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Uzushiogakure was similar to how she remembered Greece to be. Paradise. The sands were impossibly soft and light. The waters filtered between blue and green but always clear. You could see the fish swimming in the shallows, all too happy to stay between man and the whirlpools.The buildings were blue domed with whitewashed stone. Stone fountains with marble people. Countless birds and even more song. The sunset was purple. More purple than red and more yellow than orange and it was so beautiful.Uzumaki Doremi didn’t know how old she was. Not really. Thinking hurt and it pounded behind her ears like the chants of leather drums. If she ignored the feeling of wrongness, she was fine. For all that she knew, all that she cared for, she was dead. And this was utopia.She often escaped her caretaker. She would ignore the fact that she was crawling, just as she ignored the baby soft skin and lack of ability to talk. The little tiny whirlpools at the beaches behind her house made her giggle and reminded her of the Disney film, Moana. Here, she knew the ocean to be it’s own person. It felt like it could feel her sadness and her grief and tried to make her feel better and it worked.Doremi didn’t know where she was. Or why. Or how. But she didn’t care. She loved where she was and she loved the people with all she was able in her little sized self.Coming to cognizance wasn’t brought by anything new. She didn’t suddenly remember another life. She was always aware of it. There was a fine line of knowing and actually facing reality. Flipping the coin of fact and fiction. In the reflection of crystal-clear water, she saw red hair. She was familiar with the color, having dyed in it a form of rebellion. The color was likened to a firetruck or a Crayola drawn rose. This color had nothing on it. She knew it was natural despite being the color of actual garnets.It was then, sitting and admiring it when she realized that everybody did. Everybody had red hair. And no, it wasn’t the same color because every person had a shade different and- red so dark it was close to black. The far more familiar color of carrot orange or the same garnet as even her. Even lighter, closer to pink or the color of coral- it was all red though.“Remi-chan!”She froze.Water lapped at her feet and oh.Oh no.Remi’s caretaker was some poor guy who could barely be in his teens. He came rushing out of the palm trees and paradise bushes. His own red hair was more pink, near white. She knew him as Uzunata-kun. And Uzunata’s were of Uzushiogakure even if they weren’t Uzumaki. He was wearing a forehead protector. His tactile vest was white, pants and undershirt purple.This was Uzu. She was in Uzu. Uzushiogakure. How- but- she-“Are you listening?”Uzunata-kun didn’t even waste time fretting over her. This was the second time she ran away today alone. He knew where she was. Where Remi always was. Sitting in sand with toes dipping in water as she collected sea shells. The water, she thought. The whirlpools in the distance.Her head hurt with a vengeance. It wasn’t unusual. None of this was. She rose her arms to get picked up. Uzunata-kun did because he always did. It was his job. His mission. He talked away because she never spoke. Had no reason to. None of this was out of the blue. This happened everyday.None of this was normal.He set her in the woven crib. He gave her a bottle. She faced the wall, holding the bottle herself as she ignored the taste. Uzunata-kun pulled out his own food. And he spoke. As if she was listening and not just one who bordered on infancy and toddlerhood. This was what they always did.Doremi would run, would toddle the moment the easily distracted child was distracted himself. And he would find her, always thankful that he did before her parents came back and saw. When they were done eating, he would shut the blinds, turn the music box and leave.It was sometime later, maybe a month, she didn’t know. But there was a party. For her. Somebody who kept calling herself Kaa-san and somebody calling himself Tou-san- though she had seen them only in passing before this. There were other people. They all introduced themselves. She didn’t care. Uzunata-kun wasn’t here.She saw Kaa-san and Tou-san more, now, and Uzunata-kun around less. She wasn’t sure why and she tried not to be upset but it was hard.All of this was hard. The… realization, she guessed.The acceptance.All of these people were going to die.
Her home. Her heaven. Gone. Ruined. It was Uzushiogakure.
She was three when Kaa-san dropped her off in a little col-de-sac area. There were three buildings, each with a sign above them written in blue. They each, respectively said Write, Fight and Live. Doremi wasn’t one to ever hold Kaa-sans hand, not in this life, but she realized what this was. And she didn’t want her to go.As usual though, she didn’t say anything. She stayed by the entrance post as she watched her mother leave. Doremi refused to move.She didn’t want to go to school. It represented everything that she refused to face. What was coming. What she was going to do about it. What she could do about it. She didn’t want to think about it. It meant responsibility. Or refusal.Doremi didn’t know what to do.She didn’t go to school that day. That was the first and only time that her parents yelled. They took her to the doctor. And she did talk, then. She didn’t want to end up in an asylum or some shit. The lines of then and now were blurring more than ever before.Doremi didn’t want change. Not when everything already did and she got this. Got Uzu.The girl went to school three days late and somehow, that was enough to label her as odd. The fact that she chose not to talk made it worse. But that was ok.Write, Fight, Live.Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, Survival.Doremi’s… maturity pushed her further ahead than the other kids. And that was fine.(Uzunata left the village. He came back in pieces.)(Kaa-san never came back from Kiri.)(Tou-san never made it to Konoha. We started wondering about people in white masks.)Uzushiogakure was a very proud country. They believed in unity, family and fighting for what they believed in. Before you could be a part of it though, you had to understand yourself. Then and only then, could you be a formal part of Uzushiogakure.She was seven when she journeyed to the Hidey Castle. She had to spend a week, alone, with no supplies. She had to bring back the head of an animal. Doremi’s future shinobi placement depended on what animal she brought back.It didn’t seem to matter how many people she asked or how many books she read, nobody would say anything. The graduation test was tradition. Hidey Castle was sacred.She spent two days trying to decide between a jaguar and the sparrow.Doremi settled for the bird.It didn’t matter because when she got back to the main island-Dead.The water wasn’t clear.The birds were missing.The stalls weren’t cheering.The domed buildings collapsed.Heads were on pikes.Their cemetery was ransacked.Arashi-sama, the ninety year old Uzukage who told everybody that he would only die when the island was dead, was strung up in the middle of town center in the life tree with his arms torn off.She decided to fight. Not to change Uzu’s future but to fight alongside it as one of its own. Naruto was a story. If she wanted to change it, if she tried to, then it would become real, she reasoned. If she tried to change anything, then it would make this all real and it was already her home. Doremi didn’t need to prove it to anyone or change any part of it. Not when it was already perfect.Uzumaki Doremi never got the chance to do that.To fight alongside her people.She never-She remembered, before Uzu, that she would tell people off. She was not one to let others walk all over her. She refused. After Uzu, Doremi discovered that it didn’t actually matter. Any anger, disappointment or guilt she had was gone because life, she realized was better when you were living with what you had and not wishing for more.The- the hate? And anger? The utter grief the girl felt as she walked through her village…Doremi didn’t care if she died. She never really did. Not when she was Born from the Storm, as they said. It was expected. Hell, she had already died once. What was one more time? If she could die alongside what she believed in, then she would die happy.But that was ripped and stabbed and stolen before she even had a chance-The bodies littered the cobbled streets. For each fallen Uzu, two of Kumo or Kiri went down with. She wanted to feel pride. They were small. They were peaceful. They would not go down without a fight and-She boarded the small boat that she had gotten off only days earlier. She had no Tobirama or Secret Scroll to teach her the jutsu, but Kage Bunshin was, pretty much, the only technique that Naruto knew. While she had no Kyuubi, she was an Uzumaki. That meant chakra. While she couldn’t do hundreds or even dozens, she could make a few.The sign was unfamiliar in her hands as she made it. Her fingers crossed with bitterness and tasted like salt.She cleaned the island.And she headed for Kirigakure.XXXUzumaki Doremi was an odd girl. The island knew that. That didn’t really mean anything though. They were all weird. The adults only started talking when they heard the silent girl was placed in advanced fuinjutsu lessons. It wasn’t unheard of, of course not. But it was a starting point.When a kenjutsu instructor came shouting down the street, telling everybody with a grin that one of those ‘wittle baby ninjas’ finally managed to unarm him, they listened.When the girl killed the jaguar on the class activity, people listened. Not because it was impressive. It was a class activity. It had been planned. But the girl had done it by herself.When Nanami-Oba showed off a new seal, people listened.‘Nothing much,’ Nanami-Oba grinned gummily. ‘Just Remi-chans latest work! Here, watch this!’-And one of their chakra weapons came out?People listened.A lot of people listened to the girl who had nothing to say.And when she finally did, words of love and wonder and awe wanting nothing more than to be shouted from their watch towers--There was no one left to listen.|Six Years Later|Sarutobi Hiruzen hated a lot of things. He hated singing, believe it or not. He hated it when he wasn’t listened to. He hated it when Danzo took the last eel sushi when they had their weekly dinners (not that they do that much, anymore). He hated a lot of things. But believe it or not, what he hated most in this world was paperwork.That was why he didn’t do it.(If he did do it, maybe he wouldn’t be in this mess, he chastised himself.)“I’m sorry?”Let it be said that paperwork covered anything from reports, complaints, asks, missives and yes, letters.Jiraiya looked annoyed which was unusual. It was often the other way around.“I said,” Jiraiya sniped. This anger usually stemmed from one of three things. His teammates, his so-called prophecy and the recent falling of their sister village. Neither were good options.“That the Uzumaki Girl is now blacklisted.”…Kushina-chan?“No.”Hiruzen straightened, hesitantly setting his pipe down on a report from a northern watch. Nothing was looking good. Most of the reason that Hiruzen wasn’t bothering with paperwork (right now) was because he was expecting a formal declaration of war from at least two other countries. Trying to fix problems would be moot at this point.“I told you that I wanted to keep communicating via summons, sensei. Tell me all you want that this was to protect cover but I knew that this would happen. I’ve been writing you for the past year."Well, Hiruzen thought. That would explain the glare.Jiraiya let out a slow breath. The Professor idly wondered where Orochimaru was when you needed him. He was the only one able to calm Jiraiya down when he was like this.“An Uzumaki girl, Sensei. She’s been tearing the villages apart as some kind of vengeance. There isn’t a BINGO book she isn’t in. Save ours, I mean.”Hiruzen slowly steeped his hands together to rest on them. That… was not good. Some part of him wanted to call Kushina-chan in while another didn’t want her to find out at all.Another Uzumaki?“What do we know?”Jiraiya slumped in his seat.“She’s a teenager, I think. She wears one of their ceremonial masks. She’s called Uzutenshi no Shi. She stole some pieces from Suna and utterly demolished the library in Iwa. From what I’ve heard, it’s burned to the ground.”Hiruzen swallowed. Those two were very much not the countries that destroyed her own.His student nodded. “Kirigakure lost their entire fleet, Sensei. From what I’ve put together, she conned Kiri’s suppliers to work against them. They can’t build anymore boats. The Samahada, Kubikiriboko and the Kiba swords are all missing.”Hiruzen bit his tongue.“Kumo’s turtle island was killed. Both of their Jinchurriki were missing for a week, Sensei. When they got back, their tongues were sealed off. They can’t say anything about what happened to them, or at least no records can be found. But the seal was definitely Uzumaki.”“How long has this been going on?”Jiraiya half smirked but it was ridden with worry. “What part? The great villages, or how you can find reports in Rain, River, Grass, Tea and Waterfall on Sukoshiaka? Where she goes around and helps people?”Hiruzen didn’t say anything, couldn’t. The spy master waved. “Years. I’ve been waiting for a response for almost two years, Sensei.”The Hokage caught the scroll, unraveling it with ease. He pushed the other papers on his desk into the corner. He scanned over the dates and information before turning back.“What do you think?”“I think that she was there. When the village was attacked. I think that she lived, somehow and is trying to make peace with what happened but can’t.”“Why not?”“When we got to Uzu, it was destroyed. There weren’t any bodies, everything was pillaged. It was quiet. I have only been to Uzu three times, Sensei, twice when it was alive. The girl wants some sort of reprieve. She probably blames herself. Some sort of survivor’s guilt.”Hiruzen nodded, glancing back at the scroll.“We bring her back.”Home, went unsaid but they were both thinking it. Jiraiya nodded, leaving as swiftly as he came, not stopping to see his student or teammates before he was gone again.(What neither knew was that Konoha wasn’t home. It was rather ignorant, that they thought that their village could help her. She wasn’t leaving Konoha alone. They weren’t safe. She wasn’t naïve and she wasn’t alive by luck. Doremi's time in Konoha would come.)(And Danzo would pay.)XXXThe Land of Waves was a terrible, terrible place. Sure, the people were decent, and the food was fine. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, per say. It wasn’t like they were under a cruel dictator who flushed all the money out of the island or anything, no.The water was loud, foamy and gross. There was no chakra to clean it and the only birds around were seagulls. And any decent islander could tell you that seagulls were terrible, terrible creatures.Remi was sleeping in a tree, one overhanging the water. She was a few dozen feet above the ground, high enough that nobody would stop to think to look up. She felt safe.Remi wasn’t actually here for any specific reason. She had already stopped off in Uzu to pay her respects. She had done what she needed, what she could do, without completely throwing what she knew about the world off a cliff.While part (most) of her would love nothing more than to destroy and sicken Kumo and Kiri for what they had done, she knew that she…couldn’t. The world was bigger than she and if she destroyed entire great villages then she would have no idea what would happen to the third or even fourth wars.She didn’t doubt that she could. Let it be said that she was certain it was possible. It was actually a great strength that she didn’t. For the sake of the world and others.Even if she hated herself for it. Because she knew that in only a generation, the village would be forgotten. Naruto had no idea who he was. He had no idea the storm he had within him, only a fire and let’s be honest. What’s a Fire to a Storm?Remi had destroyed all of Kiri’s ships, sealed off a decent sized portion of their forests and blackmailed/convinced most of their tradespeople into not. Kiri wouldn’t be going anywhere without ships, not for a long time anyway. Not unless Kumo decided to help them out, which she recognized was a very like chance.For Kumo, well, she figured that she’d hit it where it hurt. Their Turtle Island, where Naruto went to train before the fourth war. She destroyed it. And it wasn’t easy. At all. The place was sacred and she struggled with deciding if she wanted to or not but-Turtle Island was beautiful.The plants, wildlife, birdsong, all of it.So was Uzu.For some damned reason, Konoha gave Kumo two jinchurrikis. And the Uzumaki, well, they were in fact destined partners with the biju. The Uzu clans had more history than Kishimoto ever showed. The clans were all different, all important, all fluid but they were one family.Remi just had to offer B a jutsu, waiting until he and A got into another fight, which didn’t take long. Yugito was literally two years old. They all went to Turtle island before it was destroyed and she did nothing more than put a silencing seal on them. To prevent them (B) from telling A or anybody else about what had happened.While she was tempted to kill them, (Which would solve so, so many problems, but leave so much to chance) she made them watch as the island burned and sent them on their merry way.It was more powerplay than anything. And she knew it worked.Kumo (and anybody who had heard what happened) knew that they weren’t safe. That somebody could take their jinchurrikis (kids) and they couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.She would have been fine leaving other villages alone, really, but after months and months alone, she realized that she needed to say something. Make a statement.The Uzumaki were strong. They were great. Powerful. They were the first Great Village before the Villages were even founded.And no, she wasn’t bitter. Some old, mysterious hatred for Kushina definitely wasn’t festering out of nowhere. It wasn’t happening. Because that…wouldn’t make sense. Right?Suna had been given a series of sealing scrolls from a marriage alliance years ago, which is actually the current family that reigns as Kazekage. She had taken them, not that it did much, given that they were literally sitting in a closet.The alliance was between the Sabaku family and the Uzutama family. The Uzutamas were… not the smartest? They were beautiful craftsmen though, which is why one agreed so readily to the alliance generations ago. They wanted to work on glass blowing. Which worked out for them at least.Honestly, Suna freaked out for a day or two but that was it. Still, word had gotten out that someone stole something from their archives so that was enough for her.Iwa was a pain in the ass. Iwa may have been the ugliest place she had been to, in either life. It was nothing but a plateau. There were ravines, which was how they got wood, plants and water and such. But it was so rocky, so ugly, that she didn’t miss it at all.Their library on the other hand, man. While Iwa didn’t have much going for it cosmetically, the lore and secrets they had weren't anything close to what she thought possible. Their library was filled with legitimate diaries, books several hundred years old, and artwork from generations ago.She stayed there for almost three months, reading and reading.Apparently, they were a treasure trove because in the olden days, like, before Kaguya even, everybody wanted to go to Iwa. If only because of its altitude. People believed that the closer they were to the stars, the higher chance they had to go to the heavens.Simple, poetic, honest. Just the way she liked it.When Remi got bored, she burned it. She made copies. But the girl burned it.She wasn’t really surprised when Iwa was the first to put her in their Bingo books. Though they hadn’t really known who she was until Suna added the entry. And that was only because they wanted to show that they could, really. Or out of necessity. You couldn’t really ignore it when somebody steals something from the Sabaku family and let them get away with it.Kiri and Kumo finally followed, some pride shit or something, Remi don’t know.She didn’t like thinking about it. Despite it being just about the only thing that she could do.The point was, was that she was…done. Doremi couldn’t do anything else. Not with Kumo and Kiri. Not yet at least. There was really only one thing left and she wanted nothing more than to not do it.Konoha needed to pay. Call her whatever the hell you wanted. Kiri took her mother. Uzushiogakure realized that they were going to get attacked. They didn’t know when, why, how or by what but they knew that they would. Her father went to Konoha to get help.Root never let it happen. The white masked shinobi.The fog that surrounded the girl reminded her of Kiri. Which is where it came from. The entire country was downwind and didn’t have the whirlpools to cycle the air. It was gross. Foggy. Humid. Damp.Remi closed her eyes and slept. Not expecting much.But she still dreamt of warmth. Purple and orange sunsets. Frozen pineapples and chocolate covered bananas. She dreamt of bloody pikes and red waters and echoes of screams she hadn’t even heard.|Eight months later|The amount of tension between them was nearly thick enough to taste. Neither had meant for it to get like this. Neither knew what else to do. Or, rather, what they could do.It wasn’t like Jiraiya could just let the girl go. Especially since he found out that she was a mere fourteen years old. No. It wasn’t happening!As for Doremi, well. It wasn’t like she anticipated someone from Konoha paying people at a hostel to lure her in. Proceed to literally seal off her chakra and hogtie her before running away.She had gotten away, of course she had. Several times. But Jiraiya always caught up and always somehow managed to catch her.“Listen, kid-“Remi would not listen. Look in her eyes and ask her again to listen to your absolute clusterfuck of an idea.“No.”It was the first word that she had said to him in three days. She had gotten as far as Hot Water from Tea, and he still didn’t give up. It was clear that he was shocked, given that his jaw was dropped.She was feeling a mix of panic, anger and fear. She did not want to go to Konoha.“Your village can burn.”It was the first time that she had said that out loud. She had thought it, several times. But never aloud. It seemed…wrong, to say the least. It was Konoha! It was the setting for the main story. It couldn’t just…burn.
If she didn’t go to Konoha maybe, just maybe, this would stay fake. Not just a story she knew as a child that turned into her own reality.
“You left us.” She choked.Before she was Doremi, she had another name. Don’t ask her what it was, she had no idea and it hardly mattered. What mattered was that this was her life now. That Uzushio was her home. Before everything, she theorized. She knew that Danzo killed the messengers from Uzu and she knew how close they were.But living it? Knowing it?Konoha, the Nations, Naruto himself, would not be possible if it wasn’t for the small, oh-so-powerful country. They were the ones who gave Konoha the money to build their village. They were the ones to patrol the boarders when they were meeting with one another.They were the ones who taught Mito to seal. The ones who showed Hashirama where the Biju were.It was all. The Uzumaki.“You were supposed to help us,” She whispered. Jiraiyas eyes were wet, but he didn’t look away from her. His jaw was clenched. It was easy to see that it hurt him. But that pain in his eyes? It helped a part of her in a way she didn’t know was possible.(Did anyone care? Did anyone care that they were gone? Killed? That Uzushiogakure was murdered out of jealousy and fear? Their missions compromised out of making water wells and dealing with fucking poltergeists. They didn’t fight. You’d lose. You always die when you fight an Uzumaki.)They were supposed to win.
They never even had the chance.
“We gave everything to you. You’re houses, gold stores, your fucking food? We gave that to you. You would be nowhere without us. And you left us. To die.”Remi choked a laugh, not even fighting the chakra laced ropes on her wrist anymore. How he thought this would help her get on his good side, she didn’t know.(Jiraiya had been her favorite. Right now, she hated him.)Maybe it was that favoritism from before that made her keep talking.“We sent for help.”“What-““My father,” she continued with a glare. He flinched as if slapped. “My father was the first one to get help from you. You know what happened?”She leaned as close as she could, despite being tied to a tree. “He was killed. By Root. But he wasn’t the last. No. No, no, no. Eight other messengers were killed before we were attacked.”“Do you even know what Root is, Jiraiya? Do you really want to know what we got for helping you tree-huggers? You want to know what heroes you are?”The Sannin didn’t say anything. Remi snorted, which hurt and her eyes burned.“If you take me to your village, you’ll be down an elder. You really want to do that to your beloved village mere months into a war? You want to see what a pissed off Uzumaki will do for justice when she has nothing left to live for?”The fire crackled. The space we set up camp was small, barely enough room for the fire to feed, Jiraiya to stretch out and myself. He hadn’t bothered with a tent. She didn’t know how long had passed before she spoke again. The fire was almost dead.“He took everything from me. I have lost- I have nothing left.”Jiraiyas expression was somehow kind, earnest and desperate. She hated it.“What about Kushina?”Remi swallowed a sob. He saw her flinch and his gaze- it was like he understood. How? Why? She didn’t even care. It made her angry.Crying was pointless…“Kushina?” She asked. “Ha- you mean the Uzumaki who hasn’t so much as been to Uzushiogakure in the past decade?”It hurt. So damn much. It was physical. Like someone was stepping on her chest and she couldn’t breathe.“I have seals, you idiot.” Jiraiya looked at her again. Remi couldn’t meet his eyes. What she never let leave her lips were rushing out. “I cleaned. I buried. I- I reset Uzu’s defenses. You know that? I fixed her as much as she’d let me. And Kushina never’s bothered to go back.”“She misses it,” he countered. Like it mattered.And this. This right here, she realized. This was why she was so mad at a person she had never even met.“Misses it?” she laughed. “What could she miss?”He shook his head and the girl continued.“Kushina may be an Uzumaki. May even be powerful. She may have the blood. And the chains. And the hair. But you know what? She never graduated. She never put her handprint on the wall. She never walked through the temple and she never picked a mask. Uzumaki Kushina she may be, but she is not Born of the Storm.”There was another tense, silent minute. She could feel Jiraiya stare. Her hair had been falling out of the braids for the past few days. When she looked at him, asking him nearly desperately, her voice cracked.“Does she carry seals?”Before Jiraiya could answer, however tentatively, she spoke. Doremi already knew.“Not the Shiki Fuin. Like me. Does she seal on herself?”Kishimoto showed traditions in Konoha. For the Uchiha, Hyuuga, Nara. He never showed it for the Uzumaki. He showed tradition being a chore.He never showed the honor and trust between sensei and student when one would paint their mastery project on the one who taught them.He never showed the celebration that was set when somebody disarms the village kenjutsu expert.He never, ever showed it.Uzumaki Kushina had forgotten, perhaps willingly, perhaps not, what it meant to be an Uzumaki.Maybe that was a good thing.When she was the only one left.But. She. Wasn’t.“No. She doesn’t.”Remi cried. Silently, like she did when she couldn’t hold it any longer. And he let her.“Who was it?”She sniffed, not looking up for another moment.“Who was who?”Jiraiyas voice was tense and he was looking at his hands. Not at her.“The one who betrayed your people.”The next breath she took felt like ice. It chilled her lungs and cracked her throat. It was loud, dangerous. She already knew that Iwa was pushing at Fire countries boarders.“Danzo.”Jiraiya didn’t even look surprised. He sighed, sad and on his own. He rose a brow, tired but no less honest.Doremi didn’t- she hadn’t thought that anyone else actually missed it. Did Jiraiya- did he know Uzu?“Do you have proof?”Doremi nodded. It was slow, in shock. Her eyes didn’t stray from the other an inch.Jiraiya stood, and he unwrapped the rope around her ankles and wrists. He put the fire out and spread the smoke with a small puff of wind.“Let’s go.”He was almost out of the tree line when Doremi got up and followed.(Edited: 1/24/2023)
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Hiruzen was in a meeting because of course he was. Jiraiya now knew, 100%, that Hiruzen only worked when was to piss his students off. Because why else would he be in a meeting with Danzo of all people, right now?A glance at the girl on his left, henged without being asked to, tensed. So, she knew who he was. But she wasn’t going for his throat.(That was good, right? That a fourteen-year-old was able to hold herself back from killing the man that resulted in getting her whole clan killed? That was good?)“Jiraiya? What are you doing here? Who’s this?”The spy master continued his way in through the window, the Uzumaki girl following. They both stayed along the wall of the room.“Requesting a private audience, Hokage-sama. It regards the, eh, eastern boarders.”Hiruzen shared a frown with his teammate and sat straighter. They both did. Jiraiya twitched.“Alone, Sensei.”“Danzo and I are just looking into the financial reports within the hospital and T&I. What can I do for you?”Jiraiya did not hate his Sensei. He did not hate his Sensei. That was Tsunade’s job. Orochimaru’s job was to be his favorite. Jiraiya’s job was to not hate his Sensei.The problem was that if he pushed for it, then they would both be suspicious. It was likely, as unfortunate as it is, that Hiruzen didn’t realize who was with him. This was great. It wasn’t like Danzo would run away when they accused him of the downfall of Uzushiogakure.“Do…”Jiraiya stiffened, glancing at the masked girl by his side. Just by looking at her, he didn’t understand how they couldn’t tell exactly who she was. The rust colored oni mask was simple but fair. None of the features were as dramatized as they usually were for the festivals. The features were brown.He didn’t know how anybody could look at the figure next to him and not know they were Uzumaki.When she straightened, he relaxed. Hell, if he knew how or why but after traveling with her for almost two weeks showed him how she was. And right now, she was calm.She took off her mask. The other two stiffened.“Do you know who I am?”Hiruzen was looking at Jiraiya. The man had enough sense at the moment to know that the meeting between Konoha and the remaining Uzumaki wouldn’t be going as he had hoped.The still nameless girl walked closer to the Hokage’s desk. He made no move to stop her. The only good thing he mused, was that whenever two village leaders were in a meeting, the ANBU were dismissed.The girls’ hair was close to matted. The braids that rested on her scalp tightly had gotten loose the past week. She had nothing in her hands. With her mask off, you had no reason to believe that she wanted at least one of them dead.Before any of them could so much as blink, a dim purple sasumata pinned Danzo to the wall.“Can you even begin to comprehend what you’ve done to me?”“Jir-““Hey, hey! Uzumaki, you-““You- you were so clever. I’ll give you that. You knew who we’d send. You knew exactly how to take them out.” The girl laughed a bit. “You had planned every bit you needed to. And you won.”“Young lady! I demand that you release him at once.”Jiraiya watched, something between unease and amusement, as the girl continued like neither of them were there. What really got him though, was how utterly terrified Danzo looked.“I came to kill you.”Jiraiya restrained Hiruzen himself when he went to interrupt. Before he could explain or say anything else, Uzumaki continued. Her voice cracked and broke.“You deserve it. You deserve hell. I wish, on my own twice damned soul, that the Shinigami devours you. Blood and bone and all.”The glowing dimmed before it was gone. Danzo slumped, panting like he had been running from a hound. Uzumaki straightened. Jiraiya had never seen her look so defeated. Not even that one night when they actually spoke.“But it won’t be from me. Not like this.”Jiraiya dropped his sensei’s hand, confused beyond belief. “Hell you doing, kid?”Hiruzen pushed past him, the force of his steps making him realize that the Hokage was far more upset than he just showed.“What are you-“Before Hiruzen could reach, do whatever it was he was about to, a block of files, held by thick, red string, dropped to the floor the short distance between the two. Jiraiya didn’t meet her eyes, couldn’t, but he saw them.And they looked dead.“Danzo killed my family. There’s… proof, or some shit. Do what you want.”There was a beat before Jiraiya stepped forward, slapping a paralysis seal on the bastard.“Jiraiya.” Hiruzen spoke flatly. “Who was that?”He looked at his teacher. The man seemed a minute away from killing someone. If he was honest, Jiraiya wasn’t sure who it would be.“That was Uzumaki. The one I told you about years ago.”Hiruzen sent a glare, half gesturing to everything around him. “Anything else, Jiraiya-chan? Anything you’d like to inform me after a girl just came and almost killed one of my counselors?”He huffed, raising a brow. “She didn’t.”“Excuse me?”“She didn’t kill him. Sensei, we both know that the fall of Uzu was suspicious to begin with. She says that it was Danzo. That it was Root. The least you could do for her is go through the proof she presented.”Jiraiya crossed the room in four large steps, swinging the knocked out elder over his shoulder.“Jiraiya, you cannot seriously think-““I am taking him to Shikata and Inomi. We’ll keep this quiet. When I’m done you better hope that I can still find Uzumaki.”“Are you threatening me?” Hiruzen’s eyes were narrow and dark.“It’s not me you should be afraid of, Sensei.”XXXNobody looked twice at the girl with lank hair sitting in the corner. That was the point. And since it was a bar, most tended to look away from signs of a henge. Some moral or ethical idea of leaving shinobi to mope by themselves in peace. It was rather dangerous. Who knew who could henged? A spy or a traitor. Anyone, really.Dull Point had been built by Tobirama during one of his petty fights with Hashirama. They had bet- because they were in peace and had time for petty, stupid fights- that one could run a bar better. Or build one. The story changed with everyone who told it, but the general consensus was that the two brothers each built a bar.Hashirama’s was said to have been burned and Tobirama’s was still standing.The Nidaimes bar, Dull Point, was located in the near center of the shinobi square in the village. For anyone who could henge, they would have to pass many, many ninja who were looking for you. If you made it in, people turned cheek.Remi, garnet hair turned dope brown, half listened as Tsunade ranted to Orochimaru about how she didn’t want to get dragged into another war.She supposed that once you reach a certain strength and or garner enough respect, you could be as loud as you wanted and cry about whatever you want, and nobody would care.It was unnerving how much Orochimaru was asking his teammate to be quiet. How he was trying to persuade her to stay.“I didn’t expect you to stick around. Or see you here, of all places.”The henged girl slid her head off her palm to see who slid across from her. She was surprised to see that Jiraiya wasn’t with his teammates. Though maybe she shouldn’t have been. He had the nerve to look worried.“And you are?”She wasn’t supposed to know who he was. He himself was henged. You couldn’t go wrong with brown hair in Fire Country, though he had the guts to add rather distinct, red markings up his neck and onto his jaw.Jiraiya rolled his eyes, pulling the mostly empty bottle of liquor to himself. He winced at the strength.“Aren’t you a little young to drink?”The Uzumaki tapped her fingers, not saying anything. The length of her silence made the other think that she wouldn’t respond. He opted to fill her untouched shot glass for himself. When she did answer, he nearly spat out the cheap liquid.“Maybe. I usually do it in celebration.”Jiraiya wasn’t an idiot. He hid whatever eagerness or wariness at her talking quite well.“Oh? Like what?”She rubbed her eyes, before sweeping her hair into a knot of a bun. While henged, she didn’t make herself look older. People said that one carries grief and age similarly. Many have told her that it makes her look her age more than anything else.“I was five when I was placed in advanced studies. That doesn’t just happen. It’s rare for all of Uzu’s genius. They liked kids being kids.”Jiraiya looked properly horrified. She shrugged.“I didn’t like much but the slice of pineapple. It didn’t mean anything, not really. I unarmed my kenjutsu instructor when I was six. He was more surprised than anything. I got my fuinjutsu mastery only a few months after that. I specialized in barriers, which is funny. Cause of how they need to reflect and the number of xerants and elemental properties. People said I was a genius.”“Is that how you made it out?”Jiraiya stated it simply. It wasn’t without pity or sympathy, but in the time that she traveled with him, she learned that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it was bad though, that his own grief for her country made her feel like she wasn’t alone.“No,” Doremi started. “It’s not.”She rubbed her hands together, unsure of how to go or what exactly to say. She knew that Jiraiya cared for Uzushigakure. But that didn’t mean that he cared about her specifically. Nor did this mean that she wanted him to.Tou-san died when she was young and even before then, he wasn’t much of a father due to how busy he was. Plus, she already had one. Before she landed in the Nations. She had no idea what place Jiraiya was going to take if he wanted to actually help her.She let out a heavy sigh, and with it she felt like she was letting something go, even if she didn’t know what it was.“Uzu had rules. You probably haven’t heard because we liked to keep it quiet. It’s kind of pointless to keep it a secret now though, isn’t it?”Jiraiya didn’t say anything. But he took another drink, which may have been responsive enough.“Like I said, Uzu wanted kids to be kids. You join the academy at five. You could graduate by either gaining a mastery and or by declaring a specialty. You could also wait to be dropped into a combat team. If you don’t do either by twelve, you age out. That’s what civilians do. Did you know that everyone in the village joins the academy even if they don’t plan on being active military?”Jiraiya shook his head, staying quiet. He was listening though. It shocked the girl to some extent. However sad that was. Remi talked to people, but it was always at a surface level. She couldn’t remember anyone ever listening to her aside from her old teachers. But even that was barred by some sort of academic fence.She shrugged her shoulders.“My mother was a politician, of sorts. Almost like an envoy but not. It wasn’t official, and it wasn’t like she was a spy or anything. She went to Kiri when I was five or six? She never made it back. Doesn’t take a genius to piece together what happened. My father on the other hand was in the, uh, ANBU, I guess. We didn’t call it that though. He died a couple years before Uzu fell. They sent me to the academy when I was three. Because of their standing, of their importance, it was allowed.”Remi trailed off, stealing the bottle and drank from the neck. She didn’t flinch or wince, focusing on the taste rather than how her stomach seemed to flip inside out. Maybe it was because of the liquid…She let out another sigh before she set the bottle on the table and leaned back, crossing her arms. She studied him for a moment. He didn’t say anything either.“I applied to graduate on terms of combat guard. Which was unusual, since people are usually chosen for it. The council wanted me to go into the barrier squads or our ANBU, like Tou-san. I wanted to fight. To protect. We had known that something bad was coming, that we were being targeted. It’s why we sent so many messengers to Konoha.”He frowned. “How many?”Doremi hummed. “Eight. Or nine, depending on how you look at it. My dad was the first.”She gave him a moment to digest what she was saying. That Uzu knew that they were gonna be attacked almost two years before they actually were.“There’s – there was, a ritual of sorts for graduates. There was an old fort on our eastern borders. Hidey Castle. Graduates had to go there by themselves for a week, with nothing but their own person. You would bring back the head of an animal. If you applied for a position, you had to bring back a fitting skull. If not, you get placed depending on what you brought back.”There wasn’t much to say. By the others expression, he already knew where it was going. His dark eyes weren’t watering and for all intents and purposes, he looked relaxed. His only tell was the tick in his jaw.“I actually took eight days. Can you believe that?”Jiraiya flinched.“I couldn’t decide between a jaguar head or the head of a sparrow. I took a whole ‘nother day to decide. I chose the sparrow. I killed them both, but I was going to- I brought back the sparrow.”They sat in silence for a minute.“When I started cleaning the village, I saved the longhouse for last. Arashi’s room, the Uzukage, I found this book. He never married, never had kids. He joined in on lessons at the academy every other day. He kept the ledger of graduates in his room. The very first page explained the head rules. For Hidey Castle.”Remi leaned forward, releasing the henge on her arms. She pointed to the left one. On it was a small sparrow tattoo.“The jaguar is something that the Uzumaki honored. I’d already killed one, when I was four. If I brought it back, I would have made it into our ANBU. Something that symbolized strength, power, lack of fear. Something that could defend as well as attack.”She traced the simple sparrow.“When I sat there -the bed that was barely touched because the old bastard always slept on this couch in his office- I read the single paragraph on the sparrow. Do you have any idea what it said?”She looked at him, half hoping that he would know because she didn’t want to have to say it. But she already knew that he didn’t. Remi half laughed, half sobbed. It drew the attention of some other patrons but she already henged her arms once more.“The sparrow isn’t anything special, Jiraiya. Uzu estimated that there were almost 150,000 sparrows on the island alone. To kill one isn’t anything special, doesn’t mean any great show of power. They’re just one thing.“The ledger said that the one who brought the sparrow understood. That they weren’t anything. That they were a cog of thousands. That stupid, cursed book said that the next one to bring the bird would be the next Uzukage.”“God, kid-““I wish,” Remi cut off. She was crying and made no move to stop. It wasn’t dramatic or loud. “I should have chosen the jaguar head. If nothing else, I should have. When I came back- after that stupid, stupid test… The island was red. Our water, our houses, everything. Did you know that heads float?”The sannin didn’t respond. Remi shook her head.“Arashi was hung from the life tree. His arms were cut off. Our academy was boarded and sealed shut. There was so- when I opened the doors, it was flooded. I hadn’t realized that islanders could drown just as much as anyone else.”Remi took the bottle from Jiraiyas hand. It was only maybe half gone. Jiraiya didn’t seem to be much of a drinker.The girl finished it.“The next time I drank was when I burned the library in Iwa. I didn’t drink after conning Kiri. I cried when I burned turtle island.”“Suna?”She shrugged, half laughing in honest amusement. “I don’t have anything against Suna. I did it to make a statement. And the scrolls belonged to Uzu anyway. You know that Rasa has Uzutama blood? Marriage alliance back when the biju were being distributed?”He shook his head. “What about Iwa?”Remi grimaced. She leaned forward. “Have you been to Iwa? The place is ugly. It looks better without their library, sad as it is.”There was a beat, only half a second before Jiraiya broke the grim atmosphere with his laughter. Remi joined in.“There’s nothing there. Nothing!”Remi nodded. “Exactly. I didn’t realize a country could be that boring until I went there!”Jiraiyas eyes sparkled. “Simple, flat the stone may be-““All the better to cut down thy enemy!” They both finished.They were both idiots.“What’s your name kid?”Doremi let her laughter trail off, spinning the bottle for a moment. When she looked at the other, she didn’t smile. But she didn’t feel like running, or punching his face in. She didn’t feel fine either. But she felt ok.“Uzumaki Doremi.” His lips quirked and he held his hand out. She shook it.“Nice to meet you, Remi-chan.”Doremi snorted but didn’t contradict.XXXBecause Doremi didn’t know what else to do, she walked through the training grounds. It didn’t take long to come across the grounds of 44. Jiraiya was pulled away by a hawk nearly the moment they left the Dull Point. Grounds 44 wasn’t as bad as people made it sound. That may have something to do with how she’d been killing beasts for as long as she could remember though.Jiraiya found her almost a week later, half worried but mostly -somehow- exasperated when he discovered out where she’d been staying. Orochimaru was on his tail amused.“So. This is the feared and awed Uzumaki.”The Uzumaki in question peered down from her perch with a sloth of all things in her lap. Doremi observed Orochimaru as much as she could in a short moment, not knowing what to do or say. This was Orochimaru.“Oh,” she said tonelessly. “It’s you.”They both looked confused before Orochimaru’s lips quirked. “You’ve heard of me?”She glanced at Jiraiya.“Sure have. You must be the unrequited love of Raiyas life, right? The one with soft skin and hair that begs to be caressed?”They both turned red, mortified, taking clear steps away from each other. Remi threw the sloth up and onto the branch above her, ignoring its slow shriek of panic. She jumped down to the forest floor.“The only thing exaggerated seems to be the strapped on jugs.” She patted her non-existent chest for good measure. It’s only when Jiraiya goes purple that she stopped.“Kidding, kidding. What do you two want?”Jiraiya glares, looking beyond uncomfortable. She snorts.“Danzo was found guilty. Hiruzen wants you presented and wants to give you the opportunity for justice.”Doremi stops, half expect him to be joking. “He really thinks that this would be justice?”“You don’t?” Orochimaru asks. She hasn’t talked to him before. Never so much as seen him before. Never expected or wished to either. Knowing what he does in the future is hard to correlate with what she is seeing now. His hair isn’t brushed, and he’s not wearing the hitiate. If she was being honest, it looked like he rolled out of bed just a few minutes ago.“I feel like I should be offended." she said mostly to herself before she spoke louder. "I don’t believe in justice, not really. Not in our world. The closest thing is revenge and that’s not realistic. One man for hundreds? I wouldn’t flatter yourselves that much.”They both look confused, or worried. The Uzumaki didn’t care enough to try and decipher the look that they shared.“It was a joint effort. I hardly killed anyone from Kiri or Kumo. A life for a life is pointless when one is obviously worth more.”Neither flinched but it’s a close thing. She starts walking back to the village but not before she tugs Orochimaru out of the way when something seems to fall from the sky. The three of them look at the dead sloth, who looked to have been trying to get revenge for Remi throwing it just moments before.Jiraiya looks around in some sort of panicked confusion. Like he’s expecting to get attacked.“Well.”Neither Jiraiya nor she respond to Orochimaru. They slowly make their way into the village.Doremi is no longer under a henge when they reach the village. The girl had redone her hair just two days ago and with how tightly it’s braided, it would take a bit for it to get as mussed up as it was before. For as simple as her dark clothes are, they garner a lot of attention. She doesn’t doubt that most of it is drawn because of the two sannin she’s sandwiched between, but their eyes wander.“Rude.”“You get used to it.” She’s surprised at Orochimarus attempt of comfort. She’s quiet for the rest of the walk to the Kage Tower. Except they don’t go there. Instead, they walk through a large crowd of people in the very center of the village. Hiruzen stands as stoically as he can with his two advisers at his side. Danzo is tied to a wooden pole, people crowded around. The Hokage looks furious.Everyone does.The crowd seemingly parts for the two sannin but don’t gasp or anything until they see the red headed girl. She grows unnerved quickly. This wouldn’t be the first time an execution was made public. They were common, actually, in the Nations, when you stopped to consider everything that happened in the countries.Doremi had seen three in Iwa, four in Kumo and one in Kiri.But none of them had as much of a mindset for peace as Konoha.“Today,” Hiruzen starts. For all the executions and brutal things she’d seen, the power and anger in Hiruzens voice surprises her. Uzumaki wouldn’t go as far as to say that it scared her, no. No. She didn’t know the Hokage well enough to be scared of him. The sudden appearance of a spine though, did make her stand straighter herself. But right now, Doremi could almost see why he’s earned the monikers and fear that he has.“I command you to bear witness to treason! To justice. To fix a wrong, so dark and deep I know that this act will not touch the planes of redemption.”At this, he’s looking straight at Uzumaki Doremi. She feels every ounce of breath in her lungs leave abruptly. Everyone is looking at her. Everyone is gasping, surprised. Maybe scared. The girl rather suddenly realizes that she doesn’t quite know what is happening right now.She focuses on Hiruzen as much as he’s focusing on her.“Proof, my people! Shimura Danzo has dealt information to our enemies! To Kirigakure and Kumogakure! Seven years ago we lost a sister. We lost Uzushiogakure. And it was by Elder Shimura that it was possible. He sent spies, his own agents, his own shinobi, to intercept our sisters’ sons who came for protection. For aid.”Doremi nearly falls to her knees. Orochimaru hisses, like he didn’t know what was happening. Looking at him, she didn’t think he did. She didn’t know what Jiraiya had told the other sannin.“One of Uzushiogakures kin survived! She brought proof! And we will always, always be indebted to Uzumaki Doremi for doing so. For this treason, for my own negligence, I plead for her forgiveness. I do not deserve it.”There are mutters and as if in daze, she pushes past Jiraiya and Orochimaru. There’s no one in the circle but the Hokage, the traitor, the two advisors and herself. For a moment at least.Uzumaki Kushina breaks the circle with red eyes and she looks devasted.To Doremi’s own horror, she immediately feels gratified when she sees Kushina. But just heartbeats after, in the silence, it feels cheap. Like it doesn’t actually mean anything.Doremi had told Jiraiya weeks ago, Kushina didn’t have the right to miss or grieve for Uzushiogakure or its people. Not when Kushina was never there.Hiruzen steps forward. With how much he isn’t looking at Kushina, the teen wonders what Jiraiya told him. Despite not knowing, she can’t help but not care either.Hiruzen doesn’t kneel and Remi doesn’t want him to. But he does offer a blade, handle first. Which is close to the same thing. But not.Doremi turns the blade down and steps away from the Hokage. She walks closer to Danzo and the pole he’s tied to, leaving her back towards Hiruzen.“Why did you do it?”Her flat, quite voice carries.Danzo glares and she asks again.She slices her arm with her own knife and draws a truth seal on his forehead. She asks again, “Why did you do it?”He’s gritting his teeth against the seal, but he answers because the choice is taken away from him.“Konoha has grown weak. We are great. But this is war. We have known no peace. We need to be feared. We need to rule.”That didn’t answer her question. Yet it was exactly what she expected. And through it all, Danzo said it like Konoha wasn’t already feared across the nations. Like they weren’t already leading.
