a few minutes before going back inside with it, to keep up the illusion.

I pulled the door open, pretending to struggle like it was too heavy for me until Aiko helped. “Nee-chan, I have the first aid kit!”

I brought it over to Sakura, then ran back and hid behind Aiko again. Aiko took my hand and held it tightly.

Sakura took out some ointment and bandages and proceeded to clumsily take care of the woman’s injuries, all the while regaling her with made up stories about our parents and the fun things we did with them, or the times they were mean. Whenever the woman tried to look away, Sakura always grabbed her head and turned it so Aiko could maintain eye contact.

Sakura went on, and on. The topics seemed childish and inane, but they all had a purpose.

“Sa-chan, we need to go!” Aiko whined after awhile. “We’ve been here a long time. Someone will come and we’ll get in trouble.”

Sakura pouted but agreed. “Maybe tomorrow the pretty lady will talk to me.”

-x-

We asked if we could use the conference room again and they agreed.

Aiko told us what she had discovered.

The woman had two daughters, one who was fourteen and one was six. She loved them more than anything else in the world.

The father died two years ago, but before that they were always arguing.

The woman had a vain streak. People always praised her good looks and she took great pride in making other women feel ugly.

She had an older brother who’d died in the third war. He’d been one of the many killed by Minato-san.

The woman wasn’t scared of bugs, per se, but she definitely didn’t like them.

It was all very, very useful information, and we used it to establish our plan of attack.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“When you catch someone in an illusion you become the god of their world.”

-x-

The whole situation was a mess and Itachi couldn’t remember the last time he was this stressed.

When he was assigned to Base 121 he knew in theory that it was possible something could happen to Aoki and Hayashi and he would be left in charge. However everyone had believed the chance of it actually happening was next to zero. This was supposed to be what amounted to a fluff assignment. Easy. No pressure. Practically a working vacation.

The Hokage wanted Team Four to dip their toes into the war, and he needed someone who was familiar with them and their abilities present to watch over them. Instead the girls ended up shoved off the deep end in the sort of attack they shouldn’t have experienced for years to come. It was a miracle they survived, owed partially to their surprising competency and partially to all the people who died for them.

When they first arrived and Aoki insisted on sending the girls to Frost, Itachi had been furious. They were supposed to receive training and instruction before they were thrown into a battle. Once word reached the Hokage he had been furious too. In fact, the Hokage was angry enough to place Team Four under Itachi’s direct command, removing any authority Aoki or Hayashi had over the girls in terms of assignments until they returned to the village. Yet in hindsight it was probably one of the things that saved their lives when Cloud attacked. It gave them some experience and an opportunity to learn from their mistakes in what ended up being a comparatively low pressure battle, though it hardly seemed like it at the time.

The battle in Frost was run of the mill by the war’s standards. There were countless others like it, and it wasn’t of any particular significance. Cloud’s assault and pursuit across Hot Water, on the other hand, was the sort of thing that would make it into the history books one day.

Itachi couldn’t help but wonder if he made the right calls, if there was something he could have done better. He wasn’t sure if seven survivors was impressive given the circumstances or an indication of his failure.

Itachi had plenty of battlefield experience, even significant battles such as this, but he’d never been in charge. He’d never been the one making the choices. Could someone like Minato-san have done better?

While the battle certainly weighed on his mind and didn’t help his stress level, it wasn’t the main offender. What came after was worse.

First, no one knew why Cloud attacked like that, meaning it was imperative they discovered their motivations. Second, what little intelligence they did have on the matter indicated a mole, likely Hayashi. To be seen was whether the man in question was a traitor or if he’d been replaced with an imposter and no one noticed. Itachi wasn’t sure which was worse. Third, he now had to deal with Mist and navigate a political minefield.

He was beyond grateful that Mist had stepped up and helped. If they hadn’t his only other option was Orochimaru, and he’d prefer not to risk exposing Leaf’s connection there.

The issue was that since Mist became involved things got complicated. Itachi and the other survivors were being housed by Mist’s grace, which left them in a vulnerable position. Furthermore, several Cloud ninja had been captured at the end of the battle for interrogation and Mist had jurisdiction, even though the entire thing was far more relevant to Leaf.

If the interrogations had progressed quickly that wouldn’t have been an issue. Mist could have their fun and share the highlights, then turn over the prisoners to Itachi so he could escort them back to Leaf and they could perform their own interrogation in a reasonable time frame.

But nothing on this assignment worked out nicely for Itachi, so why would this?

Unlike Leaf and Rock, Mist didn’t have any mind readers, so they had to do it the old fashioned way. Three of them broke within the first two days, but they didn’t know Cloud’s motivations for the assault. It did confirm that they’d been given orders to leave no survivors, at the very least.

When five more days had passed with no progress on the remaining prisoners Itachi knew he had to get involved.

What ensued was one of the most hellish weeks of Itachi’s life to date. Mist was insulted that he didn’t believe in their ability to break the prisoners and felt he was overstepping. He had to assure them that no, of course that wasn’t it. He just had a Yamanaka handy, who could speed things up when time was of the essence. Yet Mist insisted they needed just a little more time.

The entire week he felt like he was bashing his head against a wall until it finally broke. They argued in circles until Mist had to admit that time was running short and they reluctantly allowed Aiko-san to come in.

Itachi couldn’t describe how relieved he felt when they agreed. Finally, something was going his way. They could finish this up and get back to Leaf. His own bed and his mother’s home cooking were in sight.

So of course they hit a snag.

Aiko-san took care of the first five prisoners in two hours, but the female prisoner posed a problem. She had mental defences that rendered the Yamanaka clan jutsu useless. Aiko-san got nothing from the woman even after spending two hours attempting to breach them. Not even her name. After admitting defeat Aiko-san tapped her glasses at him, indicating her bloodline still worked.

That was one of the few silver linings of the situation, the other being that the chances of the prisoner knowing something just sky rocketed, however it was far from ideal. Her bloodline was useful, but if she was to actually make use of it on the prisoner she would need to do a traditional interrogation.

According to her file she was trained for it, and her teammates were trained to support her or even carry out interrogations on their own. While Aiko-san’s bloodline gave her an advantage over Mist’s interrogators, Itachi wasn’t sure it was enough to do it on her own in a reasonable time frame. Her file indicated she performed best with support from Sekai-kun and Sakura-san.

There were two problems. The first was Mist. While they’d been willing to let a Yamanaka into their interrogation chambers, letting Leaf do a traditional interrogation was an entirely different matter. A Yamanaka could do something Mist couldn’t. Without telling Mist about her bloodline, which was out of the question, it appeared that Leaf couldn’t do anything that Mist also couldn’t.

The second issue were the ages of Team Four’s members. It was incredibly rare for people their age to be trained in interrogation. Itachi had hoped that he could get away with playing off his use of Aiko-san as all Yamanaka being trained to use their clan techniques in such a manner, which was even mostly true. They just usually didn’t allow such young Yamanaka access to prisoners even if they could do the job in theory. For her and her team to do a traditional interrogation on the other hand meant revealing that Leaf had trained literal children in the subject, which wasn’t a good look.

There were several reasons people as young as Team Four weren’t trained in interrogation.

To start, it was nasty business. If it were a common thing to do then civilians were bound to hear of it at some point. Children torturing people sounded nearly as bad as people torturing children to a civilian’s delicate sensibilities.

Another reason was a matter of trust and clearance. Interrogators were routinely exposed to highly sensitive information. It usually took a lot of time to determine individuals were trustworthy and mature enough for the position. This was why young Yamanaka usually didn’t get to test their skills on prisoners. In Team Four’s case they were tested carefully to determine they were qualified in this manner, but that took a lot of time and resources. It wasn’t worth it in most cases. It was more efficient to wait for people to demonstrate the necessary qualities themselves, which typically came with age and experience.

Then there was the matter of desensitization. It was a gradual process, and typically children weren’t far enough along in the process to be suitable for interrogation. Inexperienced children tended to get squeamish at the notion of cold blooded torture. They often needed more time to accept violence outside of combat. Back in the early days there had been a lot of lost potential because the interrogation broke the children performing them rather than the subject.

That last point indicated that Team Four had gone through some serious desensitization training despite their age and came out of it intact, which was true, though ignored the circumstances. Namely that the girls already had experience on the other end. No matter the circumstances though, it wasn’t a good look for Leaf.

Alas, it seemed he had no choice.

The rest of that day was spent arguing in favour of letting Leaf’s surviving interrogation team try next. He was very careful not to specify precisely who from his contingent was on that team. It would be easier to get them to agree to letting children do it if they had agreed to a team beforehand.

It was still a nightmare though, and Itachi just wanted it to end.

-x-

Twenty Four

We worked on our plan late into the evening. We called in one of the other Leaf ninja to be a guinea pig for a genjutsu I wanted to use. Bou ended up being the lucky volunteer, and his feedback was very helpful in fine tuning the genjutsu and making it realistic and uniform. By the time I went to bed I had great confidence that it would work as intended. Fortunately for him, the genjutsu itself wasn’t traumatic, just integral to our plan and perhaps a bit boring.

Sakura meanwhile commandeered one of the now spare prisoners to practice a jutsu on. It was one she learned for the purpose of interrogation, but didn’t have a lot of practice with. She needed to be able to perform it perfectly and with confidence. It wasn’t very impressive if it faltered half way through the interrogation. It was only because I knew her so well that I was able to tell she felt distressed by what she was doing, but she persisted until she had mastered it. She knew how important the matter was. Her perfectionist streak helped as well.

While we did that, Aiko made a question tree to make sure that she hit all the key points once the prisoner broke. We were uncertain whether we could break the woman enough that she would lower her defences for Aiko to get in, or if Aiko would be forced to go about it the way everyone else does. She also talked to one of Mist’s interrogators to get an idea of how the prisoners were treated over the past two weeks.

Once we finally retired for the evening we slept soundly. When I woke up the next morning I felt well rested and refreshed.

A distant part of me wondered how I could sleep so well after making plans to torture a woman. It was incredible how easy it was to stop caring about something and get over your moral hangups when push came to shove. Sometimes the only way to cope was to stop caring, and I was becoming apathetic at a startling rate.

I put a halt on that train of thought when the time to return to the conference room came. Like the previous day, Haku led Itachi and my team there and Itachi was forced to engage in a repetitive power play with Belligerent Blue.

It was a waste of time, she had already agreed to give us three days, but she seemed intent on complaining about our methods. She was upset that we didn’t seem to even try to get anything out of the prisoner the previous day and just “wasted time” playing dress up.

Itachi must have had the patience of a saint if he’d been putting up with this for two weeks already. He assured her that we were professionals who knew what we were doing, reminded her that she had agreed to give us three days, and told her to save her complaints about our methodology until we were finished.

He seemed to have great confidence in us, and I hoped that we would prove to Mist that it was warranted.

After Mist finished with the obligatory posturing, we were once again allowed the conference room to prepare. While we got ready, we sent a request ahead to knock out the prisoner, which Mist agreed to do on our behalf. Aside from Belligerent Blue and her toadies, Mist was fairly accommodating in facilitating our interrogation. Most of them probably just wanted the intelligence and didn’t care who extracted it.

Only Sakura dressed up as she did the day before, though she added a cute pink purse to her ensemble. I would remain hidden this time so my regular clothes were fine and we decided it was best if Aiko looked professional. In fact, this time we did our best to make Aiko look older. We wanted her to doubt her perceptions of Aiko.

Aiko used several easy tricks to age herself. We adjusted one of her usual blue uniform tops so it was more form fitting and emphasized her bust and hips, which were admittedly more developed than most thirteen year old’s. She carefully contoured her face using makeup and applied some cosmetic tape to pull her features just so. The end result left her face looking slimmer and more mature. Finally, she put on a pair of ninja sandals that had a thicker sole and a heel to them to make her look taller. On her own she was just over five feet, but with the sandals she got an extra two inches. Still on the short side, but tall enough to be a short young adult rather than a teenager who was still growing.

Once she was done Aiko could easily pass for a seventeen year old. Perhaps even a bit older if someone was generous. This would help with the image of a serious, experienced interrogator.

We did a quick rundown of our strategy and signals once they were dressed. When we were content that the interrogation would proceed smoothly we requested an escort to the interrogation block.

-x-

Aiko entered the cell first to make sure the woman was unconscious. Seeing that she was, she invited me and Sakura to follow her inside.

I positioned myself at the back of the room against the wall, well behind the concrete chair and out of the prisoner’s view. Aiko stood with her back to the opposite wall, facing the prisoner directly. She was perfectly positioned to read her mind.

Sakura approached the prisoner and woke her up. “Hello pretty lady!” she cooed. “It’s wonderful to see you again. Last time I did the talking, but this time you’re going to, okay? Just answer Yamanaka-san’s questions and everything will be okay. Do you understand?”

“Go to hell,” the woman spat angrily. It seemed she had some fight left in her. That was fine.

Sakura slapped her. “Now, now, that’s not very nice. Is that any way to talk to a nice little girl like me?”

“You’re no little girl!” she snarled. “Get rid of that stupid transformation, it won’t work!”

Sakura released one of the woman’s wrists from where it was chained down, grabbing it in a bruising grip. She brought the woman’s hand to her face, her hair, her shoulders. She used the woman’s hand to slap herself hard enough to leave a red mark on her cheek. She then restrained the arm once again.

“Did that feel like a transformation to you?” Sakura said with a pretty smile.

The woman remained silent.

The transformation jutsu was versatile and powerful despite being an academy jutsu, but it had its weaknesses. If you touched someone who was transformed you could often feel the chakra that was maintaining it. It was also easily disrupted by forceful touch. If you hit someone with enough force or hurt them badly enough it would often flicker if not completely dispel. Lastly, it was hard to mimic the reddening of the skin from such a slap accurately.

It was wise of Sakura to use the woman’s hand for the blow, it ensured she knew that Sakura had used enough force to disrupt a transformation, but her appearance didn’t even flicker.

It was possible to be skilled enough with the transformation jutsu to minimize those issues, but it took years of practice. The woman may suspect Sakura was one of the people who dedicated the time to it, but the doubt was there. Her certainty that Sakura was using a transformation was gone.

“Glad we’ve established that," Sakura said sweetly. “Are you ready to answer Yamanaka-san’s questions?”

The woman didn’t answer.

“Let’s start simple, what’s your name?” Aiko said. She had adjusted her voice to sound a bit lower than usual so she sounded older.

The woman didn’t answer.

“Alright, how about your rank and registration?”

The woman didn’t answer.

Sakura pouted. “You should answer her pretty lady! Unless... you don’t want to be so pretty anymore?”

Sakura ran through some quick hand signs and summoned fire to the finger tips of her right hand. She brought her hand to the woman’s face, not quite touching but close enough to feel the heat, and traced the air above her jaw with her index finger.

The woman’s head jerked back, trying to get as far away from the fire as she could.

“Are you going to answer Yamanaka-san’s questions?” Sakura asked.

The woman didn’t answer.

Sakura pressed her finger to the woman’s face, retracing her jaw. The woman grunted in pain.

“You think pain will work?” She sneered at Sakura. “It hasn’t so far.”

Sakura shrugged, reaching in the purse and pulling out a mirror with her free hand. She held it up in front of the prisoner. “What do you think so far? Are you still a pretty lady?”

I couldn’t see the woman’s face, the angle of the mirror was all wrong, but Aiko’s lips twitched, so she must have made quite the expression. Or perhaps her thoughts on the matter were what amused Aiko.

“What’s your name, rank, and registration?” Aiko asked. “If you tell me, we can fix it. Show her, Sa-chan.”

Sakura tucked the mirror back in her purse and instead summoned up a familiar green glow. She traced the woman’s face along the same path as before, this time healing instead of hurting, then let the medical chakra fade away. She pulled out the mirror again and showed the woman her face.

“See, good as new!” she exclaimed proudly. She then brought her right hand up again and traced the woman’s jaw, redoing the damage she had just undone.

“Name, rank, registration,” Aiko repeated.

The woman did not answer.

Sakura began to run her fingers across the woman’s face, leaving burns wherever she touched, holding the mirror with her other hand so the woman was forced to watch her skin bubble and blister and char. Twice, the woman tried to look away, but Sakura grabbed her chin and forced her to look in the direction of the mirror and Aiko, which had the secondary effect of worsening the burns on her chin.

“Name, rank, registration. Then this all goes away.”

“Yeah! You could be pretty again.”

The woman did not answer.

They kept it for another half hour, but still, she did not answer.

That was fine, that was expected.

Aiko gave a nod, and then it was my turn.

-x-

Ichi Kana stared at herself in the reflection of a shop window on her way home from the market. It had been months since she had managed to escape captivity and return home, but the burn scars never faded. By the time she returned to Cloud not even their best medics could fix the damage.

She was horribly disfigured.

Before she could walk the streets of the village and she would receive jealous glances from other women and admiring stares from the men. Now people looked at her with pity, or worse, turned away in discomfort and disgust.

Her own children couldn’t stand the sight of her. Her youngest daughter, her darling baby Takai refused to be alone with her. It was devastating.

But it was worth it, because she did not break. She had protected her village’s secrets and returned a hero, albeit an ugly one.

She turned away from the shop window and continued home to her small house on the eastern side of the village, near the outskirts. It was a nice home despite the size. Well maintained. The siding was white, freshly painted just a year ago by a team from the academy. There was a small yard with a swing set for her youngest to play on.

She unlocked the door and quickly put away the groceries. When she finished her eye caught on the family photo that had been taken just a few weeks before Mist and Leaf had captured her. She looked so happy, so beautiful, in the photo, with Takai and Amai on either side.

She must have lost track of time because before she knew it she heard the front door open.

“I’m home!” came the familiar, darling voice of her youngest daughter.

“Welcome back!” she called.

Her daughter ran right by her, straight to her room. From experience Kana knew she wouldn’t come out until her sister came home. She would have to wait to find out how her day at the academy went.

Amai would be home soon. She was already a ninja, but during Kana’s absence she’d been permanently stationed in the village so she could care for Takai, and that hadn’t changed with her return.

Kana began cooking dinner. It was the least she could do for her precious daughters.

She was well into the routine of cooking when Amai returned.

Amai greeted her mother with a kiss on the cheek—she was such a sweet girl. Kana was lucky her oldest didn’t shy away from affection despite everything. She knew Amai hated looking at her, but her sweet girl loved her enough to work past it.

“Go check on your sister, Amai-chan,” Kana ordered gently.

“Of course, Mama,” she agreed.

Not thirty seconds after her daughter left, Kana heard an ear shattering scream that abruptly cut off.

She dropped what she was doing and raced towards the source of the noise—Takai’s bedroom. She burst in and froze at the sight in front of her.

Her oldest daughter was collapsed on the floor, glassy eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. A familiar, distinctive kunai lodged in her throat.

Sitting on her youngest daughter’s bed was a man she had never wanted to see—that no one ever wanted to see. The man who had killed her older brother more than a decade ago. And he was cradling her youngest—now only—daughter as she napped, a kunai to her throat.

This couldn’t be real. Why would the Yellow Flash be in her home? Why would he kill her daughter? It didn’t make sense.

Was... was this a genjutsu? But no. She had never seen the man before, she had only seen his photo in the bingo book. He looked older than he did in his bingo book picture, which made sense if this was real. It was well known that the photo was nearly a decade out of date, but it was hard to get their hands on an updated one unless Leaf felt like releasing one of their own.

She had no way of knowing what the Yellow Flash would actually look like, and the amount of detail, the realism to the way he aged...

Kana could fill in all the details about her home and her daughters for a genjutsu. She could not fill in the way the Yellow Flash aged. If she were filling in the Yellow Flash’s appearance, he would look as she typically imagined him—young, like when he killed her brother.

It had to be real. Oh god, it had to be real.

“I have some questions for you,” he said, his voice deadly calm. “If you answer them your remaining daughter will be fine. If you don’t she’ll end up just like the other one.”

Kana fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. “Why me? Why are you doing this to me?”

The Yellow Flash smiled cruelly. “You didn’t think we’d really let you get away, did you? You know something. Something about why Cloud attacked us in Hot Water, don’t you?”

“I-I...” Kana stuttered. She did. She did know something. But...

But it didn’t make sense. Why would the Yellow Flash come to interrogate her? If he could get into the village, why come after her? There were better ways to get the information. Better people to ask.

There were better things for the Yellow Flash to do in her village if he made it in undetected. He was not an interrogator. He was a combat ninja.

But it had to be real, right? How would she know what this man looked like? Unless... unless this was a genjutsu and the caster did.

“This isn’t real,” she whispered.

The Yellow Flashed twirled one of his special kunai. “You’re right. It’s not. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work.”

“It won’t!” she denied, standing up. That wasn’t her daughter in his arms. It wasn’t her daughter dead on the floor. Her girls were safe back home.

She tried to break the genjutsu but failed. Why...? Oh, the chakra inhibitor. She wouldn’t be able to break out. Still, she knew it wasn’t real. That was enough to get through it.

The Yellow Flash stood, holding not-Takai by the neck. “Maybe you’re right. But we’ll see, won’t we?”

-x-

I was slightly surprised it took her so long to realize she was in a genjutsu. I thought she would have realized the moment she saw Minato-san, but it took her a bit longer.

Unlike when I had been using genjutsu in battle, I was focused on the connection the jutsu established. The information that could be passed through the connection varied depending on how much the caster concentrated on it. At minimum it allowed me to know whether the target was caught in the genjutsu, and that was all I could afford in battle. If I went to the other extreme and I really focused on it, it was like I was watching the entire experience unfold. There were many benefits to this, such as allowing me greater control over what the victim experienced and the ability to gather information from it.

Of course, using genjutsu like this in battle was a horrible idea. In the relative safety of an interrogation chamber, though? It was perfect.

I’d learned a lot so far, information that would be crucial going forward.

I wasn’t the only one who was following along with Kana’s experience in the genjutsu though. Aiko was focusing hard, her pupils barely pinpricks of blue on black as she took in everything Kana was thinking while subjected to the genjutsu.

