Before I start: I got some amazing fanart from an AO3 reader named Chirolite! You can find it on Twitter at lumidaedraws/status/1238601745149784064 (really wish I could link stuff here more easily.) I'm also on Twitter under the name Cannibal_Apple and it's the most recent tweet in my feed at the time of this post. I barely use Twitter but if anyone ever wants to find me there, you now know.

Chapter 34

"I told you there was nothing to worry about!"

Utakata gave a noncommittal hum, trying to ignore the voice in the back of his head as he nibbled on a ration bar. A few minutes ago the scout had passed by his point for a second time, this time returning in the original direction. Even now he could see their signal on the furthest diamond, though at their current pace they would be past its range within less than a minute.

"This seal really is clever," the voice babbled in his head. "I don't know much about fuinjutsu, but I never would have thought it could be used for something like this."

"Chatty today, aren't you," he muttered under his breath.

"You're the one who opened the link!" the voice replied cheerily, and he had to resist the urge to sigh tiredly. With so much potential free time due to his hiding spot being located at the very last point along the route, Utakata had decided to try meditating and talking to the Rokubi while waiting. Over the years he'd managed to find a way to open the link halfway, allowing him to hear it while still perceiving the rest of the world.

It came with the downside that once open, it took a while for the connection to break.

"This mission is boring so far though," the Rokubi chattered. "And the snow looks so cold, too. That's one thing I don't miss." Utakata remained silent, wondering how long it would take for the link to finally close. He hadn't done this often enough to know how long it would last, knowing Harusame and others would disapprove of him trying to communicate with the Tailed Beast sealed inside him.

In a roundabout way, he blamed Sute for it. After first learning of his jinchuuriki status she had probed him for smaller details about the seal's mechanics, not really the finer details of how it worked but more just basic generalities of being a jinchuuriki. He... thinks it might have been her way of trying to reassure him she wasn't scared of him and be supportive? It was hard to be sure sometimes.

Especially after her questions about their ability to communicate, which ended with the comment, "As long as it's not calling itself your mother and constantly screaming at you for blood, you should be fine." Everything about that statement set off alarm bells, both about Sute and the Rokubi, but it was one of those things he was afraid to ask about. He found that a disturbingly common trend when it came to Sute.

Disturbingly specific example aside, it got him to thinking about how he and the Rokubi communicated—or rather, how they didn't. He could count the number of times he'd actually interacted with the Rokubi on one hand, only ending up in that part of his mind space three times over the course of his life. And each time had been part of intense training to try to call on its chakra, so they hadn't really had a proper conversation or anything.

And at that time, he was ten. Ten year olds tend to be very prone to rash, stupid decisions.

Yeah, Utakata could now acknowledge how stupid it was to try to talk to it the first time. Frankly, he was lucky because it turned out the Rokubi was actually weirdly energetic and enthusiastic, not quite to the levels of a child but still way more hyper than he expected of a giant six-tailed slug. So far it seemed more content to just talk his ear off than try to possess him.

Overall Utakata would prefer to live without the giant slug in his mind, but at least he didn't have to deal with the hypothetical scenario Sute described. He shuddered at the mere thought.

"I don't really care about blood anyway," the Rokubi's disembodied voice interjected, reminding him the link still hadn't fully closed and also allowed it to hear some of his thoughts. "I'm not really crazy about fighting like some of the others. But that is a weirdly specific example. I could totally see Shukaku saying something like that, maybe she met his host?"

"Who the hell is Shukaku?" Utakata hissed under his breath, agitated by the whole conversation. The Rokubi was silent, and for a few seconds he thought the connection had finally closed until it spoke up again.

"It doesn't matter right now. But you really like that girl, don't you?"

This time he didn't suppress his groan, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. "I swear, if you're trying to say I should ask her out or something—"

"I don't like her." That caught Utakata's attention, his mouth clamping shut as he waited for the Rokubi to elaborate. "Her chakra reminds me of him. I know she grew up in Kiri and probably doesn't know him, but it still makes me wary. You should be careful about trusting her. If she's related to him, she might be able to use that too." A thrill of unease prickled along his skin at the slug's unusually serious tone, mind racing.

"Who's this 'him'?" he asked lowly. This time no answer came, and after a full two minutes passed in silence he realized the connection had finally closed. He bit back a frustrated sigh, not bothering to reopen it just to ask the question again. With the caravan finally in the area he couldn't afford to waste his attention, even if they would likely never reach his particular spot before Mei or Sute triggered an avalanche.

