Chapter XIII: Cajolery

I looked at the head of the arrow in pure frustration. My patience was running rather thin and time was slipping through my fingers. I can't afford to lose light. I looked around at the shadows sent on the humid ground and grass. After hours in the forest I finally got used to the humidity. There was heat too, but it wasn't bothering me anymore, as the wind was blowing in the leaves above me.

My frustration persisted. Why can't I do this? Climbing that tree has been a piece of cake. After four more tries, a lot of patience, a few dirty looks from Sasuke and Naruto and at least 3 breaks, I did it. I reached the top, and looked around like Bilbo fucking Baggins in Mirkwood, breathing in the fresh air of treetops. Am squirrel droppings. At last, I've been capable of concentrating precisely the amount of chakra to climb to the top and back down without exhausting myself. Then why…?

I looked at the three, who were panting and covered in scratches. Naruto has fallen once again with no sight of improvement, but he was the least exhausted. He had that much stamina, and it scared me. Truly. Sasuke watched the blonde fall then walk to Sakura, thinking probably the same. How much could Naruto keep up wasting chakra like that? Sakura was faring the worst, too tired to even move from the ground. She had incredible control over her chakra, but she reached her limit rather fast. And here I am. Mastering tree climbing before her, because I was, almost a 40 years old woman – if you added the years spent re-learning how to human in this world – smug about besting a 12 years old at focusing. What had become of my life.

The blonde started whispering to Sakura while Kakashi was observing his students patiently. And here I was. I looked back at my arrow and closed my eyes. Funny how closing your eyes gives you the impression that you can concentrate better. Just like before, I accessed my chakra and channeled through my arms, then my hands and stretched it to the arrow. My fingers were acting as a conductor of chakra and I wrapped it around the wood and fiber of metal almost reaching the point. This time it will work. It will work. It will work, it will work. And… it didn't.

"For fuck's sake." I whispered a little too loud as Kakashi turned to me. If I'm lucky he didn't catch what I said. I was trying to keep my swearing to a minimum while being with the others. I was only a kid after all.

"Kaya, why don't you and Sakura go to the bridge to watch over Tazuna?" Kakashi said and the pinkie looked at me with enthusiasm. Why don't you teach us how to water walk like Jesus.It should have been a piece of cake for Sakura with her insane chakra control."Sakura got the hang of this training and you don't look like you're making any progress with what you're doing."

Thank you, Kakashi. You're too kind. I asked his permission to work on something else chakra control related while the others were still struggling with the tree climbing. But I've been vague about what I intended to do and just assured him it was nothing beyond what he thought us and that I would be in close proximity.

I narrowed my eyes at the grey haired jounin. By this point he must have guessed what I was trying to do. It wasn't as if I was hiding or anything as I was staring at an arrow for hours now. I'm gonna go and remain crossed eyed. I couldn't use my arm momentarily because of the constant pain at every move I made, so I settled on trying to channel chakra into things, more specifically arrows. Sometimes kunai. And I failed. Miserably. But I don't want to break the arrow and kunai just felt… dead. Chakra wouldn't grip them at all. Are there any…chakra conducting kunai? Or weapons meant to make it easy? There must have been, I refused to think I was the one genius who ever thought of it.

I tried dosing my chakra, but I was perhaps too careful, because I was making no progress. I could not wrap my chakra around the arrow completely, but I didn't have the heart to use too much chakra and loose yet another one. I should use sticks. Branches. Something disposable and small. Rocks,perhaps? I put the arrow back in the quiver and nodded at Kakashi. I looked at the exhausted pinkie covered in scratches and reminded myself that we skipped lunch hours ago.

"But, Kakshi-sensei, I need to redress my wound." I said and looked at the bloodied bandage. That shouldn't look like that."We'll stop at Tazuna's and then go to the bridge."

