Diet Soda Society

"Yes we all have the question, but we don't know what the answer is."


Things moved along pretty smoothly after I asked Biwako to teach me how to read. Asuma didn't have half of the patience I did for lessons, but together the two of us made good progress. The stagnant boredom that had been plaguing me before was almost completely gone. Sure, I was still spending an excessive amount of time playing children's game, but my evenings were now reserved for me. Once I started making headway with the kanji- which admittedly took a long time- there was no stopping me. In the blink of an eye, I went from reading kid's fairy tales to beginner chapter books and then eventually to small novels.

By the time I was two, my evenings with Biwako weren't lessons anymore, they were just practice.

The best part about this was that it opened a new avenue for me to explore the ninja world without leaving the house. In my past life, reading had been about experiencing the impossible. Ever since being reborn though, I was living in a freaking adventure book- I was just too young to participate in it yet. Naturally, all I wanted to read were stories about ninja. The book Nawaki had given to me about the first Hokage was just a starting point. From there I went on to read books about the ninja heroes that predated villages, the first ninja war, and even a few how-to books about chakra and jutsu; although Biwako had forbidden me from testing out any of the techniques I was reading about.

My favorites were the ones specifically about the feats of the Senju clan. Every time I read about one of my ancestors, I was always left wondering- could I do that one day? Will I be able to turn water into dragons, or teleport, or split the earth wide open? I hoped so. If I couldn't, then my entire family might be doomed.

No pressure.

Asuma made fun of me a lot for all the books that I went through. I think he was just sour though because he couldn't keep up with my pace. It wasn't even that I was that much better at reading than him. I just never took any breaks. Meanwhile Asuma seemed to get bored after an hour or two. Still, he did a pretty good job in lessons for such a rambunctious two year old. Every time I asked for a bigger book, he was right behind me, demanding that he have one too. I think he was treating it like a kind of competition, and of course, Biwako looked smug every time he pushed himself further in an attempt to one up me.

Sometimes I wondered if pitting him against me in the whole reading debacle was all part of her big master plan. I swear, Biwako was secretly a manipulative evil mother-lord. Her life ambition was to turn Asuma into a gentleman through whatever means necessary, even if it was the last thing she ever did.

I loved her all the more for it.

I was finally settling into a happy place in life. When I wasn't reading, I was spending time with my new family. Being with them was starting to dull the lingering sting of grief that my past life had left burning in my gut. I went to sleep now thinking about Tsunade, Nawaki, Isamu and Asuma, instead of my parents and brother from before. There was, of course, still a lot of fear that went with that, but the fear was a little bit better than the grief. Anyways, I didn't feel like I had any thing to be afraid of just yet. My home in the Sarutobi household felt too safe to be touched by any impending tragedies. They all seemed like a distant myth that I could deal with later.

That was a mistake though. I should never have let myself think that the bad things were never going to come.

The signs had been there since even before I was born. Do you remember me talking about my father? Not Hiruzen or my dad from before, but the Senju one from here. I'd been told that he'd died on a mission when his team was ambushed by enemy nin. Hiruzen had said that he wasn't ever able to find out who the attackers had been, but I wonder now if he had been lying to me. That ambush had been violent and unexpected. It wasn't the sort of thing that just happened for no reason during peace time. To someone with a more trained eye, it might have even seemed like an act of war. That should've been my first clue that the village wasn't doing as well as they'd have everyone think.

But of course, I wasn't used to looking at the universe like that. This was a world full of dangerous shinobi, so of course my dad had died fighting other ninja. It had just made sense.

The next red flag that I'd missed was that interaction with Danzo- the one from when we first met. He had been mad at Tsunade because he'd lost his eye; however, I'd been so creeped out after he glanced at me that I never questioned the fact that someone had cut out his eye. Missing the suspicious circumstances surrounding my father's death was one thing, but honestly, I can't believe I hadn't questioned this more. Eyes were pretty difficult things to misplace, and it's not like I was used to seeing people loose appendages. My first thought when I saw Danzo should have been: gee this guy's missing an eye, that's strange. Anyways, why was Danzo, an advisor to the Hokage, going on missions that put him in such grave danger? Who on earth had the audacity to walk up to some of Konoha's top brass and just cut an eye out?

I was really past due for a reality check. I was really lucky that my inevitable wake-up call came from gentle hands.

