Against the World

"I don't know what was worse—what was done, or how I felt about it"

-x-

Wait. Wasn't she...

"Aren't you the crabby medic that did my pre-academy medical?" I asked Tsunade-sensei.

"Yeah—hey who are you calling crabby, you little brat?" Tsunade snarled. I stared at her, unimpressed. She sighed. "What about it?"

"If you're the top medic, why did you do my pre-academy exam?"

"I was on leave, and there wasn't anyone else available."

"Oh."

-x-

Fourteen

"Oh my god, Sekai!" Aiko cried when I was dumped in a cell three hours later as both she and Sakura scrambled over to me, their chains clanging against the ground. She took in my bloody hands and bruised face. "What did they do to you?"

"He—my head hurt... and then he got angry... Immune, he said. All. I—I don't... and then my fingernails, and questions..." I whimpered. "Wh-what's happening?"

"Shh..." Sakura hushed. "It's going to be okay."

"That one guy is from the Satoi clan from Rock." Aiko explained in a whisper. "They're similar to the Yamanaka—they're mind readers."

"...Immune?" I mumbled.

"Why didn't it work?" my blonde teammate whispered. I nodded. "As a Yamanaka, we're all taught ways to protect our minds from foreign influence."

"I..." Sakura bit her lip as Aiko and I focused on her. "I have a... I call her 'Inner.' She's me. But she's separate, too. She protected me."

"Really?" Aiko breathed. "Fascinating. It's never stopped me from..."

"Never stopped you from what?" Sakura hissed. "Have you been fucking with our head?"

Was that her 'Inner' speaking...? I shook my head. I'd ask later. (If there was a later.)

"Calm down, Sakura! Let me explain." the Yamanaka pleaded.

"Fine."

"It's not on purpose." she whispered guiltily. "You know how clans with secret techniques can eventually develop a bloodline limit? Well, obviously I can't say much right now, but... I've manifested one, but I can't control it. It's um... It's a passive ability. I can..." she glanced above her nervously. Perhaps that was the exit? The ceiling? It was too dark for me to tell.

"You can..." Sakura prompted stiffly.

"I can read surface thoughts."

I inhaled sharply.

"I try to avoid it." she added hastily, turning her gaze to me, and I realized her glasses were missing. "It's one of the reasons why I like to spend time with you, Sekai. Even if I accidentally read your mind, I can't understand it at all. It's all jumbled. I'm guessing that's why they didn't get anything from you either."

I frowned. "I want to try something. Do your thing."

"What, I just told you..."

"Just do it, okay?"

"Alright..." Aiko agreed. She looked me in the eye, and even in the dim light I saw the blue of her eyes slowly contract to pinpricks on black. Can you understand me now? I thought in this world's language. Aiko gasped, and nodded.

This can be very useful. I thought at her.

"How did you—no. Tell me later."

"What?" Sakura glanced between us. "What did I miss?"

"It's not important right now." I dismissed. "Do you know what they want?

Aiko nodded.

-x-

Between the three of us, we worked out what was going on.

A team of infiltration specialists from Leaf had managed to learn or steal the key to the code Rock ninja were using to encrypt their messages. The Rock ninja stationed in he Land of Meadows found out, and were hunting them down. When they found us near the border to Meadow and far from any (known) Leaf encampments, they assumed the three of us were the infiltration team, based partially on our young ages, sexism, and the fact that Aiko is fairly obviously a Yamanaka. The fact that none of our minds were readable enforced their belief. We weren't sure if there was something physical the other team had taken, that was used to decode their messages, or if they had just memorized something.

The cell we were in had no doors or windows. According to Aiko, we were dropped in from above. In the time I'd been questioned, the two of them discovered that the walls repelled chakra, so there was no walking up them with chakra, and they were oddly slippery and smooth, so there was no way to get a good enough grip to climb up the hard way. To make matters worse, our chakra was sluggish and difficult to command.

"A common drug to use on prisoners," Sakura whispered. "It numbs your chakra receptors, so signals from the brain don't reach them, and you can't consciously mould chakra. Involuntary chakra flow and activity is uninterrupted."

