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]

11. The red door

XI

THE RED DOOR

Sachi wakes up in her mindspace.

Not unusual, for she spent her sleep there going through her memories. Yet, she was aware that she was not supposed to be there. She wonders if she has somehow fallen asleep while studying, or maybe got another fever? Ashi had been training her harder, slowly trying to smoothen her pathways.

Her ridge of stacked towers are all toppled to the ground. That strikes her as odd, not quite concerned, but curious as to what could've happened to upset her mind so much to lock her in.

Sachi gets to work, all the pages from her books scattered around and out of their books. She has gone through this, and knows it will take time, but she isn't worried about that. First, she needs to know what happened.

An image sparks up, and she stares at the events that unfold. Her memory is all mixed up, switching from different happenings. It starts with her staring at the shelves in the Kanbayashi Library, and then goes to see a cute baby with light brown hair and brown eyes, then a school, the Academy, and then—

Screams.

Sachi is startled, not understanding, but they do not stop.

There's fire and there's smoke, and there are bodies on the snow with red shiny blood. Kasui's smiling face is broken by the sight of Chika-sama raising the needles just before she brings them down.

Her own voice echoes through the space like a sick melody that picks up a chorus of cries belonging to her family, butchered up in their home while they could do nothing.

Branches of the Needle Forest going down, the needles raining and slashing at those beneath— The black creature with its sickening grin chasing after her.

The howls of the wolves, the wet crunching of stepping on a corpse, the sky filled with darkness.

Suddenly, she's in the hospital in the Heart after she dragged herself out of a crevice. Mother is there, and it's the first time Sachi saw her openly cry in front of her, she asks her:

"Do you hate me so much, my daughter?"

At which she responds, with as much scorn as a mere five-year-old can. "Yes."

It changes to Brother's face, twisted in disgust as he tells her, "I should have killed you."

Then it shows what happened before going to the hospital, how her and Brother were on a hunting trip with Grandfather, and they began to argue. How the snow is breaking apart at her feet and she's falling through the cracks between walls of ice until the light dies before she reaches the bottom.

Jumping to a memory not her own, she watches her aunt Hoshiko rise to the altar, the next Archive, only to die in the process. Her skin glows, the blisters burst, and Mother, pregnant with her, seeing her sister convulse for the last time, snaps.

And then Sachi's the one on the altar, and she's screaming too, with her blood boiling and abandoned to her luck.

Next is staring into her own eyes, on that very same altar, turning her head to the side so lost to pain and suffering that the only thing she can do is gaze blankly and ask, "Why?"

Her mindspace shakes, and the memories blend together until she can't keep with them all.

A collapse.

Confused, scared and desperate, Sachi tries to run away. She tries to wake up, but she can't, her body physically incapable of letting her stay conscious, and Sachi can't cover her ears to drown the sound of people dying, of begging, of pleading—

The chains on the red door fall, brought down by the intense crumbling of her mind, and before she knows it, Sachi is running towards it.

She closes the red door behind her and doesn't look back.

.

"Ashi-sama, Sachi-kun is—!"

.

Eventually, Sachi comes to herself.

Instead of the dark starry ceiling of her mindspace, she sees an outcast sky, surrounded by light. She had kept her mindspace dark for the purpose of seeing the memories better, when she sits up, her neat towers have turned into dunes.

Dunes made of stacked flat books that resemble mountains ripple across the plains, a milky fog wisping over the smooth obsidian floor. Sachi gets up, her mental form carrying her around as if she were truly there.

She sees some books that have fallen off, and picking them up, there's a weight that shouldn't be there. Physical sensations didn't carry off into the mindspace, and yet, the feeling is there.

It's enough to prompt her to open the book, curious as to why the sandy colored memories are there when they weren't supposed to be.

The Archive.

The images come to life, and the very first one is a pair of tiny hands up in the air. They wobble around, gripping the air with little tubby fingers and a sort of gurgle in the background.

A woman comes into view, smiling kindly and reaching over. The image shifts, and Sachi understands what she's seeing.

"That's you, Ren," the woman says with wonder, the memory belonging to a baby boy that was staring at himself through a mirror. "Say hi."

The woman that was his mother takes his arm and waves it gently, the boy preferring to look at his mother and reach for a lock of white hair. The woman has clear blue eyes, and windswept skin, but she's beautiful and loving.

Ren's mother carries him out of their tent, and the image becomes lighter, the familiar sight of the Needle Forest greeting Sachi.

But not quite.

They approach a man that is sitting outside of their home, sharpening a spear. His hair was dark, but his eyes were the color of molten gold, which all but glowed when he caught sight of Ren. He rises and takes him from his mother's arms, and Sachi can almost feel the kiss he plants on his forehead.

It doesn't take long for the father to play with his son, and then to throw him around while the mother fusses about being careful. Yet, Sachi discovers something she wasn't ready for.

Ren looks down from the sky, and there are his parents, but then he turns and sees a ring made out of tents, gathered around under the shelter of the Needle Forest.

Sachi recognizes it.

It's the Heart.

In the beginning.

Ren was one of the first settlers. Sachi knows her history, the Kanbayashi had been nomads before fully integrating themselves into the aboriginal people of the Land of Snow, the Ainu, and founding the Heart.

Ren falls into his father's arms in a fit of giggles, and Sachi can't help but continue watching.

The book turns itself as his life progresses, growing from a chubby baby into a young man. He attends the teachings of the Archive, Chitina, and that's the mother of Sachi's lineage right there. Chitina had been the youngest daughter of Ie, the first Archive and matriarch of the Kanbayashi, and she had passed the Archive onto her daughter.

It's… cathartic, to see Chitina. The second Archive speaking to the thirty-second through the memories of a kid. Chitina resembles Sachi, or perhaps the other way around, with white hair and golden eyes, and Sachi can't help but believe that the late Archive knew that she was seeing her, that she was watching her from the future.

(Her smile had the same mischievous spark in it.)

Ren grows up even more, learning their ways, taking up a spear like his father and joining the hunt. He was an Isonash, and Sachi sees his first kill and be recognized as one, a small hare that he spent half a day chasing. And then he spears a bear by himself, and the celebration that comes from it.

He makes friends, a raucous personality that gives him trouble and stories to tell through his eyes. Sachi sees him fall in love with a fiery girl that slaps him the first time he tries to flirt with her. They end up getting married.

His parents also grow, but older, to the point that they can't hunt anymore; the boy, now a man and a father, brings them food and cares for them until their last days. Sachi sees the day in which they die, and how Ren mourns them deeply, a phantom ache that carries through a thousand years to her. The Archive comes, washing the body and reciting the prayers, before they take the bodies to the snow and wait for the wolves. They come, and Ren bows his head along with his wife and children as their flesh is released into the world once more, leaving only the bones behind that the Archive gathers and then gives to the owls to scatter.

Then it cuts to the chase of the wolf, the sight of the spear bringing the beast down, and then how it is skinned and served for the clan. The fur is treated and is set on the bed, warming Ren even though his parents are gone.

Ren sees his children grow, teaching them what his father had once taught him, and adding the wisdom he had gained by himself. There are sleepless nights when they're sick and he stands vigil, or the hours they spend playing around the pyre. Caring for his pregnant wife and how she brings his hands to her swollen belly to feel the kick.

Sachi sees his best days and his worst, she sees the love and the hate, the sadness and joy... Sachi keeps watching.

Until there's nothing more to watch.

The end is near, his wife, now old like him, kneeled by his bed and his children gathered around, when the third Archive enters, a young girl that has the eyes of someone much older.

It's time.

Sachi sees the face of the Archive in his last moments, before he looks for his loved ones and closes his eyes into the darkness.

A long time passes before she processes what just happened. She had seen the entire life of one of her ancestors, from beginning to end, and it had been beautiful. Everything. From his mistakes, the fights and the failures, to the wins, the achievements, the accomplishments.

Sachi understands why the Archive was important, why they worshipped her. The Archive's duty isn't to gather the knowledge, but the memories of those who had lived. Preserving what death would have taken away otherwise.

She had been able to see the memories of a boy a thousand years apart, glimpse the woman that had started her bloodline and feel it as if it was her own life.

Sachi puts the book down and picks another one.

.

Outside of Sachi's mind, only Ashi's worry kept her in the hospital rather than lay siege to the Uchiha district.

Sachi was wrapped in bandages, hooked to several machines, sedated, and tied to the bed because if not, her convulsions would make her fall. Ashi hadn't seen anything like it, not even when they first met, and her screams haunted her still.

Tsunade, Sage bless her for a hundred years, had been able to bring her back from the dead yet again. Sure, Sachi looked worse than she was, but it was a dangerous affair when Sachi's body was so damaged already.

The medic had been able to heal her wounds, and it was just luck that Arisu had used a jutsu fueled by chakra, which Sachi had absorbed the moment it hit her on reflex through her Dark Release marks. Sachi was thoroughly burned, but it could've been much worse if she hadn't been wearing ninja clothing too, designed to break away before it hurt her further.

And yet, Ashi couldn't feel glad at all. Sachi had been injured badly, and Tsunade had to sacrifice some of Sachi's nerve endings to focus on the bigger picture. Who knows how much pain Sachi will be in when she wakes up, or if she could feel anything at all, but at least her face wouldn't be scarred beyond recognition. Or her organs shutting down.

After the surgery, when they tried to wake Sachi up from the hypnotics, she stared at Ashi with unseeing eyes. Sachi's eyes were golden, so beautiful and enchanting, but when she had opened them only terror was to be found. Ashi didn't know what to do, Haiiro calling for Tsunade, but her heart monitor was beeping angrily, and her brain waves were a chaotic zig-zag that only went crazier when she started seizing.

And Ashi couldn't do anything but watch and hold her down.

Tsunade sedated her, and her grim expression told her anything that the Inuzuka needed to know.

"Her body is healed…" Tsunade reported. "But her mind… I'm sorry, Ashi-sama."

That had been a week ago. Tsunade told her that Sachi was not in a coma, since there was high brain activity, and yet—

Sachi doesn't wake up.

