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Having secrets was not an act of treason, unless you were a Jinchuuriki. That exempted you from any defense, immediate execution, say hello. That was why Roshi preferred to stay out of any trouble, and the baby he was currently rocking in his arms was a big problem. He wasn't even really rocking it, its body was still resting in Iwa. It was his consciousness that was there, wanting to soothe a baby wrapped in tears. An inhabitant of Konoha, of all things. A lady-a civilian-supplied his mind, opened the rickety door aggressively.“Shut up!” she slammed the door shut. The baby stopped making noise but the tears kept falling, harder than before. Disgust settled in his chest, hotter than the lava he was known for. How could Konoha dare treat an infant like this?In Iwa —In Iwa they would weaponize him. He looked down at the baby's consciousness, the one in his arms. The child was very young, two or three years old at most. Blond and blue-eyed, with three little marks on his cheeks, betraying that Bijuu was sealed inside him. The son of the Yellow Lightning was the Jinchuuriki of the Kyubi, he lived in a godforsaken orphanage and was treated worse than a vagrant. A typical life for his status, he thought bitterly. “Mooom” The babbling snapped him out of his pessimism. The baby reached up with his hands to grab his beard. “No child, I am not your mother” The boy looked at him blankly. “Moom.”“Anyway” Roshi said pulling the boy away from his face. “What's your name?”“Nar' to” Roshi grimaced. “What do you say creature?” The baby grabbed at the tattered shirt he was wearing. “Naruto” Naruto? The child was obviously neglected, he wouldn't be surprised if he was left for days without food, surviving on the beast chakra alone. Roshi flinched at the rush of air that entered the room. The child in his arms stopped speaking and his consciousness returned to his earthly body. The infant began to laugh as he looked toward a shadow in the corner of the room. Out of it came an Anbu. Automatically Roshi got into a fighting stance, before remembering that he could not defend the infant as it was. But the Anbu only pulled out a couple of formulas made for babies. Dog knelt down in front of the laughing child. “Sorry for taking so long Naruto, I was assigned a multi-day mission that I couldn't refuse” The Anbu gave the bottle to the infant, who started sucking on it immediately. Roshi decided not to think too much of the Anbu. He didn't care about Konoha and its vulnerable babies anyway. The teenager - because his voice couldn't be that of an adult - stood up ready to leave. “Broer” The shinobi stiffened. Roshi approached Naruto as useless as he was. “I can't be your brother Naruto, it's forbidden” The desperate resignation in the guy's voice made Roshi grimace. He couldn't say he knew the sentiment well, but there was a time when he....The masked teenager walked out of the room as if he had never entered and Roshi decided that thinking wouldn't do him any good.Naruto turned to look at him. Blue eyes full of hope were riveted on him. Roshi wasn't going to fall for the obvious deception, he was an Iwa ninja, a jinchuuriki, one of their most prized weapons, he wasn't going to—“I'll be back soon Naruto” He ruffled the infant's blond hair ”I promise.”Unbeknownst to them, that was all the change they needed.The liaison was a union that all the Jinchuurikis shared, a product of the tailed beasts. At first glance it looked like an infinite lake. In the center of the lake was a sort of circle composed of nine smaller circles, each with a number. Fuu liked to play there, the place was practically empty so there were no bumps or kidnapping attempts or diseases. When ordered to sleep, Fuu would make sure to set traps in her room before going to bed to go to the liaison. Subconsciously, Fuu knew that she was not the only one who could enter the liaison, according to the Takikage, there were nine Tailed Beasts so there must be nine Jinchuurikis. And on the liaison there were nine circles with nine numbers. Sometimes the circles glowed, but she didn't know why. In all the time she spent in the room, she never dared to touch any circle other than her own, which was number seven. So when she entered the liaison she was surprised to find another person. It was a young man dressed in some kind of sleeping clothes blowing bubbles .The teenager smiled kindly at her and beckoned her to sit next to him. Fuu got up suspiciously and slowly sat down next to him. Smiling people always wanted something.
“What's your name?” She asked his as the boy blew another bubble and watched its walk away. A true Shinobi never let their guard down. And if he was a Shinobi —Which he had to be, because he was a Jinchuuriki— he wanted to hurt her.