“Honor,” Kenshii-sensei starts. “Is the only thing you have. Your sword, your clothing, your home and yourself. They can all be taken. Stolen. Broken. But your honor will last only as long as you do.”
The class is listening. A good portion does care. But still, they are kids of five, six and seven. Doremi is only three. The words are as morbid as they are important. “When faced with a choice, life n’ death, justice or mercy... You must think for us. For your home. For your people and your family. Uzushiogakure is one. Act in its name and never forget.”Doremi is hit with the abrupt realization that it doesn’t matter.Her being here has changed everything. This isn’t like preventing Kiri from building ships or burning a Kumo relic. This is her changing Konoha.Doremi made herself important to the story and she didn’t know if that was good or bad.Remi forced the kunai into the wood alongside Danzo’s neck in the wood. His breath hitches, and she is awed by how much of a coward he is. The blade cannot cut him, the side is flat and broad against his skin.Doremi pulls her oni mask from her scalp. The seal it’s carried in is the most simple one she wears, with it in red ink to blend with her hair. She slides it on and draws the tachi from her back. The sword looks far too big. While tachi’s are long swords, it only looks bigger then normal due to how small she is in comparison.Not that it matters, really. The sword wasn’t even hers. It was her father’s.Doremi had done all she could to merely survive for seven years. Uzu, whether the village, the people, the clans, they believed in honor. Uzumaki’s believed in family. Believed in peace. Unity. Kindness.They believed.There is no they, no we when one remains.(Uzushiogakure was gone. She didn’t know who Karins family was. Or Negatos. But the Uzumaki who survived were not born of the storm. They are not from Uzushiogakure. They left before the fall.)Doremi wanted to honor her village. But she doesn’t know how. Not really. In all her life she has never felt as alone as she does now.Remi’s chains are a dim purple, small but tightly linked. She forces them to flatten and then broaden. They slowly spread behind the two of them, Remi and Danzo, like a mixed mockery of wings and a dome.Doremi doesn’t know what to do. But she finds herself swinging reguardless.The tachi cuts through Danzo vertically and cleanly. The cut is not jagged but there are arteries.Danzos head is still hanging from the rope around his neck. With that he is still held up. His torso is cut cleanly down to his pelvis. The dome caught the blood, and it splattered on Doremi and her mask. She doesn’t count the seconds or minutes that pass but the dome is gone and around the two of them is a clear crescent of crimson. There is one clean spot in the back, where the pole caught it.There is silence.But she feels no peace.(Edited: 1/24/2023)
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Remi.”The girl didn’t expect Jiraiya to bring her back to his shared compound with Orochimaru after the execution. Doremi had also realized the moment she swung her sword at Danzo’s neck that she had never expected to live as long as she did either.The beds at the compound were taller. Almost western in appearance if it wasn’t for the fact that they were tatami mats and not mattresses. The room was dark but comfortable. Doremi had pulled out a book from the shelves, heart in throat at seeing that it was Tale of a Gutsy Ninja. There were handwritten notes, Jiraiyas notes. She was enjoying the story much more then she thought she would.Jiraiya looked worried to say the least but for the life of her, Doremi couldn’t figure out why.(The Uzumaki doesn’t think about that day. She doesn’t think about how before she could walk passed him and back into the forest of death- she doesn’t think about how not moments after Jiraiya and Orochimaru hurdled her into a decent sized compound, Orochimaru wiped the blood from her eyes where the mask didn’t cover. Not how Jiraiya left, glare in place but worried about the knocking of his door.)(Doremi shoves away Jiraiyas harsh voice saying, “Minato, not now.”)(Remi does not think of feminine crying, pleading.)(She does not think about how Jiraiya shut the door on his student and his girlfriend, his own family.)“Yeah?”Uzumaki Doremi is not fine. She knows that. But she is not unnerved. She doesn’t feel depressed, angry, or sad. If anything, she feels something close to nothing and that is alarming but not enough for her to worry about it.She knew that she wouldn’t feel peace when she killed Danzo. Some part of her always knew that she would kill the traitor, story of Naruto be damned. Doremi just didn’t think it would come with being so numb.It wasn’t gratifying like Kiri or Kumo. It wasn’t amusing like Iwa or Suna.“Sensei wants to meet with you.”Doremi gets up and slides the book in the nightstand wordlessly. She had no idea what to make of Jiraiyas expression when he sees what she’s been reading.Her tank top is more hole than material and the black jacket is stretched out. On the back of the jacket is the Uzumaki swirl, hand embroidered, as well as the pair of wings that sprout from it. She never expected gifts. Uzushiogakure was never big on presents. They had festivals, yes, but they hardly held celebrations for holidays and birthdays beyond a certain age. But she got it from Taki as a gift from when she killed Kakazu, so it was more nostalgic than anything.It wasn’t the first gift that she got from countries or people she had aided or ‘saved’. But this is the only one that she kept.Remi followed Jiraiya to the tower, several paces behind him on the rooftops. There are still stares but shinobi are more subtle than civilians.Real civilians, she realizes abruptly. Because Uzu trained their civilians even if they didn’t fight.Much like, what, two, three weeks ago, they both enter through the window. Inside is Hiruzen, but also someone who she knows is a Yamanaka and Nara. They don’t look like Shikaku and Inoichi though. The fact that the Ino is a girl, also helps her realize that these two must be the heads of the clans.The teenager doesn’t bow.“Sensei, Uzumaki Doremi. Remi, this is Sensei, Yamanaka Inomi and Nara Shikata. Nara is the head of jounin forces and Inomi is in charge of T&I.”Remi gives them each a single nod before looking at Jiraiya. He sweat drops before clearing his throat. In turn, Hiruzen does, and she look at him.“Uzumaki-san, I want to apologize. Almost two weeks ago you came here and offered proof against Danzo. I am sorry for whatever that is worth. I am.”The girl hums mostly because she hadn’t realized that it had been two weeks. She didn’t realize how much time had passed. She didn’t know how long she was in the Forest of Death and she didn’t actually know how long she’s been at Jiraiya’s place. “Uzumaki. I don’t believe you’re looking for condolences or apologies.”The Nara’s bluntness is enough to cause Doremi to snort, breaking whatever tension had built up in the room. Remi pulls out a chair and situates herself so her back is to the wall. Looking at those before her and their expressions bring her attention to the heavy pull in her chest. She didn’t realize she was this exhausted.“I’m not. I don’t want pity or sympathy or whatever. I hadn’t meant to overstay my welcome, if that’s what this is about. I can leave now if you want.”She’d probably go to Wave. Maybe even go back to Uzu. Back home. Jiraiya sets a hand on her shoulder and she nearly jumps straight out of the chair. They all looked surprised. She doesn’t understand why until she looks at Hiruzen who looks somewhere in the realm of devastated.She realizes abruptly that she’s an idiot.Doremi also realizes that she never planned to come to Konoha. She never wanted to. She was born to Uzu. Raised in Uzu. Lost in Uzu. She thought, was convinced that she would die for Uzu. She never imagined she would outlive all of that.“Oh.”Nobody laughs. They actually have the gall to look worried. The Yamanaka, Inomi, steps closer. “When was the last time you slept?”Her lips twitch. The Yamanaka was funny.“I’m not. And you don’t need to lecture me. I’m not… depressed. Or sad. I’m not stupid enough to think I’m not grieving. I have been for longer than you can imagine. But I’m mostly confused. I never thought I’d live this long.”They were shinobi. They shouldn’t pale like they did. Shinobi children grow up fast. But it may just say something to hear a fourteen year old say that.“Uzumaki-““You can, probably should, call me Remi. For both our sakes,” she cuts Hiruzen off. He nods. Not like he understands but he accepts it and for that she’s grateful.“Remi. I want to offer you a place here. In Konoha. I know it wouldn’t be the same and I know that we failed you. But it’s offered none the less.”The red head takes the headband but doesn’t say anything. The leaf doesn’t settle into her fingers nearly as much as the whirlpool. “What happened to Root?”“Gone,” Shikata announces. He sounds as tired as she feels. “They’re all dead. They had these seals, we suspect they were Uzumaki. They silenced the ones that wanted to talk and the ones who didn’t fought back.”She thinks back to Yamato and Sai. Sai wouldn’t be born yet. And Yamato wouldn’t be old enough to be in it, she doesn’t think. And besides that, wasn’t he with Orochimaru first?She has no idea. And then she wonders if she cares. Part of her wonders if that makes her a terrible person.“They were,” she says eventually. They look confused. “Uzumaki seals. Our combat squads carry them when they leave the village. It’s why there’s close to no Uzumaki in Bingo books. We silence- silenced any who saw us if they were to get away. When my dad was brought back his were gone.”“Your dad?” Inomi asks. Remi looks at Jiraiya who doesn’t show anything. For a loud guy, an expressive one, she’s almost impressed by how stoic he’s being.“Yeah. He was the first one, and one of three, who we were able to retrieve. They were the ones who were supposed to get aid from you guys.”Nobody says anything, and she sighs.“The silencing seal. It’s the same one I put on B. I doubt that Danzo had changed it though. Jin, another guard, got a specialization in what we call hyphening. He was able to link two seals together enough for them to work like one. By what I know of Danzo, he essentially brainwashed his people, right?”There was a beat before Hiruzen sighed. “Yes. That’s what it seems in the records, and when we destroyed his bases only three days ago.”Doremi nods. Accepts it for what it is.“It was likely the silencing seal and a soul bond seal then. It’s kinda like your Hyuugas seal but it’s linked to a sole person instead of a direct blood line.”Hiruzen rose a brow and she shrugs.“Before the Hyuuga moved to Konoha, they lived in Kumo. It’s a big part of why there is so much animosity between the two. Some time, I’d say almost 200 years ago or so, Hyuuga paid us for a seal of protection. Originally, they all had them. But from what I understand, they changed the purposes?”Nobody said anything. Doremi suddenly wondered if Hiruzen even knew what she was talking about. The girl decided to continue, maybe clarify. Who knew? Maybe Hiruzen just forgot about the Hyuuga-slavery-shit-seal-thingy.“Hiashi and Hizashi. Uh, the younger one, the one that isn’t a clan head? All the branch members have a seal on their forehead that makes it so they have to obey the main branch. They probably say it’s a protective seal for their dojutsu, right? No bells?”None of them say anything and she leans back. This was nice.“Has the war been declared?” The girl asks what seems to be a few minutes later.Hiruzen sighs. His tone idle, almost like he forgot about it. “A couple days ago. Iwa and Kumo both declared war. I haven’t gotten any replies from Suna and it’s been a week now.”Remi half nods. She goes over what she knows about the third war and realizes it’s very little. It lasts a while though, she knows that.“I’ll,” She starts, though she doesn’t know where she’s going until it’s out of her mouth. “I’ll become a Konoha Shinobi. Call it selfish, but the only country that’s not out for my ass is Suna. If I stay somewhere I’d like to earn it.”That seems to make Hiruzen sad, but he accepts it. “May I ask what your rank was?”Remi looks at Jiraiya again. He looks relieved, the bastard.“I never graduated.” To say they’re shocked is an understatement.“That’s why I survived. I was away from the mainland. Away from the city. I was- I was actually going through my graduation exam when the island was attacked.”It seemed to startle them again. The teen shrugs. “I don’t know what my level is. I’ve- there’s been very few times that I outright fought someone. My bingo book is mostly because I annoyed people. Or I snuck around. It wasn’t because of my prowess.”Shikata sighs, nodding. “Would you mind then? Being tested?”Remi nods. “Not at all.”There’s a beat before Hiruzen sighs. “Alright. No better time than the present I guess.”We all follow him as he leads us up to the roof.Remi doesn’t put on the hitaite. She’s never worn the Uzu one. She never graduated and some part of her feels cheated out of a graduation ceremony even here, though she never liked school to begin with. The girl says nothing as they all stand to the side.To her pleasant surprise, Orochimaru is up there. He raises a brow at her, like he’s also happy with the turn of events.Remi is realizing that she doesn’t actually hate Orochimaru. Future be damned.“First to fall off, call off, loses. Taijutsu first.”Remi is thankful that they don’t make this into a spectacle. When Orochimaru realizes that she’s not going to come to him, he rushes forward.She doesn’t attack, focusing on defense. She matches his speed, not particularly easily but it’s the tempo that she can meet. She blocks a lot, because it’s impossible to dodge his longer limbs. When he goes for a feint, she surprises him with a simple punch to the throat. He backs off, holding his neck.“Weapons.”Doremi pulls out the tachi while Orochimaru palms a simple kunai. She realizes that he hasn’t defected yet, so he doesn’t have his own sword. She hesitates for a moment because a kunai is nothing against a tachi. But then realizes that this was a test and it’s not like they can really get upset with her.The next beat shows Orochimaru holding the side of his stomach, bleeding through his fingertips. Remi is silent as she crouches a handful of feet away from him.He doesn’t look angry. Far from it. Remi doesn’t so much as look at the others on the rooftop. They aren’t the ones she’s fighting.“Ninjutsu.”Because the Hokage said nothing about giving up weapons, she activates a seal along the handle and the sword extends almost three more inches in every direction. When she hit Orochimaru again, it’s fast and it cauterizes the cut. His ochre colored eyes glint with shock. That was helpful, not hurtful- per say. Remi releases the seal, leaving the tachi to be normal steel and obsidian once more. From her back sprouts four chakra chains. They land in a square around him.She semi-bounces to each one, the extension of the chains strong. Not that they notice with everything else going on, but she places a fairly simple seal at each corner before she settles back into her original spot. Before Orochimaru could do anything else, she activates the four seals at once. A rectangular prism rises around him, keeping him in place.Orochimaru was the ninjutsu specialist, she thinks. But she was fairly sure that his only natural element was earth. Earths weakness was fire and or lightning, depending on the viciousness. She doesn’t hesitate in what she does next. Some people would think it’s cheap but they were ninja. And she was an Uzumaki and when it comes down to it, you don’t mess with their fuinjutsu.While water could help him in theory, she decides to risk it and let it rise from the floor of the prism a solid foot or so. As she expected, he started to rise with it and not against it. She easily commanded a couple bolts of lightning to come from the top. It shocked him from the feet up. Then she released the prism where he fell, still on his feet but shakily enough that he couldn’t dodge the stream of water from her mouth.He went to block it, counter it with earth. She cuts off the water midway through and coughs out a little speck of lightning. It crumples the earth from his mouth and makes him choke.She activates the seals again. He was out of the box though. The force of the sudden prism makes him jump into the air before she drops it again. He lands like a cat, glaring. Remi spits a bit more water out just as the earth beneath her feet begins to rumble. Remi lands on the risen wall before it could push her out of the way, or whatever way he was trying to force her.The teen activates the fire seal again on the tachi and when she swung it, a stream of flames fly towards him. Just as she hoped, he did nothing but walk into it. Before he could do anything else, she kawamaried with one of her seals, the very tip of my tachi pointed at his neck. The flames were gone so they didn’t burn his hair.He stilled.Nobody said anything. When he made no move to counter, she looked around.They all looked shocked, or surprised. They aren’t the only ones. Remi thinks that she’s supposed to be happy right now. She finds herself disappointed more than anything.(This was Orochimaru. She expected it to be much, much harder.)“Three natures?” Orochimaru asked.She seals the tachi back into her back with confidence she doesn’t actually have. She’s still expecting the other to attack. “Two.” she responds. “Water and lightning. The fire is from a seal and I can only use it on the tachi.”He turns, lips quirked. Despite losing, he looked like he enjoyed it which unnerves her immensely. “And why is that?”Doremi raises a brow. “I don’t know the seal and the sword was my tou-sans.”He nods and is silent for a moment before he glances at the four watching.“You are proficient in elemental chakra, which is very rare and your control is astounding. But you didn’t use any jutsu.”That makes sense, she admits. But she looks at the roof they’re all on and the mulling people around.“I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”Orochimaru snorts and she narrows her eyes at him.“Uzumaki rarely use jutsus. We like weapons. Our chakra reserves make control hard and most of our natures are water. We lived on an island. It’s easy to control water when it willingly comes to you.”She lets them think about that for a moment before acknowledging that maybe it wasn’t up to her anymore. “I do know jutsu. I ask that we go somewhere you wouldn’t miss though, if you want to see them.”They all look at her as if they’re humoring a child.Still, she tried to warn them. The forest they’re in is only a mile or so away which, she could understand why they think is far enough. For good measure, she turns away from the village. Despite thinking about it along the run here, Remi struggles to decide what jutsu to use.Uzumaki’s have their chains to force ones still and our swords to cut off heads. They have seals to do their will. Longevity to live past normal bounds. Some gifted with healing, others of chakra weapons beyond chains.When Doremi said that the Uzumaki didn’t need jutsu, she meant it.However, the Uzumaki like flashy and they have more chakra than anyone. It was yet another reason why they were feared.With a sigh, she decides to quote unquote, screw it.Flipping through very little handsigns, she rests her pinky against her cheek and waits for a moment before she call the jutsu for their own benefit. “Uzukin otahosu.”She spits out enough water that it grows into a horse. They don’t say anything as she climbs onto it. Remi doesn’t get wet at all, which is nice. She debates pulling out the tachi, as if she’s to run into battle but decides against it.Another couple handsigns later and she pushes her hands towards the horse. It divides into a tall pool of water, divided into two. It’s almost thrice all their sizes, height wise. Then she claps it back together.“Uzukin kiriwakeru.”After a moment, Doremi lets the water dissipate. She lets out a quiet sigh before she holds out both fists with her thumbs just inches apart. “No nekutai.”Her hands spark a dark blue, fizzing out several inches. She opens her palms, aiming each finger at a tree. She barely refrains from rolling her eyes.At every flick of a finger a fully grown hashirama tree is turned to dust. Rather suddenly, there is more light in the grove. She walks into the new, clear area. She raises her hand to the sky, feeling the annoying sense of chakra usage once it dips past a certain point in her reserves.Doremi hardly used her chakra. You make a seal well enough, intent well enough, strong enough, it barely needs a drop to activate.When the sky was dark enough, she realizes that she should probably warn them. With her other hand, she throws them each a seal. “I’d activate it. Unless you want to be fried.”Doremi watches, amused, as they each activate it. It was a single planed shield, purple. When she couldn’t hold it anymore, the Uzumaki threw it down.“Shinguruban.”A single strike of lightning, so dark, purple, near black, struck just in front of the Uzumaki. It didn’t create a crater or burn anything down. The land in front of her cracked a meter or so, in the shape of a lightning bolt. Looking inside, it was black but cracked with red embers where a root was smoldering.“I was six,” she explained. Remi looked at them. “We don’t know how strong it is, but the colors gotten darker. The strike deeper. The first time it went as deep as twenty meters. That was a long time ago.”She swallows and turns to Orochimaru who was grinning in a way that she could appreciate, surprisingly. She stands straighter.“As I said before. Uzumaki don’t need jutsu. I hope you can forgive me, Hokage-sama, if I do not show you everything I know.”Hiruzens voice was light. “Those were kinijutsu.”Doremi nods. She wasn’t afraid or regretful of the choice she made. Hiruzen had no right to Uzu politics. Psh.“The first two, yes. Uzu was mostly watered natured. Other than that, it was wind, followed by my own lightning. The first two were Uzus the other two were mine.”“Oh.”The four of them don’t say anything for a minute and to be honest, she’s almost unnerved at their silence. She doesn’t understand why they’re so shocked right now. Doremi had to try really hard to not take offense.“Hokage-sama?”They all start, her wording intentional. Hiruzens smile is more sad then anything. She doesn’t really feel like he’s weak or sad for showing it so much but it also annoys her. He’s a kage and while he should feel bad, Remi definitely doesn’t agree with wearing it for everyone to see.“Yes. I think we’ll start on chunin. Given a couple missions and seeing how you act within a team, you’ll be promoted to jounin.”She’s not particularly surprised. “I’m sorry for the trees.”Jiraiya breaks the silence a couple moments later, laughing.XXXWhen the three of them, Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Doremi, get back to the small compound, they aren’t the only ones there. The snake summoner huffs, exasperated by who’s sitting at his table but given that he isn’t surprised tells her that the other two likely have free reign to come and go. The fact that Orochimaru doesn’t leave makes her relieved.Almost as much as Jiraiyas annoyed expression does.“Jiraiya-sensei.”Doremi eyes Minato, taking in his cautious tone. He can tell this isn’t his brightest idea. But looking at how determined Kushina is, she realizes that it wasn’t his to begin with.Orochimaru tugs on her hitaite tail for some reason, forcing Doremi to look up at his tall self. It makes her regret putting it on. He raises a brow as if asking if she’s ok. Remi shrugs and pulls off the headband, shoving it in her pocket once more.It’s a good thing that Jiraiya pulled her out of her room earlier. Knowing that she wasn’t in trouble or getting kicked out gave her a firmer footing. Doremi hadn’t realized she was worried about it until it was cleared up. “I told you two not to come by.”The two older teens are both wearing jounin slacks. Minato doesn’t have his coat. Remi decides that they look like kids. These aren’t the same people they died as. They still have a few years.She never knew for sure what Kushina was able to do. What was canon or not. She doesn’t know what Konoha allowed the jinchurriki to do.“This is my family, Jiraiya. I’ll do what I damn well please.” Kushinas glare is something to be wary of. Remi doesn’t think there’s much behind it though, upon looking at them both. Kushina doesn’t even have a pouch. Nor does Minato. That leaves ninjutsu and they both respect the two too much to destroy their house.“We’re not.” Remi’s voice is flat in the tense room. She pops her knuckles that are hidden in her pockets.Kushina opens her mouth to object and Remi notices that her eyes go distinctly shinier. Remi ruthlessly cuts the other off.“I don’t like you.”Her breath hitches. Doremi could see more then feel that it hurt her. Most of her is glad that it hurts. Remi doesn’t know her well enough to care, nor does she care enough to get to know her.“Do you know why you were chosen?”Kushina goes white. Everybody else is looking wide eyed at the turn of events. It’s almost enough to make Doremi laugh.“Mito was in Uzu on vacation when you were born and she helped with the birth. That’s the only reason you were chosen. She was Arashi’s sister, he didn’t want to fight her own choice. Mito chose for you to come to Konoha. And you did.”She looked so, helplessly confused.“You never went back to Uzu. Why not?”It was such a simple question. Kushina stood from her chair, which fell to the floor. She looked somewhat horrified now. But she didn’t say anything. Remi’s tone turned sharper but she laughed like it was funny and nothing like how it actually felt like her heart was going six feet under.“I don’t want to hate you, Kushina. I don’t.” Doremi started. She thought rationally and as fair as she could. If she was going to be in Konoha, it would be best to not cause a rift between her and her age mates because she already knew that Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Hiruzen would likely try to force her into it. But she wouldn’t fake being happy about it when she wasn’t.“But I do.”Minato stood up and she continued.“I don’t know your reasons and I honestly don’t give a damn to get them. You can be Uzumaki but you aren’t Uzu. I know you never went back and whatever family card you’re trying to pull won’t work. My family died. And you will never. Ever. Be able to replace them.”Doremi swallowed, blinking back tears. She straightened, half shaking my head. “I don’t want to see you. Or know you. You’ve done well enough without other Uzumaki's. We both have. That doesn’t need to change now.”She lets out a breath, glancing at Jiraiya after the silence went a beat longer than she expected. He wasn’t looking at her.Looking between him and Minato, Kushina, Remi realized that this wasn’t fair to him.She numbly, almost amusingly realizes that it hurts to walk away. But not from Kushina. From Jiraiya.She’s opening the door again when she realizes that Orochimaru is following her but he doesn’t say anything when they get to the forest of death. He sits in a tree across from her and pulls out a scroll while she hides in her knees. Neither of them say anything.XXXWhile Orochimaru and Doremi work their way further and further into the forest, Jiraiya had been looking for them apparently. They had been in the forest for no more than five days when the other comes into their makeshift camp with a glare. Remi doesn’t know why Orochimaru had followed her out or why he had stayed with her. She’s sure that he had better things to do but she’s thankful for the company reguardless. She also doesn’t ask why.There were several scratches on the spy master and at least three different leaves in his hair.“What the hell, Maru?”The snake summoner she had spent the past few days with grinned. His hair was braided in two, which was done with her own hands, as the other didn’t know how to do it himself. It was an odd experience that she chose not to think much about if she could help it.“What do you want, Raiya?”Jiraiya took the skewer of mystery meat and sat on the ground between us. Neither of us really knew what animal it was. It was furred with purple eyes, but small. Orochimaru tactly named it chibi before he killed it for us to eat.“Senseis been looking for you two. Why are you all the way out here?”“You seemed occupied with your annoying little shadows. Didn’t want to impose.”The fact that it was Orochimaru and Jiraiyas house made it seem like this was a reoccurring argument between the two. With that, the Uzumaki would like to stay out of it. Since she’s known them both for no more than a month, give or take for Jiraiya.“You didn’t have to leave. We’ve talked about this. They left not that long after you two did.”When Jiraiya turned to look at her, she twitched. Doremi had no desire to get between him and the people he considered, what, his kids? She didn’t know what his relationship with Kushina was but she knew that he was made godfather to Naruto so that would have had to mean something, right?“They shouldn’t have done that.”Remi blinked. She glanced at Orochimaru who was looking at nothing but the small fire she had built.“I’ve talked to them before that. I know that you’ve heard them at the door. Kushina won’t- they won’t try and talk to you. Or see you. If that helps at all and will convince you to come back.”Doremi looks at him for a minute. She knew that he was being earnest. It was almost disturbing. She’s heard Orochimaru talk about Jiraiya’s bleeding heart several times during our little camping trip, and she had traveled with the spy before they even got to Konoha. She knew what he was like and while she could appreciate the good with all the bad things going on, it was so…It was weird.To have it directed at her.“They’re important to you, Jiraiya. I don’t want to get in between that.”At this, Orochimaru snorted. It was hard to say who looked more hurt by that statement between the two. Jiraiya let out a sigh.“Minato is my student, yes. And Kushina is… also important. I guess. But you were right. They have each other and Kushina has been fine without other Uzumakis. As little as that goes because I know it hasn’t been easy for her. But it’s only because she has people. Who do you have, Remi?”What the fuck, she thought. That wasn’t fair. Looking between the two of them, Remi wonder who it was they had. Jiraiya only ever talked about his team. Hiruzen was the Hokage and she already knew that Tsunade was slowly going off the deep end. She had heard that Dan was still alive though. So, she didn’t know how long that would last.“Fine,” she says instead of answering. Because the answer was a big, fat, no one. “You win. What does Hiruzen want with us?”Remi could understand Orochimaru. With the war, she figured they were about to be deployed. Jiraiya coughed, sending the mystery meat out and back into the fire. It turned the flames purple again. While Jiraiya looked freaked out, this was hers and Orochimarus second time eating the mystery animal.“What the hell was that?”Orochimaru smirked, taking a bite out of the stringy meat. It was pretty gross. But it was either this or the leeches.“A chibi.”Jiraiya looked at his teammate flatly before he stood up. “Let’s just go.”Remi stood after Orochimaru and, though it was a terrible way to put it out, spat some water onto the fire. The ash and smoke- steam, whatever it was, wouldn’t matter since there was no one who could actually hurt them out here since they were in the village.Doremi followed the other two, pondering her own question since Jiraiya hadn’t answered, but followed anyway.(Edited: 1/24/2023)
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I’m sorry?”Uzumaki Doremi knew that she had misspoke as soon as she opened her mouth. It didn’t take more than the feeling of a couple incredulous stares for her to realize what had happened. Though it wasn’t her intention, her asking could be taken as questioning the Hokage. The girl thinks that she could be forgiven though, given that she’s never formally served under a Kage.Unable to stop herself, she glances at the window and wonders if she could make it if she had to escape.Remi’s only experience in having to…obey, someone, would have been when she was at the academy. Even then, most of the instructors had given her specialized assignments to keep her engaged. There was very little engagement between them aside from when Doremi had a question.Lost in thought for a moment, she quickly realizes that the Sandaime is looking at her with a raised brow. She refrains from fidgeting.“It’s just- I’m surprised you’re sending Jiraiya with us. I could understand Orochimaru but Kiri is the only village that hasn’t declared their stance on the war, I would have thought you would send him to go scope it out. Since he was the- uh, spy master or something. I have no preference either way.”Doremi wonders if she should apologize. Again. The girl feels like she’d been flipped upside and has no idea how to interact or even react in this situation.The red head is the only one who seemed to sense the tension though. Orochimaru was smirking, Jiraiya trying and failing to pull the leaves out of his hair. Hiruzen just continued to look at her for a moment. Then, as if the passed couple of minutes hadn’t been awkward, set his pipe down and folded his hands together.“What would you do?”Remi blinked. “Sorry?”He half waved to the map across the room. “How would you go about it? You’re not in trouble, Remi. I am merely curious.”The Uzumaki felt like that wasn’t true. She half expected him to throw her out of the tower or something. Neither of his students were really reacting. They both seemed content to wait for instructions.At Hiruzens sigh, Remi walked to the wall and unpinned the map. She sent the Hokage a questioning glance where he cleared his desk with little care and a nod. She fixed the map so it wouldn’t fold into itself and studied it for a second.“From my understanding, you have three knights, Hokage-sama. Uh, people to make your stances clear, if that makes sense. Between us, Iwa and Suna there are a lot of the minor villages that suffered severely in the last war. I believe that if you send one student, ideally Orochimaru, out there, it would show them that you aren’t taking the war lightly. It would show that- I don’t know, it’s more personal or something. That you are taking it personally, rather than just on behalf of the country. If you time the missions at the same time on the eastern boarders with Jiraiya, then it shows you’re prepared at either end. West or East in this case.“I would send several teams out near Kumo, while Jiraiya does a short scope on Kiri. If you do a single, hard hit on the eastern boarders then it would prove you’re upset. Uzu’s destruction was an offence to Konoha, so Suna and Iwa wouldn’t be surprised. If you stick to defense for the east, you could likely rally the smaller villages into helping us. Or at least lessen the chance of retaliation from countries like Hot Water or Frost.”As she’s talking, Doremi places desk items to each place that she’s mentioning. Her tone is confident but cautious. She pops open the Kage’s ink pot and flips the ink brush through her fingers with ease. She carefully paints little crosses at each corner of Hi no Kuni.“While this is happening, I’d have your third student set up medic points and start instructing a good number on first aid. While it could be a risk, I think it would be worth it to have Tsunade give some sort of relief to the villages. If Fire Country knows that their shinobi is trying to protect them before they need saving from the fight, there’s a decent chance that they would offer up their own supplies and recourses in response.”Doremi’s voice trails off. She continued to mark a couple things on the map before she handed the brush to Hiruzen and straightens. She swallowed at the three shinobi looking at her with eyes like they’d never seen her before. Jiraiya was grinning and Orochimaru gave a slight nod, looking like he was falling into his own thoughts.
Why the hell had she questioned the Hokage?
