Disclaimer: Naruto and Bleach belong to their respective owners.

A brown-eyed woman scowled in the shadow of the Hokage Tower. She leaned against one of the thick-branched trees native only to Fire Country, staring at the weak, flimsy wood wall of the tower and imagining the red paint was fire raging up its surface. She felt like she was burning up already anyway, so it wasn't difficult. How did these people stand it? Her home's climate was harsh at times, she was more than willing to admit, but at least it didn't feel like a pressure cooker even in autumn.

Her chest ached at the thought. The pain barely registered, it being nothing compared to what she had suffered through just a few days earlier, but she glanced down anyway. As it had since it first appeared, the sight of the chain extending out of her body made her anger flare up again. The chain itself only unsettled her, the way the heated metal came out of her flesh as if it was a part of her making her want to try yanking it out again as she had that first day. The thing that truly bit deep, though, was what she knew it signified.

The other end of the metal links went into the ground, passing through grass and soil to end up at something she could neither see nor reach on the other side. She could guess what it was attached to, though.

She looked back up, at the people entering and exiting the building, and at the gutless civilians and monsters bustling about on the street across from the tower. Not a single one so much as glanced at her. They went about their worthless lives, uncaring of the atrocities being carelessly committed beneath their feet.

About the same as home, honestly. Replace all the frilly plants and mushy loam with good, solid rock and tough little shrubs, fix the buildings out of sturdy brick instead of dead trees, cool the temperature down by about forty degrees and take out all the humidity, have the street-side vendors and restaurants sell actual food instead of whatever bizarre variations of slime mulch they were currently hawking. (She saw a child happily licking at what looked like a weeping yellow eyeball balanced on a cone made out of tree bark—she wouldn't put it past them, not when she kept seeing them munch on actual honest flowers as if they were candy—and spared a moment to glare ineffectually at the mother who apparently condoned this.) Do all that, and outwardly at least it might look a bit like home.

She let herself slump to the ground, then looked between the leaves at the white puffs of clouds floating overhead without the slightest care. Anywhere the wind blew was a part of their domain. They had no chains or mortal lives to hold them back from going wherever they willed, and yet they never strayed from the blue folds of the sky.

She wondered if these same clouds had passed over her home in their wanderings. If they had, then maybe Tsuboku had seen them too—

Her chest burned.

The feeling passed in less than a second. Snarling, she grasped the chain in clenched fists. Enough of this! She had been tied down here for long enough, she would not spend any longer in this viper's nest that had seen to the deaths of so many in its walls!

But before she could pull the blasted thing out, a small hand came down to rest on her arm.

At any other time, she would have drawn a kunai and cut the offending appendage off. Taken by surprise in the middle of an enemy village while she wore the standard chunin garments of a ninja from Hidden Stone, it was an instinctive reaction and the only reasonable one.

At any other time, she would have done that. But now, she only stared at that child's hand and remembered another boy tugging at her sleeve with hands just like that.

The boy beside her at that moment wasn't Tsuboku, didn't even look remotely like him, but that brief hesitation was just long enough for rational thought to kick in and override the natural reaction. The boy was bent over panting, his spiky yellow hair hiding his face in that position, and he seemed to be using her arm as much for support as anything else. Hardly threatening.

He was dressed in the strangest clothing she had ever seen: an austere black robe somewhere between adorable and comical on a body that small, trimmed in bright orange and with a sash of the same color tied around the middle. There was a single kunai tucked beneath that belt, the handle wrapped in—it seemed to be a recurring theme—orange cloth. He was leaning on her with his right hand, so if he wanted to take it out he would have to either shift his weight off her first or reach across with his other hand, both extremely obvious movements that she would notice the moment he tried.

And she could stop him before he finished. She could touch him! He could touch her! She searched him for a chain—maybe it was hidden under his robe? Or was it just a feature unique to her?

He finally managed to catch his breath and straightened up. The first thing she noticed about his face was his eyes, which were a startlingly clear blue. It was well-known that, while her village hated all Fire Country citizens equally, Leaf ninja with blue eyes and blond hair carried a special place in their hearts.

But she was inexplicably glad to see that outside of eye color the boy had very few similarities to the Leaf's devil. Even accounting for the baby fat, his features were softer, and he had what seemed to be a clan marking in the form of three thin lines on either cheek that put her in mind of whiskers.

"Made it in time," he said, still huffing. He was definitely talking to her. The last time anybody had talked to her was when... a while ago. "How long have you been here, neesan?"

She didn't know how long she had been in Konoha for, but she didn't think he was asking about that. Either way, she brushed aside his question. He seemed to know something about her (their?) situation, so she should get whatever information she cou— she should politely ask for whatever information he was willing to give.

"Are you... like me?" she questioned.

