Several hours later in the evening, you arrived in the Land of Rice Fields to a large and nice-looking town. And unlike the Land of Fire, it actually lived up to its name as you saw rice paddies right up the town. And that was maybe the most interesting you had seen during the trip as you were so damn tired. If it wasn't for the horses high speed and the shaking of the wagon, they'd fall asleep hours ago. You had passed some people, but they had kept a good distance and was following Raidou's orders of stepping out of the way and stand still without any fuss.

A Konoha-nin that you didn't recognize, ran up to your sensei. "Hi there Raidou, you and your team need to come with me. We need some more manpower at the Grand Rice Inn," he said.

"Hyousuke, the village has already reserved two rooms for us at a smaller place, I think it is best to keep Sota and Torune somewhere calmer," your sensei argued.

"I'm the commanding officer here. I've got the mission details here, signed by our Hokage, so if you have any issues with my orders, you can take it up with him when you're back in Konoha.," Hyousuke said and handed him a scroll.

"Don't worry, I will if necessary. I've other things to take up with him anyway."

"You better not make any trouble for me. And don't worry about the costs at the hotel, the village will pay for the extra expenses."

"With Sota here, I wouldn't bet on this mission ending well, but if you insist on your orders I'll guess I'll have no choice," Raidou said.

"Calm down Raidou. He's what, seven-years-old, what's the worst he can do, stay up after bedtime?" Hyousuke asked and walked away.

Raidou sighed. "Let's go. team," he said and guided you to the hotel.

-x-

"Alright, this key is for you two," Raidou told Torune and Kabuto and handed them a key. "Please use it, the owners don't like it when their guests use alternative ways of entering their rooms."

"Sensei, that was one time, do you have to bring it up every time?" Kabuto asked.

"It was one time you got caught," Raidou corrected them. "You'll share a room with me Sota, please stay out of trouble. I don't want a repeat of the last mission."

Technically he told you to wanter around last time, but it was best to not argue with him. "I'll be careful," you said and yawned.

"Feel free to order whatever you want to eat, the village is paying for everything. And please keep up appearances, we don't want the other villages to think we're weak," Raidou said and turned to Torune.

He seemed to be a bit harsh on him.'

"I guess I should lead the way since none of you has been here before," he said and walked towards where you'd be eating.

There was more ninja there than you had expected. You saw the headbands of Iwa, Kumo and Konoha. The room was split in three, with some civilians sprinkled within. Most of them seem to hurry to finish to avoid being in the crossfire in case a fight broke out. And in the middle of the room, raised on a pedestal was someone playing the piano for you all to enjoy.

"I almost forgot, show this and your food will be put on the village's tab," he said and handed you each a small scroll.

"Thanks," you mumbled and got in line.

You looked around, was there anyone you recognized?

Orange beard, purple clothes, and a hat with the Iwa symbol. Was that Roshi? Why did they bring a Jinchuuriki here? Sure, Konoha did the same with you, but you were not really here as a Jinchuuriki.

What caught you as a bigger surprise, was Killer Bee walking past you with his plate full of dumplings. What was going on here? It couldn't be a coincident that two of the strongest ninja villages brought their strongest ninja to this place.

Better not stare too much at him, you wouldn't want to make him suspicious or make the other Konoha-nin think you fanboyed a foreign Jinchuuriki.

After a few minutes, it was finally your turn. You looked at what they served and realized that you should perhaps have thoughts about what you wanted beforehand.

You could get another serving afterwards, so you should just order something and not hold up the queue for potentially a lot of angry ninja.

"Uhh.. a bit of chicken, rice and some of that curry sauce," you kitchen staff and held out the scroll as proof of payment. "And please not too much, I want to try something else later."

She nodded and filled a small plate before handing it to you. "Have a nice meal," she said.

"Thanks," you said and looked for the others.

"Over here Sota," Raidou called out and waved for you to come to his table.

You nodded and walked carefully with your plate and sat down.

But before you started eating, you got your bag and fished out a piece of paper and started to write on it.