Hiruzen blinked slowly before he offered a single hum. Then he dips the brush in the ink and turns to the map himself. It’s impossible for her to decipher his tone.“Tanzaku cannot be pulled because the country needs the income. Hanaban definitely has the fields and I know that Kuritana just found another vein of iron. We could also offer the same deal for Shiatin and Bonjiku. This is a good idea. Thank you.”Remi doesn’t dare to breathe and sends a slightly longing glance to the window.Hiruzen turns to his two students.“Jiraiya, have Shikata pull six squads, two of which from ANBU. Head to the boarder of Lightning but wait for further instruction. Expect a three-to-five-month deployment.”Jiraiya nodded, hesitating before he leaves just as fast. He gives a somewhat…firm(?) look to both her and Orochimaru. Remi wonders what the hell is happening right now.“Orochimaru, I need you to get a team. No more than three others. I want you to head to Taki. No attacking, stick strictly to defense. I know you don’t like politics, but I need you to try and figure out which countries are mad at us enough to try and attack. Move south and stay away from Kumo.”Orochimaru doesn’t look happy by any means but nods all the same. Hiruzen turns to her.“Remi, I’m gonna have you go with Orochimaru. I don’t want any of Iwa to see your allegiance, at least not this early. They may be motivated into attacking sooner given their library.”Remi sweat drops but nods in agreement.“Orochimaru, I expect weekly updates and only two months. I want you out by morning.”The snake sannin grabs the tails of her hitiate again and pulls her out with him. She doesn’t say anything as they walk down the halls, mostly because, again, she had no idea what was happening. They stop in a room where she recognizes Shikata, who was talking with Jiraiya. There were two others, but she has no idea who they were.“Shika. Give me a Hyuuga and an Uchiha. I don’t care who. We’re on defense and stealth.”The jounin commander glares at the interruption but leaves the files he had pulled for Jiraiya and grabs a couple more, handing them to the Snake Sannin. Orochimaru glances at the names before he pulls two and sets the others on the table.“Stay alive, Jiraiya. Sensei will probably send official deployments in a couple months.”Jiraiya glared at his teammate, interrupting the Nara before he could talk tactics again. “You better. I don’t like this. You better both come back.”That was sweet.Remi slapped Orochimarus hand away before he could touch the stupid headband tails yet again. As they’re leaving the archive room, the teen practically rips the headband off and shoves it in her pocket. The two of them are on the roads for a few minutes before she speaks up.“So… Why an Uchiha and Hyuuga?”“Smaller villages tend to favor poisons and genjutsu. Some are off shoot families of samurai. The Uchiha for genjustu, Hyuuga for poisons and you at least know how to use the tachi. I heard that you used a sasamata against Shimura. As you eloquently said earlier, I’m the fear factor. This is a good idea, Sensei was right about that, I just don’t see us being able to stay on defense for long once the western countries catch on to what we’re doing.”The Uzumaki looks at him for a moment but he doesn’t seem to notice. Doremi hadn’t expected such a thorough answer. Between the days they spent together though, mostly in the Forest of Death, she had gotten a much better idea of what Orochimaru was like. It was hard to grasp though, since every interaction between them seemed counter to what she knew from the story.Once his words registered, she sighed. Despite her understanding of what their mission was, because it was hers… Her plan… She still asks, despite feeling like an idiot for doing so.“Is this how it is in a village?”Orochimaru stopped dead in the street and looked at her. “Like what?”Doremi starts walking again, not knowing where she’s going but hardly caring. Orochimaru slides the files under his arm when she pulls the hitaite out of her pocket to study it. She brushes her thumb across the leaf and wonders why she feels so small.“At the drop of a hat.” She responds a minute later. “You just get dismissed and get sent on a mission for months? I don’t know what I was expecting. Why is Hiruzen sending me on something so important?”Orochimaru takes the lead again when he turns down the street.“This was your idea if you recall. Sensei wants to know how you handle a team. How you do if you’re ever put in a position to lead. I don’t know why it’s something this big, but we need the people and this this a safe bet.”They’re both quiet until they stop in front of a gate. The two guards with purple eyes are a dead giveaway to where they are. The Sannin turns to her again, brow raised and tone somehow flat.“To answer your question, yes. It is like this. In war time it’s always the last minute. It’ll be busy and frantic. You’ll be sent out for weeks, months, given a day to know and leave. This is how it is when you’re skilled enough.”Doremi wondered why he looked so smug when he said it. Like it was something to be proud of.The Uzumaki slid the hitaite back in her pocket and walks at his side without another word.XXXUchiha Maki and Hyuuga Hinata were the epitome of human disasters.Orochimaru had the gall to find them amusing. He poked at them like one would a bear. If somehow two drastically different people could make one foreign animal. She didn’t know want was more impressive. How they reacted as one against the Sannin or how they treated each other when they thought the Sannin wasn’t looking. Or if it was because they fell for each and every one of Orochimarus commentsRemi couldn’t decide who she would kill first. One of them or herself.They had been in Taki for all of two hours before Tomi finally got himself out of the office.Tomi, who was the Takikage, was the one who taught her how to use a sasumata and the husband of the kunoichi who gave her the jacket she always wore as thanks to killing Kakuzu.“You killed Kakuzu? The same Kakuzu that tried to assassinate Hashirama-sama?”The sanin asked the question but it was a tossup between the three of them who looked more amazed.It didn’t take long to get to Taki at all. Both Uchiha and Hyuuga were chunnin but with the war, Doremi wouldn’t be surprised if they both got field promotions within the next couple years at most. They were both talkative, which was unfortunate, since neither she nor Orochimaru particularly were. Somehow Hyuuga and Uchiha were able to have a conversation that could last for hours without her or Orochimarus interjections and without actually talking to each other.“Yes. I did. Can we focus, please?”Killing the rogue Taki nin wasn’t planned, it was more on accident. You see someone killing others, it made sense to try and stop the guy. The fact that it was Kakuzu didn’t come to light until later. She didn’t want the small nations thanks. At this point it was more hassle than it was worth.“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Samishi Uzumaki! What brings you back here?”Tomi was also a pain in the ass.The rest of the team seemed surprised that the Takikage was addressing the Uzumaki rather than the Sannin. No one spoke up though. Orochimaru seemed more than fine with not having to talk to the foreign Kage. If anything, he looked to be making himself comfortable on the couch. “Konoha,” Remi answered. “How goes your own country?”Tomi blinked. He was short and rather thin. His dark green hair was in a small ponytail. “You allied with Konoha.”The girl let out a breath and straightened. The four of them were still sitting along a stretch of couch. Remi was in between the Hyuuga and Uchiha because they were asshats, the both of them. Orochimaru watched on with clear interest. She barely refrained from glaring at him. “The war. That’s why we’re here. How do you feel about it?”The Konoha team winced, with Orochimaru actually letting out a hiss. The Kage was still tense. She almost wanted to know what he was thinking. But she didn’t. Because it would probably make her upset.Konoha wasn’t the first village to offer her a citizenship.Doremi suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here. It was easy to forget, somehow, that she had actually been alone for seven years. Grief tended to trap people and time passed without notice when you genuinely didn’t care.Samishi Uzumaki was hardly the only…moniker, she’d gotten over the years. It was one of the only ones that she’d gotten without all the hero worship or fear though. Despite Tomi’s exuberance and Taki’s general air of near immaturity, they were surprisingly adept at reading people.
The Lonely Uzumaki.
The teen didn’t want to ally with Konoha. Still didn’t love the idea but she’s accepted it for what it was. What it…meant. For all that she near blamed Konoha for the fall of her own country, there was no way she would ally herself with anyone but Konohagakure in the end. Tomi let out a sigh, waving them through to his office. Remi was the first one to follow him. It took an hour or so before Orochimaru officially took over.It was a good thing that Tomi had no care for formalities. Hiruzen was right about Orochimaru before they left. The summoner didn’t like politics. At all.XXXThe two-month mission went by a lot faster than Remi expected it to. They spent less and less time in each country, or that was what it felt like. It could be contributed to Maki getting poisoned during the same week, same country, as Orochimaru picking up the Kusanagi. Hinata had healed the Uchiha just in time for him to pull her out of a genjutsu that would have landed her in psych.They all agreed not to speak of Kusa again. It was safe to say that they wanted nothing to do with Konoha. Going as far as to get people from Iwa directly. Ishigakure was somehow worse but wanted nothing to do with the war. Ame had no love for Orochimaru without his teammates.After leaving Konoha, they started in Taki. They then went to Grass, Stone then Rain. It wasn’t until they had gotten into Valley Country that they hit a problem.The Land of Rivers was willing to work with them, as long as they also got the Land of Waves to do the same. So, even if Wave wasn’t on their agenda, they pushed the two months into twelve weeks, instead of the ten.It wasn’t what Remi would exactly consider a success.“You went into Suna.”It was the first thing that Sarutobi Hiruzen said after their report. Orochimaru had taken point and didn’t mince his words. Despite the mishaps, Doremi appreciated that he didn’t try and hide what went wrong but she didn’t know why he would in the first place. They were all a mess, the Sannin easily the worst, however. He was holding his elbow that had popped out of place. Doremi also knew that a couple bones in his foot had broke.When the Sannin ground his feet further into the rug, Doremi stepped forward with a sigh.“Given that Suna had ambushed us well into Fire Country, I believed it within reason to bring Orochimaru back. Hinata could only pick up five shinobi with her dojutsu. The most reasonable thing would have been to take the two-day journey to get more shinobi, but that’s what they would have expected so I did the opposite. It was easy to track them with Hyuuga and Uchiha so it wasn’t a problem.“We caught back up in the Land of Rivers. Uchiha was able to place a subtle genjutsu on them that lasted two days. For safety measures. It pulled them closer to Konoha and further from Suna. They didn’t break out of it until we reached the boarder. I had planned on keeping one for interrogation purposes but he jumped off a cliff before we could get him.”Hiruzen wasn’t alone in his office. They had come right before official deployments could get sent out. Shikata, Choui and Inomi were all there, along with a couple other people. For time sake, they reported in front of them all.Remi didn’t regret what she did. Throughout any of the mission. She didn’t think that Hiruzen agreed with it, at least not completely. But given that Iwa was now being aggressive gave him more to worry about.Their mission of rallying the smaller villages may not have worked as well the Hokage was hoping but given that this was actual war, Doremi didn’t know what the other expected. Having a team of, formally, a jounin and three chunnin ambushed by four Suna teams wasn’t ideal. But Doremi would choose to get Orochimaru back even if Hiruzen blatantly told her not to.Growing up, in both lives, she was told that Konoha was friendly. That they works in teams and worked as a team.It was funny though, wasn’t it? That Doremi was still expecting Hiruzen to be playing by that rule despite when Konoha failed to help Uzu. Despite Hiruzens clear irritation that she had chosen to risk her team to get Orochimaru back. His own student…Doremi remembered that she agreed to work with Konoha because the only country that wasn’t actively after her was Suna. But reading over the letter he handed her…“Hokage-sama.” It wasn’t even an apology. It was something to break the tension in the room. Doremi didn’t know why she was so annoyed with him all the sudden. She was exhausted. Orochimaru and Maki needed a hospital and she and Hinata needed to sleep for a week.Sarutobi had the nerve to be pissed at this? War with Suna? Would he had preferred Orochimaru dead if that meant that Konoha and Suna wouldn’t fight?Bullshit.Hiruzen sighed, bags under his eyes. “Orochimaru. What’s your assessment?”The snake summoner seemed to slump in relief when his two teammates came in at that moment. Tsunade came over, expression flat, resetting the others elbow. Even Jiraiya was here, though he was supposed to be in Kumo if she remembered correctly.“She’s fit for jounin, Sensei. I’d keep her away from the west if only because of Iwa. And Suna, apparently.”Remi glared at the Sannin who only shrugged. He seemed a lot lighter than he had in weeks though, standing with his teammates.Hiruzen clapped. “Fine. Uzumaki, how do you feel about Kumo?”How-how did she feel about Kumo?“Sir?” It was actually rather impressive. How utterly deadpan she was.“Kumo and Kiri are both hesitant to head into our boarders given the thrashing that Jiraiya gave them a couple weeks ago. We don’t want to lose that, but we need people in Iwa. I’m sending the Sannin there, along with a rather large portion of our forces.”That didn’t, exactly, answer what she was asking but she had a feeling. The breath she let out was shaky.“Fine.” She swallowed. “I’ll go where you need me.”She’d really rather not do this, but she had figured, within the past couple months, that she no longer had those freedoms. His look was stern and nearly cold. The near anger in his eyes made her wonder if she was even looking at the same person. The same person who looked at her with blatant sadness and pleading for forgiveness only weeks ago.“Kumo, Uzumaki. Aburame Shinori will be your platoon leader. You leave at sunrise. Uchiha, Hyuuga, you’ll get two weeks before your assignment. You’re dismissed. Orochimaru-“Doremi chalked it down to shock. Maki had to pull her out of the room and the tower. The three of them had been through enough near death experiences in the past months that they’d gotten to know each other fairly well. It was only half way or so that the two of them gave up on their dislike for each other.“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Maki said. Remi had come to know that the Uchiha was excitable and quite funny, despite his seeming flat words. It showed in his eyes a lot.“Orochimaru-sama was correct in his assessment, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Hinata offered.Maki scoffed. “She’s not worried about being unfit for jounin, Hyuuga.” He was short with her. Pretty unfairly, too. It was like the passed two months didn’t mean anything, Remi thought shallowly as she watched them glare at each other.He had trailed off. Like he was talking to himself. They were ninjas though, so they both heard it. His words were redundant though and they all knew it. Doremi hardly cared what rank she was. Hadn’t cared if this mission was a test to see if she could handle being jounin. If you looked at it that way, it was a success. They got several tentative allies and she got promoted.But she pulled a prior, neutral country into the war. Saving Orochimaru. Something about the situation as a whole sent alarm bells off in her head but she shoved them off.Uzumaki Doremi would do the same thing. With the same consequences. Suna would have joined the war reguardless. This was nothing but an excuse and Hiruzen knew that.But he was punishing her. Wasn’t he? Sending her to Kumo?“Thanks, guys.” She said lamely. Hinata and Maki may not understand exactly what had just happened, but they at least knew not to question the Hokage. Remi wasn’t sure if she wished they had said something or not. It wouldn’t have changed anything…They both nodded, splitting down the road and leaving Remi in the middle. It was then that she realized that she didn’t have a place to go. She- Jiraiyas. And Orochimarus, Remi guessed. Everything she had was with her in seals but an actual bed sounded amazing.Paying for a hotel seemed redundant if she was going to be leaving again tomorrow.Doremi went back to the familiar compound and tried not to feel misplaced. She didn’t try to validate or analyze her anger. It wasn’t like it mattered.If this is what she got for doing what she knew was right, it didn’t matter. Hiruzen could be as angry as he wanted. The teen wondered where she was supposed to meet with this Shinori person tomorrow but figured it was a problem for then.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Doremi woke to an unfamiliar bird song that set her nerves on edge. It was quiet and although she already knew, going out into the hall revealed that neither Jiraiya or Orochimaru were in the compound. She nearly stepped on a pack that lay right in front of her door, an unfamiliar writing across the front pocket that displayed her name in a number three brush. Not knowing what to expect, she opened it.There were two sets of jounin slacks, the chunnin vest and a scroll that said Congratulations with two of the three Sannins signatures on it.The girl was unsure of how to feel about it, only noting that her eyes burnt just slightly.The sun wasn’t up yet but it wasn’t quite dark. Remi took a quick shower and rebraided her hair. She only braided half the length, letting the rest free. It was Uzumaki tradition to grow it out but she had cut it after the island fell. Over the years, it had grown out to the small of her back. It took a couple minutes for her to change into the new clothes. After a few minutes of internal debate, she tied the hitiate on her forehead.The few possessions she had were scattered among the seals somewhere on her person. It was limited to things like Arashi’s stupid graduation book, a photo of her parents and a couple things from her old senseis. Remi had a seal dedicated strictly to rations and water.Doremi had never needed a backpack before. Storage seals were the very, very first thing that you learned in the academy. Having the weight on her back was unfamiliar and she could already tell it would hinder her.Still, she hitched the backpack over her shoulders. The only thing that was in it was Jiraiyas book, one that she had already read three times by now. Doremi sealed an extra set of jounin garbs in an array alongside her ribs. The backpack was pointless.It seemed to stave off the cold though when she walked out of the door and locked it behind her.XXXKumo was minutely better than Kirigakure if only because it was connected to the mainland and they didn’t have access to the water this far inland. During the previous mission with Orochimaru, they didn’t go to Hot Water or Frost. Hot Waters’ shinobi force was small and was heading East to defend against Kiri. They knew that they would be protected by Konoha and had no problems letting them cross their border. Shimogakure had no shinobi force.Apparently Konoha knew how to hit it where it hurt, seeing as they had no problem setting camp in what used to be Lightning Countries Monk Temple, before they moved further North. Doremi had to give them points for their boldness.It was no Sacred Turtle Island, but Remi was all for it.The only thing she couldn’t get behind was Shinori’s plan of attack. During the travel to the damn country, she had gathered that Shinori was an Aburame. The man was analytical, logical and very much, not open to other opinions.He may have been the biggest ass she had met.If he wanted to send half their force to the southern town then fine. If he didn’t want to send some scouts beforehand, then fine. If he didn’t want to hear that the town is a port town, consistently retrieving shipments from Kiri, fine. He was making it abundantly clear that he didn’t trust her.Doremi had no actual placement in the Konoha ranks. There was no trust between them and her. These were people who had grown up hearing about the Uzumaki in the academy, but she wasn’t them. She was only one. They heard about the girl who survived the massacre of her people. They knew her as the one who killed one of their elders. With or without justification. That didn’t make a difference when Konoha was down a leader during wartime.Simply put, there wasn’t any trust. Given how much Konoha prided themselves on teamwork, that said something about how much they cared about her.Everyone was given a tent to share with someone. Two shinobi to a single piece of canvas. Because of their numbers, she just so happened to be the person left to her own. She had no care for math, but Doremi really was curious about the chances.Their platoon consisted of only forty people. Twenty-six were leaving for the port town and fourteen were staying behind.Remi walked away from the briefing before Shinori could finish explaining his plan. It may be stupid on her part, but she was sure that he was the one who was stupid. He wouldn’t listen.Doremi didn’t know Konohas forces very well. She knew Jiraiya, Orochimaru, Maki and Hinata. Shino was barely in the story, from what she remembered. Aburame Shinori’s pride seemed unique though. Still, nobody questioned his decisions. A small part of the girl wondered what Hiruzen was thinking, sending such a small force to cover such a large boarder. The doubt grew the longer they were at the temple. Still, Shinori was made platoon leader and Remi recognized that. She may not like it but she would respect it.But- if he just listened. Just long enough for her to explain that while their forces would be strong enough to theoretically overrun a town of that size, it wouldn’t work. Because it was the third week of the month. And that was the week that Kumos ships were due to return from Kiri.Kumo and Kiri were buddies.They destroyed her home. She had spent months in each village reguardless. She knew them.The teenager knew that the port wasn’t domestic. The port was of shinobi use.No common, Konohan map would say that. Nobody in Hi No Kuni would know that, aside from maybe Jiraiya. And even then, given that this was happening, she didn’t believe that the Sannin knew about it.It was during breakfast the next day that they headed out. Bright and early, each soldier forcing down bland and dry ration bars for breakfast. Twenty six shinobi off to die for a noble cause, led by a noble leader.And Remi sat against a tree by herself. The Konohan shinobi didn’t glance at her. They didn’t look at her. The Uzumaki chewed slowly and resisted the urge to sneeze. Because of the salt in the air.They were too far from the ocean to see it. But salt stuck in the air like the breeze itself. And. It. Hurt.(The only one to come back was a chunnin. Nothing remarkable. He didn’t come from a noble clan. But he reported how they were over run. How they hadn’t even had a chance. Because they were right on the water and Kiri- Kiri always had water nature. Konoha didn’t.)(They had the nerve to be confused. They were in Kumo. Why would there be Kiri nin?)Doremi didn’t laugh. She was reading Jiraiyas book again. Somebody else, a Yamanaka, took charge. He set them on defense. He sent a missive to Konoha. Running wouldn’t be good for the war when they were trying to make a statement of strength. Another platoon, numbers just as large, just as ready to fight for the war, came the week after the battle.Konoha won the next fight. With two survivors. Remi and an Inuzuka. His dog didn’t make it.The Inuzuka was sent home for grievance leave. Remi wrote a surviving report but stayed to wait for the new platoon. Not that it would do much, she knew. But at least this way, they still had some sort of foothold. Hiruzen could either take the chance or call her back directly if that was what he wanted.Instead, he sent yet another group. This platoon leader didn’t listen to her either. They were pushed out of the temple and settled into Shimo. Frost didn’t like them, but they were shinobi. It wasn’t like they could fight back.Remi was in Kumo for over two months before Konoha actually sent fighting forces. This one held three platoons as opposed to the singular. One hundred and fifteen people. The Hokage put something called a Boarder Council into effect and placed her on it. She was in charge of fifteen people.“How the hell have you survived?”It took a moment for the Uzumaki to realize that they were talking to her. She had been attempting to tie the blue band that signified her as a squad leader on her arm. Her coat was thick though, given that it was nearing the middle of Shimos cruel winters. She was an island girl and didn’t like the cold. The Konohan’s had their own winters, so they were able to get by with simple cloaks, if they were cold at all.She sent a frankly pitiful glance at the knotted fabric. She ripped it off and shoved it in her pocket.“What’s the status on Kiri?”They already had their own hierarchy within the four of them. There was an Akimichi, a Hyuuga and two others that were from smaller clans if they weren’t civilian born. The Hyugga glared, the others either scoffing or quiet.“I don’t believe that you’re in any place to be asking that.”Why, Remi asked herself. Why was she even bothering?Instead of showing her irritation, because hell with actually caring what these people thought. “No, of course not. There’s no way that I’m actually asking for a reason. Let’s say, the fact that Kumo and Kiri have been working together since before they were founded and every war since then and now. And that we’re literally just sitting here and letting them kill us off one by one.”Hyuuga Sanko was just like every Hyuuga that came through. Remi decided that Hinata had been a special case. Sanko took the position of the so-called leader, which, fine. His attitude would get him killed at this point. Doremi knew that at least.“If you’re so smart, Uzumaki, what would you do? If you think you know how war works, why haven’t you ever spoke up?”Doremi shrugged. She grabbed some of the crab apples that were in a burlap sack, set in the middle of the table.“Their ships.” She said easily. “Use the old Garden Islands. Kiri and Kumo trade supplies once a week, like clockwork. The island is dead set between the two. We take a ship, some POWs and their supplies. Leave Shumo alone as a payoff so they stop reporting our movements to Lightning. Take back the port town, head north for a bit before we clear the southern boarder again.”Remi had seen that same look before. On Hyuugas. It looked like they had an aneurysm. Or a fly in their brain, maybe. She looked around. Others had similar looks, but Hyuugas were a very dramatic people.“I mean, we don’t have to. I’m sure that if we keep staying here, presenting a noble front and acting like we have any right to be here, then it’ll be fine. I’m sure whatever you guys are planning would be better.”“Shimo’s been reporting on us?”Remi was halfway standing before she stilled. They weren’t serious. They couldn’t actually believe-“Uh, yeah. They made it abundantly clear when we first passed through, months ago, that they didn’t want us here. They send their missions to Kumo. They like Kumo. Why wouldn’t they report us?”There seemed to be a collective sigh. They were looking at each other, irritated but Hyuuga was looking at her still.“And what, you just chose not to share with the class?”That was rude.“I tried. I have tried, actually. From Shinori to the Yamanaka to Kinta. I’ve tried to talk. Nobody really gives a shit about what I have to say. Hell, I don’t even know who you all are. You know me as the Uzumaki and that’s enough for you. I tried to tell Shinori that the port wasn’t civilian but military. He didn’t listen. I tried to tell Yamanaka not to take the pass. That it’s been rigged since the first fucking war but no. I told Kinta to hold his ground and you know what he did? He got us out of the damn country and into this one. Why the hell would I try with you guys? You think I’d have better luck convincing four when I haven’t even been able to talk to one?”There was laughter, ironically enough. From out of the tent.Remi only felt tired when she saw who made up most of the force. They were green. She didn’t bother wondering how long they would last because the answer would always be not long enough.She sighed. “What are things like in Kiri?”The Akimichi woman heaved her own sigh that echoed. “Bad. They’ve moved onto the neutral lighthouse a couple weeks ago.”Well, Remi thought. Shit. They were on the mainland? They managed to set up camp in Hi No Kuni?“Do you guys happen to know Hiruzen’s plan?”They all just looked at her. For a moment. Oh. No Hokage-sama shit. That would explain the looks.“He had teams rig it before the war was declared. He had an agreement with Wave, who would tell us any movements, but he hasn’t heard from them.”Remi rubbed her forehead. Her hair was down for once because it was cold as hell.“Do you guys have a plan?”There was a beat before a leader, one civilian born, spoke. “It sounds like we should be listening to you. I haven’t even been this far North before. I’ve been stationed in Suna for the past three years.”Uzumaki rose a brow, somewhat surprised. She glanced around. Nobody was refuting it. Not even Hyuuga.“How much leeway do you have? Did Hiruzen give you a mission scroll?”The byakugon user rolled his neck for a moment before he pulled out a missive from his vest. Then he threw it at her.She caught it easily but didn’t open it for a moment. Given how none of them were looking at her told her that she wouldn’t like what was written. Then she read it. Twice. Looking up and around before she folded it up again.“He’s not sending anyone else.”The fourth person, with oddly orange hair, stuffed a pinky in his ear. “Not for a while, no. Hokage-sama believes that Suna and Iwa are forming an alliance, however short it may be. He also has people from Ame moving in.”Remi leaned back, popping her knuckles before she threw the missive back at Hyuuga and walked over to the war chest in the tent. She grabbed a spare map, spreading it across the table. Each squad leaver went to clip their own corners to the table.“There’s a hundred and eighteen of us. You. What’s your leading nature for your squad?”“Fire,” Akimichi Shia answered.They each followed without being asked. Fire, fire, fire and earth. What the hell, Remi asked for the umpteenth time, was Hiruzen thinking?Remi grabbed a pencil because this wasn’t worth the ink. She drew little circles around the water between Kumo and Kiri.“We need to trade places with Hot Water. For a week, or so. They’ve received very little attacks on their own boarders, and it was cause our own asses were between them and Kumo. Kiri’s going around to Suna and now, apparently, Konoha. There are three islands.“Garden Islands, Springling and Uzu. The lighthouse I mentioned before? That’s Garden Islands. A few hours from there is Springling. There’s a sealing panel that acts as a control room. If I can get there, I can activate the whirlpools again. We catch a ship from Kiri, into Kumo, in the Gardens. That’ll give us just over a week before they realize that anything is wrong. By then, the seals will be activated. I can likely tailor them take out the power to focus on more redirection. We go back into Kumo, with Kiri’s ships they won’t think anything is wrong. We’ll have a squad stay here, move in on a mark so they’ll be distracted too. Team with Hot Water for a bit. They won’t be watching the port.”She looks up from the map, where everyone is looking at her.“And you’re sure this will work?” Hyuuga asks again. She shakes her head.“No. I’m not. But if it does? We take the port, convince Hot Water to stay at the port- I think we’ll be able to convince them that we withdrew.”“And that’ll do what? Show them that we’re cowards?”Honestly. “No.” Remi started. She couldn’t help but grin a bit.“After that, we’ll take Kumo’s own ships. They call them Dragonflies. We take them North and pass over the boarder. We go beyond Kumo and settle in their Capitol. Their daimyo will have the choice to either call the Raikage off or let his family be taken as POWs.”Orange hair man just about choked. Akimichi laughed and it was half hysterical.“You want to go directly into their Capital? Are you crazy?”Remi shrugged. “Doesn’t sound like we have much of a choice. You guys came here two days ago. Shumo sends their village leaders every second Wednesday. That’s tomorrow. We leave tonight, Shumo would just spread the word that we’re gone. It’ll help us. For whatever this is worth, I think this is the best plan. Risky, yes. But it’s better than waiting around for months just to retake a temple we started at. Should it work, two weeks from now, Hiruzen will be receiving a white flag or a daimyo hogtied. I’m sure he’ll be happy either way.”There was silence. Hyuuga groaning and palming his face. Everyone was shaking their heads.“What team’s staying?”Remi looked at orange hair. She wondered if it would be impolite to ask for introductions again. She only figured out Shia and Sanko’s because they were part of a clan and seemed to be the most vocal otherwise. “A fire. Akimichis. You have three clan members here, right?”She nodded. “And they can all perform expansion?”Akimichi Shia grinned.Sanko sighed, standing and opened the tent flap. “Pack up! We’re moving by nightfall!”“And now?”Remi rolled up the map. “We move South. Doesn’t matter if Shimo spots us. I’ll talk to the Kage in Hot Water and convince them. Akimichi and them will head North again, without being spotted but I wouldn’t worry about it. They’ll probably be all too happy to tell Kumo we’re gone. Then we go to their lighthouse. Can your people water walk?”“Not all of them,” the Hyuuga was catching on, at least. Given how annoyed he sounded.“Then they stay.” Remi ordered. “They can’t see any ships. We’ll be at Springling by this time tomorrow. You need to tell Hiruzen?”They all shared another look.“Why don’t we wait?” Hyuuga started. And it was not what she expected. Seriously. “Should this work then yes, we’ll tell him. But this… really isn’t what he was expecting. Or any of us. It’s insane.”Remi hummed. Not really caring either way. “It will work. Or it won’t. There’s no point in worrying about it. Let’s move.”Leaving the tent, she couldn’t explain how she felt. She was going back to Uzu.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
|Five Weeks Later|“Jiraiya, hells that?”Jiraiya turned to his teammate, looking away just as fast when he saw her hanging on Dans arm. “A letter from Sensei. Where’s Maru?”“Right here.”Jiraiya turned, seeing Orochimaru walking out of his tent and joining the rest of them. There were a few fires going on around them, but half dissipating just as fast because of the rain. They were only really working because of a seal that he saw Remi use before they made it into Konoha. It was one of the many seals he had seen her use, yet one of the few that he could replicate. And it was useful as hell.“Sensei?”Jiraiya nodded to Orochimaru, who sat next to him. Tsunade and Dan sat across from them. He opened the letter, only making it a few sentences in before he choked.“Oh, shit.”Orochimaru ripped the letter out of his teammates had, reading it to himself before he stopped, conveniently on the same spot that he did.“What? Guys? Who died now?” Tsunade was going for funny but the terrified note in her voice was clear as day.“This is a joke, right? It has to be a joke.”Jiraiya sighed, pulling the letter back and read it aloud.
“To my students,
I hope all goes well in Suna. None of us expected them to withhold or present strength such as they are. You are doing well, and I thank you for your service. I believe in my students and all shinobi representing our country. Yet I find myself most hopeful as of late.
Just yesterday Hyuuga Sanko pushed into the neutral lighthouse with none other than the Lightning Daimyo at the hull. They brought back five gladiators, full of supplies and POWs from both Kumo and Kiri. I have yet to hear from A, but word is expected any moment now. I had sent three platoons where Remi-kun has been stationed. Sanko reported no more than four deaths in his report.
They left half their forces there, in Kumo, yet are expected to make it back within the week. The story is long, terrifying yet the most amusing I’ve heard in months. This was Remi-kuns plan and for that I am both thankful and regretful. I am sure you would like to hear it for yourself, so I am calling you three back for a week leave. I expect you home by the 15th.
Stay safe, Sensei.”
