Sleeping Dogs C19
"You have ink on your face," a deep voice cuts across the room. My concentration snaps and my byakugan spirals out of focus, the out of sync lenses forming kaleidoscopes on the ceiling. I blink and deactivate my byakugan, the spinning shuriken sliding off my fingers onto the table. "Any improvement?" Sasuke asks, glancing at the shuriken. His voice is still thick with sleep, he sounds like his brother. I look over, best not to tell him that.
I collect the shuriken, "You were right, focusing on a moving target is easier." I twirl the blades between my fingers, "But for scanning the perimeter… Still not there yet." I rub the underside of my eyes, the lenses of my byakugan are still out of sync with each other. Nevertheless, Sasuke's trick had at least improved things. Sasuke nods and walks into the kitchen; he starts cracking eggs to prepare his morning omelette.
I lick my finger and wipe the ink off my cheek. I had spent days with the otters, pouring over my scribbled notes on the curse mark. However, that brief glimpse had turned out to be a mere scratch at the lock. Now having officially begun my studies of fuinjutsu, it is daunting to realise how much there is still left to learn.
A rush of energy washes through me, my body gearing up for its morning run. I stand and pull on my sandals, slipping out of the door. As I trot down the stairs, I activate my byakugan, the lenses loop and swivel around, zooming in and out of focus. I pull out the shuriken and start spinning them around my fingers, training my lenses to align and focus on this singular point. Then I take a deep breath in, and as I breathe out, I expand my vision to include my parameter range. The difficulty is my left lens has become permanently magnified, whilst my right lens' parameter range has extended now nearly into 300 degrees as it overcompensated for the temporary loss of my left eye.
My vision starts to wobble and blur as my right lens drifts and my left lens tilts out of focus. I take a deep breath in and focus on the spinning shuriken, honing my right lens to focus on the spinning blades and allowing my left lens to magnify the fine layers of metal hammered into shape. Slowly breathing out, I use my right lens to scan my parameter range, taking in the surrounding buildings and trees around Naruto's apartment complex. Then I take a deep breath in and train my left lens to angle its projected chakra beams to look through my right lens. The effect is startling, my nose whistling as I breathe out. Double lens vision can only be described as akin to a sniper scope within my perimeter range, a circular area of magnified microscopic detail where I can make out the grainy particles of the sticky sap flowing up the trunk of an individual tree whilst scanning the border of an adjacent training field.
I walk on and continue scanning my perimeter range, twirling the shuriken between my fingers to maintain a central focus point. I find I can angle my left lens and adjust the position of the sniper scope, picking up on fine details within my parameter view, from the enamel build-up on a civilian's teeth as they amble along an adjacent street, to a contracted knot of muscle fibre in a roof hopping Chunin's calf. My roving left lens continues magnifying random details, whilst my right lens maintains a constant 300-degree view of the perimeter within a 150-metre range.
But then a peculiar feeling creeps over me, something delicate and fine like a single hair brushing against your skin. I pivot and scan a full 360 degrees, my right lens sweeping across the perimeter as my left lens rapidly scans across it. I adjust both my lenses to chakra scope and that's when I see it, within the magnified vision of my left lens – thousands of beams of chakra surrounding me, crystalline and hollow, the unmistakable projected chakra scope of a byakugan. My left lens tracks the acute angle between the chakra beams. I squint my brow and collapse my right lens into a telescope beam, using my left lens to align it along the acute angle back to the original source of chakra. My scope fills with the beacon-like sight of a byakugan, one far stronger than mine. The chakra networks powering the lenses are like thick tree roots, and are alight with dark blue chakra, the large lenses held in place by thick bands of muscle. I adjust my scope to pull back a degree and capture sight of the person's face.
The shuriken clatter to the ground as my chakra recoils, shutting down my byakugan. My chakra slips deep inside my core and suppresses my presence. I stand, tense and sweaty, holding my breath. A civilian exits an adjacent doorway and glances over, giving me a strange look. That's when it becomes painfully obvious that suppressing my chakra and standing still doesn't actually make you invisible. I force myself to take a measured step forward and pick up the shuriken, tucking them into my weapons pouch. Then I continue walking, one foot in front of the other. Running or bolting would imply suspicion or guilt, but I was just casually strolling through the village, nothing to see here. I continue walking, my feet picking up the pace into a march that is just barely under a run.