The reason why they had to put bandages on her was because of the sealwork. The lines on Sachi's body were glowing golden like a sick lightshow. No one was allowed to enter Sachi's room, only Ashi and Haiiro, Tsunade and the Hokage. Not even the nurses, which put more strain on the already exhausted Chief Medic.

Tsunade was frustrated about not being able to wake her up, nothing from the books or her own experience was enough to drag her back. The only thing they could do was wait and wonder what was going on.

Maybe something had snapped in Sachi's mind? They were in the dark about the Archive, so maybe that's why she wasn't able to wake up? Sachi had undergone heavy trauma, and Arisu's attack could have set off a trigger that caused a lockdown. Tsunade had also brought up the idea of a mental collapse, which Sachi had explained to her in the past, a sort of locked-in syndrome that they weren't sure how to revert.

The screams, oh gods, the screams.

Ashi gets up from her designated chair, stretching her legs. Haiiro wordlessly stays in the room, watching over, while she gets away from the room.

Her hunger is a dull feeling, buried under all her worries. Ashi had been alerted by one of their clansmen, saying something about an incident in the Academy. She had thought that that was it, that was the day the village found out about Sachi's past and their precarious happiness would be taken away.

Instead, Ashi had to help in Sachi's surgery, aiding Tsunade in everything she could so she would save her life once more.

Ashi walks the corridors with tense shoulders and clenched teeth. That is, until she sniffs a familiar scent.

Kasui is in the waiting room of the hospital, and it breaks Ashi's heart further to see him so hollow. He stands up, noticing her as well. "Is Sachi…?"

Ashi would like nothing more than to let him see her, but she can't, not when her seals are still on display. "She hasn't woken up, yet." The last part is added to ease both their minds, but their hearts are heavy with the very real possibility that she won't open her eyes again.

"Hey, darlin', it's okay…" Ashi crouches down, her bones straining, patting his head to try and smoothen that frown of his. "It's gonna be okay…"

"It's my fault," he blurts out, and his voice shatters. "If… if I hadn't gotten into a fight, if I helped her sooner—"

"Oh, no, no, no, that's not true, darlin'." The Inuzuka matriarch tries with all her might to soothe him, but it comes dry and fake. "You did enough."

Kasui had saved Sachi from death or a crippled life. Who would've thought that teaching that kid how to play around with moisture would save her daughter's life? But Kasui had guilt written over his features, and that was a hell all of his own.

Ashi blamed herself as well.

Ashi hugs him and lets him cry when she can't. Her tears had dried up a long time ago, and she cannot be seen so weak, not even then. The boy holds onto her neck with trembling arms and pours his heart down until there's nothing left.

"Come on, I'll walk you back," Ashi offers once he calms down.

"N-no! I'll s-stay until she wakes up, she has to, she promised me—"

"You need to take care of yourself first, come on," Ashi prompts him. "I won't say it again."

The alpha order carries through, and Kasui follows her like a puppy. Ashi is bitter when she turns around and expects to see Sachi, bouncing like she always did, and finding Kasui's slumped form. The disappointment is not fair for either of them, Ashi is too tired to fight it, but she won't let Kasui let himself go in grief.

There's no turning back from it.

"I'll testify," he says, determined. "I'll testify on your behalf; I'll tell them what that dirty Uchiha did to her..."

Ashi shakes her head. "Not gonna happen."

There was going to be a trial between the Uchiha and Inuzuka, but the orphanage had withdrawn when it was announced. Taking a side would only hurt the institution, and Ashi was certain that the nuns had banned Kasui from even taking a step outside without permission, much less go to court and oppose a noble clan.

"She did it!" Kasui protests anyway. "She deserves to be punished, all of them! They burned her and—"

"Kasui, stop." The boy does, his eyes wide and hurt. "I will handle this; you don't need to worry."

"I'll help—"

"No."

They finish the trek back to the orphanage in silence, the night cold enough to bite, but Ashi doesn't bother to unseal her jacket. She cannot even imagine how it must have been for Kasui to see his only friend almost get murdered in front of him, and how he had to try and save her because the Academy was too fucking busy that day to notice something going wrong.

The Academy was supposed to be a safe learning environment, not a trauma center. No wonder some parents had pulled their children out after they had come back with a thousand-yard stare and nightmares to boot. It was too early for them to see something like this, to know the reality of a ninja.

That you would see death, that your friends would die in front of you, and you could do nothing but see them go.

"She'll wake up," Kasui says instead of a goodbye, daring to look at her straight in the eye. "She's too stubborn to die like this."

Ashi manages half a smile. "That she is."

Tsume is expecting her in the Inuzuka Compound, ruining her plans to take a quiet shower, grab something to eat and head back to the hospital. Her sister knows her too well and has a steaming cup of black coffee ready.

"How's she?" Tsume asks the moment Ashi enters the kitchen.

"Not awake."

"Yet," her sister adds.

"Hmm."

Ashi isn't in the mood for an interrogation, and the Inuzuka clan sure has their questions. Only then Ashi realizes just how much Sachi means to everyone, how even the dogs are holding their breaths for any news on her.

Tsume, understanding, doesn't ask anything more than, "Is it true?"

After Sachi was taken away to the hospital, screaming all the way and begging to stop, rumors of her past resurfaced. They were whispering about how she was tortured in some corner of Iron Country and had suffered a mental break enough to put her in the psychiatric ward and forbidden any visitors.

She couldn't lie to Tsume, but Sachi had been tortured and left for dead, and Ashi was the one that took her in. Had they been alive, Ashi would've killed every Kanbayashi for daring to put a hand on her, dragging their deaths until they suffered as much as she had.

"Yes."

Tsume had seen part of her scars. It happened one day after another ninjutsu lesson went wrong, when she stepped into the bathroom to see Sachi's back marked with scars that you wouldn't find anywhere else but a shinobi's back. Or an unlucky corpse. Tsume hadn't brought it up then, and Ashi was grateful for that, but now was not the moment.

"Are they dead?" Tsume questions, baring her teeth.

"Yes."

"Good."

Ashi sips at the coffee, black tar and almost viscous in consistency. Her appetite was compromised as it was, but not even Water coffee made her feel anything else than anger. Ashi had prayed to the Sage to stop martyring her child and pick another, but there was nothing else the Inuzuka could do but bid her time.

"How you doin'?" Ashi asks genuinely. She hasn't been near the clan ever since Sachi was hospitalized, and Tsume had been taking care of it in her absence on top of bringing up her daughter.

"Hmph, Hana's teething, biting my tit out," her sister complains half-heartedly. "Kegawa's trying to make her talk… Obu is gathering the clan, just so you know."

Obu… He had taken to Sachi too, getting along with their shared interest in causing trouble. Nevertheless, Obu was a shinobi, and he could be vicious when he was pissed off. If Obu was gathering the clan it only meant that the clan would only become angrier, and more difficult to manage.

"I'll talk to him," Ashi decides. "Uchiha aren't milkies."

Tsume nods, understanding as well. "A couple Uchiha tried to drop a message off."

Ashi clicks her tongue. "How's that turned out?"

"Kuromaru nearly took a bite out of 'em. They run fast," she says ruefully for not having let her partner bite at least one Uchiha ass. "Left the message, not gonna give it to ya."

"Good. Don't wanna see it."

The trial could wait. Ashi wouldn't let those bastards get away with this, and they were already lawyering up for the party. Let them bite their nails.

"She'll pull this through," Tsume tells her, very much like Kasui had promised. "The pup's strong."

If only they knew that strength wasn't what mattered.

Ashi smiles despite herself, her little sister enough to thaw her heart regardless of the situation. She had done it when Isamu died, and she was doing it again. She didn't deserve her, truly, but she was grateful to have her, nonetheless.

Ashi bumps their foreheads together before she leaves for the hospital, her spirits lifted minimally. Sachi had survived much worse than being set on fire, surely this time she will recover too. A little worse for wear, but alive.

Ashi only needed to see her smile again, just once more.

The hospital looms in the night, but Ashi has a clear destination. She needed to be with Sachi, if not when she woke up, then when she died. She wouldn't let her child go without her being there, she would not abandon her like that.

Ashi enters and Sachi is awake.

.

Odd.

That's how Sachi would describe her current state of affairs. She had spent ages in the Archive, reviewing as much as she was able. Thousands of lifetime records, some separated by their focus, like history, special skills, or pertaining sensitive information. She had read books with the eyes of someone else and had learned things that time had erased.

Sachi didn't want to leave the Archive, so full of life, and questions why she hadn't used it until then. The Archive was magnificent.

She had watched her entire clan be born and spread out, empires fall, and kingdoms rise, villages be wiped out and be built again. She had lived history through the perspective of so many people that she felt as if she belonged to another plain completely, outside of the world, meant to just gaze from afar.

The world was much more than the small pocket she was in, and there had been so many incredible things that happened centuries ago that people had forgotten, and the scars that remained. Not everything was pleasant, wars, plague and natural disasters happened. Sachi had seen the Tailed Beasts fall into madness, corrupted by the world, and turn against their believers.

She had watched children not surviving birth, and their mothers mourning them; fathers who never got to see them because they were drifted to a pointless war that only satisfied momentary greed, ultimately giving their lives without having lived at all. There was not a thing she had not seen, from the victim or the perpetrator, Sachi had been there.

And then, there were messages, just for her.

"Hiya there, Archive! I hope you're well and, um, you got my memories. There's a lot of embarrassing stuff, please don't watch it!"

They were for her, the Archive. She had watched all of them, including her friends'.

"My name is Harumi, formerly of Abenanka, and I will be the next Archive."

"I am… Rie. Hi."

Then.

"My name is Michiko, from the Resunotek! Don't listen to what Harumi said, she doesn't know what will happen. I will become the next Archive, and Sachi will be my assistant. Together we will have the world!"

Sachi had promised Michiko to give her the world if she stayed by her side...

"I was named after happiness," Sachi watches herself, younger and brazen, stare eternity with glowing eyes. "So, Sachi. I don't want to become Archive because I want to be a traveler." And how life had turned out to be. "I will take the world, that's my promise, and I intend to keep it. Michiko will become the Archive, and I will be her right hand. I have a plan."

