The world came back with a snap.
Naruto was staring up at the ceiling of his mindscape again. Well, more accurately, he was floating down a very warm river of herbal soak, like in those really expensive bathhouses.
He sighed. Of course. Because nothing good really could ever happen when the Kyuubi was involved, could it? Naruto allowed himself to float, taking a moment to relax while the water inevitably took him to the Kyuubi's prison. It was probably the most peace he was going to have for a while.
The sound was different though. The water flowing towards the Kyuubi's gate was normally quiet, or at least not any louder than the canals in Senfuku. Now it sounded like Naruto was floating towards a massive waterfall. Disturbed, he got up and sloshed forward until he was peering through the arch that normally led to the Kyuubi's prison.
When he had visited earlier, there had been a platform in the middle that water flowed around. That platform now had grating over the top that allowed water to empty into a massive cistern, its contents murky and swirling with whatever herbs people put into their bathwater. A gate in the center was sealed shut with a paper seal that looked similar to what kept the Kyuubi behind its bars.
"This is new," Naruto said to himself, peering into the cistern. He squinted and looked carefully, eyes catching some kind of shadow moving near the surface.
"Hello?"
Brown eyes with golden rings peered up at Naruto from below.
"Greetings to you, my lord," the namazu said tonelessly. She emerged slowly out of the water in her kimono and bowed. "I… I am flattered that my master has come to see their servant so quickly."
Naruto recoiled. Master? Servant? He hadn't wanted any of that. And the namazu looked so sad…
"What's going on?" Naruto asked, turning to the bars at the end of the room.
"Is it not obvious?" the Kyuubi asked. Naruto heard the namazu breath in sharply when the demon fox spoke. "The namazu has been bound to me, and so to you. She is mine to command as I see fit. It is only fitting that she regard you as her master as well."
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the fox. "Is that why you made me make that deal earlier?"
"Oh I have other reasons," the fox said carelessly. "Among other things, I am sure our dear fish can sing beautifully, and some entertainment is always good."
"Entertainment?" Naruto boggled. "Are you serious?"
The Kyuubi scoffed. "Of course."
The fox flicked out a line of chakra. It snapped taut between Naruto and the namazu, turning into a crimson thread that wrapped around their wrists and knotted in a way that couldn't be picked apart. Naruto was pretty sure he couldn't just take a knife to it either—mind stuff didn't work that way.
"The bond is tied and now may not be broken save by myself," the Kyuubi said, sounding very satisfied with itself. "You two should get to know each other. Somewhere else though, because I intend to nap."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Naruto asked testily. "She's sort of stuck in the hole."
"Isn't it obvious?" the Kyuubi asked condescendingly. "Tug on the line, boy, to reel in the fish."
Naruto frowned. Said that way, it sounded incredibly demeaning. He took a breath then looked down into the cistern. "Do you— is it okay?"
The namazu looked down but nodded. "Please."
Naruto stepped back a little then grabbed the red string before giving it an experimental tug. The namazu appeared on top of the grating.
From up close, she looked terrible. The color had gone out of her skin, like she was already half dead, and her kimono lacked the glossy sheen of fine silk kept in good repair. Her hair was neatly dressed, but even Naruto could tell it wasn't very healthy.
He supposed that was what killing someone and then imprisoning them would do.
"There, easy enough," said the Kyuubi. "Now run along."
The fox turned his back on them and vanished into the shadows. Naruto and the namazu watched it go, the namazu bowing deeply, before turning to look at each other.
"We should leave, master," the namazu whispered.
Naruto flinched. "Don't call me that," he said, but turned to leave the cavern. The namazu followed behind him quietly, silent on the surface of the water compared to Naruto's sloshing. She didn't speak again until they had rounded a corner and couldn't see the Kyuubi's prison any longer.
"What ought I call you then?" the namazu asked.
"Use my name," said Naruto. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto. What's yours?"
