2 – Her Child
Two figures stood in silence, standing across from each other in the dimly lit room.
"How long before it is ready?" the shorter of the two asked, peering down at the glassy orb before them.
"It's difficult to tell." The man's voice, slightly muffled behind the mask he wore, held a trace of frustration.
"More importantly, you said the Fire demon would be willing to join us, and now not only has she refused, but she's disappeared. She's your responsibility, Koizumi-kun."
"That's not my name," Yuuko snarled at the man, suddenly irritated. "I'm not related to that woman responsible for Kiruma's pain."
"Oh, forgive me," Obito returned coolly. "You killed her, didn't you?"
"My past is none of your business, Tobi."
"If it interferes with the plan, rest assured that it will become my business, Yuuko-kun."
The threat in the man's voice was unmistakable.
"Don't worry so much. Kiruma will return. She's not the type of person to keep running away. I'm surprised she managed to this long."
"Well, Fire demon aside, we have one other issue at hand."
"Ah, I know. The Wind Elemental." Yuuko scowled. "But if I had to guess, I'd say Kiruma knows or at least has a theory. If we get a hold of her first, she can tell us who it is."
"Perhaps. But if she doesn't know or refuses to say…"
"Then we'll just search for strong people compatible with wind chakra. There aren't very many."
"Hn. Well, we still have time. The Gedo statue won't be ready for a while."
They both turned their gazes to the clear orb, where a tiny, tree like statue was hunched from within its clear encasings, with four giant eyes sealed tightly closed.
"Well, we shouldn't waste time. I'll send someone to collect your little sister, Yuuko-kun."
Yuuko nodded.
"Fine, but fair warning—if any of you lay a hand on her you'll have hell to pay."
Obito's eyes flashed from behind the mask.
"Of course," came his mild reply.
Kiruma woke with a start in the middle of the night. Unsettled for some reason, she immediately went to Naruto's room. The boy was shifting back and forth in his bed, his expression contorted into one of pain that looked out of place and heartbreaking on a five year old.
"Naruto," she called his name quietly and laid a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't awaken. "Naruto!" she called sharply, shaking him slightly. His eyes flew open and he sat up like a rocket, smacking his forehead against hers.
She winced and rubbed her head as he fell back onto the mattress with a groan, clutching his head.
"That hurt-ttebayo…"
Her eyes were drawn to the seal on his stomach, and her frown deepened. A few of the letters had been glowing a deep orange for a moment there.
"Naruto," she called again, quietly, and he blinked blearily before meeting her worried grey eyes.
"Sensei?"
"Was it about the fox again?"
He nodded and sat up, still rubbing his head.
"It doesn't feel like a dream, Sensei."
He curled up at her side, his head resting in her lap, and she wove her fingers through his hair gently, until his eyes once again grew heavy.
"Don't worry, kiddo," she told him quietly. "Things will change soon."
"Ne, Sensei?" the sleepy voice caught her attention and she turned her gaze downward.
"Hm?"
"Why can't I call you Ka-chan?"
Her hands froze, and she stiffened slightly. His eyes drooped closed, saving her from a reply, and she sighed, her gaze turning out the window toward the forests of Konoha.
"You deserve so much more than me for a mother," she sighed almost inaudibly, an image of Kushina flashing across her eyes.
In all truth, she had been happier than she ever had been the past five years. No betrayals, no chains, no people to lose except the precious child in her arms. But things were getting dangerous. Kiruma was no master at sealing, and Naruto's was unbalancing his chakra. Even now, he struggled horribly with something as simple as water walking because the Kyuubi's chakra interfered.
And he would be six soon. Konoha would not forgive a jinchuriki old enough to be in the Academy.
He needed his seal attended to, and he needed to be pulled away from her, a criminal, to have a chance at the life he so deserved.
Her lips pulled downward as she resumed weaving her fingers through Naruto's hair. As much as she wanted to, she could no longer deny it; it was time for him to return.
"Naruto, listen."
The blonde paused from his place in a tree, bright blue eyes turning to her.
"What?"
"You can't stay with me forever."
He blinked and jumped down from the tree, squinting and cocking his head to the side in confusion.
"What are you talking about-ttebayo?"
She leaned against a tree, and rested her cheek in the palm of her hand.
"You know what they call shinobi that leave a village?"
"Mm… missing nins and rogue nins, right? So what?"