That meant that while natural processes continued, including Aiko's passive bloodline limit, I was unable to open either of the storage seals on my body.

There was little three little girls being held by high level enemy ninja could do.

But we were three highly intelligent little girls, with a medic, a mind reader, and a mathematician between us.

-x-

"Come on, Se-ka-i-chan." The Satoi man, whom I decided call Fuck Face, cooed. "Can't you just tell us if the key is in your seals, or just your head? Your friends were already nice enough to tell me you were the only one who knows anything."

I ignored him, as I did each time they took me for questioning. It was only me they took, now. Sakura and Aiko had claimed that I was the mastermind, the one who solved the code.

They were lucky to be alive. Fuck Face and the other Rock ninja were only keeping them that way as leverage against me.

He traced the seal on the inside of my thigh. "Come now, can't you at least tell us how it works?"

I ignored him.

His fingers slowly drifted up my thigh. "You're a pretty one, you know?" He purred in my ear. "Such exotic colouring. If you won't tell me, maybe we can have some fun?"

I whimpered.

"Oh? You don't want to?" I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. "Then maybe you should tell me how to open these?" he paused. "Well, why don't I leave you here to think about it, huh?"

He left.

I took I deep breath. I could do this. Team Four was getting out of here. There were no other options.

Fuck Face leered at me when he returned. "Well?" he asked, playing with the waist of his pants deliberately. "Anything to say?"

"Nine drops of blood on each seal." I rushed out. "Then I need to use my chakra to draw the opening sequence with it."

He grinned. "Good girl. You've earned a rest."

-x-

Over the next few interrogation sessions, I carefully implied that I had the key in my seal and that I was dragging things out on purpose, buying time for my superior to access the pocket dimension it was kept in through her own linked seal.

And that was how I ended up chained down in the interrogation room with my chakra unsealed and four large men watching my every move.

"Now, you know better than to try anything, don't you sweetie?" Fuck Face cooed at me. I nodded, and had him drop my own blood on my arm.

I took a deep breath, and started moulding my chakra. The blood on my arm started to slowly trace a pattern around the seal.

And then the men dropped to the ground. Immediately, I drew a low output explosion seal on the shackles, using my blood. It was a poor substitute for sealing ink, but it could conduct chakra and worked in a pinch. With a small flicker of my chakra, the chains broke. Quickly I unsealed a kunai and slit the throats of Fuck Face and the other three men before they could break out of the genjutsu I'd cast.

With the immediate threat gone, I stripped the Rock nin of their shirts, then sealed their bodies away. I slipped one of the shirts on, and made a break for the holding cell. There were two guards near the trap door, but I took them out with a couple well-aimed kunai before they could see me. (Thank fuck they were standing still.) With them out of the way, I sketched a linked explosion seal onto the ground with their blood.

I shoved their corpses off the trap door and slid it open. I jumped down and used a seal drawn with the blood remaining on my kunai to break Sakura's and Aiko's chains. I handed them two of the shirts I'd brought with me, and they quickly pulled them on. While my shirt went down past my knees, theirs only barely made it to their thighs. Still, it was better than nothing.

I took their hands and sent a small jolt of my own chakra into their system, stimulating the chakra receptors the way Sakura told me too. They both let out a pained cry—my raw chakra did the job, but it did it more painful and damaging than medical chakra. With free access to our chakra, we were able to jump up through the trap door.

Once free of the cell, Aiko took the lead, having found the exit route in the mind of one of the rock ninja she manipulated into thinking of it. We stuck to the ceiling, crawling across it under an AoE genjutsu Sakura cast that helped us blend in.

There were a couple close calls, but a quick genjutsu on my part kept them subdued, since we couldn't afford to leave bodies lying behind us, lest someone stumble upon them and realize there was a prison break.

And then we were free. And surrounded by a rocky terrain of reddish brown sandstone. We didn't bother paying attention to which direction we ran, we just focused on putting enough distance between us and the enemy base.

"Stop." I ordered, and pulled out the second part of my linked explosive seal. With a quick pulse of chakra, I activated the seal. "Boom." I said as I watched the Rock base go out in a fiery death.

"Where the fuck are we?" Aiko wondered.