Sachi can't feel anything, but there's a giggle that could very well belong to her bubble in a corner of the Archive. There was something else, something she knew she was missing, another promise just like that… It was impossible. The Archive held all the answers in the world. The fog thickens.

She wakes up.

"Pup—" A beast calls in the language of the Sage.

"I am not a pup. I am human," she explains in his tongue. "Are you here to eat me?"

The dog, in his animalistic features, seems surprised. That is, if he were able to experiment human emotions. "Sachi, do you not recognize me?"

"You know my name," she observes. "You are an Inuzuka ninken, located in Fire Country. By that, I suppose we are in that country, and I am…" Sachi takes in her surroundings. "In the main hospital of Leaf. Is that correct?"

The dog does not answer. He is not a wolf, for he lacks the Kanbayashi union that binds them together. He is not there to eat her flesh and free her soul, and so she asks again. "Is that correct?"

"Pup…" he whines, and she is about to inquire further when the door opens.

A woman with short black hair and exhaustion lines freezes in the doorway. She must have known her too, for she calls her by her name, but that is impossible, for she is the Archive and she knows everything there is to know. Perhaps she had been in a slumber for longer than she previously assumed. It should be related as to why she was in foreign territory when Sachi belonged to the Heart, and why they knew her.

The woman approaches too fast for a mere human, a kunoichi, then; the dog's partner, if she were to judge by the red fangs on her face. Clan Head too, because of the upside-down triangle on her forehead. There is fear, but also relief and joy, as she cradles her face with a tender touch. Sachi wonders why the Inuzuka woman would take such liberties.

"Oh Sachi, Sachi, you're awake—" The kunoichi breathes.

"Have I been asleep for long?" Sachi asks, genuinely curious. "What year is it, if I may ask? Also, who are you? Do you know who I am?"

It seems the wrong thing to do, since the woman becomes still again, and her expression goes blank. The Inuzuka turns to her animal partner, and a silent conversation takes place between them. Ninjas are odd, as they are dangerous, but they seem to favor Sachi, for whatever reason.

The dog leaves without a word. The Inuzuka woman hovers awkwardly. "Your name?" Sachi asks once more.

"You… don't remember me?"

"Unlikely. I do not forget. You're an Inuzuka, and if I were to say, one of Inuzuka Kiai's daughters. Ashi, is that right? You've inherited his eyes."

The woman is hurt by her observation. Inuzuka Kiai had been Clan Head but died in the Second War. The travelers had reported his death, and her oldest daughter had taken over. The last image she had of her was when she was in her twenties, but she was older than that. There was a gap in the Archive's knowledge. Odd.

Sachi tried to search the Archive, but to process through the travelers' input was tiring. "Are you okay?" Ashi questions. "Hey, hey! Don't sleep!"

"... why do you sound worried?" Sachi wonders, somewhat lethargic. "Why am I here?"

"Sachi-chan!"

Another person enters, followed by Ashi's dog. Blonde hair, a seal on her forehead, paired the unmistakable Uzumaki Mito frown.

"Tsunade," Sachi states, and the woman too stops in her tracks. "You have grown." Sachi can see the image of one of her travelers, seen from afar during the funeral of her younger brother. "Are you the one that healed me?"

Odd.

Why would she? Then again, why was she in Leaf?

Mito's granddaughter gets closer, guarded, and grabs one of her arms and pulls the bandages free. Sachi stares at the sealwork of the Archive, active, and remarks, "You know who I am. Have you healed me after I became the next vessel?"

As it appears, her questions only unsettled those around her. She didn't like to be lost, but she finds it a necessary evil when her latest memories are Chika-sama's from before the Summer Hunt. Sachi tries in vain to search for an answer, only becoming more tired in the process.

"Sachi-chan, look at me." She does as asked, truly, Tsunade resembled her grandfather greatly. She comments as such, which receives a frown in answer. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yes. You are Senju Tsunade, only surviving grandchild of Uzumaki Mito and Senju Hashirama, born from the couple's daughter, Senju Shizuoka. Leaf kunoichi and bearer of the Strength of a Hundred seal, you've served in the Second War both in the frontlines and as a medic," she explains easily, recalling all the details about her and summarizing them. "Is that the answer you seek?"

Tsunade isn't satisfied, for she asks, "Do you know who you are?"

"Of course. I am Sachi, formerly of Chitina, thirty-second vessel of the Archive of the Kanbayashi," she answers, monotone. "By your expression, you already know this. May I ask why am I here? Or do you want another question answered?"

It's the wrong answer, Tsunade and Ashi becoming paler. Sachi doesn't get to ask anything more, her body giving up and fading into unconsciousness.

.

"Tough case?"

Dan kisses her temple, Tsunade almost jumping when she notices him. "Oh, what time is it?"

"Time to sleep."

"Heh, good try."

"Worth a shot," he smiles, and Tsunade would want nothing more than to sleep or take a shower or something else than studying chakra pathways and fucked up seals. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah," she nods. "Had a ration a few hours ago."

"Hmm, is that so? The same one that you ate two days ago?"

Damn it.

Tsunade pushed the stack of papers and books away, frustrated. "Nothing is working!"

"I'm sure you'll find a way," Dan amends, picking up a sheet that had fallen off. Her handwriting was barely legible on a good day, more nonsense than actual notes. "Fūinjutsu?"

"Something like that." Tsunade couldn't tell him what was on her mind. Dan kissed her temple again, understanding. "How's the Tower?"

"Going down," he chuckles. Only he would laugh when there was a political scandal hanging from the Hokage Tower like a guillotine. "I never thought the Inuzuka would be the ones that would go after the Uchiha."

"They have a reason," Tsunade amends, thinking about said reason and remembering why she was working overtime. "How long until the trial?"

"The Inuzuka have the upper hand, but they aren't moving yet. The Uchiha are pushing to settle quietly. So far, Ashi-sama will take the trial to court, when? It's anybody's guess," he shrugs. "I think before the month ends, but Ashi-sama could very well stretch it out."

Ashi was raging. Tsunade forgot that she was a Clan Head, and knew her stuff, as well as being a damn good kunoichi. She had the Uchiha in her palm and she wasn't hesitating to make them suffer. The medic understood where she came from, not interested in politics but in Sachi's wellbeing.

Tsunade had a month to heal Sachi or keep her in that state forever. With hollow eyes and bed bound until the Archive finally killed her. Ashi was still hoping for Sachi to recover, but she was a kunoichi, and knew that only waiting wasn't an option.

What a fucking mess.

"The Uchiha want to see her," Dan comments too off-handedly to be a coincidence. He was the Hokage's aid, his proverbial successor, and was intimately related to the uproar.

"They can wait," Tsunade warns him not to prod. They were lovers, but she will not disclose Sachi's identity to him; much less explain why the Uchiha weren't allowed to see her like the custom dictated. Tsunade would protect him from this shitshow as much as possible. "She's not fit for visitors."

"I see," he backs off. "You're her medic."

Not that she wanted to be.

"I don't know if she will assist the trial," Tsunade could tell him that much. "She's awake but not… here."

Dan interpreted her words as he wanted, nodding once. "In that case you'll need to assist on her behalf."

"Don't look so apologetic, it's fine," she sighs. Dan knew her distaste for politics, and tried to shield her from everything he could, but some matters required her presence regardless of his efforts. "That brat is giving me more trouble than going to the court to report."

"Yes, but I know you don't like it."

Tsunade loathed to disclose information about her patients. As a medic she got to see people in their worst days, and there were things that people had no right to know. It couldn't be helped, for they were in a ninja village, and privacy was a luxury that was not often granted.

Tsunade going to court would mean that she would need to give a very detailed report about what was Sachi's status so they could review the damage that had been done and decide a fitting punishment or grant. The medic did not hold special sentiment towards Sachi, nor the girl respected her in any case, but those kinds of scars held a story that was not for Tsunade to tell. She could always say that Sachi was tortured, but she would also have to explain her chakra condition and how it came to be.

Tsunade did not want to tell the world that piercing the chakra gates and surviving was possible, not only to protect Sachi's past and her dignity, but also to avoid those insane enough to try it out.

Tsunade didn't want to heal an injury like that ever again.

(She will.)

"We'll see how it goes," Tsunade finishes, changing the subject. "Has sensei said something?"

"He's smoking his headache pipe. Biwako-sama is not happy." Ah, of course, the infamous pipe. "The Uchiha are afraid of what Ashi-sama will ask in return. They've offered execution."

Dan said it carefully, but Tsunade could tell he was disgusted by that. "A child for a child?" Tsunade muses. "Now that's a shitty move."

"Desperate," he corrects ruefully. "They believe she will go for the Police Force or the lands in the lower level."

Whatever Ashi decided, it won't be enough to sate her anger. Tsunade had her doubts about letting Sachi stay with the Inuzuka, but it was clear as day that Ashi truly cared for that brat. Sachi was like a daughter to her, and the Uchiha knew that crippling the child, a potential heir, of a fellow major clan was going to hurt. A lot.

But to offer their own in exchange? Revolting.

Ashi would never take the life of a child without being forced, and Arisu might have burned Sachi and fucked up her mind, but she was not Hiroto to execute a child for revenge's sake. Instead, she will punish them all. Ashi was not one to be trifled with.

"The Uchiha and their pride…" Tsunade shakes her head. "I get that sensei is not having a great time?"

"No one is having a great time," Dan sighs too, and Tsunade notices that he's tired as well. "There's an underground war going on between the Inuzuka and Uchiha, and it's spreading to other clans. Hyūga are with Uchiha, but Nara are with Inuzuka."

"... damn."

"A lot of old grudges," Dan agrees. "They're using this to start a civil war. The major clans are rebelling against the noble ones, saying that it's time to get them off their high horse. Because the Uchiha are to be blamed, it's their opportunity to gain more favor."

Nothing ever came easy with living in a ninja village. The feud between the noble clans and the lower clans had always been present, ever since the beginning. The noble clans had helped settle Leaf, but those that joined later had proved their worth in the following decades. And yet, the noble clans were still seen as better than the lower ones, with the only difference being the order in which they came to Leaf.