"So, if you ever want to be a real ninja, you have to go to a village and train at the Academy."
Naruto pondered that.
"Ehh, why can't you just train me, Sensei?"
"Because you'll become a missing nin or a rogue nin, kiddo."
"That's weird," he complained. "But whatever. Let's go to a village, then, Sensei."
"I can't go with you," she answered.
Naruto's eyes widened, and there was a silence as the only sound that could be heard was that of the wind through the trees.
"But…"
"Ah, I know." His face scrunched up the way it always did when he was trying to think of a solution.
"And if I want to stay? And don't want to be a ninja?"
"Kid, you've dreamed of it since you first learned to talk."
"W-well what if I've changed my mind-ttebayo?!"
His hands clenched into fists.
"Listen," she sighed. "It won't be forever, okay? I'll still see you from time to time. Just don't be surprised when the time comes. Got it?"
Naruto still didn't look happy, but he nodded.
"Ah, I got it-ttebayo."
"Good. Get back to your taijutsu before I start using you for target practice."
"Sensei, you're too mean-ttebayo!" the whine was lost as a blunted kunai was hurled his way, which he caught and hurled back, sticking out his tongue.
"Too easy!"
His eyes widened when a fireball soon followed.
"Ack, no fair! Okay, I give up, I'm training!"
Kiruma silently picked up the sleeping boy, and settled him on her back, her eyes cast in shadow. With a heavy heart, she scanned the cabin one last time, the old and fresh notches on the door marking Naruto's height, the beaten and punctured wall by his bed where her kunai had missed him by inches in the mornings, the broken window that she had stopped fixing once Naruto crashed through it the seventh time in attempt to skip out on breakfast…
She sighed quietly.
Why did Konoha have to take everything?
She frowned at the thought and dismissed it. It was for Naruto's benefit, not Konoha's. She left the cabin and shifted Naruto into a more comfortable position, allowing his head to fall against her shoulder. His soft blonde hair brushed her cheek and she swallowed hard.
She walked slowly, unable to help herself, despite knowing it would be safest to travel with haste.
The glow of Konoha could be seen much too soon, and Kiruma found herself halfway through the forest directly outside its borders much sooner than she anticipated, though she knew in actuality she was dreading leaving the boy behind and it only seemed that time was passing in the blink of an eye.
She felt a chill creep up her spine and paused, glancing towards the north. A shadow flickered in her peripheral vision and she tensed, immediately closing her eyes and honing her other senses. Soft, nearly inaudible footsteps made her whirl around, eyes flying open.
Flames crept up her fingers and she whipped her arm forward, sending needles of fire towards the direction the sound had come from. She heard the swish of fabric as someone dodged.
She was being followed.
She carefully pulled Naruto from her back and laid the sleeping child by a tree. She touched the ground briefly and a ring of fire sprung up around him, the flames bending outwards slightly and growing larger when movement was detected near the circle.
She faced north again, and in the glow of the firelight, a shadowy figure emerged.
Kiruma's eye and chest prickled painfully as she took in a shock of red hair and hard, hazel eyes.
Sasori appraised her with a sort of dull disinterest.
"My, my, if it isn't the child who likes to play with his dolls," Kiruma's voice was soft and Sasori's eyes flashed briefly before calming.
"If it isn't the pyromaniac kidnapper cursed by her own village," he returned in a bored tone, and her fingers twitched.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" her voice went cold.
"I must say, those scars are befitting of you. It's a shame no one will see them again." His tone remained flat, but the words alone were mocking.
Her eye twinged painfully at the reminder.
"I wonder about that," she answered softly, almost to herself, when in an instant, he attacked. She ducked as a projectile shot over her head, and from the corner of her eye, noticed it sizzle as it struck a tree to her left.
Poison again.
"You will return with me to Akatsuki headquarters, and remain there," he informed her as he dodged the sharp needles of flame sent in his direction. "Come quietly and you will not be harmed."
She ducked under his arm and rolled in a flash as a puppet sprang out of nowhere and lunged towards her.
"I'm afraid I've never heard of a rogue shinobi so willing to follow orders," she returned, standing and facing the puppet. "Perhaps you misunderstood when I roasted your heart alive."
His eyes flashed and his jaw tightened in irritation.
"So be it," he hissed, and both he and his puppet attacked.
