Perfect Timing

Summary: A highly utilitarian girl from our world gets thrust into the midst of the Third Shinobi World War. All she wants to do now is avoid changing the original story.

It's not as easy as it sounds. OC/Reincarnation.


Chapter 17: Their Treasure

The universe always seems to want to put her in the wrong place at the right time.


'

Reina awoke to a blur of vision, a pulsing in her head, and a great pain in her side.

"Ugh," she moaned, bringing her hands to her face as her surroundings started to clear into focus. "fuuuck."

The ceiling was covered with running lines of pipes, which was strange, since caves usually didn't have ceilings... much less a need for venting or plumbing.

Maybe she'd really lost her mind for good this time.

"You've got quite the vocabulary for a girl your age."

"Holy shit," Reina practically screeched as her eyes landed on the source of the new voice, her instinct to shoot up in her seat ceded by the burst of anguish it caused in her middle. She immediately laid back down before continuing, "Grandma Neko?!"

Sure enough, the older woman was walking over to Reina's side, a disapproving look painted on her expression. Three cats trailed behind her, walking as if in line with the confines of her shadow.

"What're you doing here? What am I doing here? Where am I?" Reina blinked, "Who am I?"

"You're Reina, of course. Who else would you be?"

"I think I'd very much like to be anybody else right now."

"Doesn't work that way, I'm afraid."

"Well," Reina said glumly, "at least I tried. Wait, wasn't there something else I'm forgetting...?"

"If you mean that friend of yours that was bleeding out to death, then yes. I was wondering when you'd think to mention him."

"...Right, Shisui!" Reina yelped, "Oh god. Where is he, did—he didn't actually die this time, did he? Oh god he did, didn't he. He's dead, isn't he?!"

She didn't know why, but the prospect sank her heart like a rock in a river.

"This time?" Grandma Neko sighed, patience evidently ebbing, "I don't know what you mean by all that, but your friend is still alive. Somewhat. Truthfully, he's in a terrible state; I'd say he's only hanging on by a thread. But luckily Nora had brought you both here to me when he did, or else he'd be long dead already. He's being tended to in the back room of my shop as we speak."

"...Really? Can I see him?"

"I suppose Tamaki should be finished dressing his wounds by now. Can you stand?"

Reina again attempted to sit up, the pain shooting up behind her jawbone and into her skull. "Uguughh."

"There was quite a bit of damage done to your torso as well, so I would try not to push yourself too hard." Grandma Neko said, watchful eyes following Reina's face as she attempted to stand on her own two feet. Reina ended up in a place that was between a crawl and a limp, but she was at least able to move on her own two feet a few moments later. "Right, well. I suppose that's good enough. If you can fight through it, follow me then."

Luckily the room they were headed towards was only a short hall away. Grandma Neko opened the door to reveal a room that looked more like a large storage closet, stray cleaning supplies thrown to the side as if they'd had to makeshift a treatment room last minute. There was a young brunette standing before a small cot that held what Reina could immediately tell was Shisui's unconscious form.

"He looks like crap," Reina announced, taking the chair closest to where they'd laid Shisui out. The visible parts of his face were purple and bruised, while the rest of his body was almost completely covered in bandages, the overlapping rows peeking out from under the edges of his burnt clothes. And though they looked freshly wrapped, the white fabric was already seeping thick splatters of scarlet.

"His wounds keep reopening," Tamaki explained, and for a second, Reina couldn't help but marvel at how much the girl reminded her of a younger Rin. Perhaps it was just the hair, or the roll of bandages in her hands. Rin had always seemed to be holding some sort of medical supply when she'd seen her. Usually to fix whatever bodily leaks Obito had recently surrendered to. "especially in his legs. Whatever hit you guys, it got him there. At this rate, he's going to need surgery, and we don't have the resources for that..."

"What'll we do, then?" Reina asked, staring at her fallen friend, "I guess I could just run back to Konoha and get some more supplies—"

"Meeeeeow."

"Wha—" Reina started looking around before realizing the sound was coming from below her eye-line. Her gaze fell to the floor, landing on a familiar ball of black fur. "Oh, Nora?"

"Hm," Grandma Neko said, suddenly appearing next to her, picking up Nora in her arms. The cat's green eyes blinked rapidly as it continued its string of high-pitched mews. "according to Nora here, the Uchihas are out looking for you."

"...Excuse me? Me? Why?" Reina asked.

"Meow. Meeeoow."

"Oh my," Grandma Neko's eyes widened. "it seems they suspect you had something to do with Shisui's death."

