Author's Note: A reader commented that Hiruzen's vote negated the need for Shikaku's second yes and therefore there was no reason for Shikamaru and Mirai to get betrothed. I'd like to clarify something (that will be made even clearer in a later alternate POV Sideshow that I can't publish right now because SPOILERS). Hiruzen's vote was purely symbolic. It made no difference in the overall outcome, which is why he was able to "vote" in the first place. The previous chapters talked about how it was the Council and not the Hokage that had to vote on her status, and that is 100% accurate. Hiruzen is taking a symbolic stance in voting for Mirai, and the reasoning for that will become clear in later chapters/Sideshows.

Fun Fact: Friendly reminder for everyone that I have a Tumblr! Drop by to see my stupid Samsaric memes, my writing companions (AKA my pets), and to send me any Samsaric or Naruto related questions you might want to ask! You can find me at: blog/jjgrace42

Chapter Thirty-Two - Epiphany

[epiphany—noun 1: a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi, Twelfth-day 2: an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity 3: a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience 4: a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight]

I stared. And blinked. And for good measure, I stared some more. But no matter how much I stared, I couldn't quite make sense of the man I was looking at. So finally I rasped out, "What?"

He grinned. "Ah! I should introduce myself properly!" There was a puff of smoke and spike of chakra. "I am the man that has no enemies in the north, south, east, and west!" he announced, posing dramatically atop the large toad he'd just summoned. "Not even in the heavens—"

"Jiraiya-sama," I interrupted. "You're Jiraiya-sama."

He faltered, blinking at me with wide eyes. "Ah." He waved a hand, and the toad disappeared in another puff of smoke. "You do recognize me, then!"

"I figured there couldn't be more than one old man running around summoning toads, right?" I shifted from one foot to the next. "What are you doing here?"

Something dark crossed over his face, but he gave me a bright laugh and boomed out, "An old man? You insult me! I am—"

"Interrupting my training," I finished for him, sliding one foot back so I could adopt a kind of half-stance. In preparation for what, I . . . wasn't sure. "Is there something you need from me?"

He chuckled. "Not one to appreciate the theatrics, are you? Straight to the point it is, then." He dug in his pocket as he moved forward.

I took a step back to maintain the distance between us, and he paused. I set my jaw and straightened, taking that step forward again. Jiraiya finally found what he was looking for and pulled it out of his pocket. He opened it—a book? and a full one, at that—and flicked through the pages before stopping at one. He thrust it at me.

"This is you. Correct?"

I stared at him for a moment before dragging my gaze to the book. It was a bingo book entry, but the information was . . . sparse. Where a name should be instead sat two blank circles. I'd seen the circles before on other entries, and Izumo had been the one to explain the concept of Maru-Maru as a placeholder for when the real name remained unknown. So this shinobi didn't have a known name. Except, well, I did know the shinobi's name. The illustration made it impossible for me not to know.

The uniform was grey with red straps and d-rings, and the mask was white. It didn't leave much in terms of identifying features. But the hair was red, and the eyes that stared out from the page, out from under the mask, were undeniably violet.

I glanced over the lack of information on the page. An estimate of my height—four feet and two inches—of my weight—sixty pounds—and my age—a range from seven to ten. There was a short list of combat techniques—fuuton, tanto, clones—but that was it. Nothing else.

Jiraiya made a noise of impatience. "Well?"

"Where did you get this?" I murmured, frowning. "I got the newest pages. I didn't see this there."

"That's what happens when you only get Konoha bingo pages. This is from an independent bingo firm in Kawa no Kuni. Smaller firms are always eager to be the first ones to have a page on an previously unlisted shinobi." He shook the book again for emphasis. "Because this is you. Right?"

"Probably. Sure seems that way. How would they have gotten any of this?" I reached out and tapped my fingers against the blank mask inked onto the page.

He shrugged and pulled back, snapping the book shut. "Someone sold it to them. That's how bingo firms work."

I blinked. "Oh." I frowned, flicking my gaze away for a second. Someone had to have survived meeting me in the first place. Ah. Well, that explained it.

Utsumi, I concluded to Kurama. Utsumi Ran. Has to be. Right?

He gave a rumble of agreement.

I narrowed in on Jiraiya. "Could I have a copy of it?"

Jiraiya squinted at me, considering. Then he shrugged and tucked the bingo book back into his pocket. "Tell you what. Sit down and grab a meal with me and I'll thinking about it. Sound good?"

"Why?" I demanded, taking a step back again. When he looked surprised, I said, "You're an old man asking a ten year old out to dinner. I'm allowed to be suspicious."

He spluttered, though he really looked more amused than anything else. "I'm not old," he insisted again. "And by all rights, we should have been having dinner together for years!"

"Ah," I said flatly, listening to the way Kurama was brimming with amusement. "So you're a creep, then."

"Wh— I am not." He struck a wide pose, pointing a finger at me. "I am Jiraiya of the Sannin! The student of the Sandaime, and sensei of the Yondaime! I am," —he paused dramatically— "your godfather! Returned after so many years away!"

Silence followed that declaration. At least for him. For me, Kurama had started laughing uproariously, and I could already feel a headache beginning to pound. Jiraiya hadn't moved from his pose, watching me expectantly with bright eyes. My chest twisted.

"Okay," I said, keeping my voice even. I dusted off my pants and ran my fingers through my hair to shake loose some of the dirt there. "I'm going home." I tucked my hands into the pockets of my vest and strolled past him.

"What?" He swung around to follow me. "Didn't you just hear me? The great Jiraiya-sama is back and—"

"Is either lying or has been avoiding me my entire life?" I asked, pausing to turn a blank look to him. "Which one would you prefer?"

