This chapter is meh. But I'm sitting on it for several months already, it tired me out, so... yeet!

Sharing the Sky

Chapter 4. Memories will fly apart and fade

She was an idiot. An absolute moron. A needy, greedy fool.

Slumped over the table, Naruto groaned into her arms.

She was already getting attached to her father. This was bad. Very bad. She couldn't get attached, because if she did, it would be so hard to leave. She couldn't stay here, not for long at least.

Naruto really wanted to see her mother before leaving.

At the same time, she had so much work to do. Once she confirmed at what time she had arrived, she would have to leave. No matter what plan she decided to follow, three things she had to do: kill Obito, kill Madara, and deal with Black Zetsu. She would most likely become an enemy of Konoha. That would definitely happen if Obito was still part of Minato's team.

Being hated by her father, her mother, and her sensei…

Naruto's chest tightened.

But she would do it. Had to do it. No more chances if she failed this one. She was already lucky to have an opportunity. If that would keep them all alive, she would shoulder their hate.

"Naruto?"

Naruto peeked over her arms at the woman in front of her. Right. She almost forgot the interrogation. She let her senses unravel, taking in all the emotions from her surroundings.

Swirling happiness from the chirping birds in the tree outside.

The lazy indifference from the Anbu hiding on the other side of the window.

The irritated weariness of the nurse hurrying along the corridor.

The friendly compassion from the woman on the opposite side of the table.

Blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly, eyeing the jounin. She looked familiar. Those eyes and the shape of her face. Emi Yamanaka. Where did she hear that name?

"Are you married?"

The woman blinked, completely caught off guard by such a random question. Then, a gentle smile settled on her lips. "Yes, I am," she replied. "My family moved to Konoha when I was just a little girl. And here, years later, I met my husband."

So, she married into the Yamanaka clan. Her eyes… reminded Naruto of Ino. Could she be Ino's mom?

"Do you also have a boy you like, Naruto?"

Naruto opened her mouth to deny—

I lied.

—and closed it in an instant.

Did Sasuke count? She wasn't quite sure what she felt for him. Something was going on between them, no doubt, but… Was it love for a friend? A brother? Or perhaps something deeper?

The lingering feeling of his finger poking her forehead was still there.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Naruto murmured under her breath as she stared somewhere to the side. More to herself rather than an answer to the woman. "He's dead now."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Naruto hunched into herself, half-hidden behind her arms. A few red strands fell across her face as she shifted in her place, bringing the faint smell of Kakashi's blood into her nostrils. Her chest tightened even further, something hot pressing against the back of her eyes.

She missed them.

In the next moment, Naruto straightened up, shoving all these emotions down more violently than she actually meant to, but at least it helped. She had to keep her head in the game. Couldn't allow all these feelings to take control of her now.

Her dad, sensei, and Sasuke put their faith in her. This chance they had given to her, she wouldn't let it go to waste.

"The Hokage said if I answer your questions, I'll be able to leave this place," Naruto said, steady gaze fixed on the woman now. "What do you need to know?"

Emi stayed silent, but only for a few seconds. Respecting the girl's wish not to talk about her loss, she picked a pen from the top of a stack of paper she brought in. "Tell me about yourself," she requested, her whole demeanor switching to a serious, professional mode. "As much as you're comfortable sharing."

Huh. They really treated her as a guest. It was a bit suspicious, seeing as she was an unknown brought into the village during an ongoing war.

Not that Naruto complained, of course. She was in urgent need of a safe place to recuperate and get her bearings. Konoha was a familiar place, no matter how different it felt. She had to pass this interrogation, though, if she wanted to stay here for a bit longer. Despite having no time to think about her fake background that would make the most sense, Naruto wasn't worried.

She was a good liar and an expert at coming up with bullshit on the fly.

Growing up unsupervised by an adult and spending more time in the streets among quite an unsavory part of the society because they had better things to do than hate on a child had its perks. Being apprenticed to the Spy Master later only helped to build deception skills on the existing foundations.

