Chapter 13


In the end, Sora decided that staying in the cabin during the trip was honestly her best option, utterly ignoring her quest.

That however left her with plenty of time to think, and so she did, she thought about everything that had happened. Karatachi being the teammate of her father was genuinely something she didn't see coming even slightly, but when she thought about it, she realised something that made her...uncomfortable. Her father once told her that she was just like her mother, impulsive and headstrong.

And that fit what Karatachi had done with her to a T, not just by saving her but also introducing her to the Hunter-nin in the first place. If Karatachi had thought it through, she likely never would have let Sora join, because she likely knew what she was like and that at heart she didn't have it in her to actually be a Hunter-nin, not when it came down to it. She could kill faceless enemies, sure, but not when she had observed their routines and knew what they liked, what they disliked, those details that she never before had learned before shooting her enemy.

It also made sense in her mind that Karatachi was the right age, being literally the same age as her father after all, her disappearing from Sora's life could quite easily be explained by her being a Hunter-nin, choosing to leave Sora safe with her father who didn't fight any more and not get involved, not introducing any risk that what she did could be led back to her, it made too much sense for her to push away.

Plus, Karatachi had literally risked everything for her, and for what, the fact that her teammate's daughter had fucked up and was going to be tortured then killed? She had just cut off her career and her future entirely, in the course of just a few days at most. That took more than just a vague bond of being teammates. Sora didn't even know she existed until she showed up at the Academy, so how could she never have heard of her before, unless they were keeping any meetings they had utterly clandestine, including from her, which made sense considering her age and the likelihood of a slip-up. It was something she absolutely had to confirm, though of course, she had no intention of interrupting their sleep.

And so, for the third time in like a week she settled herself down for some chakra control practice.


Their trip across the sea was honestly so uneventful that Sora almost expected a Kaiju to show up, just out of sheer nervous energy.

As for Karatachi and her father, they both used the time to rest and recuperate after pushing themselves so damn hard to get out of Kiri, leaving her with nothing to do but practise her chakra control and wait really. It was obvious that the game expected her to eventually get bored and go outside, but she just knew it would orchestrate a situation of trouble for her, and so she stayed put, eating, going to the bathroom and sleeping as necessary. While they were awake the other two were busy poring over maps and communicating in their sign language.

Sora did at first make sure to keep an eye on what they were doing using her Byakugan, but still didn't understand any of the signs they made to each other, and eventually she gave it up as pointless. She would investigate different sign languages, but chances were high that they were either being true and using their own language, or they had found an obscure one to use. There was a chance that they were just relying on her not checking, but that chance was low.

When land was visible across the water, Sora, Karatachi and her father all went out to the deck to watch it approach. Their plan was to disembark quickly and just disappear, leaving as little of a trace as they could. They didn't need to ask for directions, obviously, nor did they have a need to gather supplies, her father had that covered with the food he had sealed up, which meant that so long as they exited the town without being really noticed, they would be golden.

None of them were visibly wearing a hitai-ate and so the three of them really just looked like above-average civilians. Their identities helped them in Mizu no Kuni, but in Udon no Kuni, being outed as a Kiri-nin would only hinder them and draw attention. Honestly, she was curious as to what the plan was now after they entered Hi no Kuni, since from how much gesturing at maps, pointing and seemingly disagreement going on between Karatachi and her father, they both had different ideas and were finding it hard to reconcile on a plan together.

Still, it seemed like they had worked something out. She didn't know and really didn't mind not knowing, in both of their eyes she was just a cub to look after, since she definitely couldn't fend for herself yet, and so she would just follow whatever they were planning. They both obviously knew each other well and so they had come up with a plan and then debated over the two plans, adjusting, trying to find the best plan.

Sora just hoped the plan would survive contact with the enemy, against all logic.


"They are still following us."

