Published: 5/30/2015

Age 13: Part 2

"Ha! Yes! Tsubasa finally appears!"

"Tsu-chan, behave yourself. You're too old to be so boisterous."

"No, Kyouya, you're just an old man. You were like that even when I was a kid—"

"You're still a kid, brat. You think that just because you're not a teenager anymore, you're an adult? Please."

"Now, now, Aoi…"

"Hey, Reiko, I need to step out for a while," Uncle Souhei said, picking up Kyouya's letter from his desk, along with the black journal that I had seen stored next to it. Auntie took one look and it and nodded without hesitation, not asking where he was going to go. She didn't even question why I was standing in the doorway; she just gave her assent and looked away.

"Wait, is that it?" I asked when we were out the house and down the road, walking towards the village training grounds. When I had gotten off the floor, Uncle had promised me an explanation but said we'd have to go somewhere where we couldn't be overheard; with the House being the House, the need for a location change was not unexpected. "She didn't even say anything."

"Reiko is…" Uncle paused thoughtfully, slowing his stride a bit. "Well. Once we had stabilized our marriage and stopped plotting each other's deaths, I figured I had to tell her about my… ah, immigration status." He grimaced a bit and glanced around, but luckily for us it was just after lunch and the streets were mostly empty. "I had been meeting up with everyone and keeping the secret for a while at that point. But when I tried to sit her down to talk about it, she refused to hear any of it. Said that she liked where we had finally gotten and that if there were circumstances outside that I was worried about, she wouldn't pry. So as long as I treated her with respect, she said, she would trust me with a few secrets."

I think my eyes just about bugged out of my head. "What?" I asked, confounded. I had never heard of any woman doing such a thing in either of my lives.

"I think she thinks I'm in ANBU," Uncle Souhei admitted. "Or some other similarly top-secret undercover role. I think she just wants to prevent any fallout in our relationship... it's very shinobi of her, isn't it?" He rubbed his neck. "I… haven't really corrected her on it. I mean, I told her that I really didn't mind telling her, but she was adamant about staying ignorant. So I didn't push it and now whenever I go out to meet with the group or exchange letters with them, she assumes it's part of my secret job and doesn't ask. She probably thinks I'm trying to recruit you right now or something."

Was that, perhaps, just another one of the cultural differences? Back on Earth, I knew there were wives who got angry enough when their husbands did something as simple as went out on a weekend camping trip with their guy friends. Auntie, though, had just given Uncle Souhei free reign to do just about whatever he wanted.

"That's kind of insane," I said. "She's… what, not worried that you'll cheat, or you're a spy, or whatever? Not saying that you would be the type, though," I hastily added.

Uncle Souhei barked out an amused laugh. It felt a lot better to see a smile on his face; it softened his features quite a bit. He truly did look a lot more menacing without his glasses. His face was still the same, of course, but without those lenses to cover his eyes, there was nothing to hide the glint of sharp, ruthless intelligence in his gaze. Perhaps it was just yesterday's events weighing on my conscience, but he felt a whole lot more dangerous without them.

"Don't worry," he assured me. "Reiko has the incredible quality of being able to see right through me. She would know if I were up to no good. Besides, you're not far from wrong. I was pretty bad when I was younger."

"What?" I screeched to a halt. "What do you mean? Like... you were a player or something?"

Uncle looked away and, to my wonder, began turning red. "I was not the most responsible of teenagers," he muttered. "Nor the most mature. I had a hard time adjusting when I first arrived here… I was a badly spoiled brat. The... privileged frat boy party-prick kind."

"Oh my God," I said flatly. "If you're screwing with me, stop it now. Seriously, stop. How old were you?"

"Nineteen," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's stop talking about it now. I'm older and wiser. Please don't bring it up again."

At that point, I began wondering what this story would be like if it were about Souhei Namikaze instead of me. What a book that would have been.

"Ojisan," I said quietly, once we found ourselves at the training ground and under the shade of a grand tree, tall and thick-trunked. "...How long did you know I wasn't… I mean, how long did you know I was from Earth?"

In response, Uncle Souhei just handed me his little black book. Blankly, I looked at it.

"Back cover lists all the common signs of an Earthling," he informed. "Daisuke compiled it years before anyone else in the group arrived in this universe. I had you ticked off for most of them by the time you'd turned nine." He gave me a wry smile. "It was the reason I showed you the chakra flow technique—if you were one of us, I knew you would have an abnormal mastery of chakra. The fact that you learned it was the all the confirmation I needed."

