Fate

by PancakeFlying

The Kanbayashi were supposed to die, wiped out and never mourned because in the eyes of the world, they never existed. That is not what happens, nor what should have happened. A black alien creature came for them and burned everything they loved to the ground; Sachi, against all odds, survives when she wouldn't have. This will change everything. [Fem!OC] [Fix-it fic]

2. A debt to be paid

II

A DEBT TO BE PAID

Uzushio has fallen.

Hiruzen climbs the steps towards his office with his heart at his feet. Uzushio, their sister village, is currently at the bottom of the Kaizoku sea. They didn't get there in time, they didn't offer aid, they didn't fight alongside them…

They are dead.

Hiruzen remembers Mito-sama and her sacrifice, how she gave up her ancestral home to come to this village in hope of giving her people a future. She made herself into a living vessel for a demon, the only way to stop the rampage of those wicked beasts that laid waste to the world.

Mito, whose only petition to Hashirama after he took her as a wife, as the mother of his daughter, as the first jinchūriki was:

Don't let Uzushio die.

Now, with the island sunk and those that remain scattered, Hiruzen walks with shame. He, and the whole village, failed Uzushio, its people and their promise. There is also guilt, because Mito didn't give her life to continue the legacy only for Uzushio to die in the next ten years.

It was sudden, a lightning-fast strike that devastated the barriers of the island. Hiruzen is not a seal master, but he knows that the clans in Uzushio were. Their quick death seems suspicious. There was not a cry for help, not even a single alarm. They had ambassadors on the island, they had their own troops there… So why did Uzushio, home of some of the most powerful people, die so quickly, so quietly?

The old Hokage walks the circular corridor asking himself how could they be defeated, in their own island, in such a devastating way? He had seen the damage. The center of the island all but caved in with just some of the buildings sticking out of the water. Their ships had been set aflame, their ports destroyed, their shores painted with blood…

By the time they got there it was too late. Those that could flee had done so and those that stayed for the fight died during it.

They knew who did it. Water Country has always been envious of Uzushio's skill with seals, and how they coveted their secrets. It was an old grudge between them, spanning the very beginning of the Elemental Countries. Uzushio, only one island facing the spreading empire that threatened obliteration if not willing to be assimilated into Water's greedy crusade.

Uzushio's response was to establish an alliance with Fire Country, a symbiotic relationship in which the island had protection from the Continent and Fire had someone keeping their shores safe. Water hadn't been happy.

Hiruzen calmed his anger, the bubbling sort of ire that made him reckless. Nothing would please him more than to ready his men and avenge their sister village. He would show them the same mercy they did to Uzushio.

But they have just come out of a war; they cannot afford another. Real life seldom allows for immediate revenge, instead, they decant their fury and bide their time. There will be more opportunities to even the odds, Hiruzen had argued with his Council. They might have lost a precious ally, a piece of their own heart, but they will pay for their sins one day.

Starting with finding out about the boy that appeared in his office to alert them of Uzushio's cry for help.

Hiruzen opens his office to find a bleeding child on his desk.

.

After several hours, Tsunade exits the surgery room. She is tired, the kind of exhaustion that is only cured by hard alcohol.

"How's the child?" Asks her sensei once she gets to her office. Thankfully, he's not covered in blood or half-dead children this time.

"She's sleeping." Or in a coma, Tsunade has yet to decide. "I healed her the best I could but…"

Tsunade has fought a war, she has seen horrendous injuries that went from shrapnel burn to instant amputations. She has healed them all, lost some but saved many more. Tsunade has seen and done many things in her twenty-eight years of life, but she had never seen a child with boiled blood before.

"There were seals," she began slowly. "Seals everywhere. I had to open her skull to drain the blood and—" The image of bright red lines on the brain, twisting like worms on the tissue, made her gut twist. "There were seals there too, on her temporal lobes. They were glowing."

And how horrifying it was to find inky lines on places that there shouldn't have been. It was more unsettling to discover how those were made. The girl had old scars on her scalp along the temporal bone of her skull but there was also a fresh puncture wound above her ears.

"She might have been lobotomized." Because that was the only sound explanation as to why that girl's brain has been impaled from side to side. "But that's the last of her worries."

Tsunade couldn't predict how her brain will react from having been ran through, but she had healed it to the best of her abilities. The rest of her body, however? Absolutely ruined.

"Someone opened all of her chakra gates," Tsunade finished.

"All?"

"All," she confirmed, much to the Hokage's confusion, trying to convince herself that it was possible. "She was stabbed through them with something akin to a needle or a very lean knife."

Her sensei blanched for a second, trying to take that in. "Her pathways?"

"Melted."

Chakra gates are engines, producing the energy the body needs to function properly. The gates dictate how much chakra is circulating inside the pathways but always keeping some raw chakra to avoid complete depletion. With constant exercise one could potentially loosen that level or enhance the quantity of chakra produced; but that comes with consequences. Even if one were to open just one gate, the level of chakra released into the system could destroy the pathways if not flexible enough, causing them to be damaged and potentially rendering them useless.

That little girl had all her chakra gates opened.

"The chakra overwhelmed her pathways and burned them up." Tsunade had recoiled when she first tried to heal her since her body was radiating so much chakra that she herself had blisters from just touching her. "She had no chakra system because the chakra had melted it, so… it went to her blood."

Chakra was energy, and energy while active turned into heat. That's why the gates try to limit how much of it is inside the pathways to avoid hyperthermia or damage the cells they connect. Without a way to be released via jutsu or spread efficiently, that pent up energy went to the next system that could offer some kind of relief: the circulatory system.

Tsunade had never seen what chakra does when mixed with blood until that day; and it was revolting. While she was draining the blood some of it dripped on the floor, and it sizzled.

"I managed to at least restore the pathways enough for some of the chakra to be redirected, closing the windows where the chakra was draining into her bloodstream."

And wasn't that a feat on its own. Tsunade had used half of her own reserves to give that girl a chance to live, but it wasn't nearly enough.

"If she makes it through, she will be crippled for life."

With pathways so mangled she will never perform a jutsu correctly or even be able to regulate her body temperature efficiently. That girl has just been sentenced to a life of pain and struggle, with her blood slowly burning her up from the inside.

A human stew, Tsunade thinks dryly.

The Hokage rubbed his temples. "Thank you, Tsunade-chan," he said honestly. "I appreciate your help"

Tsunade had only accepted because it was her sensei that had asked. That child was in such bad shape that it would have been kinder to let her pass away before subjecting her to more pain. Because that kid had been awake during the process, and she had screamed until her voice went hoarse. Tsunade had to anesthetize her lightly because her injuries didn't allow for a full knock out, so the girl stared right into her eyes and sputtered howls of pain until she was done.

And, to top it off, Tsunade had an audience.

"Sensei, who are they?" Tsunade watches Hiruzen's expression change, breaking his usual composed demeanor. He had taken Uzushio's fall as a personal failure, this past week being hell for everyone in the village, and it showed in the tension of his shoulders and the thinness of his cheeks.

But that didn't explain how he had a dying child or an Uzumaki teen that had served as her nurse.

"What do you know about the Kanbayashi?"

Tsunade is confused as to why her sensei brought them up. Her grandmother used to tell her and Nawaki stories about white haired people that held the sun in their eyes. She would say:

"The wind carries the words to those that know how to listen."

You never share secrets, she taught them, not even with whom you trust.

"Beware a Kanbayashi's scorn, for they do not forget or forgive. You only need to cross one of them to bring hell upon yourself."

Be careful how you treat someone.

"Power lies in knowledge, and the gods of the forest have all the answers to all questions."

Always do your homework.

"They are lessons," Tsunade eventually answers. "Cautionary tales that parents use to scare their children."

Nawaki had feared the Kanbayashi. Back then, their grandmother would tell them stories about how the Kanbayashi were so old and so smart that they could stop the Earth's spin; or how they were like strands of smoke, ghosts that wander the crowds to listen to those with a loose tongue. Of course, Nawaki had still been young when he believed those stories. He died believing them still.

"They claim to be Kanbayashi?" Tsunade tentatively asks.

"That's what the red-haired boy told me," the Hokage agrees.

"And you believe him?" Tsunade demanded, incredulous. "Sensei, you can't be serious."

He didn't say anything more, deep in thought. Tsunade didn't care, she had not spent more than a day full of work on that girl without a good motive as to why she was so important to keep alive.

Tsunade was a medic, and as such her first instinct was to heal; but she was also a ninja, and her second instinct was to not aid an enemy.

"Sensei—"

"Tsunade-chan," he stopped her. "We might want to get answers from the source rather than us speculating."

She knew a warning when she heard one, but she was still annoyed by the whole ordeal. The duties of a medic were many, and several more when you happened to be Chief Medic. Tsunade could not afford to spend her days doing charity work when she had too many patients and too little help. Her sensei might be Hokage, but this was her hospital.

"I moved them to the east wing," Tsunade informs him. The old unit where they put the mental patients during the war. Now, in times of peace it was mostly empty with only the janitors to sweep the floors. "I suppose they will need privacy."

That early in the morning the other medics were busy with the night rounds, leaving the corridors empty. A small mercy, considering that they were doing this under the table. Another red flag in Tsunade's book.

The Uzumaki eyed them with suspicion when they stepped into the room. He was holding the hand of the little girl, who was still in the same place Tsunade had left her. Not that she would be moving soon, hooked to that many machines keeping her alive.

The boy had bright red hair, half of it being braided tightly with golden beads and black thread. He was wearing a white fur cloak that had blood stains on it, aside from a heavy furry coat and thick boots. Despite being summer he appeared to have come out of a snowstorm.

He had the Uzumaki coloring alright, but his eyes were yellow with a dangerous sheen to them. Tsunade felt her temper flare because he had done nothing but stare blankly at her as she tried patching that girl up.

Her sensei, much more patient than her in political matters, took the lead. "We want to have a word, if you could step out for a moment?"

