Jenny knew it, by the looks on her head's face. Her son and grandson were dead, but the Uchiha Massacre wasn't just a rumor. It really had happened.

It was awful to think about. But Jenny needed answers, and her head was the only one who could tell her.

"What happened?"

Jenny took in her head's pale, sick look.

"Uchiha Setsuna died on a mission from Konoha," her head answered quietly. "At least, that's what Shisui was told. Uchiha Shisui, Shunshin no Shisui, died by drowning to protect his secret - the secret of his Sharingan eye, one of which someone else has."

Jenny looked down.

"I am so sorry, Jenny."

She shook her head. "No, don't be. Sometimes life is difficult. It wasn't exactly like Kagami really loved me - he knew I loved Nina more, but Nina and I had an agreement that if we needed time to ourselves, who we slept with wasn't a concern. Kagami didn't force me to give Setsuna up - it's just disappointing that I'll never know my son or grandson."

Naruto hesitated.

"Shisui liked grapes. And the color blue. He actually smiled and laughed, and he watched over me when I was alone," Naruto said after a moment. "I never met him personally, and I think that if he'd met you he wouldn't blame you for anything."

Jenny blinked at her head. Oh, right, she has Kazama-sama's seal.

"Thank you," she said to Naruto.

"No," Naruto shook her head. "It's not me you should thank. It's Kazama. And Kagami."

"Well, they're dead, so I can't." Jenny shook her head.

A weird light came into Naruto's eyes.

"Do you happen to know how Kagami-san died?"

~:~

Naruto faked a smile at Hinata and Sasuke. "So that's what happened, pretty much," she told the Hyuuga heiress. "I found out I was veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery distantly related to Shunshin no Shisui and by extent, you, Sasuke. Like we don't share a common ancestor out of 12," Naruto added for his benefit. "Jenny's like 1/64ths related to me."

"And you're sure my brother is innocent of killing the entire clan?" Sasuke asked, wide-eyed. It was mostly for clarification's sake.

Naruto glanced at him.

"I'm sure there's more Uchiha than just those who lived and died here," Naruto told him quietly. "I thought I was parentless - family-less - but it turns out I wasn't. Plus Uzumaki were probably impregnated by Uchiha Kazama, because while it's not as those my clan was a bunch of sexually active people, it's just to bring new blood into the clan. Marrying people who don't share 1/12 of common blood since the dawn of time would have ensured our clan's death a long time ago. Uchiha Kagami was a guy who may have impregnated his fair share of Uzumaki women. So I wouldn't fret. You probably have lots of cousins out there who are red-eyed. Who aren't being tortured in Kiri prisons."

"WHAT?!" Hinata dropped the rag she was pretending to clean with. The client the three were working a D-Rank for looked at them with concern. "Sorry, just thought I heard her say something weird!" Hinata called shyly.

The woman waved her hand dismissively.

"What?" Hinata repeated, dipping her rag into the bucket. Sasuke looked intently at her. It was a shock to Naruto that he was related to her by blood.

Apparently the Sandaime had thought it was best to put the rookies in a rotation - one day it might be Kiba and Shino with Naruto - to change up their ability to collaborate as a team before the Chuunin Exams all their teachers had nominated them for (because Kakashi had nominated her team, Team 7, the strangest team to ever exist, on a bet from Kiana). Naruto was just now filling in Sasuke and Hinata on what had transpired.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Naruto asked Hinata lowly. "Kiri, Iwa, and Kumo switch their Uzumaki prisoners over to each other. They switch once a year. I heard Kiri was the most violent to them. I want to get them a message, but I have no idea how." None of her powers -

She nearly dropped her rag as she facepalmed.

"I am a massive idiot," she said to herself. "Okay, we're all done here."

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke all walked to the owner and turned in their rags.

~:~

Naruto settled on the ground. Theoretically, if she wasn't bothered, she could take control of one of her blood clones. Luckily tomorrow was a day off for the rookies, so Naruto would be sitting on the uncomfortable ground for a day and a half - and hopefully delivering a message to an imprisoned Uzumaki.

She closed her eyes and sifted through her memories. There were several clones still active, and only one out of Hi no Kuni disguised as a merchant.

In the Land of Water.

She smirked and took control.

~:~

Uzumaki Chiota was shoved along the other Uzumaki prisoners, their red hair muddy brown from dirt and mud. Hopefully Chiota wouldn't be sent back to Kiri for another five rotations.

The Uzumakis were treated like they were forgotten in Kumo, given food, baths and new clothes. In Iwa, they put the Uzumakis to work, but didn't supervise them much, just chained them to a station and ordered them to work.

Seals were not allowed - Chiota, being one of the oldest in all of the captured Uzumaki - had his fingers broken once reaching Kiri.

Chiota was also one of the few men in the group. His red hair made him look like a female.

But there was one thing missing from all of the prisoners' faces. Long-lived as they were, they had long since given up the one thing they didn't know would appear.

Hope.

Nighttime came, and several of the Kiri guards were snoring.

But then, something happened.

A yellow sunflower bloomed from a rock. And grew a face.

"Hello!" the sunflower chirped, waking everyone up. This was no feat accomplished by the Uzumaki - their hands were behind them and genuine astonishment was on their faces. "So, I was thinking, what should I do during the prisoner exchange? I mean, I wanna tell the Uzumakis something terrible. Something so tragic it'll break their spirits forever."

There was a pause.

"What are you?" Kiri guard Kimmo asked. Chiota sought out the fine details - and his heart seemed to stop.

"I am Her Highness of the Uzumaki, and I come bearing terrible news." The sunflower paused dramatically. "I FORGOT MY RAMEN, AND THE KYUUBI ATE IT! WAAAH!"

The sunflower waved side to side... Then popped into fine ash.

Chiota noticed the others had their features lined in misery, and quickly arranged his own to reflect that misery. Not like the Kiri guards cared.

But they'd received something they hadn't before.

Hope.