"Earth Country, I figure." Sakura replied.

"Obviously, I meant where in it are we?" Aiko huffed.

"Doesn't matter. We should head south, southwest ish." I said, unsealing my compass. "We can pass through Storm or Cliff Country to get to Wind, then head east through River and back to Fire country. Going through Meadow or Pond would get us killed."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Meadow is enemy territory, so going through it would be a horrible decision. But if we head north east to Pond, we end up close to Hidden Rock, and would likely end up being caught by ninja moving between Earth and Meadow."

"Good point." Sakura nodded.

"Let's get going. We should put some more distance before we clean up."

-x-

We ran south until nightfall, and then found a small cave to rest in. The ceiling was low—it was a bit cramped for Aiko, who was the tallest of us, but it was good enough. We debated lighting a fire, but in the end decided it was too risky. Instead, I unsealed a large pail of water from my arm, and we used the fourth shirt as a washcloth to get rid of most of the dirt and grime from our run through Earth Country and captivity. Once we were relatively clean, Sakura took time to heal our bloody and burned feat.

"Do you have any clothes and stuff in your seal, Sekai?" Sakura asked.

"I have a spare shirt and shorts, but that's it. Well, that and a few pairs of underwear—but they'd be way too small for both of you." They nodded. I was beyond small for my age, and only roughly came up to their shoulders. I suspect mother might have had poor nutrition while pregnant with me or when breastfeeding. Considering she had no idea she was pregnant, it wasn't surprising. She may have dieted at first, simply believing she was getting fat.

"I feel so stupid—I should have thought to seal at least shoes."

"Well, neither of us thought to either." Sakura consoled. "You can't think of everything. When we get back you can seal shoes and clothes for all three of us."

"In the mean time, we should find a small village and send Sekai in to get some clothes for us." Aiko suggested.

"With what money?" I asked. "I didn't really have money to spare to seal away—I spend most of it on gear and supplies."

"Steal it." Sakura chimed in. "Use a genjutsu to make them think you've paid for stuff."

"Very well." I nodded. "In the mean time, do either of you know roughly where we are? And what villages might be close?" We didn't really cover much foreign geography in the academy, and it wasn't something sensei focused on.

"Well, we must be on the Red Plateau." Aiko hummed. "I think the dropping point is just across the border with Wind. Wait, no, with Cliff, not Wind."

"The Red Plateau doesn't have any villages on it—the land is unfarmable, and it's bone dry. No bodies of water. Basically uninhabitable." Sakura added. "We'd be screwed if Sekai didn't seal away so much water and niNRG bars."

"So our best bet is to get to the drop off point, and then..." I trailed off.

"I think there's a river east of it." Aiko said. "There are usually a lot of small villages along rivers, so if we follow it we should eventually come across them. But we should avoid Storm country, I hear they don't like outsiders, and have some way of knowing when undesirable people cross the border."

"So we continue south for now, and then east." I summarized.

With a plan in place, we decided to do three, three hour shifts for night watch. I volunteered for the middle shift. With only a single blanket and no fire, the three of us huddled close to share body heat.

-x-

The next day I changed into my spare shirt and shorts, and we tore up the one I'd been wearing to wrap around our feet to help prevent burns from the scalding heat of the stone beneath us on the plateau.

We travelled in silence, not wanting to use up our energy speaking instead of running. Progress was slower than we'd anticipated. In Fire country, we were able to jump from tree to tree, and until this trek I didn't realize just how much slower running on the ground was. It took us two more days of travel to finally reach the drop point.

The slope down was beyond steep and it must have been at least a kilometre long. Not wanting to risk our safety for speed, the three of us slowly made our way down, using chakra on our hands and feet to adhere to the surface.

One we finally reached the bottom the sun was starting to set, so instead of heading east right away, we searched for a defensible area to sleep in for the night. When there was none to be found nearby, Sakura punched a small hole in the slope with her enhanced strength, and then a larger one further in and to the left. Aiko reinforced the cave we made with an earth jutsu, and we settled in for the night.

The next morning, we ran towards the river, avoiding Cliff country's hidden village and the larger towns. Large towns meant more people, and until we were back in Fire country, it was best we avoided them.