"I can't leave her side," he said simply. His voice was deep, older than he looked. With a strange tilt to it, an accent that neither Tsunade nor Hiruzen could quite place.

"I'm sure she will be fine for a few minutes," the Hokage amends.

"She needs chakra," he insisted. "I'm giving her mine."

Tsunade could confirm this because the poor thing had negative chakra, as in, she needed chakra to have chakra depletion. Normally, it would have killed the person outright with no possibility of recovery, but the little girl held on stubbornly.

"There's no such thing as chakra transfusion," Tsunade stated, because she was one of the few that were trying to make that possible.

There wasn't a safe way to transfer chakra to another person without some kind of drawback, rejection or immediate poisoning of the chakra that ended in a painful death. The nearest thing was a transfer via Aburame bugs, but even then, the amount was minimal and the effects poor.

The boy just held out a palm. At the center were two black diamonds with pulsating lines that went up his forearm.

"A bloodline limit?" The Hokage ventured, taking a step forward. The boy stiffened but didn't seem hostile. "Chakra transfer?"

"Chakra manipulation and absorption," the boy clarified, looking uncomfortable. "We can transfer chakra between us. Please let me stay with her."

Tsunade's anger was partially defused at the request. He sounded desperate, pleading. He must care for that little girl deeply, maybe he was her brother? But the girl had white hair instead of red but shared those brilliant golden eyes. A relative, then?

"A bloodline limit that allows the user to absorb and manipulate chakra," Tsunade summarized instead of letting her heart soften. He was the one that brought that child in that state to her doorstep, and she will have answers. "Seems quite handy, eh?"

The boy shifted. "It is when I'm trying to save my cousin," he said carefully. "I haven't come here as an enemy, nor do I intend to become one."

He was polite but his eyes and posture were anything but. He was now facing them, with an arm twisted awkwardly behind him to hold the hand of his cousin.

Sensing the tension, Hiruzen said, "A noble cause. We just want some answers, so your cousin may continue to heal." The boy nodded without easing an inch. "What's your name, boy? With your hair I would say Uzumaki, but I haven't heard of such a bloodline limit among that clan."

"My name is Sumi," he replied, quickly adding, "I'm only half Uzumaki, on my father's side."

Tsunade failed to understand why it mattered on which side he was Uzumaki, but she didn't voice it, asking instead, "And your mother's side?"

He looked straight at them before answering. "Kanbayashi."

There was a beat of dead silence, Tsunade trying very hard to make sense of what that boy, Sumi, had just told them.

Kanbayashi.

It was true that he had eerie eyes but those could be easily faked. The girl had white hair but so did Jiraiya, and she was certain that her big oaf of a teammate was not a Kanbayashi. His clothes were strange, the fur not suited for the climate of Fire Country. A foreigner then. Somewhere up north, Iron Country? There was no hitai-ate that she could see, a civilian? Mercenary for hire?

But that bloodline limit…

"Can you prove it?"

Sumi extended his hand face up. "I can show you my memories."

"What do you mean by 'memories'?" the Hokage asked, hesitantly.

"The Kanbayashi can transfer memories in the form of chakra," Sumi explains. "This is our bloodline limit. I can show you my memories to prove it; or you can take my word."

Tsunade and Hiruzen exchanged glances. They couldn't trust that boy, and if it was true that he could manipulate chakra it was too dangerous to try.

"We'll take your word for now," the Hokage decides. "We just want to understand why you are here, Sumi-kun."

"My cousin needed a medic."

"We figured as much, but why here?"

"Because Uzushio is dead," Sumi says with strained words. "And you have the only medic that could heal my cousin or be willing to do so."

Tsunade didn't know if she should take praise or just throw the boy out of the window. "My reputation has brought you here?" Tsunade questions, controlling herself.

"It's true that your skill is impressive, but… I came here because you are the grandchild of Mito-sama," Sumi told her, struggling to find his words. "And because she has a debt to pay."

That made Tsunade freeze for a moment. A debt. Her grandmother had mentioned it, back when her granduncle was still alive.

(The Second Great Shinobi War was near. Tsunade had come to the garden to ask her granduncle and Hokage for advice, finding him in the company of her grandmother.

"…how?" Mito questions, and Tsunade stops in her tracks, hearing the tremble in her voice. "How can you trust them?"

"It's not a matter of trust," Tobirama replies, his voice even but his eyes fixated on the flowers of the garden; Hashirama had grown them. "But of principle."

Her grandmother wants to ask something else, but Tobirama shakes his head. "They will come when it's due.")

"My grandmother has been dead for ten years," Tsunade reminded him sternly. Many years had passed but the pain was still there. She had died of heartbreak because she had buried her grandson, just as she buried her husband, her brother-in-law, her daughter, and son-in-law.

And Tsunade had to bury her.

"We know of Mito-sama's passing, and we mourned her as one of our own, but the debt still stands," Sumi insisted.

"So that makes me responsible for paying you back?" Sumi nodded. "Bullshit."

"Tsunade-chan…"

"No, sensei," she hissed. "I haven't worked an entire day on that child just to get a lecture about how my grandmother had matters to settle." Tsunade turned towards the half-and-half Uzumaki seething. "You are spitting on my grandmother's grave, boy. You better start making sense." Or else she didn't say, but said boy understood, nonetheless.

And yet, he doesn't back down. Seemingly pained, Sumi continued. "Mito-sama came to us for a request. A seal to bind a human to a chakra being."

Before Tsunade could trample that daring little shit, Hiruzen stepped in again. "The bijū seal, I presume?"

But that couldn't be. Mito was one of the best seal masters, praised even in a clan that understood seals better than language. She had made the bijū seal and proved to the world that a Tailed Beast could be contained. That seal had been fundamental for the world to reach a power balance. Tsunade had seen the seal on her grandmother's belly, the black curling lines with the spiral at the center.

And yet…

"The Kanbayashi taught Mito-sama how to perform the seal in exchange for a favor," Sumi explains quickly.

"And what favor would it be, Sumi-kun?" The Hokage presses.

Sumi glanced back for a second, his expression softening before it turned into guilt. "Keep Sachi safe."

Hiruzen went towards the bed where the girl was prompted on. Her skin had red angry marks, ice packs to lower her fever and tied to an array of machines that beeped rhythmically. She had not stirred ever since their conversation began, the stillness of her body unsettling.

Sachi was almost dead.

"Sachi is her name, then," Hiruzen hums. He takes the little girl's hand, turning her palm upwards to show two black diamonds. "You must love her dearly, if you brought up that debt now."

"She's the only family I have left," Sumi confessed, gripping her hand tighter. "I can't let her…"

Tsunade refused to be swayed by the emotion in his voice. The seals that she had seen on Sachi's body, on her brain were proof enough that he was not exempt from blame.

"Who did this to her?" Tsunade questioned bluntly. "Who put those things on her?"

Sumi seemed startled at the question. "It's… It's complicated." Tsunade glared at him, which was enough for Sumi to reconsider. "Our, um, previous Archive did it; Chika-sama."

"Why?"

Sumi paused, the silence stretching for what felt like an eternity before he answered plainly. "She was the only one left."

The simplicity of it sickened Tsunade. Sachi, who had flatlined twice on her during the procedure, her pain receptors needing to be healed from scratch, the same child that had looked at her with wide eyes glossing over with tears and blood—

What kind of family would do something like that? A sacrifice for slaughter, and just because she happened to be there. Empathy didn't come often to Tsunade, even less for a stranger, but watching Sachi leave her nails on the metal table was enough to prompt her to throw punches in her defense.

And that was going to happen really quick if Sumi didn't get his head out of his ass soon.

"Excuse our ignorance, Sumi-kun, but could you give us more details?" Tsunade's sensei pinned her with a look that said 'don't' and she, in all her years under his tutelage and duty, was tempted to ignore him and deal with the consequences later.

"... do you know anything about the Kanbayashi Archive?"

The name didn't seem familiar to Tsunade, but it did to Hiruzen.

"There used to be this tale…" Hiruzen begins, recalling the memory. "About an Archive that held all the answers to all questions, pure knowledge and wisdom that very few had the chance to experience." Gently checking the girl's pulse, he adds "When I was a child, I had always wanted to get the chance to go to that place. Ask my questions knowing that there would be an answer." The Hokage left the girl alone, focusing on Sumi, his eyes keen and sharp.

"That's absurd," Tsunade scoffed. Such a place couldn't exist in their world without people either abusing it or destroying it.

"My sensei told me this," Hiruzen tells her, and that shocks Tsunade.

That was why Hiruzen was willing to entertain them. Her granduncle had never been one to indulge in fantastical stories; Tobirama had been a pragmatic man, perhaps overly so. If he had believed in it, it was enough for them to at least consider it.

"Is it true, then?" The Hokage inquiries further.

"The Archive exists," Sumi confirms. "But it's not a place."

"If not a place, then what?" Tsunade snapped, tired of talking in riddles.

Her sensei pointed towards Sachi with his chin. "I don't have a doubt that you love your cousin, Sumi-kun, but there must be another reason as to why you are trying to keep her safe."

Tsunade felt a cold shiver run through her as a thought crossed her mind.

What Sachi had endured hadn't been meaningless torture, but...

"The Archive acts as the matriarch of our clan," Sumi tells them, gritting his teeth. "She contains the lives of every Kanbayashi that has ever lived, their knowledge and their wisdom."

… but one with purpose.

"You said that your bloodline limit allows for transferring memories in the form of chakra," Hiruzen commented with morbid interest. "And if what you are saying it's true, then this little girl has been appointed as the Archive, meaning she has access to the memories of all of your ancestors."

"Yes," Sumi agrees.

"Mito-sama came to you for a seal that could allow a human to contain a bijū, which you taught her instead of creating one for her," Hiruzen continued, his voice even and patient, but Tsunade could see the gears in his mind turning. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but could it be that the bijū seal that you gave Mito-sama is the same kind that your cousin has on her brain?"

