Against the World

"I judge others for their failings, yet I make excuses for mine."

-x-

"Your orders regarding Experiment 4869, Hokage-sama?"

"Continue. Orochimaru may be gone, but we're not letting everything go to waste." Dan answered after a pause. "His research is still valuable—if he perfects this, it would be revolutionary. Summon Tsunade—she can oversee it from here."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

-x-

Eleven

Kushina-sensei returned shortly after the beginning of November.

She was visibly exhausted, so I did my best to be as undemanding as possible. Unfortunately, her son wasn't as considerate, and I could see the strain it was putting on her. Sensei had been gone for over a month, and during that time she had missed The Nuisance's birthday, and he wasn't letting her forget it.

He didn't seem to understand that she'd had no say in the matter, and that her duty to the village took precedence over him. If this had been The Before, I would have agreed with him. But things were different here. In The Before parents were supposed to put their children above all else, or at least, that was what I was raised to believe. But here things were different, and The Nuisance wasn't raised in a society that believed that, so I couldn't help but feel he needed to get the fuck over himself.

He was even more furious that she spent most of her time since coming back with me. Again, The Nuisance didn't seem to understand that she was spending time with me because it was her duty to teach me. No, the little brat seemed to think she was choosing me over him.

It got to the point where I refused to go over for dinner, because I didn't want to deal with him. Not that I told Kushina-sensei that, of course. I just told her I thought that her son needed her right now, for some one-on-one time.

I was quite proud of myself for that one. Instead of making her furious by pointing out how much I hate the boy, I made her think I was "so thoughtful and sweet!"

-x-

"Today we'll be starting on linked seals." Sensei announced one morning. "What do you know about them?"

"Linked seals are two or more seals that are designed to be used in conjugation with each other, and seals that are connected to the same pocket dimension." I answered.

"Excellent." Kushina-sensei nodded in approval. "We're working in my office today. Come on."

We took a leisurely stroll from the training ground to the Hokage tower, in no particular hurry. Sensei even stopped and bought us some sweets to snack on. Once we reached the tower, she led me through the maze of corridors and staircases to her office. I had yet to memorize the route myself, as it wasn't often she brought me there. Usually, she taught me sealing in her home, but with the way The Nuisance was acting, I wasn't surprised she decided against it.

Entering the room, I saw that the wall that had previously been covered with papers and half finished seals was bare but for a large blackboard. One of the arm chairs had been moved to face the black board, and she had added a wheeled lap desk in front of it.

"Take a seat, Sekai-chan." Sensei gestured to the arm chair. "And take out your notebook. Today is a lecture day."

I slid into the seat, but had to sit on my knees to comfortably use the lap desk. I unsealed my notebook, a pencil, and my fountain pen and ink, and carefully arranged them in front of me.

"To start with," Kushina-sensei began, pointing at me with a piece of chalk from where she stood at the blackboard. "I want to clarify that linked seals are specifically an Uzumaki technique. Some seal users from other clans and villages can make linked storage seals, but nobody outside of the Uzumaki has unlocked the full potential of them."

I nodded seriously, understanding that she was finally teaching me some of her clan's closely held secrets.

From there, she spent hours lecturing and drawing diagrams on the blackboard while I took meticulous notes. Sensei was a good lecturer. While discussing the concepts and theories, she brought up interesting and humorous anecdotes that made it easier to remember things.

For example, linked storage seals were actually a completely accidental discovery. Ages ago, a young Uzumaki apprentice was drawing her first storage seal. What happened, was that her ink completely bled through the paper she was using, into the one beneath it. When creating a seal, you must channel your chakra into the ink. So since the ink bled through, she ended up channelling her chakra into both the seal on top and the bottom one at the same time. At first the apprentice just though she had accidentally made two storage seals at once. But when her sensei was testing them, he discovered that they accessed the same pocket dimension. From there, the Uzumaki clan pushed a lot of man power into researching the hows and whys of what happened, and later finding a new way to apply it.

