The team arrives at the border of the damaged forest before noon the next day. The air is incredibly thick and the soft breeze sends ash into Bri's eyes. They were still about an hour's walk away from her village, but the insane contrast of burnt landscape and green grass around the affected area made the entire team freeze in awe.

Iruka crouches down to examine the untouched grass "How is this possible? The border is so crisp; doesn't this suggest the fire stopped all at once? That seems highly unlikely given the nature…"

"Yeah, that's what I was telling Bri before we left. Something really strange happened here, the place just feels dangerous," says Yamato as he steps into the charred forest.

The men file in behind him while Bri remains fixated on the tops of the tall barren pines. Her sensitive ears can still hear the crackling of the embers reaching the very tops of trees. Further ahead she notices some higher branches are still burning. The men are so busy looking down at the singed earth they don't notice they're walking right underneath the fire.

"Hey guys! Look up that thing's gonna," before she can finish a loud cracking sound echoes through the forest, the huge branch was beginning to break off "MOVE! MOVE!" she is screaming as she runs towards the team.

Iruka's reflexes are rusty to say the least. The smoldering tree branch hits the back of his leg as he tries to jump to safety. The weight and the heat begin to melt away the bottom of his pants.

Before he can react Bri is by his side, she picks up the burning limb and holds it in her bare arms. With much effort she manages to toss it away and Iruka quickly sits up.

"Are you okay?!" Bri says desperately as she bends down to look at her brother's leg. She touches his exposed skin, her hands are wet and cold.

"I'm fine. Are YOU okay? You just picked up a twenty pound burning branch with you bare hands!" Bri looks as though her heart has stopped beating, she looks down at her hands, there isn't a mark to be seen.

"HEY! What the hell was that? Have you been hiding your jitsus from us this entire time?"

Bri is frozen in place as Kakashi marches towards her "I can explain. This jitsu, I can't control it at all, I just acquired it a few months ago. I have no idea what it is, it's not much, really all it does it protect me from burns."

Kakashi grabs her hands and looks down at her palms "Your hands are cold. What exactly just happened?"

"It's some type of water jitsu, sometimes when I get too close to something hot this water just appears around my arms. It doesn't stick around and it doesn't even work all the time. I've even tried burning myself on purpose to activate it, but nothing happens." Bri looks up at Kakashi and pulls her hands away "I'm sorry, I should have said something."

"Was your mother a water type?" Iruka chimes in, "sometimes extreme stress can cause a jitsu to emerge later in life," He gets up and walks over to the pair.

"No, my mother had no jitsu, unless an incredibly high alcohol tolerance counts." Bri smiles and the guys laugh.

"We have to get to the village as soon as we can, we can talk more later." Kakashi says as he walks back towards the confused Yamato and Sai.

"Did she just perform a water jitsu?!" Yamato whispers to Kakashi as they continue.

"Yeah, but it was extremely weak, nothing to be worried about. Seems like a stress reaction, she must be a late bloomer." Kakashi's eyes reveal his hidden smile.

"She's already twenty three years old; don't you think that's a bit ridiculous?"

"Come on Tenzo, you were a weird kid with some crazy kekkei genkai, you can't really judge her. I mean, she is Iruka's sister, and he still hasn't really mastered any ninjitsu. Maybe the Umino's are just slow,"

He chuckles and looks back at the siblings, "Hey Iruka maybe if you concentrate real hard you can do it too! I believe in you buddy!"

Iruka blushes and shots Kakashi an evil eye, "Fuck you, Hatake."

He turns to his sister, completely softening his tone "You know, there's a really high change your mother actually did have a water nature, maybe she just never channeled it"

Bri laughs "Well she did make damn sure she led a stress free life. You could be on to something."

"The country of fire actually had many water types before the formation of the village system, but do you know why there are virtually none left?"

"…You're going to tell me aren't you…"

Iruka smiles and grabs Bri's shoulder; he sets the scene, waving his hand dramaically in front of them.