Naruto took a deep breath to focus and started, "On the night I was born, a great disaster struck our village, and both my parents died." No, wait. She had already mentioned her father to the team who stumbled upon her, didn't she? The best lies were made out of half-truths, but it was important not to get lost in her own deceit. "Or so I thought until war broke out and Dad finally could come to meet me. Even with extra help, the village was lost and the survivors went into hiding. It was all about guerrilla warfare since then. That was all we could do with our small numbers against such an overwhelming enemy. In the end, we lost that as well. I got captured..." Naruto looked down at her lap where she continued to fiddle with the edge of her tattered jacket. "Dad, Sensei, and my best friend sacrificed themselves to rescue and get me to safety…"

"Did you take an active role in this war?"

"Of course."

"How long did the war last?"

Naruto took a few moments to count. "Three months." Honestly, it felt so much longer than that. "I think."

"Who were you fighting?"

Naruto couldn't stop the sneer from twisting her features as she replied, "The man with one red and one purple eye."

Emi stiffened when the girl locked her gaze on her. Those blue eyes seemed to frost over as she mentioned her enemy, two chunks of icy blades that cut right down to the person's core. Not the eyes of a lost child, but of a fearless warrior whose will was forged in battle. She shook off any unnecessary thought and continued, "What is his name?"

Her quiet inquiry was met with a low and angry hiss, "Does it matter now?" Losing her shit over Obito was never in Naruto's plan. She sighed, taking a grip of herself. "He's not here anymore. And he won't be back. Dad made sure that he couldn't follow me, so you don't have to worry about him."

"Alright," Emi agreed, though her emotions said otherwise. She was agitated, Naruto could sense it.

"Can you tell me the name of your village?"

Naruto didn't even blink. "Aoki Village." It was a fake village name she came up with during her travels with Jiraiya as part of her cover. "It's located in one of the islands in the Chigiri Sea." It was such a distant and obscure region, no way Konoha would find anything, even if they put some effort into it. Which they wouldn't, seeing as they were in the middle of the war themselves and had no resources to spare. "I was supposed to go to Uzushio to find clues about Mom's family, but… I ran into bloodline hunters."

She knew for a fact that no one lived in Uzushio from the time of its destruction. Jiraiya had told her that at first, every nation kept an eye on the ruins, waiting for the survivors to return. Eventually, they stopped caring, but bloodline hunters were active around Uzushio till the end of the Third War at the very least.

Just a little piece of her fake background to better fit her into this time period.

"I saw no chance to win, so I fled and decided to travel farther inland to throw them off," Naruto continued. That would explain her haggard appearance. "The rest you know."

Emi looked at her papers, skimming through a quick report the Hokage had given to her. "Our team found you with the Kumo team chasing you."

Naruto nodded.

"Did you come into some kind of confrontation with them?"

"I didn't. They just mentioned my red hair and attacked without warning. I knew I should have hidden after sensing unfamiliar people approaching, but they were fast and I didn't have much time to think more about my course of action," Naruto groaned. "I was a bit… out of it." Like anyone would be suddenly finding themselves twenty years in the past with the majority of their loved ones not even born yet. In their pre-teen body on top of that.

"You defended against Konoha's team at first," Emi noted and Naruto frowned, still upset with herself that she freaked out and hurt Shikaku. That could have ended quite disastrously. "What made you change your mind about them?"

Naruto stared at the woman. 'Oh, you know, by some weird coincidence my father was on that team. Though he doesn't know that I'm his daughter, because I'm not even born yet.' Ha! As if she could say that.

The girl dropped her eyes down to her lap where she kept wringing her hands. "Minato reminded me of my Dad. And it gave me enough time to realize that they're wearing forehead protectors with the Konoha's symbol," she murmured. All truth. "My Sensei practically raised me with stories about the Uzumaki clan. Konoha used to be the ally of Uzushio, so…" She made a small one-shoulder shrug.

"I see." Emi began writing something onto her papers with Naruto passively watching her hand move. For a few minutes, only the sound of a pen tip brushing against the paper filled the room. Then, Emi stopped and looked up again. "How old are you, Naruto?"

Seventeen, Naruto thought. "Twelve," she answered. She wasn't quite sure, but it seemed right.

She didn't feel this small and useless since she stared up at Zabuza on her first C-turned-A-ranked mission. At the very least, she wasn't so helpless now as she was back then. Even in this limiting body, her skills were still there and she possessed more than enough chakra to use it as she wished. Once it fully replenished itself, of course.

