A/N: I wrote this sooner than I excepted. Probably because I got the sudden inspiration to jump to Reika for a change. I hope you like this. While writing, I suddenly realized that Reika is already 24 as she is eight years older than Kairi. That in turn made me to draw her as an adult. You can find that either on my dA (tsukiko75014) or art-tumblr (tsukiko-no-art).
As the sea calls 16
Reika interlude
"Nee, Ageha-chan?" The inquiry rang into companionable silence of the cafeteria of Iwagakure's Blasting Squad's HQ. Well, Blasting Squad was that Reika called them, officially they were Explosion Corps.
"Yes?" Ageha replied without lifting her gaze from the morning's newspaper. She was Reika's closest friend and one of the few still alive from their graduating class.
"Do we have any information on the recent crop of Leaf genin?" Reika asked whilst surveying the letter she'd received from Kairi. It was under a simple encryption placed on top of vague-speak that they used to refer to places and people. The encryption key was that memeable quote from Harry Potter: "I did my waiting! Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!" That was reduced into numerical code and then used to decipher the contents.
"That's… an unusual request." Ageha finally looked up and blew a strand of curly ginger hair out of her face. "We do try to keep tabs on new Leaf nin but not this early. Fresh genin are stuck in their village doing D-ranks at this time."
Unlike what they'd done.
"I have intelligence that a bunch of clan heirs graduated few months back and were all nominated to Konoha's chuunin exams." Reika shrugged. She wouldn't care much about them otherwise but Kairi suspected that there could be another reincarnate there. Traveler was a term they referred themselves as for a lack of anything else to have safely.
Smart + Hanafuda = Nara
Team = same generation as the main cast
Cousin and Izuna's son = Naruto and Sasuke
Overall equals a Nara girl in Team 7 and apparently making changes. Could be reincarnate, could be something else.
"That got gate-crashed by Sand and Sound?" Ageha frowned. For Intelligence specialist (who was liased to Blasting Squad) she was sometimes very behind the current events.
"Is it gate-crashing if Sand was technically still participant? Sound yes… They had no genin in the finals." Reika mused. Technically she didn't care to one way or another. So they'd reached the timeline of original manga. Interesting only in the manner of keeping track of years and some major events. But it didn't apply to Reika much. She was of Iwagakure. She was already 24 years old, at the prime of her career. She went through a war and killed and sensed other people dying. If there was an another reincarnate then… well, things might change. But such was life. Nothing was predictable.
Reika only cared about her family and village. Everything else was inconsequential. She wouldn't start playing nice with the Leaf nin only because the original story dictated so. The Hidden Village of Leaves might be 'nice' but 'good' it wasn't. 'Good' was subjective and Reika had been way too many times on the receiving end of the jutsu and weapons of Leaf nin to ever willingly ally with them.
"Okay yeah, good point. Who is your source anyways?"
"You know who it is." Yes, Ageha and Hotaru (a sealing specialist and another of Reika's close friends) both knew that Reika got information from Kairi. Not much and Reika never let them see the letters. But small crumbs. Either something usable or then something provoking questions and giving direction for investigation. Or then Reika used her letters as excuses to come up with her own questions. She still had some knowledge of the background machinations. Not much as she never finished the manga but some, and Kairi had shared some main points too to outline the endgame and ridiculous redemptions and return to status quo.
"Does she have anything else?"
"… Asks after Deidara." As one, both women turned to look out of the window where the Kage Tower and surrounding buildings were still damaged in the wake of said missing-nin's attack.
"You know…" Ageha begun. "Before long either you or your cousin will get in trouble because of this liberal information sharing…"
"This is the furthest thing from liberal." Reika retorted. On ninja standards maybe, but while there was some degree of trust by virtue of being family and knowing each other's' situation, they were still in rival villages. If Kairi were truly a spy for Reika, then she'd share a lot more on these letters, rather than idle greetings.
"Whatever…" Ageha raised her hands in placating manner while throwing a glance at the ceiling. "Anyhow, I'll see what we have on the Sand-Sound Invasion and the result of the final tournament. Maybe we can calculate the probabilities of promotions given."
That was a very good point. Reika looked down on the letter again. Kairi had made it to the finals if the indication of 'new vest' said anything. That begged a question who else had been in the finals and been promoted. Nara Shikamaru was given but…
Ageha got up from her chair and slung her paper-stuffed bag over her shoulder. It was miraculous how she never lost anything from it no matter how bursting it was.
"I'll get back to you tomorrow or something. Say hello to Hotaru for me."
"Will do."