"...Haha. Wait, wha... What?!"

What? How could they have even made that connection? Sure, the mysterious circumstances around Shisui's death had brought the idea of Itachi's involvement to the clan's mind in the series; but that'd made more sense, seeing as Itachi had come back with a fresh new Mangekyo Sharingan right after.

Was suspicion being thrown on both of them now? Or had they somehow decided she was an even bigger suspect than Itachi?

And if so, why?

"I'm not sure what exactly's going on here," Grandma Neko sighed, "and the look on your face tells me you're not going to explain. But I will say this: Itachi is such a good boy, and he must be so worried about his friend... If anyone, you should at least let him know Shisui is alive."

"Right, of course. But for now, let's just focus on helping Shisui recover," Reina muttered. To avoid Grandma Neko's gaze she ducked her head, not wanting to alert the woman to her truthfully undecided stance on that subject. As she did, her eyes fell on Nora again.

Later she'd need to sync up with her summon and figure out exactly how he had brought them here. Was it a reverse-summoning situation? Or did he just have some sort of secret ability she wasn't aware of? "By the way. Thank you, Nora. I'm sure we would've been goners without you."

Nora simply mewled in reply, though there was a new brightness to the gleam in his eyes.

Shisui'd stayed unconscious for weeks after that. Reina stayed with Grandma Neko in the interim, retrieving supplies from the nearby black markets—a solution that wouldn't last them long, considering the priciness of goods that came from the underground trade, and the lack of cash Reina had thought to bring with her—but finally, after a month had passed, Shisui finally awoke.

"You're here. Of course, you're here." came a tired, almost mocking lilt. Reina looked up from where she'd nodded off in her chair, eyes shooting open to Shisui's bandaged face turned in her direction. "I was very confused as to how I was still somehow alive, but I should've know you were involved. You were always good at showing up out of absolutely nowhere."

"...How'd you know it was me?"

"I might be blind now, but I can still sense chakra, you know." he paused, before continuing, "...Plus, you talk in your sleep."

"Ah." she coughed awkwardly, making a move to get up out of her seat, "Well, uh, you must be in a lot of pain. Let me get you something, we don't have a lot of painkillers left, but they should help. And water, at least—"

"No, it's fine."

"What? Are you sure? I don't think you should—"

"It's fine, Reina." his tone had sharpened immensely, leaving her little room to argue.

"...Okay." she fell stiffly back into her chair.

There was a long, painful stretch of silence before Shisui finally voiced the question she didn't even know she was dreading until he asked, "...how bad is it?"

How bad is it? Reina didn't really know what to say. They were both badly injured, thanks to Shisui's inconvenient attempt to leave no corpse behind; but it was he himself that was much worse for wear, having taken the brunt of the hit from the seal.

Apparently, Reina had thrown the seal just far enough that the brunt of the damage had gone to his legs, the flesh all burnt and marred around his ankles now. They hadn't been able to get much more in medical supplies these last few days, so some of his wounds had started on the path to infection. Though he hid it well, he must've been in a great amount of pain as he'd stirred to consciousness.

And of course, then there were his eyes. He'd literally just popped the last one he'd had out of his skull to hand to Itachi. Like candy out of a wrapper.

There wasn't much they could do with that.

So when he asked how bad is it?, it was hard to know what exactly he was referring to.

"We managed to heal the brunt of your wounds, but there's a lot going around on with your legs that we—"

"No." Shisui shook his head. "I don't mean me. The village. The clan. What's happening there?"

Reina bit her lip.

"I don't know." It wasn't a real lie. She didn't know. Her being suspected—at least in part—for Shisui's death had completely thrown her off. It hadn't been part of the original story; it couldn't have, considering she was never in it.

But of course, that didn't mean everything else that came next wouldn't stay the same.

"Do they know I'm alive?"

"Most likely not. I was careful." well, mostly. The explosive seal hadn't really been part of her plan. Reina briefly wondered if anyone had heard it, since it'd probably meant to be activated underwater; after Shisui had already made contact with the river. "Your little seal trick didn't help, though."

"Wasn't meant to help," Shisui chuckled darkly, "it was only meant to finish the job."

"Shisui," she sighed, "seriously. What were you thinking?"

"I had no other choice," Shisui said, shifting his head so it was now facing the ceiling, "I couldn't risk..."

