I tracked her eyes, trying to find where she was seeing someone and put myself in their position, taking control of one of the characters in her eyes. It worked, but not in the way I wanted. I took a step back, and blinked. It was an innocuous blink, something I wouldn't have noticed normally, but when I opened my eyes, she was on me. I really regretted not keeping up my skill. She managed to stab me twice, once in the back, right in the kidney, which nearly incapacitated me before I could shut off the pain, and once in the back of my thigh. I didn't know how she got behind me and I wasn't going to ask, but I threw my elbow back and knocked the breath out of her, followed by a sharp strike to her temple, mixed with a little bit of medical ninjutsu to make sure it knocked her out without hurting her.

I closed my eyes and scanned the chakra signatures gathering around the building, trying to decide who to call in. The choice was taken away from me when my knees gave out underneath me and I fell on my side with a pained grunt. Ise forced his way inside.

"Stay there!" I managed, then grabbed the kunai out of Naomi's hand and slid it across the room. I patted her down for any more before motioning him forwards.

"What happened?" He demanded, taking a knee beside her.

"She's fine, I just knocked her out. I didn't have a choice, especially after she got the drop on me for the second time. I need you to look at my leg and see if she hit an artery."

Ise scooted over and shoved me onto my stomach a little harder than necessary. "It missed any major blood vessels," he reported.

"Good, could you hold my hand over the stab in my back?"

Ise complied. After a few minutes, I repaired enough to be able to function without dulling the pain, then sat up and shifted my attention to the back of my thigh.

Before I finished, Naomi woke. I cursed myself for not verifying how long the unconsciousness would last and staggered between her and Ise.

"Naomi, you're safe, you're in Uzu. It's just me and your father. No one is going to hurt you." I leaned to the side so she could see Ise.

"I want to go back to the small room," she responded.

"I can use Hiraishin to get us there, okay?" I reached out, but she grabbed my wrist before I could touch her.

"You're covered in blood. I'm not bleeding—Kami, who did I hurt?"

"Everyone's fine, Naomi—"

She glanced around the room, her eyes landing on the bloody kunai. I quickly stepped between her and the weapon. "You're limping—Kami, I hurt you."

"I'm fine, Naomi. Listen, everything is going to be fine. I'll take you back to the room—"

"No! Stop it! Just stop it!"

"Stop what, Naomi?"

"Please, just stop! Stop pretending that it's okay!"

She lunged forward and shoved me to the side, diving for the kunai. I intercepted her midair, but it wasn't enough to stop her. She grabbed the blade, landing on her back. Before she could do anything, I grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the ground.

"Ise! Get one of the ANBU in here, now!" I snapped as Naomi tried to bite her tongue. I didn't have the chance to stop her, so I clamped my hand over her mouth to stop her from breathing in the blood and asphyxiating. Once she opened her mouth to either try and bite my hand or pull air in, thus releasing her tongue, I started healing.

She tried to grab my throat, but my arms were longer than hers. After a few seconds, when I stopped the worst of the bleeding, two ANBU rushed in.

"Only one of you!" I barked. They hesitated, but the larger of the two left. "Take the blade and give me some rope, three meters at least."

It only took a few seconds for him to obey, and a minute later, I had Naomi in a pseudo-straightjacket, then dismissed the ANBU. Carefully, I uncovered her mouth.

"I know it'll take you an hour at best to get out of this, so I'm going to free you in a few minutes, understand?"

She nodded.

"At some time or another, every ninja loses control. It's scary, Naomi. I know it's terrifying to lose control, it's terrifying to realize you hurt someone you care about, and it's even worse knowing that you got lucky and next time, someone might die."

She refused to look at me.

"Naomi, Naomi, listen to me. This time, removing the threat doesn't help anyone, in fact, it only makes everything ten times worse than it would have been. I've been in your position. I've been there too many times. It's hard, I know, but I also know you're stronger than that. I wouldn't have taught you if you weren't."

She shook her head. "I'm gonna hurt someone. Let me go, let me go somewhere no one will get hurt."