Reika inspected the two scrolls she had on the place of honor in her room. She had shelves full of scrolls but not all of them were in use. No, they were just decorated. It was something like a hobby for Reika to make storage scrolls since the beginning and design the paper and fabric used on them to make then distinctive. So most of the scrolls on that particular bookshelf were empty and simply on display. All except two.
One of them was pale yellow with a swirly wave-pattern painted in gold. The other was indigo blue with pale stars and the middle strip mimicking a wide obi-belt.
They were Reika's secrets, hidden in plain sight. Both of them contained things that she would never let her village get their hands on no matter how loyal she was to it. Kairi was the better option. To either safeguard or to utilize them.
And now that Kairi had finally gotten her first promotion, it was the perfect excuse to send one of them to her. But which one…
She picked the yellow scroll and strode to her writing desk.
"Hello my fellow traveler…"
"I got the info." Ageha dropped a sheaf of paper in front of Reika. "Took a bit digging as our spies are more interested in Leaf's overall capacity in the aftermath of the invasion and death of their Kage so the chuunin exams itself were of lesser importance."
"But public knowledge for the sake of betting." Reika mused. She faintly remembered there being in the original story two Grass-nin who wanted Gaara to lose purposefully because of their benefactor betting on Sasuke's victory. Gaara had naturally killed those two and Naruto and Shikamaru hearing it had hammered home for them how dangerous Gaara was.
"Naturally." Ageha agreed, sitting down opposite the bomb expert and pulling a pencil out of her hightail. She looked at it and its stubby nib, sighed, and stuck it back, pulling another one from next to it. That one was satisfactorily sharp. "So… The statistics were naturally skewed towards Leaf due their large number of participants and in the end out of the ten finalists, six were from Leaf and four from Sand… And all except that cousin of yours were first timers in Chuunin Exams."
"Huh, that's impressive." Reika picked up the tournament roster. Some stuff was the same, some was different. She noted the inclusion of Yamanaka Ino in it. And lack of Kinuta Dosu. "Do you have information about the previous phases or the make-ups of the teams?"
"Hmm… A Sand team was the only one to fully enter the finals. That was the Yondaime Kazekage's children: Temari, Kankurou and Gaara." Ageha rifled through her papers. "We don't know the full team-ups for the rest but for the jounin-sensei listed here… Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke are under Sharingan-no-Kakashi… Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru are under Sarutobi Asuma – Sandaime Hokage's younger son. Hyuuga Neji under Maito Gai… wasn't here a Maito that decimated Mist's Seven Swordsmen?"
"Maito Dai I think…" Reika picked up a pen herself and began writing a memo for herself. "Mist tried to keep it quiet but such a big blow was bound to become public knowledge."
"Terrifying. Anyhow, Aburame Shino under Yuuhi Kurenai. Got nothing much noted here aside from genjutsu specialty… probably recently promoted kunoichi."
"Who did they list as Kairi-chan's sensei?"
"Ryuusa Haruko… Uhh… I think she is in Mist Bingo Book?"
Interesting… In the letter prior to the Exams, Kairi had told her that Shirika Natsuhiko was the team leader for her and her two temporary team mates. Though maybe that was it… Natsuhiko was the jounin sensei for the boys and not for Kairi despite the team-up.
"The Mist front is getting interesting." Came a bland statement when another woman dropped into a chair next to them. She had wavy blonde hair and sunset orange eyes. A large scroll thumped on the ground next to her.
"Morning to you too, Hotaru." Ageha muttered from where she was buried under the papers.
"It's mid-evening." Hotaru corrected. "What are you working on?"
"I asked for information on the participants in the last chuunin exams." Reika told her. "What was that about Mist?"
"Things are heating up. The rebellion is finally making their move against Mizukage."
"Oh?" Ageha looked up. "What do you think of their odds of succeeding?"
Hotaru might've been one of Iwa's sealing specialists but she was also an excellent spy. And if she said that the situation in Mist was escalating, then it was as her primary stationing was at the waters between Fire and Water countries.
"The rebels have amassed people and funds lately. I think they are as ready as they'll ever be. Succeeding though… Hard to say. They have a lot of heavy hitters but not as much as the amount of Mist nukenin would indicate… Due Mist's gates having been shut down; I cannot say much about their current strength either in the aftermath of their bloodline purges."
"But the situation might resolve itself within this year?" Reika confirmed.
"Most likely, yes."
Reika leant back in her chair and looked out of the window. Sun was shining. It was very similar weather to the day when Reika met Kairi for the first time. Kairi hadn't remembered yet…
Eleven years ago, a small village in the Land of Stone.
Reika frowned at the clothes she was wearing. A simple short-hemmed yukata, shorts and sandals. She felt underdressed. After almost three years of fighting in the war one way or another and next two spent in tense anticipation of how the wind would turn, it felt strange not to wear her explosion corps' uniform and flak jacket. She still had her headband – a normal one instead of the bandana style one she'd worn previously – but it hung on her waist, and her weapon arsenal was minimal.