"Couldn't risk what?" Reina demanded. She felt her tone hardening, somewhat surprised at her own desire to probe Shisui for the truth. It wasn't like she didn't already know, but she was compelled to hear it from him. It was tiring, not being able to talk about what she already knew openly. "You might as well tell me what's been going on. I'm already pretty involved at this point."

The room fell silent.

"You're right," he finally gave in, moments later. "I guess you deserve to know, then."

He then regaled her the story the story she'd already known too well; from the coup, to Danzo attacking him, even to the handoff of his remaining eye to Itachi. She was surprised he'd bothered to entrust her with that last detail; then again, there wasn't really any other way to explain the absence of his other eye.

"If I'd let the coup happen, Konoha would've been so weakened the other villages would use that chance to attack. If the Kotoamatsukami didn't work out, then as a backup plan I was hoping to use that mission to Kumo as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with their village in case the coup did happen... maybe even form an alliance to give us a fighting chance..." Shisui sighed, "if it weren't for Danzo, there were so many things I could've tried..."

"I just don't see why Danzo's involvement suddenly meant you needed to die, though."

"If I was alive, Danzo would always think I was hiding my other eye somewhere. Even if I'd ran, he'd eventually find me. He has people everywhere, even in Anbu apparently. And once he'd captured me, he could use the Kotomatsukami he already has on me to make me admit I'd given the other one to Itachi. Danzo has the resources, the cunning, and all that ruthlessness... I couldn't take the risk."

"You didn't think he would suspect Itachi had it, too?"

"Why would he?"

"Because he'll come back with a Mangkeyo anyways after watching you die, you dolt."

"No," Shisui shook his head, "it's not the same. It's not the Kotomatsukami, so it shouldn't raise Danzo's suspicions. Itachi would keep it somewhere safe, somewhere no one would suspect. Far from where Danzo could find it."

Like his crow. Well, Reina sure wouldn't have predicted that, if she'd already known. Or thought it fucking possible. Do eyes work at all in this world, like they had in her old one?

"So you were really going to sacrifice your clan for the village?"

"What? No. I didn't want to hurt my clan. They're everything to me. But though I understand why they were upset, the way they were going to do it sacrificed too much of the innocent lives. We can't..." Shisui's voice slowed, the sound more pained than ever, "I don't want us to be the cause of another war. I had to watch so many members of our clan sacrifice our lives to the last one. Too many innocent lives would've been sacrificed for this power struggle."

"War's not ideal, but we could've dealt with it, Shisui."

Plus there ends up being another war anyways. Reina knew where he was coming from, but with the wealth of knowledge she had on the future, it felt like his death had been a bit in vain in the end.

"You never really saw what was happening then, did you? Kushina and Minato probably made sure of it." Shisui's voice grew tired. Reina wondered if it was from his injuries, or just the topic of conversation itself. "That last war was terrible, Reina. So terrible. I know neither of us really fought in it, but I had plenty of family that did. I had to watch members of my clan die off, day by day. Some days it'd be one, others a few more, but it felt like there was always someone, at least once a week. I had to sit there through countless funerals. Cousins, aunts, uncles... And those that were left, even little kids like Itachi, had to live on traumatized from what they'd seen." Shisui took a breath before he continued, "And then, there was even my father. He didn't die in the war, but there wasn't much left of him afterwards."

Right, she'd almost forgotten. His father had lost the use of his leg after the war, and died shortly after. And it had been right after their botched mission to Kiri, to boot.

"When that happened, I was a mess. I could easily say that was the worst year of my life; I'd never felt so alone. Except I wasn't. The clan, they pulled me from that darkness. My dad was only one of countless shinobi we'd seen fall amongst us, but it didn't matter. The clan members, and even Itachi too, took turns helping me afterwards. They made sure I was okay, still eating right, sleeping enough. They talked me through the harder nights, the ones I thought I wouldn't get through. If it weren't for them, I would have nothing. That's what family is, Reina. It keeps us from that darkness. It protects us from it. It's only fair we protect it back."

"You're not protecting your clan though. You're protecting the village from your clan."

"I'm protecting the clan from itself. They'd felt betrayed and upset, too angry to see what they were doing wasn't worth the cost. The coup would've killed at least half of us. If their minds hadn't been clouded by their emotions, they would've seen that eventually. I have faith they would've... That's why I did what I did."

