Filler chapter! We get to meet more of the Kimura family here, and we also get to see one of my favorite characters! Welcome Gaara!
I only own the Kimura!
In the end Zabuza and Haku decided to stay in Wave and see how things panned out, though they did mention coming to the Konoha for a visit some time. I was hoping to see them soon. It was nice to meet them, and damn was it wonderful to save them. I've been worrying for years that time is set and nothing will change it, but with that one encounter, that one conversation I learned something very important.
I can make a difference.
I do feel bad about making Ren go and get Gato, but to be honest he's a better ninja than I am. Which isn't to say I'm bad at what I do, on the contrary I'm pretty good at my job. But because of the morals instilled within me from 'before' I have certain issues that keep me from killing without mercy. I can, if need be, kill a man, but I can never be as nonchalant as some of my co-workers about it. Ren knows this, he understands the problem, if not the reasoning behind it, and he's usually pretty good about helping me. So it's usually okay.
The journey back to Konoha was uneventful, except for the near constant pestering for stories about Kushina and the grumbled insults of the Uchiha. I offered to tell embarrassing stories about Him but Sasuke just turned his nose up at it. That arrogance was going to get him killed one day, I can just feel it.
The walk back was peaceful, just the green trees and the dusty road to accompany us. It was boring. I almost missed the stupid puddles of water that didn't make sense.
When we got back it wasn't much better, just paper work, paper work, paper work. That's what happens when a mission escalates in rank and there's no way to get the money from the people who hired you. In the end the village reimburses the shinobi involved for their efforts, but that is a little known fact, for obvious reasons. So we got paid for an A rank mission, got to save a bunch of people, and I learned that time is not set in stone.
All in all a good job done.
The Kaneko clan is dead, except for my brother and myself. We technically own property in Kumo thanks to this fact, but the chances of us actually going to claim is are next to none. The Kekkai Genkai will most likely die with brother, seeing as neither of us have much of any interest in starting a family. I have too much to do and Ren, well to be honest I think Ren worries that his kid might end up like us.
Parent-less.
So yeah, the Steel Release, or Kōton, will probably end with my darling brother.
The Kimura Clan, if you can even call it that, isn't very different. It is old to be assured, dating back to the time of the Second Great Shinobi World War, but there are no special clan techniques to be passed from generation to generation, no super-powered genes to make us invincible, just a minor natural resistance to mind based attacks. In my case this manifests as an actual immunity to Genjutsu's. There are few Kimura left, never a major clan, never very powerful, and now very near extinct. All that remains is Ren and I, plus a branch that includes our two twin cousins, our fathers twin brother, and his youngest daughter. Their mother, a civilian by birth and occupation, died in childbirth, along with the youngest' twin.
Did I mention that that half of our family has a freakish number of twins?
Our Uncle Isshin Kimura is doing his best to raise his three daughters on his own with a chunin's salary, plus help from Ami and Yui's genin pay checks, but he could probably use some help. Aoi is the youngest, and just started the academy, so she won't be helping out much for awhile. We've never been particularly close to our cousins, to be honest I think we remind Isshin a little too much of our father for him to be confortable, but he was there to help with the funeral preparations for our mother.
Now it may come as some surprise, or no surprise at all, that just as the Ino-Shika-Cho combo has been battle tested and repeated throughout history, so has the Kimura Twin pair up. Due to the unusual bond that twins share with each other, be it as simple closeness or telepathy with one another, they are almost always put on the same team. When Ren and I were genin I didn't realize we had been placed on the same team because of that. It was actually something of a common happening that twins compliment each others abilities and work well in sync, at least in our family. In my case Ren was the brawn and I was the brain, to put it bluntly. The same holds true for Ami and Yui, who had graduated the year before Naruto as classmates of Neji Hyuuga, Tenten, and Rock Lee. They match up so well that most of the time they don't (think that they) need any outside help.
So it came as a surprise when, nearly two weeks after our mission with Team 7, Ami came running up to Ren and I as we left the grocery store. Her face was red, her breathes were shallow, and there was blood pooling through the yellow of her sleeves, her purple vest torn at the bottom and rips in her grey pants. There were all to familiar scores on the backs of her hands and not a second later Yui came charging up as well, in about the same shape. Yui's attire consisted of inverted colors of Ami's, a yellow vest, purple sleeves, and brown pants. They wore their Hetai-ate as necklaces.