Half a day's trek from the plateau we found a village to "shop" at. It was small, but not so small that outsiders were rare. About a kilometre away from it, I unsealed some water to wash away most of the grime on my skin, and twisted my hair into a bun secured with a stick from the nearby bushes. When I was as presentable as possible, I left my teammates hiding in the bushes as I approached the town on the thin trail civilians used for travel.

Once I stepped inside the town's boarder, I kept my eyes peeled for somewhere to "purchase" clothes for Aiko and Sakura. Finally, on the other side of the village from where I entered, I found a small clothing store that was empty save for the woman at the till and a teenage girl.

A bell above the door jingled as I stepped inside, drawing the attention of the employee. "Hello, welcome to the Silver Thimble." she greeted. "Is there anything I can help you with? I haven't seen you in town before, my dear."

"I don't think I'll need any help." I replied. "My sisters and me are just passing through, but our clothes are a bit worn from all our travelling adventures." I widened my eyes and tried to make a smile that didn't look too forced. I was trying to appear childlike and innocent, since my small stature made me look a few years younger than I actually was. "Sara-nee-chan and Ai-nee-chan said it was my job to pick something out for them while they take care of other things."

"Well, I'm sure you'll do a good job for them, sweetie. If you need any help, don't be shy."

"Thanks!" I replied, looking away as if embarrassed. Once the woman was done speaking with me, I hurried further into the store. There weren't a lot of options, and most of the clothes weren't as durable as even the cheapest of ninja quality, but I made do.

I picked up three pairs of the sturdiest looking boots in the correct sizes for the three of us and three pairs of socks. I then picked out two simple t-shirts and shorts for Aiko and Sakura. Unfortunately they didn't seem to sell underwear, strangely enough. Looking around, I also grabbed three white cloaks in case we had to travel through the desert.

With everything picked out, I browsed around until the other shopper left. Once alone with the woman behind the counter, I slowly made my way over to her.

"That's quite a bit, dear. Are you sure you can carry it all?"

I nodded and hummed. "It's okay! It won't be for long."

"Well then, let's ring you up..." While she rung me up and folded the clothes and placed them in paper bags, I cast a small genjutsu to make her forget about payment. Once everything was packed away in the bags, I allowed myself a small smirk as I left the shop.

With my purchases in hand, I quickly left the village and returned to the bushes Sakura and Aiko hid in.

"I kept it basic, a shirt and pair of shorts for either of you, boots and socks for all three of us. There was no underwear, though. And I grabbed these cloaks for the desert." I explained as I unpacked the stolen goods.

"Who cares that there was no underwear, at least we won't be half naked anymore." Aiko dismissed as she tugged on her shorts.

"What she said." Sakura agreed while she changed her top.

"Can you heal our feet again before we put on the socks and shoes?" I asked while I unwrapped the ragged cloth from my raw feet.

"For sure." Sakura agreed, adjusting her hair. "Do either of you think you could cut my hair off? There's no fixing this mess."

I nodded and pulled out a kunai and settled behind Sakura. I ran my hands over her head and hair, looking for the best place to cut off the mess, but keep a decent length. Unfortunately, I had to cut it right at the nape of her neck, leaving only a couple inches of her pink hair. I did my best to even things out, and while it ended up being a bit choppy, it would do. Hair grows back.

"Thanks." Sakura smile, and turned around to face me. Her hands lit up with green medical chakra, and she healed first my damaged feet, and then her own. Aiko sat down next to us for her turn, and asked me to cut her hair too. I scooted behind her cut her hair, which had grown out a bit and tangled, while Sakura healed her. Once the two of us were done, I gave the kunai to Aiko and pulled the twig securing the bun out of my hair. Without a word, Aiko cut off my hair too.

After pulling on our socks and boots, we sat in silence, except for the faint sound of my fingers tapping against my knees.

"We can't follow the river the whole way." Aiko said. "It curves into Storm for a bit. The curve is just east of the capitol."

"We should move southwest a bit then. Not too far west though. Cross into Wind, and then head south to the river again. Then we can follow the main roads, which should take us into River." Sakura rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Are you sure the main roads would be safe?" I asked.