"No, Shisui, you're not protecting your clan." Reina's voice raised. His speech on his love for his clan had agitated Reina. Did he really not know, not suspect at all, what was about to happen next? Wasn't he considered one of the smartest shinobi out there? Sure, it would've been hard for anyone to see what was coming, she surely wouldn't have predicted it; but did he really have no idea? "You're not protecting them at all. In fact, you're practically abandoning them. You have no idea what's going to happen after you die, because you won't be there to stop anything, the things that could change, what'll come of the future—"

"What are you talking about?" Shisui said, tone shifting. He had a level of panic to his voice now, an edge of worry. "Do you know something? Is something already happening with the clan right now?"

"N-no, I'm not saying that," Reina said. "I–"

"You're not a good liar, Reina. Even if I can't see you," Shisui snapped, "I can still hear it in your voice. Tell me what's happening."

"I don't know! I really don't know!" Reina took a sharp breath, "I haven't been back yet. And I'm not sure what'll happen when I go back. I've been sending Nora to the village to gather intel, but all he's found out is that, apparently, everyone thinks me and Itachi have something to do with your death. Itachi, because he came back with a fresh new Mangekyo right after, and me, well, because I'd 'mysteriously vanished' at the same time."

"...I don't understand. Why would they think that? No offense, but that's ridiculous. I'd definitely win against you in a head-on fight if you tried to kill me."

That was super offensive to her. But probably true.

"I mean, if I knew, I would tell you. It's definitely not going to make things easier, having the entire clan watching me when I decide to go back. It'll definitely make it harder for me to travel between here and the village unnoticed, that's for sure."

"What would you be coming back here for?"

"Uh, well for one, Grandma Neko's shop wasn't exactly made to pose as a walk-in clinic, so I'll eventually need to do a supply run once things cool down. We've been relying on the black markets here lately, but let me tell you, they're shady as hell. Some guy tried to sell me a finger the other day. Do I look like the type of person that just like, needs fingers? Plus they always up-charge way past what we can afford." she sighed, "Guess that's another thing, I can't exactly shirk my missions much longer. Wouldn't want to risk unemployment now that we have to keep you in hiding. Food, water, all of that stuff'll be expensive, and I—"

"Reina," Shisui said quietly, "c'mon. I appreciate it, but... I think you need to realize, it's not worth the risk. If there's even the slightest chance that Danzo could find me... There's no point in working this hard to keep me alive."

"...You're saying you want me to just let you die."

"Yes." he paused. "I... don't care how. You don't have to be involved if you don't want to be. But at the very least, if you could leave the room."

This was it. He was literally asking for her to let him die.

Wasn't this what she wanted?

If Shisui died, right here and now, she could put things back on track. This was her chance, as horrible as that sounded. The folly of having saved him could so easily be erased... All she had to do was let him do what he'd intended to do from the start.

It was what she'd always done. She'd long resolved to let these characters go through with their decisions to sacrifice themselves, and follow their fate. All the times she'd stood by and allowed all those other deaths to happen, the ones she might've been able to prevent—all that would been in vain if Shisui didn't die as well.

"...It's okay, Reina. I'm ready. I've made peace with it."

Rin, Kushina, and Minato's faces flashed before her eyes again. Their images weren't here in the room with her like they'd been at the cliffside, but seeing them back there had reminded her all too well of what came after; when people who were so loved were allowed to die. Even though they'd been the ones that'd decided to make that sacrifice, Reina knew, and had mostly witnessed firsthand, that it would be the others, people like Kakashi, Naruto, and Obito that would suffer most for it.

She'd spent all this time, trying so hard not to interfere with everyone else's destiny. But maybe this was hers.

"No."

"What?"

"No, I don't want to. I'm tired of this," her words ran in her ears as the blood rushed to her head, with the sound of her heartbeat slamming against her chest, "I'm tired of watching all you idiots run around, giving up your life for reasons that just suck. You need to be selfish, just once in your life. Just once, okay?"

She'd need to apologize to Rin, as well as Kushina and Minato, for her hypocrisy later. Had she come to this conclusion sooner, they would still be here. But it was too late for them; and that was a regret she'd have to live with for the rest of her life.

Yet deep down inside, she knew they'd approve. They'd been the ones to tell her to do this, after all.

"Reina, the risk of Danzo find—"

"Take the risk," Reina interrupted, "why does he get to decide if you live or die? What right does he have? I don't care what the dangers are, we'll figure it out. Look at you, you're making me spout all this optimistic bullcrap. I feel like Naruto."

"Wha... Who? The Kyuubi kid? What does he...?"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful. I'll make a quick run back to Konoha, pick up some supplies,and so long as I use my Tomeru for most of the trip, we should be good to go. It'll be like I wasn't even there." Reina took a breath, before continuing, "You're not dying on me, Shisui, not after all you've put me through these last few weeks. I'm done with this."