Linking the two seals was found to have happened because of channelling the same chakra into the ink of the two seals at the same rate and time, as they were created. The two seals had to be created simultaneously.

At first it seemed useless outside of linked storage seals—the only way to do it seemed to be the way the Uzumaki apprentice had. But then an Uzumaki seal master who was well versed in ninjutsu found a way around it.

The main component to every non-storage linked seal was a specific sigil placed at the top. This sigil had to be drawn with your own blood. For the rest of the seal, you didn't channel your chakra into it as you made it, leaving it what was typically considered a "dead" seal. Then, you used the first of two Uzumaki secret ninjutsu for linked seals.

From there, you went to create any other seals you wished to link with the first one in the same matter. Then, you cast the second ninjutsu, which released the chakra from your blood and let it flow into each seal at a uniform rate, changing the seals from "dead" to "alive."

There were limits, of course. Any dead seals you've created with the sigil will become live and considered part of a single linked seal. Meaning you can only create one linked seal at a time. Those who've attempted to make two different linked seals without activating one first often faced disastrous consequences due to the unstable nature of the seal. Of course, once one is live, you can of course create more.

Another issue is that if one part of the seal was destroyed without your knowledge before it became live, then activating the remaining components could have similar results as accidentally linking components of two unrelated seals.

There were far more drawbacks and dangers, but those were the two most pressing.

By the time Kushina-sensei had finished her lecture, I felt the same as I had when I'd learned the true potential of genjutsu.

-x-

After her lesson, Kushina-sensei dismissed me for the day with the explicit instruction to come to dinner that evening.

I spent the rest of the day reviewing my notes as I ran laps around the training grounds, and when evening was upon me, I headed towards the Senju district.

"Sekai-chan!" Minato-san called as I took my shoes off in the entryway of the Uzumaki home and slipped on the purple bunny slippers they kept for me. "Dinner's almost ready! Come join me at the table, I have someone to introduce you to!"

"Hello." I said as I entered the dining room. Minato-san, Kakashi-senpai, The Nuisance, and an older man were all sitting at the table. I blinked at the stranger, feeling rather annoyed. He was in my seat. I stared him in the eye as I took the available seat across from him. I could already tell I wasn't going to like him.

Before anyone could speak, Kushina-sensei shuffled into the room, carrying several serving bowls full of her delicious food with her chakra chains. One by one, she took them from her chains and placed them on the table. "Alright guys! Dig in."

"Thank you for the meal!" All of us said in unison.

The meal sensei prepared was phenomenal as usual. Minato-san briefly introduced me to the man beside him—he was Jiraiya of the Legendary Three, and Minato-san's own genin sensei.

I opted not to speak much, letting the Uzumaki family catch up with Jiraiya. The Nuisance in particular seemed to be excited to see the man. He chatted away happily, flitting from one topic to another under the fond gaze of the legendary ninja.

When the meal was finished Kushina-sensei made a shadow clone to clean up while we all moved to the living room to relax. The Uzumaki trio chose to sit on the couch, Jiraiya claimed the arm chair and Kakashi balanced on the windowsill while I opted to sit on the foot stool.

"I was thinking," Minato-san started. "Since Sekai doesn't really know Kakashi very well, and has only just met you, sensei, why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves. You know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, that sort of thing. A get to know you game of sorts."

It seemed the blond man was up to his old tricks, trying to get me to participate more in the conversation.

"Yeah! Yeah!" The Nuisance bounced in his seat. "Can I go first? Can I?"

"Sure." I agreed. "Go for it."

"Alright!" the younger blond cheered. "Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, training with mom and dad, and the colour orange. I dislike sealing, studying, and people who look at me and only see other people. My hobbies are pranks and spending time with my friends. My dream is to be the best Hokage ever! You next, mom!"

"Uzumaki Kushina, also known as The Red Death and The Chains of the Shinigami." I suppressed a snort. Sensei sure liked to brag about her bingo book monikers. "I like ramen and chatting with my friends, and most of all, my family. I dislike foxes and stuck up people, like Fugu-face. My hobbies are cooking, painting and pulling pranks. My dream..." Kushina faltered slightly. "Well, it was to be strong enough to protect my home, which I like to think I've accomplished, for the most part."