"Kinda, but not really," said the boy. "I'm hard to explain, I don't totally get it myself, 'ttebayo. But you know what you are, neesan, right?"

She gave a stiff, jerky nod, her eyes involuntarily finding the chain again.

"Oh, good," said the boy. He paused for a second, and then she couldn't help but tense when sat down next to her, staying at a distance just shy of contact. "A lot of them won't believe it. It's hard, and it hurts, but hiding from the truth doesn't help anyone. If you accept it you can try to fix it."

Fix it. There was no fixing this situation for her. When she saw herself sitting in the hated metal chair, jaw slack and head lolled to the side, her fingers and bare toes still giving little twitches and kicks as the poison coursed through her body, she had tried, she had tried so hard, and she might as well not have for all the results she garnered.

"What's your name, kid?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage!" he announced.

The tone he used was more appropriate to statements declaring the color of the sky, so it took a moment for the words to register. He spoke again before a laugh could bubble out of her throat. "How 'bout you, neesan?"

The mirth stayed even through her next words. "I'm Kyoro Ran, and I'm dead. Nothing as grand as becoming Hokage."

"What if you weren't dead?"

Well, if that wasn't obvious. "If I weren't dead I'd burn this rotten village to the ground."

Uzumaki startled. "Why?"

"Same reason as a forest fire. Kill everything and maybe the next one'll learn better." She bared her teeth. "This village as it is doesn't deserve to live."

The boy stared at her, uncomprehending. She didn't regret disillusioning him from whatever cotton candy fantasy-land he'd built his home up into in his mind as she gestured sharply towards the street. "Look at that. All smiles and sunshine, is that what you think this place is? Is that what you think a ninja village is? Konoha pretends it's nice and friendly but under the surface you're just as bad as us, the only difference is you're better at hiding it! You're going to lead the monsters in this hellhole? Go ahead! Please do! I wish you the best of luck! And I hope Stone kills every last damn one of you in the next war!"

Uzumaki's eyes were wide, but his expression was as if he had just realized something important. She scowled at him, wondering if he had even listened to her or if she had been talking to air again, same as she'd done for the past four days.

"Is that what you want?" he asked seriously. "Would it make you feel better if that happened?"

"Yes!" she snapped through the sudden terrible ache in her chest. "Yes it would!"

He cocked his head to the side, regarding her through eyes the same shade as Konoha's devil had sported. Finally, he said, "Okay."

She blinked. "What?"

"It'd make you happy, right, Ran-neesan?" Uzumaki said. He stood up, coming barely past her head. "I can affect the living world a little like this, 'ttebayo. Not a lot, but it doesn't take a lot of force to cut a person. They can't cut me back, either. So..." He considered, then nodded. "I can do it."

She gaped at him. Did he know what he was saying? No, he was at least six, that was more than old enough to understand death and stealing lives. He understood every word that had just come out of his mouth, and he meant just as many of them.

Uzumaki took a step towards the street. She recovered enough from her shock to snag his wrist before he could go any further.

He looked over his shoulder in surprise. She swallowed through a dry throat and said, not at all hoarsely, "You don't even know me, Naruto-kun."

"I know what'll make you happy," said the child.

She looked past him, to the content people living their normal, burdened lives who made up the bustle on the street. She remembered the metal chair and the stink of her own blood and pain and helpless rage, and wondered how many of those people living normal lives knew that a woman had died beneath their feet four days ago as they laughed and traded gossip with each other. She wondered how many of those who knew cared.

Then she brought her gaze back to Uzumaki, and even though they looked nothing alike at all she couldn't help but think of a brown-eyed boy in Stone who tugged at her sleeve when he spotted a rare lizard on a wall and got into fights with older bullies who went after his best friend and chased her around the flat after she picked all the green candies out of the jar. He would care when she didn't come back. He wouldn't cry, he had promised his father he would be the man of the house and according to him real men didn't cry, but he would care.

"No," she croaked. "That's— not what I want."

"But you said—"

"No. I... I say things I don't mean sometimes, okay? It's a bad habit, don't copy me. Sit down."

She dragged him back to the ground. He complied without resisting.

"It doesn't have to be that way," he said fiercely, leaning forward. "There's no reason what you see of Konoha right now can't be the full truth. Smiles and sunshine, like you said. The shadows only exist because we let them. I'll change it when I become Hokage. This village will never have to hide anything ever again."

She smiled weakly. His earlier offer had been enough of a shock that even these heretical claims couldn't touch her anymore. "I'd like to see that."

"You will," he said. "Not in this life, but I promise you will, 'ttebayo, and I never go back on a promise!"

"I believe you," she said, and was surprised to find it wasn't totally a lie. He'd try, if nothing else.