"Neither," he responded immediately, defensively, as if he really hadn't expected that accusation. "I've always wanted to be here. Remember?"

"Remember," I echoed. "Remember . . . what, exactly?"

Jiraiya squinted at me. "What do you mean remember what? You know how to read, right? I know he said you weren't interested in writing back to a stranger, but I was under the impression—"

"Who said? Read what?" I stepped away, curling my hands into fists inside my vest. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

He frowned. "Mirai-chan," he said slowly, and the familiar way he used my name twisted something anxious inside me. "When was the last time you read one of my letters?"

A terrible, heavy feeling settled in my stomach. "What letters?"

Jiraiya leaned a bit back, his frown deepening as he stared at me. The silence dragged on just long enough for me to become uncomfortable. Then, voice steady and even, he said, "Tell me everything you know about me."

I took my hands from my pockets and clasped them together. "You're one of the Sannin. The Sandaime's student." I shrugged. "You wrote my favorite book."

He straightened, and his expression lightened. "Ah! You got my book, then!"

"Well, Hiruzen gave it to me. Though I did buy another copy for Sasuke."

"Gave it to you," he said, repeating my own words back to me as if there was something wrong with them. "When?"

I shrugged. "My birthday a while ago. I was . . . ." I paused. In the orphanage, but before we were kicked out. "Four."

"Four."

"Yes. Are you going to just repeat what I'm saying back at me all day, or is there a point in here somewhere?"

He sighed heavily. "You know, I thought this would go way better than it is. Looks like I need to talk to Sensei."

I tilted my head to the side, running our conversation over again in my mind. "Why? Were you— Did you give me the book?"

"I," —he pointed to his chest, drawing himself up— "am going to go get this straightened out."

"At the Tower?" I glanced towards the Village. "I'll come with. How good's your shunshin?"

He grinned. "I consider myself highly skilled," he said, reaching for me. "We can make it there in three." He clamped his hand down onto my shoulder.

"That many?" I asked, just in time to see the exaggerated look of offense on his face before the world bent.

When the world finally settled, we were standing up the street from the Tower. Still a good thirty feet away. I considered the distance and then looked over my shoulder at where we'd come from. "Huh." It wasn't really fair of me to expect his shunshin to match Shisui's, after all.

"You're judging it," Jiraiya said incredulously. "You're actually—" He cut himself off, squinting at me. "You're not what I expected."

"I wasn't expecting you at all," I shot back, bringing us back to why we were at the Tower in the first place.

"Right. Up we go, then," he said. Then he vanished in a shunshin.

"Wh— Really?" I glanced towards the stairs curling around the outside of the Tower and just barely saw him disappearing around the curve at the top. Huffing, I executed a shunshin of my own, and a second later I was standing beside him. "Trying to leave me behind?"

"Me? Never!" he said, shoving his way into the building. "Though you should probably stay outside while we—"

"The impression I've gotten is that you've been sending me letters and gifts, and I've been either not been receiving them or been misled to believe they're from the Hokage." I stopped outside the office doors and looked up at him, crossing my arms. "I'd like to be a part of this conversation, please." I glanced at the doors, mulling over the multiple chakra sources inside. All familiar.

He stared me down for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Alright." He threw open the office doors. "Sensei!"

The group inside turned to stare in surprise. I grinned and gave a wave to Yosu and his genin team. Hiruzen straightened. "Jiraiya. I didn't realize you were back."

I cut in before Jiraiya could. "Are there letters you've been keeping from me?"

Hiruzen frowned. "I'm in a mission debrief. This is hardly the time—"

"Why didn't you tell me that we have a godfather?"

Yosu straightened. "What?" He looked from me to Jiraiya before snapping around to stare at his father. "Is Jiraiya-sama—"

Hiruzen held up a hand. "Jiraiya, if you would like to have this conversation, then we should do so in private."

Jiraiya glanced around at the genin team and then me before crossing his arms. "Fine."

A nod. "Good. Yosu, your team can come back later to finish."

Yosu nodded and started guiding his team towards the door. I took a step towards the desk, frowning. "Did you—"

Yosu's hand on my shoulder interrupted me. "This way," he said, pulling me around and to the door.

The moment we were outside and the doors had closed, I scowled. "I wanted to be a part of that conversation."

"Well now, you can get barbecue with us instead. How much better is that?"

I hesitated, glancing around at his genin. Then I sighed. "You're paying for me, right?"

Yosu grinned. "Of course."

"Hiruzen gave it to me and made me think it was from him."

"But it was really from Jiraiya-sama," Yosu concluded, keeping his voice quiet.

I shrugged, not look up from the scratch in the table that I was picking at. "Definitely seems that way."

The entire table jostled as Zaji and Yatogo both lunged for the same piece of pork. It turned into a shoving match, which Mozuku took as an opportunity to slip the meat onto his own plate. Yosu watched them fondly for a moment before nudging me as he refocused his attention.

"The letters?"

"That part I'm not sure about. Sounds like he was sending letters to me. Naruto too, probably. And they didn't make it. I can only imagine why."

Yosu sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry."

I looked up at him sharply. "Don't you apologize. It's not you that did it. I hardly associate you with him up here." I tapped my forehead. "Especially since I like you."

He frowned at me for a moment. Then he broke into a grin that only seemed a little forced. "Aw. You like me?"

"Well . . . I like Konohamaru," I mused. "I tolerate you."

He snorted out a laugh at that and picked up his drink, gaze flicking up. He paused. "Jiraiya-sama," he called out in greeting.

I whipped around to see the man approaching our table. I eyed him and the scroll he had in hand. "Well?"

He waved the scroll. "I think we need to talk."