"Uzumaki Minato, though most people still refer to me as Namikaze. I like Kushina's cooking, spending time with my family and learning new things. I dislike pointless fighting. My main hobby is reading. My dream... Let's just say I've always shared Kushina's." Minato smiled sadly, and I got the distinct feeling I was missing something. Before I could start to wonder what exactly I was missing, it was my turn.

"Hoshino Sekai. I like the colours purple and aquamarine, and math. I dislike stupid people and being bored." And this village, I added to myself. "My hobbies are studying, especially seals, and reading. I don't have a dream."

"Are you serious, kid? You like math and studying?" Jiraiya asked. I crossed my arms and nodded. "Well, aren't you a barrel of fun. You remind me of—eh, never mind. I guess it's my turn, then.

"I am Jiraiya of the Legendary Three! The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku!" The man boasted. "I like receiving attention of the female persuasion and dislike kiwi. My hobbies include writing and peeping at the bathhouse! My dre—"

"...You peep at the bathhouses?" I interrupted. "You're a pervert—"

"Ah, ah! I'm a super pervert." Jiraiya cut in.

"You're a dangerous sexual predator is what you are!" I spat with disgust.

"Hey, that's going a bit far, don't you think?" Minato tried to deescalate, though I could tell he was surprised by the vehemence of my reaction. "He's harmless, really."

"Violating vulnerable women who believe they are safe from creeps like him is not harmless." I seethed. "I can't believe you, Minato-san, defending him."

"Sekai-chan, Minato's right." Kushina placated. "Like, it's really not a big deal. I mean, like, I don't like it either when some perv is spying on me, but they get what they deserve when they do!"

The old pervert chuckled, then winced. "You certainly make sure of that. You've certainly sent me to the hospital more than once..."

Words couldn't describe how furious I felt. Children bathed in the local bathhouses. I sometimes did! And Minato-san and sensei, who I thought were decent people, were basically okay with this? They thought beating him up, which hardly stopped him, was an adequate punishment? I just... I don't remember a lot about people I knew in The Before, but Iremember a friend, or maybe a classmate, being stalked and harassed by a man who'd spy on her, send her creepy messages, and that sort of thing. And I remember how badly it hurt her.

It hurt my mother. This sort of attitude is how I came to be born in this world. A ninja took advantage of her. And Jiraiya is taking advantage of who even knows how many women. Who's to say he doesn't go any further than just peeping?

It wasn't harmless. It was a big deal. But these people, who I thought were the decent sort, didn't see this. And I don't know how to explain it to them.

So I took a deep breath and relaxed my facial muscles. "You're right. It's fine. I'm—I just over reacted. It's a sensitive topic. Please continue Jiraiya-san."

"Uh... Right." he chuckled awkwardly. "Well... My dream is to end the cycle of hatred and bring about true, lasting peace."

Minato and Kushina sent me a look, one that seemed to say See? He isn't that bad of a person.

"Wow." I resisted the urge to clap sarcastically. How naive can you get?

"What?" he demanded defensively. "What's wrong with my dream?"

"It's impossible." I replied, leaving off the uh-duh. "How do you think you could accomplish it?"

"We fight because we can't let go of old grudges. Someone killed your friend, so you kill them. Then their friend kills you, and some other friend of yours kills that person. It's an endless cycle. It's how this war got started." he explained earnestly. "We need people to forgive others. If we forgive each other, if we understand each other, we can have peace."

"You really are naive for an old guy." I commented. "That won't work."

"Why not?" He demanded hotly.