Still, the way the tailed beast spoke left him with an uneasy feeling. Its tone had been unusually serious, a far cry from its usual upbeat attitude. While he knew it could see everything he did, the Rokubi rarely commented on the people around him during their sporadic conversations. The most had been remarks on its distaste for Harusame due to his role in sealing it. Utakata thought that it might develop similar feelings towards Sute over her own fascination with fuinjutsu, but instead... she reminded him of some man?

The thought made him frown. If the Rokubi compared her chakra to some unknown man, then it only stood to reason they had some blood relation. His mind flickered to when they were ten and standing in her room amongst a litany of unsealed objects. After so long the words had faded, but he distantly recalled whispers about potential serial killer parents and suspicions that her family might not be liked in Kiri.

Just thinking about it made a pit of something curl up tight in his stomach. He knew that "family" could just as easily refer to "clan," and when it came to clans disliked in Kiri one could probably fill an entire book as thick as the one she hid in her bedroom. He'd long since realized that Sute had some sort of clan heritage, probably one connected to fuinjutsu given that book and her natural knack for it.

But even then, how many people could unsettle the Rokubi?

"Have you ever wondered about your family?"

The unexpected question had stunned Sute into silence, her mind momentarily blanking on how to respond to the Yuki woman. Once the initial surprise wore off her expression soured, becoming totally flat and emotionless.

"I really don't care about them," she responded bluntly. "I get you're from a clan so you're probably big on heritage and all that stuff, but that never mattered to me." It took a bit of self control not to let her full ire seep into her voice, keeping her tone and expression perfectly flat.

Three times. Three times now someone mentioned her family in an attempt to twist her to follow them. Learning she came from Uzushio from Amagiri had been interesting, because it had confirmed her suspicions about her heritage. Hearing the name Yorozuyo from Kakashi had been even more interesting because it gave her something to potentially investigate someday.

This time, though, it just annoyed her. This marked the second mission in a row where someone randomly mentioned her heritage and hinted at knowing more than she did, and tried to use it to their own favor.

If Shiromi picked up on her annoyance she didn't show it, instead her smile grew a little wider. "It's funny," she mused. "He said the exact same thing." Now Sute found herself pausing, her eyes narrowing critically.

"You met one of my relatives?" she asked lowly. Even Kakashi hadn't claimed that much, he had only mentioned the alliance between Uzushio and Konoha. Nothing about her having any living relatives waiting for her, just an obligation from their villages' former union.

"I would assume so," Shiromi replied nonchalantly. "At the very least, you're the only ones I've seen with eyes that shade of green. According to him it's a trait unique to your clan." Given Kakashi had specifically mentioned that very detail as an identifying detail of their clan, it checked out.

"Are you trying to initiate some sort of family reunion or something?" Sute asked flatly. "Because I'm not that interested." Shiromi's hand rose to cover her mouth as she giggled, her dark eyes glittering with amusement.

"I'm not that benevolent or sentimental," she replied, her hand falling back to her lap. "Honestly, I really don't care whether you decide to meet him or not. I doubt he'd care either, he seemed mostly apathetic when I mentioned you."

"Then why mention him at all? I already said I have no interest in meeting my relatives, and apparently he doesn't either."

"While that is true, it's not quite that straightforward. I don't really know how to explain it." Shiromi sighed, crossing her arms with a small frown. As she did Sute's gaze flicked to the road where the caravan had been. During the conversation it had managed to pass below them, not even the rear guard in sight anymore. None of them had so much as looked up, seeming oblivious to her presence.

"Then can you at least try?" she suggested as she looked back, and Shiromi paused to eye her speculatively.

"Didn't you just say you weren't interested?" she asked, and Sute shrugged.

"I'm not interested in meeting him, but I'm still curious." Honestly, Sute didn't really care, but she needed to stall and distract Shiromi. The mission had not failed yet, she needed to give her allies all the time they could for the caravan to reach the next ambush point where Mei holed up. By her estimates it would take the caravan probably a full hour to reach Mei.

While Shiromi might be content to speak to her now, she would likely want to resume following them sometime soon. Sute needed to stretch this conversation as long as possible. Asking about this mystery relative seemed like the easiest way to do that.

"How did you meet him?" she pressed. "Is he a shinobi? Civilian? Does he have a kekkei genkai? Are there any great clan techniques I don't know?" All easy questions to generate conversation, and also suggest a growing curiosity.

Shiromi's mouth quirked into an amused smile at the barrage of questions. "My, you really are curious," she teased with a soft giggle. "And here I thought you didn't care."

"...I don't." Judging by the look Shiromi gave her, Sute wasn't very convincing. Sute tried not to pout, and instead ended up scowling when the older woman giggled again.