Of course, noble clans didn't see anything wrong with keeping the system as it was. They wanted to benefit from the high esteem of being noble, and because the noble clans included the Hyūga and Uchiha, they had more reason to blow their own horn by adding in the importance of their dōjutsu. The major clans, like Inuzuka or Nara, were sick and tired of being looked down upon when they pulled the same weight in the village, while being paid less, had less privileges and disregarded when it came to court, since noble clans had a more valuable vote.

It always ended the same way, one of the parties would threaten to leave and ally themselves with another faction. Uchiha and Hyūga needed the village to survive, their dōjutsu coveted, but if they were to find that kind of protection elsewhere, then Leaf would be severely weakened. The same went for the major clans. Inuzuka had more freedom of movement, and their clan could adapt well outside of Leaf. They might not have holy eyes, but they have been loyal to Leaf for a long time, and they have enough information to be a threat if they were to break off their deal.

The Hokage could not allow for Leaf to be weakened, risking their neighbors to pick up their clans and use them against them, starting another war. They were in an impasse, where no side could be taken, and must be resolved quickly. A civil war was something they needed to avoid at all costs, because noble clans they might be, but the major clans, and even minor ones, had the numbers. The aftermath would be a feast for the vultures.

Who would've thought that a spat between two kids at school would catalyst a civil war?

"I'll be going now," Dan says, stretching. "Don't overwork yourself."

"Yes, yes. Tell sensei to visit me once you're done."

Tsunade focuses on her notes again. The problem with Sachi was that the Archive was active. Somehow, Arisu's attack had caused that thing to pop up, which was making her change her behavior. The girl had no memory of what happened in the last three years and relied on the information that the Archive provided for her.

A pitiful sight. Tsunade had known that she wanted nothing to do with that thing that the Kanbayashi put on her brain but seeing Sachi stare blankly at them twisted her stomach. The Sannin had seen her fair share of broken people, but the change between the outspoken rascal that Sachi had been the week before and now, a shell of her former self, was jarring.

Tsunade sighs.

(She should have let her die.)

.

"Sachi-kun."

The girl blinks slowly. "Sarutobi Hiruzen," she greets. "Time has not been kind to you."

Hiruzen doesn't react at the jab, for Sachi was not delivering it as one. The girl was expressionless, her golden eyes dull and glazed over, and yet brighter. Light was filtering through her bandages, coming from the seals that pulsated lazily in sync with her chakra flow.

"We've had some eventful years," the Hokage amends.

"Yes, the Second Great Shinobi War has taken a toll on the Continent and Islands. Many lives lost, land ravaged, and water poisoned."

"Speaking from experience?"

"I am the Archive."

Chilling. Tsunade shivered beside him.

"Is there brain damage?" Hiruzen asks his student.

"She was burned by a katon jutsu, chakra fueled. I healed her injuries but… the seals don't go away."

He hums. "Protection feature?"

"I… I think that's only the Archive," Tsunade answers, not sure. "She can answer anything except details about herself, watch. Sachi-chan, how many illegitimate children did the first Raikage have?"

"Twenty-one."

"Okay. What was the last meal of the first Mizukage?"

"Nothing. The first Mizukage refused to eat anything, saying, and I quote, 'I prefer to cut my guts myself before I taste anything you brought me, you soggy rotten clams'."

"Um… right," Tsunade grimaces. "Have you attended the Academy?"

"I have not. I am the Archive, not a ninja."

Hiruzen rubbed his temples. "I see. She has access to the Archive, but not her own memories?"

"That's my theory," Tsunade agrees. "That or she suffered a bout of amnesia because of the trauma. She remembers her life before coming here, but only bits and pieces." Tsunade rakes a hand through her hair, exhausted.

"She could tell me that she was sent to the Archive training thing when she was five due to some… fight with her mother? She had three friends and intended to take over the world. Though, she doesn't know that her clan is dead."

"They are not dead," Sachi chips in. "As long as I am alive, death does not matter. The Kanbayashi have been alive for a thousand years. Our existence will be eternal—"

"That's what she always says," Tsunade waves a hand in her direction. "Conditioning? Propaganda? Archive fuckery?" she guesses.

The Hokage goes to the girl, a memory of their first encounter. This time, Sachi doesn't move from her spot, staring mindlessly at him, not unlike a doll. He notices the lack of stray chakra from her and asks his student about it.

"Ah, when the sealwork is active, all the chakra goes to her brain. We knew that the seals were connected to the gates, but they also reach all the way to the essential pathways." Good gods. "Every drop of chakra is deviated to the brain, so her chakra doesn't bleed out through her pores like before."

Tsunade also approaches her but keeps her distance. She was deeply disturbed by the child. "I've healed the windows between the chakra pathways and her bloodstream, but my chakra gets absorbed too."

"That's…"

"Creepy?" Tsunade finishes bluntly. "Yeah. She's like a chakra vacuum, all to feed that parasite in her brain," she hisses. "I don't think Sachi has enough chakra to sustain it, and her gates are milling to make up for that deficit."

"That much chakra in one place…"

"Yes. The Archive was not meant to be used for this long, or the brain would be fried up for that much pent-up energy. The chakra isn't recycled, but redistributed through the seals on her brain," Tsunade explains, just as confused as he was. "Something is going on. Sachi should be able to shut the Archive on and off, the red door, was it?"

"You've given her case much thought, Tsunade-chan," the Hokage observes.

"She's my patient," she shrugs the praise off. "I'm not anywhere near to figure out her seals though. I know that Sachi has the bijū seal, or a version of it, on her brain, but the others… It's not Uzumaki style."

Hiruzen grows troubled. "There's no way to reverse them?"

"And even if there was… I don't know if it would be safe for her. Grandma didn't survive the extraction of the Nine Tails because the seal had become part of her. With Sachi… It'll most likely kill her."

(Two vessels of the Archive existing at the same time was impossible.)

"What do we do?"

"You will kill me," Sachi states, answering Tsunade's question. "My purpose as Archive is to answer every question that I am asked. I will do my duty until my last breath, which…" she points at her head. "Will not be too long from now."

The room's temperature drops. Sachi continues.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, Senju Tsunade," she calls for them like an executioner would. "You're in a position of power. I am not in the Heart; my assistant is not with me… Until my clan arrives, you can use the Archive to do your bidding. The information that I harbor will serve you well and you will ruin the world because of it."

"What are you talking about—?"

"You crave the Archive," she says, and her smile is so alien that it seems like a botched genjutsu. "Ninja will seek to support their kin. If I am here, the reason must be clear. Is it a question or is it the Archive?"

"Does it matter what I answer?" Hiruzen asks.

Sachi thinks it over, tilting her head like her neck was broken. "I suppose not. My death is fast approaching, you should ask your questions now, before my successor takes the Archive."

To hear a child no older than eleven speak so openly about her death… As if a nightmare was unfolding, Sachi's body, barely held up by fishing line and haphazard tape, slowly falls back onto the pillows. Her voice fades as she speaks.

Hiruzen is prompted to ask, "How can you say that your death is near?"

"I can hear the wolves howling."

(They have been howling for a long time.)

"Sachi-kun… you have no successor. The Kanbayashi are dead," Tsunade tells the girl.

"...they are not dead," Sachi repeats, her eyes closing and her body going limp. "... as long… as I… am… alive—"

"Aaand she's gone," Tsunade remarks dryly, checking for her pulse. "The questions tire her out, especially if it's something that happened long ago. She sleeps a lot these days."

"Quite dramatic," the Hokage notes.

"That's the Archive for you. At least we know Sachi didn't use the Archive before."

As if that was consolement enough.

"She's convinced she will die soon."

Tsunade looks away. "There's no way to tell. Her body is messed up, and no one with that much chakra going around will last long, and certainly not a child. She must know this, Archive and all."

Sachi sleeps, very much like she did when Sumi brought her to them. The image is the same, yet their attitude has changed. Hiruzen touches Sachi's hand, following the glowing lines with his finger.

"This is what the Archive is like," he remarks quietly.

"Disappointed, sensei?" Tsunade teases, but the joke falls short. "She knows her answers, but it's weird to have her like this. I don't like it."

"You don't like Sachi-kun very much."

"Neither do you, but here we are," she counters. "What do we do?"

"The trial will happen soon," he says instead. "Sachi won't be able to assist in this state."

They couldn't let Sachi out of the hospital as she was. People that knew her would immediately be suspicious, and the traumatized card will help them only that far until they realized that she didn't remember who she was.

"We don't need to worry about her escaping this time," Tsunade says.

No. This time they needed to keep everyone out.

Hiruzen leaves the child alone, focusing on his student. "The Uchiha want to see the damage for themselves."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that," Tsunade mutters, annoyed. "Haiiro-sama is going to stay with her full time after Ashi-sama caught one of them trying to get in."

Unfortunate, to see the Uchiha behaving so poorly. "Ashi-sama is taking this matter seriously."

"Who wouldn't?" Tsunade questions. "Inuzuka are a very territorial bunch, and you gave their leader a daughter."

Sachi continues to sleep, unaware of the ruckus that was caused because of her; for her.

"The perfect storm."

.

"Hear, pup. What's your favorite food?"

Sachi is indifferent, tilting her head at Haiiro. "My favorite food is—"

And she stops. Her eyes go blank, and the words die in her throat. No matter how hard he tried, how hard he pushed, Sachi remained stuck.

"What is the name of your younger sister?" Haiiro asks.

"I do not have a younger sister. I have an older brother, Keiichi, by eight years."

"What is the name of the daughter of Inuzuka Tsume?"

Haiiro observes as the gears in her head turn and turn until she answers, "Inuzuka Tsume does not have a daughter."

"Wrong."

"That is not possible. The Archive has—"

"I tell you that's wrong," he barks, interrupting her. "Tsume has a daughter, she's gonna be a year in spring, and her name is..."

Haiiro can see it, can feel it in his nose. The Archive does not know the answer, but Sachi does.

"Inuzuka Tsume does not have a daughter."

"Wrong."

"That is not…"

Sachi flops on the bed, tired. Haiiro hated having her like that, lethargic and almost vegetative. As if someone had ripped her fangs out of her; there was no trace of her wit or intellect. She was just a talking puppet, who had the dirty laundry of people that were not important today. Forced to live in the past, Sachi was slowly dying in front of them.

