Normally, when Yumi received a mission from that man, she did everything in her power to complete it as soon as was feasible. Unless specifically instructed, she did not take her time with any aspect. When her mission required her to travel, she did so taking as few rest stops as her body allowed. With assassinations, she delivered killing blows as soon as she had an opening. This time, however, she found herself moving near the pace of a snail. Her bare feet dragged in the dirt, ensuring that a trip which should last only five hours would last seven.
She was attempting to give herself time to think.
Once she arrived at her destination, she would be on a time frame. She had been given a list of instructions by that man and a certain amount of time to complete them. She would not have time to contemplate ways that she could sabotage him.
As she walked, she mentally went over every order that she had been given which would prevent her from betraying that man. First, she had been given strict orders not to allow anyone to discover who she was. Second, she had been instructed to ensure that no one discovered that man's true identity once he arrived in the village. Third, she was told to assist his other puppets in keeping their true plans "under wraps." Fourth, she was to follow any and all instructions given by his second-in-command. Fifth, she was not to give Akira any orders which would interfere with that man's plans. While he had full control over her actions, he did not control Akira, so he had to ensure that she could not use him to go against him as she had attempted to do in the past. This meant that, prior to her departure for this mission, that man had forced her to give Akira orders not to tell anyone their plans once they arrived in Konoha.
That man was a lot of things, but foolish was not one of them, unfortunately.
Of course, all of this meant that she was limited in what she could do.
However, she had noticed in the extra hour that she had given herself that at no point had that man said that she was not to divulge his plans to anyone—an oversight on his part which she was hoping to be able to exploit. If someone in Konoha were to uncover his identity or the identity of his puppets on their own, she might be able to disclose a portion of what was to come.
Perhaps she would be able to save more people than she had originally anticipated.
Yumi was pulled from her internal planning by the sound of a menacing growl from beside her. She paused in her slow stride and looked down to where Akira stood, staring to the west, his muzzle raised and revealing a mouth filled with pure white, finely pointed teeth.
"What is it?"
"The brat," he snarled. "I can smell him."
She did not need to ask to whom he was referring. Due to that man's hold on her, Yumi was limited to contact with the rest of his inner circle when not on missions, and there was only one person among them for whom Akira used that term.
She turned to look in the direction that Akira was facing. She did not see anything to indicate that someone was there, but that did not particularly mean anything. So she closed her eyes and focused upon the ever present warmth in her chest. There was a gentle pulsation in her chest before her chakra started to move through her body, down into her feet. She allowed the chakra to pool there until her feet were nearly glowing with the amount of chakra in them. She then pushed the chakra from her body and into the ground, sending it spreading in all directions.
As her chakra moved through the earth, Yumi could sense the movement of a squirrel in a tree three meters to her left as well as a family of rabbits moving through a network of tunnels roughly eight meters to the east.
She allowed her chakra to spread another two meters before calling it back into her body, deciding that there was no one there.
She opened her eyes and, without a word, moved towards a small clearing that she had detected to the west. If "the brat" had been anywhere in this area, he most likely had been there.
As they passed into the clearing, Yumi glanced down to Akira and noticed his nostrils flaring.
She watched as Akira turned and wandered over to a hallow tree at the edge of the clearing. He poked his head through the hole in the trunk, his large tail swaying slightly behind him as he appeared to dig inside of the trunk for something. He retreated after a moment and turned back to face her, a dark blue backpack hanging from his mouth.
She lowered herself to one knee as he approached.
"A gift from the brat, I'm assuming," he reported, dropping the bag in front of her.
Yumi hummed in agreement as she reached forward, unzipping the backpack just enough so that she could see what was inside. She was not all surprised when she saw what it was—a white wig and a bundle of black and white clothing. There was also a container which she recognized as being for contacts, a creation of humans which she had become all too familiar with during her time with that man.
She reached inside, shifting the contents somewhat until she found a dark brown wallet.
"What's that?"
"I believe it is a passport."
Yumi removed the wallet from the bag and flipped it open, revealing a picture of herself with white hair and sapphire eyes. Below was the symbol for Sunagakure, the shinobi village to the west, and a name which she recognized from one of her milder missions.
Akira shifted closer to her. "'Machida Yukiko,'" he read. "Isn't that the alias you used on that mission two years ago?"
She nodded.
"Just how long has he been planning this?" he huffed.
Yumi stared down at the picture, silently wondering the same thing. The persona of Yukiko was one which she had inhabited while on a reconnaissance mission in Sunagakure nearly two years ago. At the time, she had posed as a young kunoichi with little to no abilities—weak, unassuming, and harmless. It was the mildest mission that she had ever been on as that man had only wanted information on the inner workings of the village, such as the chain of command, how their shinobi trained, the ratio of shinobi to non-shinobi citizens, etc. No murders, no plotting, just information gathering.
Back then, she had questioned what that man planned to do with such information, but he had given nothing away. Now, though, she understood.
She closed the passport with a subtle slap, tucking it into her weapon pouch.
"Could you keep watch?" Yumi asked as she began to pull out the remainder of the contents of the bag.
"Of course."
Akira trotted over to the edge of the clearing and sat, staring into the trees as Yumi undressed, stuffing her clothes into the backpack as she went. She stepped into the new pair of black pants that she was provided with, noting a bit uncomfortably that they were the perfect size. It always made her uneasy when she was reminded of how much that man knew about her.
