'Thoughts/Signing/Written Words'

"Speaking"

"Seal Symbols/Words"

Flashbacks

A/N: It's been a long time so I reread this chapter to refresh my memory. I ended up doing a complete revision instead.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Masashi Kishimoto. Enjoy!

Chapter 15

Sora stared at the red monkey mask Bear had placed in front of her. Without hesitation, she flipped the mask around to show a glowing seal where the forehead was. Everyone refrained from wanting to teleport away as fast as possible except for Bear and Ibiki. They were analyzing her reaction. The Anbu Commander said, "The only person I know that can keep a seal from being fully activated for a duration of a time is you, Sora."

Sora ignored the souls that shifted in the room in shock. "Aah," she responded quietly.

Bear frowned, noticing how she was not at all bothered. "You've seen this seal before,"

Feeling his soul flicker in dread and worry despite the cold tone, she whispered, "Yes."

Bear narrowed his eyes at her. "Do you know the position you're putting yourself in with that admission?" he warned.

Sora quirked an eyebrow at him, "Do you, Bear-san?" Bear gave no response. Hearing someone cough then settle back into a deep sleep, Sora looked at the group of sleeping Anbu. Eyes lingering on them a moment longer as she reached forward. With her fingers lightly touching the edges of the mask, she took a moment to think before returning her gaze to Bear. Bear's eyes widened at her softening eyes as she muttered, "When I leave, do not leave the seal in its current state."

Ibiki, who has been studying her, frowned and asked, "Is there a reason why?"

Sora grimaced and muttered, "It explodes upon removal."

Ibiki and Bear both tensed. "The rumors of a house exploding due to a gas leak," Ibiki mumbled as he recalled hearing two merchants' conversation when he was in the market earlier in the month.

"A careless mistake I made," Sora muttered. She internally winced when her entire body flashed burning hot. She spread her arms behind her and leaned back in an attempt to ease the pain. keeping her voice steady, she continued, "I wasn't fast enough to keep it from activating." Feeling herself getting hotter and hotter, she excused herself and stood up to leave.

Ibiki looked at her quick dismissal in suspicion and worry before asking, "Do you know anything else, like who created it, Sora?"

"I don't. However, each Fuinjutsu user has a specific style of creating their seals." Grabbing her morning items, she continued, "It's what I like to refer to as a signature. If you find the signature, you find your creator."

Sora exited the guest room and quickly entered the bathroom. Setting her stuff on the sink, she let out a shaky breath. Turning on the faucet, she splashed water on her face a few times to cool her overheating body. Rubbing her eyes, she looked at herself from the mirrors as water dripped down her face. Just like earlier that morning, red markings started to appear on her face again before they faded away once more.

'It's moving,' she thought as she took one last look in the mirror and began her morning routine.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the guest room, Ibiki muttered to Bear, "She knows more than she leads on."

Bear gave Ibiki a side glance, "Are you suggesting that we interrogate her?"

Ibiki lips twitched and he let out a muffled laugh, "She would never let it get that far anyways." Ibiki looked amusedly at Bear, "Remember last time we tried?"

Bear winced then sagged a bit as he remembered. Beside him, Minato asked, "You've interrogated her before?"

Bear nodded, "When she was younger."

Kakashi straightened at this and studied both of the Commanders in thought. "Do you know anyone who has a grudge against her?" Bear and Ibiki narrowed their eyes at Kakashi at the implication. Kakashi ignored Minato's warning look and continued on, "I thought you were close to her, but I guess I made the wrong assumption. Sorry."

Ibiki was about to make a retort, but a soft groan was heard. Everyone turned to see Sparrow slowly moving around in her futon. Once coming too, Sparrow quickly sat up and swung the blankets off her to see that she was completely healed and no longer in her Anbu uniform, except for her mask. "Fujiwara-san!" she called out only to pause in shock to see Minato and the others.

As if they heard Sparrow cry out, all sleeping Anbu, including the rest of Team Ra, quickly got up with weapons drawn. "Fujiwara-san are you ok?" one of them yelled in confusion. They all froze when they saw who was sitting on the floor staring at them.

'How many of my men are you familiar with, Sora Fujiwara?' Minato wondered.

Minato got into Hokage mode and stated, "You can give me your full report later, Raven. I want to know why and how Team Ra appeared in front of the Daimyo. Bear-san will handle the rest of you."

All Anbu in the guest room shifted to attention. Raven straightened, "We were caught by a surprise attack from-," Raven paused to look at the rest of his coworkers, "Vulture," he muttered quietly. Minato narrowed his eyes at this while everyone else tensed. Raven continued, "We all fought against Vulture, but Vulture displayed capabilities that I've never seen him do during our team training sessions."

Everyone showed their displeasure. There was an unspoken rule amongst Anbu that when you were assigned to a team, your capabilities must be divulged to your own teammates. If not, then it can cause disastrous results when coordinating attacks due to the lack of trust. Teams who did not trust one another were disbanded immediately.

"Everyone was severely injured, but we managed to create some distance. We were only a day away from Konoha. Sparrow was the fastest, and capable of enhancing her strength with chakra more than your average Anbu," Raven reported.

Minato looked at Sparrow. "What happened?"

"I took a soldier pill, Hokage-sama. The plan was to make a last-ditch effort towards Konoha. Grabbing my team, I was gathering chakra into my shoulders to support their weight. The next thing I saw was Fujiwara-san before passing out," Sparrow paused to look at Minato. She muttered, "I'm not sure how I appeared in front of her."

"It's the seal," a familiar voice stated.

