In which Utakata grows up and Yagura apologizes.

O-O-O-O-O

As winter got nearer, snow fell throughout the Land of Water. In the afternoon sun, however, it melted as soon as it touched the ground, refusing to gather. Nevertheless, the weather was cold, humid, and overall uncomfortable.

In a large training area at the edge of Kirigakure, thirteen-year-old Utakata trained alone. He took his pipe and put it inside the soap solution. When he blew, instead of the stream of bubbles he wanted, he created a few malformed spheres instead.

Shit. That was supposed to be a new attack. That was worthless.

For the past few months, he had been trying to create a new jutsu. He wanted to reduce the time needed to form the bubbles while also increasing the total quantity. However, it was difficult to concentrate on his jutsu when all he could think about was the damn Room.

He had been seven years old, shortly after the Rokubi had been sealed, when he had first seen it. He had fallen asleep and woken up inside a Room just large enough to host a graduation match. There had been nine Doors corresponding to the bijuu, each labeled with kanji for the numbers one to nine. Some Doors had been glowing with chakra while others were dim. Seals he couldn't ever hope to understand had been written on the walls and the domed ceiling.

After his first visit, he had vowed to never visit again and forced himself to ignore the voices of the others. Sometimes, a young woman had tried talking to him. She had talked about her old village of Uzushio and asked him questions about his life. He had never answered back and had used all his mental fortitude to block out any insights she could gain about him.

Eventually, the woman stopped talking to him and for a few months, it was finally quiet. He sometimes heard the others talking or practicing their jutsu. He ignored them all, although he had to fortify his mental defenses whenever one of them started rapping. They were nothing more than mild distractions in his life.

Everything changed that night. Utakata had felt an immense pressure building up in his chest. For a terrifying few minutes, he had felt like his entire body had been buried underground. His lungs had burned from the lack of air and his body had been pushed from all sides by an invisible weight. Although the immense pain was brief, it had taken him the rest of the night to calm down. He had known that the Room was responsible, just like he knew that the other people were jinchuuriki.

After that night, he has tried to send the incident to the back of his mind. However, as the weeks passed and the voices in his head grew louder, he couldn't.

Frustratingly, he learned a lot about them. Fuu was a young girl who liked to run around and look after a toddler named Naruto. B was from Kumo and liked rapping. Yugito liked teaching Fuu and Naruto basic ninja techniques. For some reason, one of the shinobi had the nickname of "Mama" while another one was "Papa." They seemed to be the only ones that Fuu and Naruto obeyed without question.

Learning about the strangers made him feel like he was forced to attend a movie blindfolded. He was unable to see what was happening and he didn't want to listen, but he knew the plot anyway.

To make it worse, Utakata's techniques had gotten sloppy. His mind was too distracted to give his best effort and his progress had stagnated as a result. He hadn't been able to sleep the entire night, either. His master, Harusame, had started to notice as well. After a few days of mediocrity, he had prohibited Utakata from taking advanced missions.

Utakata knew that his master was worried. He was normally a good student and it never took him long to learn new techniques or improve on his current ones. But now...

My skills are on par with an academy student.

As he bemoaned his lot in life, his master walked into the training area from the house. He was eyeing him attentively, hands behind his back and spectacles low. Utakata tried to refocus. He inhaled and tried his attack again.

Despite his best efforts, the bubbles Utakata formed were smaller than he wanted and popped immediately. He cursed under his breath. He had wanted to impress his master but his jutsu was pathetic.

"You haven't been acting normal lately, Utakata-kun," Harusame said as he raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

"No, Master," Utakata lied. "I'm fine."

As soon as he answered, a bubble exploded next to his ear. Utakata startled and fell back. He rubbed his hand over his hurt ear and groaned. The pain would fade in a few seconds, but the sudden pop stung.

"That doesn't look fine," Harusame murmured as he stared at Utakata on the ground. "You're a chuunin, you should have seen that attack coming from a mile away."

