Reaching
By LilacLilyFlower
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately.
-O-O-O-O-
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Chapter 18
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They broke for camp the first night.
"I was kidding, you know. About running nonstop," Inoichi quipped.
"Well, yeah," Takahiro sassed. "It wouldn't make sense to tire us out before the Exams."
Inoichi ignored his backtalk. "Takahiro can take middle watch," he announced, causing the grin to fall from Takahiro's face.
Eisuke snorted and Hikari allowed a sliver of a smile to flit across her face. "Uzushiogakure isn't very far," Inoichi continued. "We should reach it tomorrow morning."
They nodded and set up camp, which really just consisted of rigging traps, taking out blankets, and hunting for a meal. And, for Hikari, setting up a perimeter seal. Afterwards, Hikari sat down on her blanket and took a scrap of cloth and her sealing brush out. After some deliberation, she drew a standard three-point seal and wrote a few characters in.
And stabbed the cloth with a kunai.
She frowned as the kunai slid cleanly through the cloth. So she switched some characters around, and stabbed at it again. This time, the kunai clanged off, but she came across another problem. The cloth was completely stiff and unable to move like cloth.
"Whatcha doing?"
Takahiro plopped down on her blanket. Behind him, Eisuke was reclining on his blanket, an arm covering his eyes, and Inoichi was nowhere to be seen.
"Reinforcing my ribbons, sir," she replied, blinking and removing a character by lifting the ink with her chakra. Takahiro squinted at what she had left, and puzzled the seal out for several moments.
"Deflection? Like wristguards?"
"Yes," Hikari said. "But flexible, so it can be used as a weapon if needed. I will also add storage seals."
For the daggers.
She scribbled out another formula and stabbed the cloth again. The kunai was deflected. She shook the cloth. It flapped.
Satisfied, she undid her ribbons from her wrist and copied the seal onto them. Then, she drew another seal on them—a standard storage seal—and sealed the Kumo nin's daggers in them. The ribbons returned to her wrists, and she stretched out like Eisuke.
"Good job," Takahiro commented, patting her on the head. She blinked up at him and narrowed her eyes slightly. He grinned back and unabashedly tousled her hair.
"Sir," Hikari said in a suffering tone. "Colonel, please." Takahiro just poked her in the cheek. She gave him a look that promised retribution when they returned to Konoha and called out for Eisuke. "General."
Eisuke rolled over and left her on her own.
Well. If that's the way he wanted to be, then fine.
She satisfied herself with substituting with a nearby rock, dragging her blanket with her. Takahiro's hand hit grass, and he just harrumphed.
She just laid back down. Then, after several minutes, she sat up suddenly, rummaging through her pack. She unsealed one of her storage scrolls and took out a pillow. "General," she said. Eisuke opened his eyes and turned his head to look at look at her. He stared at the pillow for a moment, then took it and turned on his side again.
Takahiro pouted. "What about me?"
Hikari tilted her head. "I do not believe you have earned one, Colonel."
She laid down once more, to the sounds of his protesting.
-O-O-O-O-
They began travelling again when the sun shone its first rays over the horizon.
As they ran, their surroundings began shifting and the climate began changing gradually. The trees that Hikari was used to transitioned to swamp trees, and the terrain became damper. And soon, a mist rolled in.
"We'll be there soon," Inoichi said, breaking the silence. "It's been ransacked, but the Uzumaki, like all clans, had ways of hiding things that non-clan members wouldn't be able to find. More so, maybe, because of their proclivity to fuinjutsu."
Of course. Hikari knew all this. She'd have to look for something that wasn't visible. Underneath the underneath.
And then they were there.
They touched down on the edge of the sprawling ruins, silenced by the stillness before them. Hikari hesitated, then took a step into the village boundaries.
The air thrummed.
Winds surrounded her. She closed her eyes, searching for the thrumming that was in the air, in the ground, in her veins. Chakra, she realized, opening her eyes as the winds brushed against her face. Faded chakra signatures.
"There are ghosts," she said, turning around and facing her team.
Takahiro blanched. "What."
"There are ghosts, sir," she repeated. "Imprints of chakra. The latent chakra here is abnormally high, which isn't that surprising when one considers how active the Uzumaki were with seals and chakra."
And the paths that each individual had taken would have left some sort of trace or residue, some sort of reminder of the past.
And today, so would she.
"It's safe to enter," Hikari said. Then, after a pause, she added, "And there are no actual ghosts, sir."
Inoichi, who had been watching silently, stepped over the border. His eyes widened. "It's like a chakra well," he commented. "The chakra residues have been incredibly well preserved." He cocked his head. "There should be a seal doing this, but I can't pinpoint its location."