Despite our hopes, the woman’s awareness that it was a genjutsu did help her maintain her silence, despite the graphic torture I had Minato-san inflict on her daughter in the genjutsu, flaying her alive with his hiraishin kunai. After awhile I brought in her late husband. I had him yell and scream at her for letting this happen to their daughters. Why wasn’t she stopping him? She had the power to. All she needed to do were answer his questions.

Still, while it was a disappointment it was not a setback. We had expected this outcome. All was going according to plan.

-x-

I kept the woman in the genjutsu for three hours before Aiko gave Sakura the signal to knock out the prisoner. The three of us left to take a lunch break. The woman would be out for quite awhile.

We once again returned to the conference room. We could have went to the mess hall for a meal, but neither Sakura nor Aiko wanted to walk around dressed as they were, so I unsealed some bento I’d had stored away.

Over lunch we discussed our findings. My genjutsu turned out to be more fruitful than I expected. Not only did we get the information needed for the next phase of the interrogation, but apparently the woman had actually thought of the names of several people who would know more about the matter than she did.

To no one’s surprise, Sakura and I didn’t recognize any of the names. Aiko recognized one of them from her work with the intel department, though, and was confident that even if intel didn’t have a file on the rest, they would by the end of the month.

After discussing our findings we moved on to reviewing our plan for what we would do next. Aiko offered some little tidbits that she picked up from the woman’s thoughts that would help, but otherwise nothing had changed.

With nothing left to discuss and our meal consumed, I sealed away the empty containers and we headed back to the interrogation chamber. It was time to begin the final phase.

-x-

Aiko and I entered the interrogation chamber first. As expected, the woman was still unconscious. I retook my place against the back wall where the woman couldn’t see me, but this time Aiko joined me.

Five minutes later Sakura walked in carrying a tray. On the tray was a plastic spoon and a bowl of what could only be described as “slop.” It was the same meal the prisoner had been receiving for the past two weeks. She set the tray down and woke up the prisoner.

“Meal time, pretty lady!” she declared with a bright smile. “From now on it’s my job to take care of you, okay?”

She proceeded to spoon feed the prisoner who let her without fuss, already used to the routine, though usually it was someone else who fed her.

“I’ll be back to feed you tomorrow, pretty lady!” Sakura said once the woman finished her meal. With that she left, waving on her way out.

We remained still behind the woman for a half hour until her head drooped and the tension in her body eased. The drug had kicked in. She as asleep once more.

Aiko walked to the door and opened it, letting Sakura back in. Aiko returned to my side while Sakura crept up directly behind the prisoner. She reached around and pressed her hand to the woman’s stomach, speeding up the woman’s metabolism. Once she was sure the drug was mostly out of the woman’s system she pulled her hand back. Next she reached into the purse and pulled out a needle to inject the woman with a fresh dose of the chakra inhibitor. When she was done she stepped back, taking her place on my free side.

We waited a few more minutes for the woman to wake up. Once she did I ensnared her in another genjutsu. A different one this time. I nodded to Aiko, and she circled around to make eye contact with the woman again, even though it would be awhile before the real interrogation finally started.

-x-

After those girls first tried to unsettle her with their little dress up games and then a genjutsu, they mostly left her alone.

Every day that pink haired girl would come back and feed her. She still put on that disturbingly cheerful and childish persona, but she no longer tried to question her. She just fed her the drugged slop and left.

Kana felt proud of herself. She was fairly certain she knew what was happening. Nothing those Mist and Leaf bastards had tried so far was working, so they must be waiting to bring in someone better.

It was also possible they were hoping the solitude would get to her, but given the way they drugged her she doubted that was it. It would be much more effective to keep her awake for days on end than to drug her so much that she was only awake for a few hours each day. In theory, of course. Even if they did that she wouldn’t break.

Kana hadn’t broken yet. She never would. That’s why they trusted her above the rest, after all.

She counted the days by the number of times the pink haired girl came and fed her. She was aware that it was possibly more than that, though likely not less. Every time the girl came she was hungry. If they were feeding her more than once a day she wouldn’t feel so famished.

A week went by.

Two.

Three.

Four.

A month.

Then one day when the pink haired child woke her up it was not to feed her. It took Kana a few seconds to process what she was seeing and she immediately tried to flare her chakra and break out of the genjutsu.

Of course those damn chakra inhibitors prevented her from doing so.

“Nice try!” she hissed instead. “You’ve already tried this. I know it’s a genjutsu! It didn’t work last time and it won’t work this time!”

The pink haired child giggled and shook her head. The man who had entered the room with her didn’t react, he just continued to chain a small, achingly familiar child up to the wall across from her. Takai.

The man left when he finished his task, leaving her alone with the pink haired child and the Yamanaka.

Just those two. That wasn’t her daughter. It wasn’t real.

Were the girl and the Yamanaka even real? Kana wasn’t actually sure about that either. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Takai wasn’t.

“It’s an illusion,” she whispered to herself. She made it through this before, she could do it again. She could.

The pink haired girl threw back her head and cackled, breaking character for the first time. “Oh no, this time it’s real.”

“Your tricks won’t work on me,” Kana growled over the cackling. “There’s no way.”

“Sa-chan!” The Yamanaka reprimanded, and the girl immediately returned to character. Then the Yamanaka turned her focus on Kana. “Did you really think our last genjutsu was a real attempt to break you?”

Kana scoffed. “What else would it be?”

The Yamanaka grinned wolfishly. “Information gathering. We learned a lot, you know. Why don’t you tell her, Sa-chan?”

The pink haired girl brightened and started skipping around Kana’s chair.

“That’s right! We learned your daughters are named Ichi Amai and Ichi Takai! We learned what they look like!” she sing-songed as she made the first lap.

“What else?” The Yamanaka prompted.

“We learned Amai-chan is a ninja! A genin! And Takai-chan is an academy student!” the girl chirped as she made a second lap around her.

With each lap around the chair, the girl revealed what else they knew.

The father was dead. Lap.

She described their home. Lap.

She rattled off her address. Lap.

With each lap Kana felt her chest tighten. It was... it was very possible this was real. This could be a genjutsu again, but that really was information that the caster of the previous genjutsu could have learned if they were paying attention. It was a very real possibility that they were telling the truth that the previous genjutsu had been an attempt to gather information rather than an attempt to break her as she originally believed.

Eventually the pink haired child climbed in her lap again, like she did that first day. “It took awhile, you know? We wanted to bring both Takai-chan and Amai-chan to play, but in the end it was too much work to take a genin.

“An academy student though? Not that hard. She’s no one important after all. It took awhile, but it wasn’t that hard to get an agent in the village. Merchants come and go all the time, you know?”

Kana tried to look away, to close her eyes, but she pink haired child tugged her chin or brought a scorching hand to her face whenever she tried.

“They also tend to travel with a lot of stuff. It wasn’t hard to smuggle a single child out if you know what you’re doing,” the girl continued.

Kana was glad it had been a day since she ate, because otherwise she would have thrown up.

“Mama? Mama! They said you were dead like papa! What’s going on?” cried a groggy voice. “It hurts! Where are we?”

Oh god. It was real. It wasn’t a genjutsu.

They had her daughter.

The pink haired child climbed out of her lap and slowly walked towards the wall where Takai hung from her wrists.

Her palm glowed with fire.

“Well, Ichi Kana,” the Yamanaka smirked cruelly. “Are you going to tell us what we want to know?”

Kana shook her head. She couldn’t. Even for her precious daughter she couldn’t.

The Yamanaka raised a brow and crossed her arms. “Very well then. Sa-chan?”

The pink haired child smiled cruelly, bringing her index finger to Takai’s beautiful, innocent face.

Her daughter screamed.

Kana broke.

-x-

Outside the genjutsu, I split my focus between listening to Aiko and feeding the questions she supplied into the genjutsu.

It only took us two days.

Everything had gone according to plan.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“What does home even mean?”

-x-

I wasn’t sure when it happened and I didn’t know how. But at some point I started to really, truly think of the Village Hidden in Leaves as my home. It was bizarre. I still hated the village and everything it stood for. Maybe it was the familiarity that did it. I knew the village, and what to expect. But it still felt distinctly like home. Like somewhere safe. Somewhere I wanted to return to.

I was so stupid.

I didn’t actually know what to expect.

It wasn’t safe.

It never had been and never would be.

-x-

Twenty Five

“Good work in there, kid,” the guard said as I exited the interrogation chamber, cracking a smile. “That was some pretty impressive genjutsu. Maybe we should try getting one of those fancy genjutsu users of ours down here next time.”

Unsure how to respond I just nodded at him. I stood there silently until Haku arrived to escort us back to the conference room to debrief. Once we arrived we saw that Belligerent Blue, her toadies, and two men I’d seen around the interrogation department were already seated at the table, as was Itachi.

It was unfortunate that we didn’t get a chance to make a private report to Itachi, but it was expected. I took the seat to his right, with Sakura taking the one on his left and Aiko sitting next to me. Based on the way the interrogation went it would be me and Aiko reporting and answering any questions. If they tried to ask Sakura questions she could honestly say she wasn’t privy to most of the information disclosed.

I held out my hand beneath the table and Aiko grabbed it. She would squeeze it if I started to say too much or if I needed to be vague when answering a question.

“So you did it after all, huh?” one of the familiar men said. “That was quite the show. A job well done. Leaf is really starting young these days, isn’t it?”

We knew better than to respond to him.

Belligerent Blue scoffed. “That’s assuming they really did succeed and the prisoner wasn’t faking it.”

The man who previously spoke shook his head. “Nah, I was watching. She tried faking earlier, this was different. I don’t know what she said since it all happened in that genjutsu, but I could tell by her expression. They broke her.”

Itachi ignored the man and addressed Belligerent Blue. “If you doubt the legitimacy of the intelligence my team has gathered then there is no need for this meeting. You can have the prisoner and interrogate her to your heart’s content. Leaf has no further interest in the matter.”

Actually, we needed her for one more thing, but Itachi didn’t know that yet, which was unfortunate. If only we’d been able to speak to him privately.

“Nice try, Uchiha. Even if it’s all lies, we still want to know what she said.”

“Very well, then I will defer to Aiko-san,” Itachi replied with a small shrug.

Aiko, who hadn’t had a chance to change and take off the makeup, sat up straighter and adjusted her glasses. “Of course, Itachi-taicho.”

“Wait,” Belligerent Blue held up her hand. “She wasn’t the one in control of the genjutsu where the prisoner allegedly sang like a canary.”

“That may be so, but I am a Yamanaka,” Aiko replied, lifting her chin. “While my clan techniques were insufficient for mentally forcing the matter out of her, they were more than sufficient for monitoring her experience during a genjutsu.”

Belligerent Blue’s eyes narrowed. “Your jutsu didn’t work earlier but they do now?”

“Different techniques have different limitations. The technique I used today wouldn’t have worked if she wasn’t answering the questions in the genjutsu,” Aiko replied.

“Why not?” Belligerent Blue pressed.

Aiko scoffed. “You can’t possibly expect an answer to that. I’m not explaining the mechanics of my secret clan techniques to you. Frankly, it’s beyond audacious of you to even ask. Now may I begin my report?”

Belligerent Blue rolled her eyes and gestured with her hand for Aiko to get on with it.

“The prisoner’s name is Ichi Kana. She is an Elite Jounin of Cloud, and thirty eight years old...” Aiko began.

I listened with half an ear, just enough to pay attention to what information she was sharing. I’d heard it all before, straight from the source.

We got some fairly valuable information out of the woman, but even she didn’t know everything, or even all that much about the attack. Cloud was up to something though, that much was certain.

As I had expected, Hayashi was the leak. Except it turned out that it wasn’t actually Hayashi. About six months ago Cloud learned that Leaf had a base near the northern coast of Hot Water. Ichi Kana, who was stationed in a nearby Cloud base in Frost, initially didn’t know exactly why this was an issue, but she had some suspicions. Mainly that it positioned Leaf to notice some of Cloud’s movements that they didn’t want us to be aware of. She further speculated that Cloud couldn’t alter their movements and whatever it was they were up to, it was important and classified to hell and back. Her suspicions about our base being positioned to notice their movements was eventually proven correct when the plan to destroy it was formed.

Of course, when they first discovered the base they weren’t certain that an attack was the appropriate course of action. Destroying the base could bring attention if we hadn’t realized something was happening. They needed more information. So they infiltrated us.

About a month after they discovered the base they sent in their mole. An infiltration expert who underwent extensive plastic surgery by Cloud’s best medics in order to replace the base’s second in command. Ichi Kana didn’t know what happened to Hayashi or how they managed to replace him seamlessly without our knowledge—that wasn’t any of her business. But she did act as a contact for the man, through their shared summons.

Two months later “Hayashi,” whose actual name was Ichi Tsuyoi (no direct relation), confirmed that the Leaf base was an issue and Cloud began to plan it’s destruction. He used his position as second in command at the base to convince Aoki to send out as many people as he could to the battle in Frost in order to thin our numbers. He reviewed our security measures and defences and passed on everything he learned. He surreptitiously altered the reports sent back to Leaf when he had the chance.

As second in command no one questioned him.

It was a massive failure on Leaf’s part. An embarrassment.

It was understandable that Itachi didn’t know there was an issue. He had never met the real Hayashi and arrived after the fake. But Aoki should have noticed.

According to the prisoner, Tsuyoi initially sent written reports to her every week, but once Itachi arrived he became more worried about being caught while writing them since they worked in such close quarters and Itachi was, well. Uchiha Itachi. His reports became less frequent and tended to be verbal more often than not. He only passed on the most important information, instead of everything he could get his hands on.

That was also when he stopped altering any reports sent back to Leaf. The risk of Itachi seeing them before him and memorizing them with his sharingan was too great to risk it. There was only one sent back since Itachi arrived on the base, but it would hopefully give us a clue.

If we had caught or killed the man, it would have been good that he stopped sending written reports to the prisoner and contacted her less frequently.. Unfortunately, we had no idea what happened to him. The most likely scenario was that he made it back to Cloud and has reported everything to them, though there was a slight possibility that he’d been killed in the battle at some point.

His survival was disastrous for Leaf in general, and potentially for my team specifically. As far as we knew, he didn’t know more than the broad strokes about our team, but he knew we were important in some way. At the very least, Itachi had told me no one on base except for my team and he knew about Aiko’s bloodline. But Sakura’s status as Tsunade’s apprentice was possibly known.

Still, it was bad if Cloud took an interest in us, especially after the battle. While it’s certain they noticed us there, they didn’t know our names, or ages, or that we were of particular importance. They just had a description and some knowledge of our combat capabilities. Maybe our ranks if they paid attention to our pins.

Fortunately, we had a plan to determine if he was currently alive or not. We just needed to persuade Mist and Itachi to let us do it.

After Aiko finished her report, they made me go through it as well. It was a pain, and Belligerent Blue and the other Mist ninja kept interrupting me to ask questions, likely hoping I was less trained in what sort of information was acceptable to share than Aiko, but she squeezed my hand whenever a question shouldn’t be directly answered, and overall they didn’t get much from me that they didn’t from Aiko.

Eventually they let up and Aiko and I were able to propose our plan. Itachi offered his support immediately, which was a relief. The plan carried some risk, and we were worried he might veto it. Either he thought the risk was worth it, or perhaps he thought it best not to disagree with us in front of Mist. If it was the latter he would surely tell us once we left the Mist base.

After another hour of negotiation, Mist consented.

-x-

That evening we returned to Ichi Kana’s cell with a team of guards including, but not limited to, Itachi, Bou, Haku, Yuzuru, and Momochi Zabuza. Belligerent Blue accompanied us as well, though she wasn’t considered a guard and wouldn’t be present for the enactment of most of the plan.

The prisoner was still unconscious from when we knocked her out after we finished with her, but we didn’t need to wake her up for what we were going to do. In fact, it was best that she remained as she was.

“Are you sure this will work?” Belligerent Blue said, sounding skeptical. “I thought you said Yamanaka jutsu didn’t work on her.”

Aiko rolled her eyes. “I can’t make any guarantees until I try, but as I already explained, not all Yamanaka jutsu are the same. The jutsu I’m about to use is fundamentally different from the jutsu we use to gather information from someone’s mind. It’s possible it won’t work on her, but it’s likely it will. May I proceed?” she asked, looking to Itachi. He nodded.

Aiko stood across from the prisoner and raised her hands, forming an atypical hand seal, one that was unique to her clan. She collapsed, Bou catching her body and positioning it on his back.

The prisoner, who had been asleep, opened her eyes. “It worked,” she said. “Verification code: Little Elephants Are Fearless. Can someone please get me out of this chair?”

I nodded, confirming the code. It was one I came up with. I’d come up with a couple dozen of them for this purpose. Sakura and Aiko had tried to come up with some, but in the end we all agreed to use mine. (The agreement involved a game of cards where we all tried to out cheat each other, from which I emerged victorious.)

Momochi was the one to release her from the chair. Once she was released he kept her within arms reach.

We escorted her out of the cell and out of the building, keeping close guard in case the prisoner managed to throw off the jutsu and retake control. It was rare, but possible, and with her mental defences we weren’t sure if she was capable of it or not. We could not afford to let her escape.

We crossed the ocean to the shore of Hot Water, Momochi carrying Aiko since she was still under the effect of the chakra inhibitor and couldn’t run on the water. We would have preferred for a Leaf ninja to do it, but it was a necessary compromise we made with Mist in order to carry out the plan.

“Is she resisting?” Itachi asked once we were on solid ground.

Aiko should her head. “No, she’s not even aware. We should be fine.”

“Verification code?” I asked, to make sure.

“Large Eggplants Abhor Freckles.” Aiko recited with an eye roll. “Really, Sekai, how did you even come up with these? It’s almost embarrassing.”

I pressed my lips together and shrugged.

Itachi side eyed me, but nodded at Sakura. “Go ahead and stimulate her chakra receptors.”

Sakura approached Aiko and did as instructed. She kept hold of Aiko’s wrist with an iron grip when she was done. “Verification code?”

“Lazy Eagles Adore Fish. We’re still good. That didn’t wake her up.”

“Very well. We’ll be hiding nearby,” Itachi said, prompting the rest of us to conceal ourselves from view.

Aiko looked around the area, and once confirming she couldn’t locate us, she ran through a set of hand seals. Boar. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram. She slammed her hand down on the ground, and a mouse appeared.

“Kana-sama!” it squeaked excitedly and turned in a little circle before settling. “I haven’t heard from you weeks! I was worried.”

“Isumi-kun,” Aiko greeted warmly. During the interrogation we had questioned the prisoner extensively about her summons and how she exchanged information with Tsuyoi. “I’m sorry, I was incapacitated. I need to pass on a message to Tsuyoi, can you do that for me?”

The mouse drooped. “I’m sorry, Kana-sama. I believe Tsuyoi-sama has perished, our contract with him has broken. Is there anyone else you would like me to contact for you?”

Aiko shook her head, putting on a mournful expression. “No, that’s fine. Please dismiss yourself.”

“Are you sure, Kana-sama?”

“I’m sure.”

“As you wish,” the mouse bowed its head and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

As soon as it was gone we rushed back to the clearing and surrounded Aiko.

“Verification code?”

“Loud Employees Abuse Functions. Please restrain me and prepare to inject the chakra inhibitor. On the count of five I will return to my own body.”

Momochi dutifully grabbed Aiko and restrained her. Sakura got in position, a needle held to her thigh.

Aiko started counting down. After she hit five the body went limp and Sakura immediately shoved the needle into the prisoner’s leg, injecting the chakra inhibitor.

Shortly after, Aiko’s body jerked and her eyes snapped open. “I’m back,” she announced. “You can let me down now, Bou-san.”

We returned to the base. The news that the spy was potentially dead was good, but it would need to be investigated further and verified. For all we knew the summon was more cunning than we believed and lied to us. Of course, even if the spy really was dead, we still needed to find out when he died and if he had a chance to pass on information before he did. That mission, however, belonged to someone else.

The prisoner was taken to be locked up again, or perhaps executed. I wasn’t sure if they wanted to hold onto her for awhile yet or not. It was no longer my concern.

The rest of us were allowed to retire for the evening, excluding Itachi. He was probably required for another pointless meeting.

That night it was Sakura’s turn to share a bed with me. To my dismay, the interrogation seemed to have affected her, and though she fell asleep quickly, she constantly tossed and turned. When she kicked me so hard I fell out of bed, I gave up, unsealed a sleeping bag, and settled in on the floor. I didn’t join Aiko because she had the top bunk. While the risk of being literally kicked off was low, that’s what I had believed about sharing with Sakura. Being kicked off the top bunk would be way worse.

I was just about asleep when the door opened, letting in a stream of light and jolting me into semi-alertness. Was Mist spying on us while we slept?!

“Sekai-kun? What are you doing on the floor?” Itachi asked me in a whisper as he closed the door behind him, the light vanishing and leaving us in darkness.

Ah, just him. It was safe.

“Sak’ra...” I mumbled and gestured vaguely at the bed. “Time is it? Late?”

“About one in the morning. Go to sleep Sekai-kun. Tomorrow we go home.”

Suddenly, I was wide awake. I pushed myself into a sitting position. “Really? We’re done?”

“Yes, Sekai-kun. Now rest. You’ll need your energy for the trip.”

I flopped back as I was filled with pure relief, not even minding how hard the ground was. We were going home.

-x-

The trip back took two days. We arrived at the south east gate just as the sun was beginning to set for the evening. The guards seemed to be expecting us, and informed us we were to report to the Hokage immediately.

We took to the roofs and headed west to the Hokage tower, where we were immediately directed to the Hokage’s office by an old man—a secretary of some sort—in the lobby.

I was actually quite nervous. Despite the man practically being Tsunade-sensei’s husband, I could count on one hand the number of times I’d met him, and I’d only been called to his office once, for my chuunin promotion.