“Utakata. What about you?” the Jinchuuriki continued to stare at the bubbles floating through space. His hair was falling and covering one of his eyes but the other, golden in color, followed each of the bubbles he had created.
Fuu clasped her hands on top of her legs. If she answered him, she would give him information that people outside the village were not supposed to have, but if not, the boy might realize she was hiding something from him. Fuu squared her shoulders. The people in the village didn't care about her name anyway.
“My name is Fuu, and I'll be the best kunoichi you'll ever see!” Utakata hummed and blew another bubble.
“The best kunoichi? That seems like a difficult goal to me, Don't you think?” Fuu folded her arms. Utakata didn't know what she was talking about, most adults didn't. She would be the best Kunoichi, they just had to wait for her to graduate.
“I'll be the best Kunoichi whether you like it or not, weird boy!” Utakata settled down to look at her and lifted the hair covering his other eye. A soft smile appeared on his face.
“Weird boy? Between the two of us, I think you're weirder?” Fuu pouted, but soon dropped it. Ninjas didn't make childish faces.
“What were you doing before I arrived?” The teenager cocked his head, still with the grin on his face. “Blowing bubbles, I thought that was obvious.”
Fuu rolled her eyes. “But why?”
The smile Utaka wore grew more brittle. “I had a friend who really liked them. Besides, it makes Saiken not so restless.”
Fuu rubbed her arms uncomfortably. “Who's Saiken?” Utaka placed a hand on the circle next to him. The number six was engraved there. Fuu opened her eyes wide and covered her mouth.
“The Rokubi!” Utakata nodded. He looked again at the bubbles floating in the liaison. Fuu noticed that his eyes were suspiciously red.
“He's a very good friend” The young man rubbed his chest absently, where presumably his seal was.
“Then why isn't he here?” Fuu didn't understand how anyone could befriend a beast.
“Bijuus can't access this specific liaison unless the elder does.” Fuu looked at the circles in front of them.
“Why?” Utakata sighed.
“Because otherwise, everyone would be fighting against each other with no one looking out for their safety” Fuu watched as Utakata's eyes lingered longer than necessary on the Sanbi's circle.
“How do you know that?” The teenager pursed his lips.
What did she do now? He was angry? She didn't want him to be angry over a question. Fuu knew that questions made people angry, but she couldn't stop saying them....The boy stood up. Fuu's heart stopped. “Wait! Don't go, please” Utakata looked at her. An indescribable emotion flashed through his golden eyes before disappearing. “I'm not leaving forever, I just have to do something outside, like you have to become the best Kunoichi Don't you?” “Yes!” Utakata smiled at her. “Then when I get back I'll have to see if you're living up to what you say” The teenager clasped his hands together inside his sleeves and stood on top of his circle. “I don't plan to go far anyway” With a smile, the young man sank into the mental water. Fuu stood watching the ripples until they disappeared. Someone believed in her dream, she would not let him down. And if Utakata being a Jinchuuriki could be kind, she would be kind to the others as well. And unbeknownst to any of them, that was all the change that was needed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The first time Fuu learned to travel with presence, it was entirely accidental. She had been angry —Furious, said the traitorous part of her mind, she had wanted to destroy everything— with the villagers and, despite the Takikage telling her how horrible it was to be angry and how dangerous it was to leave the center of the village, she couldn't help but run away. She wanted to get far enough away from Taki to leave behind the anger aroused within her by the village, so she ran in no fixed direction, just paying enough attention not to trip. One moment she was meandering through the trees and the next she was running straight into a stone wall. In panic, Fuu tried to slow down, but because of the speed at which she was going she only managed to stumble. She closed her eyes waiting for the blow she was about to hit when she crashed into the wall, but it never came. She opened her eyes, the stone wall was behind her. Did she go through it?But... No one could make themselves intangible and go through things. So how could she...?A ninja flew past, grazing her, before crashing into the wall behind her. Fuu jumped, suddenly alert to her surroundings. In front of her, another ninja was buried up to his head in the earth. A third ninja swung his sword beside her, causing the weapon to pierce her, but instead of cutting her chest, it passed cleanly as if it had sliced nothing but air. What was going on?The sword ninja was intercepted by a river of lava. Fuu closed her eyes to avoid the sight of the burned body and from the heat, she stumbled. She grabbed her arm that had taken the brunt of the impact as she heard slow footsteps coming in her direction. She squinted to catch a glimpse of a... red-haired Dwarf? Seriously, this day couldn't get any weirder even if she wanted it to!