Their teammate, a boy named Kashike, was near collapse as he joined them. If I remember correctly Kashike's family had moved to Konoha from Suna about six years before, and while there was a niggling feeling of recognition that said he had been seen 'before' there was no burst of information, meaning he wasn't of any consequence. Kashike was, for one reason or another, a skittish boy, that freaked out whenever we Kimura spoke as one or whenever something even remotely different happened. It wasn't a good thing, but whatever. If he couldn't handle it he would either drop out or die. The whole team was very non-descript to look out. Kashike was brown haired and dark eyes, and the girls were black, borderline blue haired and blue eyes, a trait we had from both our father and mother. With the crazy colors (Red, Orange, Pink!) that hair could be in this universe they would hard to spot in a crowd.
Ren reacted to the sudden appearance first.
"What's up?" he asked, and Ami managed to suck in enough air to blurt out a jumbled mess of words that any none ninja would never make out. Even with ears like mine I only got 'missions', 'cat', and 'demon' before she was scrambling to grab the water bottle Ren pulled out of our bags.
"So you guys got the Tora mission," I concluded. There were horrified looks and nods as the children slowly regained the ability to breath. Tora, the Demon Cat, the Cat That Won't Die, was the enemy of every ninja raised in the Hidden Leaf. A violent, aggressive cat that hated indiscriminately and had somehow managed to last through three generations of ninja.
Getting that mission was the dread of every genin team and the sadistic hope of every jonin teacher. Their teacher, Riichi, was laughing as he walked up behind them. Riichi was a nice man from what I knew, laid back and a decent instructor. In about three years he would also lead a team in search of Akatsuki, and live through it.
"Having trouble there?" he asked, standing by us when Kashike's legs finally gave out. It was clear to see he wasn't a clan kid. Clan children tend to have bodies that had adapted and evolved through generation to be better shinobi. Naturally better built, stronger, faster, quicker reflexes. Depending on if it was a big, old clan was also a factor in how naturally able a person was. Kimura was a minor clan, Kaneko had been a major clan, so Ren and I were very well put together for the life of a ninja, Ami and Yui too. Kashike, not so much.
"You got them going after Tora?" I began.
"That's a bit cruel don't you think?" Ren patted the boy on the head, smirking all the while the water bottle was being passed around.
"They've been genin for over a year now, they can handle it. It'll be nothing compared to the chunin exams," the jonin dismissed, and Ren and I snickered quietly while the children groaned.
"You're entering them?" Ren asked, and Riichi nodded.
"Even if they don't make it in it'll be good practice for them."
His logic was sound, and after the reason for their initial appeared was brought to light (Tips on how to catch Demon Cat Tora) they were sent off to complete their missions with no help provided from either me or my brother, though we did walk off with Kashike when the three split up to look. The brown haired boy re-did his spiky pony tail and moved slowly, looking around with weary eyes for his target while we watched with amusement. He was going the same way our apartment was, so it more on the road entertainment than helping.
Suddenly he stopped, froze for a second, and started shaking violently. My twin and I looked at each other before moving forward, stepping in front of the boy. He stared directly through us, his mouth open and expression one of horror.
"Kashike?" I asked carefully, snapping my finger in front of his eyes. He flinched violently and stumbled back, his eyes meeting mine. He was terrified.
"H-he's here. He's supposed to be there but he's here," the boy choked out, stumbling backwards. Just as Ren moved to grab him he shot off like a rocket, moving faster than I'd even known was possible for someone with legs that short, screaming the entire time.
I voiced my thoughts at the same time as Ren did.
"What the hell?"
It was hours later that I would realize why he had been so scared. Ren and I had put our things away and while he got started trying out a new recipe I went out to get a new book for the ever growing collection that occupied my room. I had given my copy of the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi to Naruto once we had gotten beck, explaining that it was his name-sake and had been signed by the very powerful ninja that had written it. As such, I was in need of a new one. The woman in the book store had looked mildly discontent that I was in Jiraiya's section of the store, which really was made almost entirely of porn. When I had come out with a nondescript book she had seemed surprised, but no longer gave me a dirty look when my back was turned as I was leaving the store.