Mechanically, I opened the book and looked to the inside of the cover. Indeed there was a list: things like increased critical thinking skills and strange verbal tics and use of chakra at a young age.

"Daisuke?" I asked instead of trying to process the fact that he had known for all this time. He had known since I was a kid. He had known.

"First page is contacts." Uncle pointed to the book again. I flipped it over and was met with the sight of another list, starting with Arima Aoi and ending with Yoshizawa Tsubasa. There was one Daisuke between them: Sarutobi Daisuke.

"Sarutobi?" I asked, feeling my head begin floating away with shock again.

"It's not what you think it is," Uncle Souhei immediately denied. "I know it might seem like we're that kind of organization, since Hideaki and Aoi are in ANBU and Kyouya is rich and Daisuke's from a noble clan, but it's not. We just get together because we share origins. Nothing more, I promise."

"Really?" I asked skeptically. I had been building an image of a secret society of canon-keepers in my head, full of people monitoring the activities of the village and preventing the plot from going astray…

"Definitely not like that," Uncle Souhei said, reading my thoughts perfectly. "We aren't nearly so expansive a group as that. There are only eight of us, and some of us hardly come to meetings at all. Daisuke is case in point; we can write to him, but he hasn't come out to see us in almost seven years. The whole thing with Hideaki looking through ANBU channels was just… a favor. He did it because it was in his power. That's all. "

"Hayato-sensei is on here," I exclaimed, seeing his name right above Tsubasa Yoshizawa's. "Are you telling me—"

"No, no, he's a Narutoverse native," Uncle quickly assured me, waving a hand. "But he found out when we were genin, so I figured he might as well be part of the group…"

My head was reeling. "This is crazy," I said, shutting the book and handing it back. Uncle shook his head, though, and pushed it back.

"Keep it," he said. "Everyone has one. I've got another."

Mutely, I took it back. Then I opened it again and found all sorts of things in it: a general timeline of the storyline of Naruto, a list of biographies for important characters, detailed lists about important things like the World Wars and the Tailed Beasts…

"There's so much," I said softly, leafing through it. "There's so much knowledge but no one has done anything…"

How far back had Earthlings been showing up into the canon? Why had they sat back and done nothing? Why had my Uncle sat back and done nothing when I had been spending nights going insane about what to do and how to help and where to—

"Suzu," Uncle Souhei said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I froze when he put his hands at his sides and bowed to me, deeply at the waist.

"I owe you an apology," he said, facing the ground. "I let you bear the burden of foreknowledge on your own. We all did, and it is because of my cowardice. I am the reason you have suffered this much. Let me beg for your forgiveness."

Do you know what is it like, having lived in a Japanese culture, to have your patriarch lower his head to you until his torso is parallel to the ground, and beg for clemency? Stunned, I could only work my jaw at the sight of him, unable to even speak.

"There were several points when they asked me if we should do something," he said softly, maintaining his bow. "But ever since I first came to this universe, I swore not to get involved because it was too hard and too dangerous. It made sense at the time, but ever since you arrived and began trying to make a difference, I should have known I couldn't have stuck to that creed…" There was a long pause. He swallowed. "The others were only following my lead. I'm sorry."

"Please, stop," I finally managed to stutter. "Don't—don't bow. I forgive you. I forgive you wholeheartedly. Please don't bow."

When Uncle Souhei finally righted himself, there was an uncharacteristic sheen to his blue eyes. He gave me a small, sad smile.

"I've taken care of children at the House before," he told me quietly, "but you are the first daughter I've ever had. I don't have the wisdom of a father and I don't know how to raise a child well. I'm sorry."

If there was anything I had left to say, I found no need to say it anymore. No more hows or whys or why nots.

I ran forward and threw my arms around his middle. He caught me, and for several minutes, we stood still in the silence of the forest around us.

Before we fast-forward to Thursday, let me give you a brief history on the tea merchants of Konoha. Specifically, the Tsukimori family.

Yuuichi Tsukimori was one of the first civilians to come to the village. His family arrived from the border of Hi and Cha no Kuni, on the heels of the Akimichi and its vassal clans the Yamanaka and the Nara. Several of his family members were married into these clans, so it was common sense of him to come along. However, he also owned an expansive amount of merchandise in the tea trade. What was he to do about his business in this cross-country relocation?