Sumi's face paled, which was all the confirmation they needed. "Y-yes, partially, but yes." He shifts his body, his fur cloak settling on his broad shoulders. "The sealwork of the Archive is more… complex. It needs chakra to function, so that's why her gates are open but…" Sumi hesitates, clenching his fist to stop it from shaking. "Something… something went wrong."

Wrong was one way to put it. Tsunade could still feel those disgusting seals under her hands, how they were almost alive, trying to gnaw at her chakra. They had stabbed that poor girl through all her chakra gates, not only running a needle through her brain but also through her heart.

They had butchered her, ruined her.

And for what?

"Why?" Tsunade asked, her anger crackling around her. "Why did you do this to her?"

Hiruzen tried to intervene, but Sumi snarled at her, his own temper rising to meet hers. It resembled a blizzard, harsh and unforgiving, biting at her like a hungry wolf.

"She wasn't supposed to become Archive!" He growled, losing his composure at all once. "She was just a trainee in name, she would have never been made Archive—"

"Then why is she Archive?!" Tsunade shouts at him.

"Because everyone is dead!"

Sumi's face flashed with seals of his own, thick black lines appeared on his face, making his eyes glint threateningly. Tsunade was willing to fight that boy and crack his bones with her fists, but it all died quickly enough when a wave of chakra washed over them in a brief but powerful burst. Tsunade was familiar with her sensei's warnings, but Sumi caught on just as quickly.

"This is a sensitive matter for everyone involved," Hiruzen scolded them both. "Tsunade-chan is tired and I presume you are as well, Sumi-kun." Said boy bowed his head low, ashamed for being reprimanded. "We'll finish this conversation later"

"Thank you… Hokage-sama."

Tsunade wasn't nearly convinced to let this matter go but her sensei did. He got to her side, giving her a look that made her follow him outside the room, leaving Sumi and Sachi behind. She was tired, the drumming migraine on her temples a constant reminder that she needed a drink and a week's worth of sleep.

"Go and rest, Tsunade-chan," Hiruzen told her kindly.

Tsunade didn't argue anymore.

(She should have.)

.

"Not today either, hm?"

Sumi sighs against Sachi's bed. Three weeks, that much has passed since they came to Leaf. Tsunade healed Sachi's body, taken care of the damage left of the sealwork, healing the chakra pathways to restore her system. Her abilities bordered on miraculous, as she single-handedly patched his cousin back together.

Sachi doesn't wake up.

Guilt rises with the bitterness of bile. He had given Sachi to Chika-sama, knowing full well what she would do with her. But what were his options? Everyone was dead, dead, dead; and Sachi, happy and bright Sachi had been— there. How could he not take her away, get her to safety? How would he have known that she was the last?

Michiko and Rie died together. He found Harumi in pieces.

Sumi had panicked when he didn't find her; not even dead. Three little bodies spread out near the tents, alongside the others, but no trace of his dear cousin.

The creature went for the children first.

By the time he tried alarming the hunters, they were dead too; and when he came back to alert the others, there was no one left.

Only Sachi, running towards him.

(He would have died with her.)

And now, there she was, barely hanging on to life because of him. Had Shinju, her mother, been alive she would have skinned him alive.

(Shinju died calling for her children; neither answered.)

A small pat on his shoulders woke him up from his trip of self-loathing. Tsunade pointed to a tray, saying, "I don't want to take care of you too, you better start eating. She won't get better if you behave like an idiot."

"... thank you, Tsunade-sama."

Sumi should be grateful. The Hokage and Tsunade had let them stay in the hospital without informing anyone else; going as far as bringing them food and Tsunade regularly coming by to make sure Sachi didn't die. The golden coins he had put them into their hands certainly helped, but they agreed anyway. He knew better than anyone that ninjas didn't honor promises like Kanbayashi.

Another pang of shame. He had sworn to protect Sachi, and yet…

"— kay there?"

"U-um, yes. I apologize, Tsunade-sama…"

The medic pursed her lips. "Look, I really can't be bothered, but are you really okay? I mean, you told us about… that thing, but it can't get you here, right?"

The conversation that transpired between the three of them, Sumi describing that hellish demon while the Hokage and Tsunade listened had been… interesting, to say the least. However, they let him recall his story and, even though they might not trust him, they understood the dangers of a creature that could take down thousands in a few hours.

Of course, they were more interested in the Archive than the motive of their demise, but Sumi tried not to dwell on that. Business came first.

"We don't know." That demon had bypassed all their barriers and all their seals, even breached the Needle Forest. It was unimaginable. If it had been able to trespass the Heart, what could the world do to stop it from doing it again? "It didn't follow us into the Heart, and I don't think it… it knows where we are."

"Because you used a jumping seal, right?"

"Hopping seal, yes," Sumi corrected. "I can transfer myself through set seals, but that creature… I don't know if it even has chakra to power the seal, much less use it."

But Sumi didn't feel safe. How could he, when the Heart had been but a fortress for a thousand years and fell in less than a day? How could he feel at ease in a hospital room that is so little protected...?

Sumi shook his head. They were kind enough to let him stay, he won't look down on them. He had no right to when he didn't even have a home anymore.

Only Sachi.

At the heavy silence that followed, Tsunade said, "Tell me about her."

Sumi looked up at her, his golden eyes clouding in confusion.

"Your cousin, Sachi," Tsunade insists. "Tell me what she's like."

Tsunade herself didn't understand why she was asking about the little girl that lay butchered on the bed, but seeing the grief emanating from Sumi made her uncomfortable. One wouldn't guess Sumi was a Kanbayashi, with hair so red and warm smile. Uzumaki were a sore spot for Tsunade, Uzushio so deeply ravaged that it hurt to see one of her kin— or half— so hurt.

She could empathize with the kind of pain that came from losing a home suddenly. The boy, because that was what he was still, gaped for a moment before chuckling lightly.

"Well…" he began. "She's my favorite cousin." How could she not? When she was the only one that had been full of life ever since the beginning.

"She was born two months premature, in the middle of winter. Didn't know if she would make it."

Born out of grief, their grandfather had told him. Shinju had bleed on the table until they took her out, and even then, Sachi was so little, so weak. Winter wasn't a good time to be born, despite having the protection of the Heart.

Sumi had spent entire nights watching out for her, making sure she was breathing and not taken too early. Just like now, a hospital bed instead of a crib.

"Two months premature?" The medic spoke, concerned.

"Yes. She spent the first years secluded at home." It pained him, to recall those memories "She used to have these horrible high fevers…"

Her mother didn't let her out of the house until she was four years old, although the damage had already been done.

"She got better, eventually," Sumi continued. "Sachi is named after happiness, you see. Sometimes, I think she should have been 'stubbornness' instead." He smiles fondly.

Sachi had surpassed every obstacle that life put in front of her, and Sumi was certain that she will continue to do so. That's why she needed to wake up, because she was the only one that could endure the Archive and tell the tale.

If only out of spite.

"Seems like a good kid," Tsunade muses.

"She tries," Sumi murmured, caressing his cousin's face gently. "Trouble always finds her, or she always finds trouble. There was this one time… She was six, mind you, and we were on a hunting trip with Grandfather when she wanted to show us a new seal she came up with." Sumi smiled at the memory, the sight of his cousin playing around in the snow, happier that she had ever been until then. "Long story short, she provoked an avalanche."

Tsunade blinked. "An avalanche?"

He laughed. "Yes, and a bad one too. Snow all the way to the shore; Chika-sama made her melt every snowflake out of place for weeks afterward."

Sachi preferred to forget about the incident, Sumi didn't. To this day, it was his favorite story to tell or show. Sachi had made the top of the mountain unstable, causing all the slippery snow fall until it created a wall of ice and snow. Him and Grandfather thought it was hilarious, and a little scary; Chika-sama was rightfully annoyed.

"Six you say?"

He laughed again. "Oh, Tsunade-sama, Sachi has done much more than the odd avalanche." Both good and bad. "During last year's summer festival, she, somehow came up with an ignition seal of some kind. She nearly burned the Archive's tent and her eyebrows."

That too was one of his favorites. He had been there, coming early from the hunt with their grandfather and Sachi had pulled him along to show him her new seal. "It will help the meat cook faster," she told him, drawing the seal onto the table. "So we don't have to wait for everyone." Sachi activated the seal, too much chakra that burned the carcass to a crisp, ignited the tent and, consequently, smoked her eyebrows out.

Chika-sama didn't even scold her for that, saying that her face was punishment enough.

(The clan had laughed for days; Sachi refused to go out of her room until they grew back.)

"Your cousin seems like a troublemaker," Tsunade rectified.

Tsunade didn't know half of it. Sumi felt his heart clench, all of Sachi's misadventures flashing behind his eyelids. She had good intentions, he knew, but her methods backfired on her spectacularly. The clan— had— regarded her as a ticking bomb, and it made her even more desperate to gain their approval.

Until she didn't.

"It's not that she actively wants to cause trouble, it's just…" Sumi didn't even understand it himself, that uncanny ability to cause chaos in every step that she took.

(Chaos is what saved her.)

"It's just a Sachi thing, I guess. Which sounds very much like an excuse, but I've been there for most of her disasters, and I can testify that she didn't intend to cause harm." At least, not in the way that her plans tended to go. It was the gag of the clan, what would happen next because of her.

Tsunade, a picture perfect of Chika-sama's expression of doubt, hummed.

"I can show you my memories to prove it." Sumi extended one hand, black diamonds glowing.

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Why—? Oh, right." Sumi let his hand fall into the bed, sheepish. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. I forget myself."

"It's obvious you love her, Sumi-kun, but…"

"I understand."

Sumi didn't say anything more, focusing on his cousin. He was a traveler, and he knew that those that had known about the Kanbayashi were skittish when it came to their bloodline limit. Ninjas didn't easily give their trust and pushing the matter will get him a kunai to the jugular.

Tsunade finished the check up on Sachi, changing the various solutions and writing down her vitals. Sachi, motionless and unconscious, didn't wake up. Tsunade pictured her running around in snow, wreaking havoc in her wake and her cousin laughing in the background.