Fire bloomed from her hands and curled around the wooden doll, wrapping like a burning snake around its neck and snapping the head off of it. A contraption emerged from the neck, and senbon were suddenly being rapidly fired in her direction. She darted around them, plucking them out of the air individually and heating them until they glowed before hurling them back at the puppet.
In a matter of seconds, the doll was riddled with steaming holes in all of its critical joints, and the chakra strings binding them fell limp. Kiruma leapt backwards as Sasori suddenly appeared before her, and blocked his swing with her forearm, eyes flashing.
"You're out of your league, Sasori of the Red Sand," she murmured as he leapt back, eyeing her warily. He shot kunai towards her and the glint of moonlight on string caught her eye as she leapt upwards and hurled a kunai downward, an exploding tag fluttering behind it. The resulting explosion shook the trees, and Kiruma landed on the ground quickly, absorbing the fire to her arms and shoulders and kicking the kunai aside so that their wires could no longer catch her unaware.
She drew a single sword, and suddenly Sasori's mouth opened and a brace of shuriken came spinning out, each of which she deflected individually with her blade. Her lips twitched.
"You'll have to do better than that."
His eyes narrowed further, and his gaze flickered to the sleeping boy behind her. She vanished and suddenly her knee was imbedded in his chest, crunching through wood. She shoved his neck to the ground, and jammed her hand around the cylinder that was his heart, her eyes narrowed to slits.
"As if I would let you even think about it," she hissed, her eyes blazing. He went still beneath her hands, and a flicker of emotion entered his eyes as her fingernails scraped harshly against the tin can.
"Tell your superiors they'll have to do much better," she informed, him, her eyes calming. She stood up just as spikes erupted from his body where her skin had been moments before.
"Get lost," she advised, before walking to Naruto and calmly depositing him over her back once more before vanishing without a trace. His hand slowly moved to his heart, his eyes unreadable, before he wordlessly turned back and vanished just as silently as he had come.
Kiruma slowly walked the path through Konoha, feeling memories slowly return as she passed the familiar buildings. Naruto was still asleep on her back, his arms draped around her neck as she walked the streets of her home village.
It was strange, being an adult here. Seeing kids run around playing ninja and living their lives just as she had.
She passed her old house, which now was an empty plot of land owned by the Hokage, and paused, running a hand through her hair tiredly.
Both her mother and stepfather had died here.
Kiruma had tried time and time again to remember the days when her family had still been together. She wondered often if once her stepfather had died things might have been better had Yuuko just come home rather than run away.
No, she decided. Her inner demon would plague her until some other misfortune befell her family. She kept walking, past her old home towards Ichiraku's, the ramen stand that the fourth's legacy had dreamed of visiting. Now he would be able to as often as he wanted. The thought made her heart twinge painfully.
Teuchi and Ayame were serving a couple of Jounin, Teuchi laughing uproariously at something one of them had said.
It didn't take a genius to recognize them. Anko and Kakashi. She walked past them quietly, not feeling up to joyful reunions. Perhaps Kakashi would be surprised she was alive, even slightly happy. Or perhaps he would only feel betrayed that she had 'killed' his sensei. Or perhaps he didn't even remember the angry red haired child who almost died being framed for killing the fourth.
They were all realistic options, and Kiruma didn't have the energy to cope with any of them. So, she passed straight by Ichiraku's, heading slowly in a direction she was almost too familiar with. She paused when she reached Hokage Tower. Who had replaced Minato?
Perhaps Jiraiya had taken it upon himself to manage his eccentricities and cope with the toils of leadership. She shook her head slightly, amused at the notion. Or perhaps not.
She wondered how the old Sannin was faring. Had he noticed the absence of his once devoted student? Did he feel anything for the child who once coerced him into a game of tag? Sometimes she wondered. She often came to the conclusion that she was still remembered and hated in this village as a traitor. That's what they were yelling when she left, after all.
She pushed her hands deeper into her pockets, gazing up at the building. Perhaps she should drop in and give her regards to the new Hokage. Then again, he or she would probably kick her out or imprison her the moment they didn't recognize her. Perhaps she should just stay anonymous.
Anonymous, huh?
That had a nice ring to it. Not being known as a killer, or a demon, or a fiery, hot headed brat. Just being normal. She sighed quietly and continued walking. She reached the ninja academy and paused again, noticing Iruka shuffling papers through a window.
He'd grown quite a bit. She found her lips twitching upwards as she watched him go about his work. A teacher huh? Who had tamed that angry little boy into a role model for children? He happened to glance up, and for a moment their eyes locked.
