Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. I only own my OC and make no profit from writing this, savvy?
"I'm a great believer in the hereafter, in karma, in reincarnation. It does make sense. I believe that God is not just a law-giver, but a creative artist. The greatest of all. And what characterizes artists is that they want to redo their work. Maybe it didn't come off perfectly, so they want to see it done again, and improved. Reincarnation is a way for God to improve his earlier works."
-Norman Mailer
"Hurry Hotaru. They're coming."
"I-I am-!" she gasped, clutching her precious cargo tighter to her person as she followed closely behind her husband. "We're not going to make it. Takeo is tracking us."
Naoki suppressed a cringe at his wife's words. Hotaru was a brilliant sensor and trained dozens of newly minted shinobi in the craft before the 'Incident' occured. Takeo was among those trainees, Hotaru having dubbed him the most promising sensor to emerge from Konohagakure since the Nidaime Hokage.
Naoki hung his head in despair. He liked to think he was old and wise enough to recognize a Catch-22 when he was presented with one. With a heavy heart he announced their next course of action.
"Hotaru, give her to me."
"What? Why!?" He admired her fierce protectiveness over their daughter but now was not the time to be disagreeing with one another.
"I'm faster," was all he said, heart lodging painfully in his throat at the defeated look in her crimson eyes, knowing what he spoke was the truth. She slowed to a walk, lower lip quivering as she looked at the bundle in her arms.
Hotaru lowered her head, brushing a kiss over their daughter's forehead, whispering something to her Naoki couldn't hear before looking at him with surprisingly dry eyes. "I can buy you time. Not much with how low my chakra levels are but it should be enough to give you safe passage to Konoha."
"I know," he murmured, raking a hand back through his disheveled hair and choking back what would have been a pitiful sob at the thought of Hotaru dying for him.
No, not him.
She wouldn't die for him.
She would die for Her.
Hotaru didn't waste another moment, handing their daughter off to him. He secured the sling around his neck, resting her snug against the front of his flak jacket and cradling her head carefully.
He looked up at his wife, unable to convey what he wanted to say in words and instead hugged her close, pressing a kiss to the crown of her snowy head.
"I love you Hotaru," he murmured, releasing her as she stepped back, resting a hand on her hip.
"I know," she replied impishly, smile all dimples before turning her back to him. "You always were a crybaby Nao."
"You haven't called me that since our ANBU days," he chuckled, scrubbing the tears in his eyes away with his sleeve as she rested her palm on the ground, summoning an abnormally large leopard to her side before it slunk away into the trees.
"You'll be detained at the gates. Tell the guards she is my daughter. They won't let you in but maybe they will take her to my cousin. Her name is-."
"I remember Hotaru."
Her smile became grim when she sensed two chakra signatures slowly creeping their way. "Till next time."
He didn't waste another moment collecting chakra beneath his feet to perform a shunshin, carrying them far from the battle that was about to commence.
He knew as well as she did that there wouldn't be a 'next time'.
Naoki flinched as her chakra signature was suddenly snuffed out like a flame a few minutes later, swallowing thickly before hearing a soft whimper come from the bundle against his chest.
"Hush Mirai," he murmured though she continued crying, soft hiccoughs bubbling past her lips. He wondered if somehow she knew what had happened and after a moment added on a quiet, "I miss her too."
Mirai had always been a surprisingly alert baby. He wanted to attribute that to his family's kekkei genkai, which allowed its wielder to use more of their cerebral capacity than a normal person. It accelerated their thought processes and gave them the ability to quickly assimilate and make sense of large quantities of information. It was a passive ability, certainly not as flashy as some Konoha possessed but he felt it was far more useful than bloody pinwheel eyes.
He had to stifle a chuckle at the thought. It seemed Hotaru had rubbed off on him more than he originally realized.
Call it parental intuition but somehow he just knew his bloodline limit wasn't the cause of her advanced state of mind.
Not half an hour later did the gates of the Leaf Village come into view. He could sense muted chakra signatures in the trees around him, ANBU studying him to determine whether he was a threat that needed to be eliminated.
Naoki slowed to a stop before the gates, not daring to step a foot past them. A few moments' later two chunin keepers came out to meet him.
"State your name and business if you would."
'So cordial,' he mused to himself, lips pressing into a thin line. 'The Leaf nin have gotten too comfortable under the 4th Hokage's reign. I could kill them where they stood and they wouldn't even realize they were dead till their bodies hit the ground.'
Naoki ignored the way his fingers absently twitched towards his shuriken holster (after all; once a ninja, always a ninja) and instead answered as politely as he could, "My name is Naoki Reizei. I am a former Jonin of Kusagakure. My family was recently attacked while en route to your village by a pair of nuke nins-."
"Nuke nins?" the female echoed in surprise.
"Yes. It was my wife's wish that we return to her home village in order to raise our daughter," he replied, shifting said-daughter in his arms when she started getting fussy again.
He noticed the chunin flinch when he did so, hands twitching towards hidden weapons on their persons and had to suppress a chuckle.
'Jumpy little things, aren't you?'
"Where is your wife then, sir?" Naoki gave the male that had asked him that an empty stare.
"My wife was killed by about 18 kilometers outside your village by our pursuers."
To their credit the two Leaf nins didn't even flinch at his hollow words. And to think he had them all pegged as bleeding hearts, save for Hotaru.