'What is going on here? I see that both Iwa and Kumo have brought their Jinchuuriki here?'

You slid it across the table, blank side up, and Raidou paused for a second before discretely picking it up.

Raidou held out his hand, you figured he wanted something to write on, so you handed him a few blank pieces of paper and something to write with.

'Who did Iwa bring?' Raidou wrote down on a piece of paper and handed it back to you.

'That man in purple with orange hair and beard. His name is Roshi and has the four-tails,' you wrote and tilted your head in his direction as Raidou read it.

'I'll go tell Hyousuke', he wrote back and left the table with his table.

You could see that Kabuto and Torune were sitting at another table with some ninja you didn't know. It was fine, the less you interacted with that shady spy the better, but you kind of enjoyed Torune's company.

After you finished your plate, it was time to try some of that sushi Raidou had eaten.

The cue was still long and uneventful and after a bit of waiting it was your turn again.

"What would you like?" The lady asked.

"Some sushi, pick something good for me please," you said and showed her your scroll.

"No need, I remember you. Do you have any allergies?" She asked.

You shook your head.

"Alright, this and this and this would do," she said and handed back a plate of three nicely made pieces of sushi.

"Thanks," you said and went back to your table. It looked like a lot, but you could just save it for later if needed.

"Look good," someone said and put one of your pieces of sushi into their mouth.

You looked up at them, and a blond boy looking like an older version of Ino, at least the Ino you were used to by now.

The looks and the Iwa forehead protector could only mean one thing.

"Deidara?" You asked him.

"Yeah, that's me. Roshi is an old bore and doesn't let me buy stuff like this, I hope you don't mind," he said while stuffing his mouth full of sushi.

"I mind," you said and tried to move away, but he held you back.

"I'm still hungry," he said and picked up another piece of sushi.

Raidou said you shouldn't appear weak and keep up appearances for the village, so you had to do something. With a combination of sleep deprivation and general foolishness, you decided that the best course of action was to grab a kunai and held it up against his chest.

Deidara started to laugh. "You really are a stupid kid," he said and grabbed a kunai of his own and held it against your neck, but not hard enough to trigger your seals. So this was a chance to have fun with this murderous Akatsuki bastard.

"Do it! Push it further," you said and smiled at him.

His face changed, some of the confidence was running out. "You're lucky kid, I'm going to spare you for today," he said.

"Are all Iwa-nin fence-sitters like you and Onoki?" You asked, grinning at him, letting your tiredness take overhand. "Don't make a threat you're not willing to follow up on."

Maybe it wasn't so bad being a ninja after all.

"No, you don't. Our Tsuchikage isn't a," he mumbled.

Now to strike. You took a quick step forward letting the kunai press hard enough to prick your skin and poof into your seal.

"I… I…," Deidara mumbled. "What…?" He took a few steps backwards and put the sushi he stole on the tip of your kunai.

He didn't get far before Roshi grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry about this," he said in passing and dragged him out of the restaurant.

"Sota, I leave you alone for just a few minutes and you almost start another war," he whispered to you. "Follow me, you can bring your plate."

As you walked out of the restaurant, you could see that everyone had their eyes on you. The only one that didn't seem to care was the pianist that continued playing without interruption. You didn't care about Iwa or Kumo, but you knew that this would worsen your reputation more among your fellow Konoha-nin.

Back into the room Raidou sat down on his bed and grasped his head.

"Can you please explain what was happened down there?" He asked.

You sat down on your bed and started to explain what had happened, about him stealing your sushi and keeping up appearances.

"Why do you always misinterpret my orders? That was more aimed at Torune. I'm not saying you're doing a bad job, but it always ends up in unintended consequences. Yes, we show that we don't let us get run over, but we're also sending a threatening signal to Iwagakure, and as you said yourself. Don't make a threat you're not willing to follow up on," he said.

"I'm sorry, I just got a bit excited," you defended yourself. "And it doesn't help that I didn't sleep properly tonight." Not sleeping countered as not sleeping properly right?