"Reina, I appreciate it. But you can't just hope this'll work out. There's too much at stake. If Itachi's exposed—"

"Yeah yeah, shut up." Reina said, standing over to walk to Shisui's bedside. "later on, you're going to be surprised at how much energy you'd putting towards worrying about the wrong things. If only you knew."

"Re—" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence though, before Reina's hand descended on the spot between his shoulder and neck. Shisui spluttered for a second, before his head went slack, falling back on his pillow. He was out like a light.

It was the same technique she'd used on Aoi, though it probably wouldn't have worked on Shisui had he been at his best. In his current state, however, it'd been like taking candy from a baby.

"Tamaki!" Reina called, walking towards the door. "I'm going to head back to Konoha in a bit. Can you help me prepare some stuff?"

'


'

She stared into the spinning red eyes of one Itachi Uchiha, knowing the greyscale of her Tomeru was about to be overlapped by the very similar landscape of the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

It was not her first mistake of the day.

She'd expected the journey back to Konoha to be relatively easy, and she wasn't wrong. Shisui's death had alerted the clan, but the village itself wasn't all that concerned. After all, it'd been reported as a suicide.

With her Tomeru, there'd been no trouble getting back in unnoticed. The trip to the hospital, however, was another story.

There was only so far she could travel before her Tomeru's timer went up. It'd be a while before she'd want to risk using it again, though it'd been a while since she'd tested its limits; now wasn't really the time to see how far she could push her boundaries, however.

She fell back behind a tree only a few feet away from the Nara family's property. It was a matter of skill now, to get her the little distance she'd need to make it to the storage room where they'd kept the clan's higher-end medical supplies.

"Hey there."

This was it. The proof she needed to confirm the universe did, in fact, hate her specifically.

She spun around, her face an expression of unmasked horror as she faced the newcomer.

"KAKASHI?!"

"God, that was loud." Kakashi said, his exposed eye a half-moon of sadistic mirth. "It looked like you were hoping to a keep a low profile, weren't you? Sure seemed that way, considering the effort you put into hiding behind this tree."

Reina started to mutter under her breath. "I can't fucking believe my luck, I hate this world, can't you let something go right for me just once."

"What?"

"I said, nice to see you Kakashi. Been a while."

"Hn. Yes, about a month, in fact." his tone didn't even drop in the slightest before he continued, "Anything new with you, since then?"

"Uh, well, I guess you might've noticed I haven't been around."

"Not really. I've been a bit busy myself. But it seems the Ucihas are out looking for you."

"Ohhhhh yaaay," Reina said unenthusiastically. "well, tell them I'm a little busy right now, but I'd be happy to meet up with them later."

"Is that so? Are you sure you aren't just planning to run off again later?" Kakashi said, voice unreadable. It was that strangely friendly tone he always took when he was really backhandedly trying to extract information from you. "My my, they've been quite upset you haven't turned up yet, you know. They have a lot of questions regarding you and that boy."

"Kakashi, you don't really think I had anything to do with the death of my precious friend, do you?" Reina asked, trying to contort her face into the image of innocence.

"You don't seem all that torn up about it." His voice dropped just half an octave, but it was enough to let Reina know she'd made a mistake.

Your friend just died, act sadder!

"...I process grief inwardly. Very inwardly," Reina grit her teeth before frowning, "you know what that's like, don't you?"

"Reina. Did you do it?"

"What?" she was a little taken aback. She knew she wasn't on very good terms with Kakashi, but even he of all people should've known she wasn't capable of this.

...Right?

"Well?"

"Did I have something to do with Shisui's death?! No, of course not!" It was the opposite, if anything. She was responsible for him being alive. God, she'd sure gotten less attention for letting people die. Maybe she should just go back to doing that.

"Right, just wanted to make sure," Kakashi sighed, putting his hands in his pockets.

Reina blinked. "Wait, what? Just like that, you believe me?"

"You're a notoriously bad liar, Reina. Like how you tried to play off all those hallucinations you saw as a kid."

"...What? You knew about that?!"

"We all did. Minato and Kushina asked us to keep quiet about it, but for a shinobi, you truly were lacking in the art of deception."

Not that lacking, considering they still didn't realized she was technically 21 years older than she should've been. Still, this was news to her. Thankfully, Kakashi still was in the dark on who'd she'd been hallucinating at that time.

"Besides, you're not the only suspect they have in mind, so," Kakshi's voice dropped. "you might be in the clear soon enough."

