Remember how last chapter was pretty happy?
This one is the opposite.
I made myself cry at work again. I'm sorry!
"We will take our first C-rank mission today." Sensei said yesterday as soon as we entered the training ground. My stomach immediately plummeted. It's been six months since my seal came in and we've done a lot of training. But given the legacy of team seven's failed c-ranks, I'm worried. Yeah, we're not team seven, but I'm on the team. Just a small connection to team seven is all it takes for everything to go to hell.
"What's wrong?" Reiji asked as soon as we all started walking towards his home. Reiji's house had become the central spot for our team whenever we weren't out training. His parents, if they weren't out on missions, would always be there making some of the most delicious food I've ever had. But more importantly, it was a quiet, secluded place we could all just be.
"Missions outside of the village never go too well for my family," I said as we turned a corner. We'd already stopped at all of our other apartments to grab our gear. We'd sort through everything together and pack as a team at Reiji's.
"What do you mean?" Minoru asked.
"Well, on one mission my older brother got his eye cut out and my other brother died."
"You have older brothers?" Reiji asked, both he and Minoru looked unsettled by the story.
"Technically only one, Naruto." I said as we walk up the path to Reiji's home. "But the brothers I mentioned were my dad's students."
"I didn't know you knew who your parents were, Kiku-chan," Minoru said.
"I'm not technically supposed to," I grinned at them. Minoru rolls his eyes as he holds the front door open for us.
"It would be best not to let others know what Kiku-chan told us today," sensei said.
"What?" Minoru asks as I walked by him and into the house.
"Security issues," I said as I waved my hand. I heard the front door close behind Minoru as we all walked through the house to the backyard. While the sun was bright overhead at the front of the home, the entire backyard was shaded. Large trees overhead blocked the sunlight out, only the dim lanterns throughout the backyard provided enough light for all of us to see.
"Security issues," Reiji repeated as he took off his glasses. His dark brown eyes are piercing as he looks at me. He snorted as he dropped his bag on the ground. "I knew it."
"You knew what?" Minoru asked as he followed Reiji's motions.
"She's the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina," Reiji said.
"The Red Hot Habanero?" Minoru yelled. "My sister is obsessed with her!"
"Honestly boys," sensei sighed as he flopped on the ground.
"I already set up a silencing seal, sensei." He visibly relaxed as he started emptying his bag.
"Was it also true that Uzumaki-hime was in a relationship with the Yondaime?" Reiji asked as he sat down beside sensei.
"Wait," Minoru cut in. "Naruto looks just like him without the whiskers!" Sensei groaned as he buried his face in his hands. I reached over to pat the top of his head before sitting down beside Minoru. "What's wrong, sensei?" Minoru asked as he handed me a piece of dango. I grinned at him before I took a bite.
"We're already breaking S-class decrees before our first C-rank," sensei sighed.
"S-rank?" Reiji asked.
"The Yondaime and Uzumaki-hime both had many enemies. For Kiku and Naruto's protection, the Sandaime made the fact that they were their children a S-class secret."
"No way," Minoru breathed. "No wonder you're so good a fuinjutsu! You're an Uzumaki and the Yondaime's kid!"
"Have you started on the hiraishin?" Reiji asked
"No!" I squeaked. "I'm not that good, 'ttbane!"
"Yet," Minoru and Reiji deadpanned.
"Shut up!" I said as I started to dump out my own bag.
"It explains why you are so worried about this mission," Reiji said.
"Oh yeah!" Minoru said after him. "Don't worry, Kiku. No matter what, we'll stick together!"
"Guys, you can't-" I tried to say, but sensei cut me off.
"I suppose this would be a good time to give you these, then," he said as he dug a box out of his bag. He opened it before he handed each of us a matching metal bracelet. I immediately slipped it on my right wrist, the weight of the metal already comforting me. "These are chakra conductive bracelets. While you're not ready to use them just yet, there may be a time when you're able to use them to communicate silently during combat."
"So cool," Minoru whispered under his breath as sensei slipped his own bracelet on. As soon as the bracelet was on sensei's wrist, I could feel all of their chakras humming through the metal.
"Sensei?" I squeaked.
"Kiku-chan? What's wrong?"
"I can feel all of your chakras in the metal 'ttbane!"
"Well, it looks like we can all communicate with Kiku-chan already, at least," sensei said, his eyes twinkling. "I thought you might be extra sensitive to it already, it may take Minoru and Reiji a few years before they're able to use it fully."
"Make that one year!" Minoru said confidently.
"Six months," Reiji said.
"You three are going to be the death of me," sensei sighed.
"No death!" Minoru yelled. "We're going to stick together, team twenty always!" If there was anything I'd learned in the months since I'd met Minoru, it's that if Minoru says something will happen, it will. I felt warmth bloom in my chest at his declaration, and I couldn't help but feel a bit of his confidence. I won't lose my team.
I can't lose more of my family.
I still believed Minoru's declaration the next day when we accepted the C-rank mission in Jiji's office. That should have been when I became worried. As soon as we started to enter the room, the elders left it. I felt Shimura Danzo's eyes on me until the door shut behind us.