It had been less than a second glimpse. But still, I had gone byakugan to byakugan with Hiashi-sama. My stomach knots with nausea, and I have to breathe through my nose to suppress the need to vomit. Just keep walking, keep moving. Even in that brief snapshot I had captured, it was clear his byakugan is far stronger, his parameter range would dwarf mine. But those thick bands of muscle were sinewy and tight, his lenses were "locked" into position, his vision could BEAM most likely over miles, but he couldn't achieve the same bendy degrees of refraction as I could, nor could he magnify his chakra scope to the same extent. Therefore, judging by the structure of his lenses, I doubt Hiashi-sama had been able to see that I had refracted my scopes to track back and examine his byakugan. Rather he would have captured a detailed view of me going cross-eyed, dropping my shuriken and freezing like a deer in the headlights. However, just as I had felt the overlap of chakra brushing against my network, it's perfectly possible he had at least felt my telescoping beam angle towards him. My body shudders in a full body twitch.
Finally, the hospital crops into view and I dash up the stairs, power walking straight into Sensei's room. He's still lying there prone, his silvery hair matted to his forehead, slightly damp from a bed bath. I sit on the bed beside him and slip a kunai into his hand, as if somehow now that I really needed him to protect me, Sensei would miraculously spring from his coma. It is a silly, childish thought, but that hot slick of paranoia that curls in my belly is soothed somewhat when I tap his hand with a spark and feel the crackling feedback of his own chakra unconsciously defending him.
I settle in on Sensei's bed, focusing on my breathing. I activate my byakugan briefly, scanning the perimeter with my right lens. From here, the Hyuuga compound is out of my range. I deactivate my byakugan and take another deep breath.
I kick my foot against the bed in a rhythmic fashion, and start mulling over the short sequence of the curse mark I had been working on with the otters. Whilst before thinking about the curse mark had made me feel sick with anger and dread, now it gives me an eery sense of calm. As now I am holding the lock in my hands, and finally taking control. The sequencing of the curse mark is archaic, Otohime identified it as a fuinjutsu script used by a sect of mountain monks over 800 years ago. Yet even the extensive libraries of Ryūgū-jō had only a few scrolls containing samples of this script to study. Whilst the Uzumaki script focused on spirals and circles, the idea of energy constantly flowing and exchanging throughout the whole of the sequence. The script of the monks was angular and pointed, it focused energy upwards, ascending to a "heavenly" point. The monks appeared to view fuinjutsu as a means for them to ascend spiritually, but as Otohime had put it, "Ryūjin provides for all of our needs on this plain, those other realms are not where we belong."
Nevertheless, it made sense that the Hyuuga would have aligned themselves with these monks. As the whole clan philosophy is built around the hierarchy and superiority of those deemed "purer" than those below them. But for all the power of the byakugan, the Hyuuga were so short-sighted that they couldn't see the value they possessed right in front of them. I stretch and roll my shoulders, looking out the window I notice the light has changed, the sun now bright in the sky at midday. I must have been lost in my thoughts for a while.
There's a loud stampede of feet and then a crowd of nurses rush past the window, hands fluttering around their faces. A chorus of excited voices picks up in the corridor. I slide off the bed, "I'll go see what that's about Sensei." I lean out of the doorway and find the nurses swarming around a tall, buxom woman with long blonde pigtails. Off to the side is a dark-haired woman holding a pig with a pearl choker and a bored looking - "Naruto!"
Naruto's eyes widen and he screams, "BAA-CHAN! Quick, quick, you've got to heal Kaori's eye!" He darts into the crowd of nurses and drags the blond woman out, pulling her along the hallway towards me.
The blonde woman shakes off Naruto's grasp, her pursed lips unimpressed. But she still obliges and presses a glowing green hand to my forehead and tuts, "You're fine." She looks into the room and frowns, "Hatake. What happened to him?"
"Itachi's tsukuyomi, a genjutsu attack pierced through the optic nerve to target the cerebrum," I explain. The woman casts a studying glance over me, then brushes past and places a glowing green hand upon Sensei's forehead. After a few minutes, Sensei stirs and then slowly sits up, "I thought you were a genius. But you were beaten by two low level punks?" The woman scoffs.