Yosu shifted beside me, and then I felt him ruffle my hair. "She likes dango," he offered up, already guiding me out of the booth.

Jiraiya grinned. "Dango it is, then."

I glanced back at Yosu. When he gave me a nod, I squared my shoulders. "You're paying," I said, turning to lead the way.

Jiraiya fell into step with me by the time I made it outside. "Are you always this demanding?"

"What all was he keeping from us?"

"Huh. You really are, aren't you?" He stretched his arms upward with a groan and then started working the kinks out of his neck. "I've been sending letters since you two were born. And gifts every year."

"We haven't gotten anything for the past three years. Nothing that Hiruzen passed off as coming from him. And never any letters."

"Yeah, I figured that out." He thrust the scroll at me. "It's all in here."

I took the scroll and unrolled it, looking across the storage seals there. Then I nodded. "I'll look through it all later with Nato." I tapped it against the fourth mark on my forearm and sealed it away.

"What!"

That loud exclamation was all the warning I got before a hand closed on my arm and yanked me around. I snatched a kunai out of my pouch with my left hand and snapped it up, but a hand closed around that wrist as well. Jiraiya stared at me, brow furrowed, from where he was crouched in front of me. Then he carefully let me go and lifted his hands away. "I just want to look," he said. "I wasn't expecting," —his gaze flicked to my forearm— "seals. On skin. At all."

I swallowed thickly and lowered my kunai, heart still pounding. "You could ask instead of grabbing me," I grit out. Then I looked pointedly ahead of us. "Besides, we're almost there. We could at least sit down first." I slipped my kunai back into its spot.

He straightened with a sigh. "Alright." He was the first to start walking again. "Do you realize how dangerous on-skin seals are?"

"I'm aware. It took me a while to figure it out." I slid into a seat. "So every single thing Hiruzen ever told me was from him was actually from you?"

"Not all." He picked up the menu to look it over, taking his own seat. "I have questionable judgment, but even I don't give a sword and poison to an unsupervised seven year old. But as best as I can tell, yeah, just about everything else was me."

"Ah." I propped my chin up in my hand, elbow on the table. "So the book was from you. It's my favorite. I like reading it to Naruto. And Sasuke and Sai, now, too."

"Are you ready to order?" the waiter asked.

I looked up and waved three fingers. "Three orders of chichi dango, please."

I waited while Jiraiya ordered. With his menu taken away, he refocused on me. "Naruto's named after the main character."

That wasn't exactly shocking news to me. "Nato will like hearing that. He likes the book too, but I think it's mostly because I'm the one reading it to him." I absently tapped my fingers along my forearm as I spoke.

Jiraiya watched my movements. "And the seals?"

"I've gotten pretty good at them." Then I frowned. "Huh. You're the on that sent me those fuuinjutsu textbooks, then. Right?"

He grinned. "That's me! I was told you were smart, and that you had shown interest!"

"They were very helpful. Though I wouldn't mind more advanced ones. I've hit kinda," —I gestured in front of myself— "a wall."

"If you're doing on-skin seals, it seems like you're doing pretty well."

I huffed and tapped my third seal. A tri-pronged kunai landed in my hand, and I held it out. "This is still way beyond what I'm capable of."

He took the kunai. "Hiraishin? Are you serious?"

"I'm working on building up my speed. But I won't even think about attempting it until I understand how it works. Which I don't, yet. Not at all."

"You're insane."

"I've been told that before. Is that scroll going to have higher level fuuinjutsu textbooks?"

"A few. But probably not as high as you need," he said, turning the kunai around to point at my storage seals with it. "But I'm around for a while longer. Plus, now that I know that my letters haven't been making it, and that I'm not sure I can fully believe the reports I was getting, I'll have to stop by more often, I think." He grinned. "Whether you two like it or not."

"Reports?"

"I had to hear you were smart from somewhere, right? Thought, I wasn't expecting . . . ." He trailed off and then gestured at me wildly. "This."

"Okay, let me have that," I said, snatching the kunai back from him so he would stop waving it around.

"If I'd come around sooner, would you have been this odd then?"

"Probably. Why weren't you here?"

He didn't answer right away, leaning back so the returning waiter could set our dango in front of us. When we were alone again, and I had already started in on my dessert, he said, "I handed guardianship over to Sensei and left the Village because I was told that my work was the best way I could serve Konoha at the time. Which is not exactly wrong. I'm fucking good at my job. And I thought you two were being taken care of. Had no reason to think otherwise. Turns out, I should probably extended my spy network into Konoha, not just out of it."

There was . . . a lot to unpack there. And I didn't particularly feel like touching any of it. So instead, I honed in on the part I did want to talk about. "Spy network?" I asked, leaning forward and biting down on my dango stick. "You're good at spying, then? Information gathering? Infiltration?"

"You're interested in spy work? It's not flashy."

I shrugged. "I can be flashy in a fight, but honestly at this point it's more Naruto's style than mine."

"The reports did say you two are different. That part of it seems to be right, at least."

"Are you going to see him? Naruto?"

"Of course! I didn't come this far only bother you!"

I grinned and flagged down the waiter again. "A box of chichi to go, please."

"Where are you staying?"

"Hotel," he said, seemingly too distracted by staring around the compound to really focus on the conversation. "Are those sunflowers?"

"We have a couch. It's a fold-out. But a hotel would probably be more comfortable," I admitted. I smiled. "Hi, Sasuke! It's getting dark. You going to stay out much longer?"

Sasuke looked up, wrist-deep in a flowerbed full of dahlias. "Not too long. Almost done. Plus, Sai said he and Naruto were gonna make dessert, and I don't want to miss that." He squinted. "Who's that?"

"This is Jiraiya. Say hi."

