Beta: Thank you Prince Nemui for giving up your time to help me
Michiko was currently sprawled on her back in a small clearing, enjoying the spring weather as Tsubaki lay curled next to her, dark red fur glistening in the sun. She was gently running a hand through his coat as she paid attention with only one ear to her surroundings.
Mitsuki was also present. The once tiny ball of golden fur was now a fully grown, six years old, fox —although still small, especially when compared to giants like Dendō.
Both Mitsuki and Tsubaki were the same height, barely reaching her knees. However, what they couldn't make up for in height they made up for with their talents. Tsubaki, who was trained in the traditional fox genjutsu was still a nightmare to train with, —vicious as ever with the genjutsu he subjected Michiko to— while Mitsuki was wicked fast, with extra sharp claws and teeth.
Which the girl herself helped maintain. After all, a gleaming denture and ultra-pointy claws were very important.
Currently, the trio was taking a break from running and were waiting patiently for Mitsuki to finish his conversation with the other fox pair. Not nin-foxes, just your regular run of the mill red foxes that were curios about the odd trio in the clearing.
The three were actually travelling towards Asahama, Uzu no Kuni's capital, seeking an audience with the daimyō to ask for support —and essentially permission, since he owned the country— in Uzushio's rebuilding.
However as nobody back at the ruins owned a map of the country, or had any clear directions for Michiko to follow before the girl left Uzushio, she planned on doing what she always did in such situations.
Rely on the local foxes.
No, the redhead did not speak fox. Although her lovely foxes were well versed and would politely ask the wild foxes were the nearest human settlement was. There Michiko would ask the local folk for more clear-cut directions.
"Michiko~," Mitsuki said, bouncing towards her, tail swishing happily.
"Guess what, guess what, guess what?!"
"Calm down brat," Tsubaki grunted, annoyed at having his peaceful slumber interrupted by the hyperactive fox.
"Mah, mah, be nice Tsubaki," Michiko chided gently, turning her head towards Mitsuki to show him that he had her attention:
"Right, right. So anyway, they said that several humans live down the river, where all the chickens are," he told them excitedly.
"Hmm, further down the river? Sounds like a village. Well what do you guys say, shall we set out now? Maybe we'll reach it before dusk."
Receiving an affirmative grunt from the russet fox and an exited bark from the golden one, the Uzumaki got up and smoothed out the wrinkles from her kimono.
It was sleeveless, made of cotton and excellent for the warm weather. Although, what Michiko liked about this kimono wasn't its bright, happy yellow colour —not something any self-respecting ninja would be caught dead wearing— but the red swirl pattern on the back of it.
It was a common symbol found in Konoha, —where Michiko had got it from— especially on their flat jackets.
It was Uzushiogakure's crest.
Which was also the Uzumaki clan's symbol.
Unlike Konoha's emblem, which did not belong to any clan, Uzushiogakure's crest came directly from the Uzumaki clan. The reason being that it was the Uzumaki clan which founded the village and made up the bulk of the village's militia all the way up to its destruction. (Hence why Uzushio was nicknamed the village of longevity)
Their clan used to be truly numerous, —like most clans tended to be during the Warring States period, and before— even more so than the Senju or Uchiha. All the more reason to mourn and wonder how such a clan were destroyed so easily.
Michiko wasn't a fool, she knew that the Uzumaki were, and are, only human. However, if they were so feared for their fūinjutsu, why were there so few of them left?
She knew for a fact that there were more Uzumaki alive and scattered about the world, however, there clearly weren't enough to say: "The Uzumaki live on."
There was also the matter of the village ruins. The walls themselves were intact, if in desperate need of renovation and maintenance, and showed no sign of being breached.
Even the destruction had mainly occurred in the centre of the village.
True, that area held the most important pieces of infrastructure needed to operate and govern said village….But one still had to get to the centre of the village in order to destroy it.
And as the teen pointed out several times in the past, regardless not being one of the big five, Uzushiogakure was still a military village. A military village where most of its population hailed from a shinobi clan.
Nothing short of a small army could have taken them out so completely.
Even the mountain chain cutting through the south-west corner would have had some form of protection in place of the absence of walls and it would have certainly had outposts built in the area for the sole purpose of spotting enemies trying sneak in.
And no matter what her father believed, Michiko was sure that an army, small as it may have been, would have been spotted by the patrols. That clearly wasn't the case, as no fight had occurred in or near the still standing old-forest.
It was almost as if a large scale summon had been called to the very centre, destroyed what had to be destroyed and then… disappeared.
Leaving no trace of who the attackers were.
And nobody proclaimed their victory either. Leaving the whole incident shrouded in even more mystery.
It grated on Michiko's nerves and it was one of the things she vowed to find out, even if it took her entire life. After all, who was to say that a repeat scenario wouldn't occur?
Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts, the girl concentrated on getting the greenery out of her hair, while Tsubaki took his sweet time stretching beside her.
Taking out the last leaf from her hair, Michiko allowed her hair to fall down her back once again. It was braided in a single thick braid, going past her shoulder blades, making it ideal for grabbing had it not been for the makibishi carefully placed inside her hair with that very thought in mind.
As Michiko was nearing 'adulthood,' and puberty was showing its head, the girl had the pleasure of experiencing the wonders of hormonal changes within her body once again.
Note the heavy sarcasm.
Alas, however much she could have wished to skip this part of life entirely, Michiko appreciated looking more and more the age she felt mentally. Which wasn't a fixed age, per-se, more like a general awareness that her body hadn't quite caught up yet.
After all, she had a feeling that adding the years she'd lived in this world to the years from her previous life wasn't exactly the way things worked.
But her hair and height weren't the only visible differences puberty brought forth; her face having long since initiated the process of losing its baby fat. Making its oval shape more prominent which in turn caused her long and straight nose to no longer look as prominent as it did on her younger and rounder face.