This was the most powerful man in the village. Perhaps not in terms of combat prowess, though he was certainly up there as well, but he had absolute control over the entire village, and nearly as much over Fire Country as a whole.

I was aware Itachi would likely do most of the talking as the one in charge, but Team Four had played an important role in the interrogation and I was the team leader.

We filed into the office with Itachi taking the centre. I stood to his right with Aiko and Sakura in line next to me, and the other three survivors stood to his left.

The office looked the same as it had the previous time I’d been there, though this time the Hokage was not bothering with a kind facade. His face was serious and stern.

“Welcome home, Base 121,” he said. “I am happy to see the seven of you alive and relatively well, but saddened to hear of the loss we have suffered. We will be holding a ceremony to mourn our losses at the Memorial Stone in one weeks time. You’ll receive further details tomorrow.”

Disgust washed over me, settling thickly in my stomach. Something told me this wasn’t going to be a genuine memorial service. It was going to be a propaganda event. I had no doubt I would be required to attend—we all would.

“While I have been periodically receiving updates from Itachi-san over the past few weeks, I’m afraid I’m going to need both a verbal report now, and a more detailed written report by the end of the week. Please begin from the moment the attack started, Itachi-san.”

Itachi squared his shoulders and began describing his own experiences in a completely emotionless voice.

I listened closely to his retelling of events, how he sent out requests for help and was repeatedly denied until Mist agreed. It was impressive how he communicated with his crows via genjutsu while in the midst of battle to arrange the codes, ambush site, and meeting points. Splitting his attention like that... It was beyond my own skills.

He described his battle with a Cloud ninja named Nii Anzu. She was a swordsman and fire release user. S-ranked in the bingo book. His crows had taken her body back to their realm so he could provide it to the village at a later time.

The Hokage looked pleased at this development and instructed Itachi to go to the bounty department tomorrow with the body to begin processing.

Itachi continued his tale, outlining his decisions and reasoning, though I got the distinct feeling he was leaving a lot out. Probably things some of us weren’t authorized to hear and which would be included in his written report. It was likely said report would be for the Hokage’s eyes only.

When he got to the part where he asked me to stay behind and fight instead of going ahead to the Mist base something in the Hokage’s expression shifted. I couldn’t say what, exactly, but he seemed... harder.

Beside me, Aiko tensed for a moment before relaxing. Was she... reading the Hokage’s mind? Did she pick up what that was about? No. She wouldn’t dare. Would she? Perhaps she was just good at reading his expression and realized he was displeased or something. It didn’t matter, if she did and learned something relevant she would tell me. If it didn’t affect me, she would keep it to herself.

My hypothesis that Itachi was omitting things was proven true when he glossed over the events at the base, completely leaving out any details about the interrogation.

“Thank you, Itachi-san. I look forward to your written report as soon as possible,” the Hokage said once Itachi had finished. I had a feeling he expected Itachi’s report sooner than he had previously stated. “Hara-san? Yours next?”

Satoshi shared how the attack played out for him, but there was nothing particularly illuminating. Bou went next, and then Kaori. Finally, it was my turn.

“Team Four,” The Hokage said, looking me in the eye. “Given the three of you were rarely apart, I will accept a general report from Hoshino-san on all of your behalves. Please give your report from the moment the attack began, until you arrived at the Mist base. Everything else should be detailed in your written reports.”

So he didn’t trust me to know what not to say about our time with Mist. Interesting, but probably a good call. Even with Itachi’s example, I wasn’t sure what all was appropriate to say in front of the others.

I began my report from the moment I woke up in the barracks, and explained my plan to get us out.

“Do you still have the seal?” The Hokage interrupted.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. I have it with me right now,” I responded.

“Please pass it over. We will review the contents. If there were any enemy ninja caught in it with a bounty you will be informed and receive what you are owed,” he instructed.

I pulled it out of my weapons pouch and placed it on his desk. “Ah, I should advise that care is to be used when unsealing the contents, considering I sealed away a significant amount of dirt and rock—I’m sure you can imagine how much. The seal isn’t designed to allow only a portion of the contents to come out at once—it will be everything.”

The Hokage picked up the seal and examined it for a few seconds before placing it in a drawer. “I will be sure to pass that on. Please continue.”

As instructed, I continued my report. He seemed particularly interested in our encounter with the storm release user, who he indicated must have been a member of Cloud’s Gosui clan.

“Thank you Hoshino-san,” he said once I finished. “The seven of you will be receiving commendations in your files for your performance. You have all performed most admirably. You are all a credit to your village.

“Please be advised that due to the circumstances and our uncertainty regarding Cloud’s motives for the attack, eachof you will be summoned to the intelligence department to review your time on the base.”

Suddenly, the Hokage’s stern expression softened into a smile. “Now, I’m sure you’re all very tired. You’re dismissed, my assistant will escort you out.”

“Thank you Hokage-sama,” we chorused as we bowed to him.

-x-

We parted ways outside the tower, each heading to our own homes. I was reluctant to part with Sakura and Aiko, and even Itachi, but I recognized they all needed to return home and I couldn’t tag along.

I briefly considered going to the Uzumaki household, but decided against it. It was already late and I wasn’t sure who would be home. Now that The Nuisance was a ninja it was a distinct possibility that no one was. Or worse, it was just The Nuisance home, and I did not want to deal with him without buffers in my current state, if at all.

So I crossed the village to my dorm, resigned to spending the night alone. I should have known better, for standing outside the door to my building was the Yellow Flash himself.

“Sekai-chan!” he shouted when he spotted me. He rushed over and wrapped me in a hug before I could process what was happening. I tensed at first, but slowly relaxed into his embrace. I didn’t return the hug—I couldn’t. Minato-san was holding me so tight my arms were pinned in place.

“Minato-san...?”

Hes gently pulled back, though kept his hands on my shoulders, kneeling before me, and started babbling. “I’m so sorry, Sekai-chan. When I heard what happened I wanted to come, but I didn’t have any of my seals in the area, it would have taken me at least a day to get there, and I’d have been abandoning—well. I just. I couldn’t. I’m sorry. I’m so glad you’re okay. You don’t know how terrified I was when I heard...”

I blinked, shocked that he was so upset. He hadn’t reacted like this after I escaped from that Rock base. Perhaps it was because this time he felt like he could have helped, but didn’t...?

“It’s okay, Minato-san. I’m okay,” I assured him awkwardly.

He smiled in response, though it seemed a bit weak. He released me and got to his feet. “What do you say about spending the night at our place tonight?”

I licked my lips, hesitating.

“Naruto’s away on a mission down south. He’ll be gone for a few more days,” Minato-san offered as if he’d read my mind. “It’s just me for now. Kushina is still away, too, if you hadn’t guessed.”

I had guessed. I had no doubt that if she were in the village she would have been the one waiting outside my dorm.

“Okay,” I agreed. “Just for a few days.”

Minato-san held out his hand. “How about we hiraishin over, then?”

My eyes widened. I’d never done that before, and I was incredibly curious how it worked. I reached out and grasped his hand tightly.

It was... strange. I couldn’t really describe the sensation, and had almost no time to process it because in less than a second I was standing just inside the front door of the Uzumaki home.

Minato-san smirked at me, seeming to sense my unease. “It’s a bit disconcerting at first, isn’t it? You get used to it.”

“What causes that sensation?” I asked, not really expecting a serious answer.

Minato-san gave me a considering look. “I suppose I can explain the broad strokes of how the hiraishin works to you.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes. It shouldn’t be enough for you to replicate it just yet, and to be honest it’s unlikely you’ll want to in full,” he responded bluntly, leading me further inside. “Before we start, are you hungry? There’s some left overs in the fridge if you want?”

I hadn’t had a proper home cooked meal in ages, even if it was left overs, so I accepted.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and freshen up while I reheat it and make some fresh rice?” he suggested.

It was probably a good idea. I had been travelling all day and could use a change of clothes and quick shower.

Twenty minutes later we met at the kitchen table, where a warm meal was waiting for me. I took my usual seat, and he sat down across from me.

“What do you know about the hiraishin?” he asked me.

I took a moment to think about it and realized the answer was basically nothing. “It involves a seal and allows you to teleport to locations where you’ve left a seal, but I don’t really understand how that works.”

Minato-san nodded. “That’s about what I expected. I should preface this by saying that I’m telling you this in confidence.”

“Of course, I won’t share it,” I promised.

“The hiraishin is essentially a giant network of linked seals,” he explained. “I seal myself—and sometimes other people—away, and unseal myself at almost the exact same moment at a different seal. The sensation you experienced is a combination of being sealed away, and also existing in the in a pocket dimension for a brief instant. I should note it’s not safe to remain in the pocket dimension for long. It was a challenge to set the parameters to sustain life for even a few minutes.”

I frowned, deeply confused. That couldn’t be. “But how? You don’t leave a seal behind when you disappear, and I’ve seen you drawing out new hiraishin seals to add to network...”

The thing about a linked seal was that you needed to create all of the components before it could be activated. Minato-san shouldn’t be able to just add on to it whenever he wanted. Unless he had several different sets of linked seals? Different networks, so to speak?

I verbalized that hypothesis to him.

His eyes lit up. “That’s a brilliant idea, and I did consider doing that, but it wouldn’t work with the way I utilize the hiraishin. You see, I found a work around for that limitation of a linked seal. I figured out how to activate the seals without closing the link.”

My jaw dropped.

He chuckled. “Well, in this specific case. I’m not actually sure how to use it more generally. Kushina has been trying to adapt it, but even she hasn’t managed it. Discovering it was pretty much a fluke.”

It seemed to be a trend that major sealing breakthroughs were all just flukes.

“Okay, so you somehow managed that... but how do you seal yourself away?”

Minato-san smirked and held up his hand. In the palm of his hand a seal shimmered into existence, made of his chakra. He pulled his hand away, leaving it floating in the air for a few seconds before it dissipated. Next he held up a finger and repeated the process, though this time with a far smaller version of the seal that fit on his fingertip. The smaller seal was barely visible.

Holy shit. I’d heard of being able to create seals out of pure chakra, but it needed perfect chakra manipulation skills, and I’d never heard of someone being able to maintain them in the air. Usually they would be imprinted onto something solid, like skin or the ground.

“This is why I can’t use the idea to create multiple networks. I would need to leave behind a physical seal if I did that. This way I temporarily create an addition to the network which disappears as soon as I enter the seal and am no longer present to maintain it.”

“Impressive. How do you leave it in the air?”

Minato-san smiled. “Kushina taught me that one, actually. She’ll teach you eventually, too. Once you master chakra seals.”

“But wait,” I said, tapping my chin thoughtfully. “If you never close the link, you can’t use any other linked seals.”

His smile turned wry. “You’re right. I can’t. It’s one of the reasons Kushina was chosen as village Seal Master over me.”

“One of?” I asked.

“I’ve never been quite as good at seals as her. Even when I was trying to catch up to her, no matter how hard I studied, she was always at least a little better than me.” He shook his head fondly. He didn’t seem to mind that she was better. “Over the years since she was chosen, that gap has only grown larger.

“But anyways, that’s why I said it’s unlikely you’ll want to bother with the hiraishin the way I use it. Kushina is perfectly capable of using it—she managed to recreate it herself when I challenged her to. But the cost of giving up linked seals isn’t worth it to her, even if she didn’t need the skill in her position as Seal Master.”

“But why doesn’t she use closed networks like I suggested?”

“Oh, she does,” Minato-san chuckled. “It’s not widely known, and I’ll ask that you keep this knowledge to yourself as well. She only uses it outside of combat—it doesn’t suit her style. But even then, the need to carry around a physical seal limits her. She carries one that is linked to a seal here at home and a few other key locations. But multiple networks is also limited. It requires carrying multiple seals—and this seal breaks if it’s sealed inside another seal. She could carry a dozen seals, but she can only use any of them once. I can get around this by burning the seal into the tag on my kunai, but with a closed link, she can’t.”

“So I could learn it like that.” I said, tapping my chin again.

“You could,” he allowed. “You have my permission to recreate it even, but I won’t be telling you how to do it, and neither will Kushina.”

I smirked. “Sounds like a challenge.”

-x-

I spent the entire week leading up to the so called memorial service in the Uzumaki house, despite my plans to only stay a few days. The Nuisance came back about half way through, but aside from meal times I was mostly able to avoid him. I had hoped to see Kakashi, but he was also out of the village.

I finished my report late on my second full day back. It detailed my experiences in battle and the interrogation, including the parts we held back from Mist. Most of it wasn’t relevant to the situation at hand, but it included information like who all had signed the mouse contract, some details about important players in Cloud, some security information about their bases and village, and more. It was the longest report I’d ever written. Despite the late hour, I decided to drop it off right away since there was always someone available to receive reports at the tower.

After that I retreated to Kushina-sensei’s art studio to work out my feelings from the entire cluster fuck. I did several different paintings of Pinky-taicho’s severed head and a rough portrait of Takai and Amai. I burned each of them as soon as they were complete.

I was... not well. Being in a relatively safe location allowed me to finally process everything I’d done.

Pinky-taicho was the only Leaf ninja I was aware that I’d killed for sure. There were likely others who had died in my seal, or in the explosions I set off. But I couldn’t be certain about that, and I most likely didn’t actually know those people, either.

Pinky-taicho I did know. Not particularly well and I didn’t like him, but I knew him and he didn’t deserve what happened.

I wasn’t stupid. The sensor was likely familiar with everyone who’d been on base. She knew he—and likely others—would be caught in the seal when she told me to activate it. He was sacrificed so we could get out. His life was traded for ours. It was sickening to know that he was seen as expendable. If it had been someone else, someone important, then she would have told me to wait.

It turned my stomach just thinking about it.

And then the interrogation... god I hated those. The prisoner... it was easier not to think of her by name when I thought about it, and it was hard not to think of her at all. She wasn’t actually a bad person. No worse than me, at least. She was just doing her job. I just did mine.

The things I made her see—that I saw with her... I knew it wasn’t actually real. Her kids were fine, and if they weren’t I had nothing to do with it. But the image of Minato-san flaying a little girl alive haunted my dreams. Sometimes I was there as an observer but powerless to stop it or close my eyes, like the prisoner had been. Other times I was the little girl in question.

My second night back I screamed in my sleep and he came into my room to wake me. I completely lost it, convinced he was there to torture me, to kill me. I tried to use my chains on him, completely ruining my pyjama top, among other things, before he restrained me and got me to calm down.

I ended up sitting across from him at the kitchen table at two in the morning drinking tea and explaining what happened in general terms while refusing to look at him. He understood. He didn’t try to wake me up from my nightmares again, but he was always willing to talk when I woke up. I took him up on it more than once. It helped. He had a soothing presence that made it easy to talk about it, but only in the wee hours of the morning.

I visited Sakura on the fifth day, and we went out to Suzuki Kashiya where we split an entire strawberry cheese cake. We’d stopped by the Yamanaka compound to invite Aiko, but she wasn’t home. I suspected she was busy in the intel division.

On the sixth day I was summoned to the bounty department, where I discovered that I would be receiving more money than I’d seen in my entire life. Apparently, when I’d activated that seal, I’d managed to seal away an S-ranked Cloud ninja who had earned himself a hefty bounty.

(Perhaps that was why the sensor told me to activate the seal. Did that make what happened to Pinky-taicho any better? I wasn’t sure.)

I would receive only eighty percent of the listed price, since Leaf posted part of the bounty, with Mist posting the rest. That meant that I only received half of what Leaf offered to pay, but the full amount Mist contributed.

It would be some time before I actually received the money, at present they just needed me for some paper work so they could deposit the funds into my bank account when the bounty office released them.

The way bounties worked was actually pretty interesting. The bounty office was located in Iron country, and was completely neutral. In order to post a bounty, whoever was doing so had to pay half the price to the office up front. The other half was expected to be paid once the bounty was cashed. If a village (or independent party) refused to pay without good reason, then they were prohibited from using the bounty office until they paid a fine equal to twice that which they refused to pay and all their outstanding bounties were withdrawn without refund of the down payment.

Of course, whoever posted the bounty could set conditions, such as restrictions on who could claim it. Currently, Rock, Cloud, and Grass weren’t eligible to claim any bounties Leaf or Mist set. It was also standard to set the condition that if the claimant was a member of the village which set the bounty, then they received only the fifty percent already paid to the bounty office.

Additionally, they could decide whether to add to an existing bounty, as happened with the bounty I was receiving, or they could be posted separately in competition with the other bounty. The latter was most common when there were conditions set on the bounty, like wanting the target alive or a specific part intact.

When someone refused to pay a bounty they had to give a reason, and then the bounty office would make a judgment on whether it was a valid reason or not. Rulings tended to go either way. If it was ruled in favour of the bounty claimant, whoever set the bounty was given the opportunity to continue to refuse or to pay without fine.

Sometimes the one who posted the bounty knew they would lose the ruling but refused regardless as a delaying tactic to keep the money out of someone’s hands for a few weeks longer.

I left the bounty department in a daze. I wasn’t set for life, but I would have a nice nest egg. I could definitely splurge on some new gear and treats. Hell, if I wanted I could afford to move out of the dorms. I wouldn’t, I had no need to, but perhaps I could purchase some shelving? It would be nice to have more storage. While I could always seal things away, it was nice to have my innocuous possessions in view.

Things to consider.

-x-

The memorial ceremony took place on a Sunday. The sunny weather didn’t suit the sombre mood of the occasion, but I supposed the imagery of a rainy funeral was something that happened in fiction rather than real life.

Us survivors were expected to wear the formal black dress uniform, which consisted of a black undershirt, a high necked, double breasted jacket, black pants, and black dress shoes. It was stiff and uncomfortable and I couldn’t wait to get back to the Uzumaki’s and change into my regular clothes.

We were lined up on one side of the Memorial Stone, standing at attention, while the Hokage stood a few metres in front of it, and another man stood on the other side of the stone with some sort of tool in his hand, likely for carving names.

Several hundred people gathered in the field. Most seemed to be there for someone specific, but others were probably there just because the Hokage would be speaking. Some wore dress uniforms, but many wore plain black mourning clothes.

The ceremony officially started precisely at noon, with a speech from the Hokage. I admittedly zoned out about three minutes in, but it went on for a good half an hour. I caught bits and pieces.

Something something will of fire burns brightly.

They tried to douse our fire, but these seven show that our flame may shrink, but it cannot be extinguished.

Something something will of fire something something.

Honourable sacrifices. We will avenge our losses.

Something something will of fire something something, again.

Take a moment of silence before we honour those lost...

The speech ended and entire clearing stood in silence until the Hokage broke it by uttering the first name.

The man who stood by the memorial stone knelt down and began to engrave it. Once he finished, the Hokage read the next name.

And on it went. For two hundred and twenty six fucking names. I wondered which one was Pinky-taicho.

-x-

After the ceremony I changed my clothes and met up with Sakura again. Aiko had already disappeared. I would be worried, but given what I knew, I was certain she was regurgitating everything she remembered from her time working in Base 121’s intelligence department. Knowing her, it was likely a lot.

For a lack of anything better to do, we went back to Suzuki Kashiya, though this time our order was more moderate. We made light conversation (or rather Sakura did, I mostly just listened to her) for about an hour before going our separate ways.

When I returned to the Uzumaki household I went straight to the studio, where I sketched out Pinky-taicho’s head and promptly burned it.

I decided then and there that it would be my last one. With the memorial service over and done with, it was time to move on.

I pulled out a fresh piece of paper and began a rough sketch of Hanako. I worked on it until I was called down for dinner.

I stepped into the dining room and was immediately engulfed in a warm hug.

“Sekai-chan! Minato just told me what happened. I’m, like, so happy you’re okay!” Kushina sobbed, blinking back tears.

“Sensei, it’s good to see you, too.”

-x-

The next day I was called down to the intel department bright and early where they insisted on trying to let a Yamanaka view my memories from my time stationed in Hot Water Country. I reluctantly allowed it, but only because I was certain they would soon give up, which was proven true.

After that failed, they resorted to doing it the standard way, which meant I was subjected to a gruelling interview where they forced me to recall my entire time there in as much detail as possible, focusing particularly on the patrol missions I ran.

It took nearly nine hours and left me mentally exhausted. I went straight back to my room at the Uzumaki household and took a nap.

I slept through dinner, but Kushina-sensei had leftovers waiting for me when I came down.

“Ah, Sekai-chan, I need to talk to you. Why don’t you join me in Minato’s office while you eat?” It sounded like a suggestion, but I got the feeling it was more of an order, so I agreed without fuss.

She sat behind his desk and cleared it off so there was room for me to eat on the opposite side. I grabbed the spare chair, pulled it up against the front of the desk, and began to eat.

“As you can imagine, there are some consequences of what happened. You, Sakura-chan, and Aiko-chan made the bingo book,” she informed me, setting out three sheets of paper.

I picked the first one up. It wasn’t actually a normal sheet of paper, but rather a page sized sticker to be placed in a bingo book.

All bingo books had a section of blank pages at the end, meant for stickers like these. New information came out too frequently to actually republish the entire book—it was too expensive. Instead they did a full update about once a year, and in the meantime they distributed sheets like this for people to manually add to their own copies.

The entry I was holding was for Aiko. There was a rough sketch of her at the top that was fairly accurate, but not quite right. Really, it could have been almost any Yamanaka her age in a pair of glasses

Yamanaka 75-01

Name: unknown
Affiliation: Leaf
Threat Level: A
Age: 12-15
Rank: Chuunin
Descriptions: Short blonde hair, blue eyes (Yamanaka variation), wears glasses. Approximately 152 cm.

First Added: Year 75

Known Associates:

• Uzumaki 75-01

• Leaf Medical Ninja 75-02

Significant Actions:

• Hot Water Crush Survivor

Significant Abilities and Jutsu:

• assumed to be proficient with the standard Yamanaka repertoire

• spear—absorbs ninjutsu

“Wait, who is the Uzumaki she’s affiliated with?” I asked after swallowing a bit of rice, confused. It couldn't be sensei, they had no way of knowing of their relationship.