She wouldn't admit it, she wouldn't say it, but it reminded her of Nawaki.

(They didn't have enough to put in the coffin.)

"You told us that you use your bloodline limit to transfer memories as chakra impressions…" Tsunade says, not sure why she was speaking at all. "But it works with… you know?"

Tsunade tried not to get blinded by Sumi's happy smile. "Yes! Oh, sorry. I mean, yes. It can feel strange at first but it's totally safe."

She wasn't reassured at all. "What about chakra affinities?"

"I assume you are asking because of rejection?" Tsunade nodded. "The Kanbayashi… well, Sachi and I don't have affinities, only neutral chakra."

"Just Yin and Yang?" Sumi nodded.

Yin and Yang chakra were on a different spectrum than regular chakra; they represented spirit and body respectively. Present in every person, they didn't cause rejection as much as transfusing chakra from a fire affinity to a lightning one, cycling into their system as their own. Tsunade was intrigued, from a medical point of view, but chose to round the bed slowly and take a seat near Sumi.

Sumi, who hadn't stopped smiling, beamed at her. It hurt her, somewhat, because Sumi reminded her of the family she had recently lost with Uzushio. Perhaps that was what prompted her to accept, despite the suspicious circumstances.

The red head rose a hand to her temple, saying, "It will feel like a pressure, please don't fight it."

Tsunade didn't know what was happening until she felt the aforementioned pressure. Similar to the feeling of pressing her head against a wall; then the trickle sensation of chakra transpiring her skin slowly.

It wasn't uncomfortable, healing being more straight forward and invasive, but it was a constant force that made her instincts try to fight it.

Then, utter darkness.

Genjutsu was her first thought. A pointed panic rushed over, believing that Sumi had done something to her, and she had fell for a sob story. Before she could do the same thing that Sumi had asked her not to, a red door appeared.

Tsunade didn't know if she had arms to open it or feet to kick it down, the darkness around oppressive and heavy. Like a void.

Or death.

The door opened without her doing anything, a hand cloaked in white light waving her over that gave way to a vaguely human shape. Tsunade felt that it was smiling.

"This is called a mindspace," the figure said with Sumi's voice, coming closer. "This what the seals on our temporal lobes are for, but it's not important. Come, I'll show you mine."

Sumi— because it had to be him— took her hand despite it not being there before. Tsunade let herself be guided across the door, a hallway materializing in front of her.

It was made of black wood, stretching impossibly high above their heads into the darkness. Bright golden light that cast no shadows illuminated the walls that had red doors with labels on them.

Sumi rushed through the corridor, stopping at one that had the name of 'Sachi' in golden lettering and a sentence that Tsunade couldn't quite make out. Without fanfare, he opened it.

Tsunade, who was going along with it because she had no prior expectations, was surprised to find that at the other side of the door was—

Sachi.

She was smaller than Tsunade remembered, dressed in thick clothes that let only a window of chubby cheeks and wide smile. Her voice was like any other child's, high pitched and excited, reaching out for them.

Sachi didn't come out of the door. The little girl took a hand that had been out of view and tugged it, the image moving the same way a movie does.

They were memories. Recorded memories.

Tsunade watched with wonder as the little girl chatted away in a language that sounded like bone clashing. The landscape was pure snow, Sumi looking around to give more context. He had explained that they came from the north, where there is always snow and ice, but it seemed like an understatement when all Tsunade could see was white and grey.

It took her a moment to realize that they were on a mountaintop, black ridged of rock breaking the blanket of snow. Sumi's voice, the one coming from the door, replied to any of Sachi's questions. A deeper voice called them both, turning at the same time to see a man going towards them.

He was tall and broad, with a white braided bear with gold and black beads. With a similar white cloak made of fur, he got to their side in two long strides. Sumi had to look up to regard him, but there was nothing but warmth and joy in that imposing man's eyes.

"That is Grandfather, Naruhito of Isonash," the Sumi besides her supplied.

Naruhito kneeled into the snow, Sachi jumping into his arms immediately. She was so tiny compared to her grandfather; a small ball of fluff next to a hardened giant. The conversation was missed, Sumi translating into what could be summarized in, "Sachi is telling us about a seal."

Tsunade had a slight suspicion that it was how every disaster started.

As expected, the tranquility didn't last long. Naruhito had let Sachi jump around the snow while he talked with Sumi, glancing every so often towards the girl who was getting near the peak.

A column of gold light shoots up into the sky, piercing the clouds and fizzling into sparks as Sachi took out the hands from the black rock. Sumi and Naruhito clapped, making polite sounds of amazement to boost Sachi's smile. The girl left the top, speaking excitedly until her voice was drowned by a rumbling roar.

Then, the whole mountain went downhill.

Tsunade wasn't familiar with the destruction and devastation that snow could cause. Sumi had the courage to go to Sachi with a blink— a hopping seal— and take her up in his arms. Looking over the ridge, Tsunade could see the mist and snow rushing down to vertigo inducing heights.

Behind them, Naruhito laughed.

The image stops abruptly, changing to show black waters and equally dark shores; except for the wall of snow that now split it in half. A woman stood at the front, white flowing robes and a crown of white hair decorated with golden needles and chains.

The woman turned around, Tsunade not fooled by the deceiving calmness as she called out Sachi's name. The little girl was holding onto Sumi's legs, her big golden eyes fearful for a moment before she went towards the woman.

"That's Chika-sama, the… previous Archive."

Again, the image shifted to a closer look. The woman was freakishly tall— Tsunade suspected heels — with a wrinkled face and windswept skin. She asked something, Sumi replying in that rough language, which made her squint her eyes.

In the background, Sachi was shoveling snow.

Sumi closed the door, ending the movie. However, they didn't stop. Sumi dragged her to another door located far away into the hallway, Tsunade catching sight of doors that were chained to the black walls and crossed over.

Without time to snoop in, Tsunade watched another memory.

It started in a school. Sumi had told them that they used to be thousands of Kanbayashi, clearly reflected on the class of easily a hundred teenagers in the room. They were all neatly seated on cushions, staring right ahead as a man with long hair braided with blue and gold ribbons wrote on a blackboard.

They were just kids, all of them with white hair and golden eyes.

(They were all dead.)

Their teacher, Susumu-sensei as Sumi named him, was writing on the board what Tsunade recognized as seals. Jiraiya had explained to her some of the matrices that were used outside of medicine, and if she recalled correctly, it was a retaining seal akin to those of a regular storage scroll.

Between the bodies of different teenagers, a small hand was raised.

"Susumu-sensei didn't like Sachi." Tsunade could only agree, as the old man shriveled his face as if he had slurped a lemon. Begrudgingly, the teacher let Sachi speak. "Sachi told him that the seal was wrong."

They argued for some time, Susumu-sensei getting angrier and angrier until he told her to get to the front of the class and show them the 'right way'. Sachi did, barely seen from the desk in front of the board.

Sachi was the youngest; not a day over six. What was she doing in Sumi's class?

She took a piece of chalk and started doing the seal, struggling to complete the circular matrix at the top before adding connectors and more details that were lost to Tsunade. Finally, she made a seal that was slightly different from the one that the man had done, a smug smirk on her face.

Sachi proceeded to prove her seal by putting the piece of chalk on the center, the object disappearing against the smooth surface with a glow of the seal.

"Sachi was showing us a retaining seal that allows only certain users to access. Susumu-sensei didn't listen to her, and…"

Tsunade watched, seeing the bitter man flattening his hand against the seal and, subsequently, blowing a hole in the wall.

Had she been able to, Tsunade would have laughed at the bewildered expression the teacher made at seeing the damage. She would have been crying with mirth at seeing another teacher, a woman, peeking around the hole covered in dust and debris.

Meanwhile, Sachi is white as a ghost and wide eyed. She turned to him, Sumi catching her horrified look, mouthing the words that Sumi translated them as, "I didn't do it."

"Chika-sama gave her five hours of cleaning duty for this one— Oh look, that's her brother, Keiichi..."

Tsunade saw a boy, a little younger than Sumi, massaging his temples. The resemblance between Keiichi and Sachi was uncanny. Although every Kanbayashi— except Sumi— had the regular white hair and golden eye look, they shared more subtle features. From the turn of their nose to the grimace in their lips; an afterimage of one another. Damn, the woman that birthed them must have been lucky.

Sumi closed the door, turning around and opening another. Instead of seeing through Sumi's eyes, Tsunade saw him staring right back at her.

It took her a hot second before she realized that it was the reflection of a mirror. Sumi was younger, his hair down from the braids and holding a toddler.

Sachi.

Sumi waved, Sachi imitating him with clumsy movements in his grasp. "It was her first birthday, just after we put her seals," he said with pride. "That's Shinju, her mother."

Cue another tall woman appearing. Tsunade could tell by how she walked, a purpose clear in her eyes, that she was a strict and stern mother. Her hair was straight as straw, cut one inch above the floor and wearing a white and gold gown. With high cheekbones and a slender frame, she took Sachi from Sumi's arms with elegant movements. She wore blue lipstick, standing out against her pale complexion and light-yellow eyes.

At her side was Keiichi, waving at Sumi with a grin short of two teeth. The mirror filled with more people, Sumi dutifully introducing each one. "That is Nori, their father and my uncle," to the man that made silly faces at Sachi. "You already know Grandfather. Look, those are my parents," to the couple that came in last.

The woman had short white hair styled to the side and dimples on her cheeks; accompanied by her husband, a poster image of an average Uzumaki. His flaming red hair was a drop of color in the picture they were posing for. His tanned skin and easy smile contrasted with the solemn look on Sachi's branch of the family.

"My mother's name was Yua, and my father's was Akio."

And just like that, another door opened without prompting. Tsunade turned on instinct, even in the middle of that strange experience, she had little autonomy to see the memories of—

Uzushio.