As a whole, Michiko felt that didn't look all that different. More like a stretched-out version of her younger self.
"Let's go," Tsubaki's gruff voice ordered.
—.—.—.—
As promised by the foxes, further down the stream lay a village.
It wasn't anything grand but it was clean and well kept. The people looked happy and healthy, which was all Michiko really cared about as she made her way towards it, looking around, trying to spot anyone that she could bother for directions.
And maybe lodgings.
She really, really, wanted a bath, but the girl was willing to compromise on that for a warm room to sleep in tonight.
It wasn't all that dark yet, the trio having arrived just as the sky was heading towards dusk, the heavens basked in a soft pink colour.
Making her way towards what appeared to be the village's centre, Michiko spotted a couple of shops that were still open which might contain someone with the geographical knowledge needed to give her further directions on how to reach Asahama.
The young redhead was, of course, aware of the stares and whispers.
Seriously, did they think she was deaf?
And she even saw an old lady point out her hair…and back.
'Hhhm, so they recognise my heritage…' she mused as she entered a bakery, which looked well on its way to closing for the night.
"Ah, pardon me," Michiko said by way of greeting, drawing the attention of the man behind the counter and watching in amusement as he did a double take.
Stopped, looked really hard, and then let out a surprised yelp.
"Darling is everything, alright?" a woman's voice asked as she descended the stairs that must have lead to their house above the shop.
The woman, much like her husband stopped and stared at Michiko for a good while, making her rather uncomfortable by this point.
The foxes, who never left her side during this journey, were watching the scene before them in exasperation and confusion respectively.
"Ano…," Michiko said, unable to take the awkward atmosphere anymore. And like a broken spell, the couple came back to their senses, finally taking note of their behaviour.
"Ah, our apologies miss, you took us by surprise," the man finally said as the woman made her way around the counter, standing by the man's side.
"How may we help you? I'm afraid we're almost completely out of bread."
"Ah, no, don't worry, that's fine. I was just hoping for some directions."
"Directions?" the woman asked, speaking for the first time.
"Yes, I am trying to find my way towards Asahama. If you could possibly help me…" Michiko trailed off, watching as the pair exchanged a look before the woman disappeared upstairs once more.
"That's a long way off, young lady. You travelling alone?" he asked.
"Ah, not alone, Mitsuki and Tsubaki are accompanying me," she explained, gesturing towards each fox respectively as she said their name.
The poor man looked even more befuddled than before but chose not to question her further on that topic.
"My wife's gone up to dig out a map…I'm sure we have one somewhere," he muttered, more to himself than Michiko.
"I'm very sorry for the inconvenience I've caused you," she replied, bowing slightly.
"No bother young lady. Say, are you…?" the man trailed off awkwardly, giving a pointed look towards her hair. Getting the message, Michiko smiled before replying:
"My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Uzumaki Michiko, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Snapping out of his shock, the man closed his mouth, gulping loudly before introducing himself.
"Harada Jiro," he added hastily, still looking at Michiko with wide eyes. "I'm sorry… I don't mean to be…well, like this. It's just…an Uzumaki," he managed to breathe out.
"We, of course, heard of the fall more than a decade ago…everyone did. It was a tragedy, they said nobody survived. I haven't even heard rumours of survivors, well…not from the Uzumaki clan, that is." The look in his eyes resembled awe, and Michiko didn't know how to respond to that.
Never before had she received such a reaction in regards to her surname. Apprising looks? Sure, plenty even, their name was still rather well known. A double take? Yup, plenty of those too. But awe? Nope. Never. And she wasn't certain that she wanted a repeat, it was hard to accept.
It felt…uncomfortable.
Just before Michiko opened her mouth to reply, Mrs Harada descended the stars once again, a somewhat long piece of folded paper in her grasp.
"Found it," she announced cheerily, a proud smile displayed on her face.
From that moment onwards the couple proceeded to show Michiko where they were on the map and where Asahama was. Which, as Jiro mentioned, was a bit far. Shouldn't even take her more than half a day at ninja speed to reach it…if she was confident in her chose route. But as that was not the case she more or less stuck with the civilian pace.
Alas, thanking the couple for their time and help Michiko was also offered the map on top of everything, which they insisted was more use to her than them when she tried to refuse.
Bowing to the couple, the girl thanked them one last time before bidding them goodbye. The redhead and her foxes making a hasty retreat out of the village and camped deeper in the forest for the night.
'So no hot bath or warm bed tonight,' she thought dejectedly, speeding up in hopes of finding a suitable location to camp before night took over completely.
What Michiko didn't know was that after she left, the couple's shop was filled with people, all wondering the same thing:
"Was she…?" an old woman asked, looking at the Harada family expectantly.
"Yes," Jiro whispered. He knew that the girl felt uncomfortable and he honestly didn't mean to make her feel like that. But he couldn't help himself!
A large, collective intake of breath could be heard so he continued:
"She said her name was Uzumaki Michiko!"
Another thing Michiko didn't know was that in that very village lived several people who once upon a time lived in Uzushiogakure.
They weren't Uzumaki, nor were they shinobi.
They were civilian born and raised.
However, they were civilians born and raised within Uzushio's walls.
They were civilians that still remembered and associated the colour red as belonging to the rowdy and happy Uzumaki.
They were civilians, who wept when they were forced to leave their homes. When they found out that the people who used to protect them were now dead.
They were civilians who, with their hears hurting, moved to a new village.
And amongst the people crammed inside the small bakery, only one voiced out what the rest of them were thinking:
"The Uzumaki are back."
A/N: Again thank you so, so much for reading and taking time to tell me your opinion about the story! I love you guys so much!