Namikaze Minato liked to think of herself as a rather calm person. She preferred to mediate rather than instigate, she was a naturally patient woman, and rarely raised her voice, got angry or swore.
What the fuck?
She felt that now was an appropriate time.
She currently found herself in the chair opposite of where she was originally sitting, and the Uchiha in hers. She had unsealed a kunai from the storage seal on her wrist and thrown it at the man as soon as she saw his eye shift into that uncanny pattern, and immediately found that she was now in front of the kunai's blade and was forced to catch her own weapon.
Indra was still seated casually, his single visible eye rotating leisurely as he stared at her, almost looking bored.
"Impressive reflexes," he complimented honestly. His expression darkened. "I would request that you do not attempt that again."
Minato blinked, bewildered. How the hell had he done that? She glanced around, realizing that it was she who had traded places with him, but on his command. It was not a substitution, either, she would have noticed and cut the chakra string connecting them. This was something greater; something she recognized.
"Space-time jutsu," she breathed, barely a whisper. Indra's lips quirked up slightly as he caught her realization. Reality blinked again, and she was back in her original chair.
"I am unsurprised you recognize it, Hokage-sama. Your work with the Hiraishin is legendary," the man praised her.
"You're a man. How the hell can you use Chakra?" Minato demanded, dropping all pretense of formality. She had to force herself not to lash out at him physically again. If he had something as rare as a space-time technique, she could not begin to guess what else Indra had up his sleeve.
His lips stretched out to an unabashed smirk. He was toying with her. "I was born with the ability, Hokage-sama."
"If you have been active for so long, then how have you stayed an unknown for all this time? None of our spies in the other villages have heard anything about you."
The Uchiha shook his head slightly. "I have been very short on allies, Namikaze-sama. Most kunoichi, if they discovered my existence, would have either tried to use me or kill me. I have taken precautions to ensure as few people as possible know about me."
"Then why reveal yourself now?"
Indra shrugged. "Danzou found me. I knew I would be unable to eliminate all of ROOT, so I am throwing my lot in with you, rather than trying my luck on my own, where any number of spies and governments might have now heard of me. I'm sure you understand, Hokage-sama, but my existence is valuable, even if I were not a competent shinobi. Every village would want me chained up and breeding their most powerful kunoichi in the hopes of gaining even more powerful soldiers to secure their future."
He looked her in the eyes, deadly serious. "You understand this. The idea was in your head as well. Put it out of your mind."
Minato forced her fingers to stop drumming on the table. She was giving away too much.
"I assume you will leave if I try?" She asked him nigh-rhetorically. He nodded.
I wouldn't be able to stop him if he wanted to leave; I don't know the limits of his space-time jutsu. And if he can warp others as well…no, if he could warp others so freely, he could have taken the ROOT kids and left without us ever noticing. There must be some kind of limitation. He isn't using fuinjutsu…maybe it's line-of-sight only? An ocular jutsu? I can't verify it right now, but it seems likely.
If so, he's clever. He's avoiding specifics that would make him a liar.
Minato's eyes widened a fraction.
He knows a Yamanaka is reading him, and he knows the specifics of what we're doing. He's familiar with our interrogation techniques. How?
She put it to the side for now. She would weasel the information out of him later.
"You speak as if you are competent," she arraigned him.
"I've survived on my own for this long, haven't I?" Indra challenged, that damnable smirk appearing on his face once more.
"If you're so competent, then how did you end up half-dead in my hospital?"
The man shrugged. "I fell unconscious in Kusa. I was alone. I don't know who brought me here."
"How did you end up in such a state?" Minato asked calmly.
"I took a risk in a fight," he dismissed her question casually, but she caught the look in his eye.
He's guarded. This is important. Is it personal?
"With whom?" she pressed on. "Why were you fighting them?"
"Some powerful people," he stonewalled her. "They know who I am, they know what I can do, and they want me dead."
The communication seal on the back of her neck pulsed once. Truth.
Still, he was far too evasive about any of this.
"If you purport yourself as so powerful, then if you're bringing people that can hurt you to my doorstep, I might not consider you so valuable," she mused in an attempt to see what kind of reaction she could draw out of the man.
To her surprise, Indra laughed. "I was injured because I took a risk that backfired. And these people aren't simply my enemies, Hokage-sama. They're yours as well."
"I have many enemies; it comes with running a hidden village."