She also had Kurama with her this time.

After adding the last line into her notes, a smile spread on Emi's face, warm and kind. "I think we're done here."

Naruto blinked. "We are?" she asked in disbelief. "That's it?"

The woman's chakra bloomed with genuine compassion. "What did you expect? A brutal interrogation?"

"Yes," Naruto blurted out with a slight tinge of blush reddening her cheeks. For some reason, it made her embarrassed.

One war wasn't equal to another war. Konoha might have been at war now, but no matter how bloody and horrible it was, at the end of the day, they were fighting humans. It wasn't the war Naruto knew. It wasn't a war where you couldn't negotiate with your enemy. It wasn't the war where they had to fight with their friends, lovers, siblings, parents. As the war went on, many chose better to fall under the blade in their loved one's hands than to continue fighting against them over and over again.

Not a war. Slaughter was a much more fitting word to describe the horror Naruto came from.

"Naruto," Emi called to draw the girl's flittering attention back to herself. She leaned her elbows on the table, staring straight into Naruto's eyes. "You're not a prisoner," she said, slow and clear to drive the point in. "This conversation is just a standard procedure so that we could protect you better. If you don't want to tell me something, you don't have to."

"What about them then?" Naruto asked as she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the window.

Emi glanced to where she pointed in confusion. After a moment, realization flashed across her features. "Are you talking about the Anbu outside?"

"There's quite a lot of them."

"That's also a standard procedure," the woman replied, smiling when Naruto narrowed her eyes at her. "Besides, most of them are not here for you. Hospitals are one of the most essential buildings, so they are heavily guarded during wartime."

Oh. That… made sense. Naruto didn't think of that.

The chakra of two Anbu ninjas directly outside her window swirled with the agreement, but the rest of them were still a dull buzz of boredom. So, only these two listened in and kept an eye on this room.

Emi leaned even closer, cupping her hand around one side of her mouth as if to keep whatever she wanted to say from eavesdroppers. "You shouldn't mention knowing they are there," she whispered in an innocent tone, though her smirk betrayed the mischief. "They like to think that they're good at hiding and get grumpy if you show them they aren't all that great."

Naruto couldn't stop a soft giggle as she felt the Anbu splutter in indignation. She leaned forward as well, mimicking the woman by putting a hand around her mouth and whispered back, "I'll keep that in mind."

They both grinned at each other.

"Alright, I won't take more of your time, Naruto," Emi said as she gathered all her papers and stood up. "Though, I'd love to talk with you again sometime in the future?"

It was clear that she wasn't given a choice on the matter even if it was expressed as a hopeful question. Naruto didn't see a point in making a fuss about it. "Okay." She might be already long gone from Konoha by that time, no one knew. Not even her.

Emi smiled at the girl's compliance, radiating approval. "Someone should bring you some clean clothes soon," she informed. "You'll feel much better once you take a shower and change."

When was the last time Naruto had a shower? She couldn't remember. It would do wonders on persisting exhaustion no doubt. She did feel dirty and stinky, bloody rags that were previously her clothes hanging from her bony frame like oversized bags.

But at the same time…

"Yeah…" Naruto mumbled, laying on the table again and hiding her face in the crook of her elbow.

At the same time, all the lingering scents that were still clinging to her clothes, skin, and hair were the last remaining connection she had with her loved ones. Once she washed it away, she would have nothing left of them, only memories. She couldn't go around in these rags forever, but she didn't know if she was ready to let them go just yet.

Emi stared at the girl for a few seconds before leaving the room. She closed the door as quietly as possible to not disturb Naruto and walked to the room at the end of the hallway where she knew the Hokage would be waiting for her. Minato and Kushina's presence didn't surprise her, even though she didn't expect to see the only other Uzumaki in Konoha so soon.

"How's she?"

"Naruto's grieving," Emi replied without batting an eyelash at Kushina's demanding tone. Or the fact that the red-haired woman spoke before the Hokage could even utter a word. "But she has a tight grip on her emotions. She was studying me just as close as I was studying her. She's an exceptional ninja for her age."

"What else did you learn?" the Sandaime inquired.