"Sorry to be a disappointment." Sensei drawls, his gaze glassy and shoulders slumped. He still looks completely out of it, a revived zombie. Though when I look across, the kunai I had placed in his hand has disappeared.
The blonde woman snaps her fingers at Naruto and I, "Brats. Out."
Naruto is about to protest, but the dark-haired woman steps in and ushers us out of the room, closing the door behind us.
I tackle into Naruto; he squawks in my ear and then returns the hug fiercely. I pull away from the hug, "She healed Sensei! The medics have been attending to him for weeks, but with one session that lady has him sitting up and talking!"
Naruto grins, "Yeah, yeah, Baa-chan's awesome." His expression falls, "I told her about your eye and stuff..." He plasters on another smile, "But Baa-chan says you're fine! So that's okay!"
"Yeah, I'm good. Sasuke will be pleased to see you." I say, taking his arm and tugging him along.
Naruto leans so far in front of me he's walking at a right angle, "You and Sasuke made up?"
I clear my throat, "Yeah. We did. We had a bad fight… But we weren't angry at each other, just angry. We talked and we're good now."
Naruto hums in thought, "That's what Pervy Sage said, that you guys we're fighting each other because there was no one else to fight." He straightens and turns back to look at me, "But you shouldn't do that. Even when one of us is really angry, we should never take it out on each other."
I pause for a moment, slightly taken aback by Naruto's scolding tone. I look ahead, "You're right, we won't."
Naruto nods to himself and hums, then he casts me another cautious glance, specifically at my forehead. I stiffen already knowing what's coming next. "Pervy Sage also told me about your mark. Ka-
"Naruto. I don't want to talk about it. Ever." I snap, keeping my gaze levelled on the hospital doors.
"Kaori-" Naruto protests, but I cut him off by jabbing a finger into his stomach. He immediately falls silent.
"We all have things we don't talk about. But just because I don't want to talk about it, doesn't mean -" I bite my tongue. I need to be careful with my words, who knew who could be listening, and what I was about to say dared dangerously close to an admission. I take a deep breath and level Naruto with a stern expression, "Look. I'm not an idiot. Okay?"
Naruto's blue eyes flicker between mine, before they widen and a large toothy grin envelopes his whole face. "Yeah! You're super smart Kaori! Super super smart!" He snickers, "I'll definitely win my bet with Pervy Sage."
What bet? With that old man? I'm about to ask, but then decide I'd rather just move on and leave this topic behind us. We push open the hospital doors and step out into the bright daylight. Naruto looks around, "So where's Sasuke?"
I snort, "Where do you think?"
Naruto punches his fist in the air, "Training!" He bounces up and down on the spot, "Hey, hey, Kaori! I've learnt a Super Cool New Jutsu!"
"Oh really? What's it called?" I ask, jogging down the hospital steps.
"Rasengan!" Naruto announces proudly, "Yeah, yeah, Baa-chan made a bet with me that I couldn't learn it in a week, but then when we battled Oro-" I trip and stumble, rolling my ankle on the final step, "Kaori, are you okay?" Naruto asks, rushing over to steady me.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." I brush him off, channelling chakra to my ankle to disguise a slight limp. I had already suspected It wasn't dead, It had revived itself once before, It could again.
Naruto grips my shoulders, "Don't worry, Kaori. You don't have to be so scared anymore. He can't use his arms or legs."
I jerk away, "What? Wait, what? He's paralysed?"
Naruto nods, "Pervy Sage said the old man used a special jutsu on him that sealed away the soul of his body." He turns solemn, "The old man had to sacrifice his life for it, but it means Orochimaru can't move anymore."
He looks up and grins, "Even Baa-chan said she couldn't heal him. In the battle, Kabuto had to do all the fighting whilst he just sat in his chair and flopped his neck around like - " at this Naruto does a limp arm dance.
I burst into laughter and Naruto beams. "Yeah! Yeah, and there was another part where Baa-chan-" at this Naruto falls into another chaotic live demonstration and "Pervy Sage used the toads and I-" Naruto's voice washes over me and I smile, nodding along to the story, as my mind ticks over the news.