"This isn't something Danzo put you up to right, like last time?" He asked.

"No, Deidara approached me as I told you."

"And how do you know his name is Deidara?"

"I hear Roshi mention his name," you lied.

"And how did you know Roshi's name and that he was a Jinchuuriki?" He asked.

"Danzo told me before the mission," you lied.

"So Danzo is involved in this somehow. What is he up to?" Raidou asked.

"I don't know, he didn't tell me anything other than about Roshi and Bee," you said.

"I've gotten a worse and worse feeling about this. Anything Danzo is involved with is bad news. I suggest we go outside and get some fresh air, I think getting away from the hotel would be good for us," he suggested.

"Alright," you said and walked towards the door.

"I have something to do first, so just wait outside the entrance will you?" he said.

"Sure," you said and walked down the hallway.

To be fair, you kind of wanted to be alone right now, so if you were quick he might not catch up to you.

As you reach the end of the hallway, an arm grabbed you and dragged you into a room and locked the door behind you.

"What do you want? You asked and turned around to get a look of the room.

"We just want to talk to you Uzumaki Sota, that's you right?" a young woman asks.

Wait, that was… "Yes, you're Yugito and Bee right? Hi," you greeted back with a smile. At least they weren't bad people, at least in the timeline you knew.

"Yo," Bee greeted back with a hand in the air.

"How do you know my name? Bee here is famous I know, but I'm not," Yugito said. Already suspicious of you.

"I overheard Bee saying your name down in the restaurant," you lied.

"I've been up here the entire time, I didn't feel that hungry," she said.

"Oh, the food down there is great, you should try it and the pianist aren't bad either."

"We're not here to talk about that. You know you're a Jinchuuriki right?" She asked.

"Yes I know, but you shouldn't know," you said. Was there another spy close to you that you should be careful about, other than Kabuto?

"We know because you once belonged to Kumo, you got kidnapped as a toddler. I was supposed to be Matatabi's Jinchuuriki, but then you showed up," she explained and sighed. "I started my training before you were even born, and then one day I was told they'd already sealed her into you. Just because you Uzumaki are supposedly better at containing tailed beasts."

"I'm sorry," you replied.

"Oh nothing to be sorry for, you saved me. I didn't really want to do it, but I couldn't turn down such an honour either."

"I see, Matatabi has started to become nicer, but I've not talked to her in a while, I hope she's not mad at me."

"How is Konoha treating you?" She asked.

You paused for a few seconds. "Good."

"You wouldn't hesitate if it was good. What happened to your leg?" She asked.

"I got injured during a mission," you explained. "I did something stupid, then I tried to hide that I was doing something stupid"

"You know, you can come with us if you want? You belong to us, so you defecting will just be us taking what's rightfully ours," she suggested.

"No," you quickly said. Danzo would be angry and you knew better than to cross him, he'd find you.

"Think about it. Your village is messed up. You're too young to be a ninja, I can tell that you're good, but you're mentally not ready. But Konoha doesn't care. I've heard Konoha-nin praising teamwork, but tortured young prodigies is what you village really is about," she said.

"Everyone thinks their village own village is perfect and that everyone else is doing it wrong, it's called propaganda," you argued.

"Do you believe Konoha is perfect?" She asked.

"Uhh," you stuttered.

"You know your village is rotten to the core. So join us," she asked again.

"I'm sure your village has done all sorts of bad things too. You complain about Konoha graduating ninja too early, I'm sure Kumo did the same thing during the 3rd ninja war," you argued. Why did you defend Konoha? Both Danzo and Hiruzen were dirtbags, but you couldn't trust Yugito and Bee to tell the truth either.

"No, only two villages sent out ninja your age out on the battlefield. Konoha, and then you've Kiri which is run by a literal psychopath. Both we and Iwagakure weighted the long term benefits and made sure we trained our ninja. While your village threw children like you onto into their death just to see who could survive long enough to see another day," she explained.

"I'm sure we did it because we were desperate," you said.