Sasuke blinked. Then he surged to his feet, sending dirt flying. "Like Sannin Jiraiya? What is he— Did something happen? Why is he here?"

I muffled a laugh with my hand. "This is Sasuke," I said to Jiraiya. "Ke-kun, Jiraiya was Minato's sensei. He's here to see us."

"Oh." Sasuke frowned. "Are you in trouble?"

"Not that I know of. Am I in trouble?" I asked, repeating the question to Jiraiya.

"From what I've gathered, you are trouble."

I grinned. "At least you catch on quickly." I glanced towards Sasuke. "You can come catch up with us inside when you finish." I motioned to Jiraiya and cut across to the next street over. "House is this way."

The closer we got, the better I could feel Sai and Naruto's chakra and the lighter my step got. But the smell of smoke also started to itch at my nose. I shunshined up and slammed open the door. "What's going on?" I demanded.

Sai and Naruto froze. Sai had the kitchen window open and was kneeling awkwardly on the counter as he held a sheet tray outside through the opening. Naruto was standing upside-down on the ceiling, pressing the button on the smoke detector.

Naruto broke the silence first, grinning. "Rai!" he shouted, jumping down to the floor and landing smoothly. "You're back! Uh, we're not done yet?"

I stared at the batter—at least I thought it was batter, but no batter should be that runny no matter the dessert—splattered all across the kitchen. The walls, the sink, the counters, Sai, Naruto, the oven—

I strode across the room and shut the oven door. As I turned the oven off, I asked again, "What's going on?"

"We made dessert," Sai said, voice level as if he wasn't hanging halfway out the window.

"I can see that," I said flatly. I picked up the bowl and eyed the watery mixture in it. "What was this supposed to be?"

"Cookies."

I set the bowl down and moved over to where Sai was. After I hauled myself up on the counter, I leaned towards the window to get a better look. The tray was still smoking, but the so-called cookies on it were nothing more than charcoal. "I see. Okay." I took the tray from Sai, oven mitt and all, and hopped down from the counter. As I took the tray to the sink, I said, "How about I make the cookies and you two can watch to learn how you're actually supposed to do it?"

Sai turned to sit on the edge of the counter, resting his hands on his knees. "Who's the old man?"

Jiraiya huffed. "Old man? I'll have you know that I am in my prime!" He bit his thumb and slammed his hand down to the floor. A toad appeared in a puff of smoke, Jiraiya posing atop his head.

I sighed. "Again?"

He grinned. "I am the man that has no enemies in the north, south—"

"This is Jiraiya. He was Minato's sensei, and he's technically our godfather."

Sai tilted his head. "Godfather?"

"Well, to me and Naruto."

Naruto made an odd face. "Okay," he said slowly. "What does that mean?"

Jiraiya sighed, and the toad disappeared. "Means that I brought you presents."

"Nato, why don't you go get Ribbit?"

"Ribbit?" Naruto frowned. "Why?"

"Well, you know how Hiruzen give it to you? Along with a lot of other stuff? Like your blanket and Itchy? They're actually from Jiraiya. He had the Hokage give them to us."

"Oh." Naruto eyed Jiraiya for a second and then nodded, scrambling off to his and Sasuke's room.

I brought my hands up into a T and summoned two clones. "Sai, we'll get everything cleaned up. Why don't you show me the recipe you were using?"

He hopped down from the counter. "Recipe?"

"You two were using a recipe, right?"

"Naruto felt confident that he could remember what all you use when you make cookies."

"Ah." I stared at my clones as they got busy cleaning. "Alright, I'll write down a recipe for you two, then." I carried the bowl of failed batter over to the sink to rinse it out. "Jiraiya, you can take a seat. I'm sure—"

"Here he is!" Naruto announced, tumbling back into the living room with his stuffed frog held high over his head. He pranced over to Jiraiya, grinning. "This is Ribbit. He's old, but I love him. Do you want to see Pig too?"

"Pig?"

"Yeah. He's Rai's, and he's old just like Ribbit."

Jiraiya glanced towards me. "I sent a frog and a dog."

"I'm well aware," I drawled. I looked towards the door just a second before Sasuke opened it. "Dessert will be a little while longer."

Sasuke wrinkled his nose. "What's that smell?"

Sai smiled. "We made cookies."

"And they were . . . bad?"

"Very."

"Oh. Are there going to be better cookies?"

"Soon," I assured him. "I'm going to teach them how to make some. Do you want to learn too?"

"You should," Naruto interjected. "That way we all know how to make cookies, and we won't run out again." He looked up at Jiraiya, clutching Ribbit to his chest. "You should learn, too. Rai makes the best cookies."

Jiraiya chuckled. "Does she now? Sure, I wouldn't mind learning a thing or two."

Jiraiya was gone for the night, the boys were asleep, and I was staring at my closet. My clothes barely took up a third, but that didn't mean the rest was empty space. I'd never actually done anything to move Shisui's clothes elsewhere, and he hadn't exactly packed a bag with his things when he left Konoha. My closet, and barely a third of the things were mine. Actually . . . .

I skipped my hand over some of the shirts to curl my fingers into the large green one. Iruka's. Had I really never given it back? It would be awkward to give it back now, years later, right? I shook my head and moved past it to one of the blue ones instead. I brought my other hand up to my coin.

Are you okay?

I unhooked the shirt and turned it so that I could stare at the Uchiha symbol. While I waited, my coin and my stone necklace both cold against my chest, I took the shirt off the hanger and then tugged it over my head. It was huge on me, over half as long as I was tall. Which, frankly, was ridiculous. I missed being tall. I flattened out the hem down around my knees against my sweatpants and then closed the closet.

I'm okay. Are you okay?