"...Itachi, you mean?"

"Yeah. He's got no alibi for that night, plus, they say he has motive, not to mention he's probably one of the few other shinobi that could've taken Shisui head-on. Rumor has it has it, he now has a Mangekyo Sharingan. I don't know if you've heard, but there's only one way to get one of those."

Reina had forgotten, for a second, that Kakashi and Shisui had been in Anbu together. It was a distant, work-acquaintance sort of relationship, but Kakashi must've been startled when he'd heard about Shisui's death. At least enough to question his suicide, and start looking into who might be his killer.

"I've heard." From the sounds of it, Kakashi did suspect Itachi too. It gave Reina chills, that rumors like that could even trick a shinobi as seasoned as him.

"Still, if you didn't do anything, why are you skulking around like this?"

"I, uh," This was it. Years of shinobi training came down to this. It was her chance to finally prove to Kakashi that she was, in face, capable of lying well. "...I'm just shopping for supplies for my next mission. I didn't want to run into any Uchihas, so hence, the hiding."

It helped that the lie was made up of half-truths; she was, technically, shopping for supplies for a mission, if saving Shisui's life counted as a mission.

"I'm surprised the village would've assigned you a mission in the middle of all of this."

"Well, it's not for a while, but I couldn't stay cooped up in my apartment forever."

"Right," Kakashi turned with a nod of his head, "well. See you, then."

Reina blinked as the silver-haired man shunshin'd out of sight. It'd been their first real interaction in a long time, and a strange one at that. Still, that would hopefully be the most face-time she'd get with another person during this trip, assuming everything else went right.

The storage room was a half mile down the path from the Nara family's head's actual home, the one Reina had been residing in all this time. It'd made her extra anxious, knowing that she was about to steal from a place not very far from where slept every night.

But that was, in part, the reason she'd chosen to come here for what she needed. The Nara family was famed for their medical knowledge and innovations, and would surely have what she'd need to help to treat Shisui's worsening injuries. Plus, she'd known from her time living there that when the researchers were out, only two personnel were ever present at the time to watch over the building. They worked in shifts, however, leaving the building vulnerable whenever the changing of the guard was taking place.

She watched as two green-jacket clad shinobi walked off the compound, two others walking over to replace them. That was her opportunity.

Carefully, quietly, she shunshin'd over to the rooftop, where she'd known a door that lead into building would be waiting. She needed to work fast, before the new guards made their way back into the premise.

"Now, if I were life-saving medical supplies, where would I be," Reina muttered a few moments later once she'd just made it past the main room, filled with books and research, to the area where patients where the actual supplies were kept. Opening up the bottom cabinets in a large set of drawers, she revealed a collection of pastes, herbs, gauze, and more. "Aha!"

The Naras were very traditional when it came to their medical practices, though they did mix most of their natural, plant and animal-based remedies with findings from modern science. Still, it surely be enough to keep them afloat for a while back at Grandma Neko's.

As she snuck back in to the main room, looking to return up the stairs to the roof, she decided to take a few relevant-looking books with her for good measure. It wasn't like she was planning on performing any advance surgery anytime soon, but who knew what the future held? She sure didn't.

Not anymore.

She'd just barely made it onto the roof when she saw it.

"What the hell?" she asked aloud, squinting in the early morning sun. A bird, similar to Shisui's crow, though with significantly scragglier feathers, had perched itself at the corner of the roof. "Wait. No. Don't tell me..."

"Reina Kitani!" A man's harsh bark came suddenly from behind her. It was in the next second that she felt herself being pinned to the ground as she looked up to see a long-haired Uchiha with an angry mug glaring down at her. "By order of the Konoha Military Police Force, you are being taken in for questioning regarding the murder of Shisui Uchiha! Resist only at the risk of your own life."

Reina blinked. "Excuse me? How did you guys even find me?"

Another shinobi, this one with a brown ponytail, appeared next to the first Uchiha, holding her very unhappy-looking summons by the back of the neck. He hoisted Nora up in the air with a chuckle before explaining, "We noticed this guy wandering around the village a few days ago. We figured if we had my summon keep an eye on him then eventually, he'd lead us to you."

Oh crap. "How'd you even know that Nora was my summon?" Reina demanded.

"Because I told them."

Reina's heart dropped as the newcomer came into view. "Fucking—Kakashi? are you serious right now?!"

Kakashi walked over, leaned down, and whispered.