Utakata looked away. It was already embarrassing to be stagnating, but having his master look at him like that was worse. He hadn't fallen for any of Harusame's surprise attacks in years.

From the other side of the training grounds, Harusame sighed and began to walk closer. Utakata tensed when his master loomed over him, but Harusame simply extended his hand to pull him back up.

"Really, Utakata-kun?" his master sounded incredulous. "I've known you for years. You can tell me what's wrong. Trust me."

Utakata bit his lip. He couldn't talk about the Room.

Information suppression seals were not uncommon. He had seen Harusame use them whenever a shinobi needed to keep intel classified. Sealed information was impossible to be obtained by others, even under the worst torture. Utakata theorized that the seals in the Room must include something similar. He had never felt like saying anything about the Room to anyone.

Even if he had the ability to speak about the shared mind space, it would be a foolish idea. He suspected he would be sent to Torture and Investigation upon his confession. Kirigakure would extract as much intel about the villages and their jinchuuriki out of him as possible. He doubted they would be gentle when collecting the information either.

"I have been having trouble sleeping lately," he admitted. It wasn't a lie. Listening to Naruto shriek as Fuu or "Mama" chased him around kept him awake every night.

"Ah, and why is that, Utakata-kun?" Harusame asked next.

Utakata didn't respond. He couldn't respond. Instead, he looked away again with his head down and a grimace on his face.

"I see," his master said with a cunning smile. "I think I know what's happening here."

"What?" Utakata asked, confused. What could he suspect?

"Adolescence, of course!" Harusame responded with a smile as he ruffled Utakata's hair. "My little student is growing up. I knew the day would come, sooner or later."

"What?! No, Master, it's not puberty!" Utakata looked back at Harusame, face burning. "There's nothing wrong with me. I just can't sleep."

"Oh, and why can't you sleep?" Harusame was smiling at him now, a victorious look on his face. "My student is growing up. Well, I wasn't sure when this day would come, but there are many things I need to tell you now that you are older."

Utakata's face was on fire and the cold temperature didn't help. He didn't need his master to talk to him about something so embarrassing. Unfortunately, he knew Harusame had a good theory that didn't betray the existence of the Room. He tried to protest again, although that time it was only half-hearted.

"It's not puberty," he complained with a small pout. His master smiled again and pulled him by the elbow.

"There's a lot you need to know," he said. "Growing up is a magical and confusing time. Feel free to ask me any questions you want."

Harusame pulled him into the house and took him to the living room. He sat Utakata down on the floor cushions and made his way into a seated position on the tatami floor.

Utakata wanted to escape, but his master was both faster and more experienced than he was. He would be captured again in a heartbeat. He wanted to say that he had already read about puberty in a book, but Harusame wouldn't accept his excuse. He reluctantly settled down to listen.

"Now, it all begins with the pituitary gland," Harusame said in his lecturing voice. "It may be little, but it has big plans!"

Utakata buried his face into the palms of his hands and groaned.

When Harusame finished, Utakata wished he could talk about the Room to non-jinchuuriki from the bottom of his heart. Being tortured sounded better than listening to his master talk about hormones.

"Do you have any questions, my student?" Harusame said with a smile.

Utakata shook his head dumbly. He had learned more than he ever needed or wanted to know. The last vestiges of childhood, which he didn't know still existed, were trampled away. Still silent, he stood up to walk back to the training grounds. Frustration was better than mortification.

His master gave him a parting smile and got to the kitchen to get started on dinner.

Utakata groaned. At least Harusame-sensei is less suspicious now. Silver linings.

O-O-O-O-O

After his interaction with the ridiculously tall man, Yagura vowed to visit the Room every night, no matter how the others reacted.

In particular, he wanted to catch a glimpse of the two young children again. Even though they looked nothing like his Asahi and Kasumi, they reminded him of his children. For the millionth time, he cursed being brainwashed.

Yagura knew that if he truly wanted to, he could have tracked his family down. He knew Anzu better than anyone and she had left the beginning of a trail that no one but him could have followed.