I sighed in relief, gripping the coin and focusing on his chakra. It helped the tension in my shoulders relax, and the weight in my chest lighten. Kneeling down seiza, I coded out my response. I'm okay. Then I sent through a steady pulse of my chakra, hoping that would get my request across.

It must have, because a few seconds later Shisui's chakra came through to burn against my fingers. I breathed out long and slow, closing my eyes. With Shisui's chakra staying steady, I sank into my mindscape.

"You're ready?"

I slipped through the bars and sat down, resting against them. "So how does this work? I mean, I'm not a Yamanaka. I don't have the sharingan. I don't think I'm exactly built for digging through people's heads."

"You're not digging through heads. It's a shared space between bijuu and, therefore, jinchuuriki."

"Okay." I started tapping a rhythm into the concrete. "And you said it needs physical contact?"

"For the plane to be shared? Yes."

"Got it." I bit my lip. "Does the other— Does it need both sides to open the plane? Or could I drag someone into it? What if the jinchuuriki doesn't know how to do it? Or the bijuu doesn't want to?"

"With practice, yes. As well as with the two of us working together. And you already have good mental control, considering how much time you spend in here. It starts with sensing other jinchuuriki, bijuu, and their minds."

"I can . . . kinda do that," I mused. "I've always been able to sense your other half in Naruto. And I can sense how people feel, in a way. Is that the same as sensing their mind?"

"Not exactly. But it's a start."

My head was starting to hurt from following Kurama's directions to hyper-focus on the feeling of his yang half in Naruto when cold itched across my skin. I pulled out of my discussion with Kurama, blinking my eyes at my darkness. Then I scrambled up to my feet and out of the room. I threw open the front door.

"Niisan? Are you okay? You didn't tell me you were on a mission!"

Kakashi froze, his stare locking onto my shirt. "I'm— I didn't have a mission," he rasped out.

I looked down to find that he was staring at the Uchiha crest. I cleared my throat, tugging on my shirt and trying to catch his gaze. "So you're not hurt?"

His dragged his stare up to meet mine. "I— No. I'm fine. I, I have a mission in the morning, though. And I heard that Jiraiya—" He hesitated. "I thought I should come see you."

"Oh. Thank you." I stepped back to make room for him to come inside. "I just thought—Normally when you show up late—"

I broke off with a squeak when my feet left the ground and Kakashi swept me up into his arms. It took me a half-second to get my bearings, but then I tucked my head down against his shoulder and curled my hands into his shirt. "Are you okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah," he rasped. "Yeah, I'm okay."

He shifted me so that he could close the door. Then he sank down to the floor, leaning back. I settled against his chest and looked up at him. Despite his words, I could see tension there. I tugged down his mask and slid off his hitai-ate, holding it tightly. "What's going on, then?"

He sighed. Kakashi ran his fingers through my hair, smiling tiredly, and used his other hand to gently feather his fingers over the scar on my face. I leaned into the touch, and something in his expression broke at that. "I missed you," he breathed. "When you were—" He swallowed. "When you were gone. With— I missed you."

"I—" I pulled back in surprise. When he flinched and started lowering his hand, I leaned into it again and reached up to press my hand into his to keep it there. "I know," I murmured. "I missed you too."

His brow furrowed. "Just . . . just remember that. Okay? Can you do that for me?"

"Of course." I frowned and tightened my hold on his hand. "Why? Is something happening?" I cast my mind back through everything he'd said, searching for a clue. He'd mentioned he had a mission, and that— "I'm not leaving with Jiraiya."

His hold on me tightened. That was all the confirmation I needed for what his worry was.

"Did you talk to him? Did he say something about taking us away?"

"No," he gasped out. "No, I haven't talked to him. I just thought— I was worried."

"He never said anything about taking us anywhere. And even if he did, I'm legally an adult and legally Naruto's guardian. I would have to approve it. And I would say no."

"You would?"

"Of course I would." I tightened my grip on his hitai-ate. "I'm not going to just leave again. I'm not. I did it last time for a reason. For Sai, and for— For a lot of reasons. But there is no reason for me to go with Jiraiya anywhere."

Kakashi stared at me for a long moment, pressing his thumb into my scar. "Even if he was going to teach you?"

"He can teach me just fine while he's in the Village. Has already said he will. Even without him, I have plenty of stuff I'm working on learning. I'm not going to leave for that."

"Okay." He nodded and eased his arms around me, pulling me back to his chest. "Okay. Thank you."

I tilted my head down to rest against his collarbone, right under his chin. "How long is your mission?"

"Couple weeks. I'll come see you when I'm back."

"Okay. I'll be here."

"I have an appointment, and then Naruto and I are going to the Inuzuka this evening. So I won't be available until after that."

"Alright." Jiraiya dropped a hand to Naruto's head. "I've heard that you already have a scroll, right? Lizards? So I thought this one might be interested in looking at the one your old man signed."

I snapped my head up to stare at him. "Really?"

Naruto frowned. "Signed what?"

I grinned. "He'll show you, Nato." I ruffled his hair and leaned forward to peck a quick kiss to his forehead. "Have fun, you two. I'll see you at Kiba's, okay?"

When he gave me a nod, I shunshined away. I stopped at Ichiraku along the way before finally making it to T&I. I gave the chunin a wave, and he gave me a once over but didn't stop me. Inoichi was already in his office when I made it up there.

"Mirai-chan," he greeted.

"I brought you ramen," I announced, moving forward and setting it in front of him. Then I dropped into the chair with my own bowl, digging out the provided chopsticks.

"Ah." He blinked at the food and then set down his pen. "Thank you. It seems like you're in a good mood today."

"A decent one," I agreed, snapping my chopsticks apart. "Did you know that Jiraiya is in town?"