"Pup. You know how to disarm the seals on the windows, don't ya?"

"I do."

"Do it."

Sachi raises a hand, the black diamonds glowing. She gently puts it against the frame of the window, the seals breaking off instantly. A handy trick, to overwhelm seals with chakra.

"Open the window, and close it after I leave," Haiiro orders. "Open it when I come back, get it?"

She nods. "You are here to watch over me. Why are you…?"

"That's what I'm doin'."

Haiiro jumps out of the window, and Sachi does as she is told.

He finds Kasui at the Academy's library, hidden away from view. The space has Sachi's scent too, and the boy greets him with genuine surprise.

"Haiiro!"

"Yo. Still studying?"

The boy's cheer dies down, and Haiiro can't help but compare his expression to Sachi's. "Yes. The midterms are next week."

The fifth and sixth grade had midterms that were necessary to allow for graduation. Kasui and Sachi had taken the advanced exams to sixth grade, and the curriculum had piled up. The small space is filled with books and notes that he recognizes as Sachi's, her scent permeating the pages. Kasui was holding them gingerly, but his tart worry tickled his nose.

"Let me teach ya somethin' you ain't gonna find in those books."

.

Hiruzen is in the middle of a council meeting, which does nothing but raise his blood pressure and bring forth his plan for retirement.

"That girl has a history of getting into fights, Hokage-sama!" Fugaku, Tsurugi's son, argues. "It's not far-fetched to believe that she had instigated that fight."

"What about the witnesses?" Hiruzen asks, just to make them shut up for a second.

They had been nagging him all day long because Ashi refused to see any Uchiha, much less hear what they had to say. He was reminded about how Shōrai and Asuma would come crying to him when Biwako disciplined them. If it didn't work for them, his own children, then the Uchiha had even less of a chance.

It was a problem that was blown out of proportion, and if it was someone's fault, except for the perpetrator herself, it was the Academy. There were reports about Sachi's and Arisu's fights, documented reports from the nurse as well as notices from the teachers; and yet, nothing was taken into consideration.

Nara Shun was a good director, and he had revolutionized the Academy, upped their critical thinking skills and focused on teamwork, but he had failed to do his duty to protect his students. Sachi was far from a saint, Sage knows that Hiruzen has seen it for himself, but to let her get beaten, bullied, and injured on a daily basis under the excuse of her behavior, while not addressing Arisu's own… It was shameful.

But Hiruzen knew why.

"The reports will be viewed in the trial," Dan amends.

"That girl is not even from Leaf," Fugaku mutters. He was still young; Tsurugi needed to teach him better.

"I made her a citizen of this village myself."

That ends that train of thought. Not even the Uchiha, self-important as they were, would openly question his decision to run this village. A small mercy, considering they have been drilling him the same arguments over and over again. Sachi is a foreigner, Sachi is a bastard, she is not Ashi's biological daughter, she is a smart-mouthed brat, her so-called condition…

Hiruzen was so damn tired of it. That's why he hated trials. Everyone behaved like children, and he had to play the role of parent, making sure no party was wronged while, at the same time, delivering justice and punishment in equal measure.

Children were a delicate subject in law, since guardians were involved, as well as the clans they belonged to. Everything had amalgamated into a disaster that made the Uchiha beat down his office door and start a long rant as to why Sachi deserved what she got and, if not, that they could sacrifice Arisu instead.

Dan shared his exhaustion, learning a valuable lesson, which was to avoid trials as much as possible. That's why when clans were involved, lawyers were not used, like civilians did. Of course, they had the liberty to do so, but it was better for their own to settle this without any bystanders. It had the disadvantage of having to deal with the Clan Heads directly, but all were familiar faces which one developed an immunity to after several years of similar disputes.

Not that Hiruzen was any happier.

Because Sachi was the Archive and a Kanbayashi, this matter was even more complicated. The Uchiha did not know that they had caused a collapse to what was the biggest conglomeration of information, and if they were to see her now— as they so insistently demand— they would be facing the fact that Sachi had enough knowledge to end their entire bloodline. Sachi knew about the sharingan, very much like the byakugan, and how to destroy it from within.

Sachi had told Hiruzen so, before collapsing. Maybe it was for the better if Sachi died now, that much knowledge finally lost and with it, the chance that the balance of the world would be altered.

A flutter of chakra catches his attention. "Tsurugi-sama, Fugaku-san, we will finish this conversation in another moment." Hopefully at court, the Hokage thinks.

They bow and leave, having noticed the alert as well. Dan gets up, that boy knowing when it was the time to listen and when to leave. "Hokage-sama."

"Take a break, Dan," he nods.

When the door closes, an ANBU figure appears, Dove. They bow respectfully and give him a scroll. He recognizes the sender immediately and opening it he's greeted by Jiraiya's clean handwriting. For all his rowdy personality, he had good calligraphy, probably due to the lessons he had assisted while on his pilgrimage in Uzushio.

The letter was short, but the gist of it was: Jiraiya had finished his business in Rain Country, and left to travel the world under the excuse of building his spy network.

Another headache.

Hiruzen wonders what went wrong, during the last day of the war, for Jiraiya to leave so suddenly. Perhaps he had spoiled him too much, or maybe something happened in the war to make him snap. He had seen what the war did to Tsunade and Orochimaru, but he had yet to see Jiraiya's face ever since that day.

Hiruzen could've flagged him as a missing nin, sending all of their hunter-nins after him to bring him back home. But that would've been very much like adding insult to injury. Leaf, who had been so weakened after the war, was down one of its Sannin. Only the fondness for his student made Hiruzen not sign the notice, despite Danzō's protests or the pressure from the Council, justifying that if Jiraiya appeared in the Bingo Book vultures would come knocking on their door.

After Uzushio fell, Hiruzen had harbored hope that he would come back home, where he truly belonged. It was in vain. When Leaf needed the presence of a seal master more than anything else, Jiraiya remained silent.

Now, Jiraiya had finally reached out to him, but Hiruzen couldn't muster enough energy to deal with it. He will send him a message, maybe thanking him for how much consideration he had for his village to build such a network. Maybe nothing at all, as he was so very busy these days.

Hiruzen looks at the letter, and wonders with a heavy heart why there's no mention of his teammates. Or when he would come back.

.

Kasui stares at the hospital from the ground. It's midnight, right before the guards' roster changes. Sachi's window is on the third floor; it opens. He doesn't have much time.

Climbing a vertical surface is impossible unless you're a ninja or a student with chakra control in the 99th percentile. Failure isn't an option, he puts his hands on the wall, then his feet, and goes up, up, up.

The wind is cold, and the air seems to thin, but Kasui reaches the windowsill and jumps inside. His heart is hammering in his ribcage like a trapped bird, but it skips a beat when he sees his friend.

Covered in bandages from head to toe, the only gap is for her mouth and eyes. He doesn't recognize her. "S-Sachi…?"

"Yes?"

A shiver colder than the winter racks down his spine, and the adrenaline that was pumping because of his stunt drops like a brick in his veins.

"You aren't Sachi," he states.

"I am."

"No, you aren't. Sachi…. she doesn't speak like that."

"I am Sachi, I speak as—"

"No!" Kasui can't help himself, the existential kind of dread that he's facing making him forget he needed to be stealthy.

He knew that Sachi was hurt, very, very hurt, but she was awake. She should be out of the hospital, she should be in class with him, studying together and preparing for the midterms.

Why did Sachi sound like she was dead? He should have known that this was going to happen. That Sachi had lied to him, that she didn't intend to keep her promise. "You promised me! You promised me!"

Kasui doesn't cry, because that thing is undeserving of it, wearing Sachi's eyes and speaking in her voice. That Sachi wasn't the one he knew.

"What promise?"

The question breaks his heart, and Kasui can't stand it anymore. He had wanted to see his friend, to make sure she was okay… Even apologize for getting into trouble and not helping her sooner. Kasui couldn't bring himself to do any of that.

"What promise?" she asks again, and maybe it's his imagination, but there's a flicker of something in her gaze.

"You promised me that we would make jōnin together. That if I helped you, you would help me graduate," he says, and his voice cracks. "You promised me to stay with me! You broke your promise!"

"That is not… that is not…"

The promise of a Kanbayashi. There were tales of how powerful and dangerous such an oath was. Death did not annul it, and the Archive, eternal as it was, had to see it through. Sachi, in her state, had the impulse to do her duty, to fulfill her role. A promise was a contract that, if not completed, would not let the soul of the Kanbayashi rest. She needed to keep the promises, to make them true.

And then Kasui, distracted by his grief, proposed the unbelievable. A Kanbayashi that had not kept their word. The Archive, no less.

The Archive was an immense collection of memories, that Sachi had spent her sleeping moments revising and going through, as was her mission, but the fog had started to thicken until the dunes of books disappeared from sight.

In her mind, where any question was answered by the pull and flow of the Archive's will, Kasui's statement produced an empty answer.

But that couldn't be.

Sachi looks for the answer, because there was always one, always, always, always—

She runs further into the Archive, where the fog is so rich and heavy that it resembles the ice planes of the Land of Snow. She turns and turns, but no book comes to answer, and there's an ominous silence surrounding her.

It's cold.

"Sachi!" Kasui slaps her cheeks and shakes her head, noticing her fade. "You promised me!"

"Kasui, it's time."

Haiiro appears in the window, and the boy gives his friend a last glance before they leave. "You said you always keep your promises…"

Sachi faints because of the exertion on her body, searching for an answer that can only be found outside of the Archive. Closing her eyes, she wakes up in the Archive.

But it's empty.

Except for a red door.

.

"Thank you for coming, Shikarō-sama."

"Don't mention it, Ashi-sama. This is what friends are for."

Shikaku wouldn't have dared to assume that coming back from his deployment in Tea Country would welcome him with a civil war in the making. Much less caused by the adopted daughter of his neighbor, who also happened to be one of his dear friends.

Life sure never failed to surprise him.

But not really.

The power bubble of the four noble clans was fated to burst at one point or another. Hyūga and Uchiha had been monopolizing their in-village politics for a while, when the Aburame dominated the outposts. Akimichi, as the lesser out of all the four noble clans, would undoubtedly side with the insurgents, trying to change the system while staying at the top.