"They should be." Aiko agreed. "By then we'll be far enough away from Earth country that it's unlikely any enemies will be around. We'll be deep enough into neutral territory."

"Very well." I said as I stood. "We should start moving again. Oh, we should stop by the river first, though. So I can seal away more water before we hit the desert."

-x-

Over the next two days, we moved through Cliff country, avoiding the capitol, and then into the desert of Wind country, where our progress slowed. The white cloaks protected us from the sun's damaging rays, but they didn't exactly keep us cool either. The three of us were sweating buckets, and on top of all that, we weren't used to travelling on sand. It was oddly soft, and it shifted beneath our feet.

After the first day, we decided to sleep during the day and travel at night. During the day, Aiko dug us a hole in the ground with an earth jutsu, and hardened the hole with another. Since the desert was inhabited by many small, deadly creatures, we returned to our three hour watch rotation, so which ever of us was awake could kill or chase off anything that came near.

The nights were cold, but it was better than travelling in the heat. At the least, our movements built up heat and the cloaks we initially wore for protection from the sun became cloaks to keep us warm. It was still chilly, but manageable.

It took us four more days to reach the river again. From there, we followed down until we came across a bridge. After crossing it, we were on a dusty, pale brick road that led to Wind's capitol.

Not wanting to risk anything, the three of us veered off the path to travel around the capitol, and then returned to the brick road. We continued eastward, and decided to pass through the next town down the road, since it was a trading town on the border of Wind and River, and it was busy enough to lose ourselves in the crowds.

From there we took to the trees lining the main path, hastening our travel. When we came to a fork in the road, we turned north and travelled along the west side of River Country's only lake, then turning east and walking along the northern bank. And then, we were finally back in Fire Country.

With renewed energy, we trekked through the highlands, crossing over one of Fire Country's wider rivers, and skirting around Lake Tobirama, which was only a short distance from Hidden Leaf.

-x-

We shouldn't have been surprised that our arrival at the village gates led to us being taken down to the Torture and Interrogation building. (It was our own village, somewhere we thought we could finally be safe.)

We shouldn't have been surprised we had been gone for over two months. (The first month and a half of our absence covered our stay in the Rock base, and then the next three weeks covered our escape.)

We shouldn't have been surprised that we were labelled killed in action. (They labelled us missing for the first four weeks, and then decided we must be dead, since three little girls who didn't make it home from the northern edge of Fire Country, which should have taken only a couple days, couldn't possibly have survived on their own for that long, regardless of who their teachers were.)

But we were.

-x-

We were separated this time. I had no idea where in the maze of cells my teammates were locked up, and wasn't particularly sure where I was either. All I knew was that I was sitting in a small concrete cell. I was lucky—while it was large enough for me to lay down in, I doubt a full grown adult could have. There was a dull light from above, but it was impossible to reach it. The light gave off an annoying buzzing sound. A small pail of water stood in the corner.

They left me in there for four days. No one came by. No one brought more water, let alone food. All I had were my thoughts.

I couldn't help but think that they were trying to drive me crazy.

My bottom lip had been chewed raw, and my knees were bruised from how hard I tapped my fingers on them.

On the bright side, I wasn't naked. They did strip search me, but they gernerously allowed me to keep my underwear and my T-shirt, but only after thoroughly inspecting them for... I didn't really know. Poison? Seals? Secret messages? Dooms day devices? But I wasn't naked, which was what mattered. At least Leaf ninja didn't strip a little girl and then lock her away when they're not using her, like fucking pedophiles.

And so when the fourth day came, and a large man dragged me to an interrogation room, I decided to call him "Not a Pedophile."

Not a Pedophile deposited me on a hard metal chair, and proceeded to shackle my ankles and wrists to it. Then he left.

It was a short wait for the interrogator to enter the room. He had long blond hair and the telltale eyes of the Yamanaka clan.

"Yamanaka-san." I greeted him, inclining my head. "Lovely to meet you."

He remained stoic. "State your name, age, registration number, and rank."

"Hoshino Sekai. Eight years old. Registration number zero one two five oh seven. Genin."

"Thank you, Hoshino." the man said. "Please close your eyes and hold still."