While Sumi's home could be summarized in grey scale, Uzushio was an explosion of color. Tsunade recognized the bleached stone steps that led to the volcano of the island; the aqueducts filled with clear water and brightly colored koi fish. The red tilled houses with spectacular white walls that reflected the afternoon sun. The fresh greenery throwing shade and muting the glittering of the streets and the shine of the buildings. Down the road she could see the edge of the Kaizoku sea, shielded by the crowd flooding the markets.

Tsunade felt a sudden sense of sickness, faded away by the connection between both their minds. She had seen what was left of the island after Water destroyed it; the very same temples that had been sacred for generations were ransacked and thrown into the water. The water canals, once their pride and joy, ran with their blood.

The harbor, once filled with their magnificent ships and boats, had been all but annihilated by the tides.

Tsunade wasn't seeing death, but life. Sumi's memories, of a time just passed, kept the vivacity and beauty of Uzushio in its prime. Red haired Uzumaki, with their boisterous laugh that echoed through the busy stalls. The Hama fishermen tending the koi of the aqueducts. Ishiwata ships sailing the whirlpools…

Sumi turned around, displaying the Uzumaki main temple in all its glory. Akio, Sumi's father greeted him with a toothy grin, welcoming him in. Sumi closed the door before Tsunade could see more of the family she had lost.

And a blink later, all was gone.

Tsunade held her head between her hands, the light of the room too much to bear and the heaviness in her heart too great to endure. It had begun innocently enough, with a moment of weakness in Tsunade's part after watching Sumi lose himself in grief.

Now, she was the one grieving.

"... I… I apologize, Tsunade-sama."

Slowly coming to herself, she asked, "What happened?"

"The seals in our brains are sensitive to emotions, and sometimes they act up. I didn't want to cause you any pain, Tsunade-sama…"

"No, the— Uzushio, what happened to Uzushio?"

Sumi was hesitant to speak, sobering up quickly. "The island was destroyed—"

"Do you have the memories?"

Words of denial died in his throat. Sumi couldn't resist the calling of truth, not when his clan had actively sought it for centuries. It was the last thing he could do for her.

"Yes."

.

Hiruzen smoked his pipe, calming his nerves as Tsunade's recall of events settled in his mind.

"Water broke the treaty. They employed the war ships that they swore to us they destroyed! They lied to us, and they used a jinchūriki to destroy the island," Tsunade muttered under her breath, seething with anger.

Sumi had shown Tsunade what had transpired during Uzushio's fall. They had used the jinchūriki of the Three Tailed Beast, something that heavily breached the terms of the haphazard peace they had drawn at the end of the Second War. Tsunade spoke of a crazed jinchūriki, mad and out of control that had powered through the barriers of the island and swept it with tide after tide.

To add insult to injury, they had a clan with a bloodline limit that could employ lava. Uzushio's long dormant volcano had been used to split the island apart, rendering any attempt at stopping the catastrophe useless.

The attack came by nightfall, a planned scheme to avoid any alarm from their bases on the shore that would notice the smoke rising from the volcano. Too late for any of the ships to sail by, most likely bribed by Water, and their own destroyed first to trap them on the island.

Sumi, the only one with an ability to bypass the disaster, had done his best. He had, in his words, "Hopped out everyone I could." A commendable feat that had saved a few dozen lives until his chakra ran out.

Then, he stayed to fight. Tsunade argued that Uzushio fought tooth and nail, taking as many as they lost. Water had been that close to giving up, if it hadn't been for their lava users and swordsmen.

Yua, Sumi's mother and a Kanbayashi through and through, had died defending the Uzukage's daughter.

"They knew who our ambassadors were, they targeted them so they wouldn't warn us," Tsunade ranted on.

Water had cut off any communication between their villages. Smart, had Sumi not been at the scene.

"Water has been planning this," she hissed angrily. "They never wanted peace, those warmongering little shits. They wanted to blame the volcano!"

Sumi had appeared in his office, wounded and soot covered, screaming about an attack on Uzushio. The Hokage had believed him on a fluke, and because of that they had caught Water ships fleeing the scene before they could feign ignorance.

"We have proof, sensei—" Tsunade insists. "We can bring them to justice, avenge my grandmother's home—"

"Tsunade-chan."

She stopped.

"The proof you speak of is a collection of memories from a boy that doesn't exist." Tsunade tried to argue, offended at being brushed off, but the Hokage dismissed her with a flick of his pipe. "We know that Water is the reason why Uzushio fell, and I know that you would want nothing more than to take a ship and destroy Water," he paused, sighing. "I know, because that's what I also want to do."

Tsunade looked away, ashamed.

"But war is not an option, not right now. If we were to call a Kage summit, we wouldn't be able to surrender proof without putting Sumi, and Sachi, at risk." Taking another breath of smoke, he added, "They will raise questions, as to how we know that they have the ability to use volcanos, or the identity of their new jinchūriki. What will we tell the other Kages to convince them of Water's transgression? Lightning and Earth will side with them to be contrary to us, Sand too weak to have much of an influence in the vote."

Leaf's most powerful ally had been Uzushio.

"Water will shift their attention to us, and the war that is brewing will only burst faster if Water believes we know too much. I understand your pain and resolve, Tsunade-chan, and I won't ask forgiveness for my incompetence; but I do ask for patience."

Tsunade refused to meet his eyes; Hiruzen exhaled smoke. It had been a while since he had seen Tsunade's stubborn side, reminiscent of her childhood, short as that had been. But he could empathize with his student, who had lost another part of her family without her being able to do anything to save it.

"How long?" Tsunade asked with new resolve. "How long until we strike back?"

"Until we can strike back."

Sumi had offered knowledge for his cousin's treatment; better than the solid gold coins he had given them at first. For years, he had been an envoy between Uzushio and the Kanbayashi, and he knew his fair share of sensitive information about their neighbors.

Water's new jinchūriki was named Karatachi Higura, fifteen years of age and a penchant for destruction. The lava users belonged to the Terumī clan, native of Earth Country. That was precious enough, if not for all the identities of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

"If we go against Water in our state…" Leaf had numbers and terrain to their side, but Hiruzen would rather not tempt their luck with the Terumī clan. "Without proper training, intel and strategy we will be sending our people to feed Water's need for blood. We might win the fight, but the cost will be too great." After all, it had happened before; during the Second War, that left Leaf wounded by the loss of their Nidaime, forcing their hand through vicious retaliation.

The Battle of Hot Springs was Hiruzen's first mistake as Hokage.

Tsunade, who had lost too much from all the political struggle and conflict, grounded her teeth in anger.

"Patience, Tsunade-chan," he told her gently, knowing that it would do nothing to soothe her.

The woman huffed. "I understand, Hokage-sama." She used his title as an insult these days, a reminder that their bond as teacher and student had been twisted by higher responsibilities and time.

Not wanting to upset her further, the Hokage changed the subject. "Anything else that Sumi-kun might have… showed you?"

"I asked about the process of becoming an Archive," she began, her voice rough. "He didn't want to show me at first, giving me the excuse that I might not understand why they do it and all that crap."

Taking a deep breath, she continued. "It's… horrible. They need to open all chakra gates and an assistant to carry out the transfer, something to put a barrier between the Archive and the vessel's mind. Guess who didn't have an assistant?"

Tsunade rubbed her temples, apologizing for her bitterness. "Long night. In a nutshell, Sachi's mindspace or something might be messed up because of the Archive, so that's why she isn't waking up."

That was concerning. "Is there any way to help her?"

She shrugged. "Sumi-kun doesn't have any ideas, and it's something beyond my skills to fix. I can't heal the mind, and I don't want to poke around when her body is still recovering."

Wall after wall. Obstacle after obstacle.

Hiruzen snuffed his pipe. "Thank you, Tsunade-chan. It must be tiring for you to take care of this situation."

"It's my job to heal, and Sumi-kun isn't that bad if you let him show you his memories, but... I don't know, sensei, it's too much," she shakes her head, clearly exhausted. "The Kanbayashi have been pulling our strings before the Elemental Countries were formed, and I know Sumi-kun isn't showing me all the details."

"Do you believe he is lying to you?"

"Lie? No," his student chuckled dryly. "The Kanbayashi are too cocky to lie, and the memories he shows me are true. I've checked for genjutsu and ran a scan on my brain to make sure he wasn't putting seals or the like. Their bloodline limit truly allows for memories to be exchanged, and from what I've gathered, they can't alter them except to store them as independent clips."

Hiruzen took that in without trying to let his suspicion make him close minded. Sumi had broken some of the notions of normalcy that he had until then, and so he treated everything that pertained to him and the Kanbayashi without asking too many questions as to why or how.

He had to give it to them, it would have solved many problems in his life had he been able to check memories without calling a Yamanaka.

"Anything about the creature?" The Hokage asks for the sake of it.

Tsunade shook her head. "Sumi told me that he doesn't want to revive that day until he is more… stable. The seals on his temporal lobes can act out if he is under too much emotional stress and can cause a collapse."

The term was unfamiliar to the Hokage, and so he inquired about it. "Sumi-kun described it as a tower. They use seals to store their memories as chakra manually, a very delicate process that depends on them keeping their cool and not freaking out." Tsunade frowns, clearly not fully grasping the full meaning of that explanation. "They stack their memories as they please, like making a tower out of bricks. If they snap, the tower comes crashing down and can kill them. Or lock them inside their minds."

That was… peculiar

Tsunade didn't know if she should be impressed or label Sumi-kun as insane. "The worst of all? I believe him. He showed me a family picture, or his version of it, and the sight of his parents made his memories shuffle before he could control them. If he is telling the truth about that thing attacking them, then I understand why he would refrain from seeing it again."

Hiruzen did wonder how it must be to live a life that didn't allow for nothing to be forgotten. Good and bad, traumatic, and cherished memories all neatly categorized. Useful yes, but from Tsunade's report, dangerous too.

"Will a Yamanaka help?"

Tsunade shakes her head. "No. Sumi-kun made it very, very clear that only a Kanbayashi can safely access another Kanbayashi's mind. The seals on their temporal lobes have a security feature; we wouldn't be the first ones to try and crack their brains open to get to the intel they have."