Okay, she might be a little interested. Could anyone blame her though? This was the first concrete lead she'd had on her heritage beyond that book. For all she knew, her clan could have some secret techniques that would only add to her fighting power. That alone would be worth investigating.

Shiromi smiled. "Alright, I suppose I'll start at the beginning. It was a year ago, in the Land of Bamboo."

"Bamboo?"

"The country west of Rice Fields. I'm not surprised you don't know it, it doesn't have any shinobi and its position means most shinobi won't pass through it. I got a job delivering some documents to a wealthy merchant there, and after I finished I decided to travel around the country and treat it as a vacation. I happened to visit a small village not far from the borders with Rice Field and Fire, and that's where I met a man named Rei."

She leaned forward now, an intense gleam in her eye. "He was quite intriguing even before we met. He didn't live in the village proper, and the children seemed to gossip about him almost like a youkai. The adults spoke quite highly of him though, they clearly respected him. I was passing myself as a traveling civilian, but when we met he recognized me as a shinobi immediately."

"So he probably does have shinobi training," Sute murmured, and Shiromi nodded.

"I don't know how much training he has. We never actually fought or spoke about our skills. He only confronted me to determine whether I was a threat or not, and kept a close eye on me until I left. So I'm afraid I can't say whether he knows any clan techniques or has a kekkei genkai. At the very least, the gossip I heard suggested he has an interest in medicinal herbs. I don't think he has the mokuton though."

She offered Sute an almost wry glance which the teenager chose to ignore. If Shiromi had interpreted her questions as probing for other people with the mokuton, she wouldn't correct her. "You said he didn't seem interested in me," she commented. "That means you told him about me, right?"

"Yes." Shiromi nodded. "I hadn't thought of you for years at that point, but when I saw Rei's eyes I was hit by the strongest sense of deja vu. I've never seen anyone else with eyes that color. It took me about a day to remember where I'd seen it before, and then I couldn't resist asking. Did you know," she added softly, "your clan was called Yoroyuzo?"

"Yes, yes, Kakashi told me," Sute snorted, and Shiromi paused, blinking at her in surprise.

"Hatake Kakashi?" she repeated. "You actually had a conversation with him?" Sute found a strange sense of satisfaction at seeing that constantly placid smile wiped off Shiromi's face. At long last, she'd managed to throw the woman for a loop instead.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too," she replied with a smirk. "I expected him to try to, you know, kill me. Instead he tried to convince me to come to Konoha because Uzushio used to be its ally and all that." Shiromi just stared at her, clearly caught off-guard and so incredulous Sute almost wanted to laugh.

"He—I mean, he's not wrong, but, he does realize that most Leaf ninja wouldn't be too happy to have a former Mist ninja join them, right?"

This time Sute did laugh. "That's what I told him! Hell, that same mission I probably traumatized a kid from there! It was the most bizarre thing!"

Shiromi sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I know people say Konoha is softer than other villages, but I'd still never predict that from Friend Killer Kakashi." Any mirth Sute felt faded at the nickname, her amused smile fading. Visions of lightning sparking around a hand as it plunged through a girl's chest flickered through her mind, of wide, mismatched eyes filled with sheer horror as blood dribbled down a chin.

"He asked us to—to bring you back."

"Minato-sensei—he and Kushina-san—they said, you're f-family."

"H-have you ever heard of, of Uzushio?"

Sute blinked slowly, mulling over the trembling whispers. "Ah," she breathed quietly. "Maybe it wasn't so silly after all." Shiromi shot her an inquisitive look, clearly curious, but Sute just waved a hand. "Sorry, just thinking to myself. It's a bit personal though so I'd rather not share."

Shiromi eyed her again but after a long moment she hummed and nodded, accepting it. "Alright then. I understand. We've gotten off-topic anyway. As I was saying, I told him about you and he mentioned a bit about the clan. He didn't tell me much of course, it's stupid to trust a total stranger, but you're the first survivor he's heard of besides himself. He was only a few weeks old when Uzushio fell."

"So we're still endangered," Sute deadpanned. "Yippee." Shiromi smirked at that as she continued.

"Actually, what he did tell me is quite interesting. Apparently your clan had some strict rules about marriage and having children. Members could never marry out, people could only marry in, no matter what clan or standing they originally had. All children born to a Yorozuyo member had to be raised by the clan."

"Except the bastards," Sute muttered with an eye roll.

"There weren't any." The remark gave Sute pause, and when she looked at Shiromi she had a serious look on her face, showing no deceit. It made her frown, leaning forward inquisitively.

"There weren't any affairs or children born out of wedlock?" she asked, and Shiromi shook her head.