Sensei smirked and tapped one of the other pages. I picked it up and recoiled. “Me? Why do they think I’m an Uzumaki?”

Sensei laughed at me. “Sekai-chan, you used a secret Uzumaki technique. Of course they’re assuming you’re an Uzumaki. Teaching an outsider clan techniques is almost unheard of.”

Well, when she put it like that... I ignored her and examined my own entry more closely. At the top was a sketch that gave a rough likeness of myself. I skimmed over it, scowling when I saw my estimated age, and then snorting at their assumptions of my heritage.

Uzumaki 75-01

Name: unknown
Affiliation: Leaf
Threat Level: A
Age: 6-8
Rank: Chuunin
Description: Medium to long purple hair, yellow eyes. Approximately 120 cm.

First added: Year 75

Known Associates:

• Yamanaka 75-01

• Leaf Medical Ninja 75-02

• Uchiha Itachi

• Possible: Uzumaki Kushina

Significant Actions:

• Hot Water Crush Survivor

Significant Abilities and Jutsu:

• Uzumaki Chains

• Genjutsu

Notes: one of the last surviving Uzumaki, suspected to be the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina.

I pulled up Sakura’s next, which likewise featured a rough sketch of her.

Leaf Medical Ninja 75-02

Name: unknown
Affiliation: Leaf
Threat Level: A
Age: 12-14
Rank: Chuunin

Description: Medium-short pink hair, green eyes. Approximately 150 cm.

First added: Year 75

Known Associates:

• Yamanaka 75-01

• Uzumaki 75-01

• Possible: Senju Tsunade

Significant Actions:

• Hot Water Crush Survivor

Significant Abilities and Jutsu:

• Advanced medical ninjutsu

• Super human strength

Notes: Suspected to be the second apprentice of Senju Tsunade.

“They don’t seem to know much about us, and they listed us all as A-rank,” I commented.

“The lack of information is, like, a good thing,” Sensei assured me. “While it’s possible they’re misleading us with how much they know about the three of you, this indicates the mole died before he could report back about you.” She paused, and continued in a more serious tone. “The threat level is what we need to talk about, though.

“Frankly, none of you are A-rank yet. They saw the three of you fighting together, and you fighting with Itachi. Together the three of you are phenomenal, and I’m sure you performed well with Itachi, but on your own it’s a different story,” she told me, propping her elbow on the table and lacing her fingers together. “You’re all solidly B-rank, which is impressive for your ages. But people will expect more from the three of you than you are capable.

“For now the three of you are on a training hiatus and restricted to the village. Once you show enough improvement you’ll be permitted to go on low-risk missions. Once you reach A-rank or close to it you’ll be allowed on riskier missions.”

“I understand.”

“I’ll be working on a training plan for you. Minato, Itachi, Shisui, and Kakashi have all agreed to help when they have time,” she informed me. “So you will be kept busy. There will still be team training, supervised by me, Tsunade-sama, or Kairi-chan when possible—”

“Kairi-sensei?” I interrupted, my voice cracking slightly. “You mean she’s awake?”

Kushina-sensei’s mouth slammed shut, then formed a small o. “No one told you yet?” Her voice was gentle. Soothing. Remorseful. “She woke up about a week after you left. She’s still getting back into shape, but Tsunade-sama is confident she’ll make a full recovery.”

A weight I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying seemed to lift off my shoulders. Things would be okay.

-x-

Kushina-sensei and I set several goals for my individual training.

First, I needed to improve my genjutsu. I needed to increase my repertoire and proficiency with multiple targets. I had improved a lot under trial by fire, but I still had a long way to go. As things stood, I could only use D- and C-rank genjutsu on multiple targets. I would also be practising layering genjutsu. It was impressive that I had managed against the storm release user, but if I had been better I could have done it a lot sooner. Minutes, even seconds, could be the difference between life and death in a battle.

Second was seal work. Kushina-sensei was going to start teaching me about barrier seals and how best to use them in combat. She was also going to be giving me some more general theory lessons, so I could work on some ideas of my own.

Finally, we were going to work on my taijutsu. I was good not just for my age or size but also my rank. Still, I needed to be better since I didn’t have any close range ninjutsu to enhance my attacks. Included in this was improving my strength and stamina.

When I met up with Sakura and Aiko, they shared their training goals with me as well.

Sakura would be learning to summon and use the chakra scalpel in combat. Once she mastered those she would begin working on adapting some other medical ninjutsu for combat purposes. Her super strength made her powerful in close combat, but it had limits, and sometimes a more delicate touch was required. She would also work on learning some fire ninjutsu to give her some range.

Aiko planned to train with her spear and learn some new earth ninjutsu. More importantly, she planned to delve further into her bloodline limit. She was certain there was more to it than just reading minds, but she needed to experiment to figure out what else it could do.

For group training, we would work on incorporating our new skills into our fighting style, plus more work on stealth and dodging. According to Aiko, Kairi-sensei was worried we’d been slacking off in her absence.

The coming months were going to be busy.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Sometimes you actually get a mission to do the right thing, and yet what they ask of you for it...”

-x-

“We’ve finally finished compiling the information regarding Base 121, including speaking with former intelligence officers who were stationed there on the last two rotations, combing over over the reports, and intensively debriefing Yamanaka Aiko, sir. Here is the final report,” a woman who clearly belonged to the Yamanaka clan said, handing over a file.

The Hokage accepted it, he opened it and casually flipped through it. “The highlights, if you will.”

“As far as we’ve been able to determine, scouting parties and patrols into Frost discovered unusual activity from Cloud. It was hypothesized they had established a new base there in the last six to eight months, but it wasn’t seen as particularly important as Cloud tends to move their bases around fairly frequently and didn’t pose a major threat to any of our interests in the area. One—and only one—of the intelligence officers was able to confirm that there should have been updates on the situation in every report, including information on the precise location, but we only found brief mention of it in the report from just before the imposter replaced Hayashi.”

Dan stroked his chin. “Presumably not a base then. The information from the interrogation indicated there may be a strategic asset in the area, this would line up with that.”

“Yes,” the woman confirmed. “Yamanaka Aiko did have knowledge of the presumed base, as did two of the seven intelligence officers who have rotated out in the last six months, though the details on the precise location of the base are lost. The others were unaware as their focus was on other targets. They’ve all compiled reports on what they remember, it’s in the file. However, we have no definitive answer as to what exactly the strategic asset may be. It will require further investigation. We’ve mind-walked all seven of the intelligence officers and found no evidence of treason, but I recommend we remain cautious and continue to monitor them.”

“I’ll have a look later and decide how to proceed. Moving on, is your report on your secondary objective ready yet?”

“I have not finished writing it yet, as the situation with Cloud took precedence, but I can provide a verbal summary at this time.”

“Please do.”

“Firstly, I was able to successfully keep my secondary mission from Aiko-kun.”

“Excellent, while not disastrous if she knew, it could be a minor inconvenience or affect the integrity of the information.”

The woman inclined her head. “Indeed. From what I’ve been able to determine, Hoshino Sekai is progressing within acceptable parameters. Her attachment to her team continues to grow stronger—though I caution that their loyalty to her grows in turn, and we must be cautious about Aiko-kun passing information to her. She also demonstrated significant attachment to Uchiha Itachi, and responded well when he reprimanded her, her behaviour improving. She respects him enough to listen. She maintained an acceptable standard of decorum even when faced with mild hostility from those around her.

“One should note that she has made an increased effort in connecting with the survivors after the attack—superficially, but she did not completely disregard them like she does most others.”

Dan hummed. “Decent progress overall. I think it’s time we set up a test—for the both of them.”

-x-

Twenty Six

Genjutsu was not something that could be practised alone. It unfortunately required people to cast it on. The problem was that while Itachi and Shisui were available to help train me, they didn’t have the time to spend ages being subject to genjutusu. Similarly, neither did my teammates. They had their own intensive training schedules to follow.

I discussed the problem with Kushina-sensei, who must have passed it on to Kairi-sensei, because soon after I was given permission to practice my genjutsu on prisoners before they were executed. We apparently had a steady stream of them coming into the village. It wasn’t something most people would be permitted to do, but given I was technically certified as an interrogator even if it wasn’t my primary classification, I was given the privilege.

As prisoners, their chakra was sealed, which meant they couldn’t break any of my genjutsu. This was a downside in terms of making my genjutsu more difficult to break, however it was perfect for learning and fine tuning new genjutsu and practising layering genjutsu.

Both Itachi and Shisui were incredibly impressed when they learned that I had layered seven genjutsu and that was how my team took down the laser guy from Cloud. I thought they would be less impressed when they found out it took me several tries, but no. Regardless of how long it took me, they still found it incredibly impressive I managed to do it in the heat of combat, especially when in practice I’d never tried more than four layers.

They gave me a lot of advice about how to build up speed when layering and how to get better at it. They recommended I practice layering two genjutsu of varying ranks until I could do it with the ease of casting a single genjutsu, and then practice doing it in spars. After that, add a layer and repeat.

It sounded simple, but in practice it would take a long time.

I spent hours upon hours practising it on prisoners, but after a solid month of daily practice I was able to layer two genjutsu of varying ranks on prisoners with the ease of casting just one.

I also learned a few new genjutsu from Itachi and Shisui in that time period that the prisoners had the pleasure of being guinea pigs for.

When I wasn’t practising genjutsu I was physically training. Kushina-sensei was holding off on new seal work for now in favour of improving my hand to hand combat, stamina and speed.

I was already fast for a chuunin, but one could never be fast enough. Given the new target on my back speed would help keep me alive. Speed to dodge, speed to run, speed to get in close and attack before they could stop me.

I wore weights at all times. It had the benefit of helping both my speed and stamina.

For hand to hand, Kushina-sensei and I focused on what I could do to quickly take out an opponent both with and without a kunai in hand.

I was strong for my size and stature, surprisingly so, which was an advantage. While I couldn’t enhance my strength the way Sakura and Tsunade-sensei could, I had managed to pick up the standard chakra reinforcement that most jounin could do and used it to great effect.

However, for now we were focusing on using my strength defensively and strategically. I would not be taking down my opponents with punches like Sakura did. Instead, I’d focus on using it block strikes, knock my opponents back, and to create openings to go for soft spots.

I sparred mostly with Kushina-sensei’s shadow clones. Unlike most people, her clones were capable of taking some pretty hard hits before dispelling. A consequence of her special chakra, apparently. They only dispelled when I landed a disabling or killing blow.

We briefly considered training me with a sword to give me extra reach to compensate for the size difference, but ultimately concluded that it wasn’t worth the time it would take to learn to use it effectively when it didn’t compliment my fighting style. I’d already spent years learning how to get in close without getting hurt, I would have to learn an entirely new style and breaking habits was hard.

Besides, if I couldn’t get in close then I had my chains. We spent more time working with those as well.

When Kushina-sensei was busy, her husband or Kakashi-senpai would take over supervising my physical training and sparring. It was rare that all three were unavailable.

On the days when Kakashi-senpai took over, we’d go back to his place after for dinner, and I would spend time with the dogs, who were always happy to see me and get some pets in. He gave me permission to stop by and visit his ninken even if he was out of the village, but I only took him up on it twice. Despite living there for awhile to look after him, it felt strange to go there alone, even with permission, despite his assurances and the assurances of his pack that I was welcome.

When it came time to practice my genjutsu on multiple targets and work on making it more difficult to break, we had to find someone for me to practice on beyond the prisoners.

In the end, I got stuck working with genin teams. Ew.

It was considered a win/win situation by the village. A lot of jounin didn’t have the skill with genjutsu to teach their brats to break out of anything but the simplest illusions, so I was both teaching and training.

I hated working with the genin brats. A lot of them had trouble recognizing genjutsu and several struggled to break them, especially in the heat of a spar. It was good practice for catching multiple people in a genjutsu while fighting, but it wasn’t very good for knowing how difficult it was to break my genjutsu.

Fortunately, their jounin sensei also agreed to participate, and they were generally able to give me a better metric, especially the sensei of The Nuisance’s team, as she was an Uchiha.

As an Uchiha, she could have trained her brats in recognizing and dispelling genjutsu herself and spared me interacting with The Nuisance, Itachi’s little brother, and some Tominaga girl whose name escaped me, but apparently Itachi asked her to let me do it.

He absolutely did it to be petty and annoy me, he knew how much I disliked The Nuisance. He even confirmed it when I confronted him after the first session with that team, though apparently he had other reasons as well.

Namely, he wanted me to put his brother in his place. His brother knew he tutored me in genjutsu and had complained that since I didn’t have a sharingan it was a waste of time and Itachi should have spent the time training him instead. He wanted me to prove my skill with genjutsu, and once he told me that I took special pleasure in humiliating the kid by catching him in illusions he couldn’t break. He might have been able to with a sharingan, but he hadn’t activated it yet, if he ever would.

The training with the genin teams, while annoying, did prove to be fruitful. Both Itachi and Shisui noted improvement in my genjutsu every time I sparred with them.

Since we were all busy with our individual training, Team Four only met up for team training once a week, in order to keep each other updated on our growth and work on our teamwork. Whenever Kairi-sensei was leading a session, we worked on our stealth as well. She was pleased that we had kept up our practice with it while she had been in her coma.

After each team session we took a few hours to grab a meal together and just hang out. We often ended up at my place, for even though it was small, I was the only one who lived alone. Sakura once suggested soaking at the public bath together, but when I told her about the peeping problem she promptly decided she wouldn’t be returning there at all.

After a few months, Kushina-sensei started me back on more seal theory. It would cut into my genjutsu time, but by that point I was comfortable layering two genjutsu when sparring which was significant progress. Adding to that would still take a lot of time and training, but I couldn’t afford to neglect sealing any longer, and what sensei would be teaching me would be incredibly useful.

We were finally starting on barrier seals.

The freeze tag seal I created myself way back in the day was actually a very simple barrier seal, though one that wasn’t particularly impressive. It created a small, invisible barrier of chakra around the target to hold them in place. I ended up mostly discontinuing them because they were too easy to break out of—they were easily disrupted by pushing your chakra outside of your body and I never looked into improving them, too focused on the new things Kushina-sensei taught me.

Sensei made frequent use of barrier seals in combat. They were useful for blocking attacks, cutting off escapes and trapping enemies, and aided in her manoeuvrability. She was able to make barriers in mid air for her to jump off of to get a height advantage, or to launch herself off of and change direction midair with incredible speed. She was able to use them at a moment’s notice with chakra seals, making them seem to appear from thin air.

I’d never actually seen it before when we sparred, but she brought in Kakashi-senpai for a combat demonstration and the results were impressive. She was everywhere. Kakashi-senpai used a wide array of ninjutsu and her barriers absorbed or deflected each and every one of them.

It was incredibly impressive.

After the demonstration, I was dragged to sensei’s office for a lecture, which continued in our next session. Barrier seals were complicated, and according to Kushina-sensei it was a small miracle I’d managed to make even a very basic, weak one before she properly started teaching me.

Recalling the battles in Hot Water, I couldn’t help but think how helpful it would have been to be able to erect barrier seals around Sakura to protect her while she healed allies instead of having to fend off attackers ourselves.

The downside was that they could be very chakra intensive. Fortunately, it was a flat cost. The chakra ratio didn’t matter. It wouldn’t cost me any more or less chakra than it cost sensei, though she had the benefit of having insane reserves which let her use them to the extent she did.

There were some work arounds for the chakra cost, fortunately, but they were extremely complicated and it would take awhile before I got to that point.

The easiest was to create a barrier that absorbed chakra. Any time someone touched it it would leach their chakra, and when ninjutsu or genjutsu tried to pass through it, it would absorb it as fuel. The downside to this was that it cost as much as a regular barrier to maintain, and if there was nothing to absorb the full cost was still on the user for as long as it was active.

The second option was a slight variation of the first, to foist the chakra cost off onto someone else. This could be done various ways, including with linked seals. It was a simple concept, apply a seal to the power source and link it to the barrier seal. In some situations enemies could be used as the chakra source, but it was also a viable option to use allies as well. Sakura, for example, once she filled and activated her yin seal, would likely be a good option. Of course, only with her knowledge and permission. It was bad form to drain an ally’s chakra without it.

Using linked seals for this came with the draw back that you would need to create a new set of seals every time you wanted to create a new barrier. Or that’s what sensei initially said during her lecture, however I remembered my discussion with Minato-san about his hiraishin and how he found a work around to needing to close the link before activating seals and asked if that could be used in this situation.

Kushina-sensei had been stunned, unaware that Minato-san had shared that with me, but then she burst into laughter and lifted me up, twirling me around.

It would definitely work she said, and it was a particularly brilliant idea. She’d personally never thought of it because she rarely used seals in such a way. In general, she had so much chakra that transferring the cost to another person wasn’t necessary, and for her seals where she wanted to transfer the cost to someone else for other reasons, it was never in a way where the drawback of linked seals impaired her.

The final option to reduce chakra cost was to create a barrier fuelled by natural energy. Natural energy, which when harnessed by humans was often called nature chakra, was all around us. Plants and vegetation emitted large amounts of it, but it was present in the air even in places like the Red Plateau, though the overall level of saturation was much lower there.

Barriers fuelled by natural energy had almost no drain on the user but were extremely complicated to set up, and even easier to mess up. And mistakes with them could be fatal. I wouldn’t be learning how to make them for a few more years, according to sensei.

The village’s barriers, which would be raised if the village was under assault, were of this sort, Kushina-sensei informed me. Chakra was also constantly fed into them, as the more already in the seal the longer they could last before drawing on natural energy to sustain themselves. Even drawing on natural energy, the barriers could only be sustained for so long before they drew up all the natural energy in the area and fell.

Once satisfied that I had a solid theoretical background, Sensei decided that instead of just teaching me a basic barrier seal, we would start with improving my freeze tag seals.

The first thing we did was make it so they weren’t so easy to dispel. No longer would foreign chakra interfere with the seal. Sensei made me figure out how to do this mostly by myself, though she was willing to answer questions as long as they weren’t just spoon feeding me the solution. It took me a few attempts, but eventually I got it.

The second change we made was make the barrier itself stronger. My original barrier was enough to restrict movement, but it could be broken through with enough force.

The final change was the most difficult. We made the seal absorb chakra. Kushina helped a lot with this part, forgoing making me figure it out myself. With this, instead of the duration being limited by how much chakra I feed into the seal, the duration will be limited by the chakra of the target. The downside was that it had the potential to suck the target dry and kill them. If I planned to use it for extended periods of time and didn’t want to kill someone, I would have to closely monitor things to prevent it.

It was a good tool to have in my repertoire for if I wanted a nonlethal take down, and would end up coming in handy in future missions.

-x-

It was October before I was allowed to do a mission again, and when I found out what it was I desperately wished I could say no.

But ninja don’t get to say no, not without good reason and “I don’t want to” unfortunately doesn’t cut it. Nor did “but I’ll miss my teammate’s birthday!” Such things were given little consideration here.

(I quickly acquired a gift and left it with Sakura to give to Aiko in my place. With her work at the hospital it was unlikely she would be away on Aiko’s birthday.)

The mission was in The Capital and I was going undercover with Kairi-sensei, without the rest of my team. Instead, a man I’d never met before would be joining us. His name was Hara Keiji. He was to pose as my father while Kairi-sensei posed as my mother, and I posed as a seven year old girl.

Keiji had light blue hair and yellow-ish eyes, a bit more green than mine, but close enough that one could believe I inherited my eyes from him.

All three of us ended up dying our hair black and Kairi-sensei did something to help hide her scars, I wasn’t quite sure what. It wasn’t just regular makeup and it wasn’t a jutsu either. She also wore a glass eye and a pair of glasses. I used a spray to cover my seals, including the one on my thigh. The spray matched my skintone perfectly and required a special soap to remove. It would limit my access to the seals, as accessing them would require me to reapply the spray after.

For the mission, I was lent a trunk full of upscale clothing, to match a girl of my alleged status.

We ran until we were only fifty kilometres from The Capital, where we met up with a genin team. They had a horse drawn carriage waiting for us and would be posing as our escort to The Capital.

Once in the cart we began our final preparations. I carefully selected an outfit from the trunk that was suitable and Kairi-sensei weaved my hair into an elegant but practical braid.

We arrived in The Capital some hours later and headed straight for the Daimyo’s compound. We were met at the outer gates by guards. We showed our falsified documents and legitimate letter of invitation and were allowed in, minus our genin guards who were dismissed, their mission complete.

The palace itself was at the centre of the compound, gated off behind another wall, the security over there much tighter.

We were escorted by the guard to a guest house on the edge of the property, where we were met with another team of guards, though they were not for us.

“Oh, Cousin Sora! I’ve missed you so!” a rather plump woman screeched as she ran up to Kairi-sensei and engulfed her in a warm hug. Kairi-sensei returned it. When she pulled back she turned to me and knelt down. “Oh, Mirai-chan!” she squealed, pinching my cheeks. “It’s so wonderful to see you again! I haven’t seen you since you were a baby! You’ve grown so much.”

I looked down, like I was shy, and slid closer to Kairi-sensei.

“Oh, of course, you don’t remember me, I’m sorry dear,” she apologized, standing up straight again. She turned to Keiji. “Wonderful to see you again Ken, I hope you’ve been treating my cousin right!” she said with a laugh, but there was a hint of steel in her eyes, like it was a threat.

The woman ushered us into the guest house and instructed the guards to bring our things. They obeyed without question. They tried to linger inside, but the woman told them to leave and wait outside.

“But Madam Shijimi!” one of the guards protested. “It’s for your own protection.”

Madam Shijimi huffed. “You’ve already searched the house and deemed it safe, it’s only the servants inside. You can guard me from outdoors just fine. This is my cousin. I’m perfectly safe with Sora and her family. I face much more danger when I make my visits back home.”

“But in these trying times—” the guard tried again, but was silenced by a glare.