Glancing at the clock, Tsunade readies herself to leave. "I wouldn't trust a Yamanaka with a Kanbayashi, their abilities kind of overlap and I know both are nosy fuckers."

Hiruzen could only agree. It was wishful thinking to believe that the Yamanaka wouldn't spread the rumor of a clan with a bloodline limit that could interfere with their secret techniques. They were avid hunters when it came to the information of the human psyche, ruthless too when they were interested.

"We'll continue as we are, then," he conceded. There was little more they could do, with Sachi in a comatose state and Sumi watching over her. As for Uzushio… They could only wait and see.

"I'll talk to Sumi-kun tomorrow, see if I can find out more."

.

There was fire inside her. It was searing her veins; she could feel it when she took a breath and it came out as steam. She was burning, scorched from the inside and had no way out.

Above her Chika-sama is raising a needle, the little light of the room catching just so as it comes down on her. Looking down she sees the other black needles, shiny with her blood as it pours from her body. This is the seventh one.

Her back arches, trying to fight off the intrusion and the pain. More fire floods over her, blazing all the way to her toes before rushing towards her head. It feels as if she has coals crawling under her skin and around her bones, eating everything that she is, scalding her very soul.

She can only scream.

There's blood in her mouth, bubbling hot blood that she cannot swallow because it hurts more than her tongue slowly boiling. Her legs are twitching with the chakra overload, and she can feel it bleeding into her bloodstream.

Another wave of pain comes, catching her unaware. She tries to scream but she can barely breathe, her lungs wet, her throat a raw mess. The blood sputters around her lips, running towards her chin.

"Bear it!" Chika-sama says to her. "Bear the pain! Endure it! Accept it!"

The matriarch of her clan yells at her, but the sound is distorted because there are two needles behind her ears. Those had been the first ones. The bone gave up at the first thrust, crunching so hard that she was sure that it would never heal again.

"Accept it!"

No.

So, she thrashes and fights and screams. The fire surges, the room filled with the hiss of her blood as it splinters the altar she is pinned on. Her body shakes, convulsing because of the heat.

She refuses, she won't bear it, she won't endure it, she won't accept it. This is not what she wanted; this is not what she will become.

A touch, a pull, a pressure— Something is slowly creeping inside her mind. A darkness so deep that her thoughts are devoured, her will chipped away with every moment that passes.

Her body is burning but her mind is going cold. She fights it, summoning mental barriers just as Father had taught her; but it's difficult and the strength of the void is greater than hers.

Spitting the blood in her mouth aside, she stares into Chika-sama's eyes. The woman is burning too. Golden lines that crisscross her face and the meat of her arms; they look like molten gold, just as pretty, just as sweltering. Her lips are red, with matching blood on her cheeks and neck.

Good, she thinks with bitterness.

The pain is so intense that she barely registers the ground shaking beneath her. The walls flicker with the alarm seals, but she doesn't care about scenery when she is literally roasted in her own juice. The dread numbs the burn somewhat, but it rips at her mind like a crazed demon.

When she closes her eyes she sees the faceless figure there, with that unnatural smile that speaks of a greater torture than being boiled alive.

Fear is what keeps her convulsing, the primal instincts that tell her to fight and bite and run. She can't do anything about that; she tries anyway. The cold, freezing slender fingers of the presence in her mind caresses her memories before consuming them also.

Chika-sama takes another needle, she is struggling to stand but catches herself.

The fire is dying in her veins, she can feel it simmer down. The frigid void drapes itself over her, like worms over a corpse for a feast. She gasps, coming out as a choked snort.

Death.

She remembers the last time she felt the realization of her own mortality, abandoned in the winter with nothing but snow and stars. Now, she stares at the ceiling, black and sterile. She doesn't want to die, she has so much to learn, so much to do, so much to live for...

A hand steadies her shoulder, flattening her back on the table. Chika-sama is holding that damned needle in her hands; they are coated in so much blood that it slips. She grabs it tighter.

The darkness passes over her eyes, and she is afraid, because she is going to die, and she will die in pain. Her head rolls over to her right, catching sight of the red hair of her cousin.

She reaches for him, because she doesn't want to go, not like this, not so early, not alone—

The eighth needle plunges three inches below her left collarbone, and she is gone.

.

Following her promise, Tsunade breached the subject the following day.

"Say, Sumi-kun, how come you have a set seal in the Hokage's office?"

To Sumi's credit, he didn't shrink. "For emergencies."

He had appeared to warn them about Uzushio's attack, but the comment didn't sit well with Tsunade. Did the Kanbayashi have 'emergency set seals' everywhere?

"If it eases your mind, Tsunade-sama, we had permission from Mito-sama and Hashirama-sama."

"What?"

Sumi gave her a small smile. "Mito-sama and Hashirama-sama knew about the Kanbayashi; and so did Tobirama-sama."

"You are telling me… that my grandparents and granduncle knew about you and didn't mention it to Sarutobi-sensei? Or me?"

His eyes darkened for a moment before answering. "Those that know, or had known, about us didn't make a habit of advertising our existence. There are… consequences."

The last bit sounded very much like a threat, which was the wrong thing to attempt when staying in Tsunade's hospital. Floored by the confession that her own family had kept her in the dark about the Kanbayashi was enough for her to allow Sumi's slip in propriety.

The Kanbayashi had managed to stay undetected, undefeated, and unmatched for a thousand years. Tsunade wondered how many knew about them and what kind of consequences made them keep their mouths shut.

(Tsunade had seen Sumi's memories of the battle in Uzushio. He had killed people with only a touch of his palms.)

"If I were to snitch that you are here, what would you do to me? Kill me?"

"I really hope you don't do that, Tsunade-sama," Sumi said amiably. "With my clan gone there's little I could say or do to threaten you into silence; and, sincerely, I find fear to be the worst incentive to keep a secret."

He was playing her with words, she could smell it. "That's a flowery way to say that you are too compromised to fight back."

"That too," he chuckled.

Although he was taking it good naturedly, Tsunade could sense the uneasiness in the way he held Sachi's hand. Maybe he would fight back or hop himself away. That wasn't an option, they had too many questions unanswered.

"Why did my relatives know about you, and I didn't?" Tsunade questions.

He hummed. "There was no need for it, I suppose. Those that came to the Kanbayashi were extremely rare, and not any from your generation forward if I recall correctly."

Her generation?

"What did they come to you for?"

"What everyone wants; an answer," he explained, racking a hand through his hair. He had taken out the braids, leaving it wavy and wild. "Do you have a question that you would do anything to gain a response?"

"Several, in fact. For example, where is my dead last of a teammate, or where did he hide my sake." Tsunade waited until she finished changing the wrappings around Sachi's torso to ask, "Do you know the answer?"

"I'm not the Archive, Tsunade-sama," he reminds her. "And if I were I would advise you to reconsider."

"Why?" Tsunade frowns. "Isn't the Archive supposed to answer every question?"

"Well, yes, but wouldn't you rather have an answer to a more complicated question?"

"What if I want this question to be answered?" She insisted, trying to gauge more from him.

"Then you will have it answered."

Huh.

"That easy?"

Sumi put the blanket over his cousin, afraid to disturb her from her sleep. "The Archive does everything, but there is a price to pay for every question."

"Makes sense," she agrees. Nothing in life came free, after all. "What kind of payment do you need? It's not money, right?"

"No, it isn't. The price is up to the Archive, and there have been instances that she has requested valuable items, although priceless," he said, smoothing the IV lines. "Normally, it's knowledge. Or favors."

Like what happened with her grandmother.

"So, information for information?"

"Yes."

Tsunade scoffs. "Damn, you really are nosy."

"Our clan's mission is to know, to understand… but also to preserve. You don't know how many lives and happenings have been lost to history or simply forgotten." And then, with a toothy smile he said, "Being nosy is not so bad when you go against death."

She struck a nerve.

"Fight death?" Tsunade echoes.

"What is death to you, Tsunade-sama?" At her glare, he added, "Humour me, please."

What was death to her? Tsunade had seen the worst that life had to offer. She was not even fully eighteen when she was drafted into war and truly fought against death. As a medic, she had healed people torn apart by shrapnel, with limbs missing and permanently crippled. She had seen fields full of rotting bodies, dismembered parts decorating the fronts and ragged last words of regret and despair.

She was five when she buried her grandfather, betrayed, and humiliated.

She was fifteen when she buried the empty coffin of her granduncle, rotting in an unknown swamp.

She was eighteen when she buried a closed casket for her little brother.

She was twenty-four when she buried her last relative, her grandmother, after she sacrificed herself to continue the legacy she had started.

What did Tsunade know about death?

"Cessation of all biological functions," responded the medic in her, before the more sensitive part added, "And suffering."

Sumi gave a curt nod, not dismissing her response but making no comment either. "For us, it's forgetfulness."

The response surprised Tsunade. Sumi had told her that the Kanbayashi had purposely changed their brains to avoid forgetting, a procedure similar to a lobotomy with the sole purpose of controlling their memories. It wasn't that far stretched to believe that they regarded death as obliviousness.

More somber, Sumi muttered, "If I die right now, how many years until my whole existence is erased? Fifty? A hundred?" He swallows dryly. "If the world forgets about me, have I ever lived at all?"

Now they were reaching philosophical levels of conversation that Tsunade did not want to dwell on. She wasn't old enough to have an existential crisis, despite Sumi's efforts to remind her of her own mortality. Ninja didn't die of natural causes, old age a myth among them that only the lucky ones experienced.

(She had given up picturing the end of her life lying in bed. There was always another war, another mission; she will meet death there.)

But Sumi wasn't a ninja. He was a boy that had seen his whole family die before his eyes and was forced to flee his home. With no allies and no friends, his death will mean the end of all his eighteen years of life for all eternity.

"You've never wanted to collect information," Tsunade stated after the heavy silence. "What you are trying to do is beating death."

Sumi didn't look up at her, focusing on his little cousin that had yet to wake up.