On the way back I made the next to last turn to get to the apartment and found myself choking on multi-colored smoke. I hacked and wheezed it out of my lungs and waved it away from my face, waiting until it cleared away to take in the scene before me.
"You said you'd play ninja with us!" it was Konohamaru, blue scarf and goggles adorning his face. To either side was Udon (who names their kid after noodles?) and Moegi, also with goggles on.
Ah, so it was 'that day'. I had run into all three before, and already sorted out all of the relevant information the encounter gave me for later use. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and several others this trick didn't work on. If it did I'm sure my mind would have melted with the attack of future events/memories.
As I was contemplating this Sakura appeared, and was quickly accused of being Naruto's girlfriend. She did not take that well. Poor kid. As she punched him into a wall the girl ominously green and I finally had enough of her violent outbursts at the boy.
"Sakura!" I barked, interrupting Konohamaru's speech about how great the ramen lover was, "That is enough!"
She looked startled as I made my way towards her, flinching when the spine of my book connected sharply with her skull.
"Naruto didn't do anything to you. Admittedly he could have explained the situation but there was reason for you to react that way. If you're angry about something, take it out in the training fields, not on your teammates. Understand?" I waited until she mumbled something before hitting her again, definitely hard enough to bruise.
"Ouch!" she yelped, rubbing her head and looking at the ground, "Okay, fine, I get it."
"Yeah you ugly girl! Ugly!" I was silent as I watched Sakura's temper flare at the younger boys words, stepping aside. Now that was something I wouldn't interfere with. The kid needed to learn some manners some time after all.
The aura returned and Sakura turned her attention to the child, eyes shadowed and hair floating with the angry energy. The Hokage's grandson scrambled back, realizing his mistake and looking petrified as his eyes grew wide and sweat broke out over his face. He screamed as he was beat into the ground next to his 'boss', leaving both unconscious while the pinkette stalked away.
"The ugly-wide-forehead-girl," Konohamaru began, and I stepped out of the inevitable war path, "Is she even a girl?"
There was silence for a total of three seconds before Sakura slowly turned to face the academy student, a demonic look in her eye as her feet began moving and the children started running. And running meant the risk of running into someone. Which the little Naruto-in-training did, into a familiar someone in a black body suit and a cowl.
"That hurt," the boy complained, bandage covered bundle on his back. The blonde at his side had her hands on her hips, staring down at Konohamaru coldly. I was assaulted with rapid images and shook my head to remind myself not to dwell on them. I could get lost that way.
I scowled when Kankuro grabbed Konohamaru by the scarf, lifting him into the air while the boy struggled to free himself.
"That hurt, brat," he repeated, and I pressed my lips together. I hadn't brought any weapons with me, in fact I wasn't even wearing my headband. It was a day off for me and I had hoped to keep it that way.
"Oh?" I called, walking forwards and drawing their attention, "A shinobi of Suna, hurt by a child so small? If an eight year old is enough to cause such a reaction I wonder; are you really ready to be a chunin?"
Kankuro glared at me and I met his look with Uchiha level indifference. Temari jumped in when her brother got ready to say something.
"Stop it," she chided, "We'll get scolded later."
"Yeah! Let him go!" Naruto shouted, while Sakura tried to mutter out apologies. Kankuro's eyes swept across their foreheads and I suddenly missed my Hetai-ate. I placed my hands on my hips, lips pursed and a scowl on my face.
"If you wouldn't mind," I prompted.
"But I want to play around before some noisy people show up," he objected, and clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. With a sigh I reached up and pulled my hair back, securing it in the band that had previously been threatening the circulation to my wrist.
I was going to have to get involved after all. My hands curled into fists, thumb pressing against the middle finger and elevating to form a phoenix fist as I had been taught in my last life. Idly I wondered why Konohamaru didn't just slip out of the scarf.
I swept in, striking the unprotected nerves under his arm and startling him. He let the boy drop and my arm snaked out, catching the student at the last minute and setting him on the ground. The puppet master yelped and stared at his now not-moving arm in shock, looking back up at me. My glare met his gaze and I placed myself between him and the younger Konoha residents.