There was a beat. Then Dan grinned. “We got Kumo? That’s great!”Tsunade laughed with him, kissing him. Orochimaru and Jiraiya looked at each other.“This is good, right?”Jiraiya nodded. “It is. This is exactly what we need right now. The only thing that would be better is if Iwa stopped calling truce and attacking a week later. It’s getting old.”Orochimaru hummed. “This doesn’t feel right.”Jiraiya folded up the letter, not saying anything. Even if he agreed.XXXIt was nice to be back in Konoha. Home. The Sannin all agreed that they were sick of sand and rain. Several flowers were thrown at them as they walked down the street. It seemed that the village was celebrating Kumo, still. Even if the three had nothing to do with it, they were very well known and it didn’t seem to matter. They made it into the Kage Tower with no further fanfare.And were promptly surprised by the chaos.“What the hell?”Jiraiya grabbed his teammates arms and half ran up the stairs.Jiraiya wasn’t often in the village when it came down to it. But he tried to know people, remember them. Hyuuga Sanko was one that he remembered, even more so since his teacher’s letter only days ago.He was a typical Hyuuga when it came down to it. Stick up the ass, dry humor if he was in a good enough mood. Uniform creased and cold eyes.He was screaming though. At the Hokage. With tears in his eyes. His sleeves were rolled up. Hair cut to his shoulders and the purple of his left eye was a bit too white.“We need to get her back. No, let me rephrase. We need her period! I’ll go myself- I-““Sanko, stop. Tsunade. Orochimaru, Jiraiya. Welcome- welcome back. I’m afraid it’s not for such a good occasion I’d hoped.”Sanko was smiling and hell if it wasn’t freaking Jiraiya out.“They’ll help! Of course they would! We need to go! Jiraiya-sama, please! They-““Sanko. You’re dismissed. Leave.”There was surprise, then anger. So much anger in the Hyuugas eyes before it just…wilted. Somehow, it was worse than it was the last time Jiraiya had seen the guy. Which was saying something, given that he didn’t think he’d even spoken to him before.Hyuuga Sanko left without a word but slammed the door hard enough to rattle both Kage Senju portraits on the wall.Tsunade snorted. “What happened to him?”Hiruzen didn’t look amused. He fell back into his chair and before anything else could be said, a med nin rushed into the room.“Hokage-sama! Todashi-kun woke up! He’s- he’s asking for you. He says it’s urgent.”The Hokage cursed, standing and gestured for them to follow him. Orochimaru tugged on his arm.“This has to do with Uzumaki.”Obviously, Jiraiya thought. He tugged his arm out of the others grasp and walked ahead. He may not know Sanko well but he knew Todashi, if only cause he and Minato had been in the academy together. Todashi was lazier than Shikata or his own son, Shikaku. Lazy. And if it was urgent…The walk- run, whatever, to the hospital was fast. Todashi actually met them at the doors.“Hokage-sama! She- Uzumaki Doremi- she, she was captured! And- and she sent us ahead and I told her it was stupid! I did. I told her. But she- we went and there was a boat and she drew this seal and- shit, ow. Hokage-sama, please. We need to get her back. We all owe her our lives.”What the hell, Jiraiya thought. Before Hiruzen could even say anything, Jiraiya stepped up.“Todashi, what happened?”The guys orange hair was burnt off, half of it gone. Tears were pooling in his eyes.“Jiraiya-sama, I-I am so sorry. We shit- I-““Todashi-san?”Sanko was back, it seemed. And a lot less dazed but his expression could almost be called heartbroken.“I- Sanko, man, I tried. We all tried. It- it happened right when you left. She- it was supposed to be fine. We all knew it. You all left and we cleared out a solid mile out, you know that! Why- I don’t, how?”Sanko stepped between them all and gripped his shoulders.“What happened?”Todashis voice was dead. “She led us to a boat, the last Dragonfly, the only one we didn’t destroy. She wrote, drew a seal, for here. And she told us she would come with. But she never got on. And then she drew those damned barrier seals and we couldn’t get out and he was there! The fucking bastard was there, Sanko! He was waiting!”“Who?” Jiraiya asked, dreading the answer.Sankos arms fell to his own sides. Todashi was almost sobbing.“A. And their previous kage. There- they didn’t even care about the Daimyo, Hokage-sama. We were supposed to send three other ships, Gladiators. They destroyed them. They let their Daimyo go.”There was a beat before Orochimaru let out a hiss.Jiraiya couldn’t think straight, if at all.“She’s dead.”Both Todashi and Sanko snapped up to the Hokage with enough anger in their eyes to make Jiraiya wonder if Hiruzen was actually gonna kill them.“No. They- they had fought, before. Before we even made it into the capital. He wouldn’t kill her.”They all looked at Hiruzen who, to call him upset would be generous. He looked crushed, frankly. But it didn’t stop the words from coming out of his mouth.“I know.”Oh. He didn’t think they would kill her. But she may as well be.Jiraiya felt his heart drop. He stared at his teacher, asking himself how he could even think to-“You’re a bastard.” Sanko dropped flatly.“This is Sakumo all over again.”Hiruzen flinched as if struck directly and the Sannin felt it themselves.“Hokage-sama.”Then, rather anti-climatically, Sanko turned and left.Todashi stared and stared before he shook his head, gripping his hair. “This is why she did it. She knew that you wouldn’t send people after her. But it was better for one person to be left behind than the near sixty, right? What did she do that made you so angry with her?”Hiruzen didn’t answer. The jounin laughed sounding manic. “Because of fucking Suna? I thought she was joking! We all thought she was- she- you were seriously punishing her for that? She knew this would happen…”Todashi put a knuckle to his teeth and bit it, tears falling out of his eyes before he left as well. He didn’t go back to the hospital, instead taking the same road that Hyuuga Sanko had just left.“Sensei?”Hiruzen looked at Orochimaru, rubbing his eyes.“I sent four platoons to Kiri’s boarder. Five squads, I put Remi in service of one. I- I had hoped that people would listen to her. And they did.” He started to walk.“She made a plan. Working with the Land of Hot Water. Go to Uzu’s northern islands and reactivate their whirlpool seals. She rerouted the ones near Kiri so they would redirect them, as opposed to direct ruin. They stole the shipment from Kiri on route to Kumo. Timed it so they could help Hot Water take the old port town and then they went north. They passed the hidden village and into their capital. Took the tower and their Daimyo. Forced him into pulling more supplies from nearby villages and sent them, along with the Daimyo, back to Konoha.”“They left half their numbers there. To cover their tracks, but more than anything, they had to wait for Lightnings’ civilians to build more ships. But- from my understanding, A ambushed them not a day after Sanko led his half back home. Remi convinced them to flee, under the illusion of them all escaping. She drew the seals to force them to come back. She drew the same one for Sanko. None- nobody knew how to steer a ship but her. She was the only one who could do it.”“Did you plan this?” Jiraiyas tone wasn’t accusing. Merely asking.“Jiraiya!”“What?” the toad summoner snapped. “I hate myself for even thinking it but it makes sense. Sensei was pissed, weren’t you? Todashi was right. You didn’t want to have to deal with Suna and they were all too happy to avoid the war themselves. Despite Hatake Sakumo just years ago. But lo and behold, they saw Orochimaru and really, wouldn’t that be perfect? Remi saved Orochimaru, Sensei. But she also pulled Suna into the war. And then you sent her to Kumo.”Hiruzen sat at his desk. They were talking on the way, barely quiet, but people knew not to listen to the Kages conversations. Especially as of late.“I suppose I did, Jiraiya, yes. I had my reasons, and they weren’t nearly all as petty.”Tsunade was quiet, watching and listening but not particularly caring.“And they were?”The older man sighed, threading his hands together. “They aren’t going to kill her. If they did, they’d make a spectacle out of it. I want her back as much as you do. If not more, even if it doesn’t seem like it. But I can’t risk who knows how many soldiers for the sake of one.”And it damned, because it made sense.“I’ll go.”Jiraiya looked at his teammate, before looking at Hiruzen once more in his own agreement.“Well, I’m not.”The three men looked at Tsunade. When there wasn’t a response, if that was what Tsunade was wanting, she scoffed and folded her arms.“I know that she’s been following you two around or something. But if she’s actually an Uzumaki, she hasn’t bothered talking with Kushina-chan. I feel for the girl but, to be honest? She’s been doing fine without Konoha. I don’t see what the big deal is.”Jiraiya felt like he couldn’t breathe and Orochimaru did something. Choked or coughed or- glancing at him, he wondered if it was some sort of sob. The white haired Sannin wondered if the Senju knew how closely the two of them were related.“I’m disappointed.”Tsunade rolled her eyes at their teachers remark. “Whatever. You-““She’s an Uzumaki.” Jiraiya cut in. His eyes slowly hardened and his tone fell colder. “You do realize that, don’t you, Nade? She- Doremi is your cousin, closer to the head branch of that clan than Kushina is. The girl is fourteen. And you just want to leave her in the hands of Kumo?”Tsunade tsked. “I’m not that cold, Jiraiya. I’m just saying that-““Shut up.” Orochimaru took a deep breath, pushing his hair out of his face. “Sensei. Jiraiya and I will go to Kumo. I understand if you cannot spare any other people.”Hiruzen glanced between his students before he sighed. He pulled his pipe out and spoke as he stuffed it.“I can’t allow that.” Orochimaru stiffened and Jiraiya bit his tongue. “If Remi is in the hands of Kumo then it is likely that it’s for a reason. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull Kiri in for whatever terms they decide to call for. However, we still have Iwa and Suna to deal with.”“Not Ame?” Tsunade asked. Like it mattered at this point.“Sensei.” Hiruzen rose a brow at Jiraiyas tone.“I’m saying no. I will no doubt receive note in due time. Because of this, and since it seems that celebrations are cut short, you will return back to Suna. Dismissed.”Nobody moved before Tsunade snorted and left without a word.“You’re making a mistake.”Hiruzen half waved. “Dismissed, Jiraiya.”Jiraiya had to walk back into the room to drag Orochimaru with him. Neither had words, at least none to say out loud.“We’re not leaving her. She’s fourteen. She-”Jiraiya sighed, idly drawing Orochimaru into one of the many blacksmiths in the village. He grabbed a few packs of kunai, as well as getting a small canister of grease for Orochimarus sword that he picked up a few months prior. With Doremi. “I don’t know.”“You don’t know.”If it was any other time, Jiraiya would be amused. It was rare for Orochimaru to be wordless. Or pissed. Or anything close to vocal, really, where it counted. “What do you-”“Jiraiya! You can’t be seriously thinking about doing noth-”“I said I don’t know!”Orochimaru closed his mouth with a click, turning away stiffly to grab some wire. Jiraiya let out a sigh. “It’s- it’s not like I want to do nothing. I’m pissed. I am. But Sensei- I don’t know. What are you thinking?”The answer was at the tip of Orochimaru’s tongue but he had to bite it back. Leaving, especially in war time? The Snake Sannin couldn’t go rogue. He had nothing but the village. Nothing but Raiya, Nade and Sensei. And none of them-A small part of him wondered if they would follow. If he did leave. It wasn’t the first time that he thought of it, but it hurt. It always hurt. “I’m not.”Jiraiya snorted, walking up to the counter. “You’re always thinking. I don’t like this anymore then you do.”“What about Kushina?”It was a toss up between who looked more irritated with his suggestion. Orochimaru sighed, rubbing his eyes harshly. “Why do you care so much?”Orochimaru didn’t look at his teammate. If he had an answer he kept it to himself. Luckily, it seemed that Jiraiya wasn’t actually expecting an answer either. Sensei hadn’t given a direct order when to return to Suna, so they headed back to their shared compound. “I could have some toads try to find her.” They had been silent the past couple hours and it surprised Orochimaru when the other brought it back up. He had thought that too. “We don’t know where she is.”Jiraiya threw his arms up, chopsticks falling back to the table. He looked more on edge then Orochimaru had seen. “I know that-”“Sensei said that they’d messed with Kiri, too. You no doubt pissed them off when you were at their borders a few months ago. It’d just piss them off more.”Jiraiya sighed, palming his face. “You think they’d take her to Kiri.”Orochimaru shrugged needlessly. He didn’t really think they would. The Hyuuga and Namikazes age-mate sounded like they’d be busy with the Raikages. That was Kumo, not Kiri, but still. “I’ll send some.”There was a beat before Jiraya let out a huff. “Maru-”“They don’t fight. Not the small ones, I know that. But if- when, they find her, they’ll report back to me. And you can tell your own summons.”That wasn’t…really how summons worked. They both knew that. “She doesn’t have her own?”Jiraiya huffed again, shaking his head. “No. She mentioned something about sandpipers though. They’re…birds. Obviously. Something she stole back from Suna.”Reptiles and amphibians weren’t really on good terms with anything that had wings. Orochimaru sighed. “We’ll have to head out in the morning. Tsunade may already be gone.”Orochimaru watched his teammate mutter to himself. The words, annoying, Dan, irritating, were few that he caught. It wasn’t the first time he heard the spiel. Orochimaru threw his food in the trash, not eating much of it and not hungry either. He walked to the backyard and summoned one of the many snakes that reported to him. The snake couldn’t have been more than five inches or so. It hissed and disappeared. Orochimaru hoped that it worked, and he saw Jiraiyas glance. They both did.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Uzumaki Doremi didn’t have much hope. She’d been called a pessimist for most of her previous life. Hope? There wasn’t much to hope for when the world was riddled with literal assassins, wars and death. A, the previous Raikage, was a pain in the ass. A, the current Raikage, was also a pain in the ass. They were also both named A, which made things confusing, so it was also a pain in the ass. Mentally, Remi was pissed and maybe a little scared but honestly more irritated than anything. Old A, Raikage two, hadn’t bled out yet. Which sucked. And was confusing given that she had cut off his left arm and had also stabbed the guy. He was stubborn if nothing else. Young A, current Raikage, didn’t like that she hurt the old bastard. Which was funny, really, given that they’d been chasing her for two solid days before they caught her and proceeded to beat the shit out of her. A was much faster than his, what, father? She didn’t understand the relations but if he would rather have lost an arm and stabbed then old A, then she could have. He didn’t have to run away. She woke up in a cell, chakra cuffs linked to both her wrists and ankles.Remi let out a sigh, heavy and loud. She wondered, without fear, how long it would take for them to kill her.Based on the rocking, she could tell she was on a boat. Which didn’t help anything at all. That meant Kiri. She also, because she was always so lucky, didn’t know how long she had been unconscious.The room was dark though and based on the familiar lay out, it was a dragonfly, not a gladiator. That meant they were in a hurry, the ship was smaller. There were barrels and crates and- Remi blinked. Another room.Her own was small, no more then eight by eight probably but the other was larger. It had a few people in it and, really, it depended on how you looked at it. A good thing or a bad thing. Shinori.Remi leaned forward, tied hands holding her side. The pain was barely noticeable, despite having been caught in A, current Raikages, lightning jutsu.“Shinori?”She didn’t bother staying quiet. The Aburame member flinched but then looked up. “Uzumaki?”Remi laughed, amazed despite herself. It was stupid, she thought. A dark part. That he lived and so many others died.“You’re actually ali-““I knew they would come! I knew I wasn’t going to die here!”He was yelling and while Remi didn’t care if she attracted attention, it wasn’t like she was asking for it. Before she could say anything, someone slapped a hand over his mouth. Remi half jumped in shock, narrowing her eyes, because she couldn’t see and-There were more people. On Shinoris side. They were all wearing clothes native to Fire country, even if only half of them still had their hitiates.“Who the hell are you?”The one who crawled out from the dark was the one who had a hand to Shinoris mouth. By the markings on his face, it was easy to tell that he was an Inuzuka.“It’s the Uzumaki, idiot.”Before Remi could try to gather her thoughts or anything, a couple others leaned out just far enough for her to see. The ship was dark. By his hair, she would think he was either an Uchiha or a Nara.“What happened? How’d they catch you, huh? You’ve had a knack for living this long.”He, they all looked a bit familiar, she realized. Which made her believe that like Shinori, they were deployed to the border at least during the time that she’d been there. She inhaled shakily, applying more pressure on her torso. Electric burns had to be the worst.“And who the hell are you? Uchiha or N- no. You’ve gotta be a Nara with all those questions.”The guy in question was likely around her age, if not a couple years older. He was clasping the bar and aside from his knee giving out on him, he looked to be fine. And amused, at least at the moment.“Nara Ensui. Uzumaki Doremi.”Remi huffed, willing herself to get to her knees and pull herself up using the bars like the other. By the time that she was standing, the Inuzuka had dropped his hand and threw the Naras arm over his shoulder. Shinori was muttering into his knees and rocking.“How long? What deployment?”Ensui let out a deep breath. “Shinka. The- third. Third deployment.”Shinka- Remi looked at the too still, faded blonde haired body on the floor. Shit.“All of you?”Inuzuka snorted. “I was deployed with the fucked up Aburame.” He hummed, looking behind him. His tone a bit too cheerful but his eyes were seemingly dead. “Kumo’s been holding us all in one of their POW camps. They must have figured you were important for some fucked up reason. They’re shipping us to Kiri.”Remi nodded, pushing her hair back. This was even worse than she thought. Which said a lot, given that she was already expecting to die.“Hiruzen made me squad leader. It- he decided to do some sort of council for the Lightning boarder. There were five squads. Every- well, save for a few, everyone made it out. I was the last one left. And you guys. I guess.”Ensui gave a hallow sounding hum. Inuzuka hissed. Remi had noticed that despite being clearly dog people, they often hissed more than they growled.“How’d you get them out? Sarutobi never would have called for a council unless he didn’t know what else to do.”Remi laughed. “It- shit. Stole some ships, fucked around with the two countries. I- we went into the capital. Took the daimyos family captive and sent them back to Hi no Kuni through the old lighthouse passage. Didn’t exactly think that the A’s would just let the old bastard go though.”Ensui laughed. Inuzuka fell back. He was further into the light but he was half shadowed.“Are they still alive?” Remi asked. Ensui stopped. He looked behind him.“No. Just us two. Or three if you count crazy.”Remi closed her eyes. She pushed off the bars and slowly walked around. The cage was small and they had to be on the bottom of the ship. She could feel and hear things graze the wood. It was a miracle that there wasn’t any water leaking.“We need to get you two out.”“Oh, really?” Inuzuka sneered. It was fair, Remi rationalized. If she hadn’t gathered that these two were held captive for at least three months, she would take more offense. Instead, she nodded and held her hands out. “Nara. Unlock these.”The other two paused, like they didn’t think that she was being serious. Slowly, a shadow crept forwards and after a moment, the chains fell to the floor. Her ankles were next. This wasn’t the first time that she wished she knew a bit of healing but it was what it was. She’d heal faster than a normal person, even if it would be slow going in her own terms because of how little chakra she had right now.“What are you doing?”Remi bit back a curse, wriggling her fingers to get more blood flow. Her palm had a small pool of blood. She painted a quick array on the side of the ship she was on. “Getting you out.”“No. Now. What are you doing now?”She huffed, turning. It was interesting how quick the other two got concerned for hell knows why. The next breath she let out was half melodic.“I cut off A-ones arm a while ago. They had to chase me for a couple days. Almost made it to Frost. The closest hospital, one that has what A-one would need, is in Takiko. Small island in northern Kiri. How long have we been moving?”“They brought you down three days ago.”“What are you doing?”Remi activated the seal and turned. “Fortifying the boat.”They both blinked.“Can either of you water walk?”They both grimaced.“I don’t have enough.” Ensui answered. “Hito broke his ankle.”Fuck, Remi glanced at it. That long ago- it had to have been healed over by now. But it was no doubt healed wrong. That wiped out just sneaking off. “Do they come down?”“For food,” The newly revealed Hito provided. “Once a day. They already came though.”“Uzumaki, what are you thinking?”Doremi looked around. There was enough wood that she could create a makeshift raft for the other two. The directive seal was easy at this point with how much she’d been working on it the past several weeks. But she wasn’t sure about the weather. It was getting into the spring months and that meant lightening storms. Someone, she, would have to stay and try to keep the water calm in addition to keeping whoever else was here occupied.“Thinking.” She answered.Hito must have lost his ninkin. Broken ankle, while mobile it would do more harm than good.They’d- Remi winced. A lot of Kumos numbers had diminished. But at the very least, there would be a mix of Kage guard and both A’s present. Dragonflies were narrow and long, meant for speed as opposed to room. If they’d been traveling for three days like Nara had said, then they were pretty close to Takiko already.They’d have to take the ship, now, if they had any hope of getting out. Once they got into Kiri, they could kiss freedom goodbye.And just moments ago, Remi mused. She was more than fine with dying.But this was Shinori, the ass from months ago. A Nara and an Inuzuka. These were people that she could have saved if she had tried harder when they were still here.Uzumaki Doremi did not have a very good moral compass. She didn’t exactly think that everyone deserved to live, she believed that everyone had their own worth and they weren’t synonymous with one another. As she’d told Jiraiya and Orochimaru months ago, why would one elders death be worth the entirety of her people?Remi was never good with people. She didn’t particularly like them. But these last four, five months, she’d seen a lot of people die. Just because they didn’t give a shit about her, didn’t mean that they deserved to die. These two, three, didn’t deserve to die here and now.“Hito, can you do anything?” She asked.He grimaced but nodded, determined. “I have good aim.”That was- shit. Remi thought. That was shit in this situation. “Ensui?”“Good to go,” he said. He was studying her, half visibly panicking. “What’s the plan?”Aside from just go for it? Not much. “Can you unlock the door?”Ensui slammed his hand against his own bars. “They welded them!”Remi immediately went back to the seal that she just drew. Time was of the essence and while she would love to use a fully functional dragonfly for the way back, it wasn’t possible. She quickly added a few more strokes, building off another quadrant before linking it to one exactly similar, perhaps three feet or so to the left of it.Then she turned, throwing the kunai to the other. He caught it, cleanly. It was interesting, she thought. She hadn’t spoken to a Nara before, aside from Shikata months ago. But you could see the exact moment they understood a plan and hated it.“Uzumaki, don’t-!”“Don’t have time. Try to find your own way out. Ships are built down to up, so rip each board downwards. Meet me up top when you can. You’ll probably have twenty or so minutes until the flooding will make it hard. Hito, stay with Shinori.”Both were looking at her like she was crazy, which, fair. But she didn’t have time to think of anything else. A-two had broke her tachi two weeks ago, when they first ran into each other. She hadn’t had actual ink or paper for months. It wasn’t like she had a whole lot of options and if they died here, hell with it. It would be better than whatever waited for them in Kiri.“That’s insane! Don’t do this, just-“Remi placed each hand on a seal and pushed. Immediately, the side of the ship curved inward. She had to pull a piece of plank out of her thigh, one several inches long. The wave of salt water that practically choked her gave her confidence more than anything. She crawled up and out, ignoring the others frantic yelling. She slapped a hand to the outside wood, slimy algae bringing a grin to her face unbidden.And she crawled.The storm was much worse than she was expecting if she was honest. Kiri was likely trying to break down the rerouting seals that she altered weeks ago. It took less than a minute for her to balance on the edge of the ship, rocking with the each wave the ship with more ease then they did.Both A’s and nearly a dozen people were on the deck. She had no idea what was on the hull but she’d take it one step at a time.First step being: Remi pushed chakra to her feet to stabilize herself as she stood. She held both hands out, thumbs several inches apart from each other but level. In the distance, she could see the tall trees and mist that was Kirigakure. She could see ships out, far, far out. But close enough that they would no doubt come to aid.
“What are you doing?”
Remi blinked up at her mother. She had yet to take off her oni mask and she still smelt like iron. She hadn’t seen the other in almost a week.
“Kaa-san?”
Her mother half laughed, carefully, cautiously putting her daughters’ hands down. They were in their backyard. The soft white sand and palm trees created a careful balance of heat and shade.
“Not so close to home, sweetie. And- that was lightning. Are you lightening natured?”
Remi hummed. “Obaa-san made me take the test three whole times. I have lightening and water. No wind. Not like you and Tou-san.”
Her mother laughed. “That’s great!”
The girl gaped. That was not the reaction she’d been expecting. It wasn’t like she was expecting her parents to be disappointed or anything, no. She hadn’t thought they would actually care.
“What are you trying to do?”
Doremi had to think back. “I don’t know.”
Her mother blinked. “You don’t know?”
Remi shrugged. “Obaa-san doesn’t like lightening jutsus. She won’t tell me anything.”
The other gave a single laugh that wasn’t amused at all. “And did Obaa tell you why?”
The four year old gave a short, barely there pout. “No. She said when I was older.”
Her mother sighed and sat down, pulling the girl onto her lap. It came to a great surprise when little bolts of lighting danced across her mothers fingers.
“Kaa-san!”
“When you use lighting on the island, you need to be careful. You’ll make glass, Doremi-chan.”
It was with a great feeling of stupidity, that Remi watched as her mothers hand barely touch the sand. Still, several inches of the white grains turned hard and clear.
“Oh.”
Kaa-san laughed. “And when you do it in water, you can hurt the fishies. Burn them all up and that would be no good, yeah?”
Doremi closed her eyes and told herself that she should have thought of that. Which she did. It was basic science. While the island was compromised of mostly wind and water natures, people still had lightening even if she’d never seen anyone actually use it.
“We don’t want to hurt the island, it’s our home. You can practice when you start getting sent on missions. Or maybe when you visit the south parts that were burned down but not here, okay?”
“Okay,” Remi breathed out. “Water?”
Kaa-san snorted. “Not today, my little jaguar. Kaa-chans tired.”
Remi hid in the others shoulder. It wasn’t like she knew that the jaguar was supposed to be a class activity. She just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“Kaa-chan-“
“I’m proud, not upset.” Her tone was amused. “And I know that Arashi-sama was very impressed as well.”
There wasn’t any sand, very few animals would still be here in the storm. Kumo mostly had lightning or water natures. While her electric burn hurt like hell, it would have killed anyone who wasn’t lightning natured.Lightening, Tou-san had explained that same night, burned the roots. Fire burned the surface, but nothing lived without its roots.Remi knew that this fight wouldn’t go well. But it was a chance. The only chance.Up ahead, clouds darkened from charcoal to the color of ravens feathers. Flashes sparked and everything seemed to echo. People on deck started to yell and scramble about more than they did a mere moment ago.Doremi clenched her teeth, carefully pinning each finger to a different shinobi. She ignored how her entire being fizzled and sparked like a live-wire.She was crying, she realized suddenly. She could see the Kiri ships turn towards them and start to move. She wasn’t sure if it was pride, when she realized that they must have recognized what was happening. This was what she’d done to their forests, years ago.“Netukai,” she forced out. Immediately, the force of the jutsu sent her backwards. Her feet were still holding onto the railing and her knees bent, her back hitting the wood below her. It echoed as loud as the sudden thunder.She placed her hands behind her and shot back up. A-one, who was wearing a soaked through sling to cover his lost arm, was spasming on the floor. The other dozen had fallen, clothes smoking. A-two was slowly getting to his feet.Her side had spasms of white and blue burning through her shirt. She had never felt as on edge as she did now. She felt like the moment she moved, she would shoot off and lose control. She forced more chakra to her feet and ignored the chips that hit her. A-two snapped to look at her, expression in fury and anger.“You-!”Remi could barely hear him but she knew he was yelling. The entire deck was practically black and smoke slowly covered the bowl of it with each splash of rain.Uzumaki barely delved into their chakra reserves. With how the past week had gone though, she had just gotten back up to a little less than half when she woke up. That jutsu alone had to have taken a solid fourth of it. This wasn’t looking good, with A-two more than ready to trade fists, in addition to the three Kiri ships quickly approaching. That’s not even to mention if anyone else showed up.A-two was saying something but Remi couldn’t understand any of it. Everything echoed.Doremi couldn’t help but wonder if A-two was there. How many of her people he killed. She wondered whose idea it was to seal the academy. She wanted to know, abruptly, if he had laughed. If he felt even a sliver of remorse.The Last True Uzumaki slowly rose her hands, not registering, not caring for A-twos look of shock, of fear at the wave of water that she knew was rising with her arms. She wondered if it was Kumo or Kiri that tore off Arashis arms. Who it was that strung him up in the life tree.Who it was, exactly, that broke into the merchant compound and didn’t destroy, no, but stole the goods. She wanted to know who it was that burned down their libraries. Was it Kumo, or Kiri, that decided to do it first between the two? Who planned it?Did they know, she wondered. Did they hear it? Could they hear it, still? The island screaming?Doremi shivered as the wave drenched herself, not just knocking A-two off his feet but off the entire ship. The wave continued and built, more and more the closer it got to the three Kiri ships. When it hit, two crashed and she could hear their yells from the distance.The last one seemed to go faster and she wasn’t sure if it was chakra exhaustion or the reality of the past several months of being so, so close to these people who took everything away from her or what- but she just couldn’t. She fell, chakra losing its hold on the rail as she fell to the deck face first and didn’t move.She wanted to go home.She didn’t have a home though.She missed her mom. Not Kaa-san, no. From before. She missed her family, still. She missed Kaa-san though. And Tou-san and Uzunata. She missed Kenshii and Obaa. She missed the merchants in Uzu who would always give away goods for the kids they knew whose families were dead or gone.She missed how people would barter and laugh. Argue but give. She missed the lectures of family and honor and value. She missed how Arashi would come and visit but the entire day would turn into stories of the days before. Of Biju and fruit trees and peace.She wished that she appreciated it while she could.Because now she had nothing.She was pulled back up to her feet who knows how much later. Ensui was in her face, screaming. She couldn’t focus on anything he was saying. The Naras eyes were wild as he pulled her close, just in time for the last Kiri ship to ram into them.Remi choked, spitting out a mix of salt water and blood. Her stomach churned and she didn’t bother trying to stop her tears.Eight. Years.Doremi was supposed to die. She wasn’t even supposed to be here. She was supposed to go with Uzu, with every single one of her people. But she was here. Living. Fighting for fucking Konoha and for what?“-remi! Doremi! You-!”She looked up just in time to see one of the several, far too many Kiri nin board the ship. Several had swords because it was fucking Kiri and the damned place loved swords. Several were looking around, herself somehow unnoticed except for two that were heading for her directly. Remi saw one- the current swordsmen wielding the Samehada, raise it directly above Ensui who had fallen, looking like he’d accepted this-
“Move!”
They’d all seen jaguars on the island. They knew that they were strong and powerful, meant to be both respected and left alone.
Remi really didn’t want to go on this. She was already years younger than her other classmates. The diaper and baby jokes were stupid and to somehow make it worse, the children weren’t even being rude. They were genuinely just playing around. Still, she was older then the Kenshii-sensei who was leading them further and further in and-
Takari wasn’t paying attention. She hardly ever did unless it was story-hour. Takari wasn’t going to be a shinobi, she was meant to be a civilian. But she’d been in school for almost five years. Remi was five and noticed it, the other was almost twelve.
Remi had picked up a stick a while ago. She was at the end of the line, not having and not caring enough to make friends. She was rolling Obaas recent lecture in her head, all the while sharpening one end of the stick with an arrowhead Tou-san had given her a while ago for luck.
Luck, she realized, she would need.
The jaguar jumped out of seemingly nowhere and headed straight for Takari. Remi realized that the shout had come from her. Without thinking, she followed the urge in her gut. A bright purple chain erupted from her hand. While she didn’t think much past ‘Stupid Takari, there’s a jaguar about to eat your face,’ she hadn’t anticipated the animal to get pulled towards herself.
The other kids shrieked and the animal roared, disliking being off the ground. Kenshii seemed completely surprised by the turn of events which made sense.
Without thinking, knowing that the animal would likely eat her own face if given the chance, she seemingly dropped her hand. The chain disappeared but the sleek, black predator continued. The barely pointy stick was held straight in front of her. She pulled the arrowhead off it’s leather string across her neck.
Right as she was plowed over, nearly two-hundred pounds of heat fell on her, taking her breath away as she was sprayed with a too-hot breath of rot and spit. The arrowhead that was held tightly enough to cut into her own hands, was stabbed through the soft underjaw of the animal.
And it was then that Takari screamed bloody murder.
Like so long ago, Remi shot her hand forward. The chain was darker than it was before, not as eager as it was before. It was just as small as they always were, much smaller than other Uzumakis had been. It wrapped around the swordsman’s wrist, and she pulled, just as she was getting up. The man’s scream was cut off by a strike of thunder.The other Kiri nin finally got clued in on what was going on and most, save a couple who were still heading towards Ensui, began to charge at her.The two that were originally running finally got into range. Every punch or kick they threw seemed to hurt them more than it hurt her. Doremi was just numb.Something cracked in her arm and she ignored it. Flashes of before overlapped now and all the while, there was still the whisper of fake in her ear.“Uzumaki! They’re drowning! They’re drowning!”The red head turned, taking a deep breath before pulling the entire ship onto its side, via giant ass wave. She hoped that enough water got out of the hole to give the other two enough time for her to get down. Because she had to get down. Inuzuka Hito and Aburame Shinori would not die on her account.She wasn’t sure why. But something had to give but somehow couldn’t.As she ran, she linked three chains to three other nin, flinging them off the ship as she jumped off herself. She didn’t have to break water, catching herself on the surface where she crawled into the hole that Ensui had created.Hito and Shinori were heaving, half floating in the water. Doremi cursed, pointing a finger into her cheek and breathed out until a horse took shape. She half rolled the other two on. Hito glaring all the while, Shinori bouncing and rocking.“What the hell-“Doremi whistled, cutting the Inuzuka off. The water bred speedster ran headfirst into the ship and broke through the worn wood and galloped off into the distance, fast. Looking up, she couldn’t see anything, nothing had broken through, but she went down the hall where she knew a staircase to be.Swinging open the upper deck revealed a group of both Kumo and Kiri nin. One of which, hitaite covering their eyes, had two swords that crackled with its own lighting. They were practically acting as rods, lighting coming down in a circle around the swordsman.He grinned. Voice eery but bloodthirsty. “Uzumaki.”Doremi shook her head, half for the rain and tears to get off her face and half because of the hair stuck to it. Seemingly whipping her hand out for nothing, she met the other halfway with a purple sasumata in hand. It caught one sword, all too easily ripping it out of the others grasp.The other grazed her side, the same one that A-two had hit. Remi screamed but didn’t stop. She kicked the other off her, throwing the chakra weapon where he was pinned to the mast. He choked, letting go of the other Kiba sword and tried to pull the weapon off his neck. His hands came back burnt and blistered.Grabbing the single sword, Remi was practically vibrating with energy. She swung at the others head where it rolled and thumped down the stairs.She swung back, forcing more and more chakra into the sword. What used to be a couple feet of lightning grew into five or so and the metal cracked. The upper deck cleared, she jumped off the rail. The rest of them still up and about were held captive in Ensuis shadow jutsu. But it was clear that Ensui was losing ground.As much as Doremi wanted to finish this off, she wasn’t anticipating A-two to come running towards her. His nose was bleeding, eye already black and his skin was pasty. “Double Lariat!”Doremi couldn’t help but scream, breaking the water and choked on salt. She convulsed before forcing herself up. She saw A-two dive off the ship and jump on the surface. She spat another horse with one hand, whipping another chain out with the other. By the time the horse was made, Ensui was thrown across it and was given no time to understand what had happened before the horse was off and going.
You need to stay awake.
A-two double lariated her again. Remi was familiar enough with the crack of her collar bone, much like it was with the jaguar years ago. She sunk, again. But she swam. If she didn’t, if she died, so would the others.“You should have died with the rest, Uzumaki!”Doremi struggled to find balance, dodging sending her further and further back with every strike the Kage made at her. She saw the others brown eyes turn red in anger, as if he had something to be angry about.The first punch actually caught her off guard. It lifted her off her feet and it was anything but fair as the other was able to rotate his shoulder, doing some cheap flip on her that sent her back into the water.Lack of air, she noticed for the first time that her head was pounding, and her eyesight was going black. Distantly, she felt for the two jutsu and pushed more and more chakra. When she came back up, she wiped her nose, unsurprised to taste and smell iron.A-two kicked her feet from under her, but she caught herself, barely. More chakra. They had to go faster. Doremi didn’t bother to dodge the next one, letting A-two think that she was down for good as she sank further and further into the water. She swam, eventually closing her eyes and told herself that it was dark because her eyes were closed and not because she couldn’t breathe.Every bolt of lightening, a mere raindrop, seemed to make the ocean rattle. The nerves in her body going off were practically the only thing that was keeping her awake.Having swam under the boat and to the other side, she broke the surface and gasped. Not giving herself or the others to catch sight of what was happening, she shot another chain forward and pulled. She was inside the ship again, swimming to the ceiling for air. It was going to go under. Soon.
Don’t stop. You…You can’t stop.
The Uzumaki forced herself to move towards the stairs again. At the top deck, nobody was there. She dove for the Kiba sword that the other had dropped. She ran to the hull, putting twice, thrice the amount of chakra as she did in the other one and swung.The hull fell, the few ninja still up and moving diving off the ship to dodge it. When Remi dropped the shattered blade, the handle hot and sparking, her hands came back black.She shuttered, falling to her knees and holding on to the old stump that she’d just destroyed.“Uzumaki!”Remi sobbed, telling herself that the shout was nothing. She blinked her eyes awake, eventually pushing off the wood just as A-two swung himself up to the upper deck of the ship that was currently sinking.“What do you want from me?” Doremi screamed.A charged again. Time seemed to pass slowly as she thought about what to do. Fight or flight. Was it even worth trying anymore?She’d be with her people, she reasoned. She wouldn’t have to deal with people who didn’t give a shit. She wouldn’t have to give a shit. She could just rest.But, she realized. She threw one hand up, calling and demanding, while the other brought the last chain towards the Kage. She pulled him towards her, fast and hard. Right before he made contact, she pulled her hand down.A bolt of pure, black lightening struck them both, immediately splintering the ship and activating a massive whirlpool.What if she woke up? Again. No fictional Naruto. No real Naruto. No reality and no Uzushiogakure. What if she woke up and had to do it again?Doremi told herself to stay awakeawakeawake. She couldn’t feel the two water horses. She was spinning, choking, dying, faster than she could keep track. Her arms were tired. Even breathing hurt.The last thing she saw was the storm starting to clear, a flash of lightning from seemingly clear clouds as it struck the tip of the dragonfly just before it went under.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Orochimaru did not hope. Hope was for stupid people because there was no proof that hope actually did anything. The man was a scientist. He believed in what he knew. He believed in what he could see, feel and otherwise sense. He was smart enough to come to his own conclusions and draw his own reasonings.The Sannin knew how it looked. He knew the chances of Uzumaki Doremi coming back were slim, if they were there at all.But for the first time, he couldn’t help but hope. If asked, he’d be honest. He had no idea why.The girl’s story was tragic, obviously. If it was a play, it would be acted for generations. Told for years and years.There was just something about her though. He knew a portion of it was because she was an Uzumaki. One other than Uzumaki Kushina who was a complete and utter brat. Orochimaru was enraptured by the Uzumaki culture, little as there was to know.Kushina herself left the island and was brought to Konoha when she was barely seven. The girl knew little, and what she did, she admitted to not understanding a lot of it.He had seen the family trees. He only had to ask sensei to let him see the records. He hadn’t said anything, but he had to wonder if Kushina, while Uzumaki, was actually from a civilian family.Uzumaki Doremi was decidedly not.Sending his snakes out weeks ago was a longshot, he knew. But he still went out to the field that they were due to report back in. Even if every report was the same. No, they would hiss. We haven’t seen the girl.The Uzumaki essentially gave herself up nearly four weeks ago. He hadn’t heard anything from Sensei. He knew that Jiraiya hadn’t either. The raven haired man had never seen his teammate like this before. Tsunade, as usual, was making it worse.
“You want braids?” Remi blinked.
The girl’s eyes were the color of silver. Part of him wanted to ask if they were natural but he bit it back. He’d seen people with eyes the color of the sky, strawberries or pine. Really, out of those, silver was more natural than they were, he supposed. But he’d never seen someone with eyes that flickered the same way a sword or kunai did just before it struck.
He hummed, instead of repeating himself. The girl had been working on her own the entire morning and the sun was almost in the middle of the sky. She had just finished. If Orochimaru didn’t know the importance of having long haired tied back, he’d probably mock her for how long it took her to do it.
He liked his own long hair. He hated taking care of it though.
“I- ok. It’s kind of an Uzumaki thing but I guess I can do a couple.”
Orochimaru stopped. He had never, not once, seen Uzumaki Kushina in braids.
“It’s a clan tradition?” He asked.
Doremi headed over to a rather convenient boulder and hoisted herself up. She waved him over despite this, which he did slowly. “It is. Just- not important. Not anymore.”
He turned when she spun her finger. He tried not to freeze when she started to brush her fingers through his hair.
“Still, I won’t do anything too elaborate. There’s- it’s a language. You probably don’t care about it but-“
“No!” He didn’t turn. His voice didn’t echo but it was much louder than he usually spoke. He cleared his throat. “I appreciate the different customs of each family. While I would love to learn about it, don’t feel like you need to.”
Doremi hummed and was quiet for a moment.
“Most braids are made of strands of three,” She started. “Life, death and rebirth. Lightning, wind and water. Sun, moon and stars. Nobody really believes the old tales anymore but it’s been part of us for so long. There are others though. Some that need four to six strands. They’re more ceremonial than anything.”
The Snake Summoner wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk asking a question. There was a thump and he looked down. A basic, three stand braid was thrown over his left shoulder. That was fast, he realized. Maybe even too fast.
“She doesn’t use them. Does she?”
Orochimaru didn’t say anything. It wasn’t until the second braid hit his other shoulder, a moment later, that she spoke again.
“Uzumakis leave. Some- sometimes they do. Did. There are still people with the Uzumaki name. Uzunata, Uzutane. Uzu’s dead though. Any remnant of it will die with me. I just need to accept it.”
Orochimaru turned, hand carefully feeling the texture of the braid. His hair was smooth but knotted far too easily. He wondered how long he could keep these.
“Let’s just go.”
Doremi jumped off the boulder and walked. He didn’t have anything to say, or nothing that would be appropriate at the moment. He followed the girl silently.
Orochimaru pulled a brush, one of Jiraiyas, out from the bag and raked it through his hair harshly. He turned away from his two teammates. They’d been getting into more and more arguments which was annoying, but he couldn’t particularly say that he cared. They’d been at it for days and he knew both teammates. They’d never get around to talking about anything important.He stopped, seeing a flash of orange hair walk the same path he did when he would meet with his summons. Orochimaru rose a brow before the other even turned. Todashi, the one from Namikaze’s graduating class and the one who’d argued for Uzumaki’s rescue, nodded and continued to walk.Orochimaru didn’t immediately follow. He finished brushing his hair. He took his time sneaking the brush back in the pack and got up. He walked past his two teammates, rolling his eyes when Dan finally woke up and left his own tent, wandering over to the two arguing.He caught up with Todashi a few minutes later.Before his northern deployment, Todashi had kept his orange hair long and in a ponytail. When he came back, most of it had been burned off and as a result, once safe in Konoha, he’d actually shaved it all off. As of now, it was only an inch or so long.The fact that Hyuuga Sanko followed the others example was worrying.The northern deployment, the 160 or so people, mostly stayed quiet about what had happened. Orochimaru wasn’t sure who, but he knew that a few people had actually resigned once they found that Hiruzen wouldn’t be sending a rescue party.“What do you want?”Todashi cut to the chase. “Aburame Shinori, Inuzuka Hito and Nara Ensui found their way back to the village last week. Sunburnt to all hell, dehydrated and immediately put on leave but alive.”Orochimaru blinked and tried to follow. “Shinori? Wasn’t that-“Todashi nodded. “Doremi’s first platoon leader, yeah. Hito and Ensui were both with Yamanakas deployment. They were held in some camp but the minute that Kumo finally caught up with Uzumaki, they bailed.”Orochimaru folded his arm and narrowed his eyes at the other. Todashi ran a hand through his hair, blatantly grimacing when it didn’t catch on anything.“It- I just got in last night. Here. I’ve only heard whispers but- I mean you were wanting to get her. Will you still?”The Sannin hissed. He looked behind him. The camp was far out of sight.He didn’t know. “Tell me.” He ordered the other. The other tsked and didn’t say anything for a moment. Orochimaru was more than willing to tear it out of the other if he had to.“She cut off A’s arm.”He blinked. Todashi having folded his arms and looked anywhere but at him.“The third Raikages, anyway. But- I was only able to talk to Ensui for a moment. He- shit it’s only because I’ve seen her crazy ass plans that I believe it but-““Todashi!” Orochimaru snapped. “Get to the damn point!”He half threw his hands up. “She could be dead for all we know! She- they took the last dragonfly. He mentioned that Doremi said something about Takiko. It’s an island in Kiri, and it must have been close because Ensui said that Kiri actually came during the fight and-““What fight?” Orochimaru asked, most definitely not afraid to hear the answer.Todashi swallowed. “According to Ensui, she broke the boat. Immediately engaged with the Kumo nin that were steering the ship, which included both Raikages, mind you. When Ensui finally caught up with the other, everything was practically already hell. He said that there was lightning, and it was raining, and the boat could barely stand straight and- I mean- it’s fucking crazy!”He laughed, still making an effort to grip his hair.“He said that she made two fucking water horses. Okay? Water horses. Who the hell does that? Ensui said that Shinori and Hito went first and he followed and eventually, they got far enough from the storm that they couldn’t hear it, much less see it, the horses dissipated. They were luckily close enough to a small island that let them rest but they were on the water for two days, even without the horses. They swam up at night, seeing the lighthouse.”Orochimaru gave a single, unamused laugh. Shit.“She’s alive.” He said.Todashi pursed his lips.“What?”“I don’t know.” He replied. “Just- Ensui doesn’t exaggerate. But he was held captive for months. He probably missed something.”Orochimaru folded his arms. “You think he’s lying.”“No. I think he’s underselling it.”They both turned at the snap of a twig. It was no doubt done on purpose. Orochimaru turned, already knowing it was likely one of his teammates. But he stopped, mind and body, because while Jiraiya was here, so was Minato.“He…” Todashi started. Orochimaru met his eyes. Todashi half slumped, straightening just as fast, pointing to Minato. Orochimaru bit his lip, unsure.“What’s wrong?” Jiraiya asked, immediately coming over.Minato followed tentatively. Neither spoke for a moment.
Underselling.
Orochimaru knew that even if his summons found the girl, he couldn’t do anything. Neither could Jiraiya. The fact of the matter was that it would be considered deserting their post. They couldn’t go to the eastern or northern borders fast enough.But Minato…“She may be alive.”Jiraiya practically folded in on himself. Orochimaru studied Minato. There was no way that the other would do it for free. And it wasn’t from lack of kindness, if anything, it would be the opposite. Because he just loved the other Uzumaki so much. There had to be something for him, or her, for him to agree.“Takiko. You know the eastern lighthouse that hasn’t been used?”Minato frowned.“Orochimaru- are-are you serious? You found her?”“No,” he said simply. He wasn’t even ashamed. It was a longshot to begin with. If he was honest, it was something to comfort himself because he’d rather know he did something instead of nothing. “A few more survivors, POWs from our own side swam to shore sometime last week. The ship was destroyed.”They were all quiet for a moment. Jiraiya was drumming his fingers quietly. Then, better late than never in Orochimarus book, Namikaze sighed.“I have a few seals throughout the east. If I do find her on the off chance, what am I supposed to do with her?”Jiraiya and Orochimaru shared a glance and traded a single nod. When Jiraiya spoke, it was firm.“Bring her here.”And then, in a flash, Minato was gone.XXXWhen Uzumaki Doremi woke up, it was to a clean canvas tent. To say that she was confused would be an understatement. She didn’t do anything but open her eyes.There wasn’t any salt.“Oh. You’re awake.”Remi froze. She didn’t recognize the voice, hell, she wouldn’t recognize anyone’s voice. But there was a too familiar tone of disdain, dislike, that sent her on edge.Her mind easily went onto defense. Remi wasn’t a natural sensor, but she had developed her skills enough to do what she needed to. A price to pay for being alone for so long.And what she felt terrified her. Because there were no less than a hundred, maybe even a hundred and fifty, people around her. She felt her chakra reserves, horrified to find that it wasn’t even a quarter full.She had to get out. Away. Now.Having learned, even more so in the past couple weeks, that acting was sometimes better than thinking, she shunshinned places with whoever had spoken. She may not be able to do a lot but hell if she’d go down without a fight.She heard a curse behind her but that was it. Doremi didn’t look back as she ran.“Uzumaki?”