My fists clenched. That didn't sound good, but I closed them regardless.

-x-

I felt a strange jolt, which shook me into consciousness, and it was clear that I was no longer in the interrogation room.

Where ever I was, it was swallowed in darkness that seemed to stretch on endlessly. Spaced erratically around the darkness were shiny, bright orbs. Some appeared larger than others, with some as large as one of those exercise balls, and others were barely pinpricks. Perhaps the smaller ones were just far away? It was hard to judge distance. Occasionally, it looked like many of the orbs were flying by, leaving a trail of light behind them.

It took me a minute to realize that where ever I was, it was modelled on outer space. One thing stood out as odd though—a large, gated archway.

Was this some sort of genjutsu? Before I could try to dispel it, someone spoke.

Why can't I understand you? How is she aware...?

A feeling of terror spread through out me, and several of the orbs seemed to shoot off into the darkness, like they were hiding. The flying orbs picked up speed and started to move erratically. I had no idea where I was, but instinctively I knew that voice didn't belong.

I tried to move into a defensive position, but quickly realized I had no body. Panic overwhelmed me, and the orbs started vibrating. In the midst of my panic, I felt something relax, like there had been a threat present, but now it was gone.

I woke up.

-x-

"What the fuck was that?" I snarled, uncharacteristically enraged. I wasn't sure what happened, but the feeling of violation was stronger than any other feeling I'd ever had. (It was wrong. WRonG, wrOng, WroNG!)

The Yamanaka stared at me blankly. He shook his head, and his slightly dazed expression reformed into careful neutrality.

The room was silent but for my rapid breathing.

"I'm not sure." he finally said.

"What the fuck do you mean you're not sure? You're the one who did it!" I growled between clenched teeth.

"Yes well. You... ah, responded to the jutsu atypically." His face remained neutral, but I could detect a hint of uncertainty in his expression.

"What. Fucking. Happened." I demanded again.

Instead of answering, the Yamanaka stood from the seat across from me, and I couldn't even remember when he sat down. He strode out of the room, and a heavy door slammed shut behind him.

Since he left me alone, I took a moment to compose myself.

I took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Never had my anger, or any emotion for that matter, been so strong that I reacted that way, and I couldn't understand why I did now.

I didn't yell or snarl at people—I would completely close off, I would disengage and give the cold shoulder. I would, as Aiko likes to say, slay the person who made me angry with cold, harsh words.

Before I could ponder the matter more, the Yamanaka returned.

"Hoshino. You will be released shortly." he informed me. "Sensors have verified your chakra signature. Unfortunately the mind probe for mental tampering was inconclusive. You will be monitored for the next few weeks, to ensure you're not at risk."

My lips thinned. "Very well. But I repeat myself, what did you do to me?"

He sighed. "You were not supposed to be aware during the mind probe—you should have been unconscious."

"Continue." I prompted when it seemed he wasn't going to speak further.

"We were in the jutsu's manifestation of your mind. I was searching for thoughts, memories and feelings relating to being held prisoner and interrogated, which were the spheres.

"When I first entered, it was unusual not to see an avatar of yourself, but it didn't seem to be an issue. Then I touched one of the spheres, and while it contained thoughts, I could comprehend them no more than Aiko-chan could."

My eyes narrowed.

"Touching the sphere woke you, which shouldn't have been possible. I could not see you, you had no form, no avatar, but I felt you. Then I left. Is that satisfactory, Hoshino?"

-x-

After being released, Kushina-sensei ambushed me.

"Oh my god, Sekai!" Sensei wailed while clinging to me. "I'm so sorry I didn't come for you! They sent me out right after you left and I only got back to the village, like, a week ago! I had no idea before then!"

"It's..."I hesitated. It wasn't fine. I wasn't fine. "Not your fault." I settled for as I awkwardly patted her back.

My red headed teacher sniffled. "Like, still! You shouldn't—that shouldn't have happened to you! I should have been there to protect you!"

"Kushina-sensei—"

She sobbed. "Oh! I didn't think I'd, like, ever hear you say that again!"

"Sensei, perhaps we should take this elsewhere..." I suggested, since the stares of the street's other occupants were starting to make me uncomfortable.