“You’ll wait for me outside, that is final. Know your place, guard.”

Cowed, the guard bowed in difference. “As you wish, Madam.”

Once the four of us were alone, we settled into the sitting room.

“Well now, I think it’s about time to get down to business,” Madam Shijimi said. “Thank you for coming. I tried to order an official mission, but my dear husband won’t take the issue seriously, even now that upper class girls are being targeted.”

“You did your best, Sumire,” Kairi-sensei consoled her. It took me a moment to understand why she was calling Madam Shijimi by another name, but then I remembered that the Daimyo had the archaic tradition of giving his wives new names upon marriage. Sumire must be the woman’s actual name. It wasn’t in the brief. I disapproved of renaming a woman like that, so I made an effort to commit her real name to memory. “It’s the daimyo’s idiotic insistence on not allowing ninja to operate in The Capital without permission. As if that stops us.”

Sumire laughed. “Truly, every single person currently in this house is a ninja, and he has no idea, the fool.”

Indeed, Sumire—or Madam Shijimi as was her official title—was the second wife of the Fire Daimyo, and she was a special jounin sent to infiltrate The Capital.

About fifteen years ago the Fire Daimyo announced his intent to find a second wife. (And he has since taken a third and fourth.) Women from all over the Land of Fire were sent to The Capital in an attempt to catch his eye. Leaf, of course, sent a handful of women of our own, all ninja, all infiltration specialists, though they posed as civilians. With some subtle sabotage, Leaf was able to ensure that one of their agents was chosen.

(Since we had already established a presence through the second wife, when he announced his intent to take a third and then fourth wife, Leaf only sent genuine candidates from civilian families and discreetly sabotaged certain candidates.)

Since then, she has been coming back to Leaf roughly once every month or two and stays for a week to “visit family” and act as an ambassador for the Fire Daimyo.

As the second wife, she was replaceable and of lower rank than the first wife, so usually the travel was permitted despite the risk for the perceived benefit of making her presence known in the village. Her job was essentially to be seen and to remind the village to stay on the good side of the Fire Daimyo because his reach extended to the Village Hidden in Leaves.

She used this as an opportunity to report in with intel and keep up with her physical training.

Beyond Sumire, Leaf infiltrated The Capital in various other ways. There were ninja posing as merchants, as peasants, and of course, as servants in various households. Over the years Sumire had carefully curated her staff so that they were all Leaf ninja.

The “servants” she assigned us for the duration of our stay would work with us for the assignment.

“Is the girl truly prepared for this mission?” Sumire asked bluntly. “I wasn’t expecting one so young.”

“Sekai is a chuunin, she can handle it,” Kairi-sensei assured her, then paused a moment. “She’s not too young looking, is she?”

“No, she’s perfect,” Sumire said bluntly. “I was just expecting someone under a transformation or a young teenager who could pass as a few years younger, not an actual child. I didn’t realize we had someone suitable.”

“We felt that it was less risky to use Sekai. She appears to be the right age, and has both the combat skills to protect herself and fairly intensive training with infiltration, though not a specialist. We don’t know anything about the perp, he may be able to detect transformations.”

“A wise decision. Very well, let me tell you the details, I wasn’t able to smuggle all of it back to the village when I made the mission request, since my darling husband insists it’s grown too dangerous to travel...”

I listened intently as Sumire filled us in.

Starting a year ago, young girls started to go missing. At first it was peasant girls and no one really looked for them or even cared, beyond those immediately affected. Their bodies turned up some time later, showing evidence of being... well, violated. It was unclear if it was pre- or postmortem. Then girls from the merchant class went missing, and about a week later their bodies turned up in the same condition. There was more attention paid at this point and several families pooled their resources together to cover the cost of a mission and petitioned the Daimyo for permission to hire Leaf ninja to investigate, but he refused. Sumire attempted to convince him, but he felt that the local authorities could handle it, ninja did not need to be brought in.

Local authorities clearly could not handle it. Or perhaps simply wouldn’t. It was unclear which.

The perpetrator had since escalated to upper class girls. Not quite nobles, but noble adjacent.

That was where I came in. As the “cousin” of the Daimyo’s second wife I was disconnected enough from the Daimyo that I wouldn’t be too protected and wasn’t technically a noble, but my status was higher than any of the other girls who went missing. I would make a tempting target.

I appeared to be the best age for it as well. The victims ranged from ages six to eleven, but most were on the lower end.

All of the girls had black hair, which was the main reason my hair was dyed, not just so I would share a superficial resemblance with Kairi-sensei and Sumire.

Sumire’s network in The Capital had compiled information on any other similarities and trends between the girls and we would carefully comb over it all to create the ideal persona (but not too ideal) before presenting me in public.

The disappearances and murders were happening about twice a month, which shocked me. I hadn’t realized it was so frequent, and to think, the Daimyo still didn’t care to do anything about it. That was over twenty girls.

The last girl was found a week ago, so they were expecting him to strike soon.

They didn’t know much about the perpetrator for certain, but they had some guesses.

It was unclear if he had any ninja training, but if he did, they put him as a C-ranked threat at the most—I would be able to handle him on my own.

Ninja training or not, he had the skills to break into civilian dwellings—at least four girls appeared to be taken from their bedrooms, possibly more. The circumstances surrounding some of the disappearances were unclear.

He showed a pattern of escalation, he was pushing boundaries. He wanted to see how far he could go, who else he could take without consequence.

He seemed to be working alone or with a small team at most.

They didn’t have a match to the DNA on the recovered semen, but each sample was from the same man.

The chances of an actual trafficking ring being involved were low. While there was a market for, well, this, it was too sloppy. Organized trafficking rings wouldn’t just leave the bodies out to be found, they would dispose of them themselves to reduce the chances of being caught.

This man was flaunting his actions in comparison.

With the details in place, we started discussing our plan.

Obviously, I was bait. Our stay was indefinite. At minimum a month, but we’d stay up to four. By that point if I didn’t catch the perpetrator’s eye, I probably wouldn’t. As much as I wanted to catch the culprit and stop him, part of me desperately hoped I didn’t catch his eye and he became someone else’s problem.

While in The Capital, I would attend parties and “explore” the city with my parents and a single guard, and overall just try to be as visible as possible. If he didn’t strike within the first month, I would “slip away” from my parents and the guard and “get lost.”

If I was taken, I was to go along with it only up to a point. I was not to let myself be raped, however if possible it was advised that I catch him in a genjutsu to make him believe things were going as planned to buy time. That would have the unfortunate consequence of being aware of what he wanted to do to me through the connection, and I rather wished I didn’t have to.

Sumire’s ninneko, Tora, would be in the guest house with us at all times and would alert Kairi-sensei as soon as I was taken so she could track me.

How we dealt with the perpetrator would depend on his station. If he was a nobody we would simply interrogate him and see who else was involved, if anyone, and then kill him and dispose of the body. If he wasn’t a nobody... well, then it got a little complicated.

-x-

The first party was the most grand that would be held during my stay—the Daimyo’s Autumn Garden Party. The weather in Fire Country was mild enough that even in October, an outdoor party was feasible, even for the delicate nobles.

For it, Sumire gifted me a beautiful kimono that she said was mine to keep beyond the mission. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it, it was grand enough that I had to have the help of two servants to put it on and I couldn’t imagine I’d ever have occasion to wear something so grand any time in the future. The kimono was sized so that I would have room to grow several inches and it would still fit, but even assuming it would fit me for the next two or three years... I doubted I’d wear it again.

I appreciated it though. Like the clothes I was lent for the mission, it was designed to hide small weapons in the lining. I used it to hide a few rolled up freeze tags.

In addition to the already generous gift of the kimono, Sumire also gave me a set of hairpins that had a retractable blade. These I could see myself using again in the future and would never outgrow.

The garden party itself was incredibly boring, but I played my part so well even Dollface wouldn’t have been able to complain. I was shy and demure, I didn’t speak much, but I graceful and humble. We gave off the impression that I was brought to The Capitol to introduce me to the upper class in hopes of catching a noble’s eye and arranging a beneficial betrothal.

I was with Kairi-sensei and my False Father the entire time. Sumire made some time for us, but as the Daimyo’s second wife she wasn’t able to stay with us the whole time.

She introduced us to her husband and few other important nobles, but after that she deferred to one of her “dear friends” (who was actually another infiltration specialist who had married some minor noble I immediately forgot the name of, though his face and position were committed to memory just in case) to be our social guide for the night.

We flitted around the party, being as visible as possible without drawing a suspicious amount of attention. If the perpetrator was at the party, he would have seen me.

The day after the party we went over all the men who attended and discussed the appropriate way to handle things in the case that one of them was who we were looking for.

Two days later our little pretend family went out and explored the city. We explored the market and bought some new clothes and accessories that would be passed on to the infiltration department for future use once we returned to the village.

We found a park and I asked if I could go play, but Kairi-sensei refused, telling me that I would get my clothes dirty and it was unbecoming of a girl of my station. I let my shoulders slump in disappointment, but obeyed. As we walked passed, I looked back longingly.

We were laying the ground work for me to “run off” on my own at some point, and giving a hint at where I’d go. There was no way to tell if we were being observed or not, but we would repeat this a few times just in case.

Over the next two months, our days were spent at parties, gatherings, or being tourists. Our evenings were spent pouring over the information that the spy network turned up regarding the case.

A little over a week since we arrived a new body was found. They kept coming like clockwork. With every body that arrived new information surfaced and we began to narrow down our profile and eliminate suspects.

As time went on, I started to grow complacent and believe that I hadn’t caught the culprit’s eye after all.

I was, of course, wrong.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“Eventually I would learn, there was no proving myself. There would always be another test.”

-x-

As part of her work with the intelligence department, Aiko was often set the task of fetching intelligence reports from the Intelligence Archives. It sounded like a menial task beneath someone apprenticed to the head of Internal Espionage, but access to the archives was heavily restricted, even among the intel subdivisions. Even Aiko only had access to portions of it. The task was in no way beneath anyone. Only the most trusted were permitted to run reports. Often, it was also used as a learning opportunity for her, and she was invited to help go over the reports she retrieved with her mentor.

Today was one such day. The previous day she had exhausted herself while training with her clan, so today she was taking it easy with respect to physical training and working in headquarters.

Her primary task was as part of the intelligence team working on gathering information regarding Cloud’s attack on Base 121, but she was still called upon by Kairi-sensei for other tasks, and today was one of them.

Today, her sensei was bringing her in on a case of a first year academy student that was under observation and she’d recently been authorized to access a new section of the archive in order to pull the file. Up until now, she hadn’t been very involved with this area of internal espionage, beyond knowing that the village did it and some general reasons why.

The Intelligence Archives were spread out across the village, underground with entrances in various locations. Records were necessary, but dangerous, so instead of being kept in a single large collection, they were spread out in over fifty smaller ones.

Aiko had only been to about eight of them, and there was always a sense of excitement about being allowed in a new one.

She left headquarters wearing a very specific henge with three tokens in her pocket. She walked through the village and entered a convenience store near edge of the village. She walked in and greeted the man at the counter with the correct passphrase and received the expected reply. The man discreetly flipped a switch, and she walked through the now unlocked “employees only” door.

Aiko closed the door behind her, relocking it even though the ninja working the front wouldn’t let anyone in until she was done, and walked over to the desk sitting innocuously against the wall. She bent down and pushed the token engraved with a swirling pattern into a small slot hidden underneath and heard a soft click. She removed the token then opened the bottom drawer, pulling it out just so and placed the token marked with a series of numbers through a second slot. Another click. For now, she left that token in place The third token, which had a circle punched out from the middle, was inserted into the underside of one of the drawers. She continued inserting and removing the appropriate tokens in the required slots in the required order until the final lock was released.

She smiled in relief. There was always a certain anxiety about accessing a new archive for the first time, even with the directions memorized. No two locking mechanisms were the same and it was easy to get confused if one wasn’t careful.

If she had made a mistake she would have tripped a silent alarm and been immediately detained by ninja hidden nearby, and more importantly, the self destruct mechanism for the archive would have been triggered. The man at the counter would need to manually delay the response every five minutes until given notice to either allow the destruction, or agents disabled the system after declaring the information secure.

With the locks disengaged, she pushed back the rug on the other side of the room and opened the hatch below, revealing a winding staircase. As she walked down the staircase, she flipped a switch and the hatch above her closed.

At the bottom of the staircase was a locked door. She inserted all three tokens, then turned the nob and stepped inside.

Hanging on the wall was a visitor log. She jotted down her personal intelligence code and the time and date of access. If the number of visitors recorded by the agent running the storefront and the number in the log didn’t match up or the personal intelligence code wasn’t valid, an investigation was triggered. She would also have to fill out a form at headquarters verifying her access and reason. It would all be reviewed at the end of the month and any discrepancies would again, trigger an investigation.

The archive was about the size of a classroom at the academy and filled with rows of filing cabinets, with a small desk at the side for working at.

Aiko walked through the rows until she saw the cabinet marked with the correct year and class number. She opened the drawer and flipped through the files until she found the one she was sent for.

She sealed it away in a storage seal drawn on a small square of paper, and tucked the seal into her bra for safekeeping.

With her task complete, she should have left. However... by being granted access to the archive, she was also granted access to all of the information within, none of it was classified from her. If she wanted to look around, she had permission and no one would even blame her. It was expected, even.

And so, she went to the cabinet marked for her academy class and opened it, curious about her team’s academy surveillance files. She pulled out hers and Sekai’s, and placed them on the desk while she went off in search of the cabinet for Sakura’s class, then pulled hers out too and went to the desk to read them.

She read her own first, but it was just what was expected and rather thin compared to other files on her lurking about the various hidden archives. She had been under close observation to determine whether she was suitable for an apprenticeship with either Kairi-sensei or the head of External Espionage, Asami-sensei. The file was full of reports from her teachers and various intelligence officials who had watched and analyzed her. It was, of course, her eyes that had drawn attention.

At the end there were references numbers for her other files. While they didn’t keep complete files on people in a single location, each file contained a list of what others existed, even if it didn’t say what information was included in them. It was a slight security risk as the codes indicated which archive they were kept in, but the convenience outweighed the risk. All too often one needed to gather all the available information on a given subject.

Aiko didn’t bother looking, she had seen enough of her own files to know what files would be referenced. Her mission history, her file as a member of the Intelligence Division, her general academy file, the file on her bloodline limit, the files for base 121, and a few others. Some she had seen, some she had not.

She closed her file and opened Sakura’s, reading it quickly. Sakura drew attention after she joined the introductory medical classes and excelled beyond expectations. There had been concerns about if she was suited to be Tsunade-sensei’s apprentice because her physical scores had initially been nothing to write home about, but the academy intervened to push her harder in that area and she had shown enough improvement that they decided she was adequate. It was interesting to note that if she hadn't shown enough physical apptitude, she would have been passed off to Kato Shizune instead. Someone who mastered all of Tsunade-sensei's medical teachings but the yin seal, and lacked her combat skills. It would still have been a very prestigious placement.

It had been awhile since Aiko had seen any of Sakura’s files and new ones were added periodically, so she took a glance at the related files, but wasn’t surprised to see that the only additions were regarding Base 121.

Finally, Aiko opened Sekai’s file, saving the one with the most potential to be interesting for last. Unlike her own files and Sakura’s, Aiko had never had access to any of Sekai’s files in full before, which had always been a hint that there was something they were keeping from her. Aiko had seen her standard academy file, her files for Base 121, and mission files, but Sekai’s related files were always redacted before Aiko got her hands on them.

It was... concerning, truthfully. If they were keeping Sekai’s information away from her, it implied a lot of things, none of them good. It likely meant they did not trust her to keep the information from Sekai, and that there was information that they absolutely did not want Sekai to have access to.

It was something that had been weighing on her, but she kept it to herself because she didn’t want to worry Sekai when she had nothing concrete. It could be anything that they were keeping from her. It could be something as simple and relatively harmless as Sekai’s paternity. It could be something that they believed would bring Sekai’s loyalty into question. Or it could be something far more sinister.

And so Aiko immediately skipped to the end of the file, checking to see if they had redacted the information here too before granting Aiko access.

Her eyes widened in shock and she dropped the file when she saw the list was intact. Aiko skimmed the reference numbers, but they meant nothing to her. They referenced archives she didn’t recognize. She knew things like Sekai’s mission file had to be included in list, but she couldn’t even tell which file in the list it was.

Aiko had memeorized a lot of file codes, even ones to archives she didn’t have access to. In theory, Sekai’s mission file should have been kept in the archive that stored mission files for chuunin born between the years 55 and 65. But it wasn’t.

It begged the question, were Sekai’s files always kept in these archives Aiko didn’t recognize, or were they moved there to hide them from her?

And if so... why was this file where Aiko would expect it to be?

Biting her lip, Aiko flipped back to the front, where they kept record of the date the file’s reference number was issued. Her stomach dropped when she saw that the current reference number had only been issued a few days prior, meaning the file had just been moved.

Aiko’s head dropped, hitting the desk with a dull thud.

They were testing her. They wanted her to read this file, and then they’d watch her to see what she would do.

Passing the test wasn’t just about keeping whatever was in there secret from Sekai, that was too simple. The files had previously been kept from her, likely because they were concerned about the information getting back to Sekai. That meant they decided that whatever information was in this file, they were willing to risk it getting back to her. It would be a test for her too.

Aiko’s test, she suspected, had two parts.

The first was about how much information she would share with Sekai. Would she tell her everything? Would she recognize that some information was too sensitive and hold some parts back? Would she tell her nothing?

The second would be how she managed Sekai if she told her anything. Was she able to prevent a bad reaction? How would she handle a bad reaction? Would she report back honestly about Sekai’s reaction? Would she report back about the conversation at all?

There was no right answer, there was no one thing they were expecting her to do. She might very well fail the test by keeping the information to herself or by reporting on Sekai when she’s not a risk. Or she might pass for those same actions.

Well, Aiko thought to herself, she wouldn’t be able to figure out what to do until she read the file and knew what she was working with, and so she settled in for a thorough readthrough and analysis of the contents.

She doubted Kairi-sensei was expecting Hyuuga Harumi’s file any time soon.

-x-

Twenty Seven

The first time I slipped away from Kairi-sensei and my False Father I was alone for a half hour before a woman approached me and asked if I was lost. I told her I was trying to get back to the park and asked if she could help me, to which she agreed.

While we were looking for a man, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he had a woman as an accomplice to lure in girls. After all, it was known that a man was doing this, so on the surface a woman seemed safer to trust. The strategy was commonly used in trafficking operations back in The Before.

If I was a normal little girl, I would have been very fortunate that this was not the case. The woman led me to the park and once she realized my parents weren’t there and I didn’t know where they were, stayed to watch me until they arrived. As I was not a normal little girl, this was actually rather unfortunate as it meant our first attempt at this gambit failed and I had to pretend to be a normal little girl playing in the park for longer than I would like to admit.

Our second attempt didn’t go much better. On this attempt no one approached me and I wandered around for two hours before my worried parents found me and took me home.

But the third time was the charm.

It was a familiar face that approached me while I was wondering the streets.

“Mirai-chan, what are you doing wandering alone?” he asked me. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous?”

I shrugged at him and pretended to try and get away, but he grabbed me firmly by the shoulder. “None of that, young lady,” he scolded. “I may be off duty, but as you are a guest of Lady Shijimi it is my duty to keep you safe.”

I pouted up at him. “I just want to go to the park,” I whined. “Mama and papa won’t let me, they say it’s unbecoming.”

The man chuckled fondly. “Well, I can’t say I blame you. How about I take you to the park for a bit before returning you to your parents? Our secret.”

Outwardly, I eagerly agreed, but inwardly my stomach knotted with anxiety. I was uncertain if this was another false lead or not, but the fact that he was telling me he’d take me to the park as a “secret” was suspicious and made it increasingly likely that he was indeed the man we were looking for, or at least working with him.

He offered to carry me, and I took him up on it, as much as I disliked it. He chattered to me, but I mostly kept quiet, in line with my rather shy and reserved persona. Instead I carefully observed our surroundings.

We were heading in the opposite direction from the park.

That was enough confirmation for me to ensnare him in a genjutsu. I fed nothing into it, not yet creating a break from reality.

“Where are we going? I don’t think this is the way to the park, we walked past it lots of times,” I asked him.

He smiled at me. “Oh? Were you thinking of a specific park? There is a really nice one out this way that I thought you would like, won’t that be fun?”

I nodded. “Okay, a new park sounds nice.”

“That’s a good girl.” The way he said it convinced me that even if he wasn’t the perp, he was at least a creep.

We continued walking, heading towards a neighbourhood I would best describe as upper middle class. Nobles would not live here, nor would the rich, but those who lived here clearly made enough money to live comfortably and better than most. To a casual observer it probably looked like he was returning me home.

Behind us, Tora trailed us discreetly.

His arm shifted subtly and I immediately took active control of the genjutsu, preventing him from actually taking whatever action he was about to and instead making him only think he did. It was a wise decision, as through the connection I was able to see what he intended to do.

He had reached for a needle in the sleeve of his robe and, had it not been for the genjutsu, he would have pricked me with it. While his perceptions of reality were skewed by the genjutsu he was trapped in, I pretended to get drowsy and fall asleep as the impression of me in the genjutsu did. He may have had an accomplice who was watching.

Though my eyes were closed, the genjutsu was close enough to reality that I was able to follow what was happening through the connection.

He took me all the way to a modest house in the heart of the district. He knocked on the door and another man answered. He was not familiar. “Oh, you found her! Thank you so much Captain Sota!” he said, sounding relieved. “Thank you for bringing her home, poor thing is all tuckered out from her adventure, isn’t she? Can I invite you in for some tea, if you have time? I know being the head of the Daimyo’s guard keeps you busy, and you’ve already done me such a favour.”

“I would love to,” the man carrying me said. “It’s my day off, you know.”

