The Sandaime himself carried out her interrogation, if it could even be called that. The questions asked were few and far between, as well as readily answered. Once we were gone, Naomi didn't even try to resist, thinking she would be able to escape when they lowered their guard. By the time an opportunity arose, they had already broken her spirit and she didn't even try. I bit back the worst of my anger, hiding as much as I could from her, but she picked up on it far easier than she should have, trembling until I regained control of myself and assured her I wasn't angry with her.

Her overly-vivid descriptions weren't the worst of it. The dull, emotionless voice she spoke in wasn't the problem. The worst thing about her retelling was what I read between the lines. The Sandaime had asked for several reports on her throughout the war. The information I gave in those reports were the only way the Sandaime could have managed such a direct hit on Naomi's psyche.

I hated myself for it.

(-_-)

I wasn't sure how long Naomi spoke, but eventually, she fell asleep. Once she was asleep, Nagato reentered, sitting down opposite us, several feet away.

"Is she going to be okay?" He asked, barely audible.

"I don't know, but she told me everything. It's a start, but I'm scared of how long it might take her to come out of this room. I'm scared she'll never step out of the shadows again, and if that happens, it will all be my fault."

"Your fault? You never hurt her, Kichiro. You tried to stop it, you've helped her more than anyone else. This isn't your fault, if anything, it's mine for letting her go through with the plan, damn the consequences."

"I gave the Sandaime everything he needed to do this!" I gestured violently at Naomi.

"Calm down or you'll wake her," Nagato admonished. "It's been seven years since you last gave the Sandaime a proper report. The information you gave him was meant for an entirely different purpose. He's the one who abused it."

"I need to cool down." I carefully laid Naomi on her side, brushed the Hiraishin seal onto the door frame and fled the room, dodging Nagato's attempt to stop me and not even closing the door behind me.

Sometime later, I found myself crouched in the trees above the small pier where Kushina and I fled Uzu with the other orphans over twenty years before.

On the corner of the horizon, the Sandaime's ship slowly shrunk, lost in the setting sun.

"You make a pretty ugly bird perched up there," someone commented from the ground, their words barely intelligible over the ambient wind and the sounds of the bugs' evening chorus.

I had to identify Misaki by her chakra.

"Come on down, Kichiro-kun, we've—" The rest of her words were lost as the wind picked up for a few seconds.

Instead of waiting for the wind to die down, she walked up the trunk of the tree, slightly unsteady, and stopped on the branch below me. I reinforced it with chakra, slightly amused at the way she clung to the trunk when the wind, combined with our weight, make the tree sway dangerously.

"That was reckless of you," I told her while she trembled with a mixture of exertion, fear, and cold.

"You wouldn't have let me fall," she responded with more confidence than I expected. As if to prove her point, she let go of the trunk and stood up on the branch. The shift was too much for the poor branch, even with my chakra reinforcing it, it cracked, then completely broke under her weight. I cursed and grabbed her around the waist, hopping between the tree and its neighbor to reach the ground safely.

"Not even Naruto is foolish enough to try something like that!" I snapped.

"Because Naruto-kun has blinded himself to the faults of his Ji-chan so he doesn't have to," Misaki retorted.

I scowled, not understanding, and tried to march away. I wasn't sure if Misaki was extremely brave, or just plain stupid, but she grabbed my wrist and with a maneuver someone really shouldn't have taught her, tried to pin me on my back. She even managed a sharp strike to my cheekbone. The pain snapped most of my restraint, and I automatically turned the move against her, pinning her back against the ground a bit harder than was wise.

"Damn it, Misaki! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why can't you just stop? Every time something goes wrong, you're right there! Stop it, okay? Stop whatever the hell you're trying to do before you get yourself killed!"

I left her and started to march away, but she stood up and followed me anyways.

"What in the nine circles of hell are you doing?" I whirled on her, shoving her back several paces. When she recovered and started towards me again, I pushed her even harder. She hit a tree instead of falling, barely able to keep her feet. "Go away, Misaki, leave me alone. Go away before I kill you!"

"No, Kichiro-kun, I'm not going to stop, I'm not going to go away," she wheezed, stumbling forward as I tried to walk away and grabbing my arm. She closed her eyes and shouted the last line, "I'm not going to leave you alone because I love you!"

Several things about her made a lot more sense, and I stood frozen for a moment trying to process it all. Finally, she opened her eyes. "Then you're a fool, especially since you've already heard my answer," I told her coldly, yanking my arm out of her grip. "I can't give you the relationship or security you want, and I'm not going to humor you out of pity."

"Kichiro-kun—"

I turned my back on her and started to march away. She lunged forward and grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to spin back around to face her, or at least trying to. I grabbed her wrist and twisted it outside forcing her to bend backwards to lessen the pain of the maneuver.