"Looooong ago, the Kawa clan ruled those mountains way up ahead of us. At the top of those mountains is a huge glacier, now, during the spring, it melts and floods the valley filling that lake near your village. Back then the clan actually controlled the glacier. They had the ability to summon water from the great glacier at will!"

Bri yawns "Uh huh…"

"Anyway… this power was obviously extremely great, these people could summon raging rivers in a matter of seconds, flood villages, even summon ground water to the surface, and they eventually became afraid of themselves. If one child was to be raised with bad intentions they would have the ability to damage the entire world. So, in order to weaken their power the people decided to only marry outside of the clan. They did this for many generations. Now almost no one is this country posses a water nature, and if you do, even just slightly, it means you are a descendent of the great Kawa clan!"

"Wow, well at least one of my ancestors was cool," Bri replies with a half smile.

"Yup, and they're still up there watching you now. It's a nice thing to remember."

An hour later they enter a vast opening in the forest. The sky is dark gray and the earth is buried in ashes. In the clearing it's silent, there are no trees to creak in the breeze, no rustling of leaves, and there isn't even a bird or a bug in sight. It is so impossibly quiet; the team doesn't even dare to breath. This is the area Bri believes to have been her old home.

"This is it, only a couple of homes had stone walls around them. Those were the Joryoku family houses. Every other place was made of pine. The stone walls can be our map."

"Isn't it kind of short sighted to only make the buildings out of wood where wild fires can get to them?" Yamato asked.

"Well the majority of the town was pretty poor. I'm guessing after the initial attack they all had even less money and were forced to rebuild with whatever they could afford, or chop down. Apparently even the Joryokus' had to rebuild in wood."

Bri began to wander deeper into the devastated town, the rest of the team followed.

Throughout the day they call out for survivors and turn over countless piles of rubble, nothing but bodies are found. The entire afternoon is mentally draining for all of the team. All together they had found almost a hundred bodies and a few of them were children.

Bri's entire body is empty; she feels like a swift breeze might blow her over to the next barren town. As she rounds a large pile of rubble she spots a lone pine tree standing in the distance. It's the tree from her yard, her sensei's final resting place, the only thing still standing on this side of the village.

Bri uses her remaining energy to jog towards it, and she collapses on the inscribed rock, "Sensei! You're still here. I'm so sorry. I really let you down."

Tears stream down her dirty face as she removes her weapons and places them onto the grave. She bows and kneels onto the dirt, "I messed up, big time. The twins, they lost their way, I couldn't help them. I was a coward. They changed so much; I could only help myself. Sensei…I'm a Konoha ninja now. I know about your life there, I know you ran away from it,"

She pauses to catch her breath, a few tears fall from her eyes and wet the ashy ground. She pounds the gravestone with her fist "GOD! I wish someone was here to tell me I'm doing the right thing. What the fuck am I doing?! There's no one left!" She gets up and wipes the dirt from her knees.

"…Bri? Did you find something?" The rare warmth in Yamato voice instantly calmed her entire body.

"Oh, uh, no. I'm just rambling to an old rock and some rotten bones," she turns to him smiling and shaking her head, her voice cracks "I shouldn't have left this place…I have no right to be here now."

She tries to hold back her breakdown but it's no use. Yamato pulls her in, pressing her ear into his chest. She can hear his heart beating; it's steady and loud. She almost wants to just fall asleep. She tries to take a deep breath, but it ends up being a bunch a shallow ones, her breathing is always like this when she's upset, and she hates that. It makes her feel weak. But she doesn't want to pull away, she's so warm, she's so comfortable, she can smell the smoke on his shirt.

"I'm sorry I asked you to come here, this is much worse than I thought. I can't believe this town doesn't even have one fire resistant building."

Suddenly, Bri's eyes snap open and she is freed from the trance of Yamato's beating heart "WAIT! Kitty-san, There's one place we didn't check!"

She pulls away and grabs her weapons off the grave, kneeling down to kiss the stone "Thank you Kinzoku-Sensei," she whispers.