"I had heard. How does that make you feel?"

I squinted at him. "Subtle segue." Shrugging, I leaned back and started stirring my ramen with my chopsticks. "Fine. It's more of what him being here helped me learn. Turns out, he was sending letters to me and to Naruto our entire lives, and Hiruzen never let them through. That, or Konoha's mail system needs an update."

Inoichi's expression tightened the way it always did whenever I mentioned the Hokage. I still couldn't figure out exactly why he did that, but I had a feeling it had to do with . . . well, the fact that it was his Hokage. And I clearly didn't like him.

"Let's talk about something else."

"Subtle segue," he said flatly. "Alright. Let's talk about the water."

"I'm staying plenty hydrated."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Not through drowning, I hope."

"Isn't that the best way to maximize your water intake?"

"It hasn't been going well, then," he concluded. "The graded exposure with the water."

I didn't respond to that, instead taking the time to down my ramen. I set the empty to-go bowl on his desk and kicked back in the chair, propping my feet up. "It's fine. Study Group did a session at the lake this past weekend. We water-walked for sparring. I didn't fall, so it didn't end up being an issue."

"How was it, then? Walking on the water? Did that stir up any anxiety?"

"Not really. I was in control, so it wasn't a problem." I tapped my thumb along my thigh. "I did try mizurappa. Turns out that, unless I do want to drown myself, I should hold off on trying to actually succeed with a suiton jutsu until this is all over. Though it might be a fun way to go. Who knows."

He arched an eyebrow. "Do you notice that you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You use humor as a cover instead of being straightforward about a serious topic. You've done it four times since you walked in the door."

"Oh, so you've been counting?"

"Of course." He held up a hand. "And if you're about to make a joke about how you didn't think I could count, save it."

I snapped my mouth shut.

He sighed. "Let's try something. Okay? I'm going to ask you some questions, and I want you to answer honestly and without making a joke."

"Without making a joke," I echoed.

He nodded. "I want to see how well you do with that. Okay?"

I shrugged and dropped my feet to the ground, leaning forward and propping my elbows up on my knees. "I suppose. Alright. Hit me."

He looked over his notes briefly and then turned back a page. "When you think about Not-Genma, how do you feel?"

I tilted my head to the side. "You know that feeling you get when someone's really ticked you off and you can't help but wonder what they would look like without a head?"

"I said no jokes."

"I'm not joking."

Inoichi stared at me for a moment. Then he made an odd sound in the back of his throat. "You really aren't, are you?"

"I didn't cut his head completely off, you know. I'm not sure if it would have been better or worse if I had. I mean, he did have Genma's face, after all. Would that mean my dreams would have a decapitated Genma instead of just a faceless one?"

His brow furrowed, and he bent over the desk, making a few more notes. Without looking up, he said, "You told me once about Mizuki telling the class to talk to you in order to hear about killing someone from a person with first-hand experience."

"I also remember you mentioning that Ino came home and bugged you about it when it happened."

He nodded and finally looked up at me. "When you see Mizuki, do you think about that incident?"

I leaned my head back to stare up at the ceiling, frowning. "I'm not exactly sure that I would call it an . . . incident. That makes it sound like it was a mistake, or an accident. He knew exactly what he was doing." I dropped my stare back to him. "But yeah, sometimes I look at him and think about what he said."

"And when you see him and think about that, how do you feel?"

"Like I want to kill him too."

Inoichi straightened. He didn't say anything for a beat. Then there was another, and another. Finally, he cleared his throat. "That's . . . a worrisome confession," he said carefully.

"I'm not going to kill him. Just because I want to do something doesn't mean I will. I do have some modicum of self-control."

"Do you?"

"Mizuki's still alive, isn't he?"

He didn't say anything to that, looking back down at his notebook and scratching out several more notes. Then he murmured, "Tell me more about the water."

I arrived at the Inuzuka Compound in a shunshin and immediately heard someone scream my name. It took everything in me not to duck or dodge when Kiba threw himself at me. Instead, I let him tackle me to the ground and then wrestled him until I had him pinned. I grinned. "Excited, Kiba-kun?"

"Hey, don't—" He twisted under my hold for a moment. "Let me up, dammit!" He bared his teeth at me and then kicked his feet up.

In order to avoid getting kicked in the head, I let him go and threw myself out of the way. Kiba was on me again in an instant, and this time I let him pin me down and sit on me. He grinned down at me. "It's almost time."

"I know. That's why I'm here." Then I bucked up and sent him tumbling to the side as I rolled to my feet. "Where's Nato?"

Kiba clambered to his feet and nodded towards the ninken house. "Over there with Hana and Kaachan. We're getting started soon."

"Lead the way, then. It's your big day, after all."

Kiba let out a howl of delight and dashed ahead of me, already disappearing around the building by the time I moved to follow. I had made it close when Naruto came barreling around the corner.

"Rai!" he shouted, tackling me.

I caught him, sending chakra to my feet to keep myself upright. Laughing, I asked, "Did something happen, Nato?"

"He let me sign the big scroll! I can't do a lot with it yet, but look!" He brought his thumb up to his mouth.

I grabbed his hand. "Not now, okay?" When he looked at me in confusion, I nodded past him to where Kiba had disappeared. "We're here for Kiba. I want you to show me, but you should wait until later. So we don't distract from his big day."

"Oh." He lowered his hand, considering that. Then he nodded with a smile. "Okay. I'll show you later. But I got one. He's tiny and he's kinda funny, but I can summon him!"

"A summon?" I asked, hooking my arm through his and guiding him around the corner. "What's his name?"

"I dunno. He can't talk yet, so he didn't tell me."

"Mirai-chan, you made it."