"Are you scared of associating with me because of your enemies?" She demanded, her voice pinched with pain. "If so, then why are you so closely tied to Naruto? He's even more vulnerable than I am!"

"I'm tied with Naruto because he's six and his parents were two of the strongest shinobi to have ever lived. He's a target all by himself, at least if he has my name associated with him, assassins will think twice about getting vengeance through him. You have no idea what I'm capable of, the things I've done, and if you did, you wouldn't dare associate with me."

To be perfectly honest, I was impressed with her tenacity. She didn't even flinch when a bit of killing intent slipped through my control. "I don't care what you can do or what you've done because I know what kind of person you are."

I dropped her on her back. "I was married once. Before I ever showed up in this world. She was the woman I loved more than life. I had a daughter too, a beautiful baby girl, I gave them everything I had. There's nothing that can replace them. That's the kind of person I am."

I kept walking, leaving her lying on the ground.

Not so heartless to leave her there, I stopped just within earshot and waited for her to get up and head back towards the others before diving into the water and lying at the bottom, watching the shadows of fish drift back and forth above me and pulling a large bubble of air from the surface whenever I needed to breathe.

In the morning, someone had the trainees practicing water walking above me. I watched them struggle above me, pulling the bubbles from every time they fell in to sustain my little air supply. Naruto was the first to notice the bubbles sinking rather than rising.

He released an unholy shriek only a small child could produce before scrambling out of the water.

"The bubbles are going down!" He shrieked at Ryuunosuke, who just chuckled. The sound was slightly distorted by the water, but entertaining all the same. After a few seconds, the others lost control and noticed the same thing, racing out of the water, much to my amusement. Apparently, Natsuki hadn't gotten the memo, and stepped out on the water to investigate. She stopped on my right, frowning as I arranged my air supply underneath her and let go of the bubble. She yelped and fell through the surface of the water and into the air bubble, only to get doused herself and scramble out, spluttering. I surfaced then, before she could attack the water and catch me in the crossfire.

It wasn't funny enough to break my distemper, but everyone else got a good laugh out of it while I trudged out of the ocean and headed off to find something to eat. Or at least tried to leave, Ryuunosuke grabbed me as I walked past and practically threw Naruto at me.

"Teach him tree walking," Ryuunosuke ordered.

I rolled my eyes. "He already can, Naruto's just giving you a hard time."

"Ji-chan!" Naruto protested as I ousted whatever his plan was.

I whapped the back of his head while Ryuunosuke started to scold him.

"You ought to know better than to lie to a superior, boy!"

"I ain't nobody's shinobi!"

"Naruto!" Several people snapped at once, including me.

The boy crossed his arms defiantly. "You don't listen to no one!" He snapped back at me.

"Naruto," I took a knee in front of him. "I led this clan for more than half my life. I helped lead Konoha alongside your father. I have more experience at leadership than everyone else on this island, combined. Blind obedience on my part could get us all killed out of inexperience. I'm not going to pretend everything is how it should be, but it doesn't justify lying. Remember what I told you, lying is only okay on missions, and it's going to be a long time before you're ready to take a mission, understand?"

Naruto huffed and refolded his arms.

"You are six years old—"

"You didn't listen to anyone when you were six!"

"He's got a point," Ryuunosuke conceded.

"You were as good as dead when I was six," I snapped at him before turning back to Naruto. "When I was six, I was a civilian. The worst I did was wander about after curfew and trespass. This was before Uzu was destroyed, before the entire clan's safety hung by a spider thread."

"You still don't take orders!"

"Does that make it right?"

That brought Naruto up short.

"Now, are you done being a shinobi or are you ready to comply?"

"Ready to comply, Ji-chan."

"Thank you, now how about you apologize for lying to your grandfather?"

Naruto muttered a not-quite-sincere apology. I let it slide as he stepped closer to me. "I don't want to make the other kids feel bad if someone littler than them is better."

I pulled him into a hug. "If that happens again, you ask for an alternate assignment, okay? Why don't you go practice the leaf-sticking exercise?"

Naruto scampered off and sat down next to a bush to practice. I tried to march off again, but Ryuunosuke grabbed my arm.

"Why the hell are you giving him an easier exercise?"

"Because Kushina put a purifying element in his seal. Minato never would have allowed it if he knew. Basically, the Sanbi's chakra is purified and added to his system. He'll be lucky if he ever learns a single Genjutsu, and most of both mine and Minato's repertoire will forever be beyond him, hell, even without the boost, he'd have to work ten times as hard to reach an average level of control, hence the reason I started him on chakra control first instead of academics."

He frowned. "I thought it was because you could barely read."

"That was the other reason, but I know enough to make seals, that's all that matters."

"What about mission reports?"