Next to her, her father Arashi was dressed down similarly. He seemed more at ease but then, he was a jounin already. Arashi was looking around in the village, at the signs of battle and what little had survived.
"Was this really your home village?" Reika asked.
"It has been decades but… yes." Arashi smiled gently and patted her head.
"Are you sure Kaito-occhan will come?"
"I'm sure. This will be the first time since the war."
Reika doubted that. Maintaining family relationship over village borders… It sounded impossible. But somehow Arashi and Kaito managed. They'd gone through two wars between villages and yet they tried to arrange time to meet on neutral ground. The last meeting had been before Reika had gone to the academy but being so young, she hadn't been taken along. Just like this time Deidara wasn't taken with them.
A rush of wind brushed past them and another shinobi practically materialized in front of them. Blond hair on a high-tail, tanned skin, light green eyes, hint of stubble… He was wearing a simple combo of dark pants, sand-brown tunic and a wide scarf of undyed linen wrapped around his shoulders and head.
But what caught Reika's attention was the fact he was carrying a little girl on his arms.
"Kaito-nii." Arashi greeted the man.
"Arashi-kun." The now-identified Kaito nodded back. "And this must be Reika-chan."
"Yes. Reika-chan just had her twelfth birthday and is already a chuunin."
"Congratulations!"
"Thank you." Reika smiled. It felt a bit weird to have their first meeting like this. In Before this would've been wasted years of family bonding. Distances meant nothing after all.
"And who is this little lady then?" Arashi asked, leaning towards Kaito to peer at the girl. The girl looked up from where she'd been hiding in Kaito's scarf and Reika's breath caught.
This girl… looked like Yondaime Hokage. The chibi version from Kushina's flashback. Reika might've been primarily following anime and dropped out after Hidan and Kakuzu were defeated but she still watched spoilers enough to know stuff about Naruto's parentage. Names, faces, some basic facts… And the girl's face was exactly like Namikaze Minato's as a child. Only true differences were green eyes and hair that lied flat.
Last year, when Minato had been made the Hokage at the end of the war, Arashi had sat Reika down and explained about his and Kaito's youngest brother. Reika had stared at her father. While she'd noted some similarity between Arashi and what she remembered of Minato, it could've been shrugged away. But this little girl right here proved that they inded shared blood with the infamous Yellow Flash of the Leaf.
"This is Kairi, my daughter." Kaito introduced the girl. "Her fourth birthday will be in a month."
She was same age than Deidara!
"Hi, 'm Kairi." The little girl said and hid her face again. Cute.
"Nice to meet you Kairi." Reika stepped forward. "I have a little brother who is your age but he is at home with kaachan right now."
"Really?"
"Yes, his name is Deidara."
"Dei-kun!"
"If you say so." Reika smiled at her little cousin. Maybe village borders would be troublesome but family always came first.
A/N: The flashback cuts a bit... but it'll be added on later by Kairi. In the next chapter she finally receives her first mission as a chuunin.
By the way... I got inspired to write another DoS related SI-OC story. Konoha OC who'd be Ikoma's daughter. Illegitimate because politics... I'm currently working on the third chapter of that but I dunno when I'll start posting... You can check DoS forum at Recursive Thread or discord where I've rambled a bit about her. Name would be Kinoshita Shinju.
Replies to Reviews:
-DannyPhantom619: Lightning is fun. But wouldn't it be easier element as wind is superior to lightning? At least Shikako spoke of lightning being harder for her as Shikako was earth-aligned. But yes, lightning is on the list and Kairi can get pretty creative with it.
I wish my writing pace were faster so I could write Kairi-Deidara reunion already. Dunno yet can she really pull him from the dark-side as Deidara is pretty neutral all things considered, just has some revenge he wants to exact. Divided loyalties on Kairi's part are not fun though...
-thewhiteangel213: You're welcome! :)
-impashadows: Thank you very much! I'll try my best!
-LuciiChaan: Hi! And welcome to read my stories, glad to have you here! Thank you very much for commenting. I'm also having fun writing a Suna based fic as - like you said - there aren't that many of them yet. I hope you liked this chapter as well!
-Guest: Thank you very much. Shikako will be making some appearances as Kairi's path will intersect with hers. Ume... I need to reread Sugar Plums for the timeline but she acts pretty much behind the scenes so... maybe a cameo but no actual meeting? Yuudai on the other hand... doubtful. I'm even more lost on his timeline in comparison to canon and I imagine my Iwagakure differently. Thank you for asking though.