"What was your wife's name?" the taller chunin asked, producing a scroll from his hip pouch and unsealing it.
"Hotaru Senju. Her cousin's name is Tsunade Senju."
The Leaf shinobi exchanged uneasy looks before the woman addressed him, "Tsunade Senju severed all ties with the village following the Second Shinobi War. As far as the Leaf Village is concerned she has no allegiance to us any longer."
Naoki grit his teeth, swallowing the lump in his throat at the news. So much for that idea…
He glanced down at Mirai who had chosen that moment to look up at him with dark amber eyes so similar to Hotaru's. Had she been born with white hair Mirai would have been a dead ringer for his wife (he suppressed the urge to wince at his choice of wording).
It was silent for several moments before he gathered his thoughts enough to be able to speak again, "Is-is there really nothing you can do for her?" His voice was barely above a whisper and he hated himself for showing such weakness.
The gatekeepers exchanged looks once more. A moment passed before the male spoke. "We don't have the security clearance necessary to approve such a decision."
"Then can I speak to someone who does?"
"That would be me." Naoki looked up in surprise at the sudden arrival of the village's Hokage. He hadn't even sensed him approaching but if he could then the man obviously wasn't worthy of the title 'Hokage' was he?
The former Grass nin bowed slightly at the waist before straightening. "My name is Naoki Rei-."
"I know who you are," the Yondaime cut him off midsentence. "As a former ANBU member surely you know the hazards of allowing foreign ninjas sanctuary, especially so soon after wartime."
"I do though it's been over a year and a half since the war. Surely you do not hold onto grudges that long, especially against your allies," Naoki managed to say evenly though the Yondaime didn't rise to his bait. "Regardless, I'm not asking for asylum for myself. I just want my daughter to be safe."
"Daughter?" the Yondaime echoed, only then seemingly noticing the bundle he was carrying.
"Her name is Mirai Senju."
At the casual drop of her last name Naoki could practically see the wheels turning in the Yondaime's head as he rested a hand on his hip. The Senju Clan was all-but extinct, the name more prevalent in history books as opposed to bingo books. If word got out that the famed 'Yellow Flash' refused sanctuary to a newborn member of the village's founding clan-
Well, Naoki could only assume it wouldn't go over well for his popularity.
"She has no living family left aside from you." It was more of a statement than a question though Naoki addressed it as such.
"Pretty much," he murmured, feeling a sharp pang in his chest at the thought of his wife. "Since I was just informed Tsunade-hime no longer lives in Konoha."
"She has not been seen or heard from in years," the Yondaime agreed, folding his arms loosely over his chest and examining the child. "She will be subjected to a DNA test to confirm she is indeed a Senju."
"Like I would lie about something like that?" Naoki spat before pulling a deep breath of cool air into his lungs. He'd always had a bad temper but knew throwing a fit would not do Mirai any favors in getting into the village and calmed himself quickly.
"She will be raised personally by myself and my wife until she reaches six years of age. At that time she will be enrolled in our ninja program and allowed to live at the Senju Compound with a caretaker."
"I understand." He hated the thought of Mirai growing up to be another mindless soldier but it was better she grew up that way than not at all.
"For her sake I certainly hope so," the Yondaime replied, nodding to the female chunin. She trotted forward cautiously, extending her arms towards him and waiting to receive his daughter.
Naoki clung tighter to the bundle in his arms, turning his back to the Leaf ninjas. He pressed a kiss to Mirai's forehead, hearing her whimper once more. "Be strong Mirai. Your mother and I love you, don't ever forget that."
She giggled, almost as though she could understand what he had said. With a heavy heart Naoki faced the Leaf ninjas, allowing the woman to take his daughter from him before producing a small scroll. "I know you will investigate what is in this scroll. It is a summoning contract that my family passed down to the eldest child. Will you give it to her when she turns of age?"
"Sure," the Namikaze said, taking the scroll from him and turning it over in his gloved hands.
"Thank you Hokage-sama," Naoki said, sinking to his knees and resting his forehead on the ground in a formal saikeirei. It was degrading but he had no other way to show his appreciation to the man who would save his daughter's life.
"Please stand Reizei-san. Such thanks are unnecessary," the Yondaime said with a soft smile.
Naoki accepted the hand outstretched towards him and stood.
"Thank you again Hokage-sama. Now if you'll excuse me I have some rats to take care of," Naoki trailed off, casting one last longing look in Mirai's direction before a swift shunshin carried him out of the Leaf ninja's sight and his daughter's life.
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Mirai Senju would then proceed to cry for hours after her father left and it was only when ANBU Agents discovered his corpse alongside those of missing nins Juro Ogura and Takeo Aida would they understand why…
This story will contain an OC some will probably consider a 'Mary Sue' by the summary alone. However, I don't think she is though there is a certain level of biasness behind that statement since I am the author after all. The road to being a ninja will not be easy for her by any means. So yeah. I've read a few fics about characters having Rinnegan (That aren't Naruto/Sasuke) and I'm taking immense creative liberties with this one. I hope it works out the way I want it to. If not it was worth a try, right? All I ask is that you read this with an open mind and give it a chance. Your opinions matter me as well. I know there isn't enough information here to form a solid opinion about the story just yet so bear with me for the next few chapters if you'd be so kind. Thanks for reading everyone.