Bri grabs Yamato's hand and starts running toward the rest of the team, "There's a big stone mausoleum down the road, outside of the town. It belongs to the Joryoku family and everyone was afraid of them so no one ever went down there. I bet it's still standing, a lot of people knew about it! Maybe, hopefully, there are some people there."

They're both almost out of breath when they reach the guys "Yo! There's one more place we have to look!"

Five minutes down the dirt road the smell of smoke strengthened. Ten minutes down the road and a warm light could be seen through an ancient stone doorway. Eleven minutes down the road and the team had strapped on their masks and began to hold their breath.

Kakashi was the one to announce their arrival, "Hello? We represent the village of Konoha! We're here to help you, please come out!

Only Bri's ears could pick up the almost silent conversation going on inside. It sounded like a woman and a few different children. No. Maybe it was two women.

The dark empty eyes and unkempt hair of a small boy peer over the stone windowsill, the team stares at him transfixed for a moment, forgetting they are hidden behind painted masks.

The boys eyes widen before he finally speaks, "…forest spirits?"

A sharp whisper cuts the tension "Tamotsu-chan! What are you doing? Get back!"

The boy disappears, a moment later a middle aged woman takes his place. Thick black waves of hair reach down past her shoulders, she's wearing a nurse's uniform. She looks like she's lived about one thousand lives, but somehow that makes her more beautiful.

"Um, hello, my name is Joryoku Sora. I'm so happy you finally found us."

Behind her mask Bri cannot breathe, her sweaty hands are balled into tight fists underneath her poncho.

Bri always thought the twins' mother to be more fragile than a snowflake. Have you ever been so wrong you had to repent in that very moment? Not only had this woman lived through one thousand horrible lives, she had been completely reborn.

Yamato turns to Bri, he watches silently as a bead of sweat falls from her chin to the floor, or maybe it was a tear.

"Sora-san, were happy to see you too. Our mission states we cannot reveal our identities, because the source of the fire is still unknown. My apologies, but it would be better if we could see how many people you have with you." says Kakashi.

"Oh yes of course. I'm making some soup, I'm sure you're all hungry. Please, come in."

Inside the mausoleum a pot of boiling water is the centerpiece. Five children and an elderly woman sit around it on hospital blankets. Without the light of the fire, the room would have been completely dark. Once the team enters, four of the five children move quickly behind the old woman. The only child that remains is the little boy from before.

"Kids you don't have to be scared. These people are some of the best ninjas in the country. They came here to help us. How lucky is that?"

The old woman's face is hard and narrow; she turns away from them with a huff. Two little heads pop out from behind her; they belong to very young, very skinny girls.

"Do you like soup?" One girl says looking directly into the holes of Bri's mask.

Bri finally remembers how to speak "Of course honey, who doesn't like soup on a cold day?"

The little girl laughs and walks over to her "You can have some of mine. I love doggies! Ruff ruff!"

Bri smiles and touches her mask; she forgot she was dressed up like a wolf.

"You have so many children. Where is your husband?" Sai unexpectedly blurts out.

Bri's heart sinks.

Yamato punches Sai in the shoulder, "I'm sorry, the kid has impulse issues," he says.

Sora smiles and sits down next to the pot of soup, "This isn't exactly my family. I'm a nurse; these are the patients from the hospital."

She pulls bowls from a sack and begins to dip them into the pot, filling them each to the rim with chicken broth.

"You know that saying only the strong survive? Well that saying has never once rang true for me," she continued "Here we are, me, the weakest person I have ever known, and them the weakest group of people in all of the village. Somehow we've survived. Isn't that strange?"

"I suppose so…" said Kakashi.

"I'm sorry. I get lost in my head when strange things happen. I was just thinking that maybe we were spared. The fire was very strange. It was like someone had turned on a gas stove to the highest flame and abruptly turned it off. Like nature changed its mind, decided not to kill us today."

"That's exactly what I thought had happened," said Yamato, absentmindedly sitting down right next to the little boy. Sora hands him a bowl of soup, "Sora-san, could you tell us more about the fire?"