"Hey, Sakura-chan, Kaya-chan" I never understood why he feels the need to call us by our names every time. The blonde looked at us smiling. "If the freaky guy from the Mist returns or anything happens let us know! I'll come and-"

"IDIOT!" Sakura's fist landed on his head causing yet another rosy bump to grow like a mushroom on Naruto's head. "We are kunoichi! We are shinobi and we know how to handle ourselves. Hmpf!"

"Nee, Sakura-chan…"

"Sakura, stop giving Naruto concussions – although, good point – I have a bloody problem here." I said pointing at my left shoulder, which looked rather bad. I'm really not used to wounds. This is exactly how you permanently damage your shoulder and arm. "Literally. And by the way, I doubt Zabuza will have recovered so soon. We should be just fine."

"Hn. You shouldn't have come train." The Duckling eyed my shoulder. "Not until you could use both your arms."

"Don't you have a tree to climb, or something Uchiha?"

"Ok, enough." Kakashi said with his hands up. "You two get back to training. Sakura, Kaya get that wound redressed and then keep an eye on the bridge. We don't know when Zabuza will come back."

We both nodded, Sakura getting closer to my shoulder to inspect it. Nothing weird at all. I ignored her waving her hands off.

"Tsunami will know what to do."

Ҩ

I swear I'm going nuts.Now I was staring at a stick. I pushed aside some strands of hair that were getting in my eyes. I never got to cut it and when I remembered that I intended to, I discovered I couldn't use my left arm. And I didn't trust either Sakura or Tsunami with the task. There was enough noise around me to aggravate my annoyance, but I blocked all of my surroundings determined to focus only on the damned stick. Sakura didn't seem bothered by the constant noise coming from people hammering away, cutting metal beams, pouring cement. She was yawning and stretching like a cat in the sun. She failed to carry on a conversation with me because I was to neurotic about my unresponsive stick and would snap at her. I looked at the broken stick with dissatisfaction. The pinkie didn't question what I was doing but I knew the curiosity ate at her. Too much chakra. I threw the stick in the water and took another. It wasn't as if I had a pile of sticks lying around, lined up as my next victims. And I don't lack the time either.

"You look pretty bored."

Tazuna passed us with a piece of metal on his shoulder, trading his hat for a working helmet. I watched him as he directed his observation to a yawning Sakura. I agreed with her. After we had lunch with Tsunami and re-bandaged my wound, a nap would have been very much welcomed. But here we were, watching the villagers working on the bridge. It was impressive how far they've got and the bridge itself was a monstrous construction of metal and concrete. I have become very impressionable. Well, not really.

"Where are the blonde kid and the arrogant one?" Tazuna asked with a detached curiosity.

"Tree climbing training." Sakura answered happy to talk to someone, as I groaned. Another stick broken.

"What about you?"

"I'm smart, so Kakashi-sensei told me to guard you."

"Really?" Tazuna wasn't convinced and I snickered at the fuming pinkie. "And you? Why did Kakashi send you to guard me? Shouldn't you be resting that arm?"

"Ah, I'm here because I can't do anything else at the moment." I said referencing at my wound, but didn't point out that I was still training while guarding. He eyed me suspiciously but said nothing.

"May I have a word with you, Tazuna?"

A man approached Tazuna with an awkward expression. Tazuna was a nice guy when he wasn't calling us brats and doubting our competence when it came to guarding him, but what the man wanted to tell him wasn't good news. It was the opposite of good news actually. I noticed that other ears on the bridge were listening keenly. Damn cowards.

"What is it, Giichi?" Tazuna turned eager to listen to the man.

"Well, after thinking about it… Can I quit the bridge building?"

"W-Why all of the sudden?! Not you too…" Tazuna's exclamation could be heard from across the unfinished bridge.

"Tazuna, I've known you for a long time. I want to help, but if I get too involved, Gatō will come after me too. Everything will lose meaning if you die, why don't we stop building this bridge?"

"I can't do that."