"According to Rei, there weren't. Even during the Warring States Era, the Yorozuyo clan had a strict limit on the number of children that could be born to any family. If someone impregnated an outsider, the clan would take in the child even if they couldn't bring the mother into the clan for whatever reason."

Sute's frown grew as she listened, her curiosity piqued. "That seems unlikely," she murmured. "Someone must have slipped through the cracks at some point." No clan had managed to completely contain its bloodline. Even the Uchiha and Hyuuga would marry out their weaker members who lacked the genes to activate their doujutsu, not to mention the strong possibility of kunoichi or other female clan members being assaulted and forcibly impregnated.

"It's hard to believe, but Rei was absolutely certain that they hadn't. It seems that the Yorozuyo was famous for being possessive of any blood members. Apparently the reason they joined Uzushio was because it would be easier to keep track of any potential descendants by living in one place. It was why he was so surprised to hear you existed. He was only saved because his mother had taken him to visit her relatives when the attack happened. They took him to safety while his mother went back to the compound to help and died. As far as he knew, the entire clan died that day except him."

"All of them?" Sute asked, arching an eyebrow. She knew nothing about Uzushio or how it fell, but the idea that the entire clan would be in the village seemed odd to her.

"Obviously not, since you exist," Shiromi replied with a smirk, though it soon faded. "Not all of the Whirlpool ninja were in the village of course. Uzushio was still a hidden village, so it had people on missions. But according to Rei's relatives, none of the Yorozuyo should have been away. There was a major family tradition that called for all clan members to be present. The details were secret to outsiders so they don't know what it entailed."

"That's some convenient timing," Sute murmured to herself, half sarcastic and half speculative, and Shiromi nodded.

"I don't know how much you know of Uzushio's downfall, and I do not know much myself, but there have been rumors that it had some inside help. Uzushio is usually inaccessible to outsiders due to a protective barrier. Even now, people can't enter the ruins unless they're descended from one of the major clans or know how to disable the barrier."

Sute perked up at that information, her interest in fuinjutsu flaring to life. "So it's keyed to their blood?" she muttered thoughtfully. Keying it to a specific family line would be tricky, but it seemed doable. "But it would only take a few generations to dilute the heritage unless they did some in-breeding. You could increase the sensitivity, but it might let in people four generations removed, which might be another problem..."

She trailed off as she noticed Shiromi looking at her quizzically, and shrugged. "Sorry, ignore me. Just thinking out loud."

"...You really are an interesting girl, aren't you," Shiromi mused.

"I've been called worse," Sute replied with a shrug. Hopefully Shiromi hadn't picked up on Sute's fuinjutsu prowess from her muttering, but the woman's face didn't look like she'd just had any major revelations. She simply looked at Sute curiously, as if trying to puzzle her out, so Sute decided to redirect the conversation. "But so he thinks all of the clan should have been in Uzushio, huh?"

"He was certain," Shiromi confirmed with a nod. "The event would have been the next day, and his mother decided to take him to visit her family while the other clan members handled preparations."

"I'm still surprised everyone died though," Sute commented. "Aside from my parents of course. I'd expect surely at least a few other people would've run away though. Like, maybe help civilian members or kids escape or something." As she spoke Shiromi's expression shifted, her eyebrows furrowing as she folded her arms.

"The way he talked about it... He didn't go into detail, but he was so certain. Actually, he seemed almost disturbed by it. The look on his face just gave me this unsettling feeling. I feel like there's a lot more to the situation than he told me, but there's no information left on them anywhere. And I've looked," Shiromi added, meeting Sute's gaze squarely. "I was curious so I tried to look into it more, asked my contacts if they could find anything. The Yorozuyo clan was incredibly secretive."

The whole story left Sute frowning, her puzzlement growing. Odd and cliffhanger-style ending aside, the level of paranoia Shiromi described about their child-rearing techniques and secretive nature seemed almost unnatural. The Yorozuyo clan seemed just as strict as the Hyuuga or Uchiha, if not more so. "Do they have some sort of bloodline or specialty?" she muttered more to herself than Shiromi.

To her surprise the woman answered anyway, shaking her head. "I don't know, and neither does Rei. Honestly, he seemed just as confused and puzzled by their attitude as you. He claimed to have nothing left from the Yorozuyo clan to give him any clues, but he was also rather adamant he didn't care about them. As in, he explicitly stated he had no intention of learning anything about them. He seemed oddly hostile about it," she added under her breath.

Sute just hummed, turning the information over in her head. Originally she had no genuine interest in the Yorozuyo clan, but this whole discussion had started to pique her curiosity even more. She still didn't feel any connection to them, but this whole thing reeked of conspiracies and secrets. And Sute loved the prospect of a good mystery.