A show to make it less suspicious to anyone watching. Captain Sota was trustworthy, because he was a member of the Daimyo’s guard. While finding lost children wasn’t in his job description, it wasn’t completely out of place. The job of the guard was to keep the Daimyo safe and the Capital secure. They were adjacent to local law enforcement who did do this sort of thing.

I would think this new man’s neighbours would know he doesn’t have a child, but perhaps this was one of those neighbourhoods that was lacking in community and no one could even tell you the name of the guy next door.

As the head of the guard stepped inside I reached out with the genjutsu to ensnare the second man as well. It was harder to split my focus between the two connections, so I opened my eyes and hoped that there wasn’t anyone else present in the house to notice.

The men carried me down to a normal looking, if unfinished, basement. The man I did not recognize pushed a large shelf to the side, revealing a hidden doorway. Through it, was more of what I expected from these people.

The room was small with concrete walls and flooring, and completely empty. The floor was discoloured and I was sure of it being the result of using chemicals to clean up any evidence.

I was deposited on the floor with little grace and they pulled a set of bars across the doorway, locking me in.

I let them. I was a ninja, it would take nothing for me to escape. I maintained the genjutsu on the both, but as long as they were together I could primarily focus on the connection to only one of them to gather information.

I listened closely as they talked, trying to determine who the second man was, but nothing they said revealed any information of much significance. I discovered the second man was a teacher at the Capital Academy, the country’s most prestigious private civilian school, and he was the rapist in question. A relatively run of the mill pedophile. He had been lusting after the girls he taught and got to a point where fantasy was not enough. I got one name, Sho, probably his given name, not his family name.

It was enough that with further digging we could find out enough about him, but it wasn’t enough for me to determine how to deal with him at the moment. I would need to consult Kairi-sensei and the others, especially since it was unclear why the head of the Daimyo’s guard would help him.

When the discussion turned towards what Sho, wanted to do with me, I changed the nature of the genjutsu, knocking them out. I did not need to hear anything more. What little they said before I managed to collect myself was already enough to make me crawl out of my skin.

Physically, I was untouched, but the sense of violation I felt was still beyond what I could express. Those men—the both of them—were sick, twisted. While the guard had no interest in raping me himself, he had no reservations about letting his friend do as he pleased, both before and after he killed me.

With both of them knocked out, I took that as my cue to escape, which was easy. Neither of the men had thought to take any of my possessions and I made quick work of picking the lock on the bars with one of my hair pins and pushed them aside, applying chakra to my fingertips to avoid leaving prints behind.

From this side, it was hard to move the shelf blocking the doorway without accidentally pushing it over, but with some finessing I managed it.

I silently climbed up the stairs listening for any indication there might be someone else in the home, but heard nothing.

The two men were slumped over in chairs at the kitchen table and I ignored them. They were still under the influence of my genjutsu and if they woke I would be able to put them back under immediately.

I explored the kitchen, looking for anything suspicious, but didn’t find much of anything.

A tapping at the kitchen window startled me during my search, but it was just Tora. I opened the window and let him in.

“I’m fine, just doing a quick search, they haven’t done anything to me,” I told the cat, who nodded. “I’ll need guidance on how to proceed. Should I start the interrogation on my own, do you think?”

Tora tilted his head. “Continue searching the house and stay alert. I will contact Sumire and someone will be along shortly. Might as well wait on the interrogation. Kora is outside watching and will return to Sumire if something happens to you.”

“Understood,” I said, and watched as Tora disappeared in a poof of smoke.

I looked through the window and saw a black cat wandering the yard. That must have been Kora, another of Sumire’s ninneko summons. While Tora was the only one she kept as a “pet,” several of her other summons roamed the streets of the Capital, posing as strays and collecting information for their summoner.

I searched the rest of the house but there was nothing in particular that stood out. Someone like this I would have expected to keep trophies, but there weren’t any. Aside from the basement, it seemed to be a fairly normal house and if I didn’t know better I would say The Sicko was a normal man. I didn’t find any ropes or chains hidden away. No torture devices, though his kitchen had some very sharp knives that I was sure were used for more than just cooking. I found his identification papers and learned his last name, verified his employment, and discovered some correspondence with some nobles he had cozied up to over the years through his position as a teacher. He had friends in high places, despite being a relative nobody.

Originally, I called in for help because of the head guard. The involvement of Captain Sota complicated matters as while he was not important in the way nobles were, he was highly ranked and positioned close to the Daimyo. He was replaceable, certainly, and his death would not cause an outrage from anyone, but it would stand out.

However, The Sicko was actually more concerning now that I saw how deeply he connected himself with the elite. While on the surface he was no one of much importance, just a school teacher, no matter how prestigious the school in question, his disappearance or death would concern people with power.

If we were operating legally with the Daimyo’s blessing, we could simply turn him over and explain what he had been doing. The nobles in question would be horrified they sent their daughters to study under him and quickly turn against him. But we weren’t operating legally. We had to handle this without revealing either of them.

Kairi-sensei and my False Father arrived shortly after I finished my search and I recounted everything I learned to them.

“Did you find any medications? Drugs?” my False Father asked.

I shook my head. It had been something I was looking for in particular as it would make his job a lot easier. An accidental overdose, the pharmacy making a fatal mistake with his medication... But no, only in his early forties, The Sicko seemed to be in good health and drug-free.

“I only have this,” I said, handing over the needle the guard tried to use on me. “I didn’t find anything else here. Perhaps it’s kept at the Captain’s.”

He took it from me and looked at it assessingly. His fingers started to glow blue and I expected he was using his chakra to evaluate just what exactly they attempted to drug me with. Sakura had mentioned the ability in passing as something she would eventually learn to do from Tsunade-sensei’s other apprentice.

“It’s a common sedative, one the Daimyo’s guards have access to for subduing attackers for interrogation,” he said after a moment.

My False Father was a member of the Hara clan, which was known for their work with poison, and consequently for being full of assassins, though that was discussed far less openly than the medical ninja they were also known for. His role on the mission, beyond pretending to be my father, was to arrange any deaths to look accidental. Though a poison expert, his skills in covert assassination extended well beyond poisoning his victims.

“Well, then I think it’s time for our own interrogation,” Kairi-sensei declared. “Sekai, I will take point, genjutsu on my command.”

“Yes, sensei.”

We took them down to the basement for the interrogation, putting them in the room they originally tried to lock me in. Kairi sensei used an earth jutsu to manipulate the concrete and shackle them to the wall by their wrists and ankles with it.

We woke The Sicko first. He blinked, disoriented for a moment, then scowled when he saw me and Kairi-sensei standing in front of him. He pulled at his restraints but it was no use, he didn’t have the strength to break them.

“Ninja,” he hissed furiously. “You have no authority to be here, you’re operating illegally. You—Madam Shijimi is in on this too, isn’t she? That’s treason!”

Kairi-sensei only smiled sharkishly.

-x-

The interrogations didn’t take long even with the limitation of keeping them physically intact and we were able to confirm that they were acting alone and learned far more details about their crimes than I would have ever wanted to hear. For example, it turned out one of the reasons it was difficult to determine if things were done to the victims premortem or postmortem because the answer was both.

While we interrogated them, my False Father went off to search through the head guard’s house. He returned shortly after we finished the main interrogation and reported finding nothing concerning. He found more of the drug that they attempted to use on me and items that could be used for restraint, but in amounts that were well within reason given his profession.

He did, however, have a lot of alcohol. Very expensive alcohol at that, the kind he could not afford on his salary, not in those quantities.

From further interrogation, we learned that they were originally gifts to The Sicko, but that while he enjoyed a drink every now and then, he wasn’t a big drinker, so he passed on his gifts to his friend, who sometimes hosted parties for the guard members.

My False Father did not have to tell me what he was up to when he disappeared, the plan was obvious to all of us.

I knocked them out with genjutsu again and Kairi-sensei returned the wall to normal. We dragged them upstairs, careful not to leave any suspicious bruises from banging them around, and positioned them in the living room.

We waited for my False Father to return with a bottle of alcohol before setting out the glasses. There was no point in doing so until we knew if we needed sake saucers or shot glasses.

When he did return, we ended up pulling out the sake saucers.

“You can use a genjutsu to force them to drink it, yes?” he asked me, and I nodded. He started pouring it into the cups. “Excellent, they just need one or two sips for the poison to be lethal, but it’s not immediate, so it’s best to have them drink about half a cup each.”

I cast the genjutsu as instructed. I made them forget about everything that had happened before. They were just having a drink together in celebration.

“Was that a random bottle?” I asked, hoping for a distraction from the conversation they started under the influence of the genjutsu.

Apparently, after they disposed of the girls they liked to have a drink in celebration and relive the experience. Given that I had been their next target, the experience they believed they were discussing was particularly disturbing to me.

“Mostly, yes. I chose one of the most expensive ones, and I brought a few of the other bottles to plant in the house. The local law enforcement might be able to trace the bottle back to whoever gifted it, but the poison I used is one civilians can easily access. It doesn’t matter who it was, there is enough backstabbing and power plays among the rich that they can probably find a motive for whoever it was, and it’s very likely their status and money will protect them from real consequences, especially if they search this place and discover the room in the basement.”

There was no evidence of what exactly that room was used for, but it’s existence alone was suspicious enough. When people noticed girls were no longer turning up dead it wouldn’t be hard to make the connection.

My False Father seemed to understand why I had asked him, and started going into detail about the poison that he had chosen until it took full effect and the two men collapsed, the genjutsu connections cutting off with their deaths.

We left shortly afterwards. For all appearances, it would look like two old friends had a drink together and unfortunately chose a poisoned bottle. The Sicko had made an enemy and paid the price, and the head guard was simply an unintended casualty, collateral damage.

We stayed in the Capital for two more weeks. Leaving as soon as the head guard died was suspicious and security was tightened anyway. While the captain did not matter as an individual, it caused ripples in the Daimyo’s guard as things had to be shuffled around and members were promoted.

No one even suspected the involvement of ninja according to Sumire’s network. The bottle was indeed traced back to a noble, the father of one of The Sicko’s students. He denied any knowledge and suggested the bottle was tampered with. He had it for ages before he decided to gift it, he claimed, perhaps he was the intended victim.

He was not arrested.

We left with little fanfare, Sumire welcoming us back in the future and expressing her disappointment that my parents hadn’t been able to find a suitable match for me, but perhaps it was simply too soon for someone as young as me and our search would be more fruitful if we came back in a few years

Though missions of this sort were far from my specialty and in general not the best use of me, Sumire could only feign so many relations. A valuable slot had been used on the three of us and I was sure it would be used again in the future. Perhaps not often, only once every few years even, but this would not be my last trip to the Capital as Mirai.

-x-

When I returned to the village, my training resumed. I’d managed to keep up with my physical training to an extent while in the privacy of the guest house, but it wasn’t a substitute for being able to train and spar freely.

My studies with genjutsu and sealing continued, and Kushina-sensei set me to come up with an original project for the latter. It was fine if it wasn’t completely novel, though that was ideal, it just had to be something that she hadn’t taught me before.

Sensei didn’t expect an immediate answer, so I took a few days to brainstorm while I focused on my physical training.

Perhaps something to compensate for one of my weaknesses, of which there were plenty.

My size was one of them, limiting my reach and meaning I had to get in close to my enemies, which put me well within their reach. So... something I could use from a distance?

Typically, my chains were how I extended my reach, but there could be circumstances where I shouldn’t or couldn’t use them.

Another weakness was my chakra skew. While I actually had a lot of chakra for my age, my skew meant that it didn’t go far with anything that had a high physical energy cost.

That wasn’t the only drawback of my skew. Tsunade-sensei recently revealed to me it was likely the reason I didn’t have a chakra nature either. Elemental ninjutsu drew primarily on physical energy, and so your affinity was carried in the physical component of our chakra. I simply did not have enough physical energy for my chakra to lean towards one element or another.

That meant that even if I did want to learn an elemental ninjutsu or two for emergencies, there was no element that would come easier to me, they would all be of equal difficulty.

Could I make some sort of seal to overcome that, perhaps? A seal that would perform an elemental ninjutsu for me? I was sure that the chakra drain for the seal would be comparable to the drain it took to actually cast the jutsu, but the difference would be that I could prepare the seals in advance, and the chakra cost would be paid at creation, not when used.

Of course, I couldn’t actually create a seal to perform a jutsu unless I knew the jutsu, so that wouldn’t solve the problem of not having an affinity.

...Unless I didn’t need to actually be able to perform the jutsu myself, just understand it well enough to make the seal do it. I just needed to learn the theory of the jutsu. Maybe.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. I wasn’t sure if it was feasible, and what the limitations would be if it was, but... It sounded like a good challenge, and I wanted to at least explore the idea before giving up and trying a different project. Hopefully Kushina-sensei would approve.

The project, I decided after several days worth of research on the topic, was a welcome distraction, given how my thoughts tended to drift towards memories of my last mission if I wasn’t careful.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“It’s not enough to look underneath the underneath. There are so many layers you have to keep digging.”

-x-

Dan set his steaming mug by the stack of unread reports on the coffee table in front of the couch as he sat down, joining the pair of shadow clones that had been steadily making progress through the pile since he created them when he came home after a long day in the office.

As much as he loved being Hokage, he had to admit there was a lot more paper work and reading than he had imagined, and if he didn’t make liberal use of shadow clones he’d never be able to manage it all.

He grabbed a report from the top of the pile and flipped it open, reading through it at an impressive speed that had come with years of practice.

It was the latest update on the situation in Frost, which was progressing at an aggravatingly slow pace. Whatever was going on was well hidden, which only told him that it was imperative they figure it out and disrupt it.

The destruction of base 121 told them that whatever they were doing, they would not be there for too long. They knew the attack would draw attention to their activities in the area and Leaf would start an investigation. They could not hide things forever once drawing attention, so they clearly had plans to leave as soon as possible.

It was a race, in that sense. Would Leaf find them before they finished?

Dan was uncertain. Intel had managed to piece together that the increase in activity had started about sixteen months ago, about nine months before the attack. It was possible they would leave any day now, depending on what they were doing there.

Despite how slow progress was, they were making it, at least. They had determined that whatever they were doing, it was somewhere in Frost’s northern mountain range.

Frost’s mountains were famously dangerous and poorly explored. The high altitude meant frigid temperatures and there were frequent blizzards and avalanches. There was little stable ground. Those who had previously attempted to explore frequently fell to their death, despite their ninja skills. Using chakra adhesion to stick to the mountain did little to save you when it just broke away beneath you.

What was explored of the mountains indicated there was little of interest there so given the circumstances no one made the effort. Or at least they hadn’t until recently.

Cloud was probably the best suited for exploring the mountains out of anyone. Lightning country was full of mountains, with Hidden Cloud perched among them. While the conditions there were not as dire as in Frost despite being further north, the similar conditions gave them an advantage to explore and make use of the area.

So far, their best guess was that Cloud had discovered some sort of valuable resource in the area. It was either that, or they were working on some sort of secret project in the area, perhaps akin to the work Orochimaru did.

The mountain range was an ideal area for testing due to how remote it was, and the blizzards and frequent avalanches would help with quickly hiding or destroying evidence.

On the other hand, it was also distinctly possible there was some untapped resource in the regions that were mostly unexplored. It wouldn’t be something mundane like gold or iron. While valuable and useful, such metals were not worth the secrecy or the casualties they took attacking base 121. Nor were they worth the trouble of mining in Frost’s mountains, even for Cloud ninja.

Further, the climate alone would have led Dan to decide it wasn’t worth interfering with. They could be mining untold amounts of gold and Dan wouldn’t send his ninja into those conditions, he’d simply find other ways to sabotage them.

No, if it was some sort of resource, it was far more valuable. Perhaps some sort of plant with healing properties was able to grow in the frigid conditions, or one that produced a dangerous new poison they would struggle to counter without access to the key component. Perhaps some sort of mineral previously undiscovered was located there that they found use for.

Whatever they were doing, Leaf needed to put a stop to it, and ideally take whatever was there for themselves.

-x-

Twenty Eight

The good news: Kushina-sensei was impressed by my idea of ninjutsu tags when I pitched the idea and approved the project, believing that it could be done. She would even get me help with the ninjutsu theory.

The bad news: It was more of a long term project than she had in mind as I would need to learn a lot of ninjutsu and chakra theory and potentially also the jutsu themselves, and so she would like me to develop something else in the short term.

In the meantime, she’d be having me take over more work in terms of the sealing division.

Previously, when Kushina-sensei had been away for a long period of time, I’d handled some of the requests and quality checked some of the stamps, but it was only the once as she hadn’t been stationed outside of the village for more than a couple weeks while I was also present in the village since.

Other than that, my experience doing work for the sealing division was just doing what sensei ordered me to do. That involved filling some requests, but little else.

As I had come to expect over the years, much of what I did back then was a test, both of my abilities and judgment. I had passed with flying colours, apparently.

Some of it was actually within the responsibilities of the Seal Master, like actually designing several of the seals, and the recipients were very pleased with my work. I even managed to design several seals they thought were beyond my ability and more than expected.

On the other hand, checking sealing stamps was pretty much grunt work with the exception of extremely complex seals that the underlings weren’t very familiar with. That was apparently mostly to keep me busy rather than a real test.

Similarly, while there was still a degree of sorting that was required by the time the requests reached the Seal Master, most of the bullshit didn’t make it that far, as others sorted out the worst of it. I passed the test with flying colours, they were particularly impressed with the fact that I considered whether it was a good idea or not to make the seal and passed things over for a superior’s judgment instead of just doing it because it was requested.

Finally, they wanted to see if I let the title of interim Seal Master go to my head. While as Kushina-sensei’s apprentice, I did technically hold that position whenever she left the village, until I was further along in my training it was merely a formality.

On this aspect of the test I hadn’t managed the ideal result, which would have been to question if it was appropriate for me to hold that title given how little training I had, but I also didn’t take it as praise or let it feed my ego.

Kakashi-senpai had apparently been let in on the test at some point, hence his praise for me already being the interim seal master. That had been where I passed the test.

Now, I was to finally be given my own office. While sensei’s office was in the Hokage tower, the actual sealing division was located in various buildings throughout the village, some disguised and others not so much.

My office was located in a building disguised as an art studio. Space in the building was rented to various artists, all with appropriate clearance. Apparently, sensei and I weren’t the only ninja who took up art to cope. It was a good location for me, since I had art I could show off as an excuse for spending so much time in the building.

My office was upstairs, the room labelled as one of several private studios. While there were a few genuine studios used purely for art upstairs, about half the rooms were filled by members of the sealing division.

While stamps were used for fairly common seals, like your average storage seal or explosive tags, it was too risky to create stamps which could be stolen and copied for other seals. Many of the requested seals were akin to what I’d been doing with Aiko’s spear, and those who used them needed replacements every now and then, and that was the sort of work that was commonly done in this building.

Many of the those who worked here were “retired” members of the Uchiha clan. Their sharingan made it easy to copy and recreate a seal, even without truly understanding the theory. The rest, like most of the sealing division, were from clans like the Miura, Kojima, Hamasaki or Tazuki—the remnants of Whirling Tides.

Back in Whirling Tides sealing had been part of the general education at their academy in a way that it wasn’t here, and while none were as famous for the seals as the Uzumaki, there were many outside the clan who were talented in the art. Many of those who survived contributed their skills to the village and passed them on to their children, who did the same.

Mostly, I would be doing what I did before, sorting requests and filling them. However, this time I was expected to do a bit more book keeping with the requests I filled. Before, I created the seal and passed it on for other people to deal with and keep track of.

Now, I had to handle the administrative side of production and distribution, which was a lengthy process.

To begin, I needed to keep track of who ordered a seal and replacement requests. For something like tailor made explosives, it was reasonable to go through them fairly quickly and there wasn’t much required in the replacement process. However, if it was something like Aiko’s spear? That was a complicated and unique seal. They needed to provide a lot of documentation to get a replacement and had to explain what happened to their old one. Then I would have to decide whether to immediately issue a new one, subject them to a waiting period, or deny the request entirely, which involved filling out a few forms justifying my decision in triplicate.

Then there was, of course, keeping track of which orders had been fulfilled, which were outstanding, and which were the most urgent, and making sure it got done in a timely manner.

I would have to assign specific seals to the reproduction team. For some seals it was best that only one or two members of the reproduction team were privy to the seal, but for others they were needed in quantities that required several people to complete the order.

Of course, I had to keep track of who filled which orders, in case there was a flaw in the seal... which was also something I had to handle. Returns, refunds, and replacements for defective seals. Not to mention incident reports if there was collateral damage from a bad seal.

It was a lot of paperwork, but in general, requests that actually got filled were on the rare side. I’d probably be filling on average one or two new orders a month, so it wouldn’t cut into my training or free time much, and it was a form of training for my eventual position.

Plus it was worth is to have an office. It was nice to have somewhere to work besides my room in the dorms or sensei’s place, and I spent a lot of time in there.

The office itself was set up to look like a genuine art studio at a casual glance, and I even brought some of my pieces over to make it look more like I was using it for that purpose.

There was an easel, stool, and small table on one side of the room, but also a desk with a comfortable chair on the other side. Behind the desk was shelving unit full of art supplies... that with the right key, would slide aside to reveal my filing cabinets, where my copies of all the paperwork were to be kept.

I could also keep my own seal work there, but enough people had access to it that I preferred to keep such things sealed away in my arm or thigh.

The first seal I was asked to design after moving into my new office was for a member of the Hara clan. She was looking to seal away one of her poisons in liquid form and release it as a gas.

It wasn’t a new seal in terms of effect, but since every poison was different, there were different conditions to impose on the seal in order to create the correct conditions to convert it from liquid to gas. Often seals could be used for multiple poisons, but every now and then none of the existing seals were quite right for a newly developed poison and adjustments needed to made.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to do the chemistry research (as that would involve giving me far too much information about the poison). The conditions I needed to create were supplied to me and I only had to translate it all into the proper seal. It was my first time with a seal such as this, less because I was previously under skilled and more because it wasn’t something I could test alone due to safety issues.