Without wasting time, Emi retold Naruto's story: her village on the island, the war, her escape, and her journey to the Fire Country.

"What is your opinion on her story?"

"Naruto didn't lie," Emi answered without a doubt. "Of course, she didn't tell the whole truth either. But it's not surprising. She's in an unknown place, surrounded by unknown people who she barely trusts. Any of us would do the same if we ended up in this kind of situation."

Kushina snorted. "It'd be more suspicious if she didn't try to hide anything."

The Hokage nodded in agreement. Such was a ninja's nature. "What would be your recommendations?"

"She needs time to mourn and a stable environment to get used to the fact that she's not in active danger anymore." Emi furrowed her brow. "Also, I think it wouldn't be a good idea to put her under Anbu's watch. I know it's a standard procedure, but Naruto has sensory abilities and it would put her on a constant edge." Noticing disapproval on her leader's face, she added in a hurry, "If it cannot be done, when I recommend informing her about it. She would know about her tail anyway."

Hiruzen stroked his beard in thought. The Uzumaki descendant was already a great gain to Konoha, yet sensor-type ninjas were always a great asset to the village's forces and helped to increase the survivability of their comrades by a huge margin. If the girl could be trusted, Konoha would only benefit from her presence.

Feeling eyes on his person, the Hokage looked to his left, only to meet the intense gaze of Kushina. She didn't look pleased in the slightest. "I will decide that later," Hiruzen announced. He let out an inaudible sigh of relief when the redhead only scoffed, but otherwise chose to stay silent.

"Do we need to know anything specific?" Kushina asked.

"Naruto is a fighter. I don't think she ever had many people looking after her, gaining her trust might be tricky." Emi paused, a smile spreading across her face. "However, if anyone can do it, you two definitely can."

"Why is that?" Minato asked.

"She said that you reminded her of her father and her mother was an Uzumaki, so she should find some similarities with Kushina as well."

"Let's hope so, 'ttebane!" Kushina said, enthusiasm oozing out of her voice. She turned towards the Hokage. "Can we go meet her?"

"Of course." The Sandaime motioned at the door. "After you all."

The wind continued to howl outside, flapping the tent's roof and walls as constant background noise in the otherwise silent tent. There wasn't much here—only two cots about a foot away from each other and a make-shift table made out of wooden boxes—but no matter how little it contained, this was personal space for Naruto and Sakura.

Sakura was angry. Sitting down on one of the cots, Naruto studied her friend's face, her tightly pressed lips, eyes bright with concentration, little wrinkles across her brow. She didn't look angry, only focused, but she was practically seething inside. Naruto could feel it in the sharp hum of her chakra.

"You're angry."

Sakura didn't even twitch at the deadpan observation. "I'm not angry," she stated. Green chakra covered hands continued to glide over the decaying and blistered skin of Naruto's legs.

"You're."

"I'm not."

"You definitely are."

"Naruto," Sakura said. Low and slow. Her no-nonsense tone. "I thought we agreed that you won't sense my emotions."

"You know that I can't stop it completely," Naruto huffed, indignant. "I can sense strong ones without trying."

A breath pressed out of Sakura, a bit too explosive for it to be just a weary sigh. Her hands dropped to her side and her stern expression crumbled as she stared at the necrotizing skin, not looking better even after half an hour under the medical jutsu. "I can't heal this…" she whispered in defeat.

Naruto's eyes softened. "It'll heal once Kurama's done with cleansing his chakra," she reminded. "Only for a few days. It's not the first time. You know that."

"Why do you do this to yourself, Naruto?"

Naruto tilted her head at the particularly violent spike in her friend's anger. "Zetsu's chakra is lethal to anyone but the Jinchuuriki. You know that too."

Sakura grimaced. "Did they at least thank you?"

Following silence told more than any words could.

"And that," Sakura growled, glaring at Naruto, "is why I'm angry." She wasn't furious at her friend, not entirely at least.

Naruto's lips spread into a lop-sided grin. "So, you're angry after all."

Sakura scowled, not looking pleased by the cheeky reply or a poor attempt to change topics. She stood up with a tired, "You're an idiot," and flicked Naruto's forehead. Putting her hands on her hips, she stared her friend down, daring her to complain.