I closed my eyes. "I'll let you go on two conditions. When I left, I promised to come back. I'm not going to make you promise that, Kami knows that was the one promise I would have broken if I had the chance. I just want you to promise to visit. Once every two or three months is fine, but let me know you're still alive and haven't shut yourself off from everyone."

She stared up at me in disbelief.

I gently untied her. "We want you to stay, Naomi, if only so we know you're safe, but I've been in your position. In a way, I still am, but I don't wish the constraints on me onto anyone else."

"If I leave, you're going to get in trouble."

"Yeah, but how much trouble can I really get in? They're not going to hurt me, and the worst-case scenario is that they lock me up in some room. I don't want you to leave, Naomi, but I'm not going to make you stay."

She lunged forwards and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back until she pulled away. After a few seconds, she put her hands together in the monkey sign and faded away. The girl was good; I could barely sense her chakra and she was directly in front of me. I wasn't sure when she left, but once I was sure she was gone, I used Minato's favorite jutsu to flash to Naruto, who was still stubbornly practicing his water-walking while everyone else took a break.

He responded much quicker than I expected, whirling and nearly putting a kunai in my hip. I ducked underneath the strike and tried to sweep his legs out from underneath him. The little twerp apparently already figured out how to keep his balance on the water while jumping. By that point, Naruto recognized me and was especially determined to turn the surprise into a spar.

I ducked and wove around Naruto's next series of attacks, frustrating him. I could have sworn I felt Naomi's chakra pass by, but I ignored it.

Naruto tried to flip over my head in the moment of distraction, but I grabbed his wrist and sent him cartwheeling out into the ocean where he crashed through the water. "Good try, kiddo, but whenever you're in the air, don't flail around," I told him as I crouched a few steps away from where he was treading water. Well, if you really want your opponent to grab you or sever your limb then feel free, but as a rule, don't flail, keep your elbows and knees tucked in. It helps with aerodynamics as well as stability, not just defense."

"Aero-what?" Nagato asked as I pulled him out of the water.

"Aerodynamics. Having good aerodynamics means when you're flying through the air, there's the least amount of wind resistance possible."

"I don't like big words."

"You'll get used to it."

"Damn you, Kichiro!" Someone screamed from the dock. I glanced over to see Natsuki standing with her fists clenched and glaring at me. "You traitorous, selfish, no-good, lying outsider! Damn you!" She snarled at me.

"Naruto, why don't you go train at the river? The water moves a little slower so you can work on tucking your elbows in when your jump, okay?"

Natsuki was letting off more than a little killing intent. Naruto didn't have to be told twice.

"Where the hell is my sister, you lying ass?" She demanded.

"Naomi, is fine, Natsuki. There's no need to get worked up."

"Worked up? Where the hell is my sister?"

"I let her go."

"Let her—what the hell were you thinking? She'll kill herself!"

"Not if you don't go after her."

"She's seventeen!"

"She's a ninja, and a damn good one with over ten years of field experience out of the village, the same as you!"

"She'll go back to Konoha—"

"No, she won't. She's not stupid. Even if she did, they wouldn't catch her, not unless she wanted them too."

"And you trust her not to get herself caught?"

"Yes, I trust her."

"Then you're a fool."

"I don't care."

"She just spent a week being tortured!"

"Yes, and we only imprisoned her!"

Natsuki seethed.

"She'll come back."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"Because she promised."

"Would you have come back if Nagato hadn't dragged you back?"

"Yes," I answered firmly.

"When? Why did you fight us?" She sounded close to tears.

"If Naruto decided to become a shinobi, I would have waited a year, trained him, then come back. If not, I would have come back shortly after he turned seven. I fought because I wasn't ready. I had a life in that little village, a peaceful life I didn't want to leave. It wasn't much, but Naruto and I were happy."

"And what about the rest of us? We had no idea where you and Naruto were or if you were safe!"

"I never said—"

"We loved them too, Kichiro! We loved them too and you didn't even stay for the funeral!" She screamed.

"I know, but—"

"There's no 'but'! For all we knew, the two of you were dead or locked away and exploited!"

"Locked away and exploited? That's what would have happened if we stayed!"

"We would never—"

"The village was going to kill me! As soon as the funeral was over, they were going to extract the Kyuubi!"