I had to call on one of my new underlings, a woman from the Hamasaki clan who could make shadow clones, for help. The two of us plus a medic specializing in poisons headed down to a testing lab with a cage of lab rats.

I watched from the observation room with the medic, Hamasaki, down a handful of rats as the shadow clone activated the seal, a short distance from one of the restrained rats. The others were scattered throughout the room.

The shadow clone dismissed itself so it didn’t experience the effects of the poison and transfer the memory to the real Hamasaki.

The poison came out forcefully, in what looked like a stream of light blue smoke, and slowly dissipated.

“Collect the rats and have them monitored as specified to determine whether the poison performs to client expectations and send me the report,” I ordered. The medic nodded.

Hopefully the client would be satisfied when I went over the report with her and I wouldn’t need to start over because the seal altered the poison in some unintended way.

-x-

The testing phase of the poison seal gave me an idea for my short term sealing project: an oxygen seal.

While contact with the gaseous poison was also an issue in the testing phase, in general the bigger issue had been inhalation. So what if I created something that functioned something like an oxygen tank?

A seal to go in the mouth, perhaps, and would continuously release a steady stream of oxygen.

It would be useful for protection from gaseous poisons and other dangerous fumes, but also useful for hiding or travelling underwater.

I pitched the idea to Kushina-sensei and she was pleased with the project, though she admitted the concept was not original and it had been done before, which was a bit disappointing, but not too surprising when I stopped and thought about it.

Such a thing would be incredibly useful—of course it already existed. Apparently, there were a few poison experts out there who had access to the seal, and it was also handed out for specific missions where it was deemed necessary.

Still, she wanted me to create my own version from scratch and see how it compared to the existing version—which she would not show me, nor would she give any hints about how it explicitly functioned.

I wondered, did the existing version go in your mouth? Or was it perhaps on the inside of an airtight mask?

There would be challenges with putting the seal in the mouth. For one, the mouth was wet, and a paper and ink seal could degrade in that environment. That could be worked around by tattooing the seal directly on the tongue or something, but then there was the issue of filling it... I couldn’t help but imagine sticking my tongue out for hours while I let the air around me slowly fill the seal... Ridiculous. That could be worked around with a linked seal, though. One seal to release the air, the other to absorb it.

The other issue with that was that ideally, Sakura and Aiko could use this seal as well. I wasn’t sure if they would be as open to having a seal placed on their body as I was.

For all that it was really convenient to have a storage seal on your body, there was apparently something of cultural a taboo about placing seals directly on people.

When I first heard of it I was a bit baffled, but then Kushina-sensei explained that often seals could be misused on people, and most people couldn’t decipher seals and weren’t comfortable putting something they didn’t understand on their body.

While some seals like my storage seals could be removed with a technique I taught myself from scrolls while still in the academy, others, like the seals for my chains that connected to my chakra system, were extremely difficult to remove, if not impossible. As such, few people trusted another person enough to let them put a seal on them, lest it be permanent and do something nefarious.

It was fair. I wouldn’t want anyone else placing a seal on me either, come to think of it.

So if I wanted an oxygen seal for Aiko and Sakura, I’d need to figure out another way to keep a seal intact while in the mouth, create a mask version, or see if they trusted me enough to let me place it for them.

Aiko had already let me place a storage seal on her palm for her spear, but it was done under the supervision of both a representative of her clan and Kushina-sensei, and the design was the same as the one Kairi-sensei used, not one of my own. I recognized it as one of Kushina-sensei’s by the style.

That was quite awhile ago though, not long after we were promoted to chuunin. Perhaps they’d trust me enough for it now. I’d have to talk to them to see if I’d need to work on another solution.

I’d have to talk to Sakura anyway, as I wasn’t actually sure how much oxygen was needed and at what rate...

I was quite looking forward to this project.

-x-

A few days after testing the poison seal, I was shaken awake by Aiko early in the morning, before the sun had even risen.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I need you to come with me,” she said solemnly. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Anxiety spiked, but I pushed it down. “Okay.”

I quickly dressed and then followed her out the door and all the way to her house in the Yamanaka compound.

“My parents aren’t home. Mother is on a mission and my father went out drinking last night and is staying with a... friend,” Aiko explained in a whisper as we thoroughly searched the whole house to make sure it was truly empty.

I supposed it was hard to keep your affair from your mind reading daughter who worked for intel, but pretenses had to be kept for appearances sake.

Once we were as sure as we could be that the house was empty, she grabbed a blanket and led me to the bathroom. She directed me to sit on the floor and then turned on the shower and sat across from me, covering us both with the blanket, the light filering through just enough to see each other after our eyes adjusted.

The shower to cover the noise, the blanket to prevent lip reading, she was clearly taking precautions not to be over heard. It was better to have a physical obstruction than to rely on the dark, as many ninja had exceptional night vision.

Now, only a Hyuuga would be able to see anything, but it was unlikely they’d dare send one into the Yamanaka compound. Even if they had official reason to be observing a Yamanaka, using the byakugan within the clan compound could be taken as an attempt to steal clan secrets and wouldn’t be tolerated outside of an extraordinary situation, and whatever this was, I didn’t think it qualified.

“If you can, it would be best if you replied without speaking,” Aiko whispered, barely audible over the running water, as she removed her glasses.

Okay , I thought at her, after catching her eye and watching her blue pupil start to contract .

It was a shame she hadn’t been able to learn any of her clan jutsu to project her own thoughts onto a target yet, that would have made this so much easier. We could have discussed whatever she wished without saying a single word aloud. Alas.

In the Yamanaka clan, permission from the head was needed for members to learn the vast majority of their clan jutsu. Due to her position, permission had been given to Aiko to learn most of the clan jutsu useful in interrogation, but in retaliation she was denied permission to learn many of the other useful techniques, including information sharing jutsu. She would be given permission eventually—there would be pressure from the village as she progressed through the ranks of intelligence. But for now, she was relatively young and the head could claim that she already had permission for clan jutsu that most were denied, there would be time for her to learn the others later.

Clan politics were the worst. I was very glad not to be a member of one.

Should Sakura be here for this? I asked her

“We can tell her later if you want, but I thought it was best to tell you alone,” she said nervously, then took a deep breath.

“Intel keeps a lot of files. I don’t have access to all of them, and often I’m shown bits and pieces, but I also have free access to many of them. Your files... were always off. I’d be given your standard academy file, for example, and the references to your other files would be redacted, and so would some other things,” Aiko began. “It was a bit strange, but I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t know what it was, it might have been something unimportant. Maybe there was a reference to your father somewhere and they didn’t want me to find out who he was and tell you for some reason. But...” She paused, biting her thumbnail.

“I got access to a new archive, and so I had a look. It’s the one where the academy surveillance files are kept—not the standard academy files. It’s—not unusual to have one. Everyone on our team did, since we were being scouted as apprentices. But I don’t know, I wasn’t really expecting your file to be there in full. I’m not really sure it was, honestly, but even if parts were missing, it was more than I got before. The references were unredacted for the first time, but I didn’t understand any of the codes.”

I clenched my knees. She was nervous—beating around the bush when it would have been smarter to say as little as possible. That meant what she found was probably concerning.

“The thing is, Sekai. Your file was recently placed there. They let me see it. It’s a test.”

Of course it was. A test for you and a test for me.

“Yes. They expect me to tell you, they want to see how I handle you, I think. But I’d rather they don’t know exactly how much I tell you. The thing is... you can be upset Sekai, that’s normal, they’ll expect that. But you can’t...” she trailed off.

I can’t act out, I can’t do anything about it, I finished for her.

“Exactly.”

My chest tightened and I squeezed my knees hard enough to bruise. What could possibly be in my academy surveillance file that was so concerning? It wasn’t surprising to hear I’d been watched in the academy, as much as I hated it, it was the sort of thing that was a given, really.

There wasn’t anything particularly incriminating I’d done, I couldn’t be in trouble. There was nothing about me specifically that could be of real concern. Even the identity of my father wouldn’t be that upsetting, no matter who he was. I already knew he was scum, a rapist. It had to be something they did. I always expected there was something strange going on, but I had no idea what it could be.

What did they do? I asked.

“As part of the intelligence department, we have operatives we call Eyes. It’s—what it sounds like, really. They watch, and then they report. Some are more directly involved with the department, others are more casual. There are Eyes assigned to watch specific people, and there are Eyes who are just supposed to report anything of interest they see by chance. It can be... noticing a civilian isn’t paying taxes correctly, or seeing a civilian has been paying employees under the table. Or... it might be a potential recruit. Someone who was extremely smart, for example.” Aiko looked at me significantly.

Oh. That wasn’t really that unexpected. The orphanage must have saw how smart I was and reported me, it would make sense to have an Eye in the orphanage. I relayed as much to Aiko, but she shook her head and my blood froze in my veins.

“A lot of Eyes are retired from the field, you know?” she whispered, her tone gentle and soothing, like speaking to a scared animal. “You were reported when you were three. By Hanako.”

My nails broke the skin on my knees.

I knew—I knew—there was something off about Hanako. Her story about why she took in my mom—things didn’t add up. She said she was thrown out of the clan because she became pregnant out of wedlock, but her daughter’s birthday was years after she was allegedly thrown out. She wasn’t just helping out another woman wronged by the same people as her and getting a caretaker in return, and I’d known that. I’d known there was something off. I figured it out years ago.

But I ignored it.

She—she took in my mom. I figured out the story for why didn’t add up, is there—anything?

Aiko shook her head. “There’s nothing about that. I—I didn’t know there was something off there. I thought—I only knew what you told me, I thought it was just that when you happened to be noticeably brilliant, she—she had to report it. It was her job. If someone else noticed you and reported it before she did... she would have been in trouble.”

I nodded, that made sense. I hated it, but it made sense.

She spied on me the whole time, didn’t she?

Aiko winced. “Probably. I only saw her reports from when you were brought to the academy’s attention until you graduated.” She cleared her throat. “ That’s... not all. Your mother said no to you attending the academy when Hanako brought it up, and the file marked down that your guardian refused, so you wouldn’t be joining. But then your mom died.”

I inhaled sharply.

“It’s—bad. They wanted you, and you no longer had a guardian to say no.”

My eyes widened, a thought striking me.

My mother—she said no and then she—did they?

Aiko gaped in horror. “No!” she yelled, too loud before she caught herself.

“No,” she repeated quieter, whispering again. “You’re smart Sekai, but not that special. Your skew was unusual—a sensor noticed it—but it was honestly more likely to work against you than for you, it does work against you. They wouldn’t—they wouldn’t do that to one of their own citizens just to recruit you. They’ll do a lot, but there are lines. Even if you were that special—it’s a bad look to assassinate civilians in the village. If it got out—and it’s harder to cover up than you’d think, if people even suspected, then it could ruin the village. It’s not worth it.”

I relaxed, trusting that Aiko knew how far the village would go and her genuine horror at the very idea of it. She was right, I was smart—maybe even a genius, but not that special. The Nara clan was full of geniuses and I didn’t have some rare bloodline or anything. Yes, I ended up being talented with seals, but they didn’t know I would be until I had already started the Academy. For all they knew, I would have been a dud in terms of fighting ability and ended up in the cryptography department or something, given my aptitude for math. I could do valuable work there, but hardly as irreplaceable as the village’s Seal Master. It was chance I showed interest in the storage scroll and actually had a knack for sealing. Even in the scenario that they had been trying to nudge me in that direction by giving me a sealing scroll for my books, there was no guarantee it would work out.

Then what is it?

“You—They respect it when a parent declines, but without a parent to decline, they decided to... convince you. They used genjutsu, Sekai. I—they made you think that those who attended the academy were treated better. That’s... true to a slight extent, they get a few more privileges, first pick at some stuff, more food because they burn more calories... But the non-academy track kids are still treated well. They used genjutsu to make your experience worse.”

I remembered the cold showers, the feeling of being hungry all the time, the terrible sleep...I was so bad at detecting genjutsu before Shisui taught me.

I... It made sense. It fit .

And I hated it. I hated them . That was... I was five . Maybe I was an adult in mind, but they didn’t know that . Distantly, I was relieved that wasn’t actually standard treatment, but it burned that it happened at all.

I didn’t want to be a ninja. I only took that path because I couldn’t handle the—the psychological torture they were putting me through. If I’d been left alone, given the normal orphan a ge experience... it wouldn’t have been great, but it would have been better than constantly risking my life and serving a village I didn’t even care for. It would have been better than becoming a killer and slowly losing my morals, because I couldn’t afford them with all the things they made me do.

It was... it was even worse than Hanako’s betrayal.

Except... her betrayal was what caused this. Yes, I understood that as Aiko said, she would have been in trouble if she didn’t. But... couldn’t she have got in trouble for me? I was just a kid.

But thinking back, she didn’t want this for me either. I remembered how sad she had looked when I told her, and how much worse it got when she realized I’d already been signed up. She apologized. I didn’t understand it at the time, but... she didn’t want this for me, either.

That time we were captured and declared KIA, when I came back, she looked so guilty . Because she thought it was her fault. She thought she got me killed, and it devastated her.

She wasn’t... S he cared.

But she still did it. She still ruined my life, because she had to follow orders, she had to do what was best for Leaf.

I hated what she did, and I couldn’t help but blame her, but it was Leaf who made her do it. It was Leaf who ordered people to psychologically torture me until I joined the academy.

Leaf was the enemy. And I couldn’t do anything about it except quietly accept it and do as I was told.

“Sekai?” Aiko prodded.

“It’s fine,” I told her out loud. I wasn’t sure if we were being watched, it anyone could hear us despite her precautions, but if we were, then this was what they wanted to hear. My surrender.

“I understand why they did it, and it’s not like it was that bad,” I lied. “I think it’s for the better that I became a ninja anyway. I would have been bored as a civilian and wouldn’t have had many opportunities.”

Aiko looked at me, and so I was more honest with my thoughts.

There’s nothing I can do about it, I have to live with it, so I will. I’m not... I’m not surprised. The sorts of things we’ve done and been through... villages will torture kids , we experienced it ourselves. I’m not surprised they’d used a little genjutsu to recruit one.

Aiko nodded.

We stayed under the blanket together for several more hours.

-x-

I went on as if nothing happened.

I met with the woman who ordered the poison seal and she was satisfied with the test results, so I passed the seal on to the Hamasaki woman who helped test it for production.

I trained my genjutsu and started working on layering three genjutsu. If the things I made the prisoners experience were particularly cruel, it wasn’t worth comment. I was sure that if the village suspected the reason for it, they thought it was a fine way to let off some steam.

I did team training with Aiko and Sakura, the three of us working together against our various teachers, learning how to incorporate our new skills into fighting as a team.

Sakura’s taijutsu was improving by the day, and even when she didn’t use her monstrous strength, she was deadly with those chakra scalpels.

Aiko was getting better with her spear, especially now that Kairi-sensei was well enough to teach her. Her repertoire of earth jutsu expanded nicely as well.

And then it was my birthday.

Almost everyone I cared to invite to celebrate was in the village. Only Kakashi-senpai, Minato-san, and Tsunade were absent. Even better, the Nuisance was on a mission with his genin team and wouldn’t be there.

My party was at Kushina-sensei’s house. She had wanted to do something big, but I talked her down to just a dinner. I wasn’t sure what exactly she would have done if I’d let her do what she wanted, but I figured that was for the best.

It was the biggest birthday party I’d had in this life. In the last few years there had usually (but not always) been someone around, Hanako if no one else, but not enough people to really have a party. I suspected that this was the village’s way of rewarding me for passing their test. Or maybe they were just reminding me of how many ties I had to the village as incentive not to go psycho.

It was strange, really, to have almost everyone important to me in one room, and it made me realize how partitioned my relationships were.

There was my team, of course. But they hardly knew Itachi and Shisui. I couldn’t remember them meeting outside of a mission. They didn’t know sensei’s family either—which was the group that was totally missing from tonight’s party.

While I didn’t lament the absence of the Nuisance, it would have been nice to have to have Kakashi-senpai and Minato-san present, and I’d have tolerated him in exchange.

I wasn’t sure Sakura and Aiko had even met Kakashi-senpai, now that I thought about it, and it was a shame that they missed the opportunity to yet again.

Conversation was a bit awkward throughout dinner. Even among friends, I wasn’t the strongest conversationalist, and as the common link, it would normally fall to me to facilitate conversation between groups that didn’t know each other. I would have felt a bit bad for not doing that, but they all knew me well enough to expect it.

After dinner was cleared away we did presents.

Shisui and Itachi jointly gifted me a set of algebra textbooks, which I greatly appreciated. While I had access to the D-rank archives and could find these books there, there was something about actually owning them that was nice, and while in theory math textbooks weren’t so heavily restricted that they were unavailable for purchase the way some things would be, they were prohibitively expensive and I’d never been able to justify the purchase of one, let a lone a whole set.

In this world, education was reserved for the elite.

The textbooks were hands down my favourite gift, but the others were appreciated too. I got some art supplies from Kushina-sensei to bring to my office in case I wanted to actually do some art there in private. Kairi-sensei gave me a knew set of kunai, forged by Mist’s admittedly superior smiths. Sakura got me a gift card to Suzuki Kashiya with a rather hefty sum on it, and Aiko got me a new quilt for my bed, handmade by one of her cousins.

It was the best birthday I’d had since my mother died.

Part of me wished Hanako could have been there too, she would have loved it, and I hated that part of myself.-x-

A few weeks after my birthday, Kakashi-senpai returned to the village and invited me over for a belated celebration, which was unexpected, though I accepted.

I’d spent my eighth birthday with him when he’d been injured, and the past two years he made sure to give a gift even though he hadn’t been around on my birthday, but this was different, and a little suspicious. I visited him and the dogs at his apartment semi-frequently when I was in the village, but it was unusual for him to plan something like this.

When I arrived at his apartment I was greeted by the pack jumping all over me in excitement as usual, and I took my time giving each of them pets before I even greeted senpai, who was in the kitchen finishing dinner.

Once dinner was on the table and I had extracted myself from the puppy pile, I delicately brought up how unexpected the invitation was.

“Kind of weird to invite a little girl into your apartment alone for her birthday,” I told him, taking a bite of rice.

He snorted and gave me an unimpressed look. “Mah, here I am, trying to do something nice for my kohai’s birthday, where is the gratitude?”

“Doing something nice for me is giving me a present, not inviting me over for a private party.”

“No appreciation,” he sulked under my own unimpressed stare.

“Senpai,” I said seriously, so he knew that I was expecting an actual explanation.

He sighed and gave in. “Your present this year requires a bit of conversation.”

I perked up in interest. “Oh?”

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile... But first, what do you know about summoning contracts?”

My eyes widened. He wasn’t... he wasn’t offering me the opportunity to sign his contract, was he? That was way too much for a birthday gift to a friend.

“Not much,” I admitted. “Just the very basics. You sign a contract, and then can summon the animals the contract is with to help you.”

Kakashi-senpai nodded, unsurprised by my bare bones answer. “Right, well, in general, summons are not ordinary animals. Sensei has the toad contract, and some of the toads he can summon are the size of the Hokage monument. You’d never see one like that in nature. The toads live on Mount Myoboku. Do you know where that is on a map?”

I blinked dumbly, realizing I had no idea despite having adequate general knowledge of geography. I said as much.

“It’s not on a map, because it’s not on this plane of existence. It’s in another realm,” Kakashi-senpai explained. “The summoning realm. Summoning contracts are a link between realms, and allow for those bound by a contract to be summoned from one realm to the other, and to return once the summoning ends.”

“But your dogs stay in your apartment,” I observed, tapping my knee thoughtfully.

“Yes, because they’re not true summons,” he said, confirming my suspicion. “They have far more in common with Inuzuka ninken than real summons.

“Remember when you took me home from the hospital? I gave you some of my blood and chakra, and had you summon Bull for me?” I nodded. “You never would have been able to do that with a real summon, it only worked because my contract is essentially a bastardization of a true summoning contract.”

“But when Aiko took over someone’s body, she was able to use their summon. Was that not a real contract either?”

“No, that would have been a real contract. I don’t know all the theory behind it honestly, but it doesn’t surprise me that it works when the contractor is possessed—whatever elements necessary for the summoning are still present in that body, there’s just a little extra there as well.”

“So why is yours different?”

“It’s a Hatake clan jutsu.”

I paused my tappinng, a bit stunned. Why was he telling me about a clan jutsu? Given the conversation, I couldn’t help but think he was going to offer me his contract, and that was already too much, all things considered, but this just made it worse.

A clan jutsu that managed to mimic the summoning jutsu must be extremely coveted. Even if it’s not as powerful, it’s the sort of thing that could mean anyone could have a summons if it was made public knowledge, instead of just a select few.

It wasn’t something you just...shared with some kid you’re fond of.

And that had to be where this was leading, because there was no other reason to tell me this, especially since my present required this conversation.

“One of my ancestors wanted a contract but couldn’t find one, so they decided to make one, I guess. The jutsu has been in the family for generations. Historically the clan uses various canids—domestic dogs, foxes, wolves, raccoon dogs, and such. My father had a pack of wolves, and his sister had foxes, I think.” He looked a little melancholy at the mention of his father and aunt, who were clearly long dead, given he was the last Hatake.

“But in theory it doesn’t have to be canids, it was just the choice to help perpetuate the idea that there was a single canid contract, or that we were so great that we had a handful of contracts for various canids,” he went on. “In general, you find an animal in the wild and bind them to you in a contract.

“I’m not teaching you that, that will die with me,” he said bluntly. “I’m offering you the chance to sign as a subcontractor on my own contract.”

“Why?” I finally asked.

“Well for one, the dogs really like you. But beyond that... One of the effects of the contract is that it ties the lives of the pack to mine. They’re much harder to kill than a regular animal, smarter and more powerful so long as I live, but if I die, they die with me. I’d prefer they didn’t. If you’re a subcontractor, then if I die primacy transfers to you, and they become tied to your life.”

