"Stop staring at her like that." Sasuke said. "I'll explain. So just leave me alone."

They were all sitting on a boat on the way to the land where the bridge was being built. Kuri was resting against Naruto.

"I don't know much," Sasuke said. "Only what I've heard in whispers and legends."

"Sasuke you don't have to do this. Kuri is our comrade, no matter what." Kakashi said.

"Yes, but I don't want her to be looked at ...with those eyes..." Sasuke replied sharply. "The first thing you must know is that my mother was from the prominent Watanabe clan."

"You mean the miko clan?" Kakashi said. "Everyone says the miko clan Watanabe has the power to calm even the bijuu themselves..."

"Yes I don't know much about my mother. Just that she got into a fight with my grandmother when she decided to get married to my father, and Kaori, grandmother, refused to honor her with the remainder of her training. And according to records I can find that was that." Sasuke said.

"So if she never came back what does it matter?" Reiko said.

"I'm guessing that she did return." Kakashi said. "One night many years ago. That week there had been a rash of unexplained deaths, and the Fourth Hokage called Kaori Watanabe from Sunagakure to do an exorcism."

"So you know the official report, Kakashi-sensei. What did they say happened? I always wondered." Sasuke said.

"The report said that Kaori was called from Sunagakure. She arrived and drove an arrow into the doorpost of the first house attacked. Wrapped around the arrow was an ofuda, one manufactured by the Ofuda clan. The spirit was called into the arrow, and exorcised." Kakashi said. "Sasuke...you're telling me that it survived all these years? An onryo?"

"Kaori knew that the curse enacted by the spirit wouldn't be stopped by capturing it. It had to be destroyed, by putting it into a miko. A priestess had to swallow it." Sasuke said.

"S-Swallow?" Naruto said.

"Essentially. She didn't realize she was pregnant." Sasuke said. "The vengeful spirit cursed my family and was reborn using Kuri as a vessel. But she is still of miko blood. So Sadako can only take control if she is knocked unconscious. Sleeping is safe. Kuri has trained her body and mind her whole life to control the power of nensha. The ability Kuri accidentally used to hurt Haruno Sakura."

"So that's why she didn't talk or get near anyone. She was scared." Naruto said.

"How do you know?" Kakashi wondered aloud.

"Because of this." Sasuke pulled out a photo of a group of women.

In the photo was Kushina Uzumaki, Atsuko Hikawa, Mikoto Uchiha, Rui Hyuga, Tsume Inuzuka, and Karura Kazekage.

"I don't understand..." Naruto said, hands shaking as he touched the photo. "They are all..."

"Miko." Sasuke confirmed. "And they all studied under Kaori Watanabe. They are also distant cousins."

"The miko-nin program..." Kakashi said. "I always thought it was a failure...after the fall of the Uchiha clan..."

Sasuke turned over the photo. There was writing on the back.

Kushina: Telekinesis

Atsuko: Projection

Mikoto: Telepathy

Rui: Empathy

Tsume: Synthesia

Karura: Molecular Manipulation