Uzumaki!Uzumaki!It’sthegoddamnedUzumakigether!
Doremi was better than this. She was. But she couldn’t get her heart to calm. Couldn’t get her eyes to dry because she was so, so tired and for the first time in years she was actually scared. Has been scared. Ever since she woke up on that too small island that just so happened to be on a Kiri ships watch and they’d been after her for days and it has been nothing but running and fighting and even before that-She was so, so tired.And she’d come to the wonderful, helpful realization that she didn’t actually want to die. And if that turned her into a coward that began being able to do no more then run, then so be it.There was a shout but she had no idea what it was, what was being said. She turned, right before the nin chasing her could catch her or throw the first punch. She willed her chakra into the shape of a tachi and swung.“Hey!”Doremi didn’t stop. If anything, she was getting more and more worried because more and more people were getting closer and everything was blurry and please. Please just let it all stop.“Remi!”The weapon changed to a chain and she didn’t hesitate to wrap it around the persons neck and force their head down and onto her knee. She swung the chain out, forcing several people to step back. Instead of them staying away, it just made people come closer.She closed her eyes, shaking her head as her entire body practically vibrated. Her fists were steady, lifting them into parallel fists with her thumbs out. Her arms sparked with lightening and it hurt- like her own nature did now, but it was also getting addictive because it meant that as long as it still hurt, she was still alive.“Everyone get back! Remi, don’t!”“Get-“The girl didn’t even get to finish before something rammed into her. Her arms were held above her head, losing the connection they had for the jutsu.“Get off! No! Get off of me! No! No!”“Doremi! Doremi!”She didn’t stop, half sobbing as she tried to pull her knee up to knock the other person off but someone grabbed her legs. The girl screamed, trying with all her might to just buckle these people off her because this couldn’t be it. It couldn’t be.
Not again-
“Get off her! Hey!”Her legs were freed, that was all she cared about. The person on top of her also rolled off and she shot to her feet, opening her eyes and glared, met with orange.“You’re safe! Doremi, I swear to god, you’re safe. We’re all safe. You aren’t there anymore.”And it… stuck. It didn’t make sense.Doremi looked around, faces overlapping and flickering. This- sand. Earth. Where the hell was the water? The mist?She flipped, turning around and there were so many people but they weren’t doing anything. They were just standing and watching and looking and- Doremi stopped, having gone 360.“T-todashi?”The man with short, orange hair grinned. His eyes were wet and he looked so happy, which didn’t make sense. The last time she saw the other was weeks ago. He had gotten trapped in a rare fire jutsu from Kumo before he finally made it onto the ship and-“What?” Doremi choked. She drew her hands into her hair, matted, and pulled. Todashi stepped closer and she stepped back.“Doremi.”She turned, flinching. It was Jiraiya. Clearly Jiraiya. Because he was wearing that same damned look he had when she spoke to him the first time, half hogtied in that ridiculously small camp. “Raiya?”He grinned but was crying. He took a cautious step forward and she didn’t move.“Where’s the water?” She whispered. The mist. They were going to jump out. They were going to do anything and everything they could to kill them, why the hell were they just standing here?“Remi.” Jiraiya spoke again. “You aren’t there anymore. You’re safe.”Doremi didn’t know where ‘there’ was. She couldn’t remember the last time she was actually safe. She didn’t feel safe. This wasn’t safe.“Where the hell am I?”Jiraiya crouched. “You’re in Earth. Maru and I had Minato go get you. You were pretty far out. He found you in the neutral zone between Fire and Water. Do you remember that?”She remembered… floating. So much running and fighting- hunger. She remembered that clearly. She remembered the cliff and jumping. The water.“Where’s the water?”She looked around again.Jiraiya clasped her wrist. It wasn’t loose by any means but it didn’t hurt. And she stilled, half crouching and waiting for the other to pull or push but nothing came. She looked into his eyes.“You’re safe. You can rest now.”Oh. “Oh.” She echoed.She blinked and looked around. There wasn’t any water. Everything was dry. Very little people had swords. They were wearing dark colors, not light ones. They all had Konoha hitiates.“Konoha.”Jiraiya nodded, looking relieved. But Doremi couldn’t help but laugh. Because this didn’t make sense.“Since when does Konoha give a shit about me?”But this was Jiraiya, she reasoned. Even if he looked like he was just sucker punched, she could trust him. So, she slumped forward, letting the other catch her. While she doubted she was as safe as he seemed to think she was, maybe someone else could take the next watch.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Nohara Rin was a busy kunoichi these days. Between missions, training and the hospital, she didn’t know when the last time was she’d seen her own bed.A decent sized group of shinobi returned from the north just a couple days ago. It was hard to read the village sometimes, this being one of them. A few ninja had been brought into the hospital a few days ago. She’d been here since yesterday.She had known, of course, that there was another Uzumaki in the village. She’d never seen her. Rin knew that Kushina-nee wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it, or Minato-sensei for that matter.It was interesting hearing Kakashi and Minato argue about it. She hadn’t thought that her silver haired teammate would care but she was proven wrong when he essentially told Minato that they, meaning Minato and Kushina, should leave the girl alone.There wasn’t anyone that Kakashi respected more than Minato-sensei. So, for him to stand up to him the way he had was surprising, if standing up was even what it could be called.Obito was able to pull out Kakashi’s reasoning the next day.Kakashi told them that the Uzumaki didn’t owe anything to the village. And not to Kushina. Because she wasn’t actually Konohan, he reasoned. And if Kushina wanted to play the family route, she should have cared sooner.Rin didn’t think that Kakashi understood how contradictory he sounded. She had never really understood either of her teammates.Rin looked up, absently humming and clicked the pen so it wouldn’t write. And then she froze.Uzumaki Doremi’s eyes were a startling silver color. Rin half laughed, placing the clipboard to her chest. Before she could say anything, the other spoke.“Am I in Konoha?”Rin rose a brow but smiled. “Yes! I’m Nohara Rin, a medic. You were brought in a few days ago by some shinobi from the north? Since you’re awake I’m supposed to go get Hokage-sama to talk to you so-““Where’s Jiraiya?”Rin blinked. The Sannin?“Or- Todashi? Did- did Ensui make it? Hito?”Rin let out a slow breath. She didn’t know the full story and she didn’t recognize any of the names. “If you can just wait for Hokage-sama, I’m sure he could-“Rin had heard stories about how much some shinobi hated the hospital- stories of them leaving before the medics or doctors could check on them but she’d never had it done to her before. In her shock, moments later, Uzumaki Doremi was out of the hospital and gone.“Huh.” She spoke. Thankfully, this had happened enough that there was a procedure. Her vitals were good and according to her chart, she seemed much more coherent than she was the last time she had woken up. With that, she marked the appropriate tallies before hanging the board back on the bed.She had a mission to get to in Iwa. It was Kakashi’s first time leading and she still had to get his gift!XXXDoremi was always a quiet child. It showed in how she snuck passed her caregiver when she was still months old to how she crept into the Hokages office without being detected.The three Sannin were there, in addition to Shikata.Doremi abruptly realized that she was still in a hospital gown. It wasn’t ideal by any means but there was nothing she could do about it now.Quietly, as to not startle the others, she cleared her throat.They all jumped.They were shocked, staring at her with wide eyes. She was quiet, rubbing her fingertips together and relished the spark it gave off.“Doremi- you- what are you doing outside of the hospital?”Jiraiya immediately stepped closer and drew her in for a hug. Remi didn’t fight it, but she didn’t reciprocate it. “Remi you-““Did they make it?” She asked. She made direct eye contact with Hiruzen as she asked. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. “Did- any of them? I-I think I saw Todashi. Before. Sanko? Wh-what about Ensui? Hito?”Before Jiraiya even set her down completely, Shikata of all people pulled her into his arms and hugged her at least thrice as hard as Jiraiya did. She winced and pushed off the other.He let her go, taking a clear step back. His eyes were watering, falling to his knees with a thud.“Thank you, Uzumaki Doremi, for saving my son. The Nara clan is forever in your debt.”She blinked. “Ensui?”Shikata was looking at the ground, nodding.“He’s alive?”He looked at her. “Thanks to you, yes.”Doremi fell back, slumping against the wall. She stretched her knees out in front of her and closed her eyes. “The others?”“All alive.” Hiruzen spoke for the first time. He put his brush back in its holder and folded his hands, leaning forward. “For the first time in history, the victory against two nations could be credited to a single shinobi.”Doremi rolled that in her mind. “How long was I out?”Hiruzen stood. The Sannin seemed to merge with the wall, Tsunade pulling Jiraiya towards them. Shikata fell back into the chair across from Hiruzens desk, as the village leader knelt in front of the girl.“It’s April 22nd. You’ve been up north for almost eight months.”Remi’s stomach dropped and the other continued.“You’ve been in Konoha for only a few days. However, Kumo and Kiri both agreed to a summit a week or so ago. It seems you’ve been busy.”Remi looked at him and laughed. Slowly. Hiruzen didn’t look offended.“Are you able to report?”She hummed. “They’re all safe?”“Save for the four that Sanko reported dead, in addition to everyone from before the council, yes. Everyone made it back safe. Including you.”She thunked her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. “They didn’t like it.”“Who?”“The A’s. A for assholes. A-one and A-two. I cut A-ones arms off a couple days after I sent Sanko back. Almost made it to Frost before they caught up. Knocked me out and put me on a ship. Discovered that the other three were still alive.”Hiruzens expression was flat. She shrugged and continued. “Figured that dying on that ship was better than whatever they had planned for us in Kiri. Took the fight to them. Turned messy. Washed up in some Kiri island I didn’t even know. Tried my hardest to get back to the mainland.”Hiruzen stood. “That leaves nearly two weeks from your fight with Kirigakure to when Minato found you.”Doremi swallowed. It was hard. “Yes.”The room sobered. She looked away from them all.“Can you give me any other information?”She huffed. “Can you tell me why the hell you bothered to get me?”Someone wheezed. She turned to the Kage. He looked sad and aged, more than anything. She slowly stood. Her knees shook.“You made it clear, when you refused to actually send people to Kumo, that you were planning on using me as a bargaining chip. When you stopped sending people after that shit-of-a-council. You made it clear that I was on my own, the moment I came through that window and proved to you that your fuck up of a teammate killed my people. I will not be your people, Sarutobi. You made that clear. How in the hell did I make it this far?”They all looked at her. Remi rubbed her fingers together faster and faster. Eventually, Orochimaru stepped up.“It wasn’t sensei. It was us.” He gestured between himself and Jiraiya. “Todashi found me in Iwa several days ago. He told me what Ensui had reported. He thought you were still alive. Jiraiya managed to convince Minato to try and find you with his hirashin. That’s why you’re here.”And it was that simple, Remi realized. She nodded, tongue getting heavy when she realized that she’d have to thank Minato. Which meant having to deal with Kushina.“I’ll thank him then.”“Doremi-“ Hiruzen stopped when she actually looked at him. He struggled for words but eventually continued. “I didn’t plan to use you as a bargaining chip. I would never do that to one of my shinobi. Never.”Doremi merely looked at him. Hiruzen laid his hands on the table. “I did wish to use your anger, however. And for that, I apologize. I let my own get the best of me.”Anger? Her anger?The red head tore her eyes away from the man, arm spasming hard enough that she clutched it to her chest. She flinched when somebody- Orochimaru, took a small step closer.Doremi forced her anger down. She couldn’t bring herself to even look at Hiruzen right now.“Minato?” She asked a moment later, looking at Jiraiya.The man looked like a mess of emotions she couldn’t even begin to decipher. He nodded though, having understood what she was getting at.“He left an hour or so ago. Taking his genin team on a mission back up to Iwa.”That was- Doremi swallowed a laugh. Perfect. Fucking perfect. She wouldn’t even have to talk to him, not really, or Kushina.She just had to save Obito.Because she just met Rin, which was not something she wanted to do in any life. The appearances matched up, the ages. This must have been the mission that would inevitably lead to the end of the era, right?“I’m going to the hospital.” She lied. They all blinked but didn’t try to stop her. None knew her well enough to know it was a lie, even if she was a shinobi and they all knew that shinobi detested hospitals.An hour, she mused. She quickly slid into the bathroom to change. Kanabi bridge. She had a faint idea where that was but like all of Earth country, all the roads led everywhere. Even the hour ahead may ruin her chances.Remi made her way across the village, trying all she could to fix her hair as she went. She was in the same henge as she was before, but her hair was still a mess and a henge wouldn’t fix that. Less than half her chakra pools. That’s not counting if she had to use any to get there fast enough or got intercepted by anything.Doremi wished that she knew why she was even doing this. The truth was- after everything, she had no idea what the hell she was doing anymore.A-two wasn’t dead. She knew that. Unfortunately. The Mizukage was alive and well. Or as well as one could be after apparently being forced to submit in a war. Hell knows what Suna was doing but Iwa? Iwa was always, always tricky.The storyline she knew and loved was officially fucked over. Why not just change what she could, now, and hell with what happens afterwards? Is that not similar to what she’s been doing since she came to Konoha anyway?XXXThe Hatake clan was one of great power, even if it was never large. For as long as Kakashi knew, it was just him and his dad. He didn’t remember his mom at all. And dad had said that his parents died when he was a kid, and they lost their own when they were both young as well.The Hatake clan was one of great power, yes. But Kakashi doubted it ever would be again. Not when dad failed so utterly. Not when he was a coward and killed himself. Not- not when despite this, he still loved and missed his dad.Hatake Kakashi’s family may have been great at one point, but you couldn’t make a family with one person. Not a whole clan with two. The clan would never be great and all because his dad was gone and dead and Kakashi has been trying so, so hard and why couldn’t people see that?“You’re just going to let her die?”Kakashi’s throat was tight as he watched his teammate rage. Obito was always emotional. Always sensitive. It was annoying, is what it was. He never thought with his head, always with his heart. He was clearly blind in addition to a crybaby because couldn’t he see, that having to leave Rin was practically tearing Kakashi apart from the inside out.“Your dad was a hero, Kakashi.” Obito wasn’t crying though. He was angry, yes. Angrier than he’d ever seen him. But he wasn’t crying.“He did the right thing, years ago. Saving his teammates. I look up to the White Fang of Konoha and I always will. Those who break the rules are trash. But people who abandon their comrades? Those- they’re worse than trash!”Kakashi’s heart dropped as the other turned and left. He caught his arm, the edge of that eye-blinding jumpsuit. Barely. “What?”Kakashi tugged, barely able to form words and the other fought and it was when Kakashi had to duck to dodge a punch from the other that he found the ability to actually explain himself.“She’s this way! You’re going the wrong way you idiot!”Obito stopped and slowly grinned. He pumped his fist with a shout of, “Hell yeah!”Both boys ran side by side to find their missing teammate. Neither could tell you what happened next. How long they ran for, how many people they encountered. They couldn’t tell you when it was that Kakashi nearly lost his eye, or when Obito unlocked the sharingan.It just did.It blurred. All of it.From the nin to the cave to the unnatural earthquake.“Obito?”Kakashi pulled his arm out of Rins grasp, ignoring her cry because Obito was- he was alive. It wasn’t like he could be dead. Not the stupid kid who’d get cats down from trees, cry when he saw a dog or help people with their groceries. Obito was too good to be dead, so he couldn’t be dead.“Ka-ka-kaka-kashi-“Everything would blur, later on. But for now, this moment would remain crystal clear. Uchiha Obito half crushed under a boulder. Not crying. But smiling. Alive.“Oh god-““Obito?”“Shit-!”Then Kakashi was shoved over. Rin ran to help him up. The squad leader was fine though, because that was Kushina, right? If Kushina-nee was here, then everything would be fine and she could heal Obito and-“Stay awake, kid. Whatever you do, don’t close your eyes.”It wasn’t Kushina, Kakashi realized just as quickly. Still, he stayed on the floor with Rin giving up, just standing behind him and grasping his shoulders.“Uzumaki?”The girl turned and Kakashi’s stomach dropped. She was clearly an Uzumaki, which is why he thought it was Kushina despite the red hair. Where Kushina’s eyes were a dark purple, this Uzumaki’s eyes were silver. She couldn’t have been more than a couple years older than they were so- Doremi, right?The same girl that despite having never met her, reminded Kakashi so much of his father.Saving teammates. Getting blamed. Getting abandoned and left alone and still being told that they had to give more and more and-“Help him,” Kakashi choked. He struggled to get to his feet but he did, half pushing Rin away and half pulling her with him. He knew better than to push the boulder on Obito- his best friend, he realized. But he placed his hands on it reguardless.“Help him!”Kakashi wondered if he looked as shitty as the Uzumaki did. Cause she looked like hell. Her own eyes were filled with tears and no. She was here for a reason. She couldn’t just give up.“Help him!”“I’m thinking!” Kakashi half snarled but the other turned, glancing between the Uchiha and the rock.“Where the hell is your sensei?”“Kanabi bridge,” Rin spoke immediately. The Uzumaki turned to her. Kakashi had no idea how Rins voice was so steady. “Sensei has a mission to destroy the bridge. We were supposed to meet up after we finished our own but I got kidnapped before we could catch up and-““Kanabi?”Kakashi nodded. The other looked grim but nodded all the same. Kakashi met her eyes directly. “I can’t heal him.” She explained.Kakashi’s stomach dropped. Before he could say anything, she explained her plan.“I’m going to pull him out. I-I can put a seal on him. Try and slow everything down but he needs to go to a hospital. That means the damn hirashin, that means Minato. We need Minato.”Kakashi looked at Obito for a moment, who had in fact closed his eyes against instruction but was panting, sweating, still alive.“But that’s-! Can we get there in time?”Kakashi waited for Uzumakis response. She didn’t look all that sure or eager herself. “We don’t have any other choice.”He watched as she nodded to them both, neither having responded. He watched in part intrigue but mostly horror as she whispered something to Obito, who grunted in agreement. Then, before anything else could be said or done, the Uzumaki placed one hand on the bolder and it broke apart with a cackle of electricity. She just as fast placed both hands on a screaming Obitos shoulders, who had shot up in agony, but was pushed back down.And fell silent.“No!” Uzumaki slapped Kakashis hands away and hoisted the other over her shoulder. She paid no heed to how she was immediately drenched in blood. Instead, she just started to run. She was several yards out when she turned and yelled, “Move it!”Kakashi grabbed Rin’s arm and tugged, following the other. He had no idea what was happening, where they were going. He had no idea if Obito was still alive. He had to be alive. Kakashi’s eyes didn’t shift from his swaying teammate at all. Kakashi never let go of Rin’s arm either.XXXIt wasn’t like Doremi was expecting it to work but caught in between having just missed it and maybe getting the chance to still save Uchiha Obito had to be the worst. It would have been better if he was already dead. Or if Kakashi and Rin had left. Or even better than that, if it hadn’t happened at all.Three days.Three days of tracking the others nonstop and it still was up in the air. The Uzumaki had choked down an entire bottle of chakra pills she stole from a general shinobi store back in Konoha. She’s been taking them the entire time.Remi had no idea what was going to happen if Obito died. Hell, she had no idea what would happen if he lived either, given that he’d been with Uchiha Madara before. She pushed down the alarms in her head that were telling her that Uchiha fucking Madara was just behind her. Could be. Should be, maybe. But what did she actually know at this point? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.“Fucking- move, Rin!”Kanabi Bridge was one of the few landmarks in Iwa that she knew how to get to. Fortunately. While it could be chalked up to being one of the main modes of commuting, from merchants to nobility to shinobi, it was also just as likely that she had memorized it for this exact reason.Doremi hadn’t cared for the Naruto storyline. Not since she was born into it. She didn’t. The girl was an Uzumaki and was supposed to have died years ago. Supposed to have died just months, weeks and days ago as well. She was never supposed to have lived this long.But if she ever did- Remi cursed her traitorous brain because she apparently hated herself just enough to willingly put herself in this situation.“Stay here!”Remi half dropped Obito at the other twos feet. Iwa had been following for a while- which would likely be the same people who Kakashi first killed when he got the sharingan. But he hadn’t. Obito was alive, with both eyes, because she had put on that blood replenishing seal and forced a handful of pills down his throat.Uchiha Obito was alive. He would stay alive if it was the last thing she did, which was looking more and more like what was going to happen.Kakashi and Rin both scrambled to catch their fallen teammate. Someone, probably Rin, was yelling about just leaving and that they had to keep going.Doremi couldn’t though. They couldn’t. Because they’d been running for hours and Kakashi was starting to slow, which meant that Rin was practically being dragged. They may not dodge the next kunai.Uzumaki Doremi already knew what happened, or what could happen, if Obito died. She had no idea what would happen if the other two died here and now. So, to make it easier on herself, she simply decided that none of them were going to die today.She wanted to say that it was comforting, or easy to fall back into. Survival. She wished that it was poetic or something, how faces blended and that she couldn’t tell you where she was because she’d been doing this for weeks, but no. Doremi was in Iwa. She knew exactly what was happening. She knew exactly what was at stake.Namikaze Minato better be at the damn bridge or Doremi would kill him, Naruto himself be damned.The girl missed the tachi, she thought hollowly. Tou-sans sword. Chakra weapons just weren’t the same. A-one had broke it weeks ago. It was the last thing she had of on him. Not a good time to think about it but she couldn’t help it.The weapon flowed from being a sasumata to a tachi to the most basic of daggers. The three kids were half hidden in a little grove maybe fifteen, twenty yards away. The group following them was no more than ten.It wasn’t Mizu because Mizu laughed. Iwa just snarled. There was a lot of snarling.This was far from the first time that Doremi wished that she inherited advanced healing. They would be in better shape. She’d be in better shape. The teen was barely able to block a swing from a genuine claymore type sword.What the fuck, she thought. How was that fair?Remi let the weapon dissipate as she ran forward. There were only a couple left. Three, maybe. Or four. She let the tugging and sparking sensation from A-two take over. That damned burn. The minute she was surrounded by the remaining nin, she released the charge.The field flashed white a bright white. Her teeth chattered with both nerves and energy. She was so, so tired but she felt like if she didn’t move then she would burn.Doremi ran back to the others, ignoring the faint groaning from at least a couple of them still. She slapped another thoughtless seal on Uchiha because it was that easy. She lifted the other up again, ignored how her arms immediately became slick again with blood and forced another pill down his lips.Doremi wondered if Uchiha knew he was earth natured. It had to have been the only reason, besides the seal she slapped on, that let him live with this much lightning sparking off her. Earth or lightning anyway. Sasuke had been lightning natured, hadn’t he?“What did you-““Let’s go.” Doremi ran off again before the others could finish. She was small for a lot of reasons. She was just glad that Obito was smaller. The girl knew that it would be safer to take the trees, but she wasn’t confident in her own ability. Not with everything else going on anyway. She just had to keep a close eye on the upturned turf. Was it natural or was it a bomb? Who knew?Knowing that she was getting close but also knowing that the Kanabi Bridge was huge, Doremi started to spread her senses. Where the hell was Minato?The Uzumaki sensed several nin that forced them to take a longer way around. The other two didn’t complain once, which she was more than thankful for. Remi knew she wouldn’t have the patience to actually do or say anything to them if they did.There.Doremi turned sharply, ignoring how one tripped, knowing that the other would pull them up.“Namikaze!”Her throat was impossibly dry. Her knees shook like she wasn’t going fast enough while her heart seemed to slow. It was not a good combination.“Namikaze!”Doremi couldn’t see him but she could sense his chakra tick with sudden worry. She rather suddenly had the urge to start bawling.“Minato!”The chakra finally started moving closer, not just on her end. If she did start to cry, then and there then it was her own business.“Uzumaki?”She didn’t stop.“Sensei!”She continued to run, not able to go faster but refused to slow.“Kakashi? Obito? Rin?”Eventually she forced herself to slow down, entire being shaking from exhaustion and energy. She hated this. She didn’t think the buzzing would go away.“What did you do?”Minato half stepped in front of his two remaining students and as much as she wanted to roll her eyes, she knew there wasn’t time.“You-“ Remi gasped, relinquishing her hold on Obito. Minato grabbed his wounded student with a fearful look. “What?”“He needs a hospital. I can’t heal him. Just- Iwa ambushed them. You need to go. Now.”The Uzumaki put a shaking hand to her side, opposite of what A-two had done. Iwa had gotten a decent slice in, just a few centimeters down from her last rib. It burned but she wasn’t sure if it was because of the cut, or the slow fizzling from the lightning that acted as a cauterizer.It came back bleeding and she forced a laugh.“What the hell are you doing here?”The teen looked at him, shaking her head. They didn’t have the time to deal with this.“We’re fucking even and that’s it. You don’t go now, he’s dead. Dead! You need to go!”The golden haired man was clearly stressed, carefully setting the Uchiha down to check him over himself like he didn’t believe her.“What happened?”“Sensei-““An ambush. Hell knows why you left the kids alone in the middle of Iwa territory but it hardly matters now. You need to go.”Minato met her eyes and looked like he was waiting for something. He stood a minute later, student to his chest. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the last two chakra pills she had. Doremi shoved them into one of the other jounins pockets.“I can’t just-““The bridge?” She cut in. The girl looked around. She could see plenty of traps and relatively small explosion tags around. “You need to blow it up?”He nodded, “You can’t though. It’s rigged up and down. I have a hirashin point set miles away from here. This was the last of it.”Fuck. The red head swallowed, looking at the current Team 7. She patted her static and matted hair down.“I’ll hold them off.”“What?” Minato choked.Doremi spread her senses further out and like hell would have it, she could feel dozens upon dozens of people coming closer. Angry. And that was with her frankly shitty sensing abilities.“You need to go. Iwa’s heading straight here. You can just flash and go, right? Just go!”“It doesn’t work like that!” Minato clutched Obito closer and looked at him in panic at the too faint groan. “It- I bounce from one to the next. It’ll take me minutes to get to Konoha.”She shoved a finger into her mouth and bit. Hard.“Just go. I’ll hold them off but you guys need to go. Minato, I swear to god-““And just leave you and my kids here? I can’t!”“I’ll watch them!” She shouted back. Remi pulled the two kids towards herself. She ignored how Rin was only an inch or so shorter than herself. Kakashi, she realized, was the smallest out of them all.“Take Obito, come back for Rin then Kakashi. They’ll live through this, Minato. All of them. But only if you go now.”Minato worried his lip.“Go, Sensei.” Kakashi rasped.“You, too.”Doremi blinked. Wondered what the hell he was on. Minato stepped just a bit closer.“You aren’t dying here, Doremi. Not after everything you’ve been through and done. I’ll come back for you, too.”Doremi didn’t realize she was laughing until it hurt. Then she was crying. “Just go, Namikaze!”“Keep this with you!” She caught the sai. And then Namikaze Minato left. In a flash.Remi could hear her heart pounding, both kids looking at her. She wondered what level of hell she was on now. She could sense people get closer and closer.Her next several breaths came out in stutters. Everything burned. Everything.
Lightning burned the roots-
“Uzumaki-san?”Doremi turned, hand to her head as she just looked at these two kids. Dozens were coming and she swore that she could hear them from here. Could hear the thudthudthud of their steps. They had to have only been a couple minutes out themselves.“Hold onto this.” She flipped the sai over and held it to Kakashi handle first. He took a firm step back.“No.”This- Doremi stepped forward, practically wrenching his arm from his side and forced his fingers to curl around it. He tried to shove her away.“For Rin.” He stopped. “For your teammate. Then yourself.”“And you.” The, what, twelve year old? He held the sai out towards her as if in threat. “I’m not abandoning a comrade here.”The Uzumaki sniffed, decided to box that and kick it into a part of her mind that she’d never think of again. Remi tugged the younger kid along with her further off the road. Minato had said miles and she knew that running now would just be a waste of energy.They settled into a small grove.“What’s the plan?”“Rin, fix Kakashi’s eye.”“Oh.”Remi tried more than anything to just settle her mind. She made a small knife with her chakra and started carving little arrays into the trees.“What’s the plan?” Kakashi reiterated. He seemed to be fighting the urge to shove Rin off. Remi barely spared them a glance. She went to the next tree.“Stay here.”“What?”Doremi swallowed, wiping her finger firmly on a seal before moving onto the next one.“These won’t let anything come in. They’ll make it so we’re pretty much invisible. We just can’t leave the square.”“Oh,” Rin breathed. “That-that’s good. I- Kakashi’s eye should be okay. Maybe. He- he needs a hospital, too.”It was a beat later, Kakashi touching the edges of the bandage at his eye, when Iwa nin upon Iwa nin came bounding in. They all stopped, forming a close to perfect circle around the three of them.Doremi cut off the weak sensing. It was pointless. They were already surrounded and there were a lot of enemy shinobi. A lot, a lot. The girl shuttered, feet starting to buzz again. She looked at the two members of Team 7, staying quiet. She knew that Uzu’s and Konoha’s sign would be different but shh and stay were pretty universal. They both nodded.Without further ado, she turned, throwing away the thinking part of her brain as she made two shadow clones. Doremi couldn’t spare any more chakra. She ignored the single hitch of breath and the sound of skin slapping. She ran forward and out of the box.The Iwa nin were walking around and for what it was worth, they noticed they weren’t as alone as they originally thought pretty fast. Doremi managed to kill two and that was it. After that, every single shinobi ran towards her. The good thing?The dozens on the other side hit the barrier with a grunt, unable to get through the seemingly clear path. She heard a distinct scream, one that she’d already gotten used to having been running with Rin for the past several hours.“You bitch!”Everything seemed to blur. The two clones and herself working in a well-practiced tandem. It was easy to forget, being deep into the third war for so long, that she was alone for the entirety of the Second Shinobi War. That her people’s deaths set off the sparks of the second one, years ago. For years, she’d been alone. Doremi only had herself to rely on for so long that the clones, that working with herself was more familiar than having anyone else watch her back.Eventually a clone popped. And then the other.Nobody seemed to stay down and if one fell, two more would take their place before they got up again. Remi was running more than anything. She had a dark-near-black chain held between her two hands to bounce what attacks off that she couldn’t dodge. The chain itself was crackling with lightning.The Uzumaki’s veins themselves seemed to char and the scent of ozone and burnt flesh invaded her senses more than iron or the sound of screams did.When she finally built enough distance, she would send out streams of lightning towards the Iwa numbers. It was raw and painful and every time she did it, it seemed to slow her heart more and more but made her head pound each bit harder.It wasn’t like nekutai. It wasn’t precise and timed. It wasn’t like the shinguruban. It wasn’t called from the clouds and storms themselves. It didn’t rain down, didn’t burn to the roots. Each shot of lightning was done with nothing but a thought. It fizzled and crackled from one nin to the next like it was thinking for itself.It bounced back every time. As it had. For weeks now.Doremi stopped as suddenly as she dared, flashing through a couple hand signs and dug her feet into the ground so she wouldn’t fall over from the sudden vertigo.She sprayed the several around her with a weak-too-weak spout of water before waving her hand. Her shoulder pounded, arm buzzing, literally shaking, but she couldn’t feel her hand. She turned to run again but froze-“Chidori!”The girl watched with a few others as Kakashi bounced, running his limb through at least four people before he fell to his knees with a cough. He got to his feet, growling audibly in the field. Iwa worked well together, irritatingly enough. In the sense that they split almost perfectly to run towards them both in two separate groups.Doremi didn’t spare a moment to think about why, or how, or whywhywhy. She ran forward, barely feeling her feet touch the ground as she lit up with white light and bulldozed her way through the line of shinobi blocking her path to Kakashi.The Uzumaki cut the energy off, coughing harshly and ignored how it was with a spray of blood. Kakashi cursed loudly he was thrown over her shoulder. She ran away from the group behind her as fast as she could, thankfully not having to worry so much about oncoming weaponry with Kakashi deflecting whatever she couldn’t dodge.“Rin?” She gasped. Maybe. Doremi wouldn’t be surprised if she just thought it really, really hard.“Sen-sensei got her- no!”She turned on her feet sharply, waving her hand. The lighting barely got anybody, most jumping back right before continuing their charge. She had to dodge an onslaught of earth spikes, spears or the occasional arrow. If a wall cut her off, Doremi did nothing more than bounce off it, send another burningchurninghurting charge out and continue or run straight up it.There- she sent what seemed to be the last bit of chakra to her arms as she chucked Kakashi near overhead and further into the woods. She had no idea how far away from kanabi bridge they were at this point.The kid had dropped the damned hirashin.Doremi ran back into the midst of it, sending another splash of the mere puddle that were her chakra reserves to try and see how many might be left but- she stumbled, falling to her knees when she grasped the marked weapon. There wasn’t a difference. Or there was. It was somehow worse than before.Doremi had no idea why the sai in her hands was warming but with all seals, it likely meant that it was being used. She didn’t hesitate to throw the sai right back at Kakashi. His grey eyes widened, arms outstretched and she barely heard his shout of, ‘No!’ before a bright, yellow flash blinded several in the vicinity.Remi felt the slight hint of a breeze that made her roll. She jumped back up, keeping chakra to her arm. Someone grasped the opposite arm, hard, and pulled. She screamed, feeling it pop out of its socket. At the same time, an earth spear went cleanly through her stomach as another stopped in her thigh, hitting bone.A large, earth fist hit her, sending the spear in her thigh further in. The force that sent her flying made several others have to jump out of the way or get hit themselves. Remi hit a tree and choked, feeling a handful of ribs crack.Iwa still came running, even with her on the ground. Weakly, she banged her fist on the ground where it fizzled, bits of dead grass charred in a near instant and people within twenty or so yards fell to their feet and spasmed.The red headed teen screamed, unable to hold herself up on one arm because it was broken but the other grew black from her fingertips to above her elbow as it blistered. Her back bent and though everything rang, a crack seemed to echo.
Getup.Getup.Getup.Getup.Getup.Getup.Getup.Getup.Getup.
Rolling to her knees, something seemed to physically shift into place with an audible grind. Remi may have laughed or sobbed or screamed, she didn’t know. With her good arm, the one she could use, the burned one, she pushed herself to her feet. She watched as, pulling her hand up, skin stuck to the dirt and was peeled off with her movement.Doremi tore her gaze away. The remaining Iwa numbers, still too many to count, didn’t hesitate to jump over their fallen comrades or run over them. Her arm, burnt, rose to the sky. She ground her teeth but it didn’t stop the scream-
The last time she did this, a ship went under. It wasn’t Kumo. It was Kiri. Kirikirikirikirikiriri-
This was Iwagakure. She had burned their library. They had nearly killed Uchiha Obito and she was so tired.A nin ran into her, knocking her to the ground just as the black bolt of lightning came down.
It was the day after Tou-sans funeral. Kaa-san decided to take her to the southern part of the island to test out her lightning nature for the first time. Both were quiet. Island South was where people went to train with their rare and destructive natures, often lightning. Years and years ago, it used to be where most people lived but they eventually moved. There were rundown buildings and crumbled fountains but at the same time, in the same ruin, it was beautiful. Where stone was burnt and smooth at crumbled edges, moss and flora grew.
Uzu was determined to live, even in the face of destruction.
“What you got, Rem?”
She blinked at Kaa-san. Doremi let out a slow breath. That was the first thing Kaa-san had said to her in days. Nobody on the island talked about lightning natures because it was so destructive to the ecosystems and rare. The most the academy went into it, was the hand sign dragon. After that, you almost always went into a special apprenticeship that actually took you off the island for at least six months.
What you got? She had nothing.
With lack of anything else to do, because Kaa-san had pretty much restricted her from doing anything with her nature months ago, she put her tiny hands into the comfortable seal of dragon. She enjoyed how her hair stood on end. How her feet buzzed like they were asleep.
When her tongue started to go numb, she released the seal but kept the charge, putting a hand up to the sky. She was amazed when small, grey clouds seemed to gather in the sky.
When the feeling went from good-buzz to bad-burn, she let her arm fall and essentially dropped the static that had built up. Kaa-san grabbed her, pulling her along as she jumped back.
They both looked at the smoking crack in the ground for a moment.
“Shit,” Kaa-san muttered. She set Doremi back on her feet and stepped forward. She followed, peering down. It wasn’t very big but it was wide enough to see small embers. Smoke rose from the ground.
“Wire spools come in twenty meters.” Kaa-san said simply as she began to unwind it and send it down. Remi waited. The girl had no idea that would happen. Island South was the remnants of what used to be volcanic rock. For it to have burned through that, not even sand or earth, meant that it was both hot and powerful.
Kaa-san shook the wire but it didn’t bounce back. She hummed. For the first time in days, a hint of life brightened her eyes.
“Further than twenty meters. That’s for sure.”
Before Remi could say anything, Kaa-san lifted her up again. She’d been holding her more in the past week than she had in years.
“You know,” Kaa-san quietly. “You get it from your Obaa-san. Tou-sans Kaa-san. She was the last person on the island to have a main affinity for lightning.”
Oh, Remi thought. She put her head on her mother’s shoulder and couldn’t think of anything else to say.
