By the time we left the tower that night, the Root signatures were gone. From the pleased look on A's and Bee's faces, I think I know what happened. We ended up all going out for dinner after leaving the tower. I technically wasn't allowed in since we ended up in a bar, but being with the Raikage helped. Even though he didn't let me have any sake.

I stayed in Kumo an extra week after that to be safe. Bee saw me off in the morning, the sun was just beginning to rise when I left the village with the promise to send Ichika to let him know when I get back to the island.

I get to the beaches of Yugakure just as the sun begins to rise again. I let out a small sigh of relief as I do. The way back to Uzu hadn't been easy, but at least I haven't been attacked. There were storms throughout Kumo and Yugakure, but I used them to my advantage. I took a separate way from Kumo to get here this time and the rain helped cover my tracks.

And thankfully now the storms seem to have cleared which will make it easier to get back to Uzu. I finally learned how to use the seal on the back of the boat to make it go quickly without me having to row. There's a wind seal on the back that you can manipulate to steer the boat. You also control the speed with it.

It can go really, really fast.

I'm looking forward to the trip home.

I get closer to the docks where I left my boat this time, under a fake name as usual, but when I walk up to the shack, there's no one there. Normally there's someone that you at least wave to when you leave, but there's no one here. I try to feel for chakra but I can't feel any.

I'm immediately on edge. I leave the small shack and look around, there's no one on the beach and I can't see anyone in the foliage along it. But that doesn't mean that someone isn't here. I walk towards the docks carefully. I look around for traps in the sand and see none. Just when I start to feel safe, it happens.

A kunai whizzes towards me and I move enough just to have a piece of my ear cut like last time. And it's the opposite ear.

"At least it'll match now," I mumble to myself as I drop into a defensive crouch. I look in the direction where the kunai came from and don't see any movement. Of course the coward would stay in the trees. I grab a couple of senbon and twirl them in my fingers as I wait. If there's anything that I've learned in the past few weeks, it's that I'm not strong enough to go barging into a fight yet.

I feel naked without the sword sheaths that I've gotten used to wearing around Kumo. There's no way I'm using them alone, either. I still haven't combined Uzu and hip-hop into a fighting style. And there's a good chance I'll manage to severely injure myself if I try lightning release with them alone.

I could go into the trees, but then there's the chance that they could be directly above me. Maybe if I try to go just outside of the trees I could get a glimpse of them-

Another kunai comes from behind me and I sigh as I deflect it with my senbon. I'm tempted to use my sealing chains to get away, but that's the last thing I want Danzo to know I'm able to use.

One second I'm able to think alone on the beach and the next there's someone in front of me with their fist coming straight for my face. I swipe my arm up and out to deflect the punch and jab my senbon into their vein. They don't even make a noise of pain. They're silent as they try to hit me again.

I don't think. My body reacts automatically after so many hours of kickboxing. My knee comes up and my leg goes out, kicking the Root agent down the beach. They come running back towards me down the beach and I brace myself.

And then I see the tanto. My eyes widen and I hastily pull a kunai from my seal. I'm able to deflect the tanto at the last minute, but the force pops my shoulder out of its socket. I feel the searing hot pain for a second before I'm able to focus. And when I do I feel absolute panic.

They're coming with the tanto again. This time, it's just like they did with Minoru. And just like with Minoru, I can't move my body. Why can't I move my body when this happens? I don't freeze during spars like this. I only freeze like this when it's a Root agent. I only freeze when it's important that I don't.

I hear a scream echo across the beach.

I struggle to breathe.

I feel every inch of the tanto leave my body even though I didn't feel it enter. I feel the sand hit my hands as I hit the ground, my body heaves in an attempt to breathe. Why did they go for my lung instead of my heart if they want me dead?

The Root agent comes forward with the tanto again. This time I'm barely able to lift my hand up to block it with my kunai. I feel a prick at the back of my neck and my entire body freezes.

No.

The plan for when I got back to Uzu was to work on growing a tolerance for poison.

This can't happen now. I feel like I've just scratched the surface of what I might be able to do with seals one day.

My body falls forward. I'm kneeling face first in the sand, my kunai managed to give me a nice cut that's going to bleed a lot. At least I didn't get stabbed for the second time today. I hear quiet voices just feet in front of me and suddenly I can feel their chakra once more.

They had someone suppressing all the chakra in the area. Asshole.

I try to think of anything I can do, but there's nothing. I can't summon Ichika, Bee won't be expecting to hear anything for a few more hours. I'm too far to flare my chakra, there's no shinobi within sensing distance. I checked.