Sora glanced backwards at Karatachi's words, looking again towards the mentioned small group of travellers that were following the same path that they were. "Give it some time, it's not like there have been any turn-offs they could have taken, they just happened to start walking down this path at the same time. Besides, if they were Hunter-nin, you know better than anyone that they wouldn't follow us like that." Her father placated Karatachi, though the frown on his face as he glanced backwards proved that even he didn't believe his own words.

"This is why we should have headed south-east first, we could have slipped along the southern coast then headed north and crossed over at Hanguri. We'd have arrived on the south coast of Hi no Kuni instead of going across by foot and getting checked by a patrol." Her father and Karatachi began arguing a little about what they should have done. From between them, Sora pieced together that Karatachi's plan had been to head in a winding path across the small section of Hi no Kuni that was in the way, then crossed the Hanguri Gulf onto the southern shores of the mainland Hi no Kuni, from there moving to Tanzaku Gai.

Her father decided it would be better to head straight east and follow close to the coast, turning north and following the east coast north before moving west. Bafflingly enough, his plan was actually to go to Konohagakure itself, which she honestly didn't understand. The three of them were all Missing-nin, and two were Hunter-nin deserters, what his plan was there she had absolutely no idea. He obviously had some kind of plan, he wasn't likely to just decide to march them into a bear cave without one, she just didn't know what it was.

After another few minutes of walking, Sora was quite unceremoniously grabbed by the collar and thrown to the front of the group, and through her Byakugan she saw Karatachi turn and take up a fighting stance. Tucking and rolling, she looked back and saw a group of animal-masked hostiles, ANBU her brain supplied helpfully, heading towards them, and on the floor behind them their travelling cloaks were left abandoned.

Sora bit her lip, moving to position herself behind her father, who himself was behind Karatachi, fitting what they had said about her father being a medic and thus support, not a frontline fighter like her. "Kiri-nin, you are within Hi no Kuni without permission. What is your reason?" One of the masked nin asked tonelessly, to which Karatachi took out her sliced-through hitai-ate and tossed it to the ground carelessly, her father doing the same. Sora quickly moved to do the same after her father looked at her, throwing the steel plate down quickly as she felt several gazes lock onto her.

Despite her own mental age, she felt genuinely pressured enough to move slightly more behind her father. Sure, she was a mature adult, but she fully understood that those ANBU could crush her easily if they chose to. "Our reason is that the little one back there made a mistake, so rather than let her get killed for it, we abandoned the village and fled. We were on our way to Konohagakure to trade Kiri secrets for amnesty and citizenship." Karatachi said clearly to the ANBU, prompting most of them to look at who was presumably their leader.

"If that's true then you have nothing to fear. We will escort you to Konohagakure after searching you and you will be taken to T&I to be interrogated. If what you reveal is of enough value, then you will be granted what you seek." It was left unsaid what would happen if what they revealed wasn't valuable enough, making Sora ever so slightly nervous, even if Karatachi and her father looked nonplussed with what they said. She felt even more nervous when the one who had spoken then approached her. "And what of this?"

As he spoke, he reached out and lifted her left eyebrow, exposing her Byakugan more clearly. "She lost her left eye when she was young, and I transplanted that eye into her. I would hope that the secrets we have to share would be enough to prevent anything from having to happen to her." The tone her father took made it very clear that he would not take lightly any attempt to take her left eye away.

"That will be a decision for the Hyuuga, it is their Kekkei Genkai after all." To their credit, the ANBU were ruthlessly professional, quickly searching the three of them and disarming them before leading them towards Konoha. Sora felt ever so slightly useless that she had to be carried by Karatachi since they were moving at a much higher speed than she was capable of, but she was already used to it so simply spent the journey watching the ANBU leap through the trees.

It was impressive to watch, as though they were literally made to live in forests, but she supposed that Konohagakure was the village hidden in the leaves, so it made sense that they knew how to traverse through forests better than anyone else, just as how a Kiri-nin would always be expected to be able to walk on water, or how a Suna-nin could traverse sand without losing their footing.