"This one is called Kazuko, Uzumaki-dono," the namazu replied. "T-t-though, of course, as it is the custom to assign a name to new servants, y-y-you may call me as you wish."
"I'm not going to change your name," Naruto said with a scowl. He came to a halt and turned to Kazuko. "And stop acting like I'm going to stab you or something."
Kazuko ducked her head. "A-as you say, Uzumaki-dono."
Naruto sighed. He'd really, really fucked up. "Is this why Fuzzy calls you 'Fish'?"
Kazuko shifted uneasily. "I would not presume upon His Lordship's motives. But if that is his wish, then of course…"
"Tch. What an asshole."
Kazuko looked up at him with wide eyes then glanced behind them. "U-Uzumaki-dono, you shouldn't…"
Naruto felt something like tiny bug feet crawl up his spine when Kazuko looked at him like that.
"Come on."
He didn't really know where he was going, to be entirely honest, but it didn't really matter that much as long as they put some distance between themselves and the Kyuubi. In due course, they reached a T-junction with a large metal door along the top of the T. The door creaked as Naruto pulled it open. The inside held a massive network of interconnecting pipes and a single lantern, but they went in and Naruto closed the door behind them and silence fell dense around them. A quick look around showed no air vents their voices could carry down, and the door was thick and heavy.
With their luck, the Kyuubi could hear them anyway. It would have to do.
"You need to stop treating me that way," Naruto said as soon as he had shut the door. "I'm not— I'm not your owner or something."
"I— how else should I treat you?" Kazuko asked, deeply confused and frightened.
Naruto had the sudden urge to scream. He had to find a way to keep the Kyuubi from pulling this shit on him constantly. "I need you to—" he began, and then stopped because that was not the right way to go about this. He didn't have any information about what Kazuko thought was going on and he needed to figure that out before he could figure anything else out. "Nevermind. What do you think I am?"
Kazuko looked down to the ground and dipped into a bow, afraid that Naruto would do something if she did not show respect. He had probably asked that question too directly. "You are a Speaker for His Lordship. An emissary to other lands granted authority to treat and be treated with. You carry upon you his mark so that all may know for whom it is you speak."
"That would be cool if that was actually true," Naruto said. "I got tricked into taking the mark. I didn't volunteer for it."
Kazuko looked up at him, blinking. "…Is this a trick?"
"No," Naruto said.
"How can you prove it?"
"I can't really," Naruto replied.
Kazuko stared at him. The water around her feet began to boil.
Abruptly she launched herself at him. Naruto slammed into the door and scrambled to push snapping teeth away from his neck. Kazuko slammed her head into his nose and Naruto heard it snap and felt the gush of blood, but managed to get his hands around Kazuko's throat. A punch bounced his head off of the metal a second time and they fell over.
Small hands, slim as Hinata-chan's but far, far stronger fisted into Naruto's hair and forced his face underwater. Naruto pushed upwards with his chakra, trying to force Kazuko off, but his positioning was bad and Kazuko was stronger besides. He reached for the Kyuubi—
Kazuko screamed as she burst into flames, reeling back and diving into the water to no effect. Naruto gasped as he pushed himself out of the water, then canceled the fire.
Water spirit and human sat and watched each other, panting, and the fear was back in Kazuko's eyes.
"You just tried to kill me," Naruto said at length. "Tell me why."
Kazuko's jaw hardened. She held Naruto's gaze as he stood up and walked towards her.
"Tell me why you tried to kill me," Naruto said again. The string that tied them together glowed brightly in the room's dim light. Kazuko's eyes flicked to it, then back to Naruto's.
"Tell me so that I can figure out a way for both of us to get out of the Kyuubi's bullshit," Naruto said, gritting his teeth. "The fox tries to hold me hostage and you don't want to be here. The faster we can figure something out the better chance we have."
"We have no chance," Kazuko hissed back. "My only chance was to take your body before you figured out how to use that string. But now I expect you'll kill me. At least then I'll be dead."
"I'm not going to kill you," Naruto said immediately.