Takahiro and Eisuke entered together. "I can't sense chakra that well," Takahiro said, "but the air is humming. Maybe it actually is a chakra reserve that the Uzumaki set up."
"Perhaps," Hikari said, marking it down for later. "In any case, I will begin my search."
She slowly began venturing forwards, closing her eyes and trying to sense if there was a cluster or large knot of chakra that would indicate the presence of a big seal.
Oh, there's a lot. She cocked her head, keeping her eyes closed. Naturally, there would be a lot of seals since it was the village in which the Uzumaki originally resided, but the mass of seals surprised her.
Because there were seals everywhere. In the surrounding ruins. In the perimeter of the village boundaries. In the street, right underneath them. And deeper too, further underground. In the shallows of the waves that she could feel distantly under.
"They're everywhere," she whispered, in slight awe. "It's as if the village is alive."
Inoichi laid a hand on her shoulder. "Then look for the heart."
"Wouldn't the Uzumaki have been smarter about things? Laid fake seals and decoys, not to mention traps. I doubt they would have stored everything important in one place," Takahiro interjected.
As Inoichi replied, Hikari concentrated on sensing again. She pondered what she would have done if she'd been alive when the village had been invaded. Underneath the underneath, she thought again.
And there it was.
Underneath them, yes. The waves congregated in a cavern underground, filling a small pool, in which a seal was inscribed on the floor. But underneath that, no. There was nothing.
She opened her eyes. "We need to go underground," she said. "I need to either find an entrance or create one." Then, turning to Inoichi, she asked, "You don't happen to know any earth jutsu, do you, Sensei?"
Inoichi stared at her. Takahiro stared at her. Even Eisuke, in his gruff persona, raised an eyebrow at her.
"What is it?" she asked.
Takahiro spoke. "Private, you're an Uzumaki."
Hikari paused. Considered. Coughed. "Ah. I see. I'll create a seal right away, sir."
Hopefully, the spiral would work. Luckily, it did.
A stairway of packed earth appeared below them, leading down into darkness. After glancing at Inoichi, who nodded, Hikari began to descend, with the rest of her team following.
The cavern that they walked into was lit with a soft glow from the moss that covered the rocks. The waves lapped at the edges of the small pool that she'd sensed earlier, and exactly in the center—a seal.
She studied the seal. Like all Uzumaki seals, it incorporated a spiral into its base. But the style was…different. Hikari was used to the method that Kakashi had taught her, the one of balancing the points of the seal. But this seal was fluid.
Fuinjutsu was a highly individualized field. She'd figured that out after trying to puzzle out several of the Fourth Hokage's seals. (Her heart twinged, painfully, once. Uzumaki Kushina. She'd looked her up. Of course she had, how could she not? And there, she'd found his name. Her father's.)
Essentially, this meant that each fuinjutsu user had to create their own style and sealing language. Which wasn't hard for her, but… very, very time consuming. And no matter how much she'd researched different styles and languages and symbols, nothing had prepared her for this.
The spiral was surrounded by squiggles. Hikari couldn't see it clearly through the waves, but she knew what that meant: compaction.
Which wasn't completely unordinary, of course. Compacting large seals was common to hide the purpose of the seal upon first glance, and also to twist and tangle it. Which meant that she had little time to do what she would normally take maybe days to finish.
Hikari turned. "I think I'll go on alone, sir," she said. "The seal may make the waves sensitive to non-Uzumaki chakra."
Inoichi nodded. "Go on, then."
She stepped onto the water. It hummed underneath her, calming its waves so that the pool became still, with only the slightest ripples.
She broke character and her eyes widened. Water was not supposed to be sentient. And this wasn't connected to the seal. She could sense the chakra of the seal, which was gathered around it, and not in the water.
Unnerved, she walked to the seal, staring at it through the water. Then, she cut the chakra to her feet and dropped.
The water reacted immediately. It surged away from her, leaving her to land on her feet by the seal, which was now on completely dry land, as if that made total sense. Hikari whipped around and stared at her team, who were staring back at her with astounded eyes.
She turned back around and crouched down by the seal. Experimentally, she brushed a finger over it (because it wouldn't hurt her, it wouldn't, because she was of Uzumaki heritage and she was here to claim that) and was disappointed by the lack of a response. She channeled her chakra into it. Again, nothing. She bit her thumb and smeared blood over it. Still nothing.
Frustrated, she sighed and tilted her head back, pondering what else she could do besides expanding the seal and deconstructing it for days. As she thought, her eyes scanned the ceiling, noting its rockiness and unsuitability for projecting the seal expansion onto.