It was mid-November, probably about a month after Asuma's third birthday. Everything seemed like it was business as usual. Isamu was starting to learn jutsu at the academy, and Biwako was starting to take a few random shifts at the Hospital now that we were getting older. Everything felt normal, except Hiruzen had began to work more, like a lot more.

Before, the unspoken rule seemed to be that he'd come home for dinner at least three nights a week, and spend a few hours with us afterwards. Sometimes he still would have to return to the office, and other times all we got was a shadow clone; but he was always a presence in our lives. Sometime in late summer though, that rule had become more of a suggestion. Eventually there was a point when I realized that it'd been two weeks since I'd seen him last.

"Biwako-san," I decided to press the issue during lessons.

"Mm?" Biwako raised an eyebrow.

"Where's Hiruzen-san been lately?" I asked.

"The village has been very busy lately, and he's had a lot to deal with. He knows he hasn't been home very much. Being Hokage is a tough job though. It's our duty to be patient with him," Biwako told me. It almost sounded like a premeditated answer, like she was expecting one of us to ask her about this eventually.

I chewed on my lip thoughtfully. The village was busy, huh. I'd think that it would always be pretty busy, but I suppose that even Konoha had a sort of ebb and flow to it. Maybe it was normal that some years would be more chaotic than others, even in peace time. I made a decision to try and accept Biwako's answer for what it was. My biggest immediate concern was directed more towards Asuma. He was not taking his father's absence as well as I was, and was starting to get pouty whenever someone mentioned the word "Hokage". Asuma could be quite the drama queen when he wanted to be.

Still, I guess I did have some common sense lurking somewhere, because despite my best efforts, Biwako had managed to plant a seed of doubt in me. In the days that followed, I found my thoughts drifting incessantly towards the impending war. I think some part of me had been hoping that it'd never come, that I was going to discover my world was entirely different from the manga. I just wanted everyone to be safe, but that was probably too much to ask for.

Two nights later, I found myself lying awake in my bed, turning all the details of my short life over in my head, looking for signs of war. The red flags that I'd missed before were standing out now that I was giving them a second thought, and I was starting to connect the dots. Finally after an hour or two, I decided that sleep probably wasn't going to happen, and my time would better be spent reading a book. At least then I'd be distracted from all these thoughts of death and destruction.

With a weary stretch, I sat up, climbed out of my bed, and tiptoed across the room that Asuma and I shared. As long as Biwako hadn't moved it, my book should've been sitting on the living room table. Unfortunately, I didn't make it very far before getting distracted. See, when I eased my bedroom door shut, I noticed a trace of fine black ink on the frame near the floor. It almost looked like a kanji character, but it was unlike any I'd ever seen. The lines had a swirling pattern to them that seemed to defy the norms of a conventional Japanese letter.

It's a seal, my instinct told me.

I stared at it in wonder. What was a seal doing on our door? I guess either Hiruzen or Biwako must've put it there, but still, why? I peered down the hall at Isamu's room to see that there was another one on his doorframe. Hiruzen and Biwako's room was further down the hall, around a corner, and on some whim I decided to go investigate that way.

I could hear their voices before I'd even gotten half way there.

"It's Suna, there's no doubt now, not that there was any before" Hiruzen's gritty voice carried through the night. "I don't think I'll have much of a choice soon."

"Maybe Danzo was right. Maybe we shouldn't have waited so long," Biwako said quietly.

"It's been twenty years; we've grown complacent. Half the shinobi in this village haven't ever experienced a real war, and another handful were too young to participate in the last one. If I give the go-ahead, it's going to hit us hard. One in three ninja died during the first war. It'll be worse this time, I'm sure of it," Hiruzen said.

"I was there," Biwako reminded him. "I remember."

My mouth was dry. Shit. Shit. Shit. It was starting. Not tomorrow, not next month, it was starting now. Hell, the way Hiruzen was speaking, it sounded like I was late to the party. This had been brewing for weeks, maybe even for months or years. They just hadn't announced it to the public yet. I felt like my entire body might have been shaking. I wasn't ready yet. I was only two and a half. I didn't know how to perform a jutsu or use chakra. I probably couldn't have even thrown a good punch if I'd wanted to. I couldn't do anything about protecting people in a war.

I needed more time, but there wasn't left. The universe certainly wasn't going to wait for my permission to implode. I knew that all too well.