"Why not?" Kazuko asked sarcastically. "You were happy to before. You disemboweled me. I haven't forgotten."
"That was different. You were going to kill my friends."
"That's never stopped a human before," Kazuko bit back. "Is this the trick then? What tortures will you put me through before I finally get to die?"
Naruto grit his teeth. "It isn't a trick! I'm a ninja from Konoha, and we don't execute prisoners when we can help it. You're a prisoner, even if I didn't intend to make you one. So that means I'm not going to execute you."
"Konoha ninja huh," Kazuko said. She bared her teeth at him. "Like the ones who killed my siblings fifty years ago? Or the ones that drove me out of my home in the last three? I have wandered from river to lake to pond because of you Konoha ninja."
Abruptly, Naruto remembered that spirit extermination was a standard mission. Spirits weren't anything you were supposed to be able to negotiate with. Everyone knew they were violent and vicious, stalking you through the woods or ambushing you in the water, and fighting like cornered beasts always. It was best if they could be driven out, because then you didn't have to deal with the fight that came with a very large and very angry entity that tried to kill you, always. Everyone knew that.
Well, apparently they had all been wrong.
"Why don't you talk to them?" Naruto asked quietly.
"Nobody shows up to talk," Kazuko said bitterly. "It's always the same. Maybe my ancestors tried, centuries or millennia ago, but spirits are just pests to be eradicated now aren't they?"
The feeling of tiny bug feet crawling on his skin came back again, but this time it was across the entirety of Naruto's body. Kazuko's eyes had stayed focused on Naruto's, had wanted him to feel the utter loathing she had towards him, and how, now that it was in the open, she dared him to punish her for it. Wouldn't it be just another typical human thing to do? But.
"I don't think," Naruto said slowly, "that most people can understand when a spirit talks to them."
"Of course not, don't be stupid," Kazuko said, sneering. "But we are intelligent and you could have tried but humans didn't."
Naruto took a deep breath.
"I'll try now," Naruto said. He felt like folding his arms, but that seemed dangerous. Kazuko might try to eat him again. "I'm going to treat you like any other person. You're just a particularly strong ninja to me."
"Do not," Kazuko hissed, "call me a ninja. I am not a ninja."
"Fine," said Naruto, "but that doesn't change the fact that I don't know how to treat you like a spirit. You're a person same as me, so that's how I'm going to treat you."
Kazuko scoffed. "If that was true you'd let me go."
"Don't be stupid," Naruto said. "I said I'd treat you like a person but you're still a prisoner. Besides, by now my body's probably back in the village. If you got out, you'd end up having to fight your way through Konoha and just end up dead."
"Maybe I'd like that," Kazuko said, but there was no heat in her voice. If anything she sounded sad.
"Yeah well, too bad," said Naruto. "I won't let you kill more people. I'm not going to treat you like a pet, but I'm not going to just let you run around either. Maybe we could use my apartment—"
"I am not a human and I will not live like one," Kazuko snapped back.
"That's fine," he said. "What do you want to do then?"
Kazuko sighed and looked down at her hands. "I just want to be left alone. I had hoped… I had hoped for a lake, yes. In the woods, away from humans, maybe with a spirit or two I could talk with. Where the fish were plentiful and the birds sang in the trees before the Sun rose."
Naruto frowned. He couldn't give her that. There wasn't a lake like that anywhere nearby and he wasn't going to run off from his duties in Konoha out of pity.
"You can't do it," Kazuko said softly. "I know it's impossible. I don't think any lakes like that exist anymore. I just… don't leave me in here. Don't leave me in that cistern. A fate like that is worse than death."
Wasting away, staring at the water that cascaded down, with nobody to talk to and nothing to do, for years and years… Yeah, Naruto didn't want to do that to her either.
"I can do that," Naruto said. "You'll maybe have to come inside sometimes, and I know you don't want to live like a human, but we have a few canals for moving things around and a river. Maybe it'll help you feel better."