The answer was simple: he brought it with him. His plants, his workers, everything. With a little moving help from the Akimichi, who enjoyed his brews very much, it was a cinch. He was welcomed with open arms, for as the incoming shinobi clans brought additional military might, Yuuichi's company brought money; when news spread that the Tsukimori tea had been moved to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, customers and clients alike began flocking forward, and fortunes grew. Tied as he was to the old honorable families of the village, he was able to build a large mansion for himself and his extended family right in the heart of the village, decked out in security fit for any ninja compound. His house and and its fine white perimeter wall were covered with enough privacy and anti-trespassing seals to make even an Uzumaki take interest.

The Tsukimori tea traders remain, to this day, a very well-respected component of Konoha. Unfortunately, however, recent years had seen the waning of its bloodline, and now there was only one Tsukimori left living in that splendid manor built on tea leaves. Forty-seven years old, single, his name was Kyouya Tsukimori, and his house was the headquarters of Souhei Namikaze's secret group of reincarnated aliens.

"You're joking," I uttered as we came to a stop before a large wooden gate. The nameplate, made of a sleek, polished wood, had the characters for TSUKIMORI carved into it. I could see bamboo growing behind the wall, and there was even that little wooden thing that made the doink noise sitting on a stone next to the gate door. It was being fed by a tiny decorative waterfall coming from a bamboo pipe in the wall.

"Well, I did say he was rich," Uncle Souhei chuckled. "And honestly, there's no place more secure to meet than this one. He loves the company, too, so don't feel intimidated or anything. If you ever need a place besides your own home to crash, this is it."

"Really?" I asked, turning to look at him. He opened his mouth to respond, but the voice that answered came from above his head.

"Yup, that's true," it said. We both looked up and saw a brown-haired boy, my age or so, standing on the black-tile top of the wall. He wore a large grin on his face, and he just about radiated friendliness. "I started crashing here three years ago. I think at this point it's probably more accurate to say I just live with him."

"Oh, Tsubasa," Uncle said at the sight of him, a smile stretching on his face.

"Thought I heard your voice, boss." Tsubasa beamed back. "How've you been? Hideaki told us there's a creepy old guy trying to kidnap your kids."

"That is not what I said, chico." Another person, also brown-haired, suddenly appeared next to him and lightly smacked the back of his head. He seemed to be older—in his twenties, or thereabouts—as he looked down to my uncle with a more laidback smile. "Glad to see you're alright, Souhei. You should come inside."

"Can do," Uncle replied. He was tossed a small scroll, and before I could react, he had taken out a kunai and lightly sliced it across the tip of my thumb. He had unrolled the scroll, dripped a bit of my blood into it, closed it, and healed the cut before I had time to speak.

"So the defenses don't try to toss you out of the house," he explained. "Or possibly do something worse."

"Uh," was all I managed to say before the gate was opened and I was being ushered inside.

The interior of the property was just as luxurious as the exterior. I was welcomed by the sight of an enormous garden, split by a long, winding path that snaked around a sparkling pond. Because it intersected a tiny stream, there was a low stone bridge decorated with carved embellishments connecting the two halves of the path. As expected, clusters of bamboo were growing at various spots in the yard.

"Hideaki," Uncle Souhei began after shutting the wooden doors behind us, "I have to thank you for sticking your neck out for me the other day. I know things wouldn't have ended well if you'd been caught."

"Ah, it's no problem," Hideaki immediately dismissed, waving a hand. "I'd be out of a job if I couldn't look through some records without being caught. Don't worry; I'll keep an eye on bandage-bastard for you."

This assertion was punctuated with a kind smile. I was somewhat taken by his incredibly pleasant attitude; I didn't know ANBU could be so… chill.

"Hideaki's cool, isn't he?" Tsubasa suddenly whispered in my ear, holding up a hand. I jumped.

"Um…"

"You could probably already tell, but I'm Tsubasa," he introduced, drawing back and giving me a sunny look. "How about you?"

"Suzu," I said hesitantly. He held out a hand to shake; I took it gingerly. His grip was firm, but warm.

"I'm guessing you're a Namikaze too," he mused, looking me up and down. "Same as the boss, huh. What are the chances? Well, either way, welcome. It'll be nice to not be the only kid anymore."

Soon we arrived at a ring of lawn chairs, where a few other people were talking and nursing cups of tea. At the head of the circle was a man clad in a traditional kimono-and-hakama ensemble. He wasn't quite old, but he didn't look young, either; his hair, which was mostly black and shiny, seemed to be going a bit prematurely gray at the top.

"Ah, Souhei!" he laughed, clapping his hands together delightedly. "You've arrived! Excellent, that's everyone for now, since Hayato's working. Welcome home."

"I'm back, Kyouya," Uncle warmly returned. He waved me over before putting his hands on my shoulders and pushing me forward. "Here, this is my niece, Suzu. I thought things would go smoother if I brought her along."