While I was standing there frozen and possibly having a panic attack, I didn't notice that down the hall the voices had gone silent. I was so consumed with my own thoughts that the entire world around me had dissolved. Until suddenly: poof! Biwako and Hiruzen were right in front of me. I gaped up at them, not even able to form any excuses. Neither of them looked angry, thankfully. Hiruzen just kind of looked exhausted and aged in the dark lighting; although, Biwako did seem to be maybe a little frustrated with me.

"It's past your bed time," she pursed her lips.

"I-I..."

"How much did you hear?" Hiruzen followed up.

"We're going to war with Suna?" the words spilled out. Hiruzen let out an audible groan, and the lines around Biwako's mouth hardened.

"Come on," Biwako said, reaching down and scooping me up. We went into the kitchen and she set me on the table. "Were you looking for your book? Is that what had you out of bed?"

"I couldn't sleep," I nodded. "A-and then I got distracted by the seal on our door."

"It was to keep the sound out. Although, it doesn't look like it worked very well. Maybe next time we should seal our own door too" Hiruzen said dryly.

"Are we going to war with Suna?" I asked again. The panic in my gut was settling into a low boiling fear. I knew this was probably one of my only chances to get unfiltered answers from the two of them. The ruse was up after all. They couldn't get away with giving me a bullshit excuse about the village going through a phase.

"Yes, we probably are," Hiruzen nodded. "They've been running a lot of missions lately that have been hurting us. We... we think it was Suna ninja that killed your father."

"Kojirama Senju," I said. Hiruzen nodded.

"But war is going to hurt a lot of us? P-people are going to die?" I went on. Biwako reached forward and put her hand on my cheek. It was the softest, most comforting thing I'd ever seen her do. And oddly enough, it grounded me.

"War's not pretty Natsuki-chan," Biwako said. "But it's for the safety of the village. We think that if we don't go to Suna, a lot more people would die than if we did. If it means the village will be better off, than we must fight back. It's our job as ninja to do so."

"Our job as ninja," I breathed. This was the world I had been born into. It was going to become my entire life now, because I cared too much about my new family. If I didn't learn how to become a ninja, I'd be helpless in the face of a shit ton of bad, and I refused to be that useless. I was Natsuki Senju, after all. Heir to the Second Hokage's Legacy.

But at the same time, I was someone else too. I was still a sickly college kid from the States, who had loved getting lost in a good adventure book. Reading about blood and bruises was a lot easier than experiencing them for yourself. I looked at Hiruzen and Biwako again, feeling a sudden urge to tell them everything. They would be skeptical at first, but I know they'd take me seriously. I might be able to save everyone right now, with nothing but my voice. Intelligence was supposed to be everything right? I could win us this war before it even started.

Maybe.

And there it was. The fact of the matter was, the minute Hiruzen and Biwako knew the truth, it wouldn't exactly be the truth anymore. Every little thing would effect the future right? Telling Hiruzen and Biwako now could create a massive butterfly ripple that would change everything. It might help us fight Suna, but would it win us the bigger battle? The one against Obito and Madara? If I hoarded my knowledge, than maybe I could step in only when it mattered most. I could save the few instead of the many, in the interest of saving all, like the World War II scientists who hacked the Inigma code.

I swallowed, and thought of all the old reasons as well- of Danzo and Orochimaru. They hadn't disappeared overnight, nor were they going to in the near future. I wouldn't be safe outing myself while they were still in power here.

This was the selfish decision. Maybe one day I'd be able to look back and say it'd been the right one as well, but I was doing this so that I could be sure that my people were save. I didn't want to lose everything again. So instead of spilling the beans, I held it all inside, pushing all my fear and worry into a ball at the bottom of my stomach for me and nobody else to feel. I would become the best ninja I could, and I would save my family. They would live through all of this.

"Are you scared?" I asked them finally, because this was terrifying. I wasn't sure what I wanted to hear from them though. On one hand, it would validate my feelings if they said yes. On the other, what hope did the rest of us have if the Hokage was afraid?

"War is a scary thing," Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully. "I don't think it'd be normal to not be afraid. But one day you'll see that it's important to be a little afraid. Fear can keep you awake in a battle. As long as you don't let it take over, it can remind you just how much you love the people you're fighting for. I am more afraid of losing people I love, like you, than I am of any war."

Biwako set her hand on Hiruzen's shoulders, and I let his words wash over me.