Tazuna's voice was firm. He anticipated this and to be honest, it wasn't that hard to. You could tell people were afraid. They were working on the bridge while looking over their shoulder, like frightened rabbits. The Land of Waves had no military force but its villagers, who were not specialized in fighting mind you, or any activity other than fishing, starving, selling junk and perhaps agronomy. With a big question mark on the last one.

The village was poor and lacking independence when it came to commercial affairs, that's why they started building the bridge in the first place. They were isolated from the mainland. Whatever independence they wanted to gain, Gatō wanted to seize it and destroy it. Of course people were afraid, their confidence a fickle thing. Giichi wasn't the first to give up, hence why Tazuna understood the situation all too well, but still was surprised people were ready to give up. The bridge was their only hope, not submission to the mafia.

"This bridge is ourbridge." He said his voice seemingly echoing across concrete. "We've been building it with the people from the village in the hopes that distribution and transportation will increase. The Land of Waves possesses few resources, but the bridge is our chance to change that."

"But if we die…" Giichi insisted.

"It's already lunch time." Tazuna walked pass Giichi without looking at him. "Let's stop for now."

"Tazuna!"

"Giichi, you don't have to come anymore."

Urgh. That look. I doubted Tazuna didn't understand Giichi. He did and it upset him. Because Giichi was right and at the same time, they couldn't stop and just let Gatō do whatever he wanted. Not only would that be wrong, but it would mean economical suicide. I looked back at my stick.

"Sakura." I called the pinkie who was still watching Tazuna get further away from us down the unfinished bridge to announce the others about the 'lunch' break. "What did Naruto want during training?"

"Uh?" Sakura said confused. "Oh, then? He just asked for some tips."

"I see. Such as …?"

"I told him to relax and concentrate constant amounts of chakra in his feet. And to not be too eager."

She added the last part with dry irony. It was Naruto. He was always too eager. I nodded and returned my attention back to the stick. Those were barely tips to cool the blonde down and help him focus on what he had to do. But. Am I not, myself a little 'too eager'? Well, I was rather exasperated by my failures when it came to channeling chakra through the stick, as in I swore constantly in my mind and almost broke the stick with my fingers and not with chakra. But other than that I was cool. Oh, well. Relax, right? I suddenly sat down on the concrete, with my legs crossed. I could feel Sakura looking at me and I formed the two finger seal just like I did when climbing trees. Concentrate small and constant amounts of chakra in my hands. And then stretch it on the dead wood of the stick. But why stretch it? Why not wrap it gently and nicely around it? I opened my eyes smiling widely.

"Tch. Piece of cake. I'm such a clotpole. Thanks Sakura."

"Uh, you're welcome?" she said confused.

"You can manage here by yourself, right?" I asked getting up and cursing silently when I moved my left arm. I'm getting used to pain. That was… good, I supposed. "It doesn't look like Zabuza will attack anytime soon."

"Where are you going? Kakashi-sensei said to guard Tazuna! Together!"

I stopped in my tracks and turned to the pinkie, struggling with my pile of sticks. I looked around and closed my eyes. Then I opened them and smiled at Sakura.

"There's no one around with a decent amount of chakra, to pose any threat. The idiots are still in the woods failing to concentrate their little minds more than three seconds on the training and Kakashi is probably back at Tazuna's home, taking a nap." I talked quickly staring at her and arranging the sticks so they wouldn't fall. "I'm not going to tell Kakashi that I'm slacking at guarding obviously, but even if we're attacked right now, I can't really help." I grimaced. "So it's up to you, if you want to tell Kakashi what a bad genin I am."

I did not turn back to the pinkie when I finally left the bridge. I had IDEAS.

Ҩ

I was collecting my arrows when I noticed the shadows grew much longer round me. I lost the light. I was content though. I wasn't expecting to be able to shoot, with my shoulder so stiff. But it wasn't that bad. I looked at the trees around me with a smile. Yeah. I didn't have targets and I set no marks around. Nah. I've just shoot at a con pine, a certain branch or trees etc. Just trees. That's why there were broken branches and scratches on the tree trunks. But, no arrows broken. They were intact.