"Oh, is that so?" Kyouya peered down at me, and I knew without a doubt he had realized just who had been messing with the canon. But instead of screaming or attacking me or something like that, he just smiled again and greeted warmly, "My name is Kyouya Tsukimori. Welcome to my home. Feel free to come by any time; I always love having people around to brighten up these gloomy halls, and Tsubasa would enjoy the company."

"I would!" Tsubasa emphatically agreed to this. "Please come!"

"Ooh, someone's got his sights set on your girl, Souhei," the only other female in the group hooted, sitting cross-legged in her chair. She was also blond, and I got the sense that she was rather down-to-earth. I felt an immediate and unexplainable kinship.

"Tsubasa is kind and responsible enough, even if he is a clown," Uncle replied easily. "And Suzu's been old enough to handle herself on that front for a while now. If he wants to try his hand at courting her, let him."

I flushed a bright red. "Ojisan!" I said hotly, whirling around. Uncle Souhei quirked an eyebrow at me.

"We're all adults here. I'm not going to engage in any comic overprotective father antics," he informed. There was an immediate burst in chatter.

"Hey, Kyouya, I got permission to flirt with a girl!" Tsubasa exclaimed.

"All things in moderation, Tsu-chan," was Kyouya's wise but blasé reply. Tsubasa began laughing uproariously.

"You know, it's not that terrible a prospect," Hideaki pointed out thoughtfully. "I mean, other than the fact that it's Tsubasa. But where else will you find someone in this universe who actually matches your true age? You'd both have to wait a few years, seeing as you're currently stuck being preteens, but when you're of age…"

"Oh my God." I put my hands over my face and just about melted into a puddle of embarrassed goo.

"Alright, alright, that's enough teasing," Uncle Souhei finally decided, waving his hand. "Everyone, grab some food and take a seat. I think I promised you all an explanation for recent events."

At those words, there was a mad scramble to snatch some cookies and refill on tea. Our host graciously handed me and my uncle two steaming cups before settling neatly into his chair.

"You've probably already guessed what's been going on," Uncle Souhei began. "But I suppose we'll just clear the air. Everyone, this is my niece, Misuzu Namikaze."

I felt my shoulders seize up as a half dozen pair of eyes swiveled toward me. Meekly, I raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi," I said smally. "I'm, um… yeah, I'm the one who's been screwing with the story. Um… yoroshiku?"

For a moment, I wondered what kind of reaction I would get. But like children in a classroom, the members of the group simply sat up and chimed back, "Yoroshiku."

"...And that's that," Uncle Souhei said, a bit wryly. "Any questions?"

There were not.

As it turns out, Uncle Souhei did not lie. This group of Earthlings was unbelievably casual. They accepted my story of wanting to let Minato and Team 7 survive, inquired a bit towards what sort of actions I had taken and what plans I had in the works, asked if there was anything they could do, and then promptly went back to having a tea party. I was brought into the socialization with little pomp or circumstance.

It was incredible. I was ready to explode with questions. Didn't they have anything else to say? What were their stories? Didn't they want to do something? But no, that was it. They told me they were willing to lend a hand if I needed it and just went on back to talking and eating and generally just having a good time. The secret society image I had been holding onto promptly went up in smoke, this time for good.

"I told you," Uncle Souhei quietly said when I took him aside. "We get together because we share origins. I only ended up creating this group because I met Kyouya and we realized there were others like us around. We just wanted a place to be ourselves… that's all. They were concerned about the canon, but only because it's something we all share. Everything else that happens is only because we're friends."

Friends. I looked around at the people around me, sitting in their chairs or in the grass and laughing together. Some of their talk was Earth-related, but some of it wasn't. Kyouya lapsed into British English every now and then, and Hideaki occasionally talked to Tsubasa in Spanish, but in the end they were just regular people talking about regular things. Homesickness I didn't know I had been feeling suddenly swelled and was then relieved; Uncle Souhei only smiled when I found myself holding back sniffles.

"Kyouya's here all on his own, so he likes it when we stop by," he told me. "And he knows that sometimes we all need to get a dose of home. You should feel free to come by whenever you want."

I was listening to Uncle Souhei and Kyouya talk when Tsubasa, who had disappeared fifteen minutes or so ago, made his presence known again.

"Tsuki ari!" he roared, dropping out of a tree with a katana raised over his head. The men behind me started, but Hideaki gracefully sidestepped the blade and, in a single movement, cleanly disarmed his attacker. Tsubasa was sent rocketing back with a kick to the stomach.