"You're undoubtedly here for the chunin exams, so a bit of advise from someone who's already at that level. Never assume anything, and never let your guard down. Even around kids. Okay?"
"Why you- what did you do to my arm!?" he shouted, and I held up my hand, simultaneously flipping him off and demonstrating.
"There's a series of nerves that run under you arm, connecting in the arm-pit. If you can hit them right you can disable the entire limb," I shrugged, "It's pretty simple, if you know how to do it."
"You know that, and you're protecting weak people like them? Is this really the power of Konoha? It's pathetic. Loud brats and crazy hags, it makes me want to break you," he sent a dark look to the cowering children at my back and I barked a laugh.
"Oh? When you can't even move your arm? How arrogant."
A hag was I?
He growled and his hand moved back, no doubt to punch me, but before he could a rock shot out and struck his forehead, splitting the skin. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, but oh well.
"What are you shinobi doing in another's village?" Sasuke asked, his tone bored as he tossed a rock up and down. Show off. Sakura's mood did a complete one-eighty at the appearance of the avenger and I shook my head at her behavior. She would grow out of it eventually. I hope.
"Another kid that pisses me off," the sand ninja muttered, rubbing his hand. Sasuke glared at him, crushing the rock in his hand.
"Get lost," he snapped, ignoring Kankuro's order to come out of the tree. He did not like to be called kid. The puppeteer scoffed.
"I hate kids like you, who think they're so clever," he spat, completely ignoring my and un-wrapping a few of his weapons binding. Temari looked at him in surprise.
"You're going to use Karasu?" she asked, clearly startled. I kicked the boy in the shin and he cried out in pain at the sudden action.
"That's enough. This is a village, not a battle ground. Save it for the exams," I ordered, looking up at Sasuke as well, "both of you."
"I'm just playing with the brats," he defended, ignoring me once more. I was going to beat that smirk off his face if his brother didn't get there soon.
"Kankuro, stop," the chilling voice of the future Kazekage broke through the air, sending waves of ice crashing around. I was afraid of what I was going to see but I looked at the familiar red head, sucking in air as the knowledge exploded inside my head, beating against my retina and causing dual vision. Of Gaara standing in front of me and Gaara in Kage robes. Of his body lying lifeless on a cave floor. Of the Shukaku partially attached to his body. Children with a ball. Kashike screaming as sand came at him. So that was it.
"-va? Ava!" I blinked out of the onslaught and looked down to see the blond boy staring at me, worry in his eyes. And he must have been worried to use my preferred name. How long had I been staring at the red head? The sand ninja were looking at me too.
"What, did you get a 'feeling'?" Sasuke asked, apparently at my other side. I snorted and looked back at the littler Jinchuriki, annoyance clear in my features.
"I got a feeling that whoever did his seal was shit at it," I sighed mournfully, "Really, everyone knows that when you want to seal a bijuu you go find an Uzumaki. Shit, I can feel the -what is that, the Shukaku?- from here. Poor kid probably gets zero peace from the shitty raccoon."
"Y-you know?" Kankuro asked, looking stunned. Gaara had gone to his side and was glaring at me, light eyes watching from within dark circles.
"Anyone with eyes and decent senses would. Hey kid, with the fucked up seal, what's you name?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer. I ignored the radiating ill intent and walked forwards, stopping about a foot away and leaning down until I could meet his gaze squarely. He didn't answer for a few moments.
"Gaara," he said at last, and I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Gaara. You should really have someone look at that, it can't be a fun experience. But aside from that it's nice having another Jinchuriki in Konoha, I hope you get along with ours," I smiled at him as serenely as I could manage before reaching forwards suddenly and ruffling his hair, "Enjoy your stay. Come find me if you need anything."
I made a hand sign and poofed away, appearing on a nearby roof and looking down at the absolutely stunned Suna shinobi. I expected Naruto to say something, but either he was too shocked to respond or didn't want to say anything in front of his team, because he didn't as the sand siblings left.
I was both surprised and not that the sand hadn't attacked me. On one hand, it protected Gaara from all threats. On the other, I hadn't been intending to hurt him in the least.
"Things are picking up speed," I muttered, pressing the book against my stomach and looking down at my brothers and future student, "I'd better go talk to the Hokage."
But that could wait until after dinner, I decided.