After a day of travel with one short break, they arrived at Konohagakure, and to say Sora was impressed was an understatement. Kirigakure was, by comparison, a dismal and dreary place when compared to the beauty of Konohagakure. Apparently her expression was less controlled than she'd like as her father laughed at her, prompting her to put her head on Karatachi's other shoulder, though she still examined the village with just a slight sprinkling of awe.

Unfortunately, she didn't get very long to look at the village before they were led into a building and then she was quickly separated from the others. Amusingly enough, the room she was taken to was way nicer than the room that she had woken up in just a few short days ago. There were a few comfortable chairs, a few books and even a small water cooler. Humming, Sora walked over to the books and looked at each of them, but when she found them uninteresting she sat down and relaxed.

They likely and therefore rightly assumed that she didn't really know anything valuable and so were focusing their attention on Karatachi and her father instead. That didn't mean she dropped her guard, she knew it could be lulling her into a false sense of security, but she did allow herself to relax just slightly as it finally settled that there were...at least somewhat safe. Kirigakure would always be a blade over their necks, but in Konohagakure they were at least safer than they would be if they tried to stay in Mizu no Kuni.

Shifting to lay sideways on the chair and facing the door, Sora shut her eyes and yawned, having not actually slept at all on the journey there, being too hyped up on the nervous energy of being escorted by ostensibly neutral ANBU who could have at any point killed them. After maybe ten minutes had passed, the door opened asnd admitted two people. One was a masked ANBU, and not really of interest.

The other was unmasked, and the only thing that she could immediately identify about them were their eyes. Both were Byakugans, immediately marking the person in front of her as a Hyuuga, which was exceptionally bad news. Her relation with all Hyuuga was by default set to disliked thanks to her eye, which meant she was wary of exactly what they intended to do. Sure her Byakugan wasn't actually hers in so much as it was taken from a carcass, but that didn't mean she didn't still think of it as hers.

He observed her for a moment before frowning. "It is a Byakugan, but it is...strange. It is receiving a constant, unceasing but weak stream of chakra from her network." He then put his hands behind his back and raised three of the fingers on his hand, looking at her keenly. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Sora debated the pros and cons of answering him, in the end deciding there was no harm in it.

"Three." He then lowered one. "Two." He splayed out his entire hand. "Four fingers and a thumb." He splayed out his other hand, then lowered two fingers and bent one thumb. "Six fingers, one thumb." The Hyuuga then closed his hands, turning his head towards the ANBU beside him, who after a moment turned and exited the room, leaving her alone with the Hyuuga, who moved to sit down on one of the chairs.

He didn't keep his eyes directly on her, but he had a Byakugan, so it wasn't like it mattered. "Depending on the outcome of today, there are a few things that might happen. The first is that you will be found guilty of Kekkei Genkai theft, you will have your eye removed and an appropriate punishment levied." He paused to take note of her reaction, which she kept carefully controlled and unreactive. "The second is that you will be sent to join the Hyuuga clan as a branch member. The third is that you will live in Konoha normally. Both the second and third options however will also require you to attend the Konoha Academy for at minimum a year, and will then be assigned to a team under special provision. Think of it as a probationary period."

The Hyuuga then raised a hand to halt her when she was about to ask him questions, continuing on his own. "The outcome will not depend on you, it will depend on what those who came with you are able and willing to part with. Rest assured, the decision will not be made lightly. What will however be essential is testing to understand why your eye has not yet drained your body dry and killed you." Sora frowned, raising a hand to touch her eye as she shut it, not quite at ease with the idea at all.

Obviously, she knew that it was a result of her game fucking with reality itself for some reason, probably for the entertainment of their patron, but she couldn't exactly say that a nigh-omnipotent game system was the one that caused it. "Same question baffles my father, I don't have any answers for you." She said bluntly, shrugging as she did so. The Hyuuga noded curtly then rose from his chair and exited the room without another word, leaving her alone once again.