She just had time to see his mouth drop open before she vanished.
She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, pausing on top of Kurenai's house. Was Kurenai alive still? She found herself hoping the young girl was, and doing well. That kunoichi had unfaltering determination, managing to worm her way into even the hardest of hearts. Kiruma made one last stop at the memorial stone, touching Salem's faded name with a sigh.
She hadn't been in Konoha for six long years. The village was moving on, and she was stuck in the past. But truth be told, was that a bad thing? Every time she managed to move on, another loved one died. It never got easier. It never stopped hurting. And it just kept happening.
Kushina had really gotten to her.
That was the truth of the matter. At least her father had been abusive, her mother already dying, but Salem and Minato and Kushina… how she wished it could have been her instead. Those two could raise their son with Kakashi and Jiraiya watching over them, and she could have been forgotten then, rather than remembered as a traitor now.
She felt Naruto's blonde hair brush against her cheek, and remembered the purpose of her journey. With a quiet sigh, she smoothly took to the trees, careful not to jostle the young boy.
The tea shop was worn down and almost dingy looking from the outside. It was clear that no one had been here in a while. She walked around back, pausing by the window of the dojo, and glanced inside. She blinked slightly in surprise. The katana on the wall were rusted and dusty, the shinai appearing equally unused. The lamp was on, though flickering, and Kiruma saw the shadow of a hunched figure at a table.
Had her sensei had a single student since she left?
He shifted slightly, and Kiruma watched as he pulled out a pen and began to write. Nostalgia filled her as she remembered him doing the exact same thing while she labored through his training exercises. He looked much older, more burdened, and she wondered if perhaps the lazy pervert had become Hokage after all. Why else would he seem so melancholy?
She silently opened the door and walked inside, stopping when she was standing a few feet behind him. She soundlessly shifted Naruto into her arms and laid the sleeping boy on the ground.
She stood upright, watching her old teacher for a final moment as she allowed memories of happier days to wash over her.
Then she brushed the locks of hair from Naruto's forehead, a small gesture of affection, and turned towards the door.
"Take good care of him, Sensei," she requested quietly. Jiraiya jumped so hard that his pen flew from his hand across the table. He whirled around, eyes wide, only to see his student's silhouette in the doorway. Her back was to him, and she wished she could see the undoubtedly priceless expression on his face.
"Wai-!"
She vanished out of the dojo, and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, praying he wouldn't seriously pursue her. She heard the door slam open behind her and increased her speed, a bead of sweat forming at her temple.
"Kiruma!" The roar made her twitch, but she continued running, hoping that at least he would have enough consideration for the boy sleeping on his floor to turn back.
Her eyes widened a fraction when Jiraiya's dark silhouette appeared in front of her, as if out of thin air. She skidded to a stop, dislocating several roof shingles, a small snarl of frustration leaving her throat.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he demanded in a low voice, his eyes livid.
She clenched her teeth and rotated on her heel, taking off in the other direction, towards the east gate. She increased her speed and began to make turns every so often on the path, until she was sure he was no longer behind her. She pulled on her cloak as she rounded a corner, pulling the hood low over her eyes. She passed him once, ensuring that he had lost her trail, before continuing on her way and taking to the rooftops. She was a master at remaining unseen now. Even Jiraiya couldn't compete with her five years of desperately protecting Naruto.
When she reached the gate, she rebounded off a wall, flying clean over the guards' heads and rolling smoothly into a crouch outside of Konoha. She glanced behind her for a final time, and her eyes locked with a man standing with his arms crossed over his chest, near the gate, an unmistakable headdress that bore the mark of the Hokage resting on his head. She swallowed hard, her fears and suspicions confirmed.
Danzo.
He raised his hand, and suddenly eight distinguished shadows appeared on the roof above his head, majority of whom were armed.
She recognized several of them. The Faction Eight.
Some of them she held eye contact with. She saw Ruby blink in surprise. Dandelion smiled, his teeth white against his dark silhouette. He was crouched on all fours next to Three, who watched her impassively. She narrowed her eyes slightly, seeing Sparrow and Calloway tense, prepared to pursue her.
Danzo's hand came down, and she heard a quiet command.
"Get her."
She narrowed her eyes slightly, daring them to try, before turning and taking off into the woods, flying through the trees faster than she ever had before.