I've been very attentive with my arrows and shoulder. Slow. I am so slow. Yeah, that's why there's blood streaming down my elbow. But I have tried to re-bandage it. Tried. Now it was numb, not even bothering me. That is not good. All the blood and sweat and pain were worth the progress I've made. I smiled at the bow and pulled the arrow from the hard tree trunk. I was good with chakra control, so why not learn how to channel my chakra through things and perhaps help my skills when it came to archery?

My aim is getting better as well. I was getting back in 'shape', remembering my archery lessons back in school. I should really ask Kakashi to teach me how to walk on water. I only half joking. Seeing as I couldn't swim, that could end very badly without supervision and Kakashi couldn't stand too much before he exhausted himself. Also, there was a sweet feeling when all four of us were trying our damn best at training together. Almost as a team, or friends. Ew, what the hell? That's gross, when did I become such a sucker for 'the power of friendship'? That was new.

The effects of channeling too much chakra around my arrows though… I looked at a badly broken tree. The trunk was bent and splinters were all over the place. Long and short, sharp with branches crushed on the ground as if it was the result of an explosion. And that's how I've almost exhausted my chakra. And almost had a heart attack due to the violent noise it accompanied it. Well, I could still walk. I looked at an arrow that was stuck into a high branch. Yeah… that would have to wait until tomorrow.

I left the woods walking as fast as I could. My legs were trembling and my arms were almost numb. I didn't want to end up as Kakashi. Well, this reminds me that I am a genin and a twelve years old. I shouldn't abuse my chakra this much. Also, I wouldn't end up as Kakashi. No, I would just die. At this age, with such an underdeveloped chakra control, yes that would most likely be the outcome.

The night was calm and warm, with the moon just risen on the sky. It did give me the chills of a déjà-vu. I shook my head, making myself a little dizzy. No. It was just a feeling. A remnant of a nightmare. The insects were loud in the grass, the only ones that could be heard around. The Land of Waves wasn't like Konoha, where no matter what time it was you could hear the villagers swarming around the village carrying out their little tasks. No, the Land of Waves was serene and quiet at night. Even during the day there wasn't much activity to speak of in the village. Only from the bridge came the roar of construction, but during the night none of it could be heard. I arrived at Tazuna's house just in time for dinner.

"Kaya-chan!" Naruto almost shouted as I entered the house drawing everyone's attention to me. I left my bow and arrows at the door and entered eyeing hungrily the food.

"Sakura told me that you stormed to the woods today, despite my instructions. You can't do that Kaya-chan. It's as unprofessional as it is rude. " Kakashi said watching me closely. "Any progress with… whatever you were trying to do?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." I held my hands up and tuned both to him and Sakura. "And yes, very much so." I smiled at him, while I struggled with a new bandage. As preoccupied as Tsunami was with making sure everyone was seated and eating she still came over to help me without me asking. Bless her soul. She commented something about overusing my shoulder and arm instead of resting and I thanked her, but I did not promise that I wouldn't do exactly the same thing in the morning. It didn't look that bad. The stiches were ok, well, as ok as blooding through the bandages and doing archery could get you. But it was healing. Slowly.

I watched Tazuna, sitting at the head of the table, opposite Sakura. I pushed the Duck aside, dragging a chair with me and made some room for myself opposite Naruto. Both of them were eating like pigs really, wolfing down the food like there was no tomorrow. What did I do? Exactly the same. I was DYING of hunger.

"This is really fun!" Tazuna exclaimed trying to lighten up the mood. We were a bunch of tired people, silent and not at all in a talkative mood, but sure. "It's been we had this many people for dinner."

I nodded enthusiastically feeling my mandible scream in pain from chewing too fast.

"I also loooove having dinner with other people. It's merrier!"

"Seconds, please!"

I made a disgusted sound as the two idiots requested yet another bowl of food, just to throw everything up on the floor.