"So? Everyone was involved in that decision, you wouldn't have died!"

"Really? Yet you didn't bother to ask me, the only person left in the village that could be considered anywhere near an expert when it comes to Jinchuuriki. Kushina was the only person with knowledge comparable to mine in the entire shinobi nations and she was dead by then. The only chance at surviving without the Kyuubi would have been if I voluntarily released him, but after the seal was altered and tightened without my consent, any hope of that was gone!"

"You would have had a chance to say so!"

"Would anyone have listened? Besides, who did you plan on becoming the next Jinchuuriki? One of the infants? One of your little siblings?"

"It was going to be Nori."

"Nori? How old was he? Two? Three? He was in no position to make a decision like that, and his chakra isn't even compatible! Even if you managed to get the Kyuubi's cooperation, and I would love to see you try, Nori would have been burnt from the inside out and the Kyuubi left to rampage the village, and the last person with the ability to properly control the Kyuubi, Jinchuuriki or not, would have been dead!"

"We double-checked everything, Kichiro. None of that would have happened."

"There was a reason Kushina was the backup jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi not one of the kids!"

"You've done nothing but hurt people since The Attack!"

"Oh, sure, now it's my fault for refusing to take punishment for something I didn't do or cause!"

"So you had nothing to do with Misaki?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You broke her heart!"

"Broke her heart? She should have kept her mouth shut and gotten over it! She knew exactly what I would say to her."

"Gotten over it? Do you have any idea how cold you sound? Love doesn't work like that!"

"I know damn well how love works and unrequited isn't love, it's obsession."

"And you who can't get over a woman who died more than two decades ago! You have a life here!"

"Lyn was my wife! Not just some woman! We had a daughter! Should I have completely abandoned the woman who loved me and our baby more than life itself in exchange for some nobody fangirl who I see as a sister?"

"You have people depending on you."

"Shut up! Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"No idea? Kichiro, you're the only person on this whole damn island that Naruto trusts! Without Nagato's Rinnegan, we have no chance if Naruto loses control over the Sanbi!"

"He doesn't even know about the Sanbi! There's no way for him to unconsciously draw on its power!"

"The boy deserves better!"

"Better? I'm not his father, Natsuki, I can never measure up to Minato!"

"And who does he have as a mother?"

"Are you trying to tell me I should have saved Misaki's feelings and tried to replace Kushina and my wife with some civilian girl with a crush on me? Well forgive me for refusing to live a lie!" I retorted sarcastically.

"Like it or not, Naruto is your responsibility!"

"That's why he's here! I can leave with him at any time, I could have gone with Naomi, but it's because of him that I stayed! He needs stability, so he's here. He doesn't need me to pretend to love some girl!"

"You could have learned—"

"Learned? Learned to love her? I do love her, but she's my little sister, not my wife!"

"Since when have you cared more about yourself than the people around you‽"

"Since they turned against me! It's one thing to have people standing in my way, but quite another when no one can decide if they want me alive or dead!"

"Maybe you're better off dead! You're nothing but an impotent shadow of the man you were!"

I glared at her as she realized what she said. "That's how it is then."

"No! I didn't mean—"

"No, you meant exactly what you said. I have to admit, 'impotent' isn't something I've been called before." I turned my back on her, and took a knee on the water, looking up at the sun. It was the worst insult I could give, telling her I didn't consider her enough of a threat to face. She couldn't bear to be dismissed.

It took her three seconds to go from ashamed to pissed.

She leapt off the dock and flew towards me. Her first mistake.

Unlike Nagato, I could pinpoint people without looking and she didn't even try to obscure her chakra. Her second mistake.

Her first punch was aimed at my head, with her dominant hand. Her third mistake.

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have landed my retaliation if she was attacking with a clear head. I stood, spun around, blocked her right arm with my right and broke her nose with my left hand, my palm open, all in one motion. She stared at me in surprise as blood started to trickle down her face, slowly, then all at once. She swung her other arm at my face, but with a careful application of chakra, I shattered her wrist with the hand I blocked her first attack with.