A seal that could divide and seal away a person's soul? Thus, rendering Orochimaru quadriplegic. Is such a seal permanent or reversible? Was the soul destroyed or stored somewhere else? What vessel could store a soul?
Naruto's voice shifts to shouting and I pull away from my thoughts to find us standing on the training field, Sasuke strolling over with a smirk.
"You mastered a new jutsu in a week?" Sasuke says, raising a brow. He folds his arms and stares at Naruto expectantly.
Naruto pumps his fist, "Yeah! Bastard! And it's way cooler than your jutsu."
I roll my eyes at their antics. "Okay, then can we see it?" I prompt.
Naruto grins and holds out his hand. I activate my byakugan, focusing my left lens on Naruto's hand as streamers of chakra twist into a dense core in the palm of his hand. The core expands into a spiralling sphere of chakra, the individual streamers so potent I suspect they are also visible to the unenhanced eye. I deactivate my byakugan and confirm its true, as Naruto proudly holds aloft a dense blue sphere of chakra. Chakra only becomes visible to the naked eye when it is super concentrated, the quantity of chakra Naruto is now casually holding in his hand is equivalent to a chunin-ranked ninja's entire chakra capacity. Naruto beams with pride, holding the spinning ball aloft, "Rasengan!"
Sasuke's sharingan spins, "Fast rotation and complex shape manipulation. Not bad, Idiot."
Naruto grins, "Heh, when I was learning the Frog Pearl Jutsu with Gama-baa she made me practice bursting egg sacs, so I got really good at spinning my chakra."
"It's a contained system." I murmur, watching the chakra streamers spin around and around, the jutsu hypnotic to watch.
"Contained?" Naruto echoes, squinting confused.
"There is no bleed off of chakra, all chakra applied to the jutsu is contained in the sphere," I explain, "And with the constant rotational effect, that could even drill through bedrock."
Naruto nods, "Yeah, yeah, check this out!" He runs past us and slams the Rasengan into the ground, blasting away the earth into a 3-metre-wide crater.
Sasuke scowls, "Idiot. We're going to have to fill that in." Naruto scrambles out of the crater and rubs the back of his head sheepishly.
"Whoever ends up in the pit first has to repair the training field," I challenge. Both boys shift to attention, taking the bait for a spar.
On cue, the area floods with shadow clones. I slip into a simple henge, darting around the back of the clones as Sasuke deflects and dispels Naruto's reign of punches and kicks. I channel my chakra to slick along the grass and draw out the moisture from the earth, forming a slick muddy path behind the boys. I cast out a line of chakra and switch places with a clone, Naruto never suspecting the front kick from his own doppelganger and taking Sasuke with him as they slip over the muddy patch and fall into the crater. I dispel the henge to revel in my victory but the boys are too preoccupied slugging it out with each other in the pit, the shadow clones dogpiling in. I catch a shadow clone by the collar and hand over Naruto's keys, "Make sure those get to the original." The clone nods and I leave the boys to it.
My stomach growls and dictates that I head to the market area, I make an immediate beeline to the takoyaki stand. Morimoto-san catches sight of me and immediately oils up another pan. Collecting my goods, I skip back to the apartment and enjoy my fried treats sitting on the balcony.
I reflect on what Naruto had said, that Orochimaru had the soul of his body sealed away. I already knew souls existed; my own reincarnation is proof of that. After all, I am still me, just in a different body and in a different place. But the implication that fuinjutsu could capture a soul and seal it away? That is worrying. I didn't want to think something like that had happened to me, that I had been stolen from my other life… It didn't feel like that anyway. I trace the lines of my jellyfish scar, this new life felt like a gift. Yes, it is complicated, hard, and extremely painful at times. But there are so many wonderful things about it: laughing with Ino in the flower shop, sunny days on the pier with Sasuke, studying scrolls by candlelight with Neji, racing Naruto through the Village streets, being able to create water dragons at my beck and call, and leaping through the trees behind Sensei and feeling like I can fly.