Anyone that had a single look at their affairs would know that a civil war was brewing, but they needed a good enough excuse to start it, and win. The attempted murder of an Academy student was as good as any.

Nevertheless, what concerned Shikaku was Ashi.

She had murder in her eyes, and she wore the same aura of retribution that nearly made the Inuzuka clan wage war against all of Earth Country after they assassinated Isamu. The fact that she would lose more of her clansmen was what stopped her, and only time and a great deal of support from those close to her made her walk away from the edge.

Ashi didn't have intentions to back off this time.

"I speak for all Nara when we give you our most sincere condolences."

"Keep 'em," Ashi waves a hand, cold. "My Sachi's not dead."

"Regardless, we want to show our support," his father insists.

Sachi. That was a name Shikaku has been hearing again and again ever since coming back. Inoichi seemed ecstatic, finding it hilarious that Ashi would adopt, but then when the incident happened it soon stopped being funny. The woman in front of him was willing to start a war because someone had hurt her child, and whatever her reasons were, she was determined.

Ashi nods curtly. "We appreciate it."

Damn.

Shikaku knew that her anger was not directed at them, but it felt as if she was keeping them hostage and deciding which limb she should start off with. The Uchiha might be their most powerful clan, but they paled in comparison to what Ashi could summon in her rage.

(There was a reason why Earth wanted to kill her.)

"How is Tsume faring?"

His father, noticing that politics talk won't happen that night, switched tactics to a safe topic: her sister. His mother would've bitten his head off for daring to placate her moods with verbal distractions, but Ashi took it.

"Fine," she sighs. "Hana's starting to walk, findin' all the corners with her head, so she's been busy."

That had been another surprise, Tsume having a daughter. Shikaku knew that they would need to produce spawns at some point, but he hadn't believed Tsume would take the initiative.

"Did the chocolate serve her well?" Shikaku asks.

The corners of Ashi's mouth tense into a smile. "Yes, thank you. Chocolate is difficult to find in Fire, a cranky Tsume with cravings is terrifying."

Thank the Sage he wasn't there to witness it. Shikarō nods in understanding.

"We're glad."

Silence settles and Ashi is looking straight into their eyes. She was in a mood, and that was not a good sign. They drop their eyes out of respect.

"Don't soothe me, Shikarō-sama. I am fine." Her killing intent said otherwise. "I know why you're here, and I agree that the power balance's been off since the start, but do not forget that my daughter's life is at stake here. This was not supposed to happen."

"We understand, Ashi-sama."

"They must be taught a lesson," the alpha promises, and puts her cup down. "If you and your clan want to be present for that, go ahead, let it be a warning for everyone. I've put up with too much shit because of those uptight bastards, and I should've done this sooner."

"We support your case," his father says, sly as ever. "Kian would've been proud."

"My father was proud of me the moment I was born. Let the dead rest, Shikarō-sama." Woah, Ashi was more pissed than he thought. "Your support won't be in vain, I will remember this."

"We hope for this matter to be settled in your favor."

Ashi bares her teeth with a smile. "It will."

Kuromaru shows up and escorts them out of the clan grounds. He has strange substances in his fur that neither of them acknowledges besides a polite nod. "Tsume says you should visit more often."

"I'll see to it," Shikaku answers.

They don't use the main gates, since it's faster for them to use the gate that they had at the back of the property for these kinds of meetings, shielded by the hawks' eager gaze. His father is in an awful cheer, playing with a strand of his greyish hair.

"Fascinating," Shikarō mutters.

"Troublesome."

"The youth nowadays… Your mother would be disappointed in you."

"Mom said laziness was a sin."

"My point exactly," his father nods. "Did you notice?"

"The seals? Yeah."

His father stroked his beard, pleased. "So interesting. I should've visited sooner."

"Dad… a war is about to happen."

"Hmm? Yes, yes. Inuzuka, can you believe it? This village was becoming so boring, yes, yes…"

Shikaku sighs, reminiscent of a childhood spent watching his father laugh in the face of disaster like a toddler. His mother was the only one keeping him in check, and now, he was loose like a goose in a pottery shop.

"When did this happen? When did they change? Is it because of that child?" Shikarō rambles on, and Shikaku lets him go to his room while he rests.

Tomorrow the trial was to take place. Shikaku would support Ashi, Sage knows he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her, but he had a deep ingrained distaste for politics. He was proficient in them, but he took no pleasure in doing it.

Change was necessary.

The noble clans were to be taught a lesson, that much was true, but they won't sit still and let it happen. Tomorrow was going to be a battlefield, and he could accurately guess who was going to be present.

Hyūga and Uchiha will be together, because of course those eyeball cultists will, and the Akimichi will go with their alliance. If the Yamanaka and the Nara were to rise to noble clan status, then they would be able to have more influence. They depended too much on the Akimichi for their votes, but that could very well change. If what it took for that to happen, siding with the Inuzuka was the obvious choice.

Which every other clan had figured out.

"So troublesome…"

And yet, between all that political turmoil, an unknown variable was being underestimated.

Who was Sachi?

.

Tsunade goes into the room, ready to try and wake her up for good.

Sachi isn't in the room and the window it's open.

.

"—ck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Sachi curses, running through the forest barefoot. "Fuck, fuck, fu—"

She needed to get back home. Like, right fucking now.

"God fucking dammit!"

She had used the hopping seal in the hospital to leave without being seen, now that she knew where they were. However, she had messed up how much chakra she had available and so it sent her straight to the furthest part of Leaf.

Cue Sachi running across the fields to get home before someone noticed she had left the hospital.

"The… fucking last time… I use… shortcuts!"

Sachi didn't want to draw parallels between how alike her situation seemed in her previous hospital break. With a sheet and a notice-me-not seal on it while praying no one found her and started asking questions.

She had woken up with a terrible headache and feeling like liquid shit that only worsened when she finished tidying up her mind space. Fuck Arisu, seriously, fuck that bastard twice over. That wasn't the worst, because the Hokage had seen her tripping out with the Archive, when their deal clearly stated that she was there to stay until she did just that.

Sachi didn't want to leave.

Which is why she was running in the opposite direction.

"Fuck!"

There it was, the northern-eastern gate. That was the gate that the Nara and Inuzuka guarded, located at the border between their clan's lands. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Sachi was feeling faint.

She had closed the Archive, but all the chakra that had been accumulated rushed through her pathways like a flood of needles. Not fun at all. Tsunade was not going to be happy to discover that she had exsanguinated herself in order to not pass out from all the chakra in her blood. Or that she stole a blanket again. Or broke out of the hospital. Again.

Instead of rushing through the gate and praying the Inuzuka guards were baffled enough to let her pass, Sachi opens the wound on her arms to let blood trickle into her hands. A seal flashes in an instant, and when Sachi plants her hands on the ground to do a cartwheel, she's vaulted into the air.

The landing is less graceful.

"... gods, my head…" she groans, feeling her world spin and her body heat up. Ashi was going to be so very mad at her for using blood seals, but she needed to see her as soon as possible.

Sachi finishes the trek to the main house in time for the dogs to start howling, confused at having caught her scent. The backdoor opens, revealing a disheveled Tsume that becomes white as a sheet when she spots her running like the devil towards her, bloodied and yelling to ask where Ashi was.

"Where is she?!"

"... she's… What are you doin'?!"

Sachi skids into the house, Tsume rooted in her spot, and she goes to find Ashi. She needed to find her, to explain—

"Sachi?"

She faceplants against the wall when she recognizes the voice. Turning around, Ashi was dressed in her leather jacket and her hair slicked back, picture perfect for business. Sachi feels her legs give up, so glad that she has caught up to her in time.

"Ashi!" Sachi exclaims; and then she starts crying. "A-Ashi!"

"D-darlin'! Where did you come from? Are you okay?" Ashi asks, reaching for her. Sachi hugs her tightly, burning the feeling of her clothes and her scent so she may never forget it again. "Wait…"

Ashi looks at her face, finding none of the sealwork, and her eyes go wide. "Oh. You came back."

"O-of course! I always come back!" Sachi bawls. "Fuck!"

Ashi starts laughing, hysterical, checking her all over. "Sachi… Sachi…" she calls and Sachi continues to cry until all the fear she had kept holding on leaves her shaking body.

Sachi had to see everything again. The arguments with Mother, the fights with Brother, Father's death… That thing attacking the Heart, becoming Archive— All those memories that she had tightly bound and hid had nearly broken her mind because she hadn't processed it, and made her lose all she had worked so hard for all these past years.

Sachi was not going to give up her life.

"I'm s-sorry…" she says, clawing at her back, not letting her go. "So sorry…"

"It's okay, darlin', it's okay," Ashi soothes, her voice strangely heavy. "You've come back."

Everyone was dead, yet again, but Ashi was there.

"Hiya pup, took you long enough."

"H-Haiiro…!"

The dog nuzzles her, and Sachi isn't afraid anymore, not of him. His fur is soft, and she knows Haiiro can't cry, but he licks her tears and bumps his big head on hers. "Don't get lost like that again."

"I won't!"

"What's this?" Tsume asks, lost. "Nee-chan?"

The magic of their reunion breaks off just like that, when Ashi notices the blanket and Sachi's bloodied hands. Sachi watches as her expression shifts from shocked to relieved to furious.

Oh no.

"Sachi…"

"I said I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Ashi! Please! I'm sorry! AAAAH—!"

.

The trial begins like this.

The courtroom is located in the lower level of the Hokage Tower, a circular room that has the public benches on one side and the jury's stand on the other, elevated so that they look down at the center.

Made of cream-colored wood, with a set of very small windows located near the ceiling the light is barely enough to allow for visibility. With high ceilings and discreet in terms of decoration, the purpose of that room was direct and clear.

When the Inuzuka enter, Ashi and Haiiro at the front, with Sachi between them, and Tsume and the Elders behind, the room is already full to the brim. They take their place at the circular pedestals reserved for the prosecution, contrary to the defense.

The Uchiha are there, Tsurugi with his son as his second in command, Fugaku, along with their Elders. A whimper is heard over the heavy silence, coming from Arisu, who has lost ten pounds and aged ten years since she was last seen.