She had answered him dismissively, knowing what kind of enemies her actions in the Third Great Shinobi War and her decade-long stint as Hokage had made, but Minato felt like there was something she was missing here. The man's confidence was suspicious, as if he knew yet more earth-shattering secrets, just waiting to be unraveled.
A man with Madara's power. A secret paramilitary assassination group under my nose.
What the hell else did he know? Would her village survive it?
Rarely did Minato sympathize with Tsunade, from what she remembered of the older woman, but she certainly could today. Nonetheless, as Hokage, she could scant afford to show weakness to a potential threat.
"Not like these. Those I hunt are secretive, they have not made their move yet. They have only made themselves known as a decently competent mercenary organization."
She was already tired of his roundabout hints. There were hundreds of mercenary organizations between the nations, his descriptions would hardly narrow them down.
"And you know the name of this organization?" Minato asked as patiently as she could.
"I do."
A pulse on her neck. True. It hardly mattered at this point; he knew what their tactics were, and was avoiding lies, either to give her a semblance of trust, or to give her nothing to attack. Possibly both.
"But you will not give it to me," She responded dryly. He smirked.
"I have laid out my demands. Agree to them and I will help you deal with them. Refuse to comply and I leave you to deal with them alone."
"And what makes you think I couldn't deal with them?"
"I will not be answering any further questions until I receive an answer. I believe other villages will be perfectly happy to welcome Madara's heir, a man that can wield chakra, into their fold."
Indra's smile was small and peaceful, but the smugness he radiated was palpable. He had her cornered and they both knew it. She was unsure if she could stop him from leaving, and she could not think of any argument that would place her in an advantageous state.
Maybe I should have let Shiori handle this one.
Her Jounin Commander would have had a field day with this case.
"Fine," Minato bit out. "You will receive the requested provisions so long as you give me everything you believe to be vital information concerning Danzou, this mercenary group, and your abilities, and are willing to have one ANBU member accompany you at all times, even out of the village."
The dark-haired bastard looked to mull it over in his mind, dropping his smug smile for a bit. Silence stretched between the two of them as Indra seemed to weigh the benefits and detractions of the offered deal. She sent a quick mental command to Ikuyo to inform the barrier division to be prepared for a level nine inner lockdown, ignoring the absolute shock that the Yamanaka must have displayed behind the window. If Indra declined, this could get messy fast.
"…Fine," he finally relented. "The organization I hunt is called the Akatsuki. They are a group of S-class nukenin that are currently taking high-level mercenary work and are primarily affiliated with Amegakure. There are ten main members, to my knowledge, and operate in teams of two. I fought one of the more dangerous members, someone named Zetsu, which resulted in severe injury for both of us. I do not know who brought me to Konoha for treatment, but I suppose I am grateful to them."
Namikaze made a mental note to find out who brought Indra back to Konoha.
"Where did you fight Zetsu, Uchiha-san?"
"Kusa no Kuni. They have hideouts all over the continent. I found one and infiltrated it."
"I see," she was sure that the ANBU captain was making a note of that. ANBU would need to be on the lookout for these, if Indra's words had merit to them, and thus far, Ikuyo had not signified that he had yet lied. "Do you know the identities of any other members?
"Hoshigaki of Kirigakure. Akasuna of Sunagakure. A kinjutsu specialist from Takigakure that can steal hearts and use them to extend her life artificially, as well as use powerful elemental jutsu. An immortal Jashinist that has been around for an unknown period of time, possibly centuries.
"Their leaders are the Amekage and her right hand, Konan, who can wield paper as a weapon, and can become paper as well. I don't understand her jutsu very well. Their leader is Pein, and she uses six corpses as puppets for each section of her doujutsu," he explained.
"Her doujutsu?" Minato echoed.
Indra nodded gravely. "The Rinnegan."
She stilled. Her first instinct—to say it was a myth—was ruthlessly squashed. She was sitting before a man that had control over his chakra. Now was not the time to talk about impossibilities.
Instead, she waited for Ikuyo to pulse into her seal, telling her Indra had lied. Minato waited one second. Two. Five.
Nothing. He was not lying. Ikuyo likely couldn't believe it either.
"Alright," she exhaled after a minute, having to accept the reality of what she was told. "Do you have any information on what the Rinnegan does?"