I had never really stopped to consider it, but looking back the last memory I have of my old life was of driving past the frozen lake. After that, it goes black. The logical conclusion would suggest that I had somehow or another ended up in the lake and drowned. No doubt then the water had been my enemy, the thing I had desperately fought against. But now, the element is so central to my being, it feels like a part of me. I feel connected to water in the same way I feel connected to my own skin. I think of the otters, all in worship of their treasured god, Ryūjin, guardian of the ocean. I imagine giant green scales brushing past me as I drowned in the lake, the presence overwhelming, incomprehensible, but somehow within all that power and omniscience was something inherently gentle and soothing, a cradle of life. I desperately hadn't wanted to die, all I wanted was to live. And so, a second life had been blessed to me, and just like a true gift it had been given without condition. Here you are, now live again.
"KAORI!" I'm rudely yanked out of my thoughts by Naruto squinting up at me from the street, "Kaori! Why are you sitting there?"
"I live here." I snap and go back inside, flopping down on the sofa. Outside there is yelling and insults, before a thunderous sound of feet up the stairs. Sasuke bodyflickers into the apartment and stands guard at the door, slamming it shut when Naruto tries to barrel inside.
"BASTARD! Let me in!" Naruto shouts.
"Get lost, idiot!" is Sasuke's original reply.
"Kaoriii! Sasuke won't let me in," Naruto whines through the door.
"Go to your own apartment, idiot!" Sasuke snaps.
What follows is a whole slew of insults, which I don't pay any attention to, until I hear Naruto's delighted voice cry "Ino-chan!"
I sit up on the sofa as Sasuke immediately backs off the door, disappearing into the bedroom. The front door swings open and Naruto waltzes in, a triumphant grin on his face. I scoff and lie back down, as Naruto curiously pokes around the apartment. A few beats later, the bedroom door opens a crack, before a bristling Sasuke bursts out, "Idiot. Get out! Go talk to your plants!"
Naruto snickers, "Hehe! Bastard! I knew the thought of Ino-chan would scare you off!"
This sets off another argument that soon turns into a physical fight, with Sasuke literally trying to kick Naruto out of the apartment. I ignore them both and doze on the sofa, turning over fuinjutsu sequences in my mind. Though the night ends with Naruto curled up next to me on the sofa.
On my run back into the Village the next morning, I'm forced to a stop as the streets are flooded with people. I hop onto a roof to try and make some sense of the churning crowd, "What is going on?"
"It's not every day a new Hokage is appointed," A familiar voice drawls. I spin around to find Sensei slouched behind me, dressed in full jonin gear, Awake, Alert and Un-Zombified. I launch myself at him, cuddling him into a bear hug. Sensei stands stock still and then awkwardly pats my head. "You smell of otter," He murmurs.
I step away and watch him carefully. Sensei's sole grey eye studies me, "The First Hokage's wife kept otters. They were her only companions from Uzushiogakure." Something flickers behind his eye, before it crinkles in clear amusement. He pats my head, "Very clever, Kaori." I swipe his hand away and Sensei's fingers brush my headscarf, a clear confirmation he knew exactly what I am up to. Sensei, I knew I could trust.
He taps his covered eye and forms the Bird hand sign. I activate my byakugan and focus the left lens to examine a thin membrane of chakra that coats his skin: semi-permeable gills forming along the soles of his feet, palms, forehead, cheeks and armpits that allows fresh air to filter in whilst trapping stray hairs and dead skin cells. He taps the thin chakra membrane covering his glove, "To conceal your scent." He explains. I summon my chakra and copy the technique, layering a thin layer of chakra over my clothes. Sensei wafts his hand near his nose, "Patchy, needs work."
A long blonde ponytail lights up my right lens's range on the street below me. I'm already leaping off the rooftop when I turn back and shout, "Bye, Sensei!" Deactivating my byakugan, I reach out and grasp her waiting hand.
"You're late." She tuts, pulling me through the crowd and walking up a wall onto a rooftop with the boys and Sakura. Free of the mass of people, Ino spins around and screams, squeezing me into a tight hug, "You've gotten taller!" I laugh into her ear, my height now level with her temple. She pulls back and adjusts my headscarf, smoothing down my jacket, "Well dressed too."
"Thanks." I say, "All credit to you." She smiles and flicks back her ponytail.
She turns around and shakes her head at the slouching postures of the boys, "This is the inauguration of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade-sama! At least look awake Shikamaru!" The Nara yawns on the wooden crate he is sitting on beside Chouji. Next to them, Sakura leans against the wall beside Sasuke.