After another twenty minutes, the door opened, admitting Karatachi to the room, who quickly moved to sit down next to her. Surprising Sora slightly, she raised an arm in invitation. After just a moment of hesitation, Sora decided that the comfort would honestly not hurt, so she leaned into the woman and let her put her arm around her. She internally added another tally to her theory that Karatachi was actually her mother, making a note to try and find hard evidence when she got the chance, since just asking and getting it wrong would be pretty awkward.

"Don't worry, with everything I picked up while I was a Hunter-nin, even if your father is worse than useless to them they still wouldn't lay a finger on you." Karatachi said quietly, petting her hair gently as she did so. Sora smiled, seeing the soft look on Karatachi's face with her Byakugan. Even if she wasn't actually her mother, she might as well have been, anyone looking in from outside would naturally assume so anyway.

So, despite herself, she relaxed fully in Karatachi's embrace, and accidentally ended up falling asleep only moments after.


When she woke back up, Sora was surprised to see that their location had changed.

She wasn't exactly a deep sleeper, so how she was moved without waking her up was a mystery. She would have been more agitated by the fact if her head wasn't currently laying on Karatachi's map, while she and her father were conversing with a blonde man who had possibly the best hair she'd ever seen on a man, fictional or otherwise. She had to admit it took a few seconds for her to realise exactly who was in the room, owing to the fact she'd never particularly been interested in looking at the different Kages, they were way too far above her power level to be potential targets.

There, with a disarming smile on his face, was Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, also known as the Yellow Flash. And he was just...talking to her father and Karatachi as though they were friends of his. There was no barrier, at least that she noticed, between Karatachi, her father, and someone who under a normal situation would be a death sentence to meet, so evidently things had to have worked out at least somewhat well.

Sora then saw as Karatachi pointed a finger and poked her cheek. "So, how long are you going to pretend to be asleep?" She said with an amused tone, making Sora smile as she opened her eyes and sat up straight, looking first at her father then at the Hokage. "Don't forget that everyone here has far too much experience to not realise that you had woken up."

She merely shrugged in response. "I wanted to try and figure out exactly what the situation was before opening my eyes, and besides, I was comfy." All three of the others in the room laughed at that, making her cheeks redden slightly. "Whatever. So, what actually is the situation?" She asked directly, looking straight at the Hokage as she did so, who merely smiled at her in response.

"Karatachi-san and your father have been incredibly cooperative in the pursuit of ensuring that you were treated well, and as such, have given Konohagakure more than enough information to be worth the risk of taking in three Missing-nin from Kiri. The wealth and breadth of information was such that the Hyuuga acceded to my request for them to simply allow you to live normally. However, that was on the basis that you consent to a few tests to determine how you are able to function. As I understand it you've always had small chakra reserves, which presumably has been caused by your Byakugan acting as a permanent siphon. Who knows, perhaps they could find a way to de-activate your Byakugan." He said calmly, though Sora more than once had to remember that the man in front of her was still the Hokage and wasn't just thinking of her.

"You will however need to have a seal applied to your left eyelid that would effectively block your Byakugan's sight while active even whilst your eye is open, as having a walking breach of privacy wandering around the village isn't something that can so easily be ignored. You'll be able to disable it, but doing so will be logged and you will be questioned as to why you did so, and if that reason isn't sufficient then your seal will have that feature removed." The stern tone of his voice made it exceptionally clear that frivolously doing so would be an exceptionally bad idea.

But evidently whatever information Karatachi and her father knew was definitely far more valuable than Konoha expected if the practically VIP treatment was any indication. It made her wonder exactly what they gave to secure their safety, but then decided it didn't matter. All that mattered was that the Hokage seemed satisfied with the information, enough to step in and meet them directly. "Okay, so what happens now?"