If he did find them, however, he would only put them in danger. They would be killed or used as hostages by the political players in Kirigakure. Knowing Anzu's abilities, they were safe in another country. He couldn't risk their lives just to look at them, no matter what.

However, despite his efforts to talk to the others, Yagura was rejected every time. Whenever Yagura entered the Room, the other jinchuuriki would run away. They said hurried goodbyes to one another and left, abandoning Yagura to his solitude. The entire situation made him feel unwanted, to say the least.

He knew that their reaction was entirely his fault. He shouldn't have attacked first and asked questions later.

Yagura left when they disappeared, feeling annoyed and lonely. He reappeared later past midnight when only the tall man was present. He was the only one that didn't immediately run away. Yagura usually found him standing in front of the Door for the Ichibi Jinchuuriki.

After their first reunion, the tension between the two had been dropping slowly but steadily.

For the first few days, as soon as Yagura appeared, the man would take a strong defensive position. He would maintain his position until Yagura left. By the second week, the man gave him a wary glare but said nothing. He then continued his conversation with the Ichibi's container while Yagura sulked. Three weeks after, the tall man only glanced back before placing his hand back on the Door. Meanwhile, the others continued to run away at the sight of Yagura.

Now, it was almost December and he still hadn't had a real conversation with anyone except Isobu since he broke free of the illusion. Yagura was tired of it. While he enjoyed talking to his bijuu, Isobu liked to sleep too much for him to be a good conversationalist. If the others didn't want to talk to him, then he would make them.

Trying to keep his body language casual, Yagura walked to stand next to the man. The man tensed slightly but made no effort to stop him or leave. I will have a friendly conversation if it's the last thing I do, damn it.

"You're always standing next to the door of the Ichibi Jinchuuriki," Yagura commented. "Is there a reason for that?"

The man hesitated before answering, likely expecting some kind of trap. He seemed to decide that the attempt at conversation was genuine, however, and he pried his hand away from the Door.

"This jinchuuriki has a faulty seal," he explained. "He's very young and lonely. Talking to him cheers him up and helps deal with the side effects."

"What his name?" Yagura asked.

The man hesitated again before answering, "Gaara. Because of his seal, he hears the voice of his bijuu talking to him nearly non-stop. If he falls asleep, the beast takes over his body until he wakes up. Do you remember feeling a sudden pain about five weeks ago?"

That was when the genjutsu broke.

Yagura nodded. "Yeah, how is that related?"

"Well, the boy disobeyed orders to stay awake and decided to join the other kids in the Room. The beast was released and the Kazekage buried the kid in tons of sand to wake him up."

Yagura hummed in understanding. Sealing was tricky in the best of circumstances, even when making a simple storage scroll. Messing up on a seal meant to suppress a being of pure chakra was catastrophic.

"Well, that's just a shitty and fucked up situation, to say the least," Yagura responded. The man winced.

"Please try not to use coarse language while the kids are nearby," he warned. "Naruto has been saying 'fuck' to everyone for the past month. If Roshi hears you say those words in front of the children he might actually travel to Kirigakure to kill you. He probably won't succeed, but he will do everything in his power to burn down your village while he's there."

Yagura rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll try not to corrupt their sensitive little ears."

Yagura walked to stand in front of the door of the young jinchuuriki. He hovered his hand tentatively over it and glanced up at the man. When the other man didn't object, he placed his left hand on the Door, cognizant of the scrutinizing stare.

'Hello, little one,' he said to the boy.

'Ah, hello, who are you? Are you new?'

'Yes, kid, my name is Yagura. What's your name?'

'My name is Gaara', the boy hesitated before continuing. 'Nice to meet you.'

'Nice to meet you, too,' Yagura replied.

'Are you the one that was fighting Mama, Papa, and B-sama before?'

Yagura winced. He wasn't surprised that the others had told the boy what had happened. Gaara probably already thought he was an enemy.

'Yes, that was me,' he admitted. 'I'm sorry about that. I was feeling very angry and I attacked them without thinking. Can you forgive me?'