Naruto circles the rooftop, fidgeting and skipping his steps. Sasuke frowns, "I thought you'd be excited, Idiot. You're the one who brought Tsunade back to the Village."
Naruto stops and forces a toothy grin, "Oh yeah! Baa-chan's awesome. Super strong and scary."
"Strong?" Sasuke echoes, intrigued.
"Tsunade is one of the legendary Sannin," Ino explains, "She is the granddaughter of the First Hokage. She is known as the Beautiful Slug Princess, because of her contract with the slugs. And she is also the greatest medical ninja in all of the Elemental Nations."
Sakura blinks, taking her attention off Sasuke, "The greatest medical ninja?"
"Tsunade is credited as winning the western front against Hidden Sand twice because she was the only one to come up with antidotes to all their poisons. She was the one to shape Konoha's Medic Corps into being the most advanced medical sector amongst all the Shinobi Villages." Ino puts a hand on her hip, "There's a reason even the Lightning Daimyo gets his treatment in Konoha."
I quietly absorb Ino's encyclopaedic knowledge, no doubt she has debriefed herself especially for today. Still, that is quite an introduction for a new Hokage. A hush falls over the crowd and I turn to see the blonde lady from the hospital, Tsunade, standing proudly atop of the Hokage building.
She lifts the hat and waves it across us as if casting a spell, "From this day on, I pledge to serve and protect Konoha!" There is an uproar of applause from the crowd. She seems smart, efficient and no bullshit. I already infinitely preferred her to the shuffling old man and his waffling poems. Tsunade withdraws from the balcony and disperses the crowd with her. And henceforth came the reign of the Fifth Hokage.
The first mission she assigns us is uneventful. At least for Naruto and I, for Sasuke the whole ninja cat escapade puts him in a strange mood. There are points where I dare say he is having fun, before a sour, dark expression would overtake him. So, when Sasuke requests to fight the giant catzilla alone, neither Naruto or I challenge him, it is clear this is a personal matter that he must settle alone.
We're sitting on one of the wooden crates playing cards, when something occurs to me. "Naruto, there's someone I want to introduce you to," I say, already biting my thumb and drawing blood.
"A summon!" He says, getting excited.
I perform the hand signs and send a ringing line of spiritual chakra through the summoning portal, Otohime? Are you free? There's someone I want you to meet.
There's a brief beat before a large puff of pink smoke obscures our card game. Otohime appears dressed in an ornate green kimono with a white clam print. She addresses me first and dips her nose, "Kaori. This is the first time you have summoned me to the human world." Then she turns and bows gracefully to Naruto, "I see you wished me to make acquaintance with Mito-hime's successor. The third vessel of the Nine Tails."
Naruto had been staring in a dazed fashion at Otohime, before he blinks and processes her words, "The third vessel? Other people had the Kyuubi inside them as well? Before me?!"
Otohime nods, "It has become an inherited practice for members of your Clan. The Uzumaki's potent chakra and strong lifeforce are ideal for keeping the volatile force of the Kyuubi at bay."
Naruto stares, before his eyes light up with excitement, "Uzumaki?! I'm Uzumaki! So, so, I have a clan! Do you know them? Can I meet them?"
Otohime clasps her paws, a soft mournful expression overcomes her, "Uzushiogakure, the republic city of your clansmen was destroyed at the end of the 2nd Shinobi War. Shortly after Mito-hime's death… There was a coordinated attack by several of the shinobi villages. Loyal and brave souls, most of the Uzumaki fell fighting for the city. The few survivors scattered across the continental nations. And I'm sorry to say that even us otters have lost links to your remaining clansmen as many of them abandoned their practice of fuinjutsu."
Naruto's face falls. He looks heartbroken. What little hope he had for a long-lost family had been stripped from him once again.
I reach across and squeeze his hand. Naruto's gaze flickers up and focuses on my forehead, he squeezes my hand back tightly. "Hey, hey, Otter-chan, you said the Uzumaki practised fuinjutsu? Seals and stuff?" He starts to grin excitedly, rocking back on his heels, "Are you teaching Uzumaki fuinjutsu to Kaori?! So she can get rid of the -"
I smack a hand over his mouth. "Don't shout it out to the whole world!" I hiss.