I still didn't feel any worry after hearing about the mission. We were to escort a craftsman from Konoha to Yugakure. A simple enough mission. But then we actually met the man. He was the worst misogynist I've met in this world. And it's the Naruto universe. Every few minutes he'd make a comment about me, how my red hair would get us in trouble.
But we pushed on. I ignored the man despite the comments. Sensei would make comments about the annoying man under his breath, making it easier for me to calm down and ignore the idiotic craftsman.
Everything went to hell as soon as we reached the border of Fire country a few days later. Things seemed fine when we made camp. I couldn't sense anyone in the area. I took the second shift, the most annoying one, but it was my turn and I wasn't going to complain.
I sat up, alert for an hour and a half. Sure, I felt tired, but I was still making sure to search the area with my sensing ability every couple of minutes. It was all clear, I couldn't sense anyone except for some civilians in a small village a few miles away. We were safe and away from everyone.
Until it hit an hour and forty-five minutes. I was excited to be able to go back to sleep. Only fifteen minutes until I could wake up sensei for his turn. But then, I felt it. Three chakra signatures approaching at a fast rate. They'd already breezed through the small village and it seemed like they were headed directly towards us. As soon as I recognized what was happening, I tapped sensei to wake him up.
"Kiku?" Sensei whispers. "Time for my shift?"
"No." I whisper back. He immediately sits up, alert as he shakes Minoru awake next to him. I walk to the small fire as sensei goes to wake up Reiji. I form the hand signs, tiger-ox-tiger-rat. I feel the water pool in my stomach as I send a small water bullet to put out the fire. It won't do anything, but I try it anyways. They already know we're here. They must have a sensor with them.
"How far away, how many, and do you recognize them, Kiku?" Sensei asks quietly. Minoru and Reiji are alert, both are on either side of the client, ready to protect him.
"Minutes, three, and not exactly." I whisper to him. The last thing I want is for Minoru or Reiji to learn more about Root than what they're about to in a few minutes.
"What do you mean?" Sensei asks, leaning closer to me.
"The village needs to reapply dad's weedkiller."
"Shit," sensei says. "Focus on protecting the client," sensei says to Reiji and Minoru.
"Sensei-," Minoru tries to say.
"No," sensei says immediately. "We need to knock these three out as soon as possible. Let me handle this. Kiku, have your seals ready if they get by me." When they get by me, sensei says with his eyes. I feel his, Minoru, and Reiji's fear through the bracelet that burns into my right wrist.
But it also brings comfort. They're alive.
"One minute," I say as I stand behind sensei. That one minute is the longest of my entire life. But then, the masked figures burst through the trees. I feel the shock in their chakra, they pause for just a moment which sensei uses to his advantage. He quickly hits one of the root agents in multiple spots on his body, cutting off his chakra system entirely.
The other agents aren't as easy. As soon as the other agent goes down, one masked shinobi goes after sensei while the other runs towards me. I turn my attention away from sensei and focus on the man in front of me. He runs quickly, his tanto already out of its holder as he nears me.
I pull a kunai out of my pouch and stop the tanto from making contact. The screeching of metal is all I can hear as I continue to dodge the man. I struggle and slip a knockout seal in my left hand, ready to hit him, but then I feel a hit at the back of my head.
"Kiku!" Minoru's voice breaks the sounds of combat in the clearing. I blink hard, forcing my eyes open. Somehow, another agent has appeared. I never sensed him. Both men come to attack me, but something hits the back of the new shinobi's head. His head slams forward before he falls to the ground, a kunai sticks up out of the back of his head, blood already spurting from the wound.
I cringe at the sight and turn away quickly to focus on the first shinobi. I manage to land a hit, stabbing him in the stomach with my kunai, but it doesn't stop him from reaching around and hitting me hard. I fly back until I hit a tree, my vision completely blacks out for a few brief seconds, and all I can hear is Minoru's angry yell.
"No one hurts one of my sisters!" I hear the sounds of feet moving on the grass, the angry clang of metal. After a few tense moments I'm finally able to see, and I wish I wasn't. I still can't move my body. I don't know if it's shock or whatever jutsu the man hit me with. But that doesn't stop him from running straight towards me with Minoru nowhere in sight.
Just as the man is about to plunge the tanto into my body, another body covers my own. Minoru crouches in front of me, his body covering my own while one arm is held behind him. I hear the root agent's last breath as Minoru's breathing becomes heavy.
"Minoru?" I manage to whisper. He gives me a small smile, but I can clearly see the pain in his eyes. "Minoru!" I say louder as I finally start to regain feeling in my arms. My entire body feels like it's on fire as I push Minoru back a little, only to see the tanto piercing his body, through his back directly through his chest.
"T-tell," he starts to gasp as he leans on me more heavily.
"Minoru, no, you'll tell them yourself when we get home!" I say as I struggle to reach my medical pouch.
"Don't waste those," he says quietly.
"Minoru," I whimper, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. There was too much blood. There would be even more if we tried to take out the tanto. We were days away from Konoha, from the hospital. Minoru is going to die. He's going to die because of me.
My brother is going to die because of me.
"T-tell mom and my sister I love them, yeah?"