'That's okay, I forgive you,' the boy cheerfully replied. 'Are you going to hurt them again?'

'No, I won't.'

'Do you promise?'

'I promise.'

'That's good! I wanna talk again, Yagura-san.'

'Thanks, kid. We'll talk soon, I hope. Goodbye for now.'

'Goodbye!'

Yagura disconnected from the Door and looked up at the tall man. He had been studying Yagura while he talked with Gaara. He seemed to have been looking for something in particular. Whatever it was, he looked satisfied because he started the conversation that time.

"So Mizukage-sama, what should I call you, anyway?" the tall man asked.

"My name is Yagura," he answered. "Yagura Karatachi. And you?"

"My name is Han," the man replied. "I'm from Iwagakure. Nice to meet you"

He extended his hand. Yagura shook his hand and felt ridiculous as he had to crane his neck up to look at Han in the eyes.

"Nice to meet you, too," he answered back. "And who are the other ones, anyway?"

Han hesitated again before he spoke. He seemed to wonder if telling him about them counted as a betrayal. He must have realized that Yagura couldn't get much from basic descriptions, however, because he started to talk.

"Well," he began, "there is another Iwa vessel. He's the short red-headed one. His name is Roshi. The little girl is Fuu. She's from Takigakure. The little blonde boy is named Naruto. He's from Konoha. The teenage girl is Yugito. She's from Kumo. The other tall shinobi is Killer B."

"Killer B?" Yagura asked in surprise. "Didn't he almost defeat the Yellow Flash in a fight? I didn't know he was a jinchuuriki."

"The very same," Han noded. "B is kind of an idiot though. He likes rapping a little too much, in my opinion. He's not even good at it."

Yagura nodded. He had heard B rapping before, including during the fight, and he agreed with Han's assessment. Silence fell over the two men as they awkwardly tried to think of something to talk about. Yagura was the one to break the silence.

"Anyway, there's something I wanted to say first," Yagura stated and he brushed his bangs back from his face. "I'm sorry about how I attacked all of you."

He continued, "if it makes you feel better, after our fight, I woke up with a bitch of a migraine. I think my advisors thought that I was going to kill them. I'm sure you already know, but the political situation in Kiri is very delicate right now."

Han accepted the apology with a nod and a grunt.

"I know, I woke up with a terrible migraine, too" he admitted. "It's part of the Room's seals. We can't hurt or kill each other in here. Extensive chakra use counts as trying to kill one another."

"Yeah, I wish I'd known before attacking any of you," Yagura replied with a frown. It had felt worse than any hangover he'd ever had. He wouldn't ever try to use chakra for battling again while inside the Room. It wasn't worth it.

Han looked down to stare at Yagura more carefully.

"I have a question, too," he said. "Do you know the identity of the Six-Tails Jinchuuriki?"

"Of course," Yagura scoffed as he answered. "I'm the Mizukage and he's one of my citizens. Why do you ask?"

"The Six-Tails jinchuuriki hasn't talked to any of us." Han looked back over his shoulder to stare at the Door inscribed with the kanji of the number six. "Kushina might have communicated with him once or twice, but she's dead so we'll never know if they ever talked. Fuu and Naruto are curious, too. Fuu especially wants to meet everyone."

Yagura hummed in thought. The girl had seemed fixated on the idea of everyone staying together as a family in the little time he got to see her. Now that his own family was far away, he could understand her sentiment.

Yagura considered Han's answer and thought about Utakata. The boy lived a comfortable life with Harusame, the only sealing master in Kirigakure. He had been mostly kept out of the civil war, safe because of a combination of age, experience, and status as a vessel.

"Sorry, but I can't," Yagura finally replied. "Us shinobi get so little privacy already. I don't want to expose any of my citizens without consent, even to other jinchuuriki."

"I see," Han replied with a sigh. "Although I have to say that I'm very curious about his identity. I hope he joins us soon. The girl has been even more curious ever since you appeared."