I threw Hana a smile. "Well, Kiba asked for us to be here. I certainly wasn't going to miss it." I stepped up and looked down at the bustle of puppies in front of us. "How does this work?"

"Kiba's been keeping an eye on them," Tsume said. "Now, he chooses the one he wants as his companion. Or, if he's like Hana, he can't choose between his favorites and he ends up with three."

Hana flushed deeply enough that her clan markings almost disappeared in the red. "I love all three of them. I just couldn't put one over the other."

I glanced up at her. "Where are they? I don't think I've met them."

Hana gestured off towards the house. "They're staying out of the way for this, and with three of them it can be a bit crowded for them to stay by me constantly while I'm in Konoha. So Kuromaru tends to keep them rounded up together when I'm not with them and we're in-Village." She brightened. "You can meet them after this. You'll like them."

"I'd love to." I looked towards Kiba. "So you choose one and then what?"

"Then we're companions forever." He bounced on his feet. "Can I choose? I already know."

Tsume chuckled, reaching out and ruffling his hair. "You've had him picked out for a while, huh? Go ahead, then."

Kiba vaulted over the fence and picked his way through the dogs that started swarming him. There was a small puppy—smaller than the rest—that was at the other side of the fenced-in area, growling and stalking around a ball twice his size. Kiba crouched down and held his hand out. The puppy stared at him and then stretched out to sniff him. When he finally greeted Kiba with a tentative lick to his knuckles, the boy grinned and swooped the puppy up into his arms. He turned to face us, holding the dog out so we could see him.

"His name is Akamaru!" Kiba announced. He moved back over to us, settling the ninken on his head as opposed to carrying him in his arms any longer.

Hana laughed. "It's nice to meet you, Akamaru."

"Is he going to get bigger?" Naruto asked, reaching out and letting the puppy sniff his hand.

"His parents are huge, so something is definitely wrong if he doesn't get bigger," Tsume said, reaching out and scratching the top of Akamaru's head. "Good pick, Kiba."

Kiba beamed at that. Hana nudged me. "Why don't we let the boys get to know Akamaru and I'll introduce you to mine?"

I looked up at her. "That sounds like a great idea. You said they're in the house?"

Hana just grinned and lifted two fingers to her mouth. She whistled sharply. And just like that, there was loud barking and howling from the house, and three silver streaks shot out of the front door and towards us. Hana was bowled over completely as they reached us, and she fell to the ground willingly, laughing.

"Mirai, meet Fukai, Hayai, and Takai! You've been around ninken before, right?"

"You mean you haven't been able to smell Hatake's pack on her before?" someone growled. I glanced to the side to find that Kuromaru had joined us. He leaned towards me and took a long inhale. "Haven't been around them recently, though."

"Niisan's on a mission, so I probably won't see them for a little while." I dropped down to the ground and held out my hand for the triplets to sniff. "Is it really that obvious when I've been around them?"

"Ninken—and shinobi—can hide their scent if they need to," Hana explained, curling her fingers into Hayai's mane. "But there's no need to do that in Konoha. So yes. Usually, the only person that smells more like a Hatake than you is Hatake himself."

Sasuke, Sai, and myself were all gathered in a circle to stare at what Naruto had summoned. It was arguably the smallest animal I'd even seen, summon or otherwise. I crouched down to get a better look at him, but he gave a tiny—minuscule—hop backwards that made me pull away. "I don't think you should keep him here," I said hesitantly, eying the orange toadlet that was barely the size of the nail on my pinky finger. "He's gonna get stepped on."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah. He's too tiny to really do anything right now, anyway." He watched as the summon vanished in a puff of smoke. "But Jiji said that he'll get bigger! And that if he gets as big as his dad, he'll be huge!"

I choked. "Jiji?" I asked, glancing back at Jiraiya. "Is that what he's calling you?"

"Despite my attempts at stopping him," Jiraiya drawled. "Yes."

"If Naruto was named after your book," Sai cut in, "was Mirai named after you?"

I frowned at him. "What?"

Sai met my gaze and, with completely honest and open curiosity, he said, "Is your name supposed to be Miraiya?"

"Miraiya," I echoed hollowly. Off to the side, Jiraiya had started cackling. "I'm pretty sure my name was not supposed to be Miraiya."

"Actually—"

I shot Jiraiya a dark look. "If you're about to tell me that's my real name, then save it."

His full laugh lessened into a chuckle. "It's not. Though if we're going to get any fuuinjutsu work done today, Miraiya, we should get started on it now."

I huffed. "As long as you don't call me that." I moved to the table and unsealed a stack of sealing and studying supplies. As Jiraiya moved to sit across from me, I asked, "How long are you staying? I'm trying to get an estimate of how much progress we might be able to make."

"A month, maybe? I haven't been in Konoha for a long time. I think I'd like to stay awhile."

I was just sitting down when Sai spoke up. "Genma-sensei says we'll be leaving on a C-rank in the morning."

Sasuke straightened. "Really? Where are you going? Ko-san said his first C-rank was still in Hi no Kuni, but that they spent a lot of time in caves for it."

"Caves?" Naruto wrinkled his nose. "Why would they be in caves?"

"He said they were finding a lost kid. And his byakugan," —Sasuke waved at his eyes— "helped find him."

"I don't think I'm allowed to share details," Sai said, frowning.

"But you told us all about the weeds!"

"A C-rank is a little different than a D-rank, Nato. When are you leaving, Sai?"

"He said to meet him at the gates at eight. I'm already packed." He looked down at his food and finally picked up his chopsticks. But he didn't actually start eating, frowning.

"Is there something else?"