When Uzumaki Doremi woke up, seconds, minutes, hours later, it was to feet wide cracks mere inches away from her. Everything smelt like smoke. Screams came from the ground.Louder than that, and brighter- through the smoke like flashes, was what seemed to be glittered gold and an angry voice yelling, ‘Where is she?’Then everything went black once more.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tashinaro Keiro was an idiot.Orochimaru set the book on organ regeneration off to the side. There was nothing applicable in the book at all. It spoke of the body’s natural healing process. It went further in depth, barely, on organ mechanics. Which is what he was looking into specifically.Skin was the body’s largest organ, after all. This author, like any other that he’s looked into, wasn’t remotely helpful.Uzumaki Doremi had come rather close to burning her own arm off during her little side mission to Iwagakure two weeks ago. It had healed further than an average person was capable of. It was no longer black, which was likely due to medics quite literally peeling the skin off once she got to the hospital. The layer that remained was thin and scarred, almost like bubbles or pebbles in a stream.Orochimaru pushed his hair back and lifted the girl’s wrist to check her pulse. They’d taken her off most of the machines, including a heart monitor, just a few days ago. The only one that remained was an IV for fluids and nutrients.They put the girl in an induced coma right after her first go of surgery. She’d only had a few, luckily enough, given the extent of what was wrong with her. Orochimaru got a front seat as to the rate of what an Uzumaki could heal.Not as fast as Kushina, obviously. But Doremi wasn’t a Jinchurriki. She was an Uzumaki though. And that alone was the reason she was still alive.The hospital was desperate enough to ask for Orochimarus help when Uchiha Obito and Uzumaki Doremi were brought in. He wasn’t a doctor, though he could use iryo jutsu. Namikaze Minato had come in, flashing right in the middle of the reception room. He was whiter than normal, a light sheen of sweat covering his face.Uchiha Obito was barely alive, half his body crushed but breathing. Orochimaru practically said that he’d have that one. A medic pulled Tsunade in which was a good thing, given that Orochimaru wasn’t a doctor after all. He didn’t know everything.When someone came in not an hour later, yelling for one of them, they were both reluctant. Tsunade may not be as blunt as he was when talking medicine or possibilities but the woman loved a challenge and keeping the Uchiha alive was hell of a challenge.But when the medic said that it was Uzumaki Doremi, well, Orochimaru didn’t hesitate to leave then and there.He followed the other to what wasn’t even an emergency room but the closest room to the reception center. No medics could get close enough to help, given the sparks of lightning that came off the girl in the middle of the room. It was bright enough to light up the room alone, which was helpful, at least, given that it must have burned the lights out all the same.Orochimaru was not a man of emotion. Not really. He wasn’t emotionless, far from it. But he didn’t like to express his emotions because he knew how often they could get used against people. He didn’t want his feelings out for everyone to see, didn’t want them used against him.His stomach dropping and heart hitching in his throat wasn’t something he could stop. He didn’t have time to assess what was going on, what it was he was actually feeling. Not when the Uzumaki was shaking on the table, eyes rolled to the back of her head. Seizures. “Get Tsunade.”He stepped forward, glancing up at the same medic who got him when she didn’t move. She looked frantic and worried herself, but that didn’t stop her from snapping at the Sannin.“She’s helping with the Uchiha boy! You need to help her!”Orochimaru loved the human body. Loved the extent and abilities it had to bounce back. Not to mention how each one was vastly different, despite having the same bioblueprint. He could name every bone, tell you the difference in blood types. He would happily discuss how kekkei genkei were actually harmful to the holders, more than they aren’t, in the long run. He could explain how every doujutsu known likely led to impairments and-Science. He could talk science. Anatomy. Biology. But he wasn’t a doctor.But he was Senju Tsunades teammate and had been for practically his whole life. He knew the woman wouldn’t step away from the other.So Orochimaru coated what he could in light, earth chakra and set to work.He wasn’t conceited enough, hours later, to think that the girl was alive only because of him. He didn’t think that he saved her life. But he did think he may have helped, which was what counted.Tsunade would have done a better job. She wouldn’t have needed to put a plate on the girl’s knee because it’d been grated and torn down to what was basically bone without cartilage or tendons. Orochimaru had only been able to do carefully peel off black skin- see muscles and lines of arteries just bare to the world. Tsunade would have been able to heal it. May have even without a scar.All Orochimaru could do was wrap the girls arm and hope for the best.The Sannin leaned back when the door opened, dropping the girl’s wrist, and folding his arms. He studied Jiraiya when he stopped at the foot of the bed, hand in hair as he looked at the girl in it in a mix of concern and disbelief.After Doremi so kindly reported in, weeks ago, they hadn’t known she was missing until the day after. Hiruzen had sent Jiraiya to check the path to where the summit would be, and he wanted to check in on the girl. He’d been the first to notice. Still, Hiruzen was apologetic when he said that no, Jiraiya couldn’t go. He had his own mission.Orochimaru was given a couple days to go look before it was handed over to an Inuzuka unit who was more than happy to take over, since Uzumaki Doremi saved Inuzuka Hito.The Inuzuka didn’t have any luck though, three days later.Or that wasn’t fair. Not really.Three days later, Namikaze Minato comes back early from his mission with a half dead student. He brings the others back one by one and eventually brings back the missing Uzumaki. Who happened to also be half dead. Surprise.“Still asleep, huh?”Orochimaru hummed as the other pulled up the other chair. The girl had already been asleep for two days when Jiraiya returned. He was then made to go with Hiruzen to the Peace Summit, along with Senseis two teammates. They must have just gotten back.“How did it go? Is there peace?”Jiraiya huffed, rolling his eyes at his teammate. He picked up Doremis wrist, just as Orochimaru had done moments ago.“Supposedly.” He answered after a beat. He leant back and palmed his eyes. “I ran into Minato. Uchiha Obito’s getting discharged today.”The Snake Summoner hummed lightly.“Don’t get like that.”“Why’d she do it?” Orochimaru asked not a second later. He looked at the other when he didn’t respond. “Why would she go after Minato and his brats? Risk her life? I don’t understand.”The other laughed quietly and it was genuine.“Hell if I know but… I don’t know her well. From what I do know… She wasn’t in a good headspace. She probably viewed getting picked up as a debt. Something she had to repay. Sensei had Shikata go around to try and see what happened, how she knew about the bridge in the first place.”“And?” Orochimaru rose a brow.Jiraiya shrugged. “Some medic said that Nohara Rin was telling people about it. It’s not like it was classified or anything. If anything, it was a pretty big mission. Nohara was also the medic doing rounds when Remi woke up, probably told her herself.”Orochimaru rolled his eyes. Children.“What about the bridge?” Jiraiya asked quietly.The younger nin didn’t respond for a moment. He ran his eyes over the girl again. She gained more color every day. She was getting better, he knew. Two weeks. She’d been asleep for two weeks.“Decimated. Obliterated. Did you read his report?”Jiraiya merely shook his head. Orochimaru leaned down, pulling his pack closer and slid out a file, handing it to the other. He took it with another eye roll.They both sat in silence. Every so often, Jiraiya would curse or groan but that was it.“That’s a lot bigger than the one we saw.”Orochimaru took the report back. He wasn’t supposed to have it, after all. “I was given the chance to investigate it myself, but I chose to stay. Have you heard from Tsunade?”Jiraiya was already wincing. “No. What? Why?”You had to know Orochimaru well to see his hesitancy. To catch the breath he took right before answering. “Nawaki.”Jiraiya let his head fall in his hands. “Goddammit.”“She hasn’t left her apartment in days. Dan’s been with her. She’s been refusing to come to the hospital at all.”“Can you blame her?” Jiraiya sat up and huffed, half glaring.Orochimaru sent a pointed look to Doremi.“I- I don’t even know. Anymore. Everything’s gone to shit.”“Everything?”The white-haired male shot to his feet. He grabbed the board against the wall. Jiraiya was as far from a medic as you can get. But he grew up with his teammates sprouting good health and bad health. He at least knew how to read a hospital report.“Kumo, Kiri and Suna agreed to peace easily. Iwa showed up on the last day and practically had to beg for forgiveness. The entire thing was a shitshow from the start. I hate summits. I’m so tired of this damn war.”Orochimaru didn’t respond at all. Jiraiya eventually set the report down.“When is she supposed to wake up?”He looked at the clock. “Sometime this week. Maybe.”“She’ll wake up though. Right?” Jiraiya was making an admirable effort to keep the fear out of his voice, but he knew him. Orochimaru always admired Jiraiyas ability to shut fear out. Or at least make a constant effort to try to.“She should be. It’s all on her, at this point. Her numbers are good. But- she was deployed for months, Raiya. We still don’t know what happened between the dragonfly heading to Kiri to her getting picked up. That’s two weeks, in addition to everything before and after. The fight in Iwa alone would keep a normal person in the hospital for a month.”Jiraiya let out a loose breath, running a hand through his hair and turned. “Let me know if there’s any change.”Orochimaru didn’t respond. He didn’t move, not after the door was shut and not for several minutes after. Then, eventually, he picked the girls’ wrist up again and counted the beats.XXXUzumaki Doremi woke to cheering. It was muted, almost like an afterthought but it was there. It took a lot of energy to open her eyes. When she did, it was to white walls and a dark room. She didn’t try to get up at all because if she was honest, she was exhausted. She did assess herself though. That’s how she knew that one of her wrists were cuffed to the hospital bed rail.It was a while later that she managed to sit up. The arm that was chained was also wrapped, the one she distinctly remembered being burnt. Doremi carefully peeled back the edge of it, near her wrist. Her hand was in a glove of some sort but the space between seemed to be in surprisingly good shape considering what it had been like before.It was discolored, more than anything. Some of the edges were puffy and raised, almost silver. It looked like it had finished healing though. She felt along it carefully. It didn’t hurt at all, but she could also barely feel it.Swallowing thickly, she activated her chakra but just as quickly cut it off.Small bits of lightning fizzed across her arm, brandishing the bandages a darker color. With a shaky breath, Remi twisted her arm and shoulder. It seemed fine, at least.Everything else seemed fine.With that, she made a small pick with her chakra. She ignored the small sparks because it hurt, yes, but it was so minuscule to what it was like before. She unlocked the cuff and let it hang off the rail. After, she slowly unraveled the bandages. The discoloration stopped a couple inches above her elbow. The skin was a bit thinner than usual but tougher like leather.Doremi leaned back in bed, pulling the sheet up to her chin as she rolled onto her side.She lived. Again. Somehow. The flashes and yelling must have been Minato. Did that mean that she had to thank him again?It was sometime later that she blinked awake. She hadn’t realized that she had fallen asleep.“You’re awake.”Doremi watched as Hiruzen, Jiraiya and Minato entered the room. The oldest two sat down, the last one leaning against the wall with an expression she couldn’t quite read. She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes and willing herself to snap out of it.“I’m glad to see that you’re awake,” Hiruzen continued. “Can you explain why you followed Minato-kun to Iwa? You were supposed to go back to the hospital. You were never supposed to have left.”Doremi let out a slow breath. Someone had washed and brushed her hair but her fingers still got caught on something.“I don’t like debts,” she responded quietly. “I didn’t know if I would get to thank him. I had to thank him.”Hiruzen leaned back, quietly for a moment. Jiraiya let out a snort, half hiding in his hand. Uzumaki turned to Minato.“The kid make it?”Minato sagged like he had lost something and stepped forward. He put his hands on the foot rails of the bed. “My student is already up and running. You’ve been asleep for a few weeks now.”Oh. Doremi nodded. That would explain how healed she was. How… rested she felt.“How are you feeling?” Hiruzen asked. He seemed so earnest. “Honestly?”The Uzumaki slowly drew her knees to her chest, internally wincing. She threw the sheet off. In the gown, she could see her bare knee and see the too straight line that couldn’t have been from anything but on purpose. She felt alongside it.“Maru had to put a plate in. He didn’t know the level of iyro jutsu it would take to heal it completely.”Doremi blinked. “Orochimarus the person who healed me?”“It was mostly you,” Jiraiya leaned forward. “But he sped it along. He’s the one who dealt with your arm and other wounds but really, your natural healing did most of it.”“Oh.” That was surprising for some reason.“Remi-kun?” Hiruzen drew her back.She laid back down but piled the pillow higher, so she was sitting up more than on her back. “Shitty, but better. Better than before.”Hiruzen nodded. “That’s good. Truly, truly good. Do you think you can answer some questions?”With a raised brow, Doremi flicked the cuff where it swung to the outside of the bed. Hiruzen didn’t seem offended or amused, he merely shook his head. “It’s just so… you knew. That you were supposed to stay here. You aren’t in trouble. Far from it. Three out of four, Remi-kun. Though I believe you and Minato-kun can share the credit for Iwagakure.”Doremi looked at him in slight surprise like this was somehow surprising. “Iwa surrendered?”“They did,” The Sandaime said. “I’d love to find out how. If we can by chance backdate to Kumo. To Kirigakure as well, that would be all the better.”Doremi looked at him, then the other two. She wondered if she could avoid it. Then she wondered why it mattered. She pulled the sheet back over herself and leaned back.“We never had a chance. Not with Shinori. The south-eastern port in Kumo’s been used by shinobi since it was built. I could- I mean I could give you the history of the port exactly. How it’s been used in every war, even if Kohona or Uzu’s had nothing to do with it. Shinori refused to listen.”She looked at Hiruzen for a moment. She slowly shook her head.“I tried to tell them. I gave up. We already know why you sent me there. To Kumo. Close to Kiri. How was I supposed to know that you wanted me to actually try to help them? Use my anger? You never told me, Hiruzen. Those- they all died. All of them.”“I wasn’t clear. I should have been. There will never be a day that I don’t regret how I handled this. The war as a whole and yourself. You couldn’t have known and that is on me.”Doremi licked her lips. She sniffed when it tasted like salt.“Shinori wanted to take the port,” she continued quietly. She wasn’t looking at any of them. “He wanted to clear the coastal line. It didn’t work, obviously. He had split the platoon in half. Less than that, even. I thought he died but- he was captured. And Yamanaka- he- the temple. He wanted to settle in the temple.”Doremi spent the next several hours reporting. If both Minato and Jiraiya got to leave, then that information would stay to those in the room. Hiruzen and Doremi didn’t have that luxury.XXXThe girl was released a few days after that with strict instructions to stay home. Home, at this point, was Jiraiya and Orochimarus shared compound. Doremi wasn’t quite sure where the two men were but if she was honest, she didn’t particularly care.When Jiraiya first dragged her off to his house, she was put in the last room on the right. Not that it was important or anything, really. It was a rather plain room, save for the decorative kanji scroll on the wall. Everything that she had brought with her, everything that wasn’t in her seals though even that was either gone or broken at this point, was destroyed as well.Jiraiyas book, for instance. She had lost it weeks ago. It was probably ash or buried underground. Maybe it was just fish food at this point somewhere within Kiri’s islands.Remi shut the door behind her softly. She walked to the dresser and opened it. She never found out whose clothes were in there, or if they even belonged to anybody but it smelt faintly like oil which made her think it was Jiraiyas.
“Since when does Konoha give a shit about me?”
Doremi peeled off her clothes and quickly changed into the shirt. She threw the blankets back and settled into the bed. It was too soft. She didn’t bother to move though. It was almost too hot with the blankets. She kept them on.
“I planned to use your anger, however. And for that, I apologize. I let my own get the best of me.”
Doremi could smell and taste the salt. She closed her eyes, half throwing the blanket over her head and merely left a small hole for air. Part of her wondered if Arashi would have ever done something like that.But she already knew that he wouldn’t.XXXOrochimaru wasn’t completely sure what to do. Jiraiya had been pulled into meetings with Sensei, Shikata and a couple other people from the council. Orochimaru was supposed to have gone with, same with Tsunade. Neither cared enough and neither did Jiraiya, actually. But he had no better idea what to do about Uzumaki Doremi either.The meetings, at the very least, would keep him distracted, he explained quietly without even being asked.Orochimaru stirred the rice.Thinking about it, his worst mission was probably the chunin exams. He, Jiraiya and Tsunade had taken them in Earth, coincidentally enough. Earth was never kind, and it was foolish to even begin to describe shinobi villages as kind but… Iwa could be cruel.He and his teammates had gotten separated. For two weeks. It was terrifying, even if none of them ever spoke about it. Iwa didn’t care about the parameters of the test they set themselves, they just wanted to take out as many people as possible. And they did.Konohagakure lost ten people alone to that chunnin exam. Three teams.Uzumaki Doremi on the other hand, he mused, was stuck in her own Iwagakure for eight months. Practically alone.Orochimaru and Jiraiya remembered the orphanage far too clearly for comfort. As soon as they’d graduated, they worked almost double the D-ranks as Tsunade did so they could afford even the small apartment they found.Orochimaru didn’t have a clan. Barely had a family, he had Tsunade and Jiraiya but he was under no illusions that it wasn’t slowly but surely shattering. He couldn’t even tell you which one of them was doing the most damage. Likely he or Tsunade but-He didn’t have a family. Doremi did. Uzumaki Doremi did.It was amazing, truly. That she had saved as many people as she did. Ended the war on three sides by herself alone. Minato may have helped a bit, the Sannin digressed.Orochimaru liked to ask questions. He liked to know things. He felt the need to. If you didn’t know, how could you get better? When he was a child, he wanted to know so he could help. When he was a child, he looked up to Senju Hashirama because he helped in a world of hurt. He wanted to do that.Tsunade became that.Jiraiya became so… important. Vital. Orochimaru knew without any doubts that Konoha would be in a far worse place if Jiraiya didn’t catch the scent of so much. What, exactly, did Orochimaru do?Uzumaki Doremi was fourteen. Fifteen now? Orochimaru wasn’t completely sure.When he was ten, he was stuck in Iwa. When he was thirteen, he had just gotten his snake contract.Orochimaru powdered the rice with the extra-nutrient powder that he and Jiraiya got years ago. He checked the label, just to make sure that it wasn’t expired. He and Raiya never had to use it. Never had gone without food for so long that their stomachs were shrunk enough to actually need it.He hoped for the best while he sprinkled it on.The Snake Sannin carefully opened the door and peeked in. The girl had barely moved since last night and she got released from the hospital yesterday morning. While he knew that she wanted (needed) rest, she also needed food.Thinking back to Suna made him grimace. When she woke up, she was terrified to say the least. When he asked his teammate about Remi’s reporting, the Sannin went both sad and legitimately green. Jiraiya hadn’t said much about Kumo and Kiri. Orochimaru planned to steal yet another report but it wasn’t as if Sensei didn’t know that he would do it.Orochimaru was silent as he walked into the room but continuously pulsed his chakra softly. Remi twitched, burrowing into the blankets more even as she slowly woke up. He quietly sat against the wall as he waited for her to fully wake up. He was sure that if he wasn’t in here to make sure she ate, she wouldn’t.“Maru?”He tilted his head, meeting her eyes but didn’t say anything. She still wasn’t completely lucid but she was coming to faster than he would have thought.(He wondered how she managed on the road alone for as long as she had. She was- seven. When she lost everything. When she slowly but surely worked to get her revenge in the only way she knew how.)Orochimaru watched as she sat up, rubbing her eyes with a soft groan. He wondered, still studying her, if all Uzumaki were as utterly resilient as she was or if it was just an Uzumaki Doremi thing. Heavens knew that Kushina wasn’t like this.He eyed the girls’ mass of hair. It was a mess. His hands twitched, still. He knew nothing more than a basic three strand braid that he actually only knew because he eventually had to take out the braids that she had done on him. He’d practiced. He wondered if it would help her. Getting her hair braided.She said it was important. To Uzumaki’s.He said nothing of it.“There’s rice.”She looked at him blankly before palming her eyes again. Almost twenty hours. That was his estimate for how long she’d been asleep. He pulled his knees up. She took a small bite the longer he looked at her and he relaxed.The room was quiet.He had so many questions and for the first time, he wished that he was there for debriefing. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to know but that was the exact reason that he didn’t attend. He knew he could be insensitive sometimes. Push for answers. He didn’t often know, or care, where the line was or if he crossed it.“You’re quiet.”Doremi slid the bowl back onto the nightstand. Orochimaru looked at the paleness of her previously burnt arm. It was a few shades lighter, and he was thankful that it was only that. As shinobi, scars and marks were a given. But knowing and seeing what the girl went through was different. It felt… wrong. To see the girl as marked as she was.“You have questions.”Orochimaru slowly hummed. Doremi slowly laid back down, as if expecting him to say something about it. He didn’t. She needed the rest, far more than she needed anything else at the moment.“Do you regret it?”She blinked. “What part?”“Any of it?” He returned. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if she was being slow on purpose. But no, he realized. She knew exactly what he was talking about.“Did Jiraiya tell you about the sparrow?”What- “No.”Despite being tucked into the blanket, Doremi extended her arm. He’d seen it before but hadn’t paid much attention to it. He’d had other things on his mind- like healing the girls other arm or her knee or just hoping that she wouldn’t die on the table.“Do you actually care about the Uzumaki? Or is it just curiosity for you, like everything else?”He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Or how to take it. It almost sounded like an insult but if anyone had the right or place to talk on behalf of the Uzumaki, it was Doremi.“I…” He started but stopped. “I don’t know what you mean.”The truth, he thought tentatively. May be as good as any place to start. Doremi didn’t look particularly surprised.“Do you think I should regret it? Helping your village?”Orochimaru wasn’t naïve enough to say that it was her village as well. But he was still Konohan, even if it angered him on good days. He still couldn’t help the thought.“Probably.” It was whispered almost too quiet to hear in the already too quiet room.He watched as the girl unsealed a small, leather-bound book from the same sparrow tattoo.“Do you have any idea how much it took to keep this safe? For months? This is worth more than I ever will be.”Orochimaru almost didn’t catch the book.“Uzumaki.”“Exactly,” she said. She covered herself with the blanket again and half hid in the pillow. “That book is everything. It’s Uzumaki written down. I brought back a sparrow, you know.”Orochimaru had, quite literally, no idea what she was talking about. She closed her eyes though and her tone was half drowsed like she was a heartbeat from falling asleep.“I don’t care either way about helping people. But I regret ever trusting Hiruzen.”If you asked him, Orochimaru would tell you exactly what his own heartbeat sounded like because it was all he could hear. He waited for more. Wanted more. But there was nothing but soft, even breaths. The trust the other was displaying made him itch for some reason.Hesitantly, moments or minutes later, he opened the book.
Hidey Castle.
Orochimaru furrowed his brow and made it a mere paragraph down. The second one. The first one explained that the Castle was their genin graduation and placement. But the second- no. Nonono.
Lack of funding shuts down the animal counters. But it always amazes me to see sparrow nests in the paradise bushes. There’s a lot, at least. Close to a several thousand perhaps. Nobody blinks at them. The sparrows. But that’s what makes them amazing, isn’t it? Because despite that, the island wouldn’t be Uzushiogakure without them.
To become a Kage of the Isle, you need to bring back a sparrow. For that shows the wisdom needed to know that you are only as important as the entirety. The sparrow will be crowned to next lead.
It was hard. To even read it. Because of the smudged ink, muddled in what had to have been dry tears.Orochimaru was familiar with anger. Anger towards Hiruzen, even. But this may have been the first time that he was disgusted with the closest thing he had to a father.
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“What about this?”Doremi really wasn’t sure why they were doing this. The teen remembered, faintly, going to a clothing store with her mother after she had unarmed her kenjutsu instructor. They ended up leaving without purchasing anything and that was due to her mother getting a mission.Jiraiya was holding up a yellow haori with an expression that bordered on hesitance. Doremi hadn’t seen the other for a few days and she had been at the compound for over a week before she started getting up and moving around again.“Why are we here?” Her nose twitched at people’s staring. They were shinobi though, so they were subtle about it at least. She could still feel their eyes.“You need clothes, kid. Obviously. You also need to get out of the house. Air is good.”Doremi rolled her eyes but continued to halfheartedly look around. It was decent quality at least. The clothing was heavier than what one would wear in Uzu. While Fire Country could have it’s own drastic weather it was rarely unanticipated. “What about-““Doremi!”The girl stiffened, barely suppressing the urge to throw the other off or snap a neck. The only reason she didn’t was because of the chakra pulse pattern that the other output. Her throat immediately tightened.“Todashi?”There was a laugh and the other released her, taking a step back. He was smiling, eyes wet. “You’re insane. Bloody insane, Uzumaki. I didn’t-““I didn’t think it would work.” She breathed.Hiruzen said eight months. She had spent three here, as in with Konoha before that and went on the mission to the other countries before Konoha began to actively fight. And she’s been back in Fire Country for almost six weeks after Iwa. She’d been allied with Konoha for over a year.Todashi’s hair had gotten burnt off when they raided the Kumo capital. It was to his ears though; she had to think that he cut it after he got back to Konoha.Suna, she remembered suddenly. He was there after Minato tagged her back into Sand.“If you didn’t,” the man laughed like it was funny and not absolutely crazy. “How do you think we all felt? But you got us out. All of us. Except yourself.”Doremi shuttered, mind automatically turning to then. The Kumo Council was a joke and it only worked because they somehow told the odds to screw off and they listened. The other held his arm out in greeting and she met it. They clasped each other’s inner elbows and just breathed for a moment.“Sanko’s been losing his damn mind.”“What?” Hyuuga, she thought. Sanko didn’t do crazy. He did pissed or unrelenting. “Why?”Todashi let go of her arm and glared. “He thought you died. We all did.”Doremi rolled her eyes. Jiraiya was watching the two of them talk which suddenly made it weird.“Shinobi die-““He quit.”Uzumaki stilled. Quit. How? You could do that? Hyuuga Sanko quit and got away with it?“What?” This time it was asked with a laugh.Todashi shook his head. He ran his fingers through his hair, and it suddenly made him look tired.“Several did. Rinmaru, Kurome and Daiba all quit. Akamichi went on indefinite leave. I just managed to get them to quit and not leave. We all wanted to go get you. But Sanko nearly landed himself in prison for what he had said to the Hokage.”The world seemed to buzz and Doremi couldn’t focus on anything but what he had said. And even then, she must have imagined it.
“Since when does Konoha give a shit about me?”
The teen let out a deep breath and tried to wrap her head around it. There was no wrapping her head around it though.It’s been over a year. She’s been allied with Konoha for over a year. She’d been fighting for these people that she didn’t even know, some part of her possibly detesting them for living while her people were gone but-Why- when did they care? Why did they care?She had been with the council for just over two months. There was no way that they actually gave a shit, right? Why would they-“Breathe.”The girl inhaled on the command and nodded. Ok. That- ok.“Did you know about this?”Jiraiya winced when they both turned to him. He had finally moved on from yellow and was holding up something grey, folding it needlessly.“We got a letter in Suna, a day or two after Sensei got word that most of the Kumo Council had landed with the Daimyo and his family. He was- I mean, Sensei was so excited that something was going well. As soon as we got back in the village though, things went to hell.”Jiraiya sighed and held up the jacket. Doremi shrugged and he grabbed a few more.“Sanko practically demanded that the Hokage send a rescue party but he- I mean, Hiruzen couldn’t. Not then. Not- Hyuuga had thrown the Hatake shitshow back in his face. Sensei got a letter of resignation the next day. Nearly a dozen followed but he hasn’t done anything about it. And he won’t.”The Sannin said the last words like they should be a comfort. That they weren’t going to be charged with treason for abandoning their duties in the middle of a war? What the hell?“Why would you guys do that?”Todashi looked confused. Then the ass pulled up a navy shirt, holding it up to her before he threw it at Jiraiya who caught it, looking pleased.“Do what?”“Care.” Doremi said in annoyance. The other two frowned. “I’m not- it’s a war. Whatever reasons Hiruzen had to not- not- whatever, it’s between him and I. He’s your Kage, you idiot. You’re going to get yourself killed.”“You understand that we’re only at peace because of you, right?” Todashi asked. He raised a brow like he was both amused and worried. Doremi didn’t respond. Jiraiya let out a pained sigh.“Doremi-““Oh my god.” Doremi turned and started to turn to leave. Todashi grabbed her arm, and she twisted it back. He didn’t grab the one that was burned, rather the one that was ripped out of its socket some weeks ago. Somehow, that was sorer than the pebbled skin.“Hey!” The clerk shouted from the counter. He looked uncomfortable at the three of them staring back but he continued. “No fighting.”Todashi let go of her arm, face twisted in concern. She hated it. It reminded her of something but for the life of her, she could not remember what it was. She glared.“You don’t see it.” He breathed.“Doremi-““Shut the hell up.” She looked between the two of them. She covered her mouth and barely refrained from biting her nails. The beds were just healed over the last week.“I didn’t do it for you.” They stopped. Doremi didn’t know where she was going with this, but she knew that it was somehow true. That there was a point to what she was saying, surely.“I didn’t do any of this for you.” She swallowed and her eyes burned. Konoha. Uzu, home. Kiri, Kumo and Iwa.Fucking Naruto. Jiraiya said the Hatake Shitshow and Kakashi had said, you too. Minato refused to leave her there.Uzumaki Doremi wasn’t important. She didn’t know what the hell these people were on, but they had to stop.“I didn’t do it for any of you!”Doremi ripped the section of coats off the stands arm. And glared at them. Then everyone else.“Hey! I said no fi-““You don’t get to care.” She cut off her laughter before it got too mean. “You don’t get to give a shit about me when I hold up my end. You don’t get to act like you’d grieve or quit if I was to die. You didn’t do it before so why now?”Jiraiya carefully set the bundle of clothes on the table and took a step forward. Doremi stepped back. The store was silent.“I was supposed to die.” Somewhere in Doremi’s head was a flag that was waving, telling her to stop. That she was going to say too much. All the same, she felt like she was just on the edge of a revelation that she desperately needed. Doremi grinned and looked right at Jiraiya.“I was seven. When I lost everything. I barely, barely, managed to refrain from jumping into the same fire that burned my Kage to dust. I should have died years ago.”And this was it, wasn’t it? Remi felt like her heart was cracking cleanly and two, falling to her feet and it shattered. She tasted the salt of her tears and it hurt because it reminded her of salty air and wind with waves crashing.“But you just wanted to be a hero, didn’t you.” Jiraiya’s neck strained but he stayed silent. She turned to Todashi who looked like it was his job to look sad. Look crushed and hurt and- “And you. You and Sanko. You don’t get to act like you give a damn. The only reason you care is because you feel guilty. That if I didn’t come up with the plan, people would be dead, or we’d still be stuck there.”She laughed again, once or twice and turned before looking back.“Konoha doesn’t get to care when everything I have ever cared about and loved is gone. When it was you who ignored us. It was Konoha who didn’t hold up their end of the treaty. Of our goddamned sisterhood. We did everything we were supposed to. It was you who failed and you don’t get to feel guilty about me. Not me.”“Remi.” Jiraiya seemed to hesitate to step closer and good. She held out a hand anyway. He slumped.It was right there. Here. Doremi looked at Jiraiya hard and just…remembered. The reasons of why she was doing this suddenly became clear but with it came grief almost level to coming back from Hidey Castle.“I didn’t do it for you.” She continued. Her voice cracked and it took everything she had to not break down sobbing.
“Honor,” Kenshii-sensei starts. “Is the only thing you have. Your sword, your clothing, your home and yourself. They can all be taken. Stolen. Broken. But your honor will last only as long as you do.”
The class is listening. A good portion does care. But still, they are kids of five, six and seven. Doremi herself is only three. The words are as morbid as they are important.
“Uzu saw something in Konoha.” She let out a breath and it rattled. She gripped her chest as if it would keep it in place. “Something- something worth trying to protect. They cared about you as if you were our own. And you let them die.”
“When faced with a choice, life-death, justice or mercy. You must think for us. For your home. For your people and your family. Uzushiogakure is one. Act in its name and never forget.”
Jiraiya flinched as if struck.(There was a reason that Jiraiya was her favorite before this was fiction-turned-reality.)Doremi laughed and cried and smiled at the other. “But they wouldn’t blame you. They couldn’t.”Uzushiogakure, in the end, would never blame Konoha. They would blame Shimura Danzo, sure. But everyone loved Uzumaki Arashi and Arashi always told stories of the little monkey boy who was growing into being a fine Hokage. So, they wouldn’t blame Konoha. They wouldn’t even blame Hiruzen Sarutobi.“Uzushiogakure loved you guys. Arashi fucking adored Hiruzen.”The Sannin stepped closer, and she fought against it, but Jiriaya was stronger and pulled her into his chest.“But it was never the same, was it? Konoha never- did they ever care?”“Of course, we cared!” Jiraiya audibly choked on his words. Doremi swallowed, slowly bringing her hands up to clasp at the back of his shirt.“Danzo’s dead. I already killed him. I can’t even blame you guys anymore.”Jiraiyas arms tightened. Doremi closed her eyes and half shoved her face into his shoulder.“I did it for them.”
An ancient seeming man set a plate of dango in front of her. Kaa-san was declared MIA three days ago and the Uzukage wouldn’t let her stay at home alone anymore. He said that she had to go to school. He said that she shouldn’t be alone, even if it seemed easier. So she would stay with him.
“You know,” Arashi said out of the blue. The man couldn’t cook to save his life. “After Kiri has their little hissy-fit, I think I’ll send you to Konoha.”
“Ew.” Doremi spat out the bit she was chewing. She looked at him like he was crazy. “Why?”
Arashi merely smiled. “We don’t get many lightning natures here. Hiru-kun is a master of all the elements, you know? He could help you where we cannot.”
“I don’t want to leave.” Doremi spoke firmly. The other nodded. “I know. But we don’t know what is-“
“Kaa-san is missing. To-tou-san never came home. And he went to Konoha.”
Arashi sighed and leaned back. “Konoha is our sister, Rem-chan. You know this.”
“Sisters don’t let sisters die.”
Arashi leaned forward, his bones creaking with the chair. He gripped her chin and shook her head softly.
“You are born of the storm, child. And storms do not break easily.”
“I miss them.”
The only thing left for her to hate was herself. Because she failed to die years ago.
Uzumaki Doremi cried a lot. She cried about a lot of things, usually in privacy, but she had a lot of things to cry about. Remi had already grieved for her people. Already grieved for Uzu and it’s everything filled beauty.“I just want to go home.”The girl had never cried for herself though. She mourned for the people who couldn’t mourn their loss. Somehow, despite all this time, she had never mourned her own loss.
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“What is she doing?”Doremi ignored the two whispering at her back. She pulled drawers and cupboards open as she looked for what she needed. She wondered if there was a line when it came to substituting ingredients before it just turned into something else.Yesterday was a mess. Jiraiya practically had to carry her back to the compound, which was embarrassing enough, but he also had to lug around the bags of new clothes because she couldn’t even do that much. After sleeping her emotions off, she woke up and realized that she had to do something.Jiraiya and Orochimaru have done a lot for her since she came here. The teen felt like she had to do something to thank them. Food seemed like an obvious choice. The prior bachelors didn’t have much food in the compound, but she was managing. Maybe.“Does she know it’s smoking?”Doremi turned, stomach dropping when she saw that there was smoke escaping from the oven.“Shit!”She opened it, pulling out the pan of skewers without protection and winced more at how burnt it was than how her fingertips immediately blistered.“No.” She closed her eyes. She- she could still fix this.“Your hand, Doremi.”“It’s fine.” She stepped around Orochimaru who creeped around the counter to try and get her hand underwater, but she ignored him. “It’s fine.” She repeated.She pulled out the bowl of rice and began to tear apart the bits of pork that had just burned. It was supposed to be chicken and it wasn’t even supposed to go into the rice, but it should take away the burn, right?Orochimaru was still attempting to grab her hand. She slid a spoon in his own grasp to distract him. “Stir this.”Doremi climbed onto the counter to grab the bread that she’d put on top of the fridge before she jumped back down. She slid the tray to Jiraiya who’d stopped laughing. The girl grabbed a small jar from the fridge and threw that at him as well, before tossing a butter knife at him.“Butter them, yeah?”“This isn’t butter though. Uh, what is this?”Doremi rolled her eyes as she pulled out the last dish from the freezer. She sliced them and arranged it all on a plate before taking it to the table.“Okay, you done?”By the time she blinked back to awareness, Jiraiya had a piece of bread shoved in his mouth. The rolls were somehow cut vertically instead of horizontally and Orochimaru was staring at the bowl with a dubious expression. He was still stirring.“What are you doing?” Doremi didn’t screech, definitely not. She pulled the bowl away and gasped at the horrendous mush that took place of the previous fine if not deeply improvised dish.“I was stirring,” Orochimaru started as if she was the one who was stupid.“You ruined it!” The man immediately looked offended, and Jiraiya snorted. Doremi turned to him.“You’re not any better! It’s like you’ve never had a runstyk!”She growled, dumping the bread and rice in the trash.“Hey!”“You ruined it.” Doremi sounded a lot more upset than she was. She was just… guilty. Now. This was their food and now they couldn’t even eat it.“This will hardly be decent but it’s better than nothing.”She pushed the small plate of frozen and sliced chocolate covered bananas over to them.“The chocolate is expired but I figured it was better than nothing.” She said it to herself more than to them. She caught Orochimaru’s weird facial spasm, and she stiffened.“We had chocolate?”“Really?”They both looked at her when she failed to respond. Whatever expression they saw made them both lean away. She pulled it towards herself with a glare.“You’re both assholes.”She bit into one and it was fine. Nothing like it was fresh but it wasn’t gross or disgusting so they could keep their opinions to themselves.“No, Remi, come on. What- what is it? What was it supposed to be?”They literally only had two bananas left so Doremi had no problem eating the small amount of food by herself as if it was, well, candy.“Runstyk and salat. There’s no food here, but I tried. Now you guys don’t get anything.”“Oh.” Orochimaru stated like he had solved some great mystery. “You were making dinner.”She froze. The teen slowly looked up at him. “You’re an idiot.”Jiraiya barely started to laugh when the door was knocked on. Both grimaced like they didn’t want to know who it was and Doremi didn’t blame them. She figured that she’d go grocery shopping and let whoever it was in. Hopefully it was someone they really didn’t want to deal with.Doremi popped another banana in her mouth and opened the door before she froze. She wasn’t quite sure who she expected but this definitely wasn’t it. She was expecting Hiruzen or Tsunade. Maybe even Minato.She wasn’t expecting Hatake Kakashi.The girl barely refrained from choking.Kakashi looked nervous but determined so Doremi really hoped that it had nothing to do with her. She was smart enough not to count on hope though.“Raiya and Orochimaru are inside. The kitchen.”“Don’t let it them in! Visiting hours are over!” Jiraiya yelled. He didn’t even know who it was.“I actually came to see you.”Oh. “Oh.”Doremi slowly slid her shoes on, not knowing what else to do. She grabbed the last piece of banana before throwing the plate on one of the mats that surrounded the table in the entry room.“You know where a store is?”Kakashi seemed confused but nodded. Doremi gestured towards the other after she shut the door.“Lead the way. There’s no more food here.”Kakashi just stared at her for a moment before he quickened his steps to match her pace.“And who are you?” Kakashi didn’t seem inclined to start talking and they hadn’t been introduced in any formal capacity, so it seemed as good as any place to start.“Hatake Kakashi.” He almost seemed surprised. “You- you remember me, right?”Doremi rose a brow, amused despite herself. She looked at the other for a quick second and sighed. Her sixteenth birthday had passed during the two-week nightmare in Kiri. This Kakashi was small and if she had her timelines straight, he was about twelve right now. Maybe thirteen.She let out a sigh and kicked a loose pebble.“Minato’s student, yeah. You dropped the sai.”He let out a forceful breath like he was embarrassed and didn’t know what else to do. He looked away. “Sorry.”She shrugged. “It’s fine.”“You almost died.” When she didn’t say anything, Kakashi continued. “I made a lot of mistakes on that mission. I just- I just wanted to thank you. I guess. I don’t know what-what may have happened if… If you weren’t there. They both could have died. And it would have been my fault.”“They would,” she swallowed and wondered if she should lie. “They would have been fine. You never should have been put in that position in the first place. You’re just a kid-”“I’m twelve!”“Ho,” she laughed. The other was guiding them through lesser streets which was fine for her. It was dinner time, but she knew that some people would be shopping as well. “So, you’re not a kid. You’re a big boy now.”Kakashi looked so offended that she had to stop and lean on her knees so she wouldn’t fall over.“I-I’m sorry. Ser-seriously. Okay. Just- you don’t have to thank me kid. It was nothing.”“Nothing?” Kakashi started to follow again. He didn’t seem to be in a rush to show her to a store, which was fine. Dinner wouldn’t be happening until tomorrow, so she wasn’t in a rush.“You,” the kid laughed as well but it was slightly manic. “You held off Iwa. By yourself. For, what, half an hour? And you call that nothing? You just got out of the hospital, Uzumaki-san. I would hardly call that nothing.”She shrugged. “It wasn’t. Had to thank your sensei for pulling my ass out of Kiri anyway.”“That’s why you did it.” Kakashi stopped. Again. He looked at her like he was trying to understand what she was. “That’s why you saved us. But why did you stay back in Kumogakure? You could have boarded one of the ships before the others. They never would have gotten back to Fire Country if you didn’t put the seal on with the coordinates, right?”Remi looked at him before looking away and started to walk away. Kakashi followed, voice cracking which should not be… as endearing as it was, suddenly.The Hatake Kakashi that Doremi was used to was still fictional. Was that twenty-thirty-year-old somebody who had served in ANBU for half his life before his past dropped at his feet. This Kakashi was twelve years old and didn’t even lose Obito.“That’s not why I did it.” She looked at him from the corner of her eye. She wished she had pockets to shove her hands in but she was wearing a T-shirt so she settled for folding her arms. Her next words came out as a whisper. “You’re just kids. Children should never be put on the front line like that.”“Again, I’m twelve.” Kakashi started to walk backwards and held up a finger with each point he made. “I’m also a jounin and, aren’t you only, like, fourteen? You aren’t that much older than me.”Doremi gaped, both amused and offended. “I’m sixteen! Hell you mean, huh? And our situations are vastly different. Even if you wanted to argue that you and I are similar, what about your teammates? What about the girl?”Kakashi stopped and turned, brows furrowed. Doremi let out a sigh and walked into the store they finally made it to. Kakashi grabbed the basket from her and when she stopped, confused, he didn’t seem to understand why.“Fine, I can understand that. But even if that’s why you saved us. Us being children or whatever, or for payment for Minato-sensei, that doesn’t explain your actions in Kumogakure or Kirigakure.”“What is this, debrief?” Her tone was not amused and the other rose a brow. His own silver eyes were serious. There was a scar along his eye, but both seemed…fine. Maybe this meant that Obito kept his sharingan.“No. I’m just- I’m just trying to understand. You remind me of somebody.”