"Don't be too mad, okay? Your summon is obviously very young and inexperienced," he said, his voice tickling in her ear, "it was bound to happen anyways, so I thought I'd just speed things up for your own good. Trust me, all they'll ask is you just answer a few questions, and your name'll be cleared. You told me yourself you didn't do it, after all. Right?"

Questions? Like what? "What were you doing the night of Shisui's death?" "Oh, you know, just standing a few feet away, minding my own business. Totally didn't have anything to do with it. Certainly hadn't being doing anything crazy right when it happened, like talking to a bunch of hallucinations trying to convince me to save him."

Yeah, Kakashi'd definitely just dug her grave.

'


'

It was now Reina's second night being held in a cell within the Police Force's building. According to Shikaku (who'd come to visit her once he'd heard what'd happened at his clan's medical building), she'd have gotten out sooner if she'd just cooperated with their line of questioning.

"I'm trying," Reina had scoffed, leaning her head back in her seat, "do you think I want to be here? But no matter what I say, they're not satisfied!"

Shikaku frowned, crossing his arms. "From what I've heard, you've answered squat. You can't provide a proper alibi for where you were that night, since you certainly weren't here, or why you suddenly disappeared right after. Let alone why you were stealing supplies from our medical building the other morning."

"Proper alibi? I told them I was taking a walk!"

"No eyewitnesses saw you around the village that night."

"Well it was a walk, not a parade," Reina snapped, slamming her head back down on the slab of metal posing as a bed in her cell. "and I'm a shinobi, can you really not believe I'd be able to get away unnoticed while taking a simple walk?"

"The only time you were seen that day was earlier in the day, with Shisui and Itachi at the training grounds," Shikaku said, "there were several witnesses. Itachi also corroborates this."

That turd. Itachi knew as well as her that Shisui'd sent a clone at that time. Why was he lying about that? Was he trying to shift the suspicion from himself to her?

It sucked that it was kind of working.

"And somehow a few hours after that training session, I had the sudden urge to kill Shisui and fake it as a suicide? Geez, what kind of training sessions do you have?"

"That's the only thing you have on your side, Reina. Lack of proper motive. They'll figure out some way to connect this to you or Itachi eventually though, if you're not careful." Shikaku warned. "The Uchihas are prideful. One of their own might have been killed, and they'd much rather believe it was by someone outside of their clan than someone in it."

He'd left after that statement, leaving Reina to stare up at the bumpy, water-stained ceiling in apprehension.

It was hard to tell for sure, since the cell didn't have any windows, but the cold air seeping in from the walls told her it was nearing nighttime now. Another night in the cell wasn't ideal, especially since they were waiting for her to bring back the supplies to Grandma Neko. Also, doing hard time in the midst of a clan on the brink of a coup was not her idea of a fun night.

"I wonder..." Reina thought, eyeing the lock on the cell door. Shinobi were always held with bound hands and chakra seals placed on them, and she was no exception, but it didn't really require chakra to pick a manual lock. Of course, once she'd gotten past the door, she'd have to deal with the entire police force working right outside, but that was a problem for future Reina. Luckily, her cell was enclosed in a private room, so as long as she could get her arms out of their bindings, she could remove the seals and slip past the bars unnoticed. The door itself would take longer to pick, and surely there'd be seals placed on that too, but she could figure those out. She'd been Kushina's student, after all.

The bindings, however, were trickier than she'd realized. As much as she tried to pull and tug at them, the bindings used by the KMPF were surprisingly strong. They'd not only handcuffed her, but wrapped chains all the way up to her elbows, effectively making it impossible to get any useful leverage between her arms in order to break them apart.

"Well," Reina said, realizing what she'd have to do, "this'll suck."

Walking over to the cell's bar, she quickly got to work.

It was half an hour later, her knees soaked with tears from the pain, when she finally removed her bloodied hands from the metal bindings. She'd had to scrape her arms around in them like crazy, as well as break one of her thumbs to get them through the metal ring the size of her wrist; but the lubrication from the blood had actually helped them slip off even better. So at least there was that.

"Well that hurt like a bitch," she muttered to herself, gulping down the anguish so she could quietly remove the seals placed on her, before kicking at the metal bars with her feet. It took a few more moments before she was able to make an opening big enough to slip through, but now she was able to work on the seals on the door.

This was trickier, as obviously the seals had been placed on the outside of the wall. Still, it wasn't an impossible feat to deactivate them, not with her chakra control. But it didn't help that the pain clouded her concentration slightly.