"Because some people don't want to forgive! They don't want to understand people! There will always be people who want to fight. There will always be reasons to fight. It's not always about revenge. Just look at the second war! It started because of economic disparity—because some nations were lacking in basic necessities such as food and water!" I retorted. "Even if you manage to convince everyone now, all it takes for peace to fall apart is one person who is willing to destroy it gaining power and influence. It can't last. For example, say twenty years after peace is established, a new Raikage comes into power and decides 'fuck those Leaf ninja, they're doing something I dislike' and it just escalates from there. Leaf isn't just going to stand by and let Cloud take and do whatever they desire. Leaf will fight to protect it's people."

"You're such a misanthropist." Jiraiya dismissed. "People can be convinced. There might be a few outliers, but most people don't want to fight, to continue losing people. Humans have an amazing capacity for forgiveness and understanding, don't underestimate it. People aren't inherently bad."

"They aren't inherently good either. Not to mention, there is the existence of psychopaths. You know, people who completely lack the capacity for empathy and don't care how their actions affect the rest of the world, so long as they benefit." I rolled my eyes. "Also, you haven't addressed my last point—you said it's possible to convince people, which I still disagree with as you had no real argument based on logic and objective fact, but rather your subjective opinion. But you never refuted my argument on why it won't last." I pointed out.

"Che, I didn't see the point. It's obvious isn't it?" he laughed. "Just don't let those people come into power. The Kage pick their successors, and are careful to ensure they possess the qualities they value. A peaceful Kage will pick a peaceful successor."

"Oh my god, this fucking moron." I muttered to myself in English, and Jiraiya, who wasn't used to it, gave me a strange look. I took another deep breath and continued in this world's language, my words practically dripping with sarcasm. "Yeah, and someone who's power hungry won't pretend to be what their Kage is looking for in a successor and not reveal their true motives until it's too late. How silly of me to think that. It's not like ninja deceive people."

"You really think someone can get away with hiding something that big for that long, kid? The Kage aren't morons—"

"If you say so." I scoffed. "Besides, there are times there are legitimate conflicts with other parties that aren't easy to solve, especially if one party believes their actions are acceptable and moral, but the other believes the same action is immoral."

"I think morality is pretty objective—"

"Obviously it's fucking not. You three," I snarled, pointing at sensei, Minato-san and the pervert. "All seem to think it's acceptable to use skills you've learned as a ninja to prey on innocent women, whereas I can see that it's fucked up and harms other people!"

"No it doesn't!" Jiraiya protested, and Kushina and Minato-san nodded in agreement. "They may be embarrassed, but they're fine! I dare you to give one legitimate example of when it hurt someone!"

I gave him a cold look. "It hurt my mother." I said through clenched teeth. "I have no clue who my father is—and neither did she. The best guest is that a ninja used their training to rape her, without her evening knowing it!"

The adults all paled. "I—I had no idea..." Kushina-sensei breathed. "Sekai-chan..."

"Whatever, I'm done." I cut in. "Clearly there's no convincing you about either subject, and you can hardly change my mind." Erasing my emotions form my face, I turned to the couch where Minato and Kushina-sensei sat, wide eyed. "Sensei, Minato-san, thank you for dinner. I'd best be returning home for the night."

Without waiting for a reply, I hurriedly gathered my belongings.

"Wow. I think that's the most emotion I've seen from her since mom brought her around, believe it!" I heard the Nuisance exclaim as I slipped on my sandals.

I opened the front door to leave, and just before it closed behind me I heard Minato's dry comment. "Well, that certainly went well."

-x-

I was relieved the next day when Kairi-sensei showed up at my apartment at five in the morning. Usually I wouldn't be, but since she had an out of village mission for my team...

After the previous night's explosive end, I wasn't ready to see Kushina-sensei or her family yet. Or the legendary ninja that I had decided to call Sex Offender.

Sakura and Aiko, of course, were not nearly as happy about the early awakening as I was.

Once the team had all gathered, Kairi-sensei explained the mission. "Today, we'll be heading towards Red Bean country. It will take awhile, and we'll have to be very careful after we cross the border."

Sakura frowned. "Why? They have no ninja, and none of our enemies are close to them. Our allies are the next closest nation."