"But that can't be all," said Naruto. Good graces, there was more? He'd only just pledged to dismantle the system their entire world was built upon, how could there possibly be more? "What do you want, Ran-neesan?"

She could only shake her head. She thought she had wanted revenge, but when someone had handed it to her on a silver platter she had turned it down. What did she want? Did she want anything at all? She was dead, after all. What could a dead person want?

Uncle Tsuba had wanted something. Lying on the hospital bed, his breath dusting a bone-white frost against the respirator, he had asked for—

"Tsuboku," she whispered. Her chest ached, and she half-thought she saw the chain stir at the sound.

"Tsuboku," Naruto repeated. He treated the name gently, as if it was a priceless heirloom she had entrusted to him. "Is he your family?"

"My cousin," she said. My brother. My son.

"It's gonna be a long wait, but you'll see him again if it's what will make you happy," said Uzumaki. "You'll see each other whenever he finally decides to join you."

She looked him in the eye. "Promise me."

"I promise," said Naruto. "I'm not allowed to tell you how the afterlife works, but you'll know it's the truth when you get there."

"You mean this isn't the afterlife?"

"You're a spirit who doesn't have powers or a physical body right now, Ran-neesan," said Naruto. "That's really, really not normal. Most people just move on. They don't linger unless they have regrets that can't be fulfilled," he made a vague gesture, "after. "

"You aren't human," she guessed. He knew far too much. "What are you?"

He grinned. "I'm the future Hokage, 'ttebayo! But we're helping you right now, so don't change the subject. There has to be something else you want."

"I can't think of anything," she said.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Do you know what your chain is tied to?"

"It's tied to..." She trailed off. Just fifteen minutes earlier she had been certain the thing led down to the iron chair, but now she was less sure.

The boy got up again and gripped the chain loosely. She shivered at the contact without knowing why. "Wait here and whatever you do, don't pull on it, Ran-neesan."

Then he closed his eyes, face scrunching up in concentration, and between one blink and the next he had vanished on the wind.

Something on the other side pulled then, but unlike every time she had tugged on it herself this didn't elicit any pain. She watched as her legs sank into the dirt, followed by her torso and her shoulders and her neck. She got one last glimpse of green grass right in front of her face before she was entirely underground.

It was nothing like traveling through the earth on her own. For one, she had no control over her momentum. On top of that, she didn't need to breathe, her passage didn't disturb the soil, and she couldn't tell what was happening on the surface or around her. All of her senses were muted entirely.

The journey ended before she could really start panicking. She landed on her feet in a long, freezing cold, dimly lit room whose only decorations were cabinets lining the walls and identical, evenly spaced tables laid out in rows across the entire area. Nearly all of the tables had a lumpy object on them covered by a thin sheet. It didn't take any imagination to figure out what was underneath them.

The only living people there—well, for a certain definition of living, anyway—were her and Naruto. They stood beside one of the tables. Her chain led beneath the sheet, to what she could tell was the head.

"It's alright if you don't want to look," said Naruto, sounding uncertain for the first time.

She took a deep breath, reached for the sheet, and lifted. Her fingers passed right through the cheap fabric without so much as making it shift.

"Okay then," said Naruto. He clenched both his own hands around the rim and pulled back with a monumental effort, digging the immaterial heels of his straw sandals into the floor for purchase. It took a few moments, but finally, after much grunting and heaving, the sheet slid back enough to reveal Kyoro Ran's face.

Seeing her own blank features made her feel uncomfortably empty, so she looked instead for the other end of the chain.

When she saw what it was, she froze.

The chain itself was tarnished and rusting on that end, the links eaten away nearly to the point of disconnection. It wrapped tightly around the metal plate of her forehead protector, entirely concealing the symbol of her home beneath it.

Her home...

Her last regret. In retrospect, it was painfully obvious.

"I want to go home."

She knew it was impossible even as she said it. She was chained to Konoha, trapped at the site of her death as an invisible wisp. She couldn't even lift a sheet thin enough to see through. Going home wasn't an option anymore.

Something broke inside her. On her corpse, the other end of the chain began to dissolve in earnest, red-crusted iron flaking away little by little to dissolve against her forehead protector.

"Ran-neesan!" A child's panicked voice tried to penetrate the haze that began to surround her mind. "Neesan!"

Someone yanked at her sleeve. She looked down. Though oddly distorted, the boy looked somehow familiar. She cast her mind through the fog clouding her memory, through the pain that felt like there was a hole being gouged out of her heart, and tried to remember. This was important. The boy, whoever he was, was important. She had to know his name.

"Tsu..." she started, and then stopped. Her voice sounded different, almost as if there were two of her speaking just slightly out of sync—maybe there were, there did seem to be that many of her. The one who was her, and the one lying on the table as if she was—

—sleeping. She was sleeping. Eyes closed, breaths light ( enough so that she couldn't hear them, couldn't see the chest rising and falling beneath the thin blanket), features relaxed, what else could it be?