"..but not like this. Definitely not like this. Oh Christ, get the bucket, get the bucket and please don't miss. "

"If you're going to barf, don't eat!" Sakura exclaimed and I got up to help Tsunami with cleaning the vomit from the floor. I've hit the Uchiha with the broomstick in the process and I received a death glare. I smiled not apologizing.

"No, I'll eat." The Duck said determined to burn his esophagus with vomit, probably.

"I have to eat even if I must force myself. I have to become strong quickly." Naruto said as well, persisting in stupidity.

"If you want to become strong quickly you have already failed." I said calmly sitting back down and… trying to work up an appetite again. "You need patience and determination, if you want to become stronger. You need to digest the food, not throw it up not even one minute later." I grimaced. I too needed to become stronger. I was seriously out of shape.

"So, so. Barfing isn't good." Kakashi agreed nodding with his arms crossed.

The two seemed to take into consideration what we said and the dinner went on without anyone else puking, no massacres and no cats trying to sneak out with food. Oh Vala, I missed Mikasa. Her fluffy fur and soothing purr. I sighed, excused myself and went after the eye drops. I was proud to say that not even once have I strayed from my treatment. Well, at least not while I had been conscious. I could do nothing about the two days I was out cold. I struggled with the little bottle because of my arm, which decided to pay me back for using it too much when I should have rest and let it heal. As I was struggling in the poorly lit room, I accidentally poured more drops in my left eye. I cursed. How many were they? I'll just added some more on the right eye. Because that was smart, right? As far as I was concerned, these eye drops did nothing but help my blurriness. And headaches. That medic-nin had been right. Oh, well.

When I came back, the others were enjoying tea. People in this world…. were really fond of tea. I wasn't, but I didn't mind it either. Sakura was inspecting the picture on the wall. The one with Tsunami, Inari and Tazuna. Yeah, the one in which a person was torn out. Oh.

"You're really fond of tea aren't you?" I mumbled to the Duck, who was holding his tea mug with both hands, like Mikasa did with her precious favorite toy. Or like a squirrel held a nut.

"Hn."

"Uh, why are you hanging a torn picture on the wall?" Sakura asked and I sighed. "Inari-kun has been eyeing this the whole time during dinner." Geez, Sakura I wonder why? "The missing part looks like someone intentionally tore away the person who was there."

I sighed again. Perhaps I'm not the only one who likes to spit out things that make people uncomfortable. I took in the reactions of all three, Tsunami, Inari and Tazuna, every each of them gone stiff and silent. There was a slight… hostility in the air.

"It's my husband." Tsunami said with a final tone not wanting to elaborate while standing with her back turned.

"He was the man known as the hero of this village." Tazuna explained and Inari's reaction was immediate, getting up and walking towards the door before his mother could even turn around.

"Inari! Where are you going?"

But Inari was already out the door. That was fast and without even muttering a word. Tsunami went after her son abandoning the dishes in the sink and turning to Tazuna with fury.

"Father, I told you to not talk about him in front of Inari!"

Family drama. One thing I have never missed from my life was family drama. The fact that I wasn't experiencing that kind of drama here because I had no family was completely irrelevant. I sat back and listen to Tazuna's voice as he apologized for the little scene. Then he proceeded to tell us the story of how Inari lost faith in humanity and how fucked up Gato really was. Seriously, ripping out a man's arms? I mean, he was the local mob so maybe it wasn't that surprising.

My mind was a wreck of thoughts. I sympathized with Inari when it came to losing people and life tragedy in general. But with a strange detachment. I didn't lose a father, I lost my life. I didn't lose hope, I lost an entire world. I didn't even want to think about the massacre of the clan. That was something I would never be able to find a term of comparison for. So many voices that no longer made a sound. An entire clan wiped out in one night. The memory of soft blonde hair still lingered in the back on my mind. And that man. With stark white hair. Those memories were, however, blurred. As every memory from early childhood was. I shook my head. Too much time spent in here. It was time to return to the present.