"It's a... "retrieval" mission, so to speak." Kairi-sensei said with a sharky grin.

Suspicion was roused inside of me. "Define "retrieval" mission."

"We-ell..." She drawled "We just need to pick up an item there." Sakura and Aiko seemed to relax, probably assuming it was another pigeon mission, but I wasn't so sure. "We just have to do it, ah, discreetly."

"So we're stealing it." I stated, startling my teammates.

"My, aren't you the clever one, hm? We are, indeed." Kairi-sensei smirked. "Don't worry. Our target is in the possession of some rich civilian. It'll be easy."

"Why are we suddenly taking this sort of mission, sensei?" Aiko asked. "It's really not in our skill set."

"Isn't it, though?" Kairi-sensei pressed, towering over us. "You're all adequately trained in stealth for it, you all know how to pick locks, and it's a civilian, so there shouldn't be any traps to deal with, however if there are I'll take care of it. Besides, three little girls with their older cousin is hardly suspicious in the first place."

-x-

Morality here is confusing. Apparently, ninja had no problem with half the things that the people of The Before had deemed immensely immoral, yet they looked down on thieving. That's not to say they thought it was a terrible thing, they just though that it was distasteful. I didn't understand.

It might have been a bit of a clan thing, that maybe bled out into the general ninja population. They were terrified of having their secrets, sacred artifacts, and such stolen from them. Therefore, stealing was something they grew up thinking of as wrong.

It was stupid, and the fact that Sakura and Aiko were so bothered by it annoyed me. I opted to ignore them for the moment, not wanting to snap at them and start a fight.

The village we were headed for in Red Bean was over twenty-five hundred kilometres away from Leaf, and it took us five days to get there, even though we spent most of our waking hours running. I avoided speaking to anyone but Kairi-sensei for the entire trip, frustration with my teammates, Kushina-sensei, Minato-san, and Sex Offender, still clouding my mind.

Awhile after arriving in Red Bean country, the four of us sealed away most of our gear and changed into civilian clothing. Kairi-sensei then instructed us each to use the transformation jutsu to modify our appearance. I was a bit worried since I was pretty terrible at the transformation jutsu, but fortunately it was only little changes that I could handle.

Aiko's hair was darkened to a dirty blonde, while Sakura and I both became brunettes, as did Sensei. While hair colour was the only thing Kairi-sensei and Sakura needed to change, Aiko and I were ordered to make our eyes brown.

Once we were sufficiently disguised, Kairi-sensei led us to the main road, and we travelled the rest of the way to the village where our target was located.

Travelling at a civilian pace was tedious and boring, so when we finally reached our destination, I was glad to get to work.

-x-

Our target was, of all things, a ceramic cat figurine. And if the sketch we were given is accurate, an ugly one, at that. It was, apparently, worth as much as an Uchiha costs on the black market. Naturally, I found that exceedingly difficult to believe. But hey, whatever floats our client's boat.

We spent five days doing reconnaissance. It was Aiko's job to chat up the townspeople to find out more about the owner of the home housing the figurine. Sakura's job was to keep an eye on the residence and who came and went. Meanwhile, I was the one assigned to actually break in and "retrieve" the ugly ceramic cat.

On the third day, Sakura brought news that the homeowner left for the first time since she'd been keeping watch. Aiko had discovered that the man was a wealthy recluse who rarely left his house, except for the trips he took to acquire his "collectibles," and would be gone for weeks at a time. Aside from that, he didn't even go out for groceries—instead he ordered them in.

By the fifth day, we were certain that he had left town, so on the sixth Kairi-sensei helped me inspect the exterior security.

To my delight, I managed to spot everything myself. Not that, that was saying much. The locks, unfortunately, were not something I could simply pick and be done with. The locks on the windows couldn't be opened from the outside without damaging them, and using the front door increased the chances of being noticed. Fortunately, there were still options. It might keep civilians out, but it was nothing a ninja couldn't handle.

That night, it was my turn to act.