"Yeah, well, you know how it is. We get so few choices. The Rokubi Jinchuuriki deserves this little one."

Han nodded as he stared down at Yagura. It's really uncomfortable to keep looking up just to talk.

"Anyway, I think it's about time for me to go," Yagura said as he walked back to his Door. "I enjoyed our conversation. I hope we can talk again soon. And, once again, sorry for attacking you all so quickly. I hope you can all forgive me."

"Good night," Han said. "I will pass your apology on to the others. I believe they will accept it once I talk to them. The kids, in particular, are very forgiving. Be careful with Yugito, though. That girl is vicious."

Yagura rolled his eyes but nodded and gave a lazy wave goodbye before vanishing for the night. He was glad that he had a new conversation partner. He needed someone he could talk to other than Isobu.

The next night, he entered the Room as had become the norm. That time, instead of running, the others looked at him warily before resuming their activities. Naruto and Fuu played with toys while the red-headed man, Roshi, supervised from a short distance away. They stared at him but said nothing as Yagura walked to kneel down next to Roshi.

"I wanted to apologize for my behavior," Yagura said as he bent his head down. "I reacted before thinking when I could have handled the situation much better. I'm sorry."

The other man waved his apology off.

"It's alright," Roshi answered. "It's in the past now. Han told us how you apologized to him and talked to Gaara. That boy needs as much attention as he can get, even if it comes from someone so short and easily-angered."

Yagura wondered if hypocrisy was contagious. Roshi was at most two inches taller. He breathed deeply in and out, forcing a smile on his face. He gritted his teeth. With a little effort, he kept himself from punching the other man.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the children. They had stopped playing and were instead looking at him curiously.

"Are you usually the one looking after the kids?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, and they are a menace. Don't let their cute little faces fool you. Can you believe that these little brats call me 'Mama'?" Roshi glared at them in anger. He might have been more convincing if he wasn't smiling and blushing, however.

The children grinned back at Roshi from where they were playing on the floor. He obviously called them brats all the time, no doubt with the same dopey smile. Yagura couldn't help but chuckle. The man reminded him so much of himself. Anzu always used to tease him whenever he started cooing over Asahi and Kasumi.

"Children really are menaces, aren't they?" he said with a kind smile at the boy and girl. Beaming, they went back to their game, happy to ignore the two adults in the Room.

He knew that Asahi and Kasumi would have enjoyed playing with other kids their age. As children of the Mizukage, they didn't get many opportunities to play with others.

Roshi stared back at him. When he saw Yagura's fond look, he tried to make conversation.

"Do you have your own kids?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I do," Yagura admitted. "A boy and a girl, although they are older than these two. The oldest one is probably starting his shinobi training now. My younger daughter was always so calm and serious, even as a baby. My wife said she took after me but personally, I always thought she was most like her mother."

He clenched his jaw. Talking about his family was painful and he didn't know when he would see them again, if ever. Even if he managed to end the war, his descendants would carry the stain of his bloodline for their entire lives. Asahi and Kasumi would hate him for his legacy if they didn't hate him already for abandoning them.

Yagura tried to keep his face calm but some of the pain must have shown through because Roshi tensed. Silence fell over the two as Roshi processed the confession. He seemed to understand Yagura's somber mood because he changed the topic quickly.

"So is the situation in Kiri as much of a... mess as all of the intelligence reports say?" Roshi asked. Yagura happily accepted the change in topic.

"It is," Yagura admitted. "It's probably worse than most villages suspect. It was a shock for me as well. I was under a genjutsu the entire time. Now I can't do anything different without fearing that I will be put under again."

"WHAT?" Roshi yelled. "A GENJUTSU?"

The children turned to look curiously at the two men sitting side by side. Roshi winced and waved at them that it was nothing. The boy and girl returned once more to their game.

"A genjutsu?" he asked again, quieter that time.

"Yes, for three years. Kiri wasn't doing great when I went under but it was better than now. When I woke up, three years of war had passed. All but two of my swordsmen had left or been killed. And my former student was the leader of the rebellion to remove me from power."