And then her eyes landed on a seal.
Hikari jolted up. The seal was directly over the seal on the bottom of the pool. It mirrored its layout, down to the last squiggle.
She knew what to do.
She jumped. The water filled the spot that she'd been in, but she didn't pay it any attention. She channeled chakra to her hands and stuck onto the ceiling, and swung so that her feet connected as well. Straightening up—or rather, down—Hikari swiped more of her blood across the seal and pushed chakra into it.
Everything lit up. The seals, the rocks, the water. The water. Below her, it churned, frothing and turning a violent, vibrant turquoise. Then—it shifted, into objects and weapons and relics and scrolls upon scrolls.
Everyone stared. "Well," Hikari said after a short silence. "I suppose I should start sealing this all up."
She leapt back down to the ground, scanning the labels of the scrolls. There were scrolls on seals, jutsu, bloodlines, history, heirlooms, records. There was a summoning scroll, which she tucked away separately into her pouch. Hikari produced a blank scroll and began sealing everything away into storage scrolls.
She hesitated with putting storage scrolls into her scroll, but decided to go ahead with it. In theory, it would be like putting a bag in a bigger bag. In practice, if the sealing styles clashed, either or both seals could destabilize. But. Hers were modeled after the Konoha standard. The standard was modeled after Uzumaki style. They were practically the same.
She finished packing everything away and rejoined her team at the staircase, giving them a single nod. They all ascended together, and she used another spiral seal to close the passageway behind them.
"So, are we not going to talk about how you made the water all funky?" Takahiro exclaimed as soon as there was relative silence and sense of closure.
"I didn't, sir," Hikari replied, frowning. "It moved on its own."
Eisuke quirked a brow. "That's not possible. Water doesn't have a mind."
"Even so," she said. "It wasn't me, and it wasn't the seal. The chakra of the seal was concentrated around it, not in the water."
"The water did turn into artifacts," Inoichi said. "That may partially be why the water reacted as it did."
They all nodded, unconvinced. Inoichi clapped his hands. "Alright! Well. Let's get going, then. We still have some ways to go before we reach Kiri."
Hikari took one last look at the ruins of the village, breathing in the salty winds and listening to the gulls cry.
And they left.
-O-O-O-O-
"Papers," the shinobi at the village entrance intoned.
Team One handed their papers over, three days early for the exam. Behind them stretched a long line of hopeful chunins and their senseis. Hikari stood impassively, noting the sheer amount of interested glances at her team's hitai-ates.
Kirigakure was, well, misty. The humidity was strong, but the temperatures were cooler than Konoha's. The buildings here were primarily concrete and plaster, and everything was very, very dim in color.
"Alright, Yamanaka, your team can go ahead," the shinobi said, waving them through and returning their papers. "You'll see the exam compounds soon if you keep walking this way."
As they walked to the compound, since the shinobi had specified for them to walk, Takahiro chirped up, "Sensei, he knew you."
"Ah, yes," Inoichi smiled tightly. "We ran into each other during a mission."
"Was it friendly?"
"No."
Upon reaching the compound, Hikari stifled a sigh. There were no spaces delegated for each village. It was a free-for-all for the most defendable room locations, which were taken by the Mist. As expected.
"We'll set up right next to the Mist," Inoichi said in an undertone. "Sunagakure didn't send any to this exam, and we're the least unfriendly with Kirigakure."
They nodded, agreeing with the proposal. But when they arrived at the barracks that Inoichi had chosen (completely barren and unoccupied due to the mass of Mist shinobi), Takahiro balked, Eisuke's spine straightened, and Hikari frowned.
"Seriously?" Eisuke sighed. "Right next door? Like this, we'll share a wall with them."
"I did say right next to them," Inoichi confirmed mildly. "I'll be in the room next to you. You should have all the necessities in your room."
He went to his room and entered, and slammed the door behind himself cheerfully. They stared at his door for a moment.
"Well," Eisuke sighed again. "Let's go."
They entered their room cautiously. After a sweep for bugs, they began to set up traps.
Along the wall that they shared with their Kiri neighbors, Hikari began to paint a very elaborate Anti-Surveillance Seal. After she finished, she placed a hand on it and compacted it into a single spiral—a trademark, at this point. She turned around to survey her teammates' handiwork.
Takahiro was putting the finishing touches on a senbon rig. "I used triggers we all learned, so we can disable them," he elaborated. "I already covered the ground and door. The General is on the roof."
Right when he said that, a loud thump sounded from above and Hikari sensed a surge in Eisuke's chakra. "That would be him attempting fuinjutsu."