"Ready to go back to bed?" Biwako asked. I nodded, and hopped off the counter. Biwako and Hiruzen escorted me back to my room, and I slipped back into bed without disturbing Asuma. I had a lot to think about still, but the uncertainty of it had disappeared. The war was coming now, whether I was ready or not. When I finally slipped off into sleep, my dreams were mottled with memories of black and white panels. None of it was concrete. It was just a blur of half formed thoughts sprinkled with sudden pangs of sadness or twinges of fear.

Nothing happened for two weeks after that night. Hiruzen disappeared again, holing himself up in his office on "Hokage business", while Biwako continued to pretend like everything was peachy. I didn't tell Asuma or Isamu, and neither of them showed any sign that they suspected a thing. It was like that night hadn't happened at all. Except that it had, and now I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. After a while, I decided that it might have been better being in the dark, because the waiting was maddening.

Then suddenly two things happened at once.

First, Nawaki paraded into our house beaming with pride. He had an announcement for us. "Natsuki-chan, check me out!" he grinned. Then out of his pocket, he pulled a headband with the Konoha leaf carved into the front.

"Aw you graduated!" Isamu said, sounding jealous. "They let my class take the graduation exam today too, but nobody passed."

"You're only eight, they don't let you graduate until you're twelve," Asuma informed Isamu. Except that wasn't right, because Nawaki had just turned eleven a few months ago. Half his class should've still been ten. It didn't take a genius to guess what might be motivating them to push up the graduation age though.

"They always break the rules for the best," Nawaki said. "You're looking at Konoha's new top genin!" Then he jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb, just to make sure we knew he was talking about himself.

I wanted to be happy for him really badly, but the sight of him tying a headband around his forehead made a knot form in my stomach. It meant that the gears were finally starting to turn. The past two years had been a lull of peace and calm. Nawaki was officially part of Konoha's army now though, and he would be part of the war effort. I couldn't smile about that.

Nawaki, of course, wasn't satisfied with my reaction to his headband. He had broken out of his superhero pose, and was frowning at me. I probably needed to get better at the whole acting-casual thing.

"Geez Natsuki-chan, you okay? You look like Tsunade-nee made you eat her Udon Noodles," Nawaki said.

"Yeah, I uh, stubbed my toe," I told him lamely. "I'm really happy for you Nawaki-nii. You're going to make a great ninja."

"You're sitting down," he muttered, squinting at me.

Before he had a chance to press me further though, the second thing happened. Without any warning, a black bird wearing a Konoha bandanna flew threw the front door that Nawaki had left hanging open and landed on our sofa.

"Ninja," it squawked at Nawaki. "The Hokage requests everyone's presence in front of Hokage Rock. Depart immediately."

"What? Are you talking to me?" Nawaki blinked. I was gaping too. It wasn't every day that you got to have a conversation with a bird.

Isamu was the one who kept his head. "What's the Hokage got to tell everyone?"

"War," it squawked again. "Depart immediately."


Arc title and quote from song Diet Soda Society by The Maine


A/N Hello, how's it going? Hope you like my latest update. Bit of a long Authors Note this time, so bear with me.

First, thanks so much for all the wonderful reviews! All the kind words are greatly appreciated. Now, I typically don't respond to each and every review individually, but if you have a specific question, I will try and get you an answer in my author's notes of my updates so everybody can see the response. (Also, shameless self plug, I just got a tumblr and will be accepting questions there too if you have any. I will be posting there as well whenever I update this story, so if you'd like to get notifications about updates that way feel free to follow me. The url is aulevala . tumblr . com)

On the topic of questions:

After posting my last chapter, animefreak2221396 asked if Natsuki was going to have the "Senju Bloodline limit." The answer to that question is a spoiler, so nice try but you'll just have to wait and see :P However, it is worth noting that the Senju don't actually have a bloodline limit. Hashirama can use wood release jutsu, but he's the only one in the series that can. Even Nawaki and Tsunade, his grandchildren were never able to use it. I plan on exploring this a little bit later on (because really, why was made Hashirama so special? And also if you're the only one that can use a technique, how do you realize you have this sort of special ability?) But again, my exact plans for this are currently classified.

Finally, I've also started posting this story on AO3. I'm going to update both sites at the same time, but if you'd prefer to read it over there for whatever reason, you have that option :). The stories got the same title, and I've got the same pen name (AuleVala). You should be able to find it with a quick search.

Alright, I think that's it for now. Remember to review!

Until Next Time,

Aule