Weaving. When it came to seals like these, it was all about the weaving. To undo the seal that'd been placed on the other side of the wall, she'd had to pass her own through to it, in a slow, but swift motion. It had to be a strong enough surge as well, to overcome the weaved chakra of the person who'd placed it on there.

A well of panic filled her chest as she worked. She'd hoped placing the seals had been some rookie's job, someone whose chakra levels she could dare and try to match; otherwise, any hidden alarm systems placed in the seal would surely go off, and then she'd be done for.

Luckily, it seemed like she'd been right, and the tedious job of performing door seals to keep in the low-level ruffians that were usually kept at the KMPF had gone to the entry-level employees. The thin fingers of her own chakra had easily pulled away at seal's creator's, and five minutes later, she could hear the 'pop' of the seals falling off the door.

"Yes!" she whispered quietly, a surge of pride reddening her cheeks, "I did it—"

"AUUUUUUUGH!"

She froze. What was that?

Another bloodcurdling scream ripped through the air.

Well, that certainly couldn't have been a reaction to her undoing of the door's seals. It seemed a bit overkill.

The screams rose in volume and crescendo, until suddenly, they fell silent. With great hesitation, Reina slowly opened the door to see—

A completely empty Police Force. Papers were strewn about the desks, chairs pushed out and a even fallen against the floor like the officers had gone off in a hurry.

"...Huh," Reina said, suddenly not feeling very good about this all. The front door to the building had been swung wide opening, making Reina's exit an even more anxious one.

It'd all became clear when she walked outside.

The stench. That had been what overcame her first. The smell of copper mixing with the cold bite of night air.

And then the red.

Red. Red, red, red. Everywhere.

She stood there, frozen for a moment, on the steps of the police department. The cause of the scene was only a few feet away, standing with his sword in the chest of the man in front of him.

"Itachi." she'd regret saying his name in that moment. It was an image she'd never forget; how his black hair shifted as he turned, ever so slowly, from where he'd stood. The thin, long strands of scarlet splattered across his face. How the man had slid off his sword as blood bubbled from his lips, before falling to the ground in a heap.

That'd been the Uchiha that'd captured her, with the long brown hair. He'd been in the original series, but she'd forgotten his name. Or more likely, she'd never learnt it to begin with.

She wished Itachi wasn't looking at her right now, with those cold, red eyes. It had locked her in her fear. She couldn't move. Couldn't breath. Couldn't lift a single finger as he suddenly shunshin'd towards her, sword in hand.

He's going to kill me. He's not going to let anyone survive. Not anyone besides Sasuke.

Only Sasuke would be allowed to live after witnessing this. That was all Itachi cared about. Reina was nothing to him. If she didn't do something, anything, now, she was going to die.

The smell of death flooded her senses, the red so bright in both the blood on the street and the red in Itachi's eyes it was practically all she could see.

"Shisui," Reina breathed, realizing the entire world would shift as she spoke these words, "he's alive."

Itachi's eyes widened. His sword stopped, hesitating, for just a moment.

It was the chance she'd needed.

Her seals had been clumsy with her fear, and she hadn't tried them one-handed in a while, but with Itachi momentarily distracted she was able to get through the whole set by hiding her arm behind her back.

She hadn't distracted him for long enough though, it seemed.

Her Tomeru activated just in the moment Itachi had realized what she was doing. His eyes widened, the irises spinning red. The three tomoe were just starting to merge as his face turned sheet white.

The world around them distorted. Shadows became darker. The light grew in contrast, the moon now a swelling white ball amidst a stark black sky.

She'd been too late, however.

"No!" Reina gasped. Itachi's body had frozen as it was supposed to within her Kekkei Genkai—his sword stilled in the tight grip of his palm, his weight on his front leg as he stood mid-lunge. Not a single muscle was moving.

His Sharingan, however, was different story.

It was slower than usual, but the black tomoe still swam towards his pupil, before the block dot burst out and started to form that familiar shape.

"No!" Reina yelled, forcing more chakra into her Kekkei Genkai. How could she have forgotten?

The Sharingan could still work here. Shisui had shown her that, all those years ago.

She could feel it now, their two Kekkei Genkais fighting for control. She felt like she was swallowing a brick. The force of it rattled her bones.

Her Tomeru was only delaying the inevitable; the black in his eyes continued to fan out in red, moments away from forming the symbol that would mean her death sentence.

The Tsukuyomi.

She'd need to run. She'd need to run faster than she'd ever run before.

And she did.

'


'

A/N:

This was original going to be combined with the next chapter but it got too long, so enjoy the double update!