The Hatake Shitshow.
The red head flicked a braid over her shoulder. This morning was the first time that she’s been able to pull herself together enough to shower and do her hair. The braids were tight and divided into four sections that had previously been pulled into a bun when she was cooking but it seemed like it was falling out now.Doremi knew what Kakashi was talking about, but she wished that she didn’t. In fiction time, there was hardly anything devoted to explaining what exactly happened to Hatake Sakumo. She knew enough to piece it together and she admired him. That didn’t mean that she wanted to be compared to him.She didn’t want Kakashi to look at her and see his father. She didn’t know if the kid liked him right now or not. She also didn’t know how to deal with Kakashi actually…paying attention to her like that. He was a kid, yes, but he was also a fundamental character, person. This would be another person she’d be directly influencing.“I didn’t do it for Konoha.”How many times has she said this? She felt whatever motivation that carried her through today slowly fade and she just wanted to go back to bed now. Kakashi hummed, like he wasn’t surprised. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.Doremi picked through the stores selection of fruit and wasn’t impressed.“What do you know about Uzu?”“We’re sister villages. Or we were. It was, uh, destroyed with the combined efforts of Kumo and Kiri almost a decade ago. They favored fuinjutsu and kenjutsu.”The next breath Doremi released was with a shudder. “Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara set sail toward our islands in an effort to better understand an established peace. Uzu agreed to fund the building of Konohagakure. They settled for a union between the two villages. Between Hashirama and Mito.”Kakashi listened as if enraptured. When she grabbed a few apples, he traded them out for ones he deemed better.“They wrote a treaty. We would always be there for each other. Uzu knew we would be attacked weeks before we were. Our messengers were always intercepted before they could reach Konoha.”“That,” Kakashi breathed and switched hands to hold the basket. “That’s why you killed Shimura-san. Why would he-?”Remi swallowed and looked away. “The same reason Kiri and Kumo destroyed my home. People fear what they don’t understand. More than that, they fear what they cannot control. Danzo wanted Konoha to be the best. There are only five great villages, you know. Konoha, Suna, Kiri, Kumo and Iwa. There’s a reason that Uzu was never put with the rest.”“Why?”The next huff was a bit softer. “Uzushiogakure was the greatest of them all. Took two to destroy it. We were water locked, which usually worked in our favor, but Kumo worked with Kiri which gave them access to better boats and supplies so we- we really didn’t have a chance against them. Not without Konoha. But more than the best, we were the first organized village of shinobi. And beyond that, we were the only country that only had one leader. We didn’t have, need, or want a Daimyo.”Kakashi’s eyes were wide. They made it to the meat section.“Uzu loved Konoha. Even-even if it wasn’t intentional, Konoha let Uzu down. We’re gone. My people believed in family and honor. We always followed through with our promises. My people promised to always be there for Konoha. That’s why I did it.”The younger was quiet for a few minutes. Remi didn’t feel the need to break the silence. Kakashi only spoke when they were back outside.“You said that we were kids though.”“Yeah?”“That goes against what you said. You- you make it sound like it’s something you had to do. Even if Minato-sensei brought you back from enemy lines, you didn’t have to save us. That goes beyond trying to keep an already broken treaty.”“Did it break?” she asked redundantly. The twelve-year-old had nothing to do with it. Kakashi’s next words were as sure and strong as the road itself.“Konoha broke it. Konoha breaks a lot of promises. Konoha promises teamwork but they shunned my father when he chose that over a mission. My father killed himself because everyone hated him for saving lives and failing his mission. You-.” The boy stopped walking.“You did both,” he continued. The next words were quiet. Like they were a secret. “The mission- my father did not endanger our country. He destroyed the road. Just-just not the supplies like he was supposed to. Suna never actually attacked. He still, the mission wasn’t a complete failure he just didn’t… complete it.”Doremi licked her lips and looked away. She couldn’t help but think that the Hokage Monument was tacky.
Orochimaru in Suna. Hatake Sakumo in Suna.
Shit.“I just wanted you to know that I’m glad you were there.” Now Kakashi was looking away.“I failed. Like-like my father’s teammates did. I couldn’t do what I was supposed to do so it fell on somebody else’s shoulders. Your shoulders. People may be upset that you killed Shimura-san. They may be upset that-that other people died. Actual Konohans, while you lived. But I’m thankful that you were there. That you completed your missions and that you saved your comrades. Not everyone would. Not many do, apparently.”How was she not supposed to feel like she was stabbed in the heart when he said that. Kakashi was crying. Doremi was probably crying but she didn’t even know because the only thing she could do was look at the other and feel like she was stabbed. Again.“Oh, kid-““Kushina-nee doesn’t get it. But- and I mean, I don’t. But I kind of do. Maybe. Can’t really have a clan of two, you know but, I mean the Hatake were good once. The Hatake were important at some point but now, now all they will ever be is someone who failed and the failures son. It sucks to be alone.”Doremi didn’t know that she pulled the other into a hug until the other went still. The Uzumaki was only a handful of inches taller than the other despite their four years difference.“I-I think he’d want you to have this.”Remi didn’t let the other go, feeling something pressed up against her ribs. She wished, more than anything right now, that she had something to say in response. But what were you supposed to say to any of that?Eventually, she did push him off and continued to look at him. She hesitantly grabbed whatever it was and then stopped cold.Kakashi suddenly looked nervous as he let go.“I-I overheard Jiraiya-sama talking to Minato-sensei after you woke up from Iwa. He, you had a sword, right? I know that they’re nothing like the same and that the tanto is a lot shorter so I don’t know if you even know how to use it but-““I can’t take this!”“Why?” Kakashi stepped back and she stepped forward. “Why can’t you take it?”“Because it’s yours!” What the fuck, she thought. How could Kakashi even think about giving away the white chakra blade? The metal was practically a myth, especially in Uzushiogakure where they adored the art of kenjutsu as much as they did.“It’s yours now,” he said simply. The brat shrugged his shoulders and picked the bags up from where they must have fallen when she hugged him.“So, you can remember.” He said before she could respond. “Just- in case anyone tries to say anything to you. It’ll be like a token. So, you can remember that at the very least, you’ll always have the-the Hatake clan to fall back on. That I’ll always be thankful for what you did.”They both stood in the middle of the road like idiots and waited for the other to say something. It was sometime later that Kakashi nodded and turned awkwardly to walk away.“Hatake Kakashi.”“Yeah?” he asked as he turned around. He took small steps back like he thought she was going to shove the sword back on him. She gripped it tighter though and promised that she would never let this one go.“He’d be proud of you.”The hurt and desperation that filled his eyes was something that she was intimately familiar with. She barely refrained from pulling him into another hug.“How can you know that?”She smiled brokenly. “If you’re giving this to me, it means you trust me, right?”Kakashi looked away. She sealed the tanto along with her only other prized possession. Arashi’s journal.His eyes went wide at the act, and she laughed. The Uzumaki picked up the bags and caught up to him. She wrapped a hand around the other’s shoulder and pressed a kiss to his temple.“You’re a good kid, Kakashi. Don’t ever doubt that.”Doremi left the other on the road and walked back to the compound. The bags dug into her pebbled arm, and she traced a finger across the sparrow tattoo.
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Dinner the next night went much more smoothly. The Uzumaki was in a much better headspace than she was the days before. She settled on something a bit more filling and traditional, instead of the trio of side dishes. By the time it was done and the two sannin came back from doing whatever they do during the day, the table was set.Doremi came out of the shower to the food half eaten and the other two wearing only somewhat guilty expressions. She snorted, merely putting food on her own plate as she explained what it was. To her surprise, the other two apologized for how they had acted the night before. It wasn’t that it was really needed but it was still nice to hear.The door was knocked on once more.“I’ll get it.”Doremi watched as Jiraiya practically jumped up to get the door. It was a stark difference to the previous night where he yelled at whoever was there to go home. She raised a brow in question to Orochimaru who refused to look at her.“Not Tsunade?”The Snake Sannin’s lips twitched as he got a second helping. “Not Tsunade.”Doremi narrowed her eyes. The voice sounded masculine. “Not Hiruzen? Not Minato, right?”Orochimaru rolled his eyes. “No. Just be patient.”She scowled and pulled the rice towards herself and out of his reach. He gaped.“Orochimaru, thank you for allowing me over tonight. I know you’re not fond of guests.”Nara Shikata, she realized. Not who she expected. She was about to dismiss herself when the Nara clan head smiled at her directly.“Doremi. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”The girl carefully chewed and took caution not to choke on it as she kicked Orochimaru under the table. At least he stopped smirking. She swallowed.“Likewise.”The table had four chairs, so Shikata took the fourth. Jiraiya sat back down, handing a plate to the newcomer who looked surprised.“What is all this?”“Dinner,” Doremi answered to her reluctant embarrassment. “I haven’t done a whole lot around here, so I wanted to thank Jiraiya and Orochimaru for allowing me to stay with them.”Jiraiya rolled his eyes and Orochimaru looked away. Shikata nodded like he understood where she was coming from at least.“I see. I’m here on that sort of note since you brought it up. You’ve been out of the village and out of commission, I apologize that it’s taken me this long to get to it. I finished setting up your bank account with backpay just this morning.”That was not what the girl was expecting. “Oh, thank you. Maybe that means I can get out of these guys’ hair sometime-““You aren’t going anywhere.” Jiraiya looked like his own statement surprised him. He continued with a shrug. “Maru and I have the room and you’re not disruptive at all. There’s no reason for you to leave. If you want to keep making food though, I won’t complain. Ow.”Orochimaru glared at Jiraiya before turning to her.“You’re obviously welcome to do whatever you want. Even if that is moving out and finding your own apartment or house, which is understandable. Do know that you aren’t interrupting or causing problems if you choose to stay however.”It was…weird. Doremi looked between the three of them before nodding. “…Okay then.”“This is really good.” Shikata sounded surprised. The girl wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or not.“It’s native to Uzu and the spices aren’t true to recipe but it’s the best I could do with what I found here. There’s some dessert in the freezer that you can try as well. You can take it home if you want.”When she didn’t get a response, she looked up from where she was trying to get the last bit of rice to stick to the chopsticks. All three of them were looking at her in something resembling surprise.“What?” she wiped her cheek in case she had food on her face. The Nara leader laughed like he knew what she was doing.“You are rather compassionate person, aren’t you.”The girl immediately choked. Jiraiya chortled and slapped her back. She covered her mouth as she coughed, looking down at the table with wide eyes. When she looked up, Shikata was looking at her almost sadly.“Why do you say that?”“Why do you not believe me?”Doremi sat up, finally setting her chopsticks down. She suddenly did not want to know where this conversation was going. Or why the other was actually here.“How’s Ensui?” she asked. Because that was a subtle change of topic, right?“He is well. You are kind to ask, thank you.”Doremi cursed and the jounin commander continued, eyes lit with amusement. Shikata was an older man, a few years older than Hiruzen himself with grey hair threading through his temples. He wore his hair in a bun, unlike many others in his clan.“My son was released from the hospital before you came back from Suna. He’s attended the required therapy and he’s been put on a short medical leave until he’s cleared by psyche. We’re not very worried about it but it’s mandatory for POW’s.”Doremi grimaced. “Is that why you’re here? Tell me I need to go to therapy?”He sighed. “While many of us believe it would do you good, we are not enforcing it, no.”“Thank kami.”“However,” the Nara continued as if she never spoke. “It has been nearly two months since you were released from the hospital post Iwa. The nations have had tentative peace for nearly twelve weeks now. There is a lot of change happening. We would like you to be a part of it.”Oh. Doremi relaxed, realizing that they were just talking about a mission. She picked up her chopsticks again.“We want you to reconstruct the academy.”The chopsticks fell back to the plate. She looked at him blankly. She leaned away and glanced at Orochimaru and then Jiraiya.They were all looking at her.They knew, she realized. Both Sannin knew why the other had come. Her jaw dropped when she realized, looking at them harder, that it was probably their idea.“Why?” She yelled.“It makes a lot of sense once you think about it-““Uh, no. Jiraiya, what the hell? The academy? The Konohan academy? I was barely at the academy back in Uzu-““You were there for four years.” The white-haired man interjected. Which wasn’t the point.“I left when I was seven years old! I know nothing about Konohan structure. I’m only sixteen!”They all blinked.“You’re sixteen?” Orochimaru asked.“We thought you were fifteen.” Shikata spoke slowly. “You told me you were fourteen.”“Well, yeah.” She shoved a piece of fruit in her mouth like it would help her. “My birthday passed during that three-month mission with Maru, like, a couple weeks into it. I turned sixteen when I was floating between rivers in Kiri.”They all winced. She let out a sigh and wiped her face harshly.“Why?” she asked again after a moment. “How is this a good idea?”“The traditional academy isn’t working anymore,” the Nara said simply. He set his chopsticks across his plate neatly. “The Uzumaki have always been feared for their prowess. We know that this is something both ingrained as well as taught. The best way to both nurture and scout would be at the academy. We need to improve it. If the war taught us anything, it is that the younger shinobi have died more than the older.”“Is that not just skill?” Doremi countered. She crossed her arms. “People get better with time and training.”“Perhaps.” Shikata allowed as he accepted a glass of water from Jiraiya with a nod of thanks. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you have survived, infiltrated, demolished and have been upheaving countries since you were seven years old. If not the academy, where did you learn it?”That wasn’t fair. Uzumaki Doremi was not someone who should be used as a mile marker. Hell, Kakashi would debatably be a better one simply because he knew Konoha, and the laws better than she did, and he graduated at five.Remi grit her teeth.“There’s no way that Hiruzen wants me around kids.” She spoke because she was sure of it. There was no way he was blind as to her feelings towards him at the moment. He’d have to be worried it would spread to easily malleable children.“On the contrary,” Shikata spoke softly. “He’s incredibly advocate for it. Sandaime-sama has several plans that are being put in motion. He is looking to change things for the better. He wouldn’t let his personal feelings, although they do not counter each other, change his mind about what would be best for the future of his country.”The girl scratched her eyebrow and half held out her hands. “Uh, okay. I’m not agreeing just- ha. I’m really not following. What would you even want me to do?”Shikata pulled out a scroll from who knows where and held it out to her. She took it but made no move to open it. The Nara head pulled out his chopsticks again.“Jiraiya hasn’t said much about it, but he did tell me that the academy structure in Uzushiogakure differed greatly from here in Konoha. Why don’t you tell me more about that?”She glared at Jiraiya who shrugged. There was a hint of apology in his gaze. Ask for forgiveness and not permission, likely. She rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh.“It won’t work here. Not in Konoha, or at least not in the same fashion. Uzu favored fuinjutsu and kenjutsu. You guys are debatably tied between ninjutsu and taijutsu. Not to mention you guys are the only nation to even hint to combat medics. If you want to model it after Uzu you won’t see results for nearly, what, six years? If you’re lucky you’d see it from the youngest entrants but probably not until after.”Shikata nodded easily. “How so?”The girl wondered if it would be easier to just read it from the journal but as much as she…liked, the Nara clan head, there was no way that she trusted him that much. She shrugged and got up to get the dessert from the fridge. It was just more chocolate covered fruit, but she made the chocolate herself and there were more options for fruit this time.“You say that you want our academy because of our prowess? There was one academy, Nara-san, and every child entered it. Did you know that only a quarter of our population was on active duty? Almost half of that were retired or put on veteran status.”His eyes bugged at the implication, and she grinned. “Now, Nara-san. We entered the academy at five and there were three ways of leaving and that was only after you had either gained a certain level of kenjutsu or fuinjutsu. You had to either declare a specialty or you would be placed in a combat squad. If you didn’t do any of that, you would age out as a civilian when you were twelve years old.”Doremi was thankful, suddenly, that she’d only told so much to Jiraiya back then. Back when they first spoke at the Dull Point bar after she gave Hiruzen proof of Danzo’s betrayal. It was worth it to see his look of wonder.It was bitter though. Because it was all gone.She inhaled. “You could only declare a specialty with three recommendations. You could be placed on a squad with as few as three years of academy experience but only if you’d gotten scouted by an instructor.”“You said four years. You- you were seven.”Orochimaru hissed like the math was just coming to him as well. Doremi savored the brain freeze that came with frozen fruit. When she met Shikata’s eyes, there was a glimmer of horror. She wouldn’t doubt it if he’d pieced together his own little puzzle and she hoped that he got the answers he wanted.“I was a special case.” She swallowed. “Kaa-san was something of a hidden diplomat and she went missing in Kiri when I was… five? Tou-san died trying to get to Konoha when I was four, I think. He was your equivalent to ANBU. Either way, there were important enough people that I couldn’t just stay at home with a babysitter. Especially when mine showed up on the beach one day with his tongue ripped out.”There was a beat of silence and she leaned forward.“You do not want people like me, Shikata. You do not want shinobi who only grow with the promise of retribution that they know will never be fulfilling. That would require loss and enough people in Konoha have died, no?”Remi drank some water before continuing. “I will agree that your academy is shit though.”They all balked at the bluntness. She traced the rim of her glass.“I have seen several green shinobi from Konoha and I can’t say that I was impressed by any of them. I understand Hiruzen’s need for numbers but if that comes with the lowering of graduation standards, then he did nothing but hurt the country in the long run.”They all sucked in their breaths but that didn’t deter her. It wasn’t like Doremi cared what Hiruzen would or could do to her.“I cannot- I can’t tell you how many children died because they couldn’t perform a simple natured jutsu. How many kids, hell, even older shinobi, died in the water at Kumo because they didn’t have the means to water walk. In Iwa, the girl. Rin? While she never should have been put on an assignment that was as far into enemy lines as she was, that doesn’t change the fact that Kakashi had to practically carry her around Kanabi bridge.”She blinked out of her memories. She tapped her fingernail firmly to the glass.“What is your graduation exam?”Shikata hesitated and shifted. “Bunshin, henge and a kawamari. They also require a basic physical exam and a history test.”Doremi covered her mouth and looked at the table. Jiraiya sighed and Orochimaru went back to not looking at her. When she saw Shikata’s ever so patient face again, that was when she lost it.“What the fuck?” she laughed and laughed. “Are you serious?”That was the exact thing that Naruto’s generation passed with. Does that mean that they haven’t changed it for at least a decade?“What was yours?”Jiraiya made a snubbed face. “All three of them. In addition to at least two elemental jutsus. We also required a clan test.”That was better, at least. She wiped her smile and turned to Shikata.“And how long has that work of art been in place?”The older man yawned behind his hand and generally gave off the vibe that this conversation was beneath him. “Almost eight years.”Any amusement she may have felt dissipated. She gritted her teeth. She wanted to ask several things, like who originally thought that it was a good idea. Why Hiruzen didn’t stop it. Why they didn’t notice the complete and utter stupidity of that design until now.She leaned forward. A note of dread seemed to light Shikata’s eyes. Doremi wished that she could find it entertaining.“Let me just ask you one thing.”“You are free to ask however many questions as you would like.”She clicked her tongue and nodded in deceptive thought.“Was this, by any meager chance, the same test that allowed Hatake Kakashi to graduate at the age of five?”Where Jiraiya and Orochimaru had pretended to look away, they stopped. They looked between the jounin commander and her. Shikata nodded once and tapped his finger on the table at the same time.“I believe it was, yes.”Doremi wished that she could tell you why it was that bothered her so much. How Hatake Kakashi had been held to genius standards his whole life. This is not said to diminish the boy’s intelligence, no. But rather bring to light how low Konoha’s standards are for what a shinobi should be capable of doing.The Uzumaki stood and began collecting plates.“Remi?”The difference between her and Kakashi, she thought, was that it wasn’t even close to the same. So, there were actually many differences. If Uzu put those same regulations in place, then she would have graduated at the age of four. But she wasn’t actually four. She was… thirty or forty. She didn’t know for sure, still didn’t know how she died back in the reality before now, but she was older than four fucking years old back then.The difference between all the other prodigies and herself was that she wasn’t actually a prodigy. She was never just four years old here. Doremi wasn’t actually sixteen right now. She often felt far too old for her body and couldn’t even put a number to it.Kakashi would never be like Doremi. Itachi would never be like Doremi. Were these so-called prodigies ever actually prodigies?They were, yes. But did that mean that they deserved the curse that was becoming a shinobi at such a young age?Doremi threw the dishes in the sink and bit her tongue, so she didn’t accidentally ask how old Uchiha Itachi was right now.What about the other Uchiha? Shisui?“I wonder if they knew.”“What?”Doremi straightened, turned, and leaned back against the sink as she crossed her arms. The three men turned to face her. Their expressions were set in something bordering on embarrassment and resignation. But don’t forget that sprinkle of guilt there.“I wonder if they knew.” She said louder. “Uzu. I wonder if anybody from my home knew how little you actually cared about your children.”Before any of them could say something, she grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and started to walk away.“I’ll work on the academy, Shikata. If only cause it seems no one else will. But, hey, let me ask you this.”She was standing in the dark hall and holding up a finger.“Did you know? Back when that was instated. Did you have any idea how many kids would die from that? Was it with pride that you sent kids out to war? Or was it actual belief that they would come back?”Shikata palmed his eyes and she met Orochimaru’s. Then she settled on Jiraiya’s.“Does Konoha lead with arrogance or ignorance? You’ll have to forgive me, I’m not from Konoha. And thank kami for that.”She turned and left, blood nearly boiling as she made it to the front door. She faintly heard the screech of a chair and the heavy footfalls of Jiraiya who was following.“Remi! Doremi, where are you going?”Doremi didn’t turn but a small part of her wondered how big the crack in the wall was from where Jiraiya threw the door open. She shook her head and huffed, wondering if she was going to suddenly develop a fire affinity with how red her vision was.“Remi, wait!”She let the other tug her back but it was only so she could land a solid punch to his throat. The giant of a man fell, hands curling around his throat as he groaned. She looked down at him passively. She heard two other sets of feet stop at the porch.
They had boarded up the academy. Locked them in and kept it tight. They flooded the building. She never knew islanders could drown like everyone else.
“I would have been four.” She stepped closer and knelt down. She jabbed Jiraiya in the chest. “You think a four-year-old could go to war? I guess it was fine for a seven-year-old to go in and out of countries that wanted to kill her, right? Because she had the ability to survive, why not?”“Doremi.” Orochimaru pulled her attention away. He looked… understanding. Somehow. Hell, they all did but Orochimaru seemed so tired of it. More than guilty, he seemed tired of it.“That’s not what we’re saying.”“Oh.” Doremi laughed. “Then how would you explain this?”She hadn’t pulled the jacket on, so it was easy to pull the Hatake Sabre out of its home and wielded it with far too much ease.Uzumaki Doremi was an Uzumaki through and through. The girl loved fuinjutsu but she was a natural when it came to kenjutsu. She favored the short blade back then because they were small like she was. Easier to wield than a tachi, which was taller than she was. There was a reason she learned weapons with ease while she traveled. It only took the leader of Taki a week to teach her the basics of the sasumata.“Where did you get that?” Shikata asked.“Why?” Doremi asked as she flung it around. Like it was fun. And to her, it was. It had been months since she’s held a blade as decent as this. One that was now hers, however reluctant she was to take it. “Think I stole it?”Nara Shikata didn’t say anything, but he shook his head. The poor man was so confused and who would expect that from a Nara?“No. No, no, no. Last night, I had a twelve-year-old boy give this to me so I would know that at least someone appreciated what I did. He gave this to me, letting me know he was thankful that I was able to save his friend. A twelve-year-old believes it would have been his fault if his best friend died in a war because he couldn’t stop it.” She laughed again, lightly. She easily channeled chakra into it, despite the small lag that came with it. She had changed the denser chakra element to something more tailored to her just this morning.“No, I didn’t steal this, Nara-san. A kid gave this to me so, to him, I wouldn’t kill myself like his father did.”She stopped spinning the tanto and sealed it back in its tattoo. “You know, you say you require therapy for POW’s. Did anyone ever think to put the five-year-old in therapy?”The only answer was the chirp of crickets. The teen turned, shaking her head.“Where are you going?” Jiraiya finally managed to get himself back to his feet. His voice was raspy and cracked.She yelled in response but didn’t turn back.“Forty-four. If I stay here, I’m going to kill someone, and I don’t even know who. You want to give me a couple days or do you want to clean blood from your floors?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It took four days in the Forest of Death for Uzumaki Doremi to come up with a plan on how to rework the Konohan academy.As she’d said before, while Uzu prided themselves on kenjutsu and fuinjutsu, Konoha did things differently. Their focus was on taijutsu and ninjutsu. It could be debated that they paid special attention to iryujutsu. For all that Doremi was a decent shinobi, maybe even a good one, none of those were her strong points. That meant that she’d have to bring in other people.Nobody was in the compound when she came back but there was a note on the counter that explained that Jiraiya and Orochimaru were at the Kage tower along with the short request that she joined them if she came back in time. It smelt faintly of ink so it must have been written somewhat recently.The girl decided to shower first. She made sure to take her time with it. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears in Forty-four over the past few days. When she was done, she cornrowed the sides of her hair before she piled it into a bun.She had yet to wear any of the new clothes that Jiraiya got her last week. She looked through the closet and forced herself to throw the clothes that she’d been stuck with for the past couple years in the trash. Doremi refused to touch the chunin vest, Uzumaki vortex be damned. She settled for a pair of basic black pants that tied at the ankles with a dark red crop top with a mesh long sleeved shirt.Then Doremi skipped over the hitiate on her dresser before she pulled the Hatake Sabre on. It was easy to change the holster from a crossbody to a lower back one. Looking in the mirror, she tried to decide if she looked like her mother or not. Maybe tou-san.Then she realized that she didn’t remember what they looked like well enough to say. There were a few people she would always know what looked like. Arashi, for one. Uzunata-kun for another, despite him dying before either of her actual parents. Obaa and Kenshin-sensei.But Kaa-san and Tou-san were always…busy. She never hated them for it. Far from it, even. She loved the space. But here and now, she couldn’t help but wish for one more day with either of them.“Whatever,” she huffed as she walked out. As she walked toward the kage tower, she munched on an apple and reviewed her ideas in a journal. People were staring but they always stared. She told herself that it didn’t matter.“And what would your name be-“Remi spared a glance at the receptionist before continuing into Hiruzen’s office. The woman shot up, offended and aghast all at once. Remi threw the apple core into a basket and shut the doors back in the receptionist’s face. To her pleasant surprise, Raiya, Maru and Hiruzen were all here. As was Tsunade, Shikata and Shia.Before anyone could say anything, the Akamichi woman lunged straight for her and pulled Remi into a hug.“Oh, Kami. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. People had been talking and-““Hey, hey.” Remi returned the hug easily. Far more easily than she would have expected. “You did great. I thought you were on leave. To-todashi had said-“Shia waved her comment away when they let each other go. It was easy to ignore the others in the room. Remi faintly heard the panicking receptionist get dismissed by the hokage.“I did-I, I mean, I am. But they-““It’s fine.” Shia didn’t look convinced. Remi tilted her head. “I never would have wanted you guys to quit reguardless. That’s… insane. More insane than the dragonflies, Akamichi.”The woman huffed, eyes watering but didn’t say anything in response. “Did- did you actually do it? Nobody had seen and I haven’t seen Ensui with everything going on. Did you actually cut off A’s arm?”Doremi nodded. “Hell yeah. A one, anyway. A two didn’t like it at all, pretty sure he’s fueled by prissiness. Almost made it down to Snow before they caught up with me. What about you? Was your ride alright?”Shia shook her head. “Much better than yours by the sound of it. You ok? Sanko-““This is adorable.”Imagine a picture-perfect moment getting ruined by a sheet of ice. That simplicity getting cut off by something cruel and cold.“Tsunade-chan.”The Senju laughed harshly and ripped her arm out of someone’s grasp. Dan’s.“Oh, please.” She waved off Hiruzen. “The last thing I want to hear is some long-awaited reunion from people who barely understand time from place. Akamichi, she’s alive. Yay. Little Red here doesn’t know how to knock on doors. Should we be bowing too?”There was a beat before Jiraiya stood, expression clouded as he let out a near trembling, “Tsunade!”The woman shrugged; expression amused. She let Dan pull her back down. She fell into his lap almost daintily. It may have been several months, but Remi still remembered an Akamichi’s temper.“Hey, it’s fine.” Shia turned to her. Remi wasn’t sure how she should feel about having that feared Akamichi protectiveness set on her. “No! It’s not! She-““Is completely right.” Hiruzen spoke up. He set a disappointed look at his female student. “That was incredibly uncalled for. I expect better from you, Tsunade-chan.”The woman let out the rudest scoff it nearly impressed Doremi.“Please, she-““Academy plans.” She cut the Senju off. She threw a scroll to Hiruzen and another two to Shikata. She nodded at them. “I wasn’t sure what angle you wanted to prioritize. There’re a couple ideas going forward but for all of them, I’ll need to get some more people on board, Hokage-sama. With your permission of course.”Hiruzen eyed her for a moment before opening his scroll. He read for a handful of seconds before a smile crossed his face. He tied the scroll again and set it down. “Permission granted. Would you like to sit with us? I would like to hear more about your ideas.”Doremi returned Shia’s squeeze before she let her hand go. She half bowed. “I think not, Hokage-sama. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to get a head start on those people listed. I can come back tomorrow?”He nodded but seemed disappointed. “I’ll set aside an hour. 1100?”The red head nodded, trying all she could to ignore Tsunades growing glare. “1100 on the dot.”Doremi turned but before she could even open the door, Tsunade jumped up again.“You’re not special, Uzumaki.”It wasn’t the words that shocked Remi at all. It wasn’t even that they were said or who said them. It was the absolute vitriol and anger in the tone. Unbidden, memories of the last dragonfly and fighting A two came to mind. And even that… she wasn’t sure if A’s voice came close to Tsunades current temperament.“Tsunade, stand down.” Hiruzen also stood.The blonde shoved Dan back into his seat. Remi caught the look of genuine pain in his expression, she doubted Tsunade did though.“You aren’t the only person who lost something, kid. Get your head out of your ass. You still have family, you know. You aren’t some lone wolf hero.”Remi turned and met the woman’s eyes for the first time. “This is about Kushina.”“Damn right it’s about Kushina!” Tsunade stepped forward but was pulled back by Jiraiya. She fell onto the couch where her teammates were previously sitting. She was more than ready to fight Jiraiya but she stopped at Orochimarus expression. Remi couldn’t see it but it must have been something intense if the way the woman snapped her jaw shut was any indication.For a moment Remi was stunned. When the silence was drawn out a beat or two too long, she just… stopped. As much as she didn’t want to deal with Kushina, she realized that she may just prefer the Uzumaki over the Senju.It was awkward and she was tired, she’s never done this before but she was determined to end this on a semi-positive note. With a bow, she said, “By your leave, Hokage-sama.”Sarutobi seemed surprised, disappointed but somehow pleased all at once. He nodded firmly and sat back down. “1100. Dismissed.”The receptionist’s glare was a relief compared to what was in the Hokage’s office. Much easier to brush off.Doremi wasn’t unused to peoples’ anger. Everyone’s been angry or disappointed in her before. Her parents, Arashi, Jiraiya- hell, even Shia. Hiruzen’s been blatantly angry at her before. She’s bore his anger before for months in Kumo.But there was something about Tsunade’s anger that…chilled. Something that may not terrify her but something that definitely made her pause. Try all she might, Doremi couldn’t get the hate out of the Senju’s eyes out of her mind.XXXUzumaki Doremi barely walked through the Hyuuga compound before she was jumped by someone she hadn’t seen for months and someone she honestly hadn’t expected.“Rem-chan!”It was only the scent of lavender then prevented the red head from throwing the person off her and into the nearby koi pond. Heart in throat, Doremi laughed. “Why would you do that?”Hyuuga Hinata got off the others back and giggled, eyes lit with a familiar ease and peace. Doremi turned and they hugged. “I haven’t seen you in forever! I- you’ve been crazy. Again. I tried to warn people but nobody believed me. I told them all you’d be fine. One way or another. You got us out of Suna, what’s so different from getting yourself out of Kiri, you know?”Doremi nodded slightly, taking her words for what wasn’t actually being said. Hinata was good at that. It always drove Uchiha Maki mad, during their brief mission before Konoha geared up for official war.“What are you doing here?” Hinata asked softly. There weren’t many people in the courtyard but still enough to be weary of. Maybe. Doremi had only met a handful of Hyuugas but she wasn’t sure if they were the norm or the odd people out.Grasping her arm like she did with others, Shia, Todashi- and when, she wondered suddenly, did she teach them that? That was an Uzumaki greeting. It wasn’t Konohan. It was what Uzumaki’s did.Putting it out of mind, she pulled the taller girl closer and clasped foreheads. Remi licked her lips and met the other’s eyes for a moment. Her words were whispered, unsure of how they’d come across here.“I need to talk to Sanko.”It was impressive, really. The immediate understanding and sadness that lit the older girls’ eyes. She nodded, tone a little less exuberant than before.“Of course. Follow me.”The short walk was quiet, bar occasional greetings called out to Hinata. They came to a smaller house on the edge of the property. It wasn’t run down by any means, but it was far less fancy than the surrounding estates. Hinata almost looked hesitant when she knocked.“Cousin? It- it’s Hinata. I have someone who’d like to talk to you.”The only response was grumbling and the hints of something dropping. Remi shared an unsure look with Hinata. It was made worse when the other didn’t seem surprised at all. The purple haired girl let out another sigh and knocked, “Sanko-““L’ve m’ lone!”Realization dropped into Doremis stomach like a stone. He- Hyuuga Sanko was drunk.Oh.Remi wasn’t sure it if was the memory of a stuck up Hyuuga who would scoff at anyone who so much as spoke of wanting a sip of alcohol when they were deployed, that made her do what she did next. If it was the memory of his complete assholery but surety and absolute faith he had in her. Of the man that she at least remembered him to be.Or maybe it was just the remnants of anger and fear from Tsunade and his tone, even if it was just slight, that reminded her of the other woman.Still, she would tell anyone who asked that she did what had to be done and stand by it.Without hesitation, she pulled Hinata out of the way and ignored her apology and following shriek when Doremi kicked the door down. Right off the bat, at barely a first glance, she nearly didn’t recognize the man.“Remi?”“Oh,” she practically seethed. “Oh, hell no.”Hyuuga Sanko was wearing nothing but a pair of pants with weeks old stains. His bed wasn’t made, and the floor was littered with at least a dozen sake bottles. His hair was matted and down to his shoulders. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.“Doremi!”“Uh, Remi?”Without so much as glancing at Hinata, she stalked forward and grabbed the man by the back of his hair and forced him to his knees, so they were eye to eye. Still, even with tears in his eyes from the pain, he looked ecstatic to see her.“You’re here! You-you’re alive!”Sanko reeked.“Why the fuck are you like this?”Sanko looked both hurt and confused. “What?”“Three months.” She forced out. She barely handled Todashi at the store weeks ago. There’s been so much with barely a break in between. Kumo, Kiri, the ships, the rivers, Suna, Iwa. Kakashi. Todashi. Tsunade. Now Hyuuga fucking Sanko?“I have been in this damned village for three months. I find out you quit, fine. I could almost, almost, see that happening. But this? Becoming a damned drunk? Hell no. Get up.”She shoved him away from her and stepped back, fisting her hands hard enough for it to hurt.“Remi-““Do not.” She stopped the other Hyuuga. Hinata looked unsure but nodded, looking back at her cousin and froze. Remi didn’t notice it but turning back, the man was rocking back and forth and whispering something. Crying something over and over again.“What is he saying?” She didn’t actually want to know. But she had to. Part of her wondered if Hiruzen knew what had become of Sanko, which was why he wasn’t going to do anything about it, as Jiraiya had put it.Hinata sighed, rubbing an arm and bit her lip. “Hatake. Apologizing. The usual. He was on that last mission with the White Fang before he was put on leave and committed seppuku. He always regretted it but he- he was just a kid. He was the only chunin on the assignment. He’s drawn a lot of similarities between that assignment in Suna with yours in Kumo.”The saber at her back suddenly seemed ten times heavier. As much as she’d like to just tell him to get his shit together, she knew it would take more than that.“Where’s Todashi live?”Hinata looked confused. “Todashi?”The guy was an orphan, she knew. Didn’t have a family name. “He’s a jounin, orange hair. He was with us in Kumo.”“Oh, that Todashi.” Hinata nodded. “Should- I’m not sure where he is but I may have an idea. Should I go get him?”Remi observed the, at this point, rather pathetic man who was sobbing into the floor. “Yes. If we’re not here, we’ll be at the Dull Point.”“You’re taking him to a bar?”Doremi shrugged. “Why not? Better hurry up.”Hinata let out an unsure noise but ran off. Doremi didn’t say or do anything for a moment. Slowly, she rubbed her hands together before she slid off her haori and stepped past him. There was only one other door aside from the front one, and that was to the bathroom. There were even more bottles, new and unopened, that sat near the window.She turned the water on as cold as it could go before she turned back. She pulled the sobbing man up and off the floor and dragged him into the bathroom. She dropped him into the shower where his tears abruptly turned to anger.“You bitch!”“Hey!” She returned just as angry if not more so. He blinked, hair going lank and heavy in his eyes. There was no recognition in his eyes. She shoved him further into the spray.“You asshole!”“Uzumaki?”“You don’t get to use me as an excuse. You don’t get to use me as a reason to turn into a shitheel! Do you hear me?”He coughed, gasping for breath and looked at her with wide eyes. She was shaking.“This isn’t you, stuck-up. This sobbing, pathetic excuse for a Hyuuga isn’t the same one who laughed when he went half blind from a damned Kumo doton jutsu. This isn’t the same man who I trusted to keep the rest of us alive on the damned ship. Are you still him? Or is he still in Kumogakure? Do I need to go back to that hell hole and find him? Cause I fuckin will!”Sanko fell to his knees. “Remi?”The redheaded teen stepped forward and shoved him back again. She ignored how she got wet from the shower spray, glaring something holy to the one before her.