I scaled up the house until I reached the roof. From there, I slipped down into the chimney, being careful not to get covered in soot. I landed in the fireplace, and discovered there were bars across it, large enough to easily place wood, but small enough that even a small child would have difficulty slipping through.

I checked myself for soot, but I was clean. It seemed the fireplace hadn't been used recently. Likely because though it was now early December, Red Bean Country was much further south than Hidden Leaf, and the temperature was still pleasantly warm.

I delicately slid through the bars, barely making it through despite my petite stature. I rolled my shoulders to loosen up, and intently observed the room.

The room was filled with shelves along every wall. Some were piled full of books and others contained knickknacks, over flowing jewellery boxes, and more. The rest of the furniture in the room was piled with boxes. It was a hoarder's paradise.

With a sigh, I decided to check out the other rooms before I started the actual search. With the exception of the kitchen, master bedroom, and bath rooms, the rest of the house was just as cluttered as the first room.

I searched room after room, until I came upon a room with piles of books all over, and tapestries hanging on the walls.

On instinct, I carefully lifted each one of the tapestries, and discovered a patch of wall that was unusual from the rest. The texture was rougher, like something scraped against it. I knocked on the wall, and my lips twitched up. It was hollow. I slid my hands over the wall, exploring, until I put pressure on the correct place and the wall pushed inwards. I pulled on the edge of the wall, and it slid to the side.

Carefully, I stepped into the newly revealed room. Unlike the others, while it contained an assortment of items, everything was neatly organized. With a careful eye, I perused the shelves and surfaces of the room, looking for that ugly cat. After all, if it was worth that much money, it was likely kept somewhere safe instead of just lying around.

My instincts were correct, and I found the figurine in a drawer of an old bureau. I carefully sealed it into my arm, and exited the hidden room, but paused after ducking out of the tapestries, and inhaled sharply.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a book. Not just any book though, but one with English writing on the cover.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to examine it. It was old—practically falling apart. The pages curled at the edges and the text was faded, but I was able to make out that it was a journal of some sort. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, staring at it. I sealed it into my thigh.

Well, I reassured myself, I'm already stealing, anyway. Why not take something for myself? And why stop at just this? There might be others English books here...

In the end, I didn't find anymore books in English, but I did pilfer a few math texts that looked interesting.

"What took so long?" Kairi-sensei asked when I met everyone back at the hotel we'd been staying in.

"Hoarder." I replied, and she nodded in understanding. She'd probably seen a lot of them if she regularly did missions like this. "In addition, it was in a hidden room."

"Detailed report later," she ordered. "For now, get some rest. We leave in the morning."

-x-

Notes: Bad, bad girl, Sekai-chan! Stealing for your own personal gain? Shame on you.

I intended to include some other things in this chapter, but it was getting away from me. So next time!

I don't hate Jiraiya! I promise! I actually like him, but his peeping is really creepy and not funny. I decided to try to frame it as values dissonance—to this world it's really not a big deal, that's just the way things are, it's normal. That in no way makes his behaviour in any way actually acceptable. The Naruto world is just... they have no ethics, no concept of human rights. Sekai's opinions on world peace are essentially my own. It's a naive, fool's dream. It's not possible to have both peace and free will.

Also, people keep saying things in fics like "He's one of the three sannin!" and it's like. Dude, you're literally saying he's one of the three, three ninja, you know that, right? It would make better sense to say "He's one of the legendary three!" or simply "He's legendary!" Legendary is the important portion of the title bestowed upon them, not "sannin."

Now, in a review, someone said Sekai must have been a bitch in her past life, because she's such a little shit now. But... No...? Not necessarily? She barely remembers any details from her first life. She has pieces of her old personality, but a lot of it developed in her current life.

There's a poll on my profile. I'm curious about who anyone might ship Sekai with, or like to see her with.

Remember the tumblr, sekai-against-the-world, has progress updates, trivia, etc.

Thank you all so much for the follows and favourites, but especially the reviews. It all means so much to me.

Sorry for mistakes/typos,

TheMathemagician