Uchiha nodded. "It comes with six main abilities, each of them embodies by one of the six corpses Pein wields like puppets. The spiky-haired one with the three nose bars is the main mouthpiece uses and can control gravity. The others can summon both animals and the other bodies, absorb and negate chakra as well as wield all five main elements, transform into mechanical weapons, rip out souls and gain their memories, and can channel some sort of spirit called the King of Hell though whether it is the actual king of Hell is unknown. The actual puppeteer is also a separate person. An Uzumaki, I believe."
Something snapped in her. This was too much for Minato to handle all at once. "Alright, that's enough. You've been cooperative, so we'll end it here. We'll have to work through the information you've given us today, I don't want us to forget anything. Two ANBU will escort you back to your hotel, and we can continue this in my office tomorrow."
Minato stood up as calmly as she could, standing by his side as he joined her in stepping out of the room. Two ANBU slipped silently beside them as the man was blindfolded and they were escorted out of the Torture and Interrogation complex.
As soon as Indra was out of sight, Minato immediately flashed into her office, informed her that she would be taking the rest of the day off, and warped home. The ANBU and Ikuyo would handle the transcription. She needed to cuddle her family for a while.
Minato had no idea how she was supposed to tell her wife about all this.
"Please, Mikoto-sama. I could not simply accept a house in your compound without purchasing it. I am not struggling financially," Sasuke tried to reason with his mother's dimensional counterpart.
"Please, Indra-kun, I insist. No one is using the house anyway, Obika-chan sold it to me when she moved out of the Uchiha compound, so no one is living in it," she responded, unfazed as ever. "Honestly, you would be doing me a favor by staying here, it will help keep those kids from hiding out in here to experiment."
He assumed her grumbling was lighthearted, but he was unsure. His own mother was difficult to read as well, and he had precious few memories of her. Sasuke knew she was put up to this to keep tabs on him, even after the required ANBU surveillance, but it was impossible to tell how much she was hiding.
His mother was a frightening woman.
"Then I thank you for your generosity, and if there is any way I could compensate you for this, do not hesitate to inform me," Sasuke expressed his gratitude, bowing deeply at the waist. He noticed his newly adopted children were mirroring him, even if a bit shallower.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Indra-kun," she smiled brightly at him, eyes closed in a manner remarkably similar to his old sensei. "The futons are drying in the sun, they were only just washed, so they should be ready in about an hour. You will have to stock your own pantry, and other than a table, your furniture is admittedly lacking, but if you are as well-off as you claim, it should not pose a problem. If you need anything else, please let me know, and do try to get along with your neighbors."
Sasuke nodded, giving Mikoto another small bow. "Of course, Mikoto-sama. And thank you."
"You're welcome, Indra-kun. Please make yourself comfortable," she smiled invitingly. "I have to get going, clan duties wait for no one, but I will be back soon to ensure you are settled in properly." Mikoto bowed to him slightly, and he returned with a deeper bow, showing respect to his clan head, before she turned and left, the motherly smile never once dropping from her face.
Only once she was out of sight did Sasuke head into his new home, a sparsely decorated, traditional house, lined with tatami mats and dark woods to contrast the thick paper walls. The one-story home was quaint, with a rather open feeling to it, given its minimal inside walling and large central rooms that acted as social spaces. The back door was open, revealing a modest, grassy backyard decorated with modestly sized maple trees that twisted and stretched out like cats in the morning sun.
"She was nice," Shin mentioned, looking like she was attempting to fill in the silence more than anything. Sai nodded absentmindedly; her nose stuck in her art book.
"…She doesn't trust us," Sasuke admitted out of a moment of silence.
"Really?" Shin turned her widening eyes on him as her brows scrunched up, making deep lines on her forehead.
He grimaced, disgruntled. "She was suspicious of me when we first met. She likely trusts me even less now, especially if Hokage-sama has told her anything. We're here so they can keep watch over us, even after the official ANBU surveillance is over."
"Oh," Sai added helpfully.
"How do we know if she's been told anything?" the more curious of the siblings continued to pester him.
Sasuke shrugged. He might find out tomorrow, if Namikaze was generous, but barring that, he had doubts that even he would glean anything off of his parents.
"Go pick out your futons. If you plan to sleep in the same one, that's fine, but make sure you don't keep each other up too late at night," he ordered the children, who nodded dutifully and scampered off to search for them. He would need to stock the pantry today, but furniture could wait. Sasuke had more pressing questions.
I know the name is familiar.
His eyes narrowed.
Who the hell is Obika?