Why am I alive? That question remained in my mind stamped with red. One of the many question I had to find the answer to alongside: who were my parents? Who brought me to Konoha? Because it was obvious I wasn't born in Konoha, right? The Uchiha took me in as their own. Am I even an Uchiha? Or just vaguely resembling one so they decided to let me pass? Why did they even took me in as one of their own? How did they determine I was in fact an Uchiha? What's behind Kakashi's fucking mask? What happens if you put soda in ramen? And, of course, how does Sasuke manage to defy gravity with his hair posed in such a stupid chicken butt style? I watche Naruto get up and fall immediately flat on his face.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" Sakura scolded exasperated.

"If you're trying to train, don't." Kakshi said calmly. "You molded too much chakra. If you do that anymore, you are going to die."

"Yes Naruto, stop hurting the floor." I said drinking tea. "It has feelings~. Sorry Mrs. Floor, Naruto's just being a retard as usual." Sakura glared at me with a weird expression.

"I'm going to prove him…" the blonde's voice was strained with the effort while he tried again to get up. "That there are heroes in this world. I'm going to prove it to him!"

"He's all your, buddy. But not if you end up dead too." I said pointing to his shaking legs. "Seriously, go to sleep, Naruto. You have training to finish. We should all rest, actually. Our mission isn't done."

"Kaya is right." Kakashi smiled at me. "We should rest. Zabuza should make his appearance soon."

All of us were rather weary of that thought. But soon meant almost a week or so. If I remembered correctly. We had time. The others got to their feet mumbling something close to 'good night' and dragging their feet. I looked amused at a rather tired Naruto, but determined, with a new goal in mind.

"Kaya-chan, are you coming?" Sakura asked looking curiously at me as I sat calmly without bothering to follow my own advice and go to sleep.

"I'll wait Tsunami, for my shoulder." I said emptying my mug of tea. "Duck, help me with the dishes."

"You don't have to do that." Tazuna said turning. "Tsunami will take care of those."

"I can help you, Kaya-chan." Sakura offered looking at Sasuke who in return was fixing me with a puzzled expression. I smiled.

"Nah. That's alright Tazuna. And Sakura, I left you alone on guard duty." I said as if that explained everything. "Go to sleep. Sasuke can help me with cleaning up."

She looked as if she wanted to say something but thought better of it. And because Sasuke already walked pass her and took the tea mugs from the table. I smiled at Sakura encouraging her to go. She seemed as enthusiastic to go to sleep as Sasuke was to help with the dishes. She left the room last with Tazuna, who was insisting that it was absolutely unnecessary of us to clean up, but I waved him off already walking over to the sink. Eh. Naruto was too tired to actually react to anything at the moment and Kakashi sent me a suspicious look but said nothing. Well, I wasn't exactly discreet so, yeah.

Discretion is not one of my many qualities. I discovered, however, that the Duck was a very quiet individual. Even quieter than I initially thought. Well, I knew he wasn't the most talkative or loud person in the first place, but to actually stay with my back turned to him and not hear his foot steps while he moved around was plainly creepy. He appeared in my peripheral vision with the mugs.

"Once upon a time, there was a clan. With numerous members." I started talking over the furious sound of the sink. "They were killed. All of them, in one summer night by, perhaps, the most highly esteemed and powerful member. He killed them all. With two notable exceptions." I turned to the rigid duck and pointed at him then at me. "You and I. Now, that's curious, isn't it?"

I took my mug and poured whatever tea remained in the pot. Sasuke didn't turn from the sink as I sat on a chair at the table. Oh, the tea is still hot. Well, more like lukewarm, but it would help with sleep. I watched the Duck as he washed the teapot feverously. He's not going to talk. No, he wasn't going to, not while he was clutching the poor teapot like that. I sighed. Oh, well.

"You know, I'm not usually telling stories out of the blue and speak of the massacre of the Uchiha clan just for fun." I said and stopped instantly when the Uchiha turned around.

