Naruto couldn't believe it. Her place was barely cluttered, impressing Tayuya and Karin.
(They were less impressed and more sad when she informed them that she barely had anything. Compared to what they'd brought, she didn't really have anything.)
But she couldn't believe that she actually had family. And she loved them already.
But what she wanted to do when they were asleep was tackle someone else from the history books. She'd only heard him mentioned a couple times in her book, but she wanted to know who Tobirama and Hashirama were to this Senju.
They went to sleep, and Naruto glanced at the seal array on her ceiling, barely there.
She focused her intent. "Senju Itama."
The familiar dizziness, the familiar blackness.
~:~
Senju Itama cried when he was born, was raised with several other siblings, and went to most of their funerals. Unimportant. Not like his brother, Hashirama.
And then...
"Kawarama's dead," he had to tell his family that consisted of two others, Hashirama and Tobirama. "They're burying him in the plot."
Hashirama was the most emotional one, Tobirama the most stoic.
But Kawarama's death hit them both hard.
It hit Itama hard, too.
~"~
Running. Itama had never ran so hard or so fast in his short life. He was terrified of the Uchiha behind him.
He knew he wouldn't survive very long.
As he turned against the rock to face the Uchiha with tears falling down his face and a shaky grip on his sword, the young Senju thought of his brother's hopes for a better future. He had always agreed with his brother, but now, he wondered in the seconds before his death.
Is what he hopes a good idea?
Itama died wondering that, and hoping to see his brothers and mother again.
~:~
Naruto jerked up and ran to the bathroom, throwing up violently, unable to help it.
She felt hands brush her hair back in a welcome gesture of soothing her.
"You used the seal."
Naruto rested her head on the toilet seat after she'd flushed it. "This is the fifth time."
The hands never stopped.
"Who?"
"Uzumaki Mito, Senju Hashirama, Uzumaki Kazama, Uchiha Shisui, and now Senju Itama." She felt tears build up in her eyes as she washed her face. "He was just a child, Kiana."
Kiana turned her around and hugged her. Naruto was lucky that she had just cleaned her face.
"You're doing an extraordinary thing, Naruto," Kiana said quietly. "You didn't know what you were doing, but you did it anyway because you want to procure a future for the Uchiha."
"I understand that the Uchiha are different, but I want to try one more Uchiha," Naruto admitted. "I need to understand Uchiha Madara."
There was a silence.
"I don't care what you use that seal for," Kiana said, "but you can't use it more than thrice a year."
Startled, Naruto looked at Kiana.
"Otherwise your brain will melt," Kiana added for her benefit. "How long have you been traveling?"
"It was... Last year," Naruto said, having to actually think about it. "I feel so old."
"Any Uzumaki who does that feels old. I have made sure to tell Karin and Tayuya, the other two here, not to speak out the name of any old, dead person until I can transfer the seal onto you and you alone."
Naruto frowned. "Why me?"
Kiana gave her a sad smile. "Because it chose you."