"In ANBU, the written reports are few and far between, most of them are oral. I made Nagato do most of them. Any other missions I took were under Sakumo or another Jōnin."

"Medical records?"

"All in shorthand. Or notes too dangerous not to leave coded."

"And if someone else had to read it?"

"There was one person who could, that I know of, but he died during the Sanbi's attack."

"Go get something to eat then meet me back here."

I left without another word.

(-_-)

An hour later, I returned, somewhat sated. To my surprise, almost everyone had mastered water walking enough to attempt katas. Whenever one fell in, they all lost their balance, but they were doing slightly better than expected, and Natsuki walked among them, demonstrating how to compensate on the less stable footing.

Ryuunosuke watched from the dock. He motioned me towards him.

"I want to run an experiment with you, just to see if something's possible."

I frowned. "What experiment?"

"I want to see if someone can stand on top of The Whirlpool."

"Say what?"

"I want to see if someone, specifically you, can stand on top of The Whirlpool."

"I have good chakra control, but that would be like trying to stand on the brink of a waterfall. Standing on top of water moving like that would get me killed, hell, standing on top of the little defensive whirlpools might kill me as well."

He frowned. "Why wouldn't it work?"

"I saw it fail. Ironically, it was just off this dock. That Kiri ninja's bones might even be around here somewhere. Have you ever tried to stand on river rapids? It's not hard to stay above the water, but when we're standing on water, we anchor ourselves to a piece of the water, and in the rapids, or in a whirlpool, that piece of water would be moving at high speeds. In the rapids, it's in one direction, not too difficult to ride it out, but in a whirlpool," I used my hands to demonstrate. "The water is not only moving at high speeds, but it's moving in a circle and anyone trying to ride it out would end up at a steep angle and their weight would drag them to the bottom while pulling all their blood to their feet and—"

"Enough, I get the idea."

"Sorry."

There was a slightly awkward pause. "You're quiet today."

"Quiet?"

"You haven't gotten pissed at anyone yet."

"I don't like getting angry."

"You're not on edge anymore."

"I have no reason to be." As if to prove me wrong, a chakra signature appeared behind me. I barely managed to stop my reflexive punch a hairs breadth away from Itachi's nose. I pulled my hand back while Itachi stared at it, mouth open. "Not many people can get that close to me without me noticing, kid, but I advise you not to try it again. What is it?"

"Per Nagato-sama's orders, I require your permission to resume training."

"Permission denied."

Itachi stiffened. "With all due respect, Kichiro-sensei—"

"If you continue training before I find a way to fix whatever the hell is wrong, not just stave off the effects, something might go wrong that I can't fix. I'm certain I've already told you this."

"Kichiro-sensei—"

I put a hand on his shoulder and guided him out of earshot. "Look, Itachi-kun, if this doesn't clear up on its own in a few weeks, you're not getting better."

"If I'm going to die—"

"You're missing the point. Your heart has stopped several times, and I haven't figured out why yet. It's a miracle you're still alive."

Itachi stood unnaturally still, glaring at me.

"You're lucky you got to me when you did. If this progressed much further, it might have been easier to figure out the problem, but I'm not sure I could have done anything about it. I'm not going to lie to you, Itachi, your chances aren't good if this accelerates like I have a feeling it will. You're going to die young, kid, even if treatment is successful. If it's not whatever disease you have, that Mangekyō will. My advice is to give up being a ninja. Focus on your clan and succeeding your father, caring for your mother and brother."

Itachi looked torn.

"I know you're a pacifist, kid, and this is the best deal you're gonna get. Give me two months. No training, no getting your heart rate up. After that, it's your choice. If you still want to stay a shinobi, I'll find a way to get you back on the field. If not, I'll make sure you don't have to go back."

Itachi stared up at me. "You haven't done any tests for a week. You haven't treated anything either."

I reached forward and gently touched his chest with my finger. "Look down the front of your shirt."

"There's seals! When? How?"

"Natsuki put them on you. I have to take them off today, but they're there to make sure your heart doesn't stop until I can find a more permanent solution."

"But…" He trailed off.

"I almost hurt myself when I was healing you the first time."

"For an accomplished doctor, you do a pretty rotten job."

"I'm out of practice and not a doctor anymore. I'm just a man with very unique skills."

Itachi scowled. It was the tiniest tightening of his mouth but a scowl all the same. "I want you to resume treatment immediately."

I rubbed my neck. "I can try, but I'm extremely limited in what I can do at this point."

This only seemed to tick Itachi off. I considered it a win that he was showing any emotion at all. After a few brief signs to Ryuunosuke, I shook some of the water out of my clothes and motioned for Itachi to follow.