"Well, there isn't much to tell. But I did experience this strange feeling right before, I don't know." She motions for Bri to come over and take a bowl of soup. When Bri reaches to grab the bowl, Sora stares at her sweaty hands for what felt like an eternity. Using the slightest pull Bri breaks the woman's grip and moves to sit next to Yamato.

"A strange feeling?" Yamato pried.

Sora let out a sigh "You're going to think I'm crazy, but right before the fire sprang up I swore I could feel my daughter squeezing my hand. I have visions of her often but never something that intense. After, I had this horrible anxious feeling, so I decided to bring the patients out a bit early for their daily walk. Ten minutes later everything went up in flames. I swear every part of the town lit up at once. Thankfully we were close enough to this building."

"Where is your daughter now?" asked Kakashi.

Bri choked on her soup.

"She and her brother ran away around five years ago. I haven't heard for them since." She spoke those words with a surprisingly even tone, like a woman retelling some tired old fable.

Kakashi grabs his bowl and sits next to one of the skinny girls, she scoots two feet in the opposite direction, he pays her no mind, "They ran away?"

"I don't blame them really. The life I gave my children was shit to say the least. I'm sure they ran away because of their father. Honestly there was nothing I could do to protect them, he was a tyrant, and like I said I'm the weakest woman I know."

She stood up and handed the remaining bowls out to the youngsters; Sai included, and scraped the last bit out for the old woman.

She continued, "The cruel irony is, their father was killed a few weeks later. It was a freak accident. Oh, and it was another example of the strong perishing before me."

"He died?!" The words jumped from Bri's mouth before she could control their tone.

Sora just laughed in response, so did the children "I'm glad my story telling still has its strong effects!"

Yamato leans in very close to Bri's ear, he whispers, "Bri, do you need some air?" She nods in response.

Yamato nudges Bri and they both stand up "Excuse me, but we have to have another look around the grounds before it gets too dark. It's protocol."

Kakashi looks through the open doorway toward the fading light outside, he sends the couple a nod of approval and the two leave the building.

Outside in the graveyard of dead trees, Bri could finally breathe again "Kitty-san, I have to tell you something. It's something that woman is probably telling the guys right now."

Yamato glances back at the cold building and takes her by the hand; they walk silently down the road to a lonely stone wall.

"You know her don't you?"

"Yeah, actually I know her very well."

"Did you know her children? …her husband?"

"I left with them."

"Who?"

"Atarashi and Bo. The twins. They studied under Kinzoku with me. When they left the village five years ago… I went with them."

"So… you hadn't been living here before you came to Konoha?"

"No. I came by briefly after the attack last year, but I left right after I saw my mother was killed. No one even noticed I was here."

"Why did you lie to us?"

"They're bad people. I couldn't take care of them like Kinzoku wanted, I was so young. I was afraid if you all knew what we did those past couple of years you would have never accepted me. I was desperate."

Yamato smiled, it was one of those smiles that opens your chest, it blows the ten tons of shit off your shoulders.

"Bri, the Konoha ninjas have more dirty laundry than any other people on earth. I'm sure if you explain this to Kakashi whatever you did will be forgiven. Let's go back; maybe we can talk to him first."

"Don't you even want to know what happened?"

"It can't be any worse than the things us Foundation kids did growing up. I promise you. Of all people, we will understand."

This moment had been played out in Bri's mind countless times. She was taken back, of all the possible scenarios; blind acceptance never crossed her mind.

After a few minutes and some not-so-gentle persuasion Bri and Yamato re-enter the building "It all looks safe out there, we should spend the night here and move on in the morning."

"Right," Kakashi replies "While you were gone Sora here was telling us something very interesting." He turns to the woman who's now cradling the youngest patient in her arms; whoever it was they were still so young you couldn't tell if they were a boy or girl.

She doesn't look up from the sleeping baby, "Where was I? Oh, yes, my children. They were the first Joryoku clan members to be trained in pine ember jitsu in over one hundred years. They studied here under a nice old man known as Kinzoku. The only person in the world sweeter than him was his other student, her name was Umino Bri."