"Thanks for telling me all this. This definitely sounds interesting. I'll have to look into this later. That said," she added, "Why did you bring all this up?" Intriguing as this conversation had been, Sute didn't let herself forget the situation. Shiromi was still an enemy at the moment, a potential threat to her mission. While Sute might be trying to buy time, as far as she knew Shiromi shouldn't have any motivation to do the same.

"Because while Rei's not particularly interested in meeting you, his village might be a good place to set up a greenhouse." The comment made Sute freeze, and Shiromi smirked. "Don't give me that look. Everyone in our platoon knew about your greenhouse. I was friends with its previous owner Akihiko actually, so I was quite happy to hear someone was using it after he died. I doubt you stopped maintaining it after the war."

"I didn't," Sute admitted with a sigh. She'd had to actually pay people to maintain it during her first deployment, though Harusame had graciously volunteered Utakata's services during her second deployment as thanks for training with him. The greenhouse had only gotten more complicated since then, housing numerous foreign plants and artificial environments carefully moderated through fuinjutsu, as well as her mamushi.

"You can build another greenhouse by the village. Even if you decide to travel, Rei and the villagers would likely be willing to help maintain it while you're gone, especially if you offer your services as a medic. Not many shinobi visit that area so it should be safe from someone discovering you." Sute remained silent as she listened, her mind racing.

Truthfully, the greenhouse had been her biggest obstacle when planning to defect. She could work on fuinjutsu almost anywhere—same with medical ninjutsu—but raising plants couldn't be done while constantly on the move. She couldn't just stow them in a storage scroll and get them out whenever she felt like it. The idea of abandoning it entirely wasn't appealing though. While she could build a new one, re-attaining all the plants would be a hassle.

That didn't even touch on Mushishi, Mushi-Mushi and Mama-chi, her three beloved Kiri mamushi. She couldn't shove them into storage scrolls, they were living creatures!

Having another greenhouse would fix everything. If she had a safe, secure destination in mind, she could stow the plants in storage seals until construction was complete. She might even be able to seal them so they'd still have the original soil, making it as if they'd never been uprooted. The only obstacle to that plan had been the lack of a secure location to construct a new greenhouse, which this proposal could solve.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked suspiciously. The solution was too perfect, and she knew Shiromi didn't tell her out of the goodness of her heart. She was a shinobi, and shinobi didn't do that. Everything was part of a greater strategy, altruism was all but a myth.

"Because if you're smart, you're planning to leave Kiri." Shiromi smirked as she leaned forward. "And when you do, I want to work with you."

Last time, someone left a review being annoyed by Shiromi throwing out Sute's family. I laughed when I saw it because Sute is just as annoyed.

Remember that contest I had a while back for the 1,000th review to get to name a character? This is that character! The lucky reviewer was dmalf, who chose the name Rei. I'd intended to use the name for another character who won't appear for a MUCH longer time, but that one was such a perfect fit for this particular one. I honestly couldn't have picked a better one myself.

As for the Land of Bamboo: if you're unfamiliar with the Naruto map, it's the nameless country where the Mountain's Graveyard (and Madara and Obito's hideout) is located. I chose the name because Kaguya's legend had her found and raised by a bamboo cutter. Apparently the Boruto anime added a mine further connecting it to the Otsutsuki clan, so it seems like an extra good fit.

Also, something 100% unrelated to Naruto: are there any Animal Crossing fans here? Because New Horizons is coming out Friday and I am STOKED. But more than that, I am ecstatic because my all-time favorite AC site, AXA, has gotten a sudden revival. I literally grew up with that forum (joined when I was 11!) and credit it with shaping me into who I am today, from all the friends I made to the stories I posted there. I learned about its revival last Thursday, the day after my birthday, and that news is honestly the best birthday gift I've ever gotten, no exaggeration. All the old content has been lost, but the people are back and it's amazing.

If you want to join an amazing Animal Crossing community, please go to axaforums .ca! (Note: do not go to .com, it's been bought out by some shady company and brings up a string of Chinese characters so might not be safe.) I would normally never do such a shameless plug, but I love this community so much. Forums have this sense of community that social media and sites like reddit or Discord just can't match.

And finally: right now, the world is on lockdown from Coronavirus. This is a pretty scary time, even though a lot of us aren't at risk the disease is so contagious that it makes us carriers for the ones who ARE. I don't know if everyone's overreacting with how much the world is shutting down, but I hope everyone reading this is safe and sound. At the very least, we are living through a historic event and this will make for some crazy stories someday.

See you guys next time!