Everyone tried not to react when they did not sense Sora coming in. Draped across Sora's left arm was her white towel, and in the other hand was a small wooden box. Sora walked towards the changing divider but paused to look at the now awake Anbu agents with their weapons drawn. Following her eyes, they quickly placed their weapons away. As she continued walking, her eyes strayed a few moments longer on Team Ra, giving them a once over.

"What seal?" Minato asked, confused and worried as Sora went behind the divider.

Sora reached down to put on white socks and grabbed a pair of wooden slippers. Sora peaked out from behind the divider and clarified, "The Anbu tattoo. It's a four layered seal."

Going back behind the divider, she selected a midnight blue kimono with large vivid yellow-green peony prints. It only reached to her thighs. She pulled out a matte slate colored hakama with small yellow-green peonies trailing up from the bottom of her trouser legs. As she tied a matte, lemon-yellow obi around her waist, she felt everyone's souls freeze in alarm. Tightening the obi, she said, "Seeing as how so many of you had it, I thought you guys knew about it, so I didn't say anything."

Slipping her feet into the slippers, Sora stepped out from the changing divider. Those that were not used to her attire blinked at her strange outfit. It was one they have never seen a civilian wear before. It was an odd combination of what the civilian women and men wear in Konoha and most villages.

Used to her bizarre clothing choices by now, Bear coughed to keep everyone focused. He stated, "Explain."

Sora walked towards him and stopped to kneel between him and Kakashi. Pointing towards the Anbu tattoo, she asked, "May I?"

Bear studied her a bit before nodding in permission. Running her fingers gently across the full length of the two swirls of the Anbu tattoo, she said, "The seal is hidden within the ink of the tattoo."

Bear noticed how she smiled sadly at the tattoo before masking it away. 'What are you hiding, Sora?' he thought, still irked at what had transpired earlier with Kakashi. Kakashi was not wrong. While he and Ibiki had a friendship of sorts with Sora, she was still tightlipped about some things.

"Can you analyze it?" Bear asked, trying to keep his voice indifference.

Sora looked up at him and he forced himself not to flinch. It was the same look she had given him when they first met. A look that saw past his Anbu cold stature and saw every darkest secret he kept locked away. She must of found something because she gave a soft nod. Sora lowered her gaze towards the tattoo, "If you spread chakra throughout the entire tattoo, it acts like a beacon of sorts. It only allows those who have the same seal to know your location and vice versa." Looking at Bear, she continued, "You'll have to try it out for yourself to determine the distance of the beacon."

Bear looked at her and carefully spread chakra over the entirety of his Anbu tattoo. He suddenly felt everyone's tattoos inside the room. They all looked at him in surprised, even Ibiki. Bear even sensed three tattoos outside of the Yondaime's home as well. The owners of the three tattoos paused.

"Does every Anbu have the seal?" Minato asked, now curious.

Sora shrugged. "I'd have to meet every single Anbu."

Minato gave her a contemplative look as three Anbu entered the Yondaime's guest room.

"Commander, we came as soon as we felt your chakra calling for…help?" one of them stated unsurely. Her eyes widened as she saw a lot of her Anbu comrades in the guest room with a civilian woman wearing an odd combination of civilian clothes.

"Stand down," Minato ordered. "We're testing out a possible new communication jutsu that is to remain a secret. Need I remind everyone in this room to keep what you've seen or heard to yourselves until further notice?"

The three nodded as they went to stand beside Team Ra, curious. They watched in surprise as the civilian woman leaned closer to their Commander.

"The second layer is this," Sora continued as she traced the top swirl of the Anbu tattoo. The three newcomers watched with rapt attention. "If you insert chakra to only this portion, then it teleports you to wherever the Yondaime is."

Everyone looked at Minato in surprise. Even he looked surprised. Sora gave him a glance before continuing. "The third layer is this," she said as she traced the bottom curve of the tattoo. "If you insert chakra here, you-."

Everyone disappeared before she could finish, including Bear. The only ones who stayed were Team Ro, Minato, and his guard platoon. 'They're in for a surprise,' she thought as she walked towards her belongings.

Folding up the changing divider, Sora opened the top drawer of her dresser to pull a hairband. Before Minato could ask where they had been teleported to, the window opened. Without turning to look, Sora said, "Welcome back. Did you guys have a nice trip?"

Sliding into the room was Bear and Ibiki. They both gave her a deadpanned look. "It sent us to the hospital," Bear stated with a disgruntled voice.

Sora grinned at him in slight amusement as she tied her fish braid. "That's a good thing," she said.

Bear sighed knowing full well why Sora did what she did. Team Ra needed a medic to check them over, as well as the rest of the eleven Anbu who had slept over uninvited. "You said it was a four layered seal. What does the fourth one do?"

Sora wrapped her braided ponytail into a bun on the right side of her head. Reaching into her top drawer, she secured her bun with three black hairpins with golden butterflies dangling from golden chains. Pushing the drawer closed, she walked towards Bear. She gently placed a finger where the top swirl curl into a slight circle in the middle of the Anbu tattoo. Looking up at him, she muttered, "Insert chakra here and you get sent to me."

Bear's eyes widened. "Why?"

Sora did not answer the question as she pulled a blue scroll from her sleeve. Bear watched Sora as she started sealing her belongings into the scroll. After placing the blue scroll into the sleeves of her kimono, she stopped beside Bear. Giving the Anbu tattoo one last look, Sora whispered, "Probably because it's one of Mama's."

Bear and Ibiki stiffened in surprised. This was the first time Sora had ever talked about her family.

Looking at Kakashi, she said, "I'll be waiting in the living room for your team to get ready."

Kakashi nodded robotically as she turned towards the door and exited the guest room one final time. He was not expecting her to find out that he was Hound so quickly.