I fall into my mindscape as the Root shinobi whisper to each other. It's a small room for all the trauma that's stuffed in there. I'm sure a Yamanaka will have a field day with me if I ever make it back to Konoha. I hurriedly skim through different files hoping for anything, maybe just an offhand comment from the academy could help me.

But there's nothing.

Just me standing in the small, dark office space of my mindscape.

I have to live. I have to be able to help Naruto. I have to stop Danzo. I feel tears start to fall as I look in the corner of the office. The darkness seems to swirl in the shape of a whirlpool. Kairi will murder me if I do this, if I go against what she said. If I go against my promise.

I don't want to have my last life's memories, I just want to be able to remember from when I was a kid in this life. There's periods of time that are just blank and if I could just reach them, I might be able to live. I've already given up on having a family of my own. I won't let my children be used like Naruto and me. What would it take from me?

I start to push chakra like I do when I use my prayer beads. But instead of pushing my chakra into the beads, I push it through my system. I try to think about what I could offer as I clear my mind. My ability to use a sword? That would be one of the worst outcomes for me. Using a sword is like breathing, now. Just like sealing-

I feel my hands twitch.

I exit my mindscape immediately. I'm able to move my hands enough that I quietly drop the kunai into the sand. I feel my hands start to shake as they feel like they're being stabbed by a million senbon at once. I grip the senbon in my right hand hard.

At night in Kumo before I went to sleep I would always work on fuinjutsu. Whether it's studying a new book or trying out new seals. I knew for sure I could use the seal for wind that's used on the boats from Uzu and I even made my own wind seal to use in a prank with some of the academy kids in Kumo. I know I can use and make water seals as well.

I read how to use lightning, fire, and earth seals. I never tried them. I didn't want to chance using lightning until I was more comfortable with it. I was going to wait to use fire when I got back to Konoha and could learn more about fire there.

I'm a shinobi from Uzu and Konoha, both villages have never really gotten along with Iwa.

And while I'm on the beach, water will only do so much to keep them busy.

I try to breathe evenly as I move the senbon in my hand. I'm thankful for not being able to move the rest of my body or else I would have screamed as soon as I began.

I start to carve a seal into the palm of my hand. All seals regarding the elements start with an image of that element in the center. I start with a rock. A circle always surrounds a seal like this. It symbolizes the flow of chakra. I put in a stabilizer, a swirl just inside of the circle. And behind the rock, I draw mountains. The mountains symbolize my personal connection to the element. The mountains of Uzushiogakure where I trained and signed my contract with the mountain lions.

All truly powerful seals have a personal element.

A personal element that identifies the creator of the seal. It's a massive risk, because it becomes the key to figuring out who the original sealmaster is. I haven't made any seals like this before. I haven't even thought of making seals like this until I finished reading through my jonin books sometime in the next year.

But I don't really have a choice now.

And if I'm never going to be able to get rid of this seal, of this reminder of how powerless I feel in this moment, I'm going to give myself a reminder of how powerful I can be, too.

I struggle to push my hands together, charging the seal with my chakra before I hit both of my hands on the ground. I feel the thrum of the seal expand under me.

And then the ground shakes.

I imagine a large fist exploding from the ground and hear it crumble. I put more chakra into the ground and it shakes once again as I imagine the fist trapping the Root agents.

There's a beat of silence.

I don't feel their chakra signatures moving anymore.

I hear roaring in my ears.

There's a splash that comes from the ocean to my right. I can't move my head to look at the new chakra signature that's coming onto the beach. I don't have enough chakra to move.

"So," a new voice says. It drips with venom. "Which one of you idiots is going to hand me the antidote?" There's silence. I hear fabric rustle. The sound of a sword leaving its sheath.

And then there's screams.

And then silence.

The only chakra signatures that remain are my own and the person who came from the ocean.

"You can let go of the jutsu now princess. They're dead."

"No shit," my voice is hoarse. I'm surprised I can even talk.

"Stop circulating your chakra, you're low." The voice chides. I'm tempted to pull from my seal, but it's worthless given how close I am to passing out from the blood loss.

"G-got my lung."

"I'll get you to a medic, just focus on breathing," the voice says as the person leans over me. His body is huge. I would flinch away if I could. I feel another prick on my neck and nothing changes.

Until I start to feel everything.

"I know, I know. They used a paralytic which kept out some of the pain-"

I don't hear what else he has to say as I fall into the darkness.

When I wake up from that darkness, it's slow. Very slow. It's the hardest time I've ever had trying to wake up. When I open my eyes, everything is blurry, but I can tell that it's dark and that I'm moving. I close them again.