"Konoha is not at war anymore, and they still let you graduate way too early, what good reason do they have for that?. And it was they that started the war. Your Hokage is a cold-hearted monster who let Danzo do the dirty work for him. It was not an act of desperation, it was a calculated decision. Danzo has you under control right?"

"I…"

"I take that as a yes. Let me tell you more about the day five years ago when you left Kumo. One of our ambassadors had just been killed in Konoha and was framed for attempted kidnapping. The leader of the Hyuuga lied about him trying to kidnap his daughter, just so he could get away with killing him in cold blood. We demanded fair compensation, but instead, Danzo and Orochimaru infiltrated our village and took you from your home. We tried to stop them, but they threatened to release Matatabi and wreck the village if we didn't obey. So we did what we thought was the right thing to do and let them get away with you. I'm sorry," she said.

"It's nothing to say sorry about, I lost my memory about a year ago, so I don't remember my entire stay in Konoha. But for the first months, things were fine, I'm just a bit of a rough patch now, I'm sure things will get better," you said.

"You're not fine, I saw your act down in the restaurant, you're living under constant stress. We can see the effect Danzo have on you. You know that he killed your parents right?" Bee asked.

"I don't believe you, besides, I don't remember them and they're not really my parents, it's hard to explain."

And you rather not explain how you came from another world with all the knowledge about this world taking over the body of the real Sota.

"Danzo doesn't like loose ends and your parents wanted to get you back, so he murdered them and left them in the road as a warning," she said.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it," this reminded you just about Danzo when he'd try to make you believe something. A string of convenient explanation for issue after issue. She also reminded you of your double the other night.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"You're trying to manipulate me like everyone else. Stop it!" You called out.

Bee put a hand on your shoulder. "I apologize that we're sounding manipulative, but we just want to help you, and part of that is to show you the truth. You want to get away from Konoha, I can see it in you. You're not doing well with your team, which is why your teammates weren't sitting with you during dinner. You've burst of violence because you no longer know how to deal with things, Danzo has messed you up. So please take our offer, we can smuggle you out of this place and we'll be far away when anyone noticed you're gone and not just wandering around this town."

"I want to leave, I want to escape, but I can't," you said and buried your face in your hands. "Do you think I can take a little nap here? I didn't sleep last night and before that, I didn't get much sleep either."

"Take my bed, I've something I need to do, but Yugito here will stay here, so don't worry," Bee offered.

"Thanks, you said and laid down in the bed. You yawned once more and quickly fell asleep.

-x-

You were back in Konoha and the air was full of dust as explosives rained down from the sky causing rubble and destruction.

Up in the sky, you could see Deidara in his black cloak and red clouds riding his bird. "If you want me to stop, give up Uzumaki Sota," he yelled out for everyone to hear.

In a blink of an eye, you were somewhere else. Had you blacked out for a moment?

All around you stood your former classmates, all apart from Shin and Naruto with shapeless villagers in the background. All the dust in the air made it impossible to make out any details.

"Take him, he's not worth it," you heard Raidou behind you and just now you realized that he was the one holding your limbs and pushing you towards Deidara.

You started to hear chanting around you. "Demon, demon, demon." From both the villagers and your former classmates.

"I'm not, I'm not, I'm not," you told yourself. You didn't want to believe this was real. You knew they distrusted you, but they didn't think of you as a monster, but something told you that you were not sleeping, that this wasn't a dream.

Deidara just stood there with his stupid smile as you got closer and closer to him. You had to do something. You still had a kunai on you.

When Raidou let go of his grip to hand you over, you quickly grabbed your kunai and began to thrust it into Deidara.

You stabbed and stabbed but nothing happened.

-x-

"Sota, it's fine, you're safe," your heard Bee tell you as he patted your head.

Without thinking, you tried to thrust the kunai into him.

Needless to say, it didn't work. "I'll take that, before you stab someone's hat" Bee said and twisted your kunai out of your hand.

None of that was real. You were back in their hotel room. There was no smoke in the air, no rubble, no classmates. Just Bee. But it felt real.