"How did you break out of it?" Roshi asked with one eyebrow raised.

"The Kazekage broke it by accident," he said. "When the Ichibi was suppressed, it created so much pain that the genjutsu broke. I feel like I should thank the Room for that, to be honest."

"Well, at least something good happened," Roshi chuckled. "Gaara refused to talk to us for over a week after that. He'll be happy to know that something good came out of the whole incident."

Together, the two men looked back to watch fondly over the children. Asahi and Kasumi's faces imposed themselves over Naruto and Fuu. His heart ached. Yagura hoped that wherever they were, they were safe and happy.

O-O-O-O-O

Three months after the incident and Utakata still couldn't sleep. His performance had become so pathetic that Harusame hadn't allowed him to take any missions alone except for D-ranked ones. Even on those missions, his master forced himself as a companion. He said it was "just in case."

Utakata tossed and turned as he tried to go to sleep. He felt simultaneously hot and cold. No matter how he lied down or how he arranged his futon, he couldn't get comfortable. He was hearing the voices again. Part of him wondered if he was just crazy and there was no shared mind space at all.

His curiosity was too high to suppress anymore and his jutsu had been mediocre. Harusame still believed his performance was due to hitting adolescence and Utakata was fine with him thinking that. He could tolerate the embarrassment. What he couldn't tolerate anymore, however, was getting only a few hours of sleep a night. Unfortunately, the only solution was the most dangerous option.

If there was one thing that had been drilled into his mind, it was that Kiri ninja didn't interact with foreigners. The other jinchuuriki were foreigners, despite their shared Room.

But there were no other options anymore. He couldn't tell anyone about the Room. No matter how much he meditated and tried to increase his mental abilities, he couldn't block them out. Even at the moment, he could hear voices that belonged to Fuu, Naruto, Mama, and a stranger.

Utakata gave up. He stopped fighting the instinct that had been calling to him since the Six-Tails was sealed. When he closed his eyes to sleep, his mind pulled him from the safety of subconscious thought and into the large circular Room he had seen only once.

He felt his mind push open a Door. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in front of a dark blue Door marked with the kanji for "six." The other jinchuuriki turned immediately to stare at him. Utakata stared back warily, taking in the scene. He flinched when he saw who was standing next to a short red-headed man.

"MIZUKAGE-SAMA?!" he yelled in surprise.

"Utakata-kun?" the Mizukage replied. His eyes were wide and he sounded surprised. However, unlike Utakata, his voice was carefully controlled.

"You're a jinchuuriki!?" he shouted in disbelief.

The Mizukage looked back at the boy. "Yes, I'm the vessel of the Three-Tails. No one really knows. Even many of my own advisors don't know. If they did, Isobu would have been extracted long ago."

Utakata gulped. He hadn't expected to meet another Kirigakure ninja in the Room, let alone the Mizukage. He tried to get his breathing back under control before speaking. If he insulted him, the Mizukage could decide that Utakata would be better off dead. Or worse, he could threaten Harusame. He forced himself to exhale.

"Did you know I was a jinchuuriki?" Utakata asked the man. He cringed when his voice came out shaky.

The Mizukage rolled his eyes and snorted. "Of course! Harusame sealed the Six-Tails under my orders, after all. You have a naturally high chakra capacity that makes you ideal to housing a bijuu."

Utakata had only wanted to enter the Room to sate his curiosity and to be able to sleep. He hadn't expected the world to be turned upside down. The man responsible for the violent civil war not only had Utakata's life in his hands but was also responsible for his existence.

This is a lot more information than I wanted. Utakata couldn't run away now. The Mizukage knew where he lived. He needed to have as much emotional restraint as possible. He forced himself to take a deep breath in and out. He clenched his fists to keep them from shaking too much.

He tried to say something back, but the words caught in his throat. He wasn't even sure what he could say. That he hated the Mizukage's guts for starting the Bloody Civil War? That he wished he would just die and leave a new and better person in his place? He liked his head where it currently was.