“Wake the fuck up, Hyuuga. Before I decide you’re a lost cause.”With that, she turned, sliding the paper door as harshly as she could before she set to start cleaning the room. It was maybe ten minutes later that Sanko walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist. His expression was much clearer, and he looked around like he was expecting to get attacked. Good.“Hyuuga.”He froze, pausing on where she sat at the small foldout table and chair set. The bottle he hadn’t gotten around to finishing sitting neatly in front of her. Without breaking eye contact, she popped the bottle open and downed the rest of it. She ignored how his eyes flashed.“Get dressed. We’re leaving.”When it became abundantly clear that she wasn’t joking, he slowly made his way to his dresser and got dressed. The war destroyed whatever remnants of modesty they had so it wasn’t like either cared.“Where are we going?” He asked quietly.Spinning the bottle, she half shrugged. “Dull Point. You always gave the others shit for wanting to get drunk. Didn’t take you for such a hypocrite but still, you went off and got drunk without me. Rude.”“You’re fifteen.”“Sixteen.” She countered. She didn’t exactly…look at him. But she didn’t mince her words. “I spent my sixteenth birthday swimming cave to cave in Kiri. Got caught eventually, like, eight or nine of them? Fucken’ exhausted, Sanko, but they hardly gave a shit. They thought it was hot or something. How much I’d fight.”He winced. She laughed. “Oh. You don’t like that? Seems like you love getting stuck in the past. In Kumo or Suna, hardly seems to matter which.”He glared weakly. She wanted badly to pull out the tanto. To rub it in his face but refrained.“So, I just figure that we can stay in the past for a while. It’s what you like to do apparently. You want to take a trip down memory lane? Should we talk about how I was stuck there alone, with those men for a week before I got away and dove off a cliff to escape? Should I talk about how all of us were nearly starving in Kumo because the water-life swam too far for us to fish? Talk about how Hatake Sakumo killed himself?”“No.”“No?” She stood and slid her haori back on. “Good. Cause that’s the last of anything I want to talk about. Let’s go.”“Go where?”Like she didn’t just answer this, she thought. “Dull Point. I know you have a better memory than this. Use it.”Without waiting, she stepped out and started walking. Sanko followed her, half tripping on the path in his haste to get his shoes on but he managed.“I-I shouldn’t be-““What, drinking? One more night won’t hurt. You, me, Todashi. Ran into Shia earlier, shame she can’t meet with us. After this though, you’re getting sober. Can’t have you drinking like that around kids, you know?”They were on the main roads now. Sanko nearly choked. “What? Uzumaki, what are you?”“Oh,” she laughed. “I didn’t say. Well, you see, you’re a dumbass. I got myself roped into the mess of fixing your shitshow of an academy and you get to help me get it back in order. You and a few others. Be thankful the Hokage doesn’t kick your ass at best.”“The-the academy? Why would I-““Would you rather be exiled?” She asks. “Or killed? Because the Hokage may allow a few things to slide, Hyuuga, but I won’t. You ever use me as an excuse like that again and I will kill you myself. Do you understand me?”Hyuuga Sanko was silent for a moment before he slowly nodded. He didn’t say anything for a moment and walked in pace with her. The bar was just in sight when he spoke up.“You-you, me and Todashi. Who else? Why does the academy need to get reworked?”“Cause it sucks.” Doremi said frankly. “You, Todashi, Nara Ensui and Inuzuka Hito, for starters. I’m debating on a couple others. I had a couple ideas but now I’m trying to think about alternatives cause people piss me the hell off.”He was silent for a minute. They were seated rather quickly once they got there. The fact that it was barely midday likely had something to do with it.“Like, four bottles of whatever’s the strongest, please. And something with salt and grease, three plates. Hardly care what it is.”The waitress blinked but turned to do what was asked.“Who else?”Doremi was rolling the set of chopsticks between her fingers when he spoke up again. She turned to him, taking in how cowed he looked and sighed. He hardly looked like the one she had fought in the war with but she refused to think that he wasn’t there anymore. Maybe not the same, but he was still there.“I’m not drunk enough yet. Probably shouldn’t talk about it to begin with. I have a meeting with Hiruzen in the morning about this stupid academy work up.”“Can you get drunk?”“It’s not until 1100.”The server set four bottles down, two bottles of two different kinds. Sanko nearly reached for one right off the bat but she pulled them all towards herself. Doremi read the labels before talking. “You each get one, I get the other two. And this is the last time you get drunk-drunk unless I say otherwise. Shit happens, I get that. But I’m not endorsing the habit.”He scowled but relented just as fast. “You pick then.”She gave him the admittedly bigger bottle but with the lower alcohol content level. The food was placed in front of them before they could really get into them. Sanko set the bottle off to the side and practically shoved his face into the food, which made her wonder when it was the last time that he ate something.“Doremi? Sanko!”Doremi barely nodded as Todashi came bustling in. The orange haired male and the Hyuuga shared a quick hug before they slid into the same side of the booth. Doremi slid him the other bottle before he could say anything.“Sankos turned into a drunk, you pick up any habits I should know of?”Todashi looked at Sanko in disbelief. The Hyuuga seemed ready to refute it for a moment but then gave up. With half his food gone, he popped the cork off his bottle and started into it with a shrug.“That makes so much sense,” Todashi whispered. It was a toss-up for who glared at him harder.“Does it?” Remi asked him. He half nodded. “Haven’t seen him around for a while. Not after he went off on the Kage like he did and that was months ago.”Doremi rolled her eyes. “Whatever. What’d Hinata tell you?”“Uh,” Todashi started. “Not much. Just that you needed to talk to me. That you’d be at the Dull Point. I don’t think she expected you to actually get Sanko up and going though. She would have said something.”The red head nodded. “Well, just so you know, I’ve been given a task. Given that a select group of people have decided to go off the deep end, I’ve decided to drag them down with me.”“What?” Todashi asked.Sanko snorted and leaned closer. “She gets to run the academy now. Has this bright idea to torture us all with it too.”“What, no. Why?”Doremi shrugged. “Why not? I have to suffer, so should you. Don’t think you’re off the hook either. Post war, you become a paper pusher?”Todashi grimaced. “It’s important work.”“Of course.” Remi allows. “Lets you sit on your ass all day. I get wanting change. Hell, if I don’t want a break but we don’t always get what we want, do we?”Both men looked at her. While Remi was 16, Sanko was 23 and Todashi was 20.“It’s easy to forget how long you were out there.” Sanko said it like it was a reason. An explanation. Remi hated how Todashi nodded in agreement even more.“Months before and months after. We were only there for, what, four months?”Sanko shrugged. “Didn’t actually keep track.”Doremi glared at them both. “You both suck.” They snorted. “Not the first time you said that.”The girl rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Enjoy your one night of reprieve, Hyuuga. I’m drilling your ass tomorrow.”“After your meeting with Hiruzen, maybe.” Sanko retorted with another snort. Todashi also laughed like the idea of meeting with Sarutobi Hiruzen was hysterical.Remi rolled her eyes, taking a couple bites of food while the other two took a minute to catch up.“The academy?”The girl swallowed, pushing the plate off to the side just a bit before she took a sip of the first bottle. Then a bigger one. She ignored their somewhat impressed expressions.“Shikata? I don’t even know what he does but at this rate I’m half convinced he’s some Hokage-kage. He’s up in everyone’s business. A few days ago he comes and asks if I can help revamp it, take control of it or whatever. Your systems shit, and it showed with how many greens died on the front.”They both grimaced but didn’t refute the statement. She shrugged and continued.“Have a plan, sort of. Wanna have each of us take a year solo or co-lead, depending on the age’s focus. Aside from that, we’ll all have a principle of teaching. Sanko’ll be on etiquette and clan history internal and external. Since Todashi’s wanting everyone to be best friends and shit, I’ll have him take some classes from Senju for basic first aid and chakra control.”They blinked. Then Todashi nearly slammed his head down. “Senju? The Sannin-Senju? Why?”Remi snorted, opening the other bottle. “Cause I need the other two on other things, and Tsunade will just drive Sanko into a bar and we’re trying to get him out of them. I can’t do it. I don’t want to.”“You brought me to a bar.” He countered.“Enjoy it while it lasts,” she replied sharply. “We’ve all had our own breaks, ha. Not really but it’s whatever. Pretty sure we can all agree that we don’t want any more kids dying though. We can handle that, right?”Something in her tone must have told them that it wasn’t rhetorical. Todashi nodded, Sanko tipping the bottle in agreement.“Should be easier than getting into the capital at least, right?”The red head relaxed just a bit. “Getting in wasn’t the problem.”“Getting out was shit though.” Sanko interjected. “Nearly lost an eye. Not exactly a fun time.”Todashi spared a glance at Remi then turned to his seat mate. “I can see that, buddy.”The girl’s head fell to the table as her shoulders shook with laughter. Sanko spent the next couple of minutes trying to shove the other off the bench.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Doremi woke up with too much time on her hands. She had hours until she had to meet up with Hiruzen but the collection of people she had to talk to would take longer than she had. It left her with some free time that allowed her to shower and braid her hair more intricately than normal.Coming out of her room, she wasn’t sure what she was expecting. Remi was just hoping that there would be a couple of eggs she could make because plain rice didn’t sound all that great. She heard whispers but didn’t think much of it until the scent of dog assaulted her senses.“Remi?” Jiraiya peeked around the kitchen, smiling hesitantly but waved her forward. “Just making breakfast right now. There’s a guest here for you.”That was the furthest thing from comforting. There were only a couple of people that she knew who smelt canine and she didn’t know why any of them would be here. Seeing the man sitting at the table wasn’t what she expected, largely because she didn’t know who he was. The markings made his clan obvious, but again, she had no idea who it was.“Uh, hello.”The Inuzuka looked up, grinning and waved with a fork in his hand. Jiraiya waved between the two when he stepped behind the counter once more.“Remi, this is Inuzuka Ken. He’s the clan head. Ken, this is Uzumaki Doremi.”The only reason he’d be here, she thought, was because of Hito. And while she’d been planning on finding him sometime after talking with Hiruzen, she didn’t expect that they’d come to her. It made her uneasy.“It’s great to finally meet you. Heard a lot of stories, one may say you caused quite the storm, eh?”Doremi laughed slightly, not knowing what else to do. She sat down just as Jiraiya put a plate of food in front of her. She nodded in thanks. Her eyes tracked as Jiraiya seemed to skip back behind the counter. What was up with him?“What can I do for you, Ken-san?”“Been wanting to meet you for a while. You’ve saved a lot of our asses, you know? Heard about you from some of my kin. It took a while for Hito to talk but once he did, my mind was made up. Takes a lot to impress us Inuzuka. There’s more to shinobi than strength or tactics. Being a decent person is harder than you’d think. Especially in today’s world.”“Uh…” Doremi followed very little of that. “I, thank you? How is he? Hito, I mean. Last I saw him he-he wasn’t doing too hot.”Ken laughed. “Hito’s fine. As fine as any of us can be nowadays anyway. What about you? How have you been doing, little lady?”Remi couldn’t say that she loved the name, sending a quick glare to Jiraiya who was laughing quietly. Something fell to the floor with a thud, followed by a mutter. Must have been Orochimaru waking up. Remi turned back.“I- I am so confused. I’m fine, I guess. Can’t say that I was expecting anybody.” Not that it stopped Shikaku. Ken waved it off. “Shika’s always up in everyone’s business. I’m actually here on clan business though. You know anything about Kin Rites?”Doremi had no idea what part of that to focus on. How did he know? “What?”Ken snorted, setting his own plate down. He glanced at Jiraiya’s back like he wanted to ask for more but decided otherwise. He folded his arms and leaned them on the table.“Kin Rites. Inuzuka don’t like… they’re not debts. But we know when to be thankful. We know when we recognize good people. Like to think of ourselves as decent people while we’re at it but war makes it hard. My clan is known for its efficiency. We do best in specialized units with our skills. Tracking, attention to detail, take away our markings and we look like any average fire country citizen. We know who we are and we’re proud of it. It takes a lot to impress us enough to extend it. You’ve had multiple people come forth since you were stationed in Kumo, including myself.”“I,” Remi laughed. She didn’t know for certain what Kin Rites entailed but again, she had a pretty basic idea of what it was. “I mean- I’m-I’m an Uzumaki. I won’t be anything other than that and- I’ve never even spoken to you before, Ken-san. I’ve never even heard of you, why would-?”“Ah.” He leaned back, eyeing Orochimaru when he came in with his typical bed head. He barely had his eyes open. Jiraiya led him to a stool, putting chopsticks in his hand and a plate in front of him. Remi had seen it before and knew that most wouldn’t expect it from the Sannin. Based on Ken’s expression, he was amused by it.“My sister married outside of the clan and into another smaller clan, the Nohara’s. You saved my niece in Iwa, Rin-chan. Back with your first deployment I believe, under Shinori? You saved another one of my clansmen. After his ninkin died, he says you pulled him away. He was the first one to ask for the Rites. Some others came in between the weeks. After you-you saved Hito though- I was already wanting to extend it. Then you went into Iwa and everything else. It’s a no brainer, really. We’d love to Rite you in. Formally.”Just- what. What the hell. “Uh…”“Inuzuka, what are you doing here?” Orochimaru didn’t sound annoyed but interested. Jiraiya was practically grinning and that was more unnerving than the Inuzuka was. Why was the Sannin so damned happy?“Kin Rights, Orochimaru-san.”Orochimaru shuttered and looked between them then his gaze settled on her. “They’re not adopting you.”That… helped. Maybe. Remi rubbed her forehead and decided to just ask. “What are they exactly?”Ken accepted the glass of water from Jiraiya and drank half of it. “Kin Rites. As I said, they’re not debts, but a form of immense gratitude. It’s… we’re not super formal people but we have our own traditions. It’s like a friendship, between the clan and someone outside of it. That may be the most simple I could explain it.”Jiraiya sat down at the table as well, leaving Orochimaru at the counter. He took a bite and spoke up.“Several clans have them but getting a Rite from the Inuzuka is one of the hardest yet most fruitful. You take their markings, big or small. You sign something in their little book and they give you a dog.”“Ninkin,” Ken glared but it was light. Automatic. Remi felt her stomach drop.“You don’t-““How do you know that?” She asked Jiraiya. He froze, looking at her like he didn’t expect her to ask him that for some reason. When she sent him a firmer look, he realized that she wasn’t kidding. He shrugged, expression toned down now.“Seen one before. Been to a ceremony.”Remi’s throat burned. She pulled the saber off its holster and threw it on the table. Jiraiya flinched which proved her point. Ken grinned. “Hey, I had a feeling.”Without permission, not that she’d say no or anything, but Ken pulled the white chakra saber out of its sheath and whistled as he inspected the blade.“Kept it in pretty good condition. See you added some things of your own, too. Looks good.”The girl took it back but kept it on the table. One of these days, she realized, she would have to read the damn report. She was getting really tired of being compared to the White Fang of Konoha. Swallowing, mind racing, she responded.“I can’t take a dog- I can’t take one of your ninkins.”Ken didn’t look… happy about it. He frowned, studying her. “You wouldn’t be taking it. It’s a gift. I’ll be honest, if you have a reason, I’ll respect it. Something like, otherwise clan related or maybe you have your own summons. I’d get that. But given how many people spoke up for you, I’d be wary about saying no. As informal as we are, we still have our pride.”“It’s,” Remi laughed, pulling on a braid. “It’s not a matter of pride, or my clan. I don’t even have my own summons but you…”He raised a brow when she didn’t continue. She didn’t know if she could say it. Should say it.“Orochimaru doesn’t like dogs.” She settled for.Orochimaru snorted from the other side of the room. “It’s a ninkin, not a dog. They’re not pets, they’re companions. I admire clans, you know that Remi. I don’t get in the way of Rites.”She glared at him. Ken looked once more amused but still confused about why she was saying no.
“Move!”
They weren’t moving. It was after a couple minutes of running, dragging him behind her, that she realized that he was also dragging his ninkin. It was just days ago that Remi, hidden between tent shadows and fire smoke where she threw bits of her own ration to the dog sleeping at the other’s feet. Not that the Inuzuka wasn’t feeding his ninkin because he was but, well, it was a dog. Dogs deserved treats.
“She’s dead.” Remi forced out. The man’s clan marks were on his chin, eyes dead. Her heart broke. “The dog is dead! You need to leave her!”
Ken had said from the first deployment. There was… there was only one other survivor. After Shinori was taken and the camps were overrun. Remi had stayed behind, keeping the small camp safe from the small teams that would come through from Kumo. She sent the Inuzuka back with the other two teams that came as back up back to Konoha.“But you,” she tried again. She didn’t know why he was acting like he didn’t know what she was trying to say. It was obvious, wasn’t it?
It wasn’t just shinobi that died there. Wasn’t just chunin or jounin. They weren’t all unnamed, weren’t all jerks or rude. A couple talked, but it was all tense. More died than just people. Children died. Ones who still held kunais wrong. Remi had buried and burned a lot of people. But it wasn’t just people.
How many dogs, ninkins, had also died? Leaving their… human companions alone?
“Your people need them.” She said eventually. His eyes glinted with understanding, then sadness. She looked down but continued.“I don’t know how many people died in Kumo. Don’t know how many people I buried, burned or-or took care of. But the dogs… I lost count of them after the first dozen or so. Don’t your people need them? Your clan?”It was bad enough that people died. But the dogs? The animals? Somehow that was a breaking point in Remi. And it came from Before, she knew. But she couldn’t do anything about it.“There’s a bonding.” Ken explained. “Between the pup and the Inuzuka. We can only bond once. Once it’s broken it’s… hard. Most of us don’t bounce back from it.”Doremi palmed her eyes. Ken stood up, stretching. “It’s not everyday people think about that though. Goes to show that we’re right about you, you know? I’ll give you a couple days to think about it. Thank you for the breakfast, Jiraiya. It was wonderful to meet you, Remi-chan. Orochimaru.”The door shut, Remi noted idly. And that all happened.“Remi?”After a moment, she turned to look at Jiraiya. He looked worried.“Why are you so happy?” She asked. He raised a brow. She waved around her. “Breakfast, the smiling. Why the hell are you wearing an apron?”Jiraiya straightened. “Can I not just be happy?”She looked at him oddly, not sure it was a snap or if he was being genuine. She narrowed her eyes. “Did you get laid?”Orochimaru choked and Jiraiya glared as he stood, practically tearing the apron off and threw it at her.“I’m just asking!” She yelled. She watched as he stormed down the hall and slam the door to his room. She looked at Orochimaru.“Am I dreaming right now?”The Snake Sannin was still laughing as he grabbed his plate and came over to the table. “Don’t mind him. He gets like this.”“What is this?” She asked.Orochimaru sighed, waving his chopsticks. He didn’t look at her when he answered. “Whenever Nade and Dan get into a fight. They- Tsunade’s a mess. After her brother died, she got worse. I don’t know everything he thinks, don’t know everything they do. They don’t tell me everything.”Doremi got more by what went unsaid. “Are you kidding me?”Orochimaru didn’t answer, steadfastly looking at his plate and seemed determined not to leave a grain of rice behind. Remi slumped back, looking at the kitchen blankly. When her gaze fell on the clock and she registered the time, she sighed. She still had an hour or so before she had to meet up with Hiruzen to talk about the academy. Remi didn’t think she could do much before then, let alone actually think anything through.She turned back to Orochimaru. His hair was a mess.“Do you want your hair braided?”His head snapped up, but he didn’t say anything. When the silence went on for too long, she wondered if it was weird that she asked. She didn’t… think so. But maybe he thought it was.“Never mind,” she stood and slid the saber back in its holster.“No, wait.” He put Jiraiya’s plate on his own and nodded. He wasn’t exactly looking at her. Just at the rice. “It just surprised me.”Remi rolled her eyes, unsure of why he was so weird. She started to walk back to her room to get stuff when he spoke up again.“Are you just going to do two? Or one? What are you planning?”Remi turned, looking at him. He seemed… normal. All things considered. It took the other a while to wake up in the mornings. She half huffed. “You want something special?”He slowly shrugged. “It’s up to you.”Remi just… turned. She didn’t respond. She got several pieces of leather and her brush and comb before going back into the kitchen. She cleaned the brush and threw the loose strands in the trash before standing behind Orochimaru. Fingers twitching and head full of thoughts and rites and graves. And the damn academy.“How did I get here?” She whispered. Then she started to brush the others hair out. “Something special?” She asked again.Orochimaru didn’t respond. And Doremi spent each minute she could doing the others hair until she had to go meet up with Hiruzen.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Uzumaki Doremi got the feeling that Sarutobi Hiruzen was someone who liked things done a certain way. He presented as a lot of things, a leader, dependable and definitely respectable. But after his receptionist brought in an honest to kami cookie platter, he avoided anything with white chocolate. He would dunk each cookie in his tea twice before eating it whole. He never let his pipe run out, having stuffed it no less than three times since this morning.Apparently, you could learn a lot about a Kage in only a couple of hours.“This is…” Hiruzen spoke up after several minutes of silence. His desk was littered with plans and notes centered around the reconstruction of the academy. Remi knew that it was a lot, and it was only a start. The fact that the current academy would need to go on pause for three months before continuing was something that took a while to explain before he readily agreed.“Expansive,” she offered. The other inhaled and looked up from the papers. “I can’t give you Uzu. And I won’t give you fuinjutsu, either. Not at large. I tried to plan to your village’s strengths. We’ll have to play this by ear, but I think this is a good start.”Hiruzen lifted his pipe to his mouth but set it back down before anything could be smoked. “Understandable. You think you this could work with so few people to start with?”“With the five of us to start with, yes. Most of the units, as it is, will be taught by those on medical leave or veterans left over from the wars. A lot of this is based on the assumption that, within the next few years, the academy students will declare specialties or even pick up apprenticeships over the course of their academic career.”For what it was worth, Doremi put a lot of thought into these plans and would even go as far as to say she was confident about it. As much as Shikata, Jiraiya and, apparently, Hiruzen admired the Uzushiogakure Academy, there was literally no way that it would work in Konoha. She wasn’t saying it to be petty, it was just the truth. Unlike Uzu, Konoha was surrounded by smaller countries and cities that aided in their numbers for commerce, agriculture and trade. They had a Daimyo. Uzushiogakure was completely independent and could function as such.“Unlike the three units that Uzu taught, I want to expand on Konoha’s strengths. With Nara essentially functioning as the program’s director, he’d be able to make the calls needed for growth and outreach. Todashi will lead fundamentals in the sense of chakra control and survival skills, with Inuzuka backing him in the basics of kenjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu. Sanko will be in charge of what I’d personally call civics. History, etiquette and politics all internal and external. Within that, you’ll have specialists come in for additional units such as first aid or those with better knowledge in respective basics.”Hiruzen let out another deep breath, slowly nodding. They’d been at it for a couple of hours now and despite the plan being rigorous, it was also fairly simple once it was broken down. It was also drastically different than how Konoha’s operated since it’s foundation. Part of Doremi wondered what Senju Tobirama, the previous designer of the academy, would have thought. And if that was part of what was wrong with the Kage now.“And they all agreed to it?”The teen wondered what he could possibly mean by that. As Hokage, he could make them do it. Still, she hesitated just slightly before speaking. She had no doubt that Sanko and Todashi would, if only because she wasn’t giving them the chance not to. But when it came down to it, she wasn’t certain about Nara Ensui or Inuzuka Hito. She hadn’t ever sat down and talked with them. They’d gone off and got put into a POW camp earlier in the war. The only time they’d said anything to each other was back on the Dragonfly.“I don’t know,” she said eventually. “I was planning on going to talk to them after this. I was going to go to the Inuzuka’s. I… the clan head came to see me this morning. If neither of them will do it then I know a few more who could. Shia would take over basics and I’d probably ask Uchiha Maki and Hyuuga Hinata to co-lead in Nara’s place.”At that, Hiruzen leaned back and folded his arms.“Ken came to see you.”That wasn’t the part that Doremi thought would stump the other. Even hours later, she didn’t know what to think of the possibility of getting rited(?) into the Inuzuka clan. Looking at the other, she debated asking about Hatake Sakumo. Ken had held the tanto with far more ease than she would have expected. The girl wanted to ask the other if people were imagining the similarities or if he, also, could see them.“I was supposed to come here.”Her eyes burned and the other just continued to look at her.Doremi never even humored the thought of talking about this. She swallowed, looking past the others shoulder and out the window. It wasn’t just painful to think back to a decade ago. A decade ago. She’d planned on dying for Uzu.
“You know,” Arashi said out of the blue. The man couldn’t cook to save his life. “After Kiri has their little hissy-fit, I think I’ll send you to Konoha.”
“He used to call you the little monkey boy.” Hiruzen raised a hand to cover his eyes. “My main affinity is lightning, which, well. Doesn’t suit islands very well. Arashi wanted to send me here.” So, you could teach me, goes unsaid but definitely heard.Sarutobi Hiruzen was a legend. He wasn’t just the Sandaime of Konohagakure, the greatest village out of the five. He was known as The Professor. He was the only shinobi on the entire continent that had complete mastery over all five elements. He was taught by Senju Hashirama and Tobirama.The red head knew that underneath it all, he was still just as mortal as everyone else. Just as prone to anger and hurt. She wasn’t saying that she was suddenly forgiving him and honestly couldn’t say if that would ever be possible. But she’d grown up hearing stories about the man, about how great and genuine he was. And Doremi’s spent the past few hours talking to him about how bad his academy was and all he’s done was agree.“Hokage-sama,” the receptionist said as she opened the door. She looked apologetic as she spoke, which must say something given that Doremi and the receptionist (who still remained unnamed) had no love for each other. “Ututane-sama and Mitokado-sama are here for you. They say it’s emergent.”Hiruzen held up a hand to the surprise of them both. “I need a few more minutes. They can wait.”The door shut and Doremi straightened. Hiruzen slowly started to pile all the papers together, rerolling the scrolls. He smiled.“The Inuzuka are good people. They have a sense for people. It’s always something I’ve admired about them. If Ken wants to give you Rites, I wouldn’t doubt it for a second, Remi-kun.”Doremi inhaled shakily as she stood, accepting the papers that he was holding out. She sealed them all into a tattoo before bowing and leaving. She ignored the advisors’ glares with ease as they walked into the room she just left. It quite literally wasn’t possible for her to care any less of the two than she already did.XXXUzumaki wasn’t a coward but after leaving the Hokage Tower, she reasoned that it would make sense to go to the Nara compound before visiting Inuzuka Hito and possibly, possibly the clan head. Her first impression that it was different. Konohagakure was the Village Hidden in the Leaves and everything, but the Nara compound was quite literally the complete opposite of Uzushiogakure.Actually, walking into the compound showed the road bordered by tall trees. The branches created a canopy that practically overshadowed any light that could filter through. The houses were traditional, and the gate guard told her that as long as she stayed on the main path, there was no way for her to miss the clan head’s house.Lo and behold, she saw it after another five or so minutes of walking. It wasn’t much bigger than any of the other houses. If asked, she wasn’t even sure if she could tell you how she knew. Aside from the large porch, or the carefully tended flowerbeds, it was most likely the trio of deer lazing about that let her know.Doremi knocked on the door with confidence, figuring that if Shikata could ambush her at her place of residence then so could she. Just as that thought actually registered, she realized that it made little sense since she wasn’t here to see the clan head, but rather Ensui. The girl took a step back just as the door opened.It was obvious to her who it was, despite never having met him before. Nara Shikaku’s scar had always been clear in the Before, and it was starker in reality. The two scars looked red, even if there weren’t any butterfly bandages or stitches. His hair was longer than his brothers and wore it in a ponytail, unlike his father. The realization of who she was talking to right now shook her for some reason.“Uzumaki,” the man said as he leaned against the door. It was after three in the afternoon, but it looked like he’d just woken up. Doremi wasn’t surprised that he recognized her. There were only two people with red hair in the village and chances were, he’d gone to the academy with Kushina, right?“Nara,” she returned. “Is your brother here?”Shikaku looked surprised for a second before stepping back, holding the door open. “First door on the left.”Doremi bowed slightly, telling herself that this wasn’t awkward at all as she took the steps by two. She knocked on the door without hesitation and opened it when a quiet voice grunted. She shut the door behind her, taking the room in quickly before her eyes fell on Ensui.Like most everybody else who’d gone North during the war, Ensui had cut his hair. When they were on the Dragonfly, it was long and likely due to him being a POW for months beforehand. He was sitting at a low table with his back to the door and coincidentally wasn’t wearing a shirt. She eyed the lash scars on his back with a blank expression before walking forward.“I’m not going to the bar with you.”Doremi walked around the table, sitting down on the opposite side of the table as if she’d done it countless times before. She accessed the game board for a moment, somewhat surprised to see that both sides were in checkmate before brushing it off. She spoke before looking at him, moving her side of the board out of checkmate, just to see what he’d do in response.“Already went yesterday. You thought I was your brother.”Ensui moved a piece as he responded. “Well, I wouldn’t have thought it was you. What do you want?”The redhead took one of his knights, accepting that her pawn would be taken. She wasn’t emotionally attached to the game. If anything, she found the game was exceedingly boring.“Have you talked to your dad at all?”The other didn’t respond, instead paying attention to the game. Doremi let it play out, swiping the deck of cards she spotted when she first came in. Ensui continued to reset the board but set it off to the side when he saw what she was doing.Cards in the Elemental Nations were interesting. Unlike traditional cards, there were five suits for the elements and the cards went from one to ten without any royalty. After sufficiently shuffling the cards, she dealt them both a hand of five and set the deck to the side.“Rules change every round. Scoring alternates between high and low to win and every round has a trump suit, which automatically wins even if the number opposes the round rules. Trump suits start with fire and moves to what it’s stronger against. Fire to Earth, Earth to Wind and so forth. Makes sense?”Ensui sat up, nodded easily and looked interested at least. They both picked up their hands and organized it.“We’ll go highest card this time. After we go through our hand, we’ll get another but keep one out to keep track of points for each round. Here.”The game was going by pretty fast, and it only took the first couple of hands for Ensui to clearly get comfortable. They’d played through half the deck or so before Nara spoke up. He’d played his third trump card in a row and was only a few points behind overall.“I talk to my dad every day.”“So, you know about the academy.”Ensui swiped the cards and reshuffled the new deck without looking, eyeing her oddly. “What? No.”Doremi started the new round with a lightning trump card. “I’ve been assigned to rework the academy. It’s shit, so it won’t be easy but I’m wanting some help. I heard you were on leave.”The other didn’t take his turn so the red head looked at him, trying to gauge his expression. She could practically see the thoughts running through his head. When he leaned back, she combined all the cards, including his hand that he put down, and put them back in the box.“And you think I could, what, teach kids? Make sure they could water walk before getting sent to the coast? Pointy side away from you, not towards you.”The girl snorted, tossing the box back on his shelf. “I was thinking more like Program Director. Not in charge-in charge. I wouldn’t do that to you, but more as an eagle eye, you know? I can show you the plans and Sarutobi’s already agreed to it. You’ll mostly be working with other departments, like the hospital, the leave office and the police force when it comes to rotations. Other than that, you’ll just be floating between classes to see if they need any help. But you’ll be the person making adjustments as we go.”Ensui’s expression was blank for a moment. Doremi figured that he’d already had an idea of what she was talking about based off of how little she actually said. When he stood, his tone was more alive than it’d been since she came into the room.“If you’re in charge of the academy, why aren’t you in charge?”The Nara pulled on a shirt and turned to her, sitting on his bed and looked expectant.“I’m reworking the academy, yes, but I don’t want to be stuck in there for the rest of my life.”“And I do?”“You’re on leave,” Doremi reminded though not unkindly. “You’re second heir to one of the Trinity Clans. If you wanted to lie your way out of leave, you could. I won’t ask why, hell knows that you deserve break, I’m just saying. That being said, my plans make it so the academy won’t be stable and show consistant results for four to six years. If I’m not staying, you wouldn’t have to, either. Just until the foundations have been set. You could catch things I may not. You know your people a lot better than I do. After that, I want to have an actual director or somebody in place.”Doremi watched as the other rubbed his fingers together in thought.“I want to see the plans,” Ensui said suddenly. “Before I agree to anything. Who else have you dragged into your little scheme?”“Hyuuga Sanko, who’ll be in charge of civic courses. Things like history, politics and etiquette. Todashi, clanless with orange hair Todashi, he’s with what I call fundamentals. Basic chakra control, survival, things even like reading and math depending on entry level. I still need to talk to Inuzuka Hito, who’ll be in charge of core things like taijutsu, ninjutsu and weapons. Possibly going into kenjutsu, I’m still not sure.”Nara raised a brow and laughed. “The entire academy with three teachers?”“No. Most will be taught by those on leave, war vets or specialists who would come in from places like the hospital or police force.”The other straightened, staring off into space again. Then he stood up. “You still need to talk to Hito?”Doremi felt like she was going to regret this, but she got to her feet and nodded, following the other out of his room. As they stood at the base of the stairs, getting their shoes on, Shikaku walked around the corner. To say that he looked surprised would be an understatement.“Inuzuka’s likely in training ground 16. Let’s go.”The girl followed.XXX“Spar with me.”Uzumaki Doremi looked between the two, hoping that the clearly exhausted man was talking to Ensui and not her. Based off of the others smirk, he wasn’t. The teen let out a breath, taking another moment to admire the frankly abolished training ground before agreeing. She wasn’t really sure what she was getting into but couldn’t lie and say that the offer itself wasn’t tempting.Nara explained what was going on before she could even say hello. Hito waved to her, talking to Ensui easily. There was a level of familiarity between them that was interesting. Doremi had yet to look at anybody’s files, but she wouldn’t have been surprised to see if they were on the same genin team at this rate.“Just taijutsu?”Doremi hadn’t been cleared for any sort of chakra use but it wasn’t like that would actually stop her if the other wanted to use ninjutsu.Inuzuka Hito was a few years older than her, only possibly breaking twenty. It would be fair to call him attractive, now that his face wasn’t covered in dirt and his hair had been washed. It was shaved at both sides and the top of it was in a fascinating sort of knot. He wasn’t wearing any ranked gear, something closer to a pair of sweats and a tank top. Based off of how he was practically bouncing in place with his arms up, his ankle wasn’t bothering him anymore.“Sure. Good old fist fight. Let’s go, Uzumaki.”Just to see what he thought, she looked at Ensui once more who was actually grinning. Doremi swept her loose braids into a ponytail and stepped closer. The two other clan members shared a look that she didn’t bother looking into, keeping her eyes on the taller shinobi. She’d never seen the man fight before. Their only time talking before this was spent under the Dragonfly and him confirming that he had a good aim.The speed at which the other threw his fist surprised her but she swiped it away. Hito’s eyes shifted between a few different things before he nodded, and they went at each other in earnest. It was a few minutes later, perhaps, that Ensui called out a score that had them both laughing. For the life of her, Doremi couldn’t remember the last time that she sparred with someone for the sake of sparring.Their fight was long and ended with Doremi on her back. She probably should have been more upset but she mostly found herself respecting the other. It was clear that Hito had been going at it for a while. She’d given him a run for his money at least. He’d ended up on his back a few times as well, but they’d been going long enough that he seemed to be content with what had happened given how he dropped down beside her. To her tired surprise, Ensui came and dropped to her other side.Nobody spoke for a few minutes. The Uzumaki had unsealed some water from a seal on her hip and they’d passed it back and forth. In the back of her mind, the girl wondered if Ensui admired the clouds as much as his future nephew would. Mostly she compared this shade of blue to the one she’d grown up with.“You said something about the academy?”“She has a plan,” Ensui spoke up. At this point, Doremi was tempted to just hand the other her plans. “So far it’s you, me, Todashi from Shika’s class and Hyuuga Sanko.”Hito snorted, sitting up slightly and looking over her towards Ensui. “Hyuuga Sanko agreed to teach at the academy?”Deciding that the placement of this was weird, Doremi sat up and scooted back. The other two followed suit and they sat in a triangle formation. The red head idly did some cool down stretches as she spoke.“Sanko doesn’t get a choice. He somehow managed to resign but turned into a drunk so he needed something to do. Todashi’s a paper pusher now. I figured this is better than that.”Both looked at her like they didn’t know about any of it. She shrugged, kicking Hito into following her into also cooling down. He started with a nod, sharing another one of those weird looks with Ensui before he spoke up.“So four of us, one of you. What’s your plan from here and why me?”That… was a good question. Doremi leaned down in a stretch, not responding for a moment. Now would have been a good time for Ensui to speak up but he didn’t. When she sat back up, she didn’t look at either of them.“There were a lot of people up North and I don’t know everybody’s names. If you don’t want to, you don’t need to. I just… I didn’t know if you had any plans after everything.”That wasn’t helpful at all. The last thing she wanted to say was that she didn’t know how he planned to deal with being a POW for so long. That or bringing up the Rites and the fact that he was an Inuzuka… Neither seemed like a good idea.“I guess it’s better than nothing,” Hito agreed easily. Doremi’s eyes snapped to him and he shrugged. “Can’t say that I love the idea of going back to the field. What’ll I be doing exactly?”“She called them core classes. Taijutsu, ninjutsu and kenjutsu. She mentioned bringing in a rotating staff for supplementation.”“And what about the rest of you?”Doremi spoke up before Ensui could. “Ensui’s program director for however long he holds out. I’ll probably only be involved for a couple years, if that. He’ll be in charge of getting the specialists and community outreach, probably things like class sizes and organization as well. Sanko will be in charge of civics, think history and politics, that sort of thing. Todashi gets the short straw and teaches basic survival and chakra control.”Hito looked surprised. “The Hokage’s agreeing to this?”Doremi rolled her eyes, thinking back to how long the meeting was just earlier today. “Sarutobi is, yes. Has some reservations but he’s acknowledging that your current system is shit, so there’s at least that.”“It’s not great,” Ensui agreed easily. “And I think you’re the only person who could get away with addressing the Hokage as you do.”“Guilt is a powerful entity,” Hito said rather ambiguously. Doremi looked at him oddly while the Nara laughed. The Inuzuka continued with a sigh. “Man, I cannot believe I’m agreeing to work with Hyuuga Sanko. The guys a total ass.”Doremi looked back and forth between the two and realized that the entertainment at least may just make it worth it.