Kazuko smiled bitterly. "Human cities are disgusting places. I… appreciate the thought. But we will see."
Naruto nodded. It was… not great. There was always the risk he had misjudged and she went crazy again before he could stop her. But the other options were worse, and he didn't think he was wrong.
"I'm probably going to wake up now," Naruto said. "What will happen to you?"
"I expect to be back in the cistern," Kazuko said. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly. "I… please. Call me."
Naruto nodded. "I will. I promise."
Hinata opened her eyes at the usual time that she awakened and stared at her ceiling. The sun had not yet risen over the compound walls and her room was cold at this time of year. Her bed's warming seals kept her warm as she considered the wood panels that went from one side to the other.
Naruto had been gone for half a week by now. Hinata and Sayaka had been told to tell everyone that Naruto was in the hospital due to overusing his bloodline ability, and it wasn't even a lie. As expected, major changes to Naruto's relationship with the Kyuubi merited a visit to the basement of the Hokage Tower and left the rest of the team waiting outside. Team Seven had been put on standby while the rumors circulating around the village were quietly manipulated so that nobody knew the real truth about their latest disaster of a mission. They had been told to keep quiet and out of the public eye, which was just as well for Hinata, but Sayaka's letters made it sound like she was already starting to lose her mind from not being able to train as vigorously as she wanted.
At least this time it wasn't nearly as serious. Naruto had been unconscious but clearly stable when Hinata had left him, and Hokage-sama had assured her that he was confident that Naruto would wake up and complain loudly for a week about how they'd overreacted and he wanted to go training. So Hinata did her best not to worry too much.
Besides, she had a lot to worry about for herself. Hinata sighed and tried to prepare herself mentally for another day of reading documents and writing letters and otherwise being under the unwelcomely watchful eyes of her clan. Her birthday was at the end of the year and she would be taking a great role in the running of the clan after she turned thirteen. There were many things to learn and as she was temporarily confined to the compound it had been suggested that she may as well learn as much as she could while she waited for her team to be reactivated.
It was tedious and dull in the best of times, but Hinata keenly felt the expectations her family had for her performance. She would likely need to actually be able to exercise these duties by the time Team Seven was called back to active service. It made her want to stay in bed and go back to sleep.
Her brooding was interrupted by a knock at her door.
"Come in," Hinata sighed, pushing herself upright. The door to her room slid open.
"Good morning, Hinata-sama," said her maid, bowing in the doorway respectfully.
"Good m-morning, Haruka-san," Hinata said from her bed, inclining her head in reply.
"I have your correspondence," Haruka said, head still inclined. "In addition, your father has requested your presence for the morning meal."
Hinata frowned and pulled her bed covers around her. Her father never asked to see her for breakfast. It bode nothing good.
"V-very well," Hinata said through her comforter. "P-please leave my c-correspondence on the s-side table. Is my s-sister asked for as w-well?"
"She is, Hinata-sama," said Haruka.
It could only be about succession then. Hinata hated those conversations.
"V-very well," Hinata said again. "T-thank you, Haruka-san. I will p-prepare on m-my own."
"Very good, Hinata-sama," said Haruka. She bowed again, left the letters on Hinata's side table, and slid the door shut again.
Hinata sighed. Time to get up then.
She dressed and prepared for the day, then flicked through the letters she had received. Nothing of importance – she would write back that evening.
Hinata looked out her window. The sun was starting to rise over the compound walls. She would be late if she delayed any longer.
Sighing again, she left her room and walked down the covered walkway that led to where meals with her father were always taken. It was still cold, and her breath fogged in front of Hinata as she walked.
Hinata turned the corner to see her sister, dressed in training blacks for her morning exercises and her hair loose around her face.
"Hanabi-chan," Hinata called, and her sister stopped and turned.
"Older sister," Hanabi said stiffly, bowing as was appropriate for the younger sibling.
Hinata smiled sadly and considered pulling her sister into a hug to start the day. But Hanabi would probably be uncomfortable with the affection, so Hinata instead returned the bow.