The standoff between both clans is clear. An overall murmur rumbles through the room, all those gathered whispering about the strange Inuzuka bastard and how she appeared to be… fine. For many that was the first time they saw Inuzuka Sachi, and the general consensus was:

What the fuck?

The Hokage, at the top of the room, raises a hand and the voices die down. "We are about to begin the trial between Inuzuka Sachi v. Uchiha Arisu," the Hokage speaks solemnly, and no one dares to say a word. Behind him, his advisors, Katō Dan and Shimura Danzō, stand witness. "Before we do so, does anyone have anything to say?"

Everyone was waiting eagerly to watch the shitshow, the gossip of the decade, unfold before their eyes.

A hand is raised.

"Yes, Sachi-kun?"

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama," she starts innocently enough. The room is surprised, hearing her smooth voice, devoid of any fear or apprehension. "It's my first time assisting this kind of thing but… aren't here… too many people?"

Sachi turns to the public, and the atmosphere changes when they catch sight of those golden eyes. She's playing them.

"What do you mean, Sachi-kun?"

"My memory must be fuzzy since I've slept for so long, but I can clearly remember that there weren't this many people when… whatever happened between Arisu-kun and I. Am I wrong?"

She's mocking them.

The room is filled with Clan Heads, from the Yūhi to the Aburame, even the Civilian Council is present. Sachi lazily gazes over to them, her eyes catching the important figures and promptly ignoring them.

The Hokage schools his features, letting none of his emotions show, and focuses on the benches. "What do you propose, Sachi-kun?"

"Hokage-sama," his first advisor, Danzō, tries to intervene.

The Hokage raises a hand, and he too, falls silent. He nods towards the girl, who isn't bothered at all to have all the clans of the village glaring holes into her body.

"Because this is an affair between the Inuzuka and Uchiha… We should keep it intimate, hmm?"

Even the Uchiha were staring in disbelief at the child in front of them. Inuzuka Sachi, adopted daughter of Ashi, was not what the rumors had described her as. Broken, crippled, tortured. Sachi was but a victim of the aftermath of war, and those that fell through the cracks only to be saved by blind luck.

What they received was a mind like no other.

"Bwahaha!" Comes the howling laughter from the stands. Shikarō is the first to stand up, his dark green robes fluttering and obscuring the view to those behind him. "Very well!"

Shikaku goes after his father, not before he looks back at the child that had all but thrown them away from the courtroom like naughty kids.

"Seems like we aren't welcomed," Hiroto remarks, dry as sand.

"What a bummer…"

Slowly, one by one, everyone leaves except the Hokage's entourage, the Inuzuka and the Uchiha.

"Better, Sachi-kun?" The Hokage asks mildly.

"Yep!" Sachi smiles, content.

The game begins now.

"Let's begin, in truth this time. We're gathered here today for the charges of aggravated assault, crippling injury and attempted murder; falling to Uchiha Arisu, who committed these grave sins against a comrade, Inuzuka Sachi," he summarizes, turning to the defense. "How does the accused declare themselves?"

"Guilty, on all charges," Tsurugi answers, and his baritone voice is shocking to hear. He has grown up, Sachi notes.

Arisu shakes in her skin.

"Really?"

"Please restrain your ward from interrupting, Ashi-sama," Danzō scolds. "This is not a child's game."

"I trust Sachi to speak for herself. It's her trial," Ashi replies evenly, equal to a slap.

"Sorry for interrupting, Tsurugi-sama, but I don't get something. You said Arisu-kun intended to kill me, but did she?" Sachi leans back, crossing her arms over her chest. "Arisu-kun."

"Y-yes!"

"Why don't we speak, you and I?"

"This is ridiculous—"

"Danzō," Hiruzen stops him. "I'll allow it. Proceed."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Sachi says, very polite and very fake. "Arisu-kun, I get that we weren't on the best of terms, and that we would live a lot better if the other wasn't there but let me ask you this. That day, after you pushed Kasui, did you intend to kill me?"

Blunt.

Arisu, trembling like a leaf in the wind, can't even look up at her. Pitiful, considering how full of confidence and pride she had been, and had Sachi been a better person she would've felt bad. She didn't.

"You can speak," Tsurugi prompts, and only then does Arisu nod.

"Speak to me, Arisu-kun," Sachi beckons. "You might get misunderstood if you don't, and that's not something you want."

The girl, who had been coaxed into silence by her clan, couldn't mutter a word.

Sachi sighs. "It must have been hard for you too, Arisu-kun," Sachi murmurs, only to add, "To see the consequences of your own actions. You stand before me like a kicked dog, as if you didn't spit out a fireball at me."

Arisu breaks out into sobs.

"Crying won't solve this but speaking to me will. If you let others speak for you, you might get hurt."

To Tsurugi's credit, he did not flinch under that jab. The room lets Sachi speak, as a dignified empress, freeing the knots that were created in her wake. Arisu, eventually, stops crying and looks up.

Her eyes are red as blood.

"You found your pride yet?"

"... yes."

"Good. Tell me, did you want to kill me?"

"N-no!"

Sachi turns to Ashi, as if she was looking at her mother for approval. "It was just a misunderstanding. Isn't that right, Arisu-kun?"

"Ye...s. I didn't want to… k-kill her."

"Nu-uh, you're speaking to me, Arisu-kun. Say it to me."

"I didn't want to kill you!"

Sachi smiles, almost as if to praise her. "Is that so? Then why did you attack me?"

She cringes back. "I—I…!"

"You didn't try to kill me, but you did attack me. I'm asking you why, and please don't tell me you don't know. Use your voice to only speak the truth."

Fugaku did take offense, but his father reprimanded him with only a glance. The old Uchiha was sharp as a kunai but interested in how the trial would develop under Sachi's hand. Ashi, acting as a shield, stood beside her, and she might be holding herself back, but she wouldn't hesitate to intervene.

"... I was mad at you," Arisu finally says. "You told me to give up!"

Sachi doesn't react. "True, since you kept harassing me. See, I'm also at fault here, because I kept fighting with you because I was bored. When I drew the line, you didn't let it go, and you went and picked up a fight with my friend."

"T-that boy isn't worthy!"

"For what? Being my friend?" Sachi shakes her head. "It sounds like you were envious of him."

Arisu becomes red as a tomato, just like she used to do anytime Sachi teased her like that. "You…!"

"That's your problem, Arisu-kun, you have quite the explosive temper. Don't forget what you did to me because I sure won't."

Ruthlessly, Sachi pushes forward. "Regardless of what you think of me, you shouldn't have attacked me in such a manner. We are comrades."

Then, to make her point. "Is that what you will do anytime pisses you off? Burn them until they don't say anything back anymore? Is that how you solve problems, violence? Should I live in fear that the next time we cross paths you are going to finish the job?"

"W-what?! Of course not! I…!"

"Arisu-kun, do you understand what you've done?"

The question rings like the gong of a temple, and Arisu falls silent once more. There's regret and guilt, but it's not enough.

"The reason I am able to stand here today is because Kasui was able to put off the fire, and Tsunade-sama healed me. Just because I am not disfigured does not mean I am not scarred, and with those I will live the rest of my life. What about you?"

"... I'm sorry," Arisu says honestly. "I'm sorry that I burned you because I was mad… a-and that you have to live with that." Raising her head proudly, as true Uchiha, she offers, "Burn me too! That should be my punishment!"

Sachi squints her eyes in disgust. "Are you stupid?"

Everyone chokes.

"Arisu-kun, we aren't samurais, and the world doesn't spin because of honor. What would I gain from burning you? Do you think that I will get satisfaction or revenge from doing what you did to me?" Sachi sighs dramatically.

"What do you want then? I apologized, what more do you want?!"

"Do words mend actions?" Sachi asks rhetorically. "Do you think that an apology will magically make it okay? The days that I spent in the hospital, fighting for my life, you did in penitence… Is that enough?"

Sachi makes sure to look at her straight in her eyes, facing those terrifying sharingan eyes.

"I do not accept your apology, Arisu-kun." All that were present take a breath at the same time. Harsh. Arisu almost crumbles right then and there, but Sachi is not done. "It's not about what I want or what you can give to me. The fact that you attacked me, a comrade, proves your character more than any settlement land or pretty word ever would."

Tsurugi maintains his posture perfectly, but Sachi feels victorious when his eyes flash red for a second.

"However, if you do want to change that, then work for it," she shrugs, going back to her childish grin. "Prove to me that you aren't fucked up in the head, and then I'll reconsider accepting your apology."

Sachi gets up.

"Until then, I can't trust you or any of your kin as a comrade that will serve alongside myself." Sachi turns to the Hokage. "I think this is enough, Hokage-sama."

"This is how you want to end this trial, Sachi-kun?" The Hokage questions. "You have the right for any compensation."

"What possibly could the Uchiha have to compensate me for?" Sachi chuckles. "I don't need anything from them, the Inuzuka are more than enough. If they want to show their gratitude, they can thank Tsunade-sama for healing me. Or fund the Academy so guards do their job properly. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Shockingly, the Uchiha Clan Head interrupts her. "Where are you going?"

Sachi blinks up at him. "If you must know, Tsurugi-sama, I have a test in approximately ten minutes. I am leaving the trial proceedings to Ashi and yourself to take care of, unless you need my help with that?"

"Hn," he scoffs. "That won't be necessary."

"Good. I'm off then. Hokage-sama, Ashi," she bows, then bumps her head to Ashi's forehead.

Sachi jumps out of the stands and breaks into a run, leaving all the adults, plus Arisu, wondering what just had happened.

"We're done here," Ashi decides, and gets up also. "Hokage-sama. Tsurugi-sama."

The Inuzuka reach the center, making their way to the exit, when the Uchiha Clan Head says. "Ashi-sama. That child…"

"My daughter has shown you mercy," Ashi replies, venomous. "When I wouldn't have. I hope you understand the situation you were in, Tsurugi-sama. Do you wish to address it?"

The old Uchiha doesn't meet Ashi's eyes. He bows his head respectfully. "Ashi-sama."

Ashi doesn't give him another glance before she leaves.