Sasuke had left the kids to their own devices at their new home and meandered out to the Uchiha marketplace. Even concerning such a small, insignificant piece of reality, Sasuke noticed the impact that whatever choices were made in this reality had upon the small market. The stalls were set up far closer to the Uchiha compound's entrance than in his own world, and there were multiple non-Uchiha wandering throughout the marketplace, conversing happily with the Uchiha shop owners under the shade of vegetable stalls or near the large ice box of fresh meat and seafood. The Uchiha market all surrounded a large stone-and-mortar bakery that he failed to recognize whatsoever—there had been no such bakery in the Uchiha district to his knowledge.
The inside of the inviting building was packed, Sasuke noted. People were nearly lined up out the door to buy whatever the owner happened to be baking, even in the afternoon. Sasuke could understand a morning rush for baked goods, but still being packed in the afternoon either meant they were the best bakery in the village or were sorely lacking in competition.
He decided to ignore the bakery for now. Perhaps he would visit it next time, but Sasuke was here to stock his pantry, and waiting in such a long line would significantly delay his return. He could hardly afford any extra delays, given how large a shopping run this was, and leaving Sai and Shin alone unsupervised for extended period of time was practically asking for them to cook up some ridiculous scheme and find themselves in trouble.
Black ops assassins they may have been, but they were still half-trained children.
Sasuke followed the scent of salt water across the bright, open market, walking carefully so as to not bump into anyone in the small crowd that interlaced the streets. A few looks were sent his way, mostly of confusion. He supposed he was a new face, so it was inevitable that some people would notice him.
He stepped up to the large seafood stall covered by large awnings, noticing the immediate temperature difference as soon as he stepped into the shade. The large containers of ice had a noticeable impact on the stall, it was little wonder the employees were wearing multiple layers.
Their selection was more impressive than Sasuke would have thought Konoha would offer, given they were a few days' travel from the ocean, assuming no chakra was used. Heaps of fresh salmon and tuna were stacked neatly in the ice, bordering piles of shrimp and chopped octopus. Near the back were a smaller section of yellowtail, mackerel and eel, which likely were older and not as fresh. However, so long as it kept for the day, a dinner of mackerel and cold soba would go over well on a hot day like this. Sasuke resolved to ask one of the employees as soon as they finished helping one of the other customers.
He hoped Sai and Shin weren't picky.
"Ah, hello!" the younger of the two employees greeted him. Sasuke can only assume that the older man is the stall's owner, then. The boy's skin is tanned, almost as deeply as Sasuke's father, but his face is much softer, his eyes innocent. The shorter, fluffy hair reminded him of someone. One of his older brother's friends, he believes. He doesn't think that this is his brother's friend, though. Sasuke supposes that most of the Uchiha look somewhat similar, given they are all related.
"Hello," Sasuke greets the boy with a nod.
"Are you new here? You look like one of us, but I don't think I've seen you before," the child fished unsubtly. Apparently the market ran on gossip as much as it did groceries.
"I am," Sasuke answered vaguely before trying to quickly change the subject. "How long will your mackerel keep?"
"Oh, about two or three more days under ice. Are you interested in any?"
Sasuke nodded again. "I'll take three filets, along with three fresh salmon."
"Headless or heads on?" the boy asked him back, gathering up some parchment to wrap up his order.
"Heads on, please," Sasuke answered blithely, scanning the other stalls for the various other groceries he would have to purchase.
"Alright, that will be four hundred and ten ryo!" the boy told him brightly, as if they weren't charging him prices they might charge Iwa nin. Sasuke had to hold back a grimace upon hearing the price.
This is for not being forthcoming with information, isn't it? My old clan is pettier than I thought.
Sasuke's lips started to creep upward just slightly.
Maybe I'll be a bit petty myself.
He pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and thumbed through the cash, deftly drawing out the requisite amount with his sole hand, not quite making a show of the maneuver. Sasuke held out the cash for the younger man to take with his index and middle fingers as his other two pressed his wallet against his palm. The employee gave him a bit of a strange look, but accepted and counted the cash, nonetheless.
Once counted, the round-faced teenager held out the bundled and wrapped purchase of seafood to Sasuke. A few seconds passed in which Sasuke made no move to take the bundle from the boy, whose eyebrows scrunched in concern.
Sasuke smiled just a bit more, doing his best to imitate the strained smile of his mother when she was bogged down by the stress of a rising coup, but still wished to act strong and happy for her sons.