"Did you s-sleep well?" Hinata asked.
"I did," Hanabi answered. There was a distance between her and Hinata that made the words as cold as the early morning air. "How did you sleep?"
"I also s-slept well," Hinata said, completing the little circle of words that convention demanded of them.
Hinata and Hanabi walked together the rest of the way to breakfast. The walk was completed in silence, Hanabi seemingly uninterested and Hinata unable to find words to bridge the gap between them. Their roles and responsibilities in the clan had pulled them apart with increasing speed as they had grown older, until now Hinata no longer recognized the relationship she had once valued above all others. She lamented its loss.
Perhaps it was things like these that made her weak, but Hinata could not bring herself to discard them. Her father would call it childish, perhaps, though of course the other clans would say differently. And in fairness, her father acknowledged that they had made such ways into ways of strength. Theirs was not the way of the Hyuuga though, and Hinata was the heir. She had to set an example.
Hinata and Hanabi shed their shoes and knelt in front of the door to where they would be eating. It was the custom.
"My lord, your daughters have arrived for the morning meal," said one of the attendants.
"Enter."
The door slid back and clicked at its stopper. Hinata and Hanabi bowed.
"Good morning father," they greeted together.
"Sit," said Hyuuga Hiashi. He had been waiting, though judging by his mood he had only just arrived.
"Yes father," Hinata and Hanabi said together again, before bowing a second time and moving to their places at the table. The room was floored with tatami and relatively small – a place for the family to gather in private rather than the grand rooms for receiving guests. The light from the sun was bright enough now that no additional lights were needed.
Their meal was served in characteristic Hyuuga silence and made of the typical components for this time of year: grilled ayu, seasoned with salt, served with miso soup and rice and other seasonal side dishes. The food was delicious, as usual. Mira-obasan was a skilled cook. The food was eaten in silence save for the occasional clink of chopsticks against ceramic. For a moment, Hinata focused on the food.
Then her father broke the silence.
"The harvest has begun," he said. "It will be important for the clan to make a good showing at the festival in two weeks."
Hinata put down her rice and chopsticks. Across from her, Hanabi did the same.
"Have you given any consideration to who you will be attending with?" Hiashi asked Hanabi.
Hanabi lowered her gaze. "I intend to go with members of the clan, Father."
A safe choice, if unimaginative. It wouldn't expand the clan's influence, but the Harvest Festival wasn't that kind of festival either. Hinata expected her father to approve.
"A reasonable choice," Hiashi said. "What are your plans, Hinata?"
"I had intended to attend with my team, Father," Hinata replied softly, lowering her gaze as well. "Other genin teams of my year may join us."
"Mm. Kurenai-sensei's team?"
"It is possible."
"You should have a companion as well," Hiashi said, and Hinata kept her expression very still. He meant "a date", and Hinata was still officially single.
"I have no p-person in mind," Hinata said carefully.
Hiashi paused to drink his tea. Hinata glanced up at him as she waited for his reaction, tension slowly growing.
"I believe that it is time to consider betrothal seriously," Hiashi said, and Hinata felt the bottom fall out of her stomach. Her eyes flicked to Hanabi, who was similarly suppressing her shock.
"A-as you say, F-Father," Hinata said, and took a breath to still her nerves. "Is… is it not too hasty?"
"No," said Hiashi, and his tone was as implacable as granite. His teacup clicked against the wood tabletop with a finality that was like the closing of a lock. "Haruka has been given the list of candidates. I will expect a decision from you within the week."
"The—the week, Father?" Hinata asked.
Hiashi's lips thinned at her and Hinata's gaze snapped back down to her bowl of rice. He hated when she repeated back what he had just said.
"I—I mean, of course Father," Hinata said quickly. "P-please expect my decision promptly."
"Good," said Hiashi. He picked up his rice bowl. "All the candidates are highly qualified. It should be an easy choice for you to make."
He returned to eating. The meal finished in silence.