"You must think that I'm a terrible person, to let Sachi become the Archive." Tsunade did but didn't voice it. "The truth is… I'm terrified of death, Tsunade-sama, that everything that I've seen and everything that I've done will be for nothing. That my life is meaningless..." he trails off, struggling not to choke on his words. "And that those that have… died will remain dead, forever."

Tsunade let Sumi recover. He looked older, more haunted in the deep bags under his eyes and the greyish hue of his skin. She couldn't fully understand the importance of the Archive from her point of view, but she recognized the fear of death in him. Perhaps was the last thread of hope he was holding on to not spiral out of control, keeping vigil over his cousin and Archive.

"But with the Archive… I won't be forgotten. I… I know that when I die, I'm gone, finished, and not ever going to be awake again. I won't live again, I will be dead," he gasped, fisting his hands on his knees. "But even if I'm gone, I won't be forgotten. My life could help others, offer answers to those that need them— I will be dead, but I will be remembered."

And it was the shattered voice that did it for Tsunade, patting him gently over his shoulder as he refused to cry or crumble. "As long as the Archive lives, everyone does," Sumi continues, staring at his cousin. "That's why she has to live... Everyone is dead, and we are the last ones. I have my parents' memories in the Archive. I've lost them one time; I can't lose them again."

Tsunade had lost her family too, and she knew how grief made one selfish and desperate. And yet, she can't help but remark, "That's a lot to ask from a child."

Sumi sobbed.

"Sumi-kun…" The medic soothed the best she could, awfully awkward when dealing with mental breakdowns.

And with a sudden groan, he stopped. He wiped his eyes roughly and took a deep breath, faint glowing lines near his ears and scalp. Tsunade didn't ask about the sudden change in demeanor, emotion clearly a risk factor when it came to his seals.

Sumi broke the silence first. "May I borrow a mirror, please?"

.

"Not today?"

"Good morning, Tsunade-sama," Sumi greeted her with a smile.

"I wish I had the same good mood you have. My patients are running me ragged."

Sumi didn't comment, letting her do her usual tasks of changing the saline solutions, cleaning the wrappings, and checking Sachi's status. Writing everything down, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Sumi had forfeited his warm clothes and set it at the end of Sachi's bed, the fur cloak neatly folded in a square. He had braided his hair again, which might have been why he had asked for a mirror yesterday and freshened himself.

(She should have asked why.)

"Tsunade-sama," he called. "I want to show you something."

She stopped, regarding him oddly. "It's not something weird, right?" Like how Sumi had killed and skinned his first bear in gruesome detail, considering he had been eight and all by himself.

"I believe you will want to see this."

Tsunade, who had gotten closer to Sumi in the last few days, left her clipboard on the bed and went to him. Her sensei had tasked her with reporting any new information that Sumi revealed, so she couldn't refuse his petition.

Sumi put his hands on her temples, the pressure on her skull easier to stand now that she knew what to expect. The boy guided her deeper into the corridor, bypassing red door after red door, before stopping at a chained one.

This time, Tsunade stared at her grandmother's face.

The Uzumaki Mito that she sees isn't the one that had wrinkles or an easy smile. No, this Mito was severe and stern, with a strength that only youth could provide.

"Shiryō-kan," she called, her voice calm and levelled. "I request your wisdom and knowledge in the name of the Uzumaki Clan."

Behind her grandmother was a silver mirror. The reflection was a little wobbly, but it didn't belong to Sumi. The woman that stared at herself was old, with the same colors as the Kanbayashi. By her side were two young girls dressed in similar garbs.

"That's Archive Mitsuko-sama," Sumi told her. "Chika-sama will be the next one, at her left."

Tsunade didn't need the names; she was seeing her grandmother again. Young and alive.

"I heard your call, child," was the Archive's cold response. "What is your question?"

Mito steeled herself with a deep breath. They were in the Uzumaki temple, Tsunade recognizes from her childhood. The temples dedicated to her grandmother's clan had dark red wood supported by bronze curling pillars. If Tsunade listened closely she could hear the chime of the bells that were hung on the archways, or the clashing water from the whirlpools of the Kaizoku Sea.

"Is there a seal that can stop the Tailed Beasts from slaughtering us?" Mito asks.

"Seals you do know, Uzumaki," the Archive said, unfazed. "Before I answer, tell me, why do you seek us when you have your own strength?"

Said Uzumaki refused to be swayed, saying, "Strength comes with time, that, we don't have. You, Archive, have the answers to all questions, yet refuse to intervene. I do what I must to keep my people safe, even if it involves requesting your help."

The Archive looks towards the girls at her side. Chika and another that Sumi calls Rikka, the assistant, nod once, her eyes returning to her grandmother.

"The seal you seek comes with a burden," the old woman answered. "You are young, with a long life ahead of you. Tell me, child, what are you willing to sacrifice for the path you seek?"

Mito, young and fierce, squints her eyes with determination. "The only path I will ever want is for my family to continue living in a world where they don't fear if death comes before tomorrow. My life is mine to use, if that is the price for their freedom then I will gladly pay it."

The Archive hums, and it sounds almost bored. "Do you believe that your sacrifice will bring peace? You are willing to give yourself to bond with the demon, but you can only do so with one. You will need eight more sacrifices," she said just as easily. "Who will you give up to share your fate? Are you willing to bear their hatred, their resentment? You seek peace, but it will take nine lives of every generation. This is what you desire, but will the others accept?"

The wind picked up, opening one of the windows. There were voices, laughs and a faint tune that was overpowered by the bells. Mito's eyes had darkened, her quiet anger provoking the air to rise to the challenge.

The Archive and her girls didn't move nor rise, letting the young Uzumaki unravel. Mito had been the fifth child out of ten. Before the jinchūriki were created she had lost her parents and oldest brother to the rampage of the Three Tails. Mito wore her grief like an armor.

When Mito spoke next her voice was even and sharp. "We have lost too many to afford bargains. If those that will follow me, out of their choice or obligation, decide to despise me then I will endure it. I have buried too many for me to stall for time, and if nine lives it takes for this massacre to end, then I will offer my own blood for it," she replies, unyielding. "This is my choice, and I will take the consequences that come from it.

"I ask again," Mito insists, brazenly pressing. "Is there a seal that can stop the Tailed Beasts from slaughtering us?"

The Archive looked at her grandmother, her golden eyes taking in every detail that her grandmother had. She was beautiful, with her crimson hair tied in buns and the robes of a high priestess from the Uzumaki temple. Tsunade had heard the stories of how her grandfather had fallen for her with only a glance, not only because of her beauty, but because of her drive.

Tsunade can see it now.

"There is," the Archive said at last, with golden lines appearing on her skin. "A seal to bind a human to a chakra being, one that would make you a living vessel. If your resolve is weak, it will burn you to ashes, break your soul and turn your death into the worst possible pain there is."

"Physical pain holds no power over the love that I have for my people," Mito countered.

"May your love guide you, then, to either success or failure." The Archive got to her feet, her robes falling like snow around them. "Is this your question?"

"Yes." The Archive went towards her, the palms outstretched with the black diamonds in the middle. "What will be the price of the answer?"

Before answering, the Archive put her hands on Mito's temples, the slight panic in her black eyes visible as the old Kanbayashi focused on her features. "You, Uzumaki Mito, have a debt towards the Kanbayashi. There will come a time when you or your blood will pay for it."

The Archive looks at the mirror. "We, the Kanbayashi, do not forget our debts or promises, nor do we forgive those that break them. May this answer bring you solace."

The memory ended with a dark feeling of foreboding.

Something was wrong. Tsunade is then reminded that she is at Sumi's mercy inside his mind.

He opened another door.

Sumi was there again, ten years younger and trembling like a feather in the wind. He was nervous, shuffling his feet and picking at the cloak on his shoulders. A soft click echoed, Sumi turning around dizzyingly fast.

There was her grandmother again, older and weathered by grief and a hundred years of life.

She had lost the edge and sharpness of youth, gaining a more experienced neutral gaze that regarded him with amusement.

"Good morning— I mean, good evening, Mito-sama," Sumi croaked, standing straight as a pole and just shy of giving a salute. "I'm here in, um, I'm here for—"

"Breathe, child, breathe," she advised calmly. "I know why you are here, but not your name."

Tsunade didn't need to see Sumi's expression to know that he went beet red at the remark. Sumi fumbled for a few seconds until he managed to say, "M-My name is Sumi, it means speed."

Mito bowed her head lightly. "Pleased to meet you, Sumi-san. Do come in."

Sumi entered her grandmother's room, the side suite that she used ever since Hashirama died. Mimicking the temples of her home, the room was painted in different shades of brown and red, with bronze highlights and carved seals on the walls.

He followed Mito's form, not even time managing to bend her spine and bow her head. Standing as regal as she had always been, she led them towards a low table in the middle of the room.

"Tea?" She offers.

"Huh? I— no! It's fine!"

Mito poured a cup for herself, settling carefully on the cushion. Taking a sip, she asked, "Pardon my curiosity, Sumi-san, but I presumed that the Kanbayashi had white hair."

"They do, but I don't," Sumi answers quickly. "I'm half Uzumaki, Mito-sama."

At that, her grandmother smiled. "On what side, If I may ask?"

"My father, ma'am."

Taking another sip, she stated, "You are aware that I will be dead by this time tomorrow."

It dawned on Tsunade then, when exactly Sumi had met her grandmother.

Tsunade remembered it too, after the fortieth anniversary of her grandfather's death, when her grandmother decided to transfer the Nine Tailed Beast. Tsunade refused to believe it was suicide. Mito had been a pillar of steel all her life in spite of the grief and pain; she had willingly set her death and met it with pride.

Looking at her grandmother, Tsunade saw no remorse, no fear.

"Yes, Mito-sama. That's why I'm here," Sumi said, gripping his knees tightly.

"To call upon the favor that I owe to your Archive?" Mito asked, mild as milk.