I nodded, a bit suspicious of the offer. While Kakashi-senpai and I were relatively close after my stint babysitting him when he was injured and I’d believe he may see me as something of a little sister figure much the way he sees the Nuisance as a brother, this was still... not normal.

In general, I could empathize with wanting your dogs to live after you die and to be well taken care of, but that just didn’t seem right. Kakashi-senpai clearly loved his pack, but... the attitudes in this world, especially with respect to clan jutsu...It was better for his pack to die with him than to give them to an outsider.

Perhaps senpai wasn’t the most traditional ninja, after all, he’d told me many times that his philosophy was teammates before the mission, which was borderline treasonous, but

this was a different kind of non-traditional.

Sure, sensei was teaching me her clan jutsu and this was relatively minor in comparison since he wasn’t actually showing me how to bind animals of my choice in a contract, but I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that sensei was teaching an outsider her clan secrets because she was happy to share them. She was doing it because it the skills were necessary for the village to function in the future and she couldn’t pass them on to her son because he had turned out to be a dud.

“What does it mean to be a subcontractor?” I asked.

“With regular summoning contracts, anyone signed can summon any animal that isn’t currently summoned, given they have enough chakra, but given the pack doesn’t exist in a separate realm, there is functionally no difference between them being here at home and being summoned out in the field. Hence, as the primary, I have veto power. I will feel it every time you try to summon the dogs, and I can reject it.”

I pressed my lips together. That made sense, they were his pack, but it was a huge drawback that meant I couldn’t even rely on the contract if I signed it.

The amount of control he retained explained part of why he was so willing to share with me, but it still didn’t make sense to me why he was offering it.

Bluntly, I said as much.

He looked at me intently for a moment, then seemed to cave. “I’ll be honest, this wasn’t something I decided on my own. You and your teammates are too valuable to lose, and while last time you were captured you managed to escape, it would have been much easier if you’d had a way to contact Leaf as soon as you got out.

“The easiest solution is a summoning contract, but they aren’t common. Tsunade-sama has the slug contract and Sakura-san will be signing, but it’s unideal in the case that you’re separated.

“Kushina-nee doesn’t have a contract of her own to pass to you, and it’s not easy to just find one for you. The pack adores you and I trust you, so after some consideration, I volunteered.”

I nodded, now that made sense. Much like sensei teaching me her clan secrets for the betterment of the village, he was letting me in on his for the same reason.

“Are there any drawbacks to signing?” I asked.

“You won’t be able to sign a real contract.”

Ah, and there was the kicker. The chances of finding a contract to sign were astronomically low, but they weren’t zero. By signing, I was giving that up in place of a vastly inferior option.

“Can I think about it?” I asked hesitantly.

“Of course,” he said. “I trust that it goes without saying that the details of my contract will remain between the two of us, regardless of what you choose.”

“Of course,” I agreed easily. I wasn’t stupid.

-x-

Chapter Text

Against the World

“The tests would never end—the only difference would be what side of them you were on.”

-x-

Hanako watched fondly as Sekai toddled over to the table with yet another book that should have been far beyond her abilities, yet wasn’t.

It was a shame she wasn’t born into more fortunate circumstances. In another life she could have been a scholar.

But being born to a penniless, no-name mother without a father in sight in the Village Hidden in Leaves meant her options were to put her brilliance to use for the village as a ninja, or to languish in a career that wasted her intellect.

Even now with Junichi in their corner and willing to pull some strings, they wouldn’t be able to do more than secure Sekai an apprenticeship in a respectable trade when she was older. It was better than most born in similar circumstances could hope for, but it wasn’t enough. Hanako knew Sekai deserved better—she deserved the world.

(Hanako had flat out refused to allow them to arrange a marriage for the girl, which was only support offered initially. No, she was adamant that Junichi would ensure that Sekai would be able to support herself, or Hanako would become a problem. She may have been disabled and worse than clanless herself, but she’d been ANBU. The Tominaga had wronged her, and so she had diligently learned about every skeleton in their closet that she could, just in case she ever needed it.)

Against her personal wishes, she had reported Sekai to the village just a week ago, and part of her hoped that it would be for the best. With Sekai’s knack for mathematics, cryptography would be blessed to have her in their ranks, and she’d be able to put her intellect to use in relative safety, doing something that she actually enjoyed with access to resources to expand her knowledge beyond the scope of her career if she desired.

It was the best possible future for someone such as Sekai, Hanako told herself, even as part of her hoped Aya would decline when the village inevitably approached her about sending Sekai to the academy.

-x-

Twenty Nine

I mulled over the idea of signing the contract for a couple days. The biggest downside was that I wouldn’t be able to sign a real contract, but in truth, I was probably never going to have that chance.

Contracts were rare. Unless you had a teacher or relative who was willing to pass theirs on, you were almost certainly out of luck. Kushina-sensei had no contract to pass on to me, the contracts her clan once held were lost when Whirling Tides was razed, and I had no family of my own. Even if it turned out my father was from a clan with a contract, if they hadn’t claimed me by now then I had little chance of ever seeing it.

Itachi had a contract with the crows, but while we were friends and he had mentored me in genjutsu, I doubted he would offer. His contract was likely a clan contract, and I was not an Uchiha—nor did I particularly want to become one. There were plenty of others to pass the contract to that weren’t outsiders. Even if he were willing, it was probably not a good idea politically to let me sign, and I had no desire to get caught in that kind of mess.

In fact, given what Kakashi-senpai said about how he didn’t exactly decide this on his own, if Itachi was open to me signing his contract, it would have been him approaching me, not Kakashi-senpai.

Not to mention summons could be picky, so even if you were lucky enough to be apprenticed or related to someone with a contract, the summons might not let you sign even if their summoner was in favour.

There were rare cases where a summon chose a summoner, but those were incredibly rare and usually still had a spot of nepotism to them. I’d heard that Tsunade-sensei’s teammates got their contracts that way, and it was Katsuyu who pointed the snakes and toads in their direction.

Sakura had signed the slug contract, but as Katsuyu’s main allies were the aforementioned toads and snakes, they already had summoners. One of said summoners being a man who hated me for pointing out he was a sexual predator, and the other being the village’s biggest traitor.

I didn’t know if Kairi-sensei had a contract to pass on to Aiko or not, but even then, my chances of those summons having allies willing to make a contract with me were astronomically low.

With that in mind, even if the terms of signing on with senpai’s pack were not the most favourable I had to consider that it was still better than nothing, so I shouldn’t dismiss it out of hand.

It was a shame I couldn’t discuss it with Aiko and Sakura in a way that mattered. The limitations that were inherent to the contract were a Hatake clan secret, and it was one of those limitations that was making me hesitate.

After making a list of questions on my own, I ended up going back to Kakashi-senpai’s apartment three days later to talk it over in more detail, and left several hours later with answers and plans for a trial run of sorts.

If I signed, I wouldn’t havecompletely free use of the dogs, but the restrictions were reasonable, all things considered, and I’d learned actual contracts often had their own use limitations anyway. I’d be able to explain any discrepancies away without revealing too much information to my teammates.

For one, if the pack was in village, I could use them for training any time, but I had to be prepared for senpai to summon them for his own use.

If I was able to contact Kakashi-senpai—whether in person or through the dogs—before I left on a mission and I wanted to use some of the dogs for it, then he’d reserve at most three of the pack for my exclusive use for the duration of the mission, while the rest fell under the next clause.

If I couldn’t clear it with him ahead of time, I could try summoning them and if he didn’t need them then he’d allow the summoning, but he also reserved the right to summon them back if he required them for his own missions, so I wouldn’t be able to fully rely on them.

If I had some of the dogs he’d only summon them if he absolutely needed them, and he’d try to leave at least one for me at all times, but it wasn’t a guarantee.

Finally, if he denied a summoning and it was actually an emergency, if I tried summoning a second time immediately after, he’d let it go through.

They weren’t terrible terms, really. While I couldn’t rely on having them available all the time, I didn’t anticipate using them so often, and I’d still have more access than I initially expected. Especially given his assurance that more often than not, his missions didn’t require the use of them.

I had asked about breaking the contract, but he admitted that wasn’t possible, which I supposed made sense given I would be tying the dogs’ lives to mine. I suspected that it would break if all the dogs died, but I would never kill them just to get out of the contract, so it didn’t matter.

My other concern was the chakra cost of a failed summoning. I remembered how much it cost to summon Bull, which was with Kakashi-senpai’s staticky chakra overfilling my system, and it wasn’t cheap. I couldn’t afford to waste chakra on a failed summon. But Kakashi-senpai assured me that the cost to call a summon was barely anything, the bulk of the chakra cost was from actually bringing them through.

The next problem was that I wasn’t sure how well I’d work with the dogs. While I adored them and they returned my affection, that didn’t mean we could work well together or our styles were well suited.

From what Kakashi-senpai told me, when it came to fighting, the dogs were primarily trained to hunt and then restrain to create an opening for senpai or for capture. While their tracking abilities would certainly be useful, the issue was that in a fight, if I wanted to restrain someone, I had my chains for that. Kakashi-senpai, being the famed copy-nin, had more jutsu than I could count that were easier to employ on a restrained enemy, but I didn’t. Even if they restrained someone for me, all I could really do was come in close with a kunai or attack from a distance with my chains.

In a fight the dogs and I filled a similar role as support. It wasn’t an ideal match if I was working alone.

Still, I often fought as part of a team with Sakura and Aiko, so while I might not be suited to landing a finishing blow, Sakura certainly was. Her biggest problem was that her opponents often knew that one good hit from her was a death sentence and employed evasive manoeuvres, making it hard for her to get in close no matter how good her taijutsu was.

While I usually tried to create openings for her with my genjutsu and restraining targets with my chains, it might not hurt to have the dogs as another option. It would allow us to restrain multiple people at once, letting Sakura pick them off one after another.

Not to mention, it could help if our team was sent out for a capture and interrogate mission...

So... it could work, they could be an asset to my team, even if they weren’t what I needed to fill in the gaps in my own skills.

With that in mind, I’d have to train with them—including running a few missions—and see how it went from there.

If nothing else, it wouldn’t hurt to add some tracking abilities to the team and for me to have a way to call for help in an emergency.

-x-

“But I don’t want to,” I complained to Kushina-sensei, who just smiled at me in fond amusement. “I just started making progress on layering a third genjutsu, and aren’t I supposed to stay in the village for now?”

“Sekai,” Kushina-sensei said in exasperation, looking towards the sky for guidance. Or something. “You’re going on this C-rank.”

“Then can’t I go alone? I don’t want to deal with little genin. It will be faster,” I argued.

“Sekai, the mission is for the genin. They only graduated last March and need experience. You’re just being tapped to supervise, since their sensei is busy elsewhere,” Sensei explained patiently. “Besides, those ‘little genin’ are older than you.”

“Oh, so they’re clan brats. Even better.” If they were older than me and only graduated a year ago, they had to be from clans. Few others had the clout to keep their kids in the academy until they were eleven or older. Most graduated by the time they were ten. The year after I graduated, they cut the academy down to an average of three years, with the exception of classes already started on the four year track. Now most non-clan kids started at six or seven, and graduated at nine or ten. Only clan kids, or kids with other connections, started at eight or nine.

Further, only clan kids would be so coddled that they needed this kind of experience a year out of the academy. Even my team had plenty of extra-village experience by this time. It made me wonder what they’d even actually done at this point. Not much but train and the safest of missions once in a blue moon, I imagined.

The excuse was to give their clans time to train them in specialized skills or some rot, but it was clear to me it was just people with power using it to protect their own and leaving the rest of us to rot.

“You realize most of your friends are so-called clan brats, right?”

I bit my tongue. That was true. Of all my friends, only Sakura wasn’t from a clan.

It was different though. My friends had experience and were past the coddling phase. Besides, for all that Itachi and Shisui were clan brats, they hadn’t been held back and coddled like most were. Neither was Aiko, really. They’d all been pushed by their clans in order to bring honour and prestige due to their innate talent instead of protected and given time to grow out of their weakness—or at least not to the same extent.

Yes, my team was protected in a way few were, but we weren’t held back and shielded from the reality of war. We may not have been sent out to the worst of the fighting until rather recently, but we were not only fully trained in torture and interrogation before we hit our teen years, but experienced in it.

Really though, I was just being difficult, I knew that. But goddamn it I did not want to deal with spoiled, inexperienced children. I was making so much progress with my genjutsu, and I had plans to meet with Sakura about my oxygen seal I’d have to reschedule! Not to mention I’d only had one training session with the dogs so far.

I sighed. “Whatever, fine. I’ll babysit them or whatever.”

“Hey, come on, you need to run some trial missions with the dogs, right? This is your chance.”

“...I already said fine.”

My reluctant acquiescence seemed to please Kushina-sensei.

“Report to Kairi-chan in two hours for your briefing,” she told me with a certain glint in her eyes that made me even less enthusiastic about the mission.

-x-

“What are you doing here?” Piglet sneered as I approached her and two boys at the south-east gate early the next morning.

“Team Ten?” I asked, dreading the answer even as I was already sure of it. I’d been told they were a genin team specializing in intelligence gathering during my briefing with Kairi-sensei, but she’d kept details on the brats light, not wanting to influence my impression of them. She hadn’t included photos, either.

I would think I’d remember if she’d told me I was stuck with Aiko’s cousin of all people, but I was drawing a blank. I was disinterested in their names and who they were as people, but not to that extent.

Kairi-sensei most likely glossed over that on purpose, given she knew I wasn’t fond of the girl. She’d stuck to last names for the briefing, and I’d assumed that it had been because she knew I found those easier to remember.

(Not that I actually did, but I’d written them down and sealed the paper into my arm so I could check if I needed to.)

Clearly, she’d had ulterior motives.

I could only hope the girl’s teammates were more tolerable. I’d seen her a couple times over the years, and she always loved to get a dig in at Aiko and talk down to her.

(Which, knowing what I did now, I had to admit I had some sympathy for her even if I still didn’t like her. For all that Aiko tried to stay out of it, their fathers had created a situation that set them against each other. Aiko was a threat to her status as clan heiress and she felt the constant need to prove herself worthy.)

“That’s us,” Piglet’s teammate confirmed. He was fat, and seemed to be wearing underwear on his head. The other one had pineapple-like hair and terrible posture.

“Right well, I’ll be leading this mission. My name is Hoshino Sekai, but you may address me as taicho.”

“You? You’re younger than us,” Pineapple Hair said with just a hint of condescension. Annoying, but it was nothing I hadn’t heard before. In truth, it was uncommon to be promoted to chuunin at a young age even in times of war and he probably assumed I was younger than I actually was, too. Even at eleven, I still appeared closer to eight. I probably didn’t inspire much confidence compared to whatever other chuunin or jounin they’d worked with.

“And yet I outrank you.” I smiled too stiffly to be real, pointing to my blue pin.

“Tch, troublesome,” he muttered, and I graciously ignored him.

As much as I hated it, I understood the attitude. It was hard to take someone so young in a position of authority seriously. It was different with prodigies like Itachi and Shisui who had been famous for their genius from a young age and had a clan name. Their reputation had been enough to earn them respect despite their youth in most cases. Meanwhile, I was relatively unknown to the masses despite my connections and skill.

In another life, I too, wouldn’t have taken someone like me seriously. In this life, I knew better.

“Our mission is to handle the bandit activity in southern Fire Country, we’ve had reports of them disrupting farming. Intel indicates there are several key locations that we can expect to be targeted, and our intel says that we’ve got distinct groups working each target. We’re to locate and eliminate them all.”

I left unsaid that the “distinct” groups were almost certainly part of a larger operation that we needed to investigate and potentially eliminate, per my briefing instructions. That was for them to figure out over the course of the mission. It seemed now that I passed my own tests, it was time to test others.

I had to admit, it felt good to be on this side of things, and perhaps that was the trap, wasn’t it? They gave me power, and how could I not enjoy finally having it? It may have been an illusion, as I was still firmly in their grasp, just as these genin were, but it still felt good.

I told myself it was fine. I knew I didn’t have any real power, so I could still enjoy the illusion of it. I was aware that they were making me partake in the system that was used against me, turning me into a hypocrite if I complained about what was done to me.

I supposed that was the part that made me most aware of just how little power I really had in this situation. I was here to judge and report on a trio of clan heirs—I had a certain degree of control over their careers going forward, my reports would affect their training, their future assignments, whether they were promoted any time soon or not—but I didn’t have the power to decline.

“So you’re a tracker?” the one with what looked like underwear on his head and swirls on his cheeks asked, and I shook my head, turning my attention back to task at hand. “Then how are we supposed to find these guys? It’s really not in our skill set.”

Instead of answering, I gave a sharp whistle, and Bisuke and Shiba jumped down from the tree they were lounging in. “Meet Bisuke and Shiba. Kakashi-senpai has graciously allowed me to borrow them for this mission. They’ll be our trackers.”

“Yo,” the dogs said in unison.

“Oh, aren’t you the cutest!” Piglet squealed, bending down to pet Bisuke. Reluctantly, she rose in my esteem. Pineapple Hair scoffed, muttering something to himself, but something sharpened in his gaze.

“Any questions? No? Then let’s go. I want to get this over with.”

-x-

We ran straight to the first area where frequent activity was reported. It took twice as long as I expected, as Team Ten was slow even for genin. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, given how notorious the Nara were for being lazy intellectuals.

I almost wished I’d thought to bring Bull, so I could just toss the genin on him and pick up the pace, but alas, hindsight was twenty-twenty.

We arrived in the late afternoon and I quickly set the dogs about searching for scents. The most recent attack in this location had only been a few days ago, so I was hopeful they’d be able to pick something up.

While they did that, I went with the genin to interview the victims about the latest attack. They weren’t the ones to commission the mission, rather it was the village that decided it needed to step in to prevent further food shortages in Fire Country, which meant interviewing them would be a bit of a chore.

There was always the risk of clients lying even when they were the ones to hire you, but it was worse when you were interviewing civilians who didn’t. They tended to be more apprehensive, worried the ninja would decide they did something wrong and do something horrible in retaliation.

I let Piglet take the lead since the mission was to give the genin experience more than anything else, and it was interesting to compare the way she worked to Aiko.

Aiko could be just as good at putting on a friendly and comforting persona as her cousin, but Piglet had to actually get the person to say the information, not just think it, which led to a different approach.

Aiko would gently prod, get people thinking about something, but she wouldn’t push if they were reluctant, instead relying on whatever insight she gained from their thoughts to pose her follow up questions without stepping on any toes. But Piglet couldn’t do that, so she had learned how to gently press at those soft spots and get people to open up about them when they didn’t want to.

I watched carefully, ready to intervene and ask Piglet a leading question if I had to, but the interview concluded without the need. She was well trained in this, at the very least. Unsurprising, perhaps, given getting civilians to talk was a valuable but low-risk skill.

We thanked them for their time and left.

As per our intel, the latest attack had been just a few days ago. These farmers primarily grew two things, wheat and sugarcane. The latter of which, given the war, had become something of a luxury product. It was unsurprising that they were targeted, given how expensive sugar could be. The attacks had been happening for the better part of a year and sometimes their wheat was stolen as well, but approximately eighty percent of the time, their sugar was taken, despite making up a smaller portion of their overall production.

According to the farmers, wheat harvesting was usually done in the fall, but sugarcane harvesting took place over several months in the fall and early winter, so it was possible that the sugar was simply being targeted because it was currently in season... Yet something in my gut told me that it was more complicated than that.

For all that it was not in season, the farmers had quite a bit of wheat in storage and moved it throughout the year according to demand.

Attacks typically happened during the transportation stage. If the workers surrendered the carts then they were spared, but if they refused, then the bandits didn’t hesitate to kill. The eldest son of the farmers had been killed, and since then they had given up on resisting.

The farmers had started hiring ninja for their larger shipments, and those got through unmolested, indicating the bandits were smart enough to recognize they were no match for even genin. However, the cost of hiring a genin team in these trying times was expensive, and the farmers couldn’t justify it for some of their smaller shipments, and so they lost about half of them.

The most valuable information was confirmation that it indeed seemed to be the same group attacking each time. 

The dogs informed me that they found a spot a few clicks away where the scents accompanying the sugar changed.

I took a moment to evaluate how to proceed. It had already been several days since the attack and the scent was faded, so it was best to follow along as soon as possible. On the other hand, the genin were slow and already tired from the earlier run.

Upon making up my mind, I unsealed four niNRG bars from my arm and tossed three of them to the genin, hitting them all in the face. Which was amusing, but spoke to a worrying lack of reflexes on their part. “Eat these and then we’ll follow the scent until nightfall. We’ll make camp and resume following the trail in the morning.”

The dogs nodded in subtle approval, while the genin grumbled and reluctantly tore into their unappetizing dinner.

The fat one, who I decided to call Swirly because of the markings on his face and the way his headgear gave me the urge to stick his head in a toilet, complained about the lack of real food to Pineapple Hair who agreed, but Piglet told them to suck it up.

Once we were finished, we were off. I noticed that while all of them were slow, Piglet had better stamina, and it was the other two who forced us to stop a bit earlier than I’d hoped to.

I checked in with Shiba while I had the genin set up camp, and he assured me that the scents were getting stronger, so we were closing it. We looked at my map together, and concluded based on the established path, we were likely headed to a moderately sized civilian settlement called Gold Field.

The current scent was about a day old, and it took two at a civilian pace from out current location to reach the town, so we would likely catch up to them before that, which was ideal.

Plan set, I checked on the genin, who had done a decent job setting up a small, discreet shelter for the six of us.

“The Nara kid foisted off most of his share of the work on the others. Yamanaka argued before giving in, but Akimichi did it without complaint,” Bisuke informed me, speaking barely above a whisper.

I pressed my lips together. “We’ll have to keep an eye on that. Next time I’ll watch them myself and intervene if necessary.”

-x-