Hikari quirked the corner of her lip, once, and headed out to the roof. "General," she said, as she was greeted by the sight of Eisuke standing over a reassembly of the roof's concrete into… the Konoha leaf.
"Sir," Hikari deadpanned. "Is this wise?"
"I already proofed the roof," Eisuke said with a straight face and no concern, looking down at the symbol. She smirked internally at his rhyme. Then, he looked up at her. "We're one of the main acts of these exams, so we might as well let others know where we are. They're going to be looking for us, at any rate."
Hikari sensed the movement of the chakra signatures next door and grimaced slightly. "You're right. They're looking for us right now."
They exchanged looks—Takahiro can handle it and Can he really—and dropped back down to the ground, behind a trio of Kiri genin standing in front of Team One's door.
"Yo," Eisuke said. "Looking for us?"
They whirled around, hands going to weapons pouches but not drawing any.
Hikari flanked Eisuke, staring into each of the Kiri genins' eyes. She tapped on Eisuke's back, Teammate waiting behind door, and received a hair flick of confirmation in return.
The Kiri squadron all seemed to be Eisuke's age. The boy on the very left—Grey eyes, blue hair, she noted, chakra is damp—spoke up. "I'll be honest," he said. "I did not expect you guys to come from up there."
Eisuke and Hikari exchanged more looks—Is he serious and what the heck is he doing—before Eisuke spoke. "Scoping out the competition?"
The same boy shrugged. "Yeah. You're the Konoha team. Three-Man Army, and all."
His teammate sighed. She had purple hair and brown eyes, and spicy chakra. "Yuno. We talked about this." Their remaining teammate, a tall boy with brown hair, brown eyes, and a tattoo on his arm, rolled his eyes to himself. Hikari narrowed her eyes at the tattoo. It looked like a seal.
Yuno shrugged again. "Nothing wrong with being friendly. We're neighbors, after all. I'm Shuu Yuno." He pointed at his teammates. "The girl is Fuma Ayame, and the tall dude is Katou Kaito."
"Well, if it's friendly you want, then that's me!" Takahiro spoke, opening the door. "The name's Kurosawa Takahiro. I'm the Colonel. That's the General and Private."
Eisuke cracked his neck casually. "Oshiro Eisuke."
True to character, Hikari didn't say anything until Eisuke elbowed her in the side. "Private Uzumaki Hikari. What is your purpose, other than scouting?"
"Ah, you see—"
The girl, Ayame, cut off Yuno. "We want an alliance."
Eisuke stared for a very, very long time. "Uh-huh."
Ayame flushed. "Really! We're rookies, you know, and the other Kiri teams aren't looking upon us that kindly. Plus, this is Kiri. There's not going to be a lot of support between teams anyways."
Hikari met eyes with Takahiro, who quirked a brow before cutting his eyes quickly to Inoichi's door and back. She was absolutely certain that Inoichi was listening in on the entire conversation. She didn't even need to sense to know.
"Wouldn't you all help each other to at least the third task?" Takahiro asked. "And then you'd be able to pummel each other to your hearts' content."
"They're not gonna make the third task entirely Mist," Yuno said. "And you guys are one of the main attractions. There's bound to be other teams, meaning Kiri nins are left to fend for themselves."
"If it's as you say, which it is," Eisuke interjected, "then what's the point of allying with us if we're guaranteed to make it to the third exam?"
"Yes, well, there is no guarantee," Ayame said. "Since you'll also be targeted the most, being the youngest. And only Konoha team. A notorious one, for genin."
"You would be targeted as well if you allied with us," Hikari said. "But you were told by superiors to make sure we made it to the third exam, correct?"
A new voice spoke. Kaito. "We were already targets, just to a lesser degree."
Everyone turned to look at him, and he scowled. "We're a good team, but it would be difficult for us to come out of this alright. That's why we're asking. And we weren't told to help you. Only very strongly recommended by our sensei."
Takahiro frowned. "We don't really get anything out of it."
"Yes, we do." This time, all eyes turned to Hikari. She blinked. "Knowledge of terrain and various fauna and flora. Familiarity with some form of Kiri fighting styles. And possibly a strengthening of relations between our villages."
"Er, yeah, basically everything you said," Yuno said. "So how about it?"
He offered a hand to Takahiro. Takahiro stared at it, leaning against the doorframe. Team One met eyes, silently communicating, and they decided. "Well, if you're backstabbing us, we have someone who is very good at stabbing as well," he said, indicating towards Eisuke. "Why the hell not," he added, shaking Yuno's hand.
"Nice. They're serving lunch at the canteen now, if you guys wanna go," Yuno said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
They followed him, but before leaving, Hikari frowned at Inoichi's door. She swore that she'd heard a giggle.