Naruto pouted as she rubbed the offended part, feeling wronged.

"Why are you not angry?" Sakura questioned, walking to the other side of the tent where the table was with all her medical stuff. "How can you not be angry?"

Something felt off. Naruto had no clue as to what, but it was such a visceral sensation, it left her deeply frustrated all of a sudden.

She pushed it away. "You know that I can feel the emotions of others for as long as I can remember. Something about being influenced by Kurama from the moment I was conceived." Naruto waved her hand if that was an insignificant detail of her life. "And you know what childhood I had…" Her voice grew more solemn, quieter. "I think… After trying to suppress all the anger and hate I felt from the others, my own might be a bit numb now."

Something still felt off. Goosebumps ran across Naruto's skin from the restless feeling in her gut. Yet, everything was as it should be. Nothing was amiss.

Sakura sighed again, this time long and exhausted. "If that's the case," she pinned the redhead down with her glower, "I'll be the one to get angry on your behalf."

Something felt off. Dread filled Naruto's veins and all instincts screamed DANGER! Something felt off. What exactly was she missing?

Something in the air shifted.

Her senses always were at their lowest when Kurama was busy cleansing his chakra.

"Naruto?"

Naruto's head snapped up to where Sakura was standing a few feet away, looking at her in worry. The air behind her distorted, a dark figure swirling into existence.

Naruto opened her mouth to scream, to warn her friend, yet it caught somewhere inside her throat and—

"Naruto!"

The chair clattered on the ground. Naruto was on her feet in an instant, internally screaming at her legs to keep her upright, blood rushing in her ears as she backed against something hard.

A wall?

It was solid. Not the one in the tent. She could feel paint under her fingertips.

What?

Voices. Movement. The smell of disinfectants. Chakra signatures all around her. Cautious, but not hostile.

Where was she?

Chakra hummed in preparation for battle, but her lungs refused to cooperate, wanting to suck up all the air in the room and she couldn't breathe couldn't breathe couldn't BREATHE—

"Naruto! Hey, hey, hey… Look at me, Naruto."

Such an intimately familiar voice, Naruto complied without a second thought. Yellow hair, blue eyes. She focused on the face in front of her.

"That's good. You're safe here, Naruto. Now, breathe. In and out. In… and out…"

She tried to match the movements of her chest to the sound of the voice.

Breathe in. Dad. Breathe out. The voice and face belonged to dad.

Breathe in. If Dad was here, she was safe. Breathe out. She was safe.

Breathe in. There was someone else standing next to him. Breathe out. Red hair—

"Mom?"

The woman recoiled, obviously caught off guard. Only for a split second, however, before her expression softened and she uttered, "I'm not your mother," with so much heartache and compassion, it left Naruto reeling.

Then, the memories of where and, more importantly, when slammed into her waking mind with all the subtlety of a Bijuudama.

Shit. Bad memories were just another reason for not wanting to stay in this accursed place.

"I-I didn't mean to…" Naruto stammered, staring at her mother. "I saw your red hair and…"

Kushina broke into a soft smile that reminded Naruto of the sunsets and warm breezes and laughter they shared in that brief time inside the seal. "That's okay," she said, keeping her voice low and quiet to soothe the girl. "Don't worry about me. How are you feeling?"

Naruto's arms twitched, wanting to reach, to wrap them around her mom. She bit down on the inside of her cheek while mustering all of her willpower not to do it.

Her mom was well and breathing and alive.

"I accidentally fell asleep," Naruto muttered under her breath. The terror of the memories started to fade, ebbing away into the edges of her mind. Not gone completely, but at least not bleeding terrifying images into her vision. "He killed our medics first so that we wouldn't have anyone to heal our wounded. I was injured, my legs were a mess, she was too far and he was too fast. He grabbed her, I didn't make it in time…" She was babbling. The words spilled out like marbles on tile, frantic and guilt-ridden, with no explanation of why she blurted them out.

After that horrible dream, Naruto wished that she could just simply spill all the truth to her parents. And she almost did, catching herself at the last moment. Not an option, of course. She couldn't prove any of that without falling under suspicion, and just saying it without proof would make her look like a lunatic.

In the background, the Hokage made a small nod and two Anbu in the room disappeared through the window.