Another tug on her sleeve, more urgent this time. The name, yes, she had to remember the name. She couldn't forget. She could not forget. It was... "Tsu... Tsubo— ku. Tsubo... ku. Tsuboku. Tsuboku."

"Neesan," said Tsuboku. He sounded scared. That wasn't right. He shouldn't sound scared. Tsuboku couldn't sound scared. She wouldn't let him, she wouldn't let anyone, was it those bullies again those doctors they dared she would kill she would ea—

"Neesan," said Tsuboku firmly. She broke off whatever unimportant train of thought she had been following to listen attentively. "Neesan... I'm Tsuboku. You— you got home from a mission. Your mission. Just now, you got back from it. You promised we could go out for dinner. For... ramen. You promised ramen, and you never go back on a promise, especially not a promise about ramen, 'ttebayo! Where are we going to get ramen?"

Ramen? Tsuboku usually dragged her to a different pizzeria every time she got back from a mission that lasted more than a few days, but if he wanted ramen today then they were damn well getting ramen.

"There's a small cafe near the Academy," she said slowly, trying to remember. "One tower to the west, two levels down from the crossing. Next to the dango place. Mako-sensei took our team there once. Ruichi ordered ramen, I think. He said it was good, but they skimped on the beef."

"What did you order?" asked Tsuboku.

"I don't know," she answered. That wasn't acceptable. Tsuboku looked up to her, she couldn't not know something! "It was years ago, we were all still genin, Ruichi was still alive even, I can't remember, I'll remember in a second just I need a second I'll remember—"

"It's okay, Neesan, it's okay, I was just curious," said Tsuboku. "It's not important. Don't worry about it. What does the cafe look like?"

"It's— it's a cafe," she said, bemused. What did any cafe look like? It was dark and shady, the kind of place Mako-sensei with his cat eyes favored, and thick with aromas. Round, wobbling tables and stools filled the space. Every table had a metal carton with disposable bamboo chopsticks and every other table had a bottle of soy sauce. The staff were disinterested—they set down the food, they went back to the kitchen or the front, the ones in the kitchen chatted amiably with each other as they worked whenever the boss was manning the counter. There were a few seats outside, too, these slightly less unbalanced than the indoor ones. It was shabby, but the food was honest, edible Rock Country fare, and it offered all the traditional dishes as well as a few more recent ones, the latter category being the one pizza and ramen belonged in.

"We're at the front gates," said Tsuboku. The southeast gate, set at ground level and easily visible and defensible from nearly any part of the village. "How do we get to the cafe?"

From there he guided her through the entire village. They had dinner, and then they explored. All their favorite parks, her old team's homes, the Academy, what seemed like every place in the village that sold desserts (she sneaked off in the middle without telling him to pick up more money from the flat), Tsuboku's friend Tokage's apartment, Uncle Tsuba and Aunt Mimi's graves, her own parents' graves, the missions office, the Tsuchikage's office (they were let in without a fuss once she told them it was because of Tsuboku), the training grounds she frequented. At one point it started sleeting while they were in a park, and while taking shelter under a pavilion they bumped into her old friend from the Academy who she hadn't seen or spoken to since they got sorted into different teams by the graduation exam.

Somehow they made it home just before it got dark. Tsuboku was still hungry, so they made both of their favorites—trout pizza for him, gooseberry crumble for herself. They relaxed at home until she decided it had been long enough since their last meal to take showers. Finally, they went to bed.

She blinked, and she was back in the storage room. The body was covered up again. The only person with her was Naruto.

It didn't matter. For just a few hours she had been back home, and that was enough.

With bated breath the young soul reaper watched the spirit of his home village's enemy fade away. Only when even the outline had vanished did he let himself collapse into a shaking huddle on the ground. He buried his face in his knees to wait for the cold fear that had filled his heart the last five hours to ebb away.

"I didn't know if that would work," Naruto whispered. His throat burned, and he swallowed back the tears before they could escape. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so scared. "Her chain was gone at the end, I could see the hole."

"What are you whining for? You caught it before that happened."

"But it was so close. She nearly—"

"Are you a parrot? Quit spouting 'nearly' like it's a free excuse to give me a headache, ne? We managed it. Somehow. That's all that matters."

He laughed shakily. As if his zanpakuto hadn't been just as anxious as him about the decay slowly creeping up the chain and the way Ran's voice couldn't decide whether it should echo or not.

"She wasn't a bad person."

Naruto rubbed the water out of his eyes and looked up. From where he was, he could only see the bottom of the cold metal table that held an Iwa chunin's corpse.

No. She wasn't.