Naruto's eyes widen, before he flushes red. Otohime's whiskers twitch, before she lets out a squeaky little laugh. "Your excitable mannerisms remind me so much of Mito-hime."
I cautiously remove my hand, prepared to smack Naruto again if he blurts something about my curse mark. But he has focused on Otohime again, eyes wide as he leans close, "Mito… hime? Was she an Uzumaki princess?"
Otohime claps her paws, "Of course! Mito-hime was our last summoner!"
Otohime then begins to recount a series of stories that recount a woman as mad as she was devilishly clever. She had redesigned the whole fuinjutsu defence of Uzushiogakure with a triple layer set of barrier walls, but her seal matrix had been so complex and idiosyncratic that later gate masters of Uzushiogakure were unable to decode it. And even Mito in her later, more senile, years couldn't quite remember the intricacies of her security code. The result was the seal matrix couldn't be updated, chakra naturally leaking out of it over the decades until it was in a far weaker, fragile state by the time Mito-hime died, a tragic flaw that had led to Uzushiogakure's downfall. After recounting this with a heavy heart, Otohime lightens the mood by telling us of the time Mito-hime copied a seal onto all of the 2nd Hokage's paperwork, so every time he wrote an odd number, the paper would transform into a white rabbit. Naruto falls about laughing, whilst I sit there trying to puzzle away how she had invented such a seal. Both of us are so caught up in the extraordinary tales of Mito, we don't realise that Sasuke's battle has ended, until Otohime greets him, "Ah, the young Uchiha, Kaori's other teammate."
"Oh um, this is Sasuke. And this is Otohime," I say, introducing the pair.
Otohime dips her nose and Sasuke also lowers his head in a bow.
Naruto bounces off the wooden crate, "Sasuke! How'd it go? You defeated the monster cat?"
Sasuke smirks and relaxes his stance, "It wasn't as much of a challenge as I thought it would be." He seems lighter now, like something has been settled.
I lean forwards and quietly murmur to Otohime, "Thank you for speaking to Naruto today."
Otohime twitches her whiskers, "Of course." She clasps her paws, "I shall take my leave now," and with that she disappears in a puff of pink smoke.
We depart the cat castle and I'm glad to finally frisbee away the cat ears. We return to Nekobaa's outlet shop to debrief her on the successful mission. When Sasuke requests a moment to speak to her alone, the pair disappearing behind one of the draped velvet curtains at the back of the room.
I look around the shop, half-tempted to activate my byakugan to scan the mysterious boxes, but I'm pinned down with a dozen pairs of slitted eyes. It's probably best not to discover what illegal goods Nekobaa smuggles through this abandoned city. Naruto stands with his arms folded, his gaze lost somewhere in the distance.
Finally, he turns to me with a heartfelt expression, "Kaori, I'm really glad you're learning Uzumaki fuinjutsu. It makes me happy that my clan's knowledge is helping you." He looks to the side and seems lost for words for a moment, then he turns back to me nervously, "Could you… maybe summon Otter-chan some time again? I'd like to hear more about the Uzumaki Clan."
"Of course, Naruto," I say, reaching over to clasp his shoulder, "The Uzumaki are your clan. Your heritage. You have every right to know everything about them. That's your family." Naruto's lip curls and he looks down. I stroke his back, "I can summon Otohime anytime. Besides, I can tell she liked speaking to you also, she enjoyed reminiscing about Mito-hime."
Naruto grins, "Ah, Mito-baachan sounded really cool!"
I smile, before I level Naruto with a stern look. "But I can only summon the otters when we're outside of the village. It's too dangerous otherwise. If someone else were to find out about my connection to the otters… then…" I trail off.
Naruto's expression becomes grave and serious, "Don't worry, Kaori. Your secret is safe with me."
I playfully punch his arm, "Just make sure to keep your voice down, okay? No more screaming or shouting."
Naruto pouts, "You make me sound like a baby, Kaori." But then sure enough, he turns and catches sight of Sasuke returning with a familiar looking giant blue scroll, "SASUKE! IS THAT A SUMMONING SCROLL?"
I drop my head into my hands, he'll never learn, will he?