I did expect a heavy silence or a tensed discussion, but the glare he sent me could cut glass. I did not anticipate the awkwardness of the situation to hit me in the middle of a phrase, because since I'd been born into this world, I've been wearing this identity of Uchiha Kaya like a mask. And now a little part of that mask cracked at the dark vibes the duck sent.

I had to remind myself that this was just a twelve years old kid. Whose family has been killed by the person he idolized. His brother. How would that be? To have my whole family killed by my older brother? I shuddered. No, I couldn''t imagine it. For a twelve years old… his glare is very creepy. And intense. But I already knew that. I said nothing because I got the feeling I have already said too much, so I preferred to wait for some kind of reaction from him. Most likely he was wondering why was I suddenly interested in talking about what happened then. But, I truly doubted Sasuke would avoid this discussion, or more exactly confrontation. Simply because it would only postpone it and not resolve it. The practical approach was to just get over with it.

"What do you want?"

I half expected him to spit out the question in disgust, but all that I got was an impassible tone, void of anything but a slightly annoyed undertone. But the fact that he chose to listen to me meant victory. For now.

"I also have a purpose." I said referencing our introductions back on the Academy's roof. "To find out why I'm alive. How and why did the Uchiha found me and pretty much adopted me into the clan. In short, who I am."

"So, from you? Exchange of information." I continued drinking tea and looking at the table because I dropped some of it. Brilliant. I fussed around trying to wipe the tea from the wood and Sasuke looked at me with narrow eyes, thinking. I'm forcing him to talk. Hopefully. I'm really not goodwith kids. He wasn't talkative. I was talkative, but too stubborn ti tell him explicitly everything, thus making him ask questions. Perhaps it was a good exercise for his communications skills. If he had any.

"Exchange of information about what?" he asked as I suddenly fascinated by the mug. Wood like this won't react well to water. Old wood. I had had that in my flat back home. Rented flat. And it started to bloat up and then cracked. Weird. Tsunami was a rather calm and nice person and an exceptional host but I didn't want to risk it. Even the smallest persons can turn into hungry beasts if you feed them after midnight. That… makes no sense. Weren't those gremlins?

"I can't help you with any of those information, simply because I don't have any."

"Bollocks. Your father was the head of the clan, you must have heard something."

"You believe what you want but I don't know anything about you." he folded his arms to his chest. "Besides what would I get from this 'exchange of information'?"

"My version on the massacre. You want to avenge them, no? I figured any information would be precious." I motioned with my mug, careful not to spill any more tea. "Ok, maybe you don't know anything, but you do have access to everything in the compound, right? Every document about the Uchiha, every scroll, every archive."

"And you don't?" he snorted.

"Actually no, I don't."

He looked at me for a solid 30 seconds as I slurped my tea very audibly.

"What? Why?" he frowned.

"I don't know." I put the mug on the table. "That's only one of the reasons I need to know what happened when I came into the clan. To find out… what happened. Back then."

Silence stretched between us. There was something broken between me and this traumatized kid. because that's what Sasuke was. Unfortunately, on a daily basis, I was entitled to be harsher or meaner to Sasuke because of what I knew. From the 'future'. Because of the person he would become in some years, and I knew it was ridiculous and more importantly, unfair. Sometimes I wished I wasn't aware of the events and the future. It made me biased and it fucked with my head.

"He seemed… sad. That night." I said in an even voice. "And broken. But that might have been just me; I was sitting in my own vomit and blood after all". I snorted and the duck looked at me suddenly. "For the longest time I though I imagined him crying, but as time passed, I realized that's the one image that stuck in my mind. Him soaked in blood, with tears washing his face. Peculiar, isn't it?"

"You saw him that night?" he asked in an urgent tone as if that was a very important piece of information, ignoring everything else I've said. Well, it might have been for him.