Lo and behold, when they arrived at the canteen, she saw him sitting with another Kiri jounin, exchanging pleasant remarks.
"Hey, that's our sensei," Ayame remarked. Hikari, Takahiro, and Eisuke all exchanged subtly incredulous glances—How did he find out so quickly and What even and Is he human. The group of genins stopped by the table of the two senseis.
"Mizu-sensei," Yuno said. "Wassup."
Hikari raised an eyebrow internally. Water sensei. From Kirigakure.
"Ah, yes, Yuno-kun," Mizu said. He cleared his throat. "As you say, 'wassup'." They exchanged high-fives. "I see our teams made friends," he said to Inoichi.
"That's very good, considering we made friends as well," Inoichi replied, smiling cheerfully. "How are you doing, team?"
Team One merely stared at him flatly. "Let's get food," Eisuke grumbled, pivoting.
Hikari and Takahiro followed without a backwards glance at Inoichi. Sometimes, Hikari wasn't sure if Inoichi's personality was a front that he was putting on or if it was his true personality that he was letting through.
He would probably get philosophical about the self and mind if she asked him, though. After all, he was a Yamanaka. He was the Yamanaka.
The food was familiar, but there were options that seemed to be Mist. Hikari loaded her tray with rice, curry, and Kirigakure-style pastries. And, from pure homesickness and yearning for Naruto and Sasuke, she ladled a bowl of miso ramen and got a plate of sliced tomatoes.
Takahiro had gotten an entire plate loaded with barbecued meat for the three of them. Looking between her plates, Hikari nodded. She'd gotten a balanced meal. Sasuke would be proud when she told him.
They sat down at a table, with the Kiri rookie team joining them. And they ate. Takahiro chattered with Yuno and Ayame, but Hikari met Inoichi's eyes from across the room. She'd just sensed them, and she knew that he had too.
She wouldn't forget those chakra signatures. Ever. They had been present on That Mission, and she'd burned their signatures into her memory.
She tapped a message on Eisuke and Takahiro's knees. Kumo. Here. They nudged her knees with theirs. Message received.
A hand slammed down onto their table, cutting the conversation. "You bastards," the owner of the hand seethed. Hikari met eyes with him. He was the one who had been surprised at her victory over H.
"Sitting here, eating as if you deserve to be here. Get the fuck out!"
Around the room, other teams and senseis watched with interest. The Kiri team sat frozen, but Eisuke, Takahiro, and Hikari had prepared for this.
Takahiro scoffed. "We have just as much of a right to be here as you do," he sneered.
"After fucking killing our senseis? I don't fucking think so, you cunt-licking asswipe!"
This one is colorful with his insults. Hikari stood and stepped in front of her team, wanting to shield them from the Kumo genin and the memories of That Mission. "Quite the opposite, actually," she said in a cool tone, face carefully blank. She levelled her eyes on the loud Kumo genin, noting that his teammate had his hands in his pockets. "Killing your senseis makes us more qualified than you to be here for these exams."
His face contorted in rage. "Little bitch," he spat, looming over her. "Trying to protect your team, huh? I remember it being the other way around before."
Hikari considered. Nodded. "Yes, you're right. The General did a good job with that though, didn't he? Stabbing your jounin sensei through the back despite his kekkai genkai and your chunin sensei through the neck."
Before the Kumo genin could retort, Eisuke grabbed her wrist. "Private, stand down." She listened, walking back to her seat. But she didn't sit down yet. "If you want to start something," Eisuke continued, addressing the Kumo genin, "do it during the exams. I'm trying to eat right now."
Takahiro butt in. "That's what you should have done anyways. Why did you storm in here? Did you get angry and couldn't control it?" He tutted his tongue, shaking his head. "That's not the sign of a good chunin. So sad."
"You—"
The loud one's teammate clapped a hand onto his shoulder. "We'll meet you during the exams," he said frigidly, cutting and icy. "Don't think we won't." He led his protesting teammate away.
Hikari secretly allowed some of the tension to leave her frame. She sat down, and Takahiro and Eisuke immediately held her hands.
Her hands shook.
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: Surprise, bitches. I bet you thought you saw the last of me.
That awkward moment when you said you were going to update regularly and then. Shit happened. Like. A lot of shit.
It's been hard trying to write again, but I grinded this chapter out for you guys. Yes, I'm continuing the story. Yes, the next update may take some time. But this story will continue because it's too heartbreaking to abandon its characters (this applies to my other stories as well).
All I ask is that you guys give me a little patience! Things are starting to look up again for me, so that may reflect in my writing as well. Hopefully, the next chapter is bomb af.
See you next time!