I stopped by to check on Naomi. She was asleep atop Nagato's chest, Nagato combing his fingers through her uneven hair. I knocked on the frame of the door. Nagato waved his hand for me to come in. I made sure Itachi waited in the doorway.

Naomi woke suddenly when I crouched on Nagato's other side.

"It's just Kichiro," I soothed, one hand on Nagato's shoulder so he knew where I was. "You're in Uzu, in one of the houses that have been rebuilt."

The siblings slowly sat up, Nagato keeping a hand on my arm. I pulled the blanket over Naomi's shoulders.

"How are you feeling?" I asked quietly.

"You're wet," Naomi responded.

"I'm just checking on you before I go change."

"You spent the night outside."

"Technically. I was underwater."

"It was because of me. You didn't come back because of me."

"There were a lot of reasons, but you weren't one of them."

"I should have left when I had the chance. I'm no use to anyone anymore."

I knelt and pulled the blanket up to her ears. "It's not about being useful, it's about Nagato getting his little sister back. It's about the clan getting a family member back. It's about me getting my favorite student back."

"I'm not back, not really."

I poked her cheek while she stared at me, incredulous. I poked her several more times until she reached out and felt my forehead. I grabbed her hand and held it to the side of my face. "You seem pretty solid to me."

A smile twitched the corners of her mouth for the briefest of instants. I squeezed her shoulder.

"Anyways, little Itachi-kun wants me to keep working on his little problem. Do you want to watch? I remember you always enjoyed watching my medic work."

I was almost convinced she would shake her head and pull away, but to my surprise, she stayed still, considering the offer.

"Okay," I barely heard her. Nagato smiled widely. I stood up and pulled both to their feet. I led them out, noting how Nagato seemed much less certain of his steps and much more tolerant of Naomi's guidance, letting her take his elbow and pull him along behind me. She flinched away from anyone passing, but thankfully no one stopped to chat.

I didn't expect her to follow me all the way to the shelves where clothes had been folded and placed, but she did. I knew better than to ask her to leave while I changed.

"Itachi-kun, go get the mat you're sleeping on. You're young enough that the medical chakra will put you to sleep again and I'm not going to lug you to bed if I don't have too. Pick a spot you won't mind sleeping in for a few hours."

Naturally, he chose a corner and laid down the mat. I knelt beside him and motioned for him to take off his shirt. I told myself for the hundredth time I needed to learn to heal through clothing before beginning the diagnostics.

Naomi crouched closer to me than I would have liked, but I didn't comment. I didn't go anywhere near as in-depth as I had before, simply re-examining his heart and working on repairing what damage I could.

Eventually, I stopped, a headache pounding at my temples.

As soon as I stopped, Naomi's hand around my upper arm started to tremble. Immediately, my attention went to her, fear dulling the worst of the headache. Naomi's arm wrapped around my neck, under my chin, and she dragged me backwards. A week without food wasn't enough to significantly weaken Naomi. If I had to, though, I could have overpowered her, but she caught me by surprise. The medical ninjutsu hadn't quite faded from my hands as her back hit the corner of the room and she cowered, talking to someone who wasn't there. Nagato hadn't moved from where he sat down against the wall several paces back. I had no idea what set her off until I saw Ise frozen in the doorway.

"Please, no, don't hurt me, don't take me back out there!"

"No one is taking you anywhere—" I tried to placate.

"Please, I'll do anything, don't touch me, please!" She screamed, sobbing into my back, her arm nearly too tight for me to speak. She was backed so tightly into the corner that the only part of her I could reach was her arm around my neck, and that wasn't enough to knock her out before she realized what was happening. She was melting down. Ise did not deserve to see is. I motioned for him to go but he was still frozen as Naomi continued to beg some imaginary person for mercy. I grabbed her arm and pulled as hard as I could, just enough so I could speak.

"Nagato! Take Itachi and get your father out of here!" I choked.

That spurred him into motion, carefully gathering Itachi into his arms, crossing the room and turning Ise out. As soon as they left and the door closed behind them, I turned my attention to Naomi, struggling to block out her begging.

After a few seconds, I readjusted my grip on her arm, pumped chakra into my muscles, and loosened her arm enough to free myself. She screamed and started to attack me. I had no idea how she got ahold of a kunai, but she nearly stabbed me with it before I grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the ground.

She screamed and begged throughout the short struggle. Unfortunately, instead of pinning her, she managed to kick me away with I move I had never even seen before.

"I'll kill myself!" She threatened, holding the blade against her abdomen. I cursed and weighed my options. By the time I could subdue her, she would bleed out, and subduing her didn't guarantee I could heal her, especially since the shirt she wore was chakra-resistant, meaning it couldn't be healed through.

I would have to trick her, but tricking someone who wasn't even seeing her surroundings was impossible.

Author's note: Five chapters left!