You took a deep breath before talking."I'm sorry, I'm just not sleeping well lately."

"I hope you've not been rhyming behind my back, he doesn't look good?" Yugito said as she entered the room holding a cup of something hot.

"It's tea, if you want some yourself, Bee can go get some for you," she said as you looked at her cup.

"Come on," Bee complained.

"It's fine. I'm more a hot chocolate guy, tea reminds me of…," you said.

"Danzo?" She asked.

You nodded. "Whenever he wants to talk to me, he breaks into my place and makes himself tea, he isn't even doing the dishes after him."

"Bee, go get him a mug of hot chocolate," Yugito ordered.

"That's not necessary," you said.

"Just say thanks," she said.

"Thanks," you said.

"Alright, I'll go," Bee said reluctantly.

Yugito went to look for something in her bag and came back with a picture.

"This is you and your mother," she handed you the picture.

You looked at it, a red-haired woman smiling into the camera with a sleeping toddler in her lap, Sota, the boy you've stolen your identity from.

"There is something I have to admit, about what I told you earlier. I was babysitting you that night, but I got knocked out when I refused to give you up. After your mother died, I kept it on me as a reminder of my failure. You can keep it, it's not my only copy," she said.

"Thanks," you mumbled as tears ran down your cheeks. You wanted to get away, but you couldn't, this wasn't the way, the village would be after you.

"This is for you," Bee said and handed you a mug."You can stay here for a bit more if you want. Maybe a rap will cheer you up, I'm quite a …"

"No, you're prohibited from rapping after you insulted the Daimyo's sister last week," Yugito scolded him.

"But he's not feeling well, it's like his entire life is a hell," B said.

You took a sip of the chocolate and let out a chuckle over how Bee acted like a child.

"I don't want him to join us just so he can defect due to your awful performance," Yugito told him.

"You wouldn't be the only one you know, your friend Shin also escaped his woe," Bee said and got interrupted by a slap from Yugito.

"Shin is in Kumo?" You asked and took another sip.

"Yes, he ran away after getting falsely accused of attacking a classmate with explosives," Yugito explained.

"He's not really a friend," you said.

"That was not what he said, are you sure it's not just in your head?" Bee said.

"Given Shin's situation, we of course interrogated him. About his family, friends, what he knew and whatever useful info on Konoha he could give us," Yugito said.

"Why were you there?"

"I wasn't, but when I heard he mention you, I asked to see the reports and he spoke warmly about you. So if you're afraid of not having any friends in Kumo, you have at least him, or don't you feel the same?"

"He's friendly, he's probably the only one of my former classmates apart from Naruto that doesn't hate me. Everyone thinks I framed him, thinks I'm dangerous. Naruto saw me... do stuff, but he seems to have gotten over it. I don't know what I was doing. I woke up with bloody clothes and a bloody sword. I don't what was going on, I think someone was messing with me," you said.

"Another reason to leave then," Yugito said.

"How would I even get away from here? They'd catch me long before I arrive in your village. Then I'm even more fucked than now," you said.

"We'll put you in one of the laundry baskets and just walk out with you, it isn't harder than that, but we should go quickly before they notice you are gone," she explained.

"No, I wish I could say yes, get a new start, but I can't," you said and took another sip.

"After you've finished drinking, you should go back to your team. I suggest you climb out the window so you can pretend you've been outside for some time," she said.

You nodded and finished the cup in one big sip and handed her your mug.

"One thing before you leave," she said and went for a glass of water.

"Uh," you mumbled.

She then came back and sprinkled drops of water all over you.

"What are you doing?" You asked.

"Have you seen the weather outside? It's raining, it might not be much, but your sensei would know that you've not been outside for a few hours if you come back completely dry.

That made sense.

"See you then. And our offer still stays. We'll be here for a few days, so if you change your mind, just give us a nod and we'll come and get you," she said as you opened the window and looked if there was anyone there that would see you, but the coast was clear.

"Bye, I will think about it," you said and jumped out of the window.