“Did you get hurt badly girl?” Fuu scrunched up her face in confusion at the dwarf's question, even Utakata wasn't that weird, and that he spent all his time dressed in sleepwear. The dwarf in question sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Your arm looks like it hurts Is the wound really bad?” The dwarf... Was he worried about her?Fuu supposed that most adults care about children. But the only one who cared about her well-being was Utakata, and he couldn't be with her all the time nor was he an adult, so he didn't count. That the man she had just met cared about her arm was very suspicious. She pulled her arm closer to herself and lifted her chin, as she had seen market ladies do when they wanted to talk in a pushy way. “I'm fine” The red-haired dwarf pursed his lips and sat down across from her. Fuu tensed up. The redhead sighed again. “My name is Roshi” She stared at him. The dwarf —Roshi, apparently— rubbed the back of his hand. “What are you doing here?” Fuu folded her arms, refusing to answer. “How did you get here?” She pursed her lips. “Where were you before?” Fuu bit the inside of her cheek, adults were untrustworthy, they would hurt you if you showed weakness, Utakata, for all his laid back mentality, shared her views regarding seniors. Roshi covered his face. “You're a Jinchuuriki” She instinctively flinched at the word. How did he know?“I don't like that word.”“So you do know how to talk” Roshi folded his arms, mimicking her position. “I don't have to tell you anything” The redhead's expression softened. “No, you don't, but things would be easier if you'd help me help you” Fuu snorted.“No one wants to help me without something in return, so no, I don't need your help” Roshi nodded. He was agreeing with her, what game was he playing?“No one wants to help a Jinchuuriki” Fuu flinched again, Roshi pretended not to notice ”But it means we have to help each other right?” Fuu looked up from the floor. Him? like her? The adult smiled at her. “Yes, I'm like you, and, like you, I can do things like travel with presence.” Travel with what? “Travel with what?” she repeated out of her mind as well. Roshi adjusted himself to sit in a better position. “Presence. That's what they call the state you're in now, to all but other Jinchuurikis you're like a ghost. You can touch us and feel what we feel, but you won't be able to interact with the rest.” Roshi pointed her out “Your body automatically works on the last thing you did with your already acquired knowledge to guide you but you can't travel large amounts of time or someone might hurt your earthly body.”Fuu swallowed saliva. “Travelling with presence is to transfer your presence, worth the redundancy, to another Jinchuuriki” By sheer force of will Fuu forced herself not to shudder again ”The better chakra control you have, the more likely you will be able to control your presence. If you stumbled right now due to lack of senses, when you improve your chakra control, your senses will return. Summonings have something similar, they call it the astral plane and this is intertwined with the blood of the summoner.” Fuu looked at her hands, noticing that they were semi-transparent. “So” She said slowly ‘What can I meet more people like me and control where I go with this Travel with Presence?’ Roshi sighed again, but nodded. Fuu thought Roshi would run out of air if he kept sighing. “Now with that knowledge out of the way what do you call yourself Green Girl?” Fuu gritted her teeth.“Who are you calling Green Girl, old man?” a vein scored on Roshi's forehead. “Who are you calling old then, brat?” Fuu stood up with all her seven-year-old stature. Both Jinchuurikis looked at each other. “Roshi” The man hummed as Fuu wrung her hands.“What if I never get to see you again?” Roshi knelt —Not that he'll need to— in front of her. “Girl, Don't you think you're forgetting something we have?” Fuu looked at him blankly. Roshi placed a finger on her forehead “I can always go over there and wait for you, Or can't I?” The liaison! How could she forget? Literally travel with presence existed because of it. A big grin peeked on Fuu's face. Roshi chuckled. “You must get back before someone finds you. If anyone tries to bully you, beat them. Show everyone that you won't let yourself get hurt” Fuu nodded determined, she wouldn't cry because of people anymore, she would be better, she would be happy. “Now brat, you have to go back to your body” The next time she opened her eyes, she was sitting in a Taki tree. She would stop being afraid, she would start living.