"No, ma'am." Sumi took a small breath, obviously a wreck. "I'm here to offer you the possibility to enter the Archive."

Mito, an example of strength and tranquility, set her cup on the table; the only indication that she might be surprised.

(Tsunade had been frustrated at her grandmother's control over her emotions; she didn't understand then, that it was a honed skill instead of talent.)

"Why would I?"

Sumi hadn't expected it, making various sounds of confusion, and barely stringing together sentences. "— your life will be forever preserved in the Archive, always remembered!"

"Why would I want to?"

"Why not?" And immediately afterwards, he added, "I'm so sorry, Mito-sama. I forgot myself— Um, you can refuse, of course, but if you accept, we can keep your life forever in the Archive."

Mito, schooling her features, insisted, "But why, child, why?"

"So you don't die forever." A flicker of something passed over her grandmother's eyes, Sumi not noticing his insensitivity. "Father says that you are the greatest woman ever, and I believe him. The world will lose you tomorrow, but we won't lose you."

Sumi's head snapped to the bells around the room, suddenly chiming at the light breeze that came because of her grandmother's chakra.

"How old are you, child?" Mito asks, her voice still composed but slightly strained.

"Nine years old, ma'am."

"Why did they send you here?"

"Because… I wanted to. Father always talked about you, so I wanted to… to meet you," he explains, sheepish. "Chika-sama let me because she said I'm old enough to travel now."

Regarding him with her dark eyes, Mito hummed, "Is that so?"

"Yep! —I mean, yes, Mito-sama."

"Before I answer you, Sumi-san, answer me this." Forgetting the cup, her grandmother put her hands on her lap. "Did they send you, a half Uzumaki, to convince me?"

Sumi, very seriously, denied it. "If Chika-sama wanted to convince you she would have sent Hoshiko-sama, my aunt. I can show you my memories if you wish."

Her grandmother regarded Sumi for a few moments, sizing if he was telling the truth or not.

"I see," she said, in the end. "I'll let you bring my memories to the Archive, Sumi-san. I hope you will take care of them."

"I can promise you that, Mito-sama! They will be safe forever!"

The memory ended with her grandmother's smile; the very last before she died.

When the spell broke down and Tsunade went back to reality, she felt an instant sense of vertigo that made her grip the bars of the bed.

"... w-why did you show me this?" Tsunade gasps, dizzy.

Sumi glanced at her with cold eyes, no sign of his usual kindness and warmth. In its place was a stone-faced wall of indifference, and at the same time, of resolve.

"I was the one that brought Mito-sama's memories to the Archive, and I've done so with countless Uzumaki," he commented, putting a glowing palm on her forehead that made her entire body shake with a jolt of chakra.

He had paralyzed her two first chakra gates; Tsunade was going to kill him.

"Thank you for everything, Tsunade-sama," Sumi smiles, and it's a pitiful thing. "Mito-sama's debt has been paid in full."

It sounded like a goodbye.

At the back of Tsunade's mind a voice told her that this was the moment that Sumi disappeared right before her eyes, stabbing her in the back when she had done nothing but console and help him.

She didn't expect for Sumi to drop dead.

He had put his hands on Sachi's temples, closing his eyes and putting their foreheads together. Between the paralysis and the uneasy pang of her two gates restarting themselves, Tsunade caught a glimpse of Sumi's seals glowing on his skin.

Then, Sachi's body started to glow. Red was replaced with yellowish light, the hum of chakra filling the air, electrifying the room as Sumi did something that was very, very wrong.

Tsunade broke out of whatever Sumi did to her too late, his body sliding off the bed and dropping to the ground with a heavy thump. Putting two fingers on his neck gave no pulse, and no amount of chakra that she pumped into him brought him back to life. Not even screaming or curses made him stir.

His entire chakra reserves were gone.

"Stupid!" Tsunade spat at the lifeless body before her. "What did you do?!"

Inside her chest, the crushing sense of dread and grief washed over her. Another life lost, right before her eyes. How could have she fallen for a trick so old?

Sumi had baited her… He had angled for her soft spot and taken advantage of her own misery to establish a bond. He gained her trust, and now—

Now what?

Sumi was dead, and for what?

Tsunade went to Sachi's side briskly, chakra on her hands to inspect if he had done something irreversible to her. Her heart was beating regularly— no, the rhythm was quickening. With a diagnosis jutsu she slithered her chakra into her coils, finding them agitated and roughened up from the large chakra transfer—

Where was that chakra?

Sumi had been blessed with Uzumaki chakra reserves, and that much would have fried Sachi's already damaged body. Patting her gates, from head to heart, Tsunade found them intact. However, they were cycling rapidly, a clear sign of a distraught chakra system that only appeared during chakra exhaustion or excess.

Tsunade pushed her chakra deeper, hunting for the chakra that had to be there—

Nothing.

"Damn it all!"

Sumi had transferred all his chakra to Sachi, but why, why, why? What was the purpose of doing that? To sacrifice himself like that?

He had told her that he was terrified of death not twenty-four hours prior; had he been lying? No. No one could fake that kind of existential terror. And yet, he had basically committed suicide before her eyes…

Tsunade opened Sachi's eyelids, illuminating her irises with a light and discovering that her pupils were responding.

Sachi was coming out from the coma.

"Fuck you Sumi-kun, fuck you, fuck you, fuck—"

Without a team of nurses Tsunade was forced to make two earth clones to help incorporate Sachi. The girl had been hooked to a respirator and dialysis to help her body recover. Extracting the endotracheal tube while one of her clones informed her that her motor reflexes were coming back.

"A fucking month and now you wake up?" Tsunade gritted, pinching the girl's arm, and seeing her withdraw it from the pain. "Sachi, do you hear me?"

The girl was slowly waking up, breathing by herself, and licking her lips dazedly. Tsunade snapped her fingers, Sachi turning her head minutely towards the sound. A prolonged coma tended to come with surprises if the patient ever woke up, from not having any sequels to completely shutting down afterwards.

Sachi hissed through her teeth, taking a deep breath that pained her somewhat. Tsunade rubbed her hands on her chest, careful about the scar tissue that went from her sternum to her underbelly. The seals bloomed under her healing chakra, spreading, and flashing with Sachi's heartbeat. Tsunade, for the first time in her years as a medic, was lost as to what to do.

Normal procedure involved extubating everything that wasn't necessary, doing an evaluation of the body and brain and dealing with the subsequent issues that appeared after a whole month comatose.

This was not normal procedure. The seals formed and disappeared, the points where the chakra gates were located had a swirling matrix, connected by long strings of sigils. Tsunade could see Sachi's scalp glow unnervingly golden, covering the worst scars on her skull with a matrix right above her ears.

"It doesn't look good—" was one of her clones' input.

"Good oxygen saturation!" Said the other one.

Sachi was breathing alone, her heart beating strongly in her chest. Tsunade saw her frown deeply, showing her pointy teeth as she let out a groan.

"Sachi?" Tsunade calls for her again. "Sachi?"

Ah.

There she was; Sachi opened her eyes suddenly, golden, clear and aware.

"Sachi, do you understand me? Do you feel weird?"

The clones helped her get up slowly, incorporating her on the bed as the girl rubbed her eyes and glancing around, confused.

"You are in the hospital, Sachi, take it easy. Can you tell me your name?"

Sachi ignored her, lowering her eyes to her hands and the IV in the crook of her arms. One clone gripped her shoulder lightly as she swayed to the side, Sachi trying to say something as she opened and closed her fist.

Her voice was but a whisper, the language twisted and akin to using rocks as mouthwash. Sachi winced, lifting a hand to press it at her temple.

"Sachi, do you understand me?"

The Kanbayashi spoke another language, an inconvenience when all the other territories spoke the language of the Sage of Six Paths. Tsunade had no way of communicating with Sachi if she didn't understand her, the only translator available currently dead.

Sachi murmured something, picking at the IV's, and stretching the gown. "Don't do that, stay still," one clone advised, which Sachi followed once she saw the scars on her body.

"Sachi—"

The girl traced the first star shaped scar on her chest— her third gate— and trailed down the ridge that split her torso in two. A clone tried getting her attention, knowing full well the shock of coming back to consciousness after a prolonged period of stagnation.

It wasn't until the seals on Sachi's skin started glowing that she declined.

Tsunade took her hands in hers, forcing Sachi to look at her. "Sachi, listen to me. It will be okay, just breathe."

The girl blinked at her, taking a deep breath.

She understood her. Sachi could understand Tsunade—

The joy of breaking the silence was short lived, as Sachi's eyes found her cousin's body on the floor.

"Fuck—"

Sachi's head snapped back to her, and any trace of hesitation disappeared as anger surged forward.

Tsunade had no way of knowing, Sumi's stories, and memories about Sachi showing a good kid with bad luck. Sachi, who was so fragile and weak, young, and lost, shifted into a quiet sense of ire that swept the room with a burst of chakra.

The other clones dispelled themselves at the shock of such a young child seething killer intent. Sachi's chakra pathways were compromised, with no clear system that could redirect her chakra. That's why when she became agitated, her raging chakra left her body in uncontrolled bursts; like boiling water bursting with electricity.

Tsunade recoiled back at the unexpected response, and in the spare second, she had to try another strategy, Sachi had already bit her thumb. It took only a bead of blood and a fickle seal for everything to go straight to hell.

The explosion was deafening.

.

Hi there!

A little quick note for those that don't know what an Archive is (everybody that is), without spoiling too much, is what would happen if you put Google in vid format inside the human mind, essentially, the jinchuuriki equivalent of a YouTube library. I decided to create this concept to help me explain what happens in the Narutoverse, offering context and why it's so important to keep Sachi alive. I promise it will make sense someday lol.

My hc is that Uzushio and Water had always been at odds, and Water used their jinchuuriki (the Sanbi) to obliterate the island while using the Terumi clan to wipe it out. This will become important later, but I hope this at least explains why Uzushio was destroyed, and the repercussions of it.

RIP Sumi, sorry I killed you in two chapters.