Naruto barely noticed it, too busy trying to imprint every little thing about her mom into her memory. Standard jounin attire, ninja headband around her head, her hair pulled up into a high ponytail. She looked different from the more motherly version Naruto had met in her seal. This Kushina looked badass.

"This place reminds you of bad things."

And yet her voice brimmed over with so much genuine sympathy, the feeling of her chakra cocooning Naruto into a gentle, soothing embrace.

"I'm Kushina Uzumaki," the woman introduced herself. "I came here from Uzushiogakure about ten years ago. As the only Uzumaki in Konoha, I'd like to take care of you. If you'd allow me."

Naruto blinked. Take care of her? She had hoped, of course, but her mom was the Jinchuuriki and this was wartime and— "…I can stay with you?" It came out sounding so unsure, it was obvious Naruto was grasping at straws.

Kushina beamed at her and Naruto's breath hitched as her chakra bloomed together with her joy, almost overwhelming in its intensity. "Of course, 'ttebane!" She exclaimed. "Minato and I will be very happy if you live with us." She glanced at her boyfriend. "Right?"

"Definitely," Minato answered without skipping a beat.

"Are you hungry? I bet you're starving! I know I'm starving, 'ttebane," Kushina babbled happily. "We also brought you some clean clothes. They're my old clothes, but they're still in good condition. I hope you won't mind." She extended the bundle of clothes she held in her arms. After Naruto carefully took it, one of Kushina's hands reached for her shoulder.

"After you take shower, we can—"

"Do not let her touch you."

Naruto jerked away from Kushina even before fully comprehending the meaning behind Kurama's words. Wide-eyed, she stared at the confusion, hurt, and myriad other emotions playing across her mom's face. "W-What? Why?!" she shrieked back to her friend.

"It is already hard enough when she is so close, the contact would make it impossible."

Naruto had no idea what the old fox was talking about. He wasn't making any sense.

Sensing her bewilderment, Kurama muttered, "I will explain once we are alone. Make sure to never make physical contact between you and Kushina." His voice grew quieter before he fell back into slumber once again.

"I-I'm sorry," Naruto stammered out, equally stunned like the rest of them. "I don't want you to touch me." The words ripped out of her throat like barbed wire. Something hot pressed against her eyes. "Don't ever touch me."

Kushina's expression flittered through various emotions until it settled on acceptance, fond warmth lingering in her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something—

The door to the room opened, drawing everyone's attention to the new arrival. The cane click-clacked against the floor tiles and the long black robe swished with the man's every step as he sauntered into the room.

Naruto's blood ran cold the moment she saw that bandaged mug.

Danzo's sudden appearance took not only her by surprise. As if someone tainted the air in the room, both Minato and Kushina frowned. The previous fresh, warm sensation of their chakra soured, replaced by cautious vigilance.

"Danzo," the Hokage said as he nodded in acknowledgment. Though he appeared just as confused about his old friend's presence as the rest of them, he didn't seem as suspicious as Minato and Kushina.

"Hiruzen," Danzo greeted back.

"What brings you here?"

"I got news about an interesting little find during one of the recent missions" as the man spoke, his beady eye landed on Naruto and sharpened.

Naruto shrunk into herself, feeling slimy just by being gazed upon by that scum.

Minato and Kushina shared a glance. Despite it being brief, they seemed to read each other's minds on the next course of action.

Kushina stepped in front of Naruto. A sheer adamantine wall between her and Danzo successfully hid her from his direct sight. "An interesting little find who's an Uzumaki, just like me," she said, putting quite an obvious emphasis on the last part.

Meanwhile, Minato turned back to Naruto, his cautious glower exchanged for his usual kind smile. "You should take a shower, Naruto." Though his tone was still gentle, there was an undeniable urgency etched into it. "You'll feel much better after and can finally leave this place, alright?" He also sounded insistent.

Minato's hand hovered just shy of touching her, but when Naruto didn't seem to refuse it, he carefully put it down on her shoulder and gently urged her to move. He also positioned himself so that he always covered her from Danzo who watched them like a hawk.

Naruto blinked, taken by surprise when her father practically pushed her inside the bathroom and closed the door before she could even react. Huh. She didn't know that her parents were guarded against Danzo Shimura. Looked like only the Sandaime stayed blind to the atrocities of that man throughout the years.