"I will," I say into his shoulder.
"Look at me Kiku-chan," Minoru says. I struggle to pull back and look at him through my tears. I feel sensei and Reiji's panic through the bracelet as they run over to us.
"I love you, imouto. Don't blame yourself for this."
"I love you too, Minoru-nii."
"Minoru," sensei says, his voice panicked.
"Hey, sensei," Minoru says casually. None of us can say anything. "I love you all. Thank you for being my family."
"You don't thank people for being family, dummy." I say to him. He gives a hoarse laugh before talking with sensei and Reiji for a few moments. I'm not able to hear anything except for the rushing in my ears as his chakra begins to fade.
The once strong thrum of his chakra against my wrist starts to weaken as he starts to lean more and more into me. I hear his breathing start to slow as sensei murmurs reassurances to Minoru. I feel a lump in my throat as I feel Minoru's signature smile against my neck.
"I'll always be with you, dummy."
A part of me dies with Minoru in that clearing. I will never be able to forget the feeling of his chakra fading in my arms and against my wrist. I lose track of time as we sit there in silence. I hear our client shuffle at one point, but even he is smart enough to not break the tense silence.
Eventually, sensei pulls Minoru from mine and Reiji's arms. I feel numb when he does so. All I felt was pain before I realized Minoru was hurt, but now I can't feel anything. I watch as sensei slowly pulls the tanto out of Minoru's back. I force myself to watch as sensei lays his body down in the grass. How he pulls out a scroll from the side of his backpack. We hadn't brought body storage scrolls with us.
"I know how to change it, sensei," I finally find my voice. Sensei closes his eyes and nods. I struggle to stand from my spot on the ground. Once I do, I squeeze Reiji's shoulder. He still hasn't moved from his spot.
"Do I want to know how you learned this, Kiku-chan?" Sensei asks quietly as I reach into the pouch on my side. I pull out my pen and ink as I answer him.
"I asked Jiji to teach me before we left, but he wouldn't," my voice cracks. "H-he said I wouldn't need it." I close my eyes tightly, willing the tears to go away. "There was an Uzumaki Oji-san that gave me all the things he had from Uzu when he died. I-I finally looked through it and found how to change a regular storage scroll to a- to a- to a-."
"Kiku-chan," sensei soothes. He plants his hand firmly on my back. I struggle to breathe as I uncap the inkwell. "You can do this," he says quietly.
"It-it-it should have been me 'ttbane," I whisper to myself as I dip the pen in the ink. My hand shakes, knocking the inkwell over causing the ink to spill on the grass beside me.
"It shouldn't have been any of us," sensei says fiercely.
"B-but if I wasn't on the team-" sensei picks up the inkwell, making me realize how much ink I'd already wasted. I'd only brought the two wells, I was running low and d-ranks don't pay enough for the supplies. We were just out of fire country, what if I run out?
"Uzumaki Kikuko," sensei says firmly.
"I'm sorry," I say as I start to draw on the scroll. Instead of adding to the existing array, I create smaller arrays. Ones that will help preserve Minoru's-
Ones that will get Minoru home safe.
I pull my shaking hand and pen away from the scroll after a few minutes and throw the pen back into my pouch. Sensei hands me the sealed inkwell, so I throw that in as well. I turn back to Reiji and he's still frozen in his spot.
"Go," sensei nods towards him, but I shake my head.
"I-I need to do this." Sensei sighs but rolls the scroll out anyways. I hear the grass rustle beside us and look over panicked. Only to relax when I see Reiji is moving towards us. His shoulders are slumped, his regular jacket covered in blood. His kikai crawl over him erratically. Like they know what just happened. They probably do.
Sensei nods towards Minoru's head. I shakily stand up and walk over to Minoru's head. His hair is a complete mess, I try in a vain attempt to get some of the tangles out as Reiji kneels beside me.
"On three," sensei says. Reiji and I nod. I grab onto Minoru's right shoulder while Reiji grabs his left. I hold one hand under Minoru's head as sensei begins to count. "One, two," sensei gives a deep sigh. "Three." We move as one, moving Minoru's body to rest on the scroll.
Bandages immediately begin to fly up, covering him tightly. Protecting him. Soon the scroll rolls in on itself, and once it's closed, a large black band surrounds the center of it. The only color on the scroll is the bright red whirlpool symbol. Only sensei or someone with Uzumaki chakra will be able to open it. I made sure to channel some of his chakra and my own. I failed Minoru while he was alive, but I won't fail him with this. Danzo won't touch him again.
After the scroll is tucked securely in sensei's jacket, sensei helps us clean the blood off of our bodies and forces us to change. Soon, Reiji is tucked securely in his sleeping bag, as is our client. I focus on helping sensei seal up the rest of Minoru's things, including the small green butterfly keychain he kept as a good luck charm. I swallow the lump in my throat as I lean back against the trunk of a tree and curl into sensei's side.
He tries talking to me quietly, telling stories like he would whenever we'd have survival training and I couldn't sleep. They used to work. Minoru and I would fall asleep on each other with Reiji falling asleep next to one of us.
There's no way I'm sleeping tonight.