"You don't yell tsuki when you aim for the face, estúpido," the ANBU informed lightly, putting his hands in his pockets. "That's men."

"I will definitely defeat you today, Hideaki!" Tsubasa declared, ignoring both the correction and the insult. He drew a ninjato from his back and took on a ready stance. "Prepare yourself!"

"Um, is this normal?" I asked as both Uncle Souhei and Kyouya settled back into in their seats, watching idly as Tsubasa promptly got his ass whipped. Hideaki moved like lightning; each strike Tsubasa attempted met empty air. It was painfully evident that he was outclassed.

"Oh, yes," Kyouya happily confirmed. "Tsubasa always challenges Hideaki when we have meetings. Sometimes he'll try attacking him on the ANBU Base, too."

"What?" I asked, alarmed. "They let him do that?"

"They think it's cute," Hideaki informed, suddenly appearing next to me while casually ducking under a swing. Tsubasa stumbled. "They always put a tail on him the instant he enters he the Residential Block, but he only ever goes straight to my house, so they let him come and visit every now and then."

"Don't make small talk!" Tsubasa yelled, righting himself and diving forward. "I'm fighting you right now!"

Hideaki, in response, sent the boy flying over his shoulder. There was a splash as he landed in the pond.

"He's improved a lot," Uncle Souhei observed, sipping his tea. "You can't fight him blind anymore, can you?"

"Nope," Hideaki admitted. "He cut me last time I tried, so I'm sticking to a no-weapons rule instead. But I think he'll have me drawing kunai by the end of the month."

"I call teams!" Tsubasa suddenly exclaimed, panting as he extricated himself from the mud. "Boss, join me!"

"No thanks," Uncle Souhei mildly declined. "If I fight too much in a week, I'll get the battle itch. I'd best not."

"Don't cheat and try and get your betters to do your work for you," Hideaki scolded lightly. "Besides, have some consideration. If you made me and Souhei spar, Kyouya would have to remodel his whole front yard."

"Tsubasa wrecks the landscape enough on his own," Kyouya assured him dryly. "Trust me, it would be nothing new."

"Fine!" Tsubasa whipped a hand out toward me. "Suzu, let's kick his butt!"

"Eh?" I started. "Wait, me? Isn't this a duel or something…?"

"Alone or on a team, victory is still victory!" Tsubasa brashly proclaimed. "Let's get him now, while Aoi's not around!"

"Aoi could take you on even with a concussion," Hideaki laughed, waving a hand. "If you want, I can pop over to the hospital and bring him over. I'm sure he wouldn't mind beating you up a bit, Tsubasa."

"Pah," Tsubasa spat. Then he fixed me with an expectant look.

Self-consciously, I looked down at my plain blouse and skirt, patting my sleeves and finding I had no kunai on my person whatsoever. Slowly, the conversation around us slowed and stopped.

"Oh," Tsubasa said when the silence stretched, looking awkward. "Er, my bad. I swore you said you were a ninja… um, my mistake."

I froze.

"Oye, pendejo." Hideaki immediately frowned, taking in my stricken face. "Cállate."

"I'm sorry," Tsubasa instantly apologized, putting a hand on the back of his head and dropping his chin. I let my arms drop to my sides.

"There's nothing wrong with not being a ninja," Nana quickly assured me from her seat across the way. "I'm not one, and neither is Kyouya."

"I…" I looked back at Uncle Souhei, but his gaze was inscrutable. All of a sudden, I felt like I was being slammed with a monstrous choice. My kneejerk reaction was to just laugh and let it go, but something within me stalled. Deep in the back of my mind, I got the feeling that if I didn't correct him now, I would somehow finally quit being a shinobi forever.

Everyone was looking at me again. I twisted my fingers in the hem of my shirt.

Then I blurted out a "sorry" and dashed away.

A/N: Sorry for the wait. Here it is: meeting the Earthlings chapter. Hope too many of you weren't expecting a big dramatic meeting. I think this chapter kind of met its feels quota in the first part.

I'm definitely enjoying writing Hideaki. Even though he's not going to be a terribly major character, I feel inordinately fond of him. Maybe I just like ANBU boys.

Well, either way, he's pretty close with Tsubasa, so we'll see him again. As for Mr. Yoshizawa, well… we'll see xD.

Oh, and by the way, there's a new Glory: Sidestories chapter. It's written from Minato's POV. Anyway, drop a review and leave me some feedback. Apologies for any typos; I was really feeling the need to stop sitting on this chapter, so I wanted to get it out right away.

Cheers,

Eiruiel