"Ah, my apologies. Do you have a basket on hand, or something similar I could use?" Sasuke implored as he revealed his dangling left sleeve from under his coat, showing off his severed stump. The employee's eyes snapped open in shock. "It would be rather difficult for me to carry all this with one hand."
Sasuke had him.
The boy apologized profusely, before immediately fetching him a large woven basket and handing him some of his money back, framing it as a discount, as if someone like Sasuke would buy it for a second. He did not call the boy out, however, but simply accepted the basket and money with a smile before leaving the stall and going about finding the rest of what he needed.
The grocery run was otherwise uneventful, but Sasuke was sure he would be the subject of the market's gossip for the next few days.
Dinner was an uneventful affair of pan-seared mackerel and hot soba, though Sai and Shin seemed to think it was the best meal of their lives, given their near-tearful reactions and the speed at which they devoured the food. Sasuke had hoped they would have at least been given decent meals in ROOT, but it seemed even that was too much to hope for. He grimaced at the realization of exactly how emotionally stunted the twins were.
These girls needed more care and affection than he knew how to give
"Thank you, Indra-sama! This is the best meal I've ever had!" Shin blubbered as she shoveled piles of buckwheat noodles into her mouth. Sai nodded enthusiastically in agreement; her own mouth too full of fish to concur verbally.
"Don't chew with your mouths full, girls, it's impolite," Sasuke chided as gently as he could between neat bites of his meal. The two kids nodded, eyes resolute, and continued into their food with gusto.
The rest of the evening was quiet, uneventful. Sasuke sent his new charges off to bed rather early; all of them had endured an exhaustingly long day, and Sasuke was still technically recovering. The Hokage wanted another meeting with him to discuss his information and abilities, and knowing his luck, she would demand his presence first thing in the morning.
I suppose I'd do the same thing in her position, though.
Namikaze Minato, alive and well. That discovery would rest as the crown jewel of unexpected differences in their worlds in his mind. As he slipped out of his clothes and into his new futon, Sasuke wondered exactly what happened that kept her alive. It had to be at least as far back as the Kyuubi attack—if that happened at all. Would Namikaze's wife still be the Jinchuuriki, or was it passed down to her child—or someone else? Did changes exist far earlier than the attack, even farther than the Great Shinobi Wars?
Sasuke pondered the possibilities as he slowly began to drift off, tacitly aware of the presence of the five ANBU guards stationed around the house to monitor him….
Wait. Five?
Sasuke's eyes snapped open. He was clearly becoming sloppy if he had not noticed this earlier. There was a presence in his house that should not have been. Directly above him, melded into the roof. Sasuke could see their chakra outline with his Sharingan as it spun to life. The intruder must have noticed as well.
The assassin dropped straight through the ceiling as if it was intangible, brandishing a wakizashi that circulated wind chakra, likely to keep the blade silent and further sharpen its edge. The ANBU were not fast enough to catch her at the speed she was falling toward him. However, Sasuke knew he was faster, and she had made a mistake. The assassin, even experienced with wind techniques, had given up precise maneuverability in the air as she dropped down on him with reckless abandon.
Sasuke's Rinnegan pulsed as he raised his arm, summoning the strength of the elements respectively. A gale of blades erupted from his palm, tearing the would-be killer to shreds before she could even begin to avoid his attack. She burst into pieces, splashing blood in a wide arc as the short sword fell towards his head, undeterred by his jutsu.
By the time Sasuke tilted his head to allow the blade to just pass him by and pierce his pillow, the ANBU were leaping to protect him and attack the assailant. They had all pulled back, however, once they saw the woman explode into a shower of blood and gore. How they landed escaped Sasuke, as he had to close his eyes to keep them from getting spattered by the downpour he had just created.
He stood from his futon slowly, leisurely, as he wiped the blood from his face with his futon, careful not to further startle his guards. Sasuke heard the distinct sounds of scrambling in the other room, clearly Sai and Shin startling awake at the sounds of the violence he committed.
Looking up, Sasuke studied the large gashes in his wooden ceiling, deep enough even to cleave through the shingles on his roof; all of it coated a deep, fresh red, highlighted by the bright moonlight that seeped in through the gouges. The Konoha agents were glancing back and forth at each other, likely unsure what to make of the situation, communicating frantically through their masks.
Sasuke sighed, exasperated.
He just got this house.