Forcing that thought away, she quickly slipped into the white shirt that she was given. It did not cover her as well as she would have liked, showing off more of her stomach than she was comfortable with. A quick glance down showed that it barely covered the scar on her left breast.
Her fingers trailed over the scar, her eyes becoming dull as she thought back to the event which caused the scar.
Before she could delve too far into the memory, she shook her head and knelt down to grab the black jacket that had been left for her. She pulled it on and was glad to see that it covered most of what the shirt left uncovered.
After that, it did not take her long at all to don the wig and colored contacts, practiced as she was. Unlike the shinobi of this world, her people did not have the ability to alter their appearance with chakra. Instead, she had to rely on more conventional methods. In some ways, she envied the ability to change one's appearance with a simple gesture. However, her work for that man normally required her to maintain her disguises for long periods of time. She was certain that such a thing would eat up quite a bit of chakra. Not to mention any disruption could cause the guise to fall away.
As tired as this method was, she at least had more control over her appearance this way.
"Finished?" Akira called over.
"Yes," she replied.
The wolf returned to her side as she zipped up the backpack, ensuing that her mask and clothes were tucked safely inside. It would be some time before she could discard this persona, but the time would indeed come and, when it did, she would need the mask more than ever.
Nearly another hour passed before Yumi and Akira found themselves standing outside the gates of Konoha.
Yumi stared up at the gates, a sense of nostalgia bubbling in her stomach. It had been eighteen years since she had seen these gates. Back then, this had been the first village that she had ever seen. She had seen more villages since then and had obviously grown quite a bit, but the gates didn't seem to have gotten any smaller. They were just as towering and awe inspiring now as they were when she was a child.
"So this is it, huh?" Akira mused.
She did not answer, preoccupied as she was by the flashes of memory going across her mind's eye. As before, voices spoke from her past, almost overlapping in their haste to be heard.
"You're more than welcome to come back to our village with us."
"Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of having a guardian in my village?"
"You're a guardian?"
"What's a guardian?"
"That's so cool!"
"Good luck."
"Idiot."
"Could you teach me?"
"Are you alright?"
"What are you doing here?"
"One doesn't need permission to come home."
"Would you like to join me?"
"Go back. You'll just get in the way."
"You've never had ramen?"
"Spar with me."
"This is as much your home as it is mine."
"Forever…"
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, forcing the images and the voices back to the furthest corners of her mind. Now that they were here, she could feel the collar around her neck tightening, reminding her of her purpose. The last thing that she needed to do was become distracted with memories.
She moved through the giant archway, Akira bounding along beside her, his crimson gaze shifting from one thing to another as he took everything in.
They had not taken more than five steps before they were stopped by a voice calling out to them.
"Excuse me!"
The two stopped and turned as a young man approached them from a stand which Yumi had not noticed, as distracted as she had been. The man was young, approximately the same age as Yumi, with chin-length brown hair combed over his right eye. He wore a dark blue bandanna with the Konoha forehead protector stitched to the front.
The man stopped only a few steps away from them, his gaze bouncing between Yumi and Akira. His apprehension was not lost on Yumi as he observed the large wolf next to her. She silently commended him, however, at how quickly he was able to gather himself, turning a pleasant smile on her. "Good evening, ma'am! Is there something I can help you with?" he asked, his tone warm and welcoming.
Yumi turned to face the man properly, head bowed as she fell easily into her persona. "Oh, of course. My apologies, sir," she spoke with honest contrition in her voice. She reached into her weapon pouch, her movements slow and deliberate as she pulled out her passport.
The man accepted it, flipping it open.
"My name is Machida Yukiko," she introduced herself as he read over her information. "I am here for the Chunin Exams."
The man looked up from her passport, recognition in his eyes at her false name. "Oh, right. We've been expecting you." He closed the passport and handed it back to her. "You're the representative for Sunagakure, right?"
"That is correct."
"My name is Kamizuki Izumo," he supplied, his hand out in front of him for her to take. "I was assigned to be your escort."
Yumi clasped his hand firmly, momentarily distracted by how his tan skin contrasted greatly with her pale skin. She gave the man a gentle smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Izumo-san."
"Please, just Izumo is fine."
"Then please refer to me as Yukiko."
Izumo nodded. "Right." He pulled his hand from hers, using it instead to motion her to follow him as he turned towards the village. "If you'll follow me, I'm supposed to show you where you'll be staying."
"Of course."
Akira stayed close to her side as they followed Izumo into the village, near enough that she could feel his body brushing against her leg. She glanced down at him to see his gaze bouncing from one person to another as they walked amongst the large crowds of Konoha. There was no malice in his eyes, however, simply curiosity. They had been in other villages before, yes, but none as large as Konoha. Even Suna, which was close to matching the grandeur of Konoha, did not have as many citizens wandering its streets at any given time.
"Have you ever been to Konoha before?" Izumo asked.
"Yes," Yumi answered honestly, "when I was a child."
Izumo smiled over his shoulder at her. "Well, I'm sure not much has changed," he said.
She nodded to his statement, watching as he turned back around. She stared at his back for a moment before he gaze shifted to the mountain overlooking the village, to the faces watching over the citizens. Her attention focused on one particular face, one which had not been there the last time that she was in Konoha, and her heart constricted in her chest.
No, Izumo. Actually, quite a lot had changed.