That seemed to snap sensei out of it, and she quickly whisked me away, to her home in the Senju district.

Once we arrived, she informed me that my apartment had been reclaimed while I was gone, but Minato-san had packed up my things and they were all stored in my room in the Uzumaki home.

"I don't think it was assigned to anyone else, yet, so, like, we'll try to get it back for you, but for now you're staying here, okay?" Kushina-sensei informed me. "And, like, you're staying here until I decide you're ready to live alone again."

"That's not necessary, Sensei," I tried to protest.

"It is. You've been gone a long time, and went through an extremely traumatizing experience." She argued firmly.

With a small sigh, I nodded. I wasn't going to be able to change her mind.

-x-

Team four was given one month leave. The leave served two purposes, a supposed "recovery" period, and time for the three of us to get back into shape.

Of course, a single month was hardly enough time to get over being held captive and tortured, but I doubt they expected it to be. I was of the opinion there was a third reason for the leave—to keep an eye on us and make sure we weren't a danger to the village. Not that I shared that belief with anyone.

It was strange to be back in the village. Constricting, almost. While the weeks in Earth were horrible, and the three weeks trying to get back home were terrifying, for those three weeks I had been free.

But it was best not to dwell on that.

Instead I tried to settle back in. Living with sensei wouldn't have been so bad, but The Nuisance drove me crazy. Though, when he first saw me and started crying, that was sort of sweet. Only sort of though. I ended up spending my evenings and weekends training or visiting Hanako in order to avoid him.

My first visit to Hanako after returning was... overwhelming, to say the least.

Like everyone else, she had thought me dead. I was prepared for that. What I wasn't prepared for was her guilt.

-x-

"We should keep them together." An aging man said. "They work well together—they each specialize, but even if they go on a specialized mission, the other two have skills that could be of use."

"Sure, but they don't need the other two for specialized missions—the team was never intended to last, but to give them experience working with others and so they could run C-ranks." A brunet argued. "It's a waste to send along the ones who aren't needed."

"If I may, gentleman," A Yamanaka interrupted. "I was the one who performed the mind probe on team four. From Aiko-chan, I'm familiar with their teamwork, and it's better than teams that have been together years. They cover each others' weaknesses, and have excellent non-verbal communication among themselves. From Haruno, I got similar results, albeit after much difficulty. As for Hoshino, I only found one thing—she is intensely loyal to team four, but not the village."

-x-

Notes: The Yamanaka and Satoi techniques are very different, so Sekai's experience with them is very different. Though both clans can "read minds" and the like, they have different ways of doing the same things.

The Yamanaka couldn't understand Sekai's thoughts or memories, but he could feel her emotions. He basically was searching for memories related to the event, and he was able to feel intense protectiveness and devotion towards Aiko and Sakura. He tried sensing for Leaf, but since he was searching for "konoha" nothing came up. However, when he focused on the symbol, he found her feelings about the village to be... apathetic, for want of a better word. This is how he determined her loyalty, even though loyalty isn't really a feeling.

This chapter was mostly written around the same time as the chapter before i. So if things are a bit off/redundant/whatever, that is why.

There are roughly two chapters left of this arc, and then we get another interlude, which will give us some background info.

Did anyone guess that Aiko had a bloodline limit? Or rather, the beginnings of one? I did hint at it. Using it requires eye contact, and it makes her eyes change, hence why she often averts her gaze. Her lenses are shiny and prescription-less, but the frame is the same colour as her eyes to draw attention from them. Back in chapter five, it was mentioned that she figured out who was loyal, but never stated how, as Sekai took her at her word. The family dynamics at Aiko's birthday party were also a hint. In other, related news, there is a pic I drew of her in the Naruto style on the Sekai-against-the-world tumblr.

I noticed some inconsistencies in earlier chapters. On AO3 I went back and edited them, as it was easy enough to do so there, but they remain in the fanfiction dot net version. Honestly, I'll probably tidy up the AO3 version every now and then, so if you want something with less mistakes, check over there. So far I've edited most of the chapters on AO3 and made minor changes, nothing story changing, but added in little details and rephrased things.