"Keep your voice down, idiot! You're deafening the cats," Sasuke snaps.
"Did you sign a summoning contract? Which summon? Which summon?" Naruto pesters.
"Hn," Sasuke replies, turning his back on Naruto and bowing deeply to Nekobaa.
"You bastard!" Naruto growls, "We're a team. We have to know what your summon creature is!"
"Tiger?" I guess.
Sasuke smirks, "No."
Naruto bounces on the spot, "Oh! Oh! A salamander!"
Sasuke frowns, "No."
I stroke my chin, trying to think of apex predators, as I doubt Sasuke signed with any creature he couldn't take into battle, "Bears?"
Sasuke snorts, "No."
Naruto hums in thought before he excitedly snaps his fingers, "A SHARK!"
At that, Sasuke bursts into snickering laughter. I start giggling, imagining Sasuke pulling out a great white into battle. Naruto rubs his head embarrassed, before he also starts laughing.
Sasuke sobers up first, still smirking, "I haven't officially signed the contract yet. If they let me, then you'll find out what summon animal it is."
The mystery is solved the next morning. As always, I awake at dawn, and decide to stretch on the balcony before my morning run. But when I step out onto the balcony, I find myself face to beak with a large dark red bird of prey. By the colouring alone, I instinctively recognise it as a summon.
"I assume you're here for Sasuke," I say. The bird pins me with a long, hard stare.
I curiously examine the bird, "Eagle?" The bird squawks at me as if deeply insulted. "Hawk?" I hastily correct, and the bird straightens on its perch, proudly preening its feathers.
"You two will get along fine," I mutter, and then retreat from the balcony.
I spend the morning with the otters, getting turned into a human pretzel with an Otter-Fu spar against Asari and then literally banging my head against the wall trying to decode the curse mark. On my way back into the village, Ino hails me down.
I slow to a jog, "It's not like you to come all the way out here."
"Yes, well, I had to come collect the birthday girl." She says, running along beside me.
I pause, "Birthday?"
Ino rolls her eyes, "Honestly, Kaori, I'm buying you a calendar, it's the 8th of August - your birthday!" Her voice picks up into a shrill squeak as she tackles me into a tight hug.
"Now c'mon, lunch at mine and then a house tour of your new apartment. Which you still haven't officially invited me to!" She chastises.
"Ino, would you like to come over to my new apartment later?" I ask, playing along.
Ino beams, "Of course! I've already picked out a climbing rose that would look gorgeous on your balcony!"
She takes my hand and steers me back to the Yamanaka Clan compound, just as she had done when we were still in the Academy. We enter her home and find Sakura assisting Noriko-oba with setting up lunch on the table.
Sakura skips forward and presents me with a wrapped gift and a small card, on the card is 1-3 in bold gold letters, "Happy Birthday, Kaori!"
That's when it hits me, I'm thirteen.
It's strange, I no longer feel so trapped in this body, no longer confined, or restricted as a child.
Finally, it feels like I'm actually growing up.
A.N; Orochimaru is fully paralysed and wheeling around because Anko sacrificed her soul to aid the Third Hokage when he was sealing Oro into the Shinigami's belly. That plot point was unlikely to be actually addressed in the LOK plotline, so I thought I'd explain it here. RIP Anko.
Anyway, hello! I've updated after 8 months! Does this mean I'm picking up this story again? Honestly, I don't know. I just felt a wave of good feeling and nostalgia for the Naruto world recently and started writing this again, and I wanted to wrap up this story arc neatly in a bow. Butttt between trying to write original fiction and keeping up with my day job, there's not always time, energy or inclination to keep writing LOK. Do I have ideas for the next story arc? Yes. Will I write it? I don't know.
I will say a huge thank you to all the commenters! For all your kind words, thoughts, predictions, and questions! Engaging with the story and telling me the things you liked, the character moments that stuck out to you, and any questions you had, really fuelled my own passion for this story and encouraged me to come back to it.
Now I can't promise if I'll continue writing, as I explained above, but I just wanted to let all the readers know how invaluable comments can be for an author in both encouraging and rewarding them for their storytelling. So, if there are any other ongoing fanfic stories out there that you're really enjoying then go now and comment on them! Shower your favourite authors on this site with feedback!