He didn't look up at me, switching his chopsticks to his other hand and then back again. "Genma-sensei said something about your necklace. I— Are we not supposed to talk about it? Is that why you didn't tell us?"

I paused. "My necklace?" I reached up and curled my fingers about the stones. "What did he say about it?"

He tapped his fingers along his chopsticks and finally looked up. "He said you're a Nara?"

Sasuke coughed dramatically into his drink and then whipped around to stare at me. "You're an Uchiha," he said, shoulders rising.

"I am an Uchiha," I agreed. "I'm also an Uzumaki. A Hatake. And even an Inuzuka, in a way. Being one doesn't mean I can't be the other." I met Sai's gaze and swallowed, considering the best way to go about this. I shouldn't have be avoiding the conversation. Shouldn't have put it off. I tugged on the necklace. "This necklace mean that Shikamaru and I are betrothed."

Sai's brow furrowed, and I felt all three boys' chakra stir with confusion. Naruto was the one that spoke. "Be-tro-thed?" he asked, sounding the word out. "What does that mean?"

"It means that . . . someday, Shikamaru and I will be married. A long time from now." I tilted my head to the side and quirked a grin. "Who knows. I'll probably be old and wrinkly with grey hair by that point."

"Married?" Naruto crinkled his nose. "What, like his mom and dad? Why would you do that?"

I shrugged, not really wanting to get into all the politics behind my reasoning. "Shikamaru and I are good friends. And we decided on it together."

"Do you . . . do you have to be old to marry someone?"

When I looked at him, Sasuke was in deep thought as he mulled over his own question. I picked up my chopsticks and selected a piece of sushi. "No. Why do you ask?" I grinned and leaned towards him. "Is there someone you want to marry, Sasuke-kun?"

"No!" Despite his loud protest, a red flush burned across his face. It peaked at the tip of his ears and spread down into his shirt's high collar. The pale Uchiha complexion never did much to hide a blush. "I just, just wanted to know."

"You can't get married!" Naruto said, looking at Sasuke in horror. "If you get married, then you'll move away and we won't see each other anymore!"

"Whoa, okay," I said. "A couple things. First off, no one is getting married."

"You're getting married," Sai put in helpfully.

"I am getting married," I corrected. "But not until I'm way older. Two, you don't just leave everyone else behind when you get married."

"You . . . don't?" Naruto asked.

"No, of course not. Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza are all married, but they're still best friends and see each other all the time, right? Hayate and Yuugao love each other, but they don't keep each other from ever going anywhere."

"What's the point of getting married if you don't get to keep the person to yourself, dattebayo?"

I snickered. "It's not about keeping the person to yourself, Nato. You marry someone because you want to them to have you, not the other way around. It's not selfish. It's . . . ." I frowned, thinking my explanation over carefully. "It's looking at your favorite person and deciding you want to be theirs forever. Like Shikaku did with Yoshino. Or, or Minato did with Kushina."

Naruto stared at me for a long, long moment before flicking his gaze away. When he spoke, his voice was wobbly. "Their forever didn't last very long."

"No, it didn't," I murmured. "But they got to spend it together."

Genma gave a visible flinch when he opened the door and saw that it was me standing there. He smoothed it over with a smile, and a half-second later there was a senbon in his mouth. He lifted his hands. "SAI MISSION?"

"Yeah. Is—" I glanced past him, but the house was dark except for a reading lamp beside the couch. "Just you? Can I come in?"

He hesitated and didn't move from where he was blocking the doorway. "KAKASHI GONE MISSION."

"I know."

He faltered. While I gave him a moment to think, I focused in on his hands as he lowered them. Something was buzzing against my skin. Something . . . hot? Something—

Genma stepped aside, and the main light flicked on. I looked up to find him watching me carefully, but looking at him wasn't hard. This was Genma. And Genma was safe. I stepped in and paused awkwardly as he closed the door. I finally cleared my throat.

"Um, Sai said you're going on a mission in the morning. Eight, right?"

Genma nodded and moved his hands in a quick confirmation. He glanced towards the kitchen then back at me. "TEA?"

"Yes, please." I moved to the table and sat down. "Am I allowed to know where you're going?"

Genma put the kettle on and then looked back at me. "AFTER."

"Ah. It's . . . not super dangerous, right? I mean, I know you know what you're doing, and I know Sai isn't a normal genin, but I just—" I huffed, biting my lip.

"SAI SAFE." Then he hooked his pinkies together in a sign I didn't recognize.

I frowned. "What does that mean?"

He stilled and then carefully repeated the action. It didn't clear the meaning.

"You can . . . ." I cleared my throat and then made an O with my hand, tapping it against my collarbone. "Just for, just for a second. I'll be okay."

Genma's eyes widened. He glanced away, clearing his throat. Then he did the sign for a third time. "Promise," he said, voice cracking a little.

I caught my breath. The meaning of the sign caught me so off guard that I didn't even have the presence of mind to react to Genma's voice. I looked down at my own hands, hooking my pinkies together the same way Genma had done the sign. The same way I'd had Kakashi do when promising me things for years. I pressed my lips tight together and dropped my hands. "Thank you," I mumbled. "Sai is important to me."

He smiled. "I KNOW." Then he shrugged and made a fist, thumb and pinky out. He tilted his hand thumb-side towards him and then tilted it pinky-side towards me. "SAME."

He turned away as the kettle started to whistle. He prepared the tea and then came over to the table, setting the cup down in front of me. I waited until he moved back and sat in a chair across from me before I picked the cup up. "Thank you. I, uh." I caught myself and bit my lip until it hurt and I tasted iron. Genma made a distressed sound, and I let up. I cleared my throat, unable to really look at him but forcing myself to anyway. "I miss you," I whispered.

Genma just smiled. "I LOVE YOU."