Naruto scoffed. How typical.

A warm feeling nestled inside. Her parents didn't even know her. Her mother just saw her for the first time and even after Naruto freaked out and refused to be touched by her, Kushina still protected her. It felt nice.

Naruto brushed a hand across the well-worn, but still sturdy tan kimono.

It felt really nice.

Her fingers curled into the fabric.

Even if it was temporary.

Pushing thoughts aside, Naruto put clean clothes on the chair and started undressing, letting her old ones drop on the floor. She could hear muted voices of adults in the room behind the wall, but gave up the idea of eavesdropping. Too tired to worry about such things.

Naruto froze when she touched the handle to turn on the shower. This was it. Last chance to say goodbye to those she knew.

Her grip tightened on the handle.

She would never see them again. The ones who knew her, who fought with her, laughed with her, sacrificed their lives for her.

The handle creaked as Naruto slowly rotated it.

When was the last time she hugged her dad? The one who knew that she was his daughter. She didn't remember. Couldn't remember. And it hurt so much.

The first sprinkle of water wet her hair.

She tried to remember the last conversation she had with Kakashi-sensei or the last thing she did with Sasuke. Did they have fun? Was it meaningless? She didn't remember. She had a lot of memories of them both. Trouble Sasuke and she got into together. Things Kakashi taught her. It hurt that the last recollection she had of her sensei was his bloody hand on her head; the last image of her best friend was him going off into a fight that he just couldn't win.

She could almost physically feel how the last connection with her loved ones she held onto so desperately crumbled and broke under the torrent of water.

She couldn't ignore their deaths anymore.

No longer could ignore her grief.

She had to let go.

The water on her was no longer warm because she felt cold down to her bones.

Empty.

Hollow.

Broken.

As if she was in a deep tunnel without any light anywhere she looked.

As if she couldn't go on anymore.

As if she wasn't strong enough to deal with all this.

Her throat constricted, her breath choked and her chest was so heavy that she couldn't breathe—the tears were coming fast now.

I believe in you, my Little Flame.

Just like Minato always appeared on the battlefield in a flash to aid her, sudden and swift, his last words echoed inside her head like a gong when she needed them the most.

Naruto gulped in a breath, then another, desperate to get her panic under control. Crouching down, she hugged herself, rubbing along her arms in an attempt to keep the creeping chillness away, despite the warm water beating down on her naked form.

The scents were gone now. Washed away into oblivion. There was no getting them back—her loved ones—no matter how much she wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all.

Why her? Why did they send her?

I believe in you, my Little Flame.

Naruto bit her lip until she tasted blood. Then growled, a low, furious sound at the back of her throat. Angry now, at herself. She was letting them down. If she allowed herself to spiral down into this despair and misery, it would mean they had died in vain.

Her body continued to tremble.

"Stop it," Naruto hissed at herself, digging her nails into the flesh of her arms. "Enough freaking out for today," she whispered. "They believe in you, 'ttebane." She slapped her palms across her cheeks with enough strength to savor the sting. "I can do it."

I believe in you, my Little Flame.

She took a deep, deep breath and blew all the air out in one go until the last drop. She felt herself calming down, felt something primal in her brain unclench and relax.

There was so much to do, yet her thoughts started to slip away like snakes in the grass. God, she was exhausted.

"Kurama?"

Nothing. Naruto tentatively reached for the Bijuu, only to confirm that he was in deep slumber. She let him be. No answers from him this time, but she could wait.

Then, she glanced down at the Hiraishin seal on her chest. She could spot the new lines immediately and spend a minute studying them. Ultimately, she forwent an idea to figure it out right now. It could wait as well. Her dad wouldn't have added this addition if it was harmful to her in any way. That, she was sure of.

Without noticing, Naruto let her senses wander and instinctively latched onto the two chakra presences on the other side of the wall. One—free and playful and swift like a wind. And another—clear and warm and full of life like a coral reef.

Dad and mom.

She would do it. For them. For Kakashi-sensei. For her friends so that they could be born into a better tomorrow.

No matter the cost.

A/N

I have a discord channel now: discord. gg/a7tQPPa