When I open them again I'm not moving anymore. I'm in a warm, comfortable bed. I'm in my bed. I can tell from the chakra signatures of the different summons around me. One of the beetles sits on the windowsill. Kairi sits on my desk with Soma and Itsuki. Ichika is by my left hand. I try to move it to run my hand through her short fur but it doesn't move. I feel Ren and Ai coming closer.

Wait.

Is that another chakra signature?

The memories come back and hit me hard.

There is someone else in Uzushiogakure. Someone the summons trusted enough to let in the barrier. Someone who knew who I am. Who came out of the ocean. I keep blinking my eyes until I can eventually see my ceiling clearly and I let out a breath.

"Uzumaki Kikuko if you ever do something so reckless again-" Ichika starts. Everything sounds like I'm underwater, including my raspy laugh at her rant. I see the worry in her eyes as she leans over me and I try to give an encouraging smile.

"I-I wasn't reck- reckless at first," I manage to say before I fall into a coughing fit. "I sou-sound like Hayate-"

"Quit talking," Kairi says as she lands on the bed beside me. "You were in a hospital for a few days before you were brought back here, they healed you up as much as they could, but you're going to need to rest to heal."

"Where?" I rasp, not listening to her. She fluffs her feathers and ignores me.

"Iwa," Ichika says when I struggle to turn my head to look at her. I sigh and turn my head back to face the ceiling.

"Fucking Iwa," I groan as I close my eyes. I sound exactly like Shikaku when I say it. I hear a snicker and my eyes snap open. I struggle to turn my head towards the noise and see a tall, blue man with what looks like gills on his cheeks. He looks like a shark.

So this must be Hoshigaki Kisame.

The sharks had been moving closer in the last few months of my training. I should have known he was behind it. Before they just stuck to the outskirts of the ocean that surrounded the island but was still inside of the barrier.

"I should-shoulda-"

"Kiku," Ai says gently as she walks from behind the missing nin and lays down beside my bed.

"Sh-should'a known shark boy w-was stalkin' me." There's silence in the room. And then a booming laughter fills the small space. I see Kisame throw his head back and laugh, showing his sharp teeth.

"That's a new one, princess," he says as he reaches down. I look to see my favorite tea cup. It has sharks on it. Of course he'd choose that one. I try to raise my arm but it feels too heavy.

"Re-really?" I cough as I try to move my arm again. This time it moves up an inch from the bed, but it falls back down as soon as it comes up.

"What?" He asks as he puts the tea on the floor beside me.

"Fucking Iwa?" I ask as he starts using pillows to prop me up. He shrugs.

"It's fucking Iwa but the Tsuchikage owed me and the healer in Yugakure didn't do shit."

"Uh-huh," I say dumbly as he reaches down to pick up the cup again.

"Shut up and drink."

"Is th-there sake?" He glares at me. I smile at him.

He forces me to drink the tea. It helps. Immediately. My entire body feels warm and I relax back into the pillows. My head droops forward and hits against his shoulder. I feel a hand run through my hair and I sigh.

"Why?" I ask after I've finished the tea.

"What?" He asks.

"Save me? Stalk me? Wear that stupid cloak? Red clouds? You're literally connected to the ocean through the sharks 'ttbane!"

"The pain killers still haven't worn off," he says. I can hear the smirk in his voice.

"Answers or I'll kick your ass."

"Kikuko," Kairi warns. I don't say anything else. After everything I've gone through I just want to relish in the feeling of being safe. Even if there's a missing nin taking care of me.

"Samehada was created in Uzushiogakure," Kisame finally says.

"What?"

"My sword," he sighs. "It was given to Kirigakure as a gift for peace between the villages."

"Yeah, and we saw how that turned out." He snorts. He pushes me back against the pillows again and stands up.

"The wielder of Samehada was a regular guard for the Uzukage and their family," Kisame says.

"Oh."

"There's a reason why the connection to the shark's summoning realm is in Uzushiogakure," he smirks.

"I thought it was just because they like chaos." He shakes his head as he walks over to a bag by the door of my room. He rifles through it before turning back towards me.

"The red clouds are because it's the uniform of the Akatsuki," he says as he sits down on the bed beside me. He picks up my left hand and starts to unravel the bandages wrapped around it. I vaguely remember what the Akatsuki is, it was mentioned in one of the clan head meetings. I remember something about Orochimaru being a member of it, too. The council said Jiji couldn't vote because he was biased.

"Why are you with those losers?"

"Did you just call an organization filled with S-rank missing nin losers?"

"Yup!" I say just before he gets to the final layer of bandages. I hiss when he removes the last of them, the bandage tried to stick to my wound. "That means you technically worked with Orochimaru right? That's loser number one."