(It won't be the first time Sachi will be in a trial.)

.

The door opens with a bang, everyone in the class turning to see who entered in such a haste. The teacher nearly faints when she sees a dead child gasping for breath.

"I… I made it!" Sachi sighs, relieved. "I'm sorry for being late. I was at court."

"W-who are you?"

"Inuzuka Sachi, I'm on the list." And the name makes people more nervous than the test in front of them. "I'm here for the test."

"Shouldn't you be… in the hospital?"

"I am here," she insists. "The Hokage let me come."

That's enough to let her through, and Sachi goes to find a seat.

"Don't ever do that again," Kasui snarls by her side.

"I got a little lost," Sachi whispers back. "But I always keep my promises."

Kasui has never taken an exam crying, but there's a first for everything. Including coming back from the dead.

.

"And that's what happened."

Kasui stares at her friend for a long time until everything she has told him settles in.

"So… wait. You… broke out of the hospital?"

"Yeah. Tsunade-sama was not happy, she said that next time she will heal me in the basement and then put me in the strong room."

"... how?"

"Seals, of course."

Of course.

Kasui was sure of one thing, whatever happened to Sachi had somehow reverted and she was the same as ever. He was very glad about it, the image of her numb smile nightmarish, but he couldn't help but be a little suspicious. Tsunade-sama was the best healer, but the mind was something else altogether.

He was convinced that Sachi would never recover. Yet there she was, in her bed, ranting about what happened that morning.

"And you… went to court?"

"Yep. Everyone was like, prepared for war, it was so creepy."

"B-but… hold on. Let me get this straight," Kasui backtracks. "You made everyone in the room leave, went on a rant to outsmart Arisu-kun, again, and then leave? Just like that?" Sachi nods. "Are fucking stupid?"

"Hey!"

"You nearly died!" Kasui reminds her. "That bastard of an Uchiha burned you to a crisp, and—and you leave?!" He exclaims, grabbing a pillow and hitting her with it. "You were screaming bloody murder! Left to rot for a month in the hospital! And that's what you do?! You tell the Uchiha a few insults and you leave?!" Kasui hits her again, on that head of hers that is too smart and too dumb at the same time.

"K-Kasui! S… stop!"

"Do you have any idea how this month has been for me?! Huh?!" He tries to smother her with the pillow. "You forgot about me! About us! And… and when you can make them pay for what they did to you, what they did to me, you— you do nothing?!"

Sachi uses one of her legs to push him off her, coughing a feather out from the pillow and glaring at him. "I have a plan!"

Kasui fixes his glasses to look at that infuriating face of hers. "A plan! For fuck's sake Sachi, you and your plans—"

"Listen!" Sachi catches him, and damn her long arms, squishing his cheeks together. "Listen! I get it, you're angry, I left you alone for a few days…"

"Amoufth."

"A month. Yeah, I got really hurt, thank you for saving me. By. The. Way," she grits. "Thing is, do you think I would get away with going against the Uchiha?" Kasui stops struggling, tired of fighting. Damn her. "People were going to use me to start a civil war, how would that turn out?"

And there she goes again, her golden eyes glowing with that bright mind of hers and yet so kind towards those she loves. "Look, I don't like Arisu-kun or any of the Uchiha, I think they're pricks and too entitled with their position in the village. However. They're still powerful, and they wouldn't have settled this matter without bringing hell."

She sighs. Sachi was more tired, as if she carried a weight that wasn't there before. The gnawing feeling of worry reminds him of the days he had spent in the orphanage, or the Academy, praying so that Sachi would show up like she had done that morning. The possibility of her never coming back had been worse than the isolation, the whispers, and the rumors.

"Let's say I demanded Arisu-kun to be executed or burned. How would that make me look?" Sachi answers before Kasui can. "I'll tell you, like a rabid mutt that only thinks about revenge, even among comrades. The Uchiha would have killed one of their own so they could throw a pity party, painting the Inuzuka as heartless for asking the life of a child in exchange for hurting one of their own." Sachi stretches his cheeks with her fingers.

"The Inuzuka would've lost face, as well as being more ostracized," she finishes, patting him. "Is that satisfying? Hell no. Was that the best option? Maybe not."

Sachi releases him, happy to mess him up. "You could have asked for compensation! Anything! The Uchiha are rich, they could've given you land! Gold! Work force!"

"They would, but they would've made sure it would be worthless. Think about it, do you think the Uchiha would gladly settle with the Inuzuka even if they were in the wrong, just like that?" Sachi questions.

Kasui rolls his eyes. "… no."

"I think they would have set the lands on fire, salted the earth and sent spies to sabotage our assets. What would the Inuzuka do in that situation? Take them to court again?" Sachi scoffs. "The Uchiha would've been petty, but the Inuzuka would then be accusing them of intentionally going against what they accorded, which would spark the fire again and probably start the civil war."

"I hate that you're so smart."

"Thanks, I love you too," she grins. "Come on, ask me why I did it."

Kasui relents. "... why did you do it?"

"My! What a wonderful question." Kasui tries to reach for the pillow again, but Sachi grabs it first. "Their pride is their weakness."

"Duh."

"Come on! Pay attention. So, in other words, I told the Uchiha that they're hotheads that not even a child should trust. How's that sound?"

"... disappointing."

"Think! This scandal has dragged the Uchiha name through the mud, and they, oh so very prideful, are now forced to make up for it," she says, convinced. "I avoided the Inuzuka getting hurt by the backlash of the trial, and the Uchiha got a well-deserved slap that I, a bastard, got to deliver. Yeah, maybe Arisu didn't get beaten or whatever, but I think she's suffered enough at the hands of her clan. Ugh. Assholes."

"So much kindness, you should be made a saint."

"Fuck you and your sarcasm, Kasui. I would've wanted nothing more to beat Arisu-kun myself, for what she did to me and put you through, but there will be enough opportunities for that later," she explains, content with her choices. "Also, I got a favor from the Hokage."

"You what?!"

Sachi smiles at him, and there it is, that mischief that he missed so much. "I have a plan, Kasui. First…"

.

"Hokage-sama."

As expected, Danzō wouldn't let it go.

"Danzō."

"Are you going to let that girl talk you over in such a way?" He questions, strangely heated for him. "On a trial case, no less."

"Sachi-kun was the prosecutor," Hiruzen reminds him, not reacting to his outburst. "She had every right to speak for herself if her guardian allowed it; she did, and so I let her proceed."

"Hokage-sama," he reprimands in that wilted tone he used to show his disapproval. "What happened today was unprecedented. Is this the example you want to set?"

"This case is a unique one. I've taken measures to ensure that this will not happen again." Namely finally changing Danzō's guards. "We have avoided a scandal that could've gotten out of control, dismissing the… unorthodox method, I believe it was the right choice."

Danzō's scowl said otherwise. "A child, Hokage-sama, you've let a child handle court proceedings. The Uchiha and Inuzuka Clan Heads were present and yet they didn't have a chance to word their issues because of that— child. This has been a humiliation, not only to the law in Leaf, but for those present as well." Himself included, he did not say, but implied, nonetheless.

"It was a chance to humble ourselves," Hiruzen counters, sitting at his desk. "We cannot allow for children's spats to be held at court and used as an excuse to fulfill an agenda that is not for Leaf's benefit."

"And for that you've let your position be overruled by the machinations of a bastard."

"Machinations?" The Hokage echoes mildly. "Sachi-kun is a bright student, regardless of her heritage, but I do not think she had any ulterior motives rather than put an end to their dispute." A shameless lie that Danzō doesn't believe, but Hiruzen doesn't care if he does or not.

"She's a mere child, even considering her being able to manipulate her surroundings is a ridiculous motion," Hiruzen grants. "Or are we this old to be played by youngsters?"

Danzō huffs, lofty. "Her arguments were ridiculous; she wouldn't have been able to."

The Hokage regards his old teammate carefully, saying, "Is there any matter you want to address or are we continuing to confabulate about the master plans of a child not a day old above eleven?"

"My soldiers."

His years of experience have all but killed his mannerism, and so he doesn't sigh or roll his eyes despite wanting to do so. "Yes? What about them?"

"Their numbers are diminishing. It's critical we recruit more."

"Hmm. I'll give it some thought. Anything else?"

Danzō is not happy with being dismissed so easily, but he bows, addresses him politely, and leaves.

When he is sure he's out of earshot, Hiruzen leans into his seat and takes out his pipe. Somehow, he can predict he will need it soon.

.

The Archive is open, everyone! This will be important later on, but you've figured this out without me telling you.

The Archive is a concept that I've created, but I understand that it's weird in the Narutoverse. I can spend the whole fic trying to explain why it's necessary, but you'll know as this story goes on. Now that the Archive is open, we will be seeing more memories from the past, as well as give Sachi even more trouble.

Shimura Danzō, possibly one of the characters that I hate the most to write. I'm not joking when I say that I broke out in hives anytime I have to write this fucker, but it's necessary because this asshole will play a major role later on. I don't like him though, ugh.

We have the Hyūga incident and now the Uchiha scandal, Sachi has a list and she's crossing the names lmao. I don't particularly like writing politics, since I don't have a clue about them, but I do find them important to take in consideration. I've created tension between the noble clans and the major clans, to somehow justify why would the village be willing to turn against itself in hopes of turning the tables.

In canon, Kishimoto used the name of mount Fuji (Fugaku) to name Sasuke's father. Following that line, I chose Tsurugi to name Fugaku's father (Sasuke's grandpa); wikipedia says it's a very hard mountain to climb, which is good enough for this old coot.

Nara Shikaku! I absolutely love him. He will be important later on, but I couldn't help myself not to introduce him a little earlier. He's so fun to write, just like Sachi, and I can't wait to put them together in a room and see what happens (NOT LIKE THAT YOU PERVERTS). Nara Shikarō is also one of my favs, even though he's a minor character. Love me some crazy funny ninja, please.

Anyway, thanks for pulling through the angst. One more chapter to go until we finish this arc, woo!

You can find Sachi's sealwork (and her scars) on my tumblr, pancake-flying, here's the link:

post/644581825971421185/still-with-my-naruto-fic-my-oc-sachi-is-the