Minato laughed then, further disarming her and making her irritated slightly that he was just so...likable? He felt genuine, not really like a shinobi at all...which was probably the point. "Now you and your family will start a new life in Konohagakure. I believe that Hoshi-san already explained that you will have to attend the academy to learn the essentials of what is expected of you, however if you choose otherwise then you will not be able to become a Shinobi. It is your choice to decide, I hope you don't think we are forcing you to become a Konoha Kunoichi."

Sora froze, then put her palm to her chin as she looked at Minato. If she said she didn't want to be a Kunoichi anymore, it would both fit with her profile of not being able to kill a target, but would also then mean she didn't have to have a team, and would essentially be left alone to ostensibly live as a civilian. Of course, she wouldn't be a civilian, she would still train herself and use her game to power up, but it meant she couldn't be forced into dangerous situations that she wasn't ready for.

It would, however, likely cut off a lot of quests and opportunities that she could get by being a Kunoichi, and would make learning techniques or doing said training harder, as it wouldn't be officially sanctioned. "Can I...think about it?" Minato nodded quickly, rising and vacating the room, telling them he'd come back in after a few minutes, leaving her alone. "What do you two think? I...on the boat I couldn't do it, but I did it during the exam, and I don't know whether or not I want to anymore." Sora quickly found herself being held by Karatachi again, loosening her tense shoulders as she leaned into the hug.

"Do whatever you want to do. Your father is going to be working at Konoha's hospital, and as for me, well, I don't know what I'm going to end up doing now. They wouldn't let me near their ANBU division with a fifty-foot pole, for obvious reasons, and being a regular Jonin doesn't fit with what I imagined my future to be, so, just like you, my future is just as uncertain." Sora frowned, then turned to hug the woman back, smiling into her shoulder as she saw the surprised look on her face.

"I think...I don't want to stop training myself, but I don't want to fight unless I have no other choice. That way I can protect myself if someone from Kiri comes for revenge, whilst at the same time I can find something else I enjoy." Karatachi's facial expression quickly shifted into happiness, glancing at her father with a look that immediately saw him move over to sit beside her, patting her head from behind.

"Whatever you want to do, we're here for you."


WARM FUZZIES!

Honestly this chapter, I really enjoyed writing it, though I felt like the Konohagakure scenes might have been a bit weak? It feels too...flip-floppy, like Konoha bent over too easily, but the alternative was the caged bird seal and holy jesus I am never writing a character who has to suffer that, I actually despise that seal to the point of being tempted to have the Kyuubi crush the Hyuuga Clan Elders during his attack, because they infuriate me on a level that I have reserved for spiders that get too close to me and when there's only a thimble of milk left in the carton. So, please review and utterly lambast me for writing garbage, I deserve it!

Also, following her decision, her title has changed to Civilian, you can read below to see the change ^.^


Name: Sora Metami

Level: 34

Age: 12

Experience: 546/34,000

To Next Level: 33,454

Title: Civilian - +100% increase to civilian-based proficiencies, -25% decrease to shinobi-based proficiencies

Health Points: 2,100 (100 Base HP + (Vitality x Strength)

Regeneration Rate: 70/minute (Health ÷ 30) (Severe or noticed injuries can be chosen to retain scars)

Chakra Points: 2,084 (100 Base CP + (Wisdom x Intelligence)

Regeneration Rate: 69.46*/minute (Chakra ÷ 30)

Strength: 40 (Each point increases melee damage by 1%, adds 1 slot to inventory)

Vitality: 50 (Each point raises poison resistance by 0.1%, reduces need for sleep by 0.1%)

Agility: 50 (Each point increases top speed by 0.1m/s, increases weapon proficiency gain by 1%)

Wisdom: 32 (Each point decreases chakra cost for techniques by 0.1%)

Intelligence: 62 (Each point increases experience gain by 1%)

Luck: 10 (Each point increases the chance of something lucky happening by 0.01%, decreases the chance of something unlucky happening by 0.01%)