She stubbornly tried to kick me in the ribs, but I ducked under it and struck her supporting knee the same way I attacked her wrist, shattering the joint. At that, she finally screamed and jerked away from me.

"Impotent," I scoffed, looking down at her as she struggled to handle the pain and stay on top of the water.

I snagged a fistful of the front of her shirt and dragged her over to the dock and dropped her on top of it, not even trying to be gentle. I grabbed her injured knee. She yelped at the touch but relaxed when I started healing.

"I don't know what you expect, Natsuki," I murmured as I moved on to her wrist.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. You've never been sorry."

(-_-)

I went back to check on Naruto and Itachi, staying high in the trees and out of sight, my chakra suppressed to the point only a Kage might have been able to sense me. Itachi sat with his ANBU clanmates, who still stubbornly wore their masks, even though I had slipped up and called them by their names several times.

When I was unable to find Naruto, I had to force down panic, especially when everyone else was accounted for.

I cast out my senses, looking for the spark of his chakra, panicking when I couldn't find him on the island or the adjoining water. I dropped down in front of my father, scaring the hell out of him.

"The hell, Kichiro‽ I'm not a young man anymore! You can't do that!" He scolded, holding his chest.

I ignored him, closing my eyes and casting out my senses as far as they would go. "Where is Naruto?"

"What? We thought he was with you!"

"Damn it! He's not on the island!"

"This isn't funny, Kichiro."

"Do I look like I'm joking? Where is Naruto?"

"I thought he was with you!"

I gritted my teeth. He genuinely didn't know. "I'll find him myself then. Keep everyone here, he left for a reason and I have a better chance at finding him no one spooks him."

"Kichiro!" He grabbed my arm as I realized I'd drawn quite a bit of attention during the shouting match.

"You can't just run off like this! The ANBU will track him down—"

"The Uchiha can do a lot, but tracking isn't one of their specialties."

"It's not yours!"

"No, but I studied under Sakumo, he specialized in tracking, among other things."

"Being someone's former student doesn't grant you their skills!"

"Sakumo is one of the best ninja alive and he taught me everything he knew. I studied under him between the wars, and a few years may have been enough for my finesse to slip, but I still know what I'm doing, I definitely know enough to track down a six-year-old. Let me go."

He paled. "Kichiro, Sakumo is—" I jerked my arm away and leapt up into the trees. I didn't care what he had to say.

I started my search by running around the perimeter of the entire island, casting my chakra sensing as far out into the ocean as it would go, even drawing on a dribble of the Kyuubi's chakra I managed to pull through the locked seal. It was a bust. I stopped at the place I had last seen Naruto, following his poorly-concealed trail. He hadn't left when I told him too. From the place he'd perched, he was well within hearing range. He saw and heard everything that happened between Natsuki and myself. Something in my chest tightened. A lot was said in that conversation that Naruto really wasn't supposed to hear.

We'd been on the island long enough for him to figure out which direction everything was. From what I could tell, he set out across the water towards the Land of Fire. I set off after him as fast as I could. It would take a lot for me to make it across, luckily, Naruto wasn't as fast as he thought he was and his head start was minimal.

It only took me ten minutes to sense him, but it was still twice as long as I expected. "Naruto!" I called out the second I was within shouting distance. He tried to run faster, but the lapse in concentration made him sink into the water. I caught up to him just as he was forced to start swimming and pulled him out of the water.

"Lemme go!" He snapped.

"Naruto—" I tried to placate him, not letting go.

"No!"

"Calm down, kiddo, it's suicide to keep going."

Naruto kept struggling.

"Can we talk, Naruto?" I stopped restraining him and waited for him to gather his chakra and stand by himself.

He fell limp.

"I know you saw and heard some things you shouldn't have. Am I right in assuming that's what's upset you?"

He crossed his arms.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What if you're wrong about everything, Ji-chan?"

"Why do you think I might be wrong?"

"If someone told you that you were wrong, if they told you that and they were right, what would you do?"

Naruto was six for heaven's sake, there was no way he thought up that question by himself. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even have an answer for him. "I don't know what I'd do, Ruto-chan, I just don't know."

Author's note: I feel obligated to leave a note of some kind, but I'm not sure what to say. I guess this counts?