"Didn't you?" I asked raising my eyebrow. "I don't remember a lot. Just running among corpses, pools of blood and the throwing up until nothing came out but bile." I pointed at the chair across me. For a couple of minutes I thought he wouldn't come and sit, but he obliged . He was suspicious of my reasons for starting this discussion, I could tell.

"Then he showed up. And sent me to sleep. Literally. I thought he smashed my head in, but no. Here I am, alive. For some reason."

"That's it?" Sasuke asked. "That's all he did?"

"He literally told me to go to sleep." I laughed with no humor. "And then nightmares happened until I woke up from coma. Sasuke, why was Itachi crying that night?"

"You must have imagine it." he said dismissively.

"Do you think… do you know anything about the Sharingan changing one's memories?" I asked carefully. "Or wipe them out?"

He seemed to ponder intensely, most likely going through chunks and chunks of information in his mind, black eyes distant. Which most likely meant he didn't know about the advanced stages of Sharingan. Great, now I gave him ideas.

"I don't know. Genjutsu is one of the many jutsu Sharingan performs. Most likely, yes." he admitted.

"But you can find out for sure. There has to be information somewhere in the compound. Killing people is one thing and destroying information is an entire different story. You can't do both at the same time. Unless you burn the compound, which Itachi didn't. " I tried to encourage him and mentally kicked myself. "And you could also…help me."

It stung my tongue. To ask for help. Also, it felt awful, to put pressure on a twelve years old. But he was the one who had access to that kind of information. Or at the very least more clearance to it. He looked at me and then away and nodded.

"Then it's settled." I announced getting up to wash my mug. "You gather information, I gather information and we have another talk like this sometime after we're back in the village and are done with the whole… gathering."

"You're going to gather information about what?" he turned and seemed genuinely curious.

"About something that's been bothering me about that night." he almost, almost arched an eyebrow at that. "I'll tell you what if I find something, if not, it's just a loose end."

"Hn."

"Now, you should go sleep. You'll need it. More than me."

"How do you climb the tree so easily?"

That took me by surprise and only after a few seconds, I exploded into laughter and hoped I didn't woke up anyone.

"The squirrels, duckling. You talk to the Squirrel King." I almost exited into the hallway, but turned to the Uchiha. "Seriously tho. You don't puke your breakfast all over the floor in the morning and I'll tell you then."

There was a very loud scoff in the hallway that most likely woke someone up.

Hello, it's the same sleep deprived author.

Holy shiiieeet. I've changed the entire conversation I had in the chapter right there, at the end. The convo between Sasuke and Kaya that I have in mind, makes no sense this early, so I'll save it for later. I've also changed Kaya's motivation as well and Sasuke's perspective on things because I've been re-watching the anime dubbed in English (I've always watched the subbed version). This is a re-write of a chapter I've originally written 3 years ago. But yeah, going back to Naruto after so many years, I really feel sorry for these kids, honestly :))) My perspective changed as well, so I dunno. For exemple, re-watching the dubbed anime made me think Sasuke had more heart then I gave him credit for (in some chapters I made him a literal piece of wood with no emotions, but the kid is going through some shit).

Do you know what other character I've started to like more now that I'm watching the dubbed anime? Sakura. I've never cut her any slack in the early episodes but, while her character is still extremely cringe and annoying (to me) at the beginning of the anime, she's starting to grow on me. You know. Like a fungus. She has some redeeming qualities that I can wholeheartedly appreciate now.

Mind you, this is me re-watching Naruto after 5-6 years on no contact with the anime or manga. Also, yes I will be following the events from the anime, because I don't have enough time to re-read the manga (but I will include 0 filler, because sweet baby Naruto, I'm not gonna write this until I'm 90). I hope you'll enjoy the chapter! If you have any suggestions or opinions you feel like sharing, leave a review. Or not. No one can tell you what to do. But seriously, the fact that people are reading this or even just checking it out, is amazing to me, thank you

Cajolery

noun, plural ca·jol·er·ies.

= persuasion by flattery or promises; wheedling; coaxing.

See you in the next chapter!