Thankfully, he wasn't the one to break the silence.

"Hey, kid, my name's Roshi," the short red-headed man said with a wave of his hand. "This little girl is Fuu of Takigakure and the little blond terror is Naruto Uzumaki."

At his introduction, the two children waved at Utakata. They had been building a tower using wooden blocks, but at Roshi's words, they stood up.

"Hello! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" the little boy said while pointing at himself with a tiny thumb. He was blond and blue-eyed and his cheeks had whisker marks on them.

"My name is Fuu! What's your name?" the girl said with a big smile. She was dark-skinned and had short green hair and large orange eyes that could hypnotize anyone. She moved closer to him and Utakata forced himself not to step back. She's just a little girl. What can she do?

"Utakata," he answered simply as he allowed the child to get closer.

"Wow! You're tall!" she said. "I'm so happy you're here because you are the last jinchuuriki to join the Room! Oh! If Naruto and Gaara are my little brothers, Yugito is my big sister, and I have Mama and Papa, does that make you my big brother?"

Utakata flinched and took a step back. "Big brother?"

"Yup! You're older than me but younger than Yugito, so that makes you our big brother," she said with complete confidence before turning to look at Naruto. "Isn't that nice, Naruto-chan? You have a big brother now, too!"

Utakata was confused. He wasn't sure how he became the big brother to three children when he hadn't even said ten words to them yet. The boy looked contemplative and walked to stand next to Fuu. He studied Utakata with a concentrated look on his face. He took the sleeve of his yukata in his hands and pulled on it.

"Utakata-nii, why you have pajamas?" he asked and he moved the hem closer to his eyes to examine it.

Utakata pulled his sleeve away from the boy's hands, "I'm not wearing pajamas! This is my yukata! Don't touch it or I'll hit you!"

From behind the children, he heard Yagura chuckling next to the red-headed man, who was full out laughing. Utakata listened to his peals of laughter and couldn't stop himself. He clenched his fists so hard that if it were the real world, his palms would have been bleeding.

"HOW CAN YOU LAUGH?" he yelled at the Mizukage. "How dare you be so carefree!? End the stupid civil war if you have enough time to spend with foreigners! The Land of Water is suffering so much already because of you!"

The Mizukage's laughter stopped immediately. He looked up at Utakata with an indecipherable look on his face. At once, the children ran back to stand behind Roshi. Fuu whispered something in Naruto's ear but Utakata couldn't hear them. He was too furious at the Mizukage to care anyway. The temperature in the Room seemed to drop as Utakata and the Mizukage faced each other.

"Of course I'm working on ending the war," he said. "But it's a complicated situation, worse than you could ever imagine. The truth is that-"

"I don't care!" Utakata interrupted before Yagura could give his excuse. "You're supposed to protect the village. If you can't do that, get someone who can!"

Before the Mizukage had time to respond, Utakata turned around and forced his mind to depart.

Shit. I probably shouldn't have insulted the man who holds my life in his hands, he thought before he went to sleep. He entered deep sleep peacefully for the first time in weeks. To his relief, he had no dreams.

The next morning, he woke up feeling refreshed and well-rested for the first time in months. Part of him was surprised that he hadn't been murdered in his sleep. Anxiously, he checked in on his master, but Harusame was sleeping, snoring lightly. Utakata sighed in relief. Despite learning something he hadn't wanted to, his curiosity was finally satisfied. He hoped he could no longer be distracted with thoughts of the Room.

Still, he couldn't help but worry. He had insulted the most powerful man in the country and run away immediately afterward. He doubted life would go on as normal. For the rest of the day, Utakata feared that the Mizukage would take him and his master for execution. However, the day passed by like any other and Utakata resigned himself to keep living.

During training, he was able to complete all of the katas that his master prepared and more. Satisfied, Utakata smiled as he blew a stream of bubbles that exploded on impact. His master's nod at the strength of his jutsu made his heart warm up with happiness.