"I can't tell if you're super high or insane," he mutters under his breath as he opens a small container.

"Por qué no los dos?" He doesn't even respond. He dips his fingers into the container and starts smoothing a cool lotion over the palm of my hand. "But why join them?"

"I was tired of the lies," he says as he moves the lotion over the rock symbol in the center of my palm. I feel my hand shake on its own and I try to ignore it. "My predecessor in the seven swordsmen was selling lies about the village to other villages."

"And I guess they came to you and said they wanted to get rid of all the liars after you left Kiri?"

"Something like that," he says as he dips his hand back into the container.

"I'm sure they told Orochimaru that they'd help him with getting supplies for any experiments after he left, too."

"I don't know what they told-"

"Do you trust the organization? That there's no traitors?" Kisame looks at me for a second before nodding. "Orochimaru is working with Shimura Danzo, he most likely was working with him the entire time." Kisame's hand freezes for a second before he goes back to applying the healing salve.

"And how do you know that, pup?"

"Cause' Danzo is the only one other than Orochimaru who's crazy enough to try to attack Jiji."

"I don't know why Orochimaru and a Konoha council member have something against your grandpa, but he can't be that good if he's old enough to be your grandpa."

"He's called the God of Shinobi for a reason, ya know?" Kisame sighs as he wipes his hand on a spare rag. "And the old man thing is an act, Danzo knows that too which is why he wants to work with Orochimaru."

"Why do you think they're working together?" Kisame finally asks as he closes the container. "Sure, they both want the Hokage dead, but there's no proof of them working together."

"Who else could make such a strong combination silence and control seal other than Orochimaru and Jiraiya? And it's not like Jiraiya would make it, he's too busy and he hates the elders as much as I do."

"We really need to work on your filter when you're medicated," Ichika sighs. I feel her head rest on my thigh and my left hand moves to immediately rest it on her, but Kisame stops me. I pout as he pulls out fresh bandages.

"What does a seal like that have anything to do with this?"

"Because Danzo uses those seals on Root agents. And Jiji is trying to watch Root because they're trying to kill me-" Kisame makes a choked sound in the back of his throat. "And Jiji said he's pretty sure Orochimaru is going to try to hurt him and the only way he could get that information is through following a Root agent. Jiraiya has tried to track Orochimaru, but Jiraiya said Orochimaru attacks any toads that come near him. I should've put it together sooner, really. Jiji said Orochimaru wanted to be Hokage more than anything and Danzo wants to control everything more than anything. Hey- wait, does Orochimaru ever do anything out of character? Like does he stop talking mid sentence or does he not answer where he's been?"

"What the fuck?" Kisame asks. "Did you even breathe?"

"Answer!" I slap his arm and his eyes widen.

"Ah, just like when you were in the academy," Haruto says from the window.

"You were spying on me, too?" I yell.

"You really do ramble when something interests you, Kiku," Itsuki pipes up.

"Don't worry," Ai says when she notices my pout. "It's cute."

"Yeah, that kid always got this dreamy look in his eyes when you'd go off-" I feel my cheeks heat up.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I huff.

"Mmhmm. I'm sure you don't know anything about how you'd always blush when a certain pineapple head would get into your shogi games~" Haruto teases and I glare at him. It sets Itsuki off into a fit of laughter, some of the other summons in the room joining him.

"Answer!" I turn back to Kisame and he just looks from Haruto back to me a couple of times.

"What the fuck?" He whispers under his breath. He shakes his head and starts to wrap my hand in the new bandages. He turns it over and I see that the wound is already starting to scab over. How long had we been in Iwa? How long had I been out?

"Sometimes he was illusive as to where he'd been," Kisame says.

"But did he ever like, snap his mouth shut?"

"Once, although it could have been that Tobi pissed him off."

"Tobi?"

"Don't ask," Kisame sighs.

"I think Danzo got a seal on Orochimaru, too. Do you know where he is?"

"No, and if I did I wouldn't tell you, you're insane!"

"I'm an Uzumaki," I point out.

"That's the same damn thing!"

"How are they going to get rid of the liars?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow. He just looks at me, his eyes blank. Maybe I've been spending too much time with Ichika. Or maybe the drugs really are hitting me harder than I think. "We're humans, humans are always going to lie. And who's to say that they're not lying to you, too?"

"They left their villages for a reason," Kisame says.

"And so did I," I cross my arms after he finishes wrapping up my hand. "The Akatsuki is just like the hidden villages, they use humans as tools for their means to an end. For the villages, it's survival and prosperity. What is it for the Akatsuki?"