In the afternoon, as he was getting ready to take a nap, Utakata heard someone talking to him through the Room. It sounded like the voice of a young woman.

'Hello, are you Utakata-san?'

He hesitated for a second before answering. 'Yes, I'm Utakata. Who are you?'

'My name is Yugito. Roshi-san told me what happened yesterday. Is it true that you chewed out the tiny Mizukage for being lazy and irresponsible?'

Utakata winced. When she put it like that, he couldn't believe his head was still attached to his neck. 'Yeah, I did. But that's only because he pissed me off so much!'

The woman laughed. 'Good, good, I'm glad someone finally put that little pipsqueak in his place. Roshi-san said that his jaw dropped when you yelled at him.'

'Well... I wouldn't know, I left soon afterward,' Utakata said.

'Doesn't matter. You've got some guts kid,' she told him. 'Come and join us. The Tiny Terror isn't here and I want to congratulate you face to face.'

'Are you sure that-'

'Yes, I'm sure. Just come and join us. Only B and I are here.'

Utakata sighed. He had only wanted to sate his curiosity in order to ignore the others for the rest of his life. Still, he did as he was asked. The woman had asked nicely, after all. It helped that she had insulted the Mizukage.

He sat in a lotus position to meditate and soon enough, his mind manifested itself inside the Room. There was a kunoichi- barely older than him- standing with her hands on her hips, analyzing him. Next to her was a tall dark-skinned man with his arms crossed.

"Congratulations, kid," the young woman said. "I've been wanting to insult that angry Mizukage and not only have you done that, but you've actually gotten away with it. Congrats!"

"Oh, yeah! That fool didn't know what was coming, my heartbeat was drumming," the man said. "My name is B but you can call me Lord Jinchuuriki, ya dumbass phony!"

At these words, the man struck a pose to show off his large upper body muscles. Utakata couldn't help but feel intimidated as the man loomed over him. The man was much taller and physically stronger than he was.

"Yes, Lord Jinchuuriki," he replied, slightly nervous as he took a step back.

At his response, Yugito rolled her eyes and slapped the man on the arm.

"Call him B-chan," she said with a serious voice. "He isn't and has never been the Lord of anything."

"Yugito-chan, don't be scary," B argued back although he didn't sound particularly bothered by her words.

Are they really jinchuuriki? They look so happy and friendly.

Yugito rolled her eyes again before turning back to Utakata. They obviously knew each other well if they could bicker like that.

"But seriously, kid," she said, her face lowered and her eyes kind. "I'm glad that you said something to that arrogant little man. If you ever need anything, get in contact with us. I have the Two-Tails and B has the Eight-Tails. You can touch my Door if you want to talk."

She continued, "B doesn't look like it, but he's a very strong shinobi. He can teach you a new technique or give you feedback on one of yours. He's surprisingly smart when it comes to ninjutsu and kenjutsu. He's just an idiot with everything else. I'm focused more on taijutsu, so if you want, we can spar together. Nothing serious, though, I don't want to wake up with a migraine. What do you say?"

"Oh... uh... thank you," Utakata replied, embarrassed. He didn't know it would be so easy to get new training partners. Part of him thought that they were only trying to manipulate him, but they didn't seem to expect much from him.

"You're welcome," Yugito said as she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Please try to come often. This Yagura is a bastard and the children are menaces, but it would be nice to have someone like you here too. Will you visit us again?"

Before he knew what he was agreeing to, Utakata was nodding at her question. He would try joining them in the Room occasionally, even if he ran into the risk of meeting the Mizukage.

At his nod, the two older ninja smiled down at him. They looked so happy at the possibility of making a new friend and training partner. His heart seemed to skip a beat.

Maybe visiting the Room isn't so bad after all.

O-O-O-O-O

A/N: The scene with Harusame and Utakata is based on a similar scene in Gravity Falls. I just thought it was funny.

If you want, you can contact me on Tumblr at waffledogwrites.

Next chapter: Yugito stares off with the Raikage.