"Yes, if the stones that we walked on could talk, they would surely tell our story." ~Nico J. Genes, Magnetic Reverie
~Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right~
.
It takes less than five seconds for her to realize that Minato has fucked up. It takes approximately ten seconds for ANBU to step in. Tsuyuko knows this because she counted, once her eyes opened and she realized what exactly had just happened she expected them to come. She would if some random women appeared in front of who she knows is a child jinchuriki.
Violet eyes with bright red hair, Minato's facial expressions, but known for either of her parents shining light. Mitomi. The girl is smaller than she should be, years of neglect have done that to her. She is guarded in a way that no child should be.
"You wrote the kanji wrong." Tsuyuko tells her evenly as an ANBU operative appears before her. Silver hair spiking out over their mask. Her heart aches for a moment.
For all the pain that these poor souls have gone through. Tsuyuko holds up her hands, showing she has no weapons.
"It's ok Dog, she's not going to hurt me." The small red headed child tells the masked man carefully. She looks around him and violet meets warning green. Tsuyuko smiles at the girl.
"I would never hurt one of my brother's children." At that declaration the girl raises her brow but nods. Dog does not stand down though, and in through the window slips another operative. A man in a badger mask.
Tsuyuko suspects who this one is but she does not know him. He unfortunately did not exist in her timeline. She was the responsible one for that, but she sadly doesn't care. Her sensei was a good man.
"My name is Nara Tsuyuko, I am a medical jounin specialist. I believe the young lady here has accidentally summoned me from a different timeline." Mitomi reaches out to grab the badger mask's arm, she tugs on his sleeve in what is probably the most adorable manner she has ever seen.
"Shishou." He shakes his head. The girl glares. Petulant, stubbornly, used to being dismissed and getting tired of it. Tsuyuko shakes her head.
"I am willing to allow Yamanak Inoichi to do a mind walk to confirm my statement. I would also like to have a word with the Sandaime. I am assuming that based on the childs poor appearance her father Namikaze Minato the Yondaime is dead, I'd go to bet her mother Uzumaki Kushina as well." Tsuyuko crosses her arms, she's done. She's seen enough. This will simply not do.
"How…" The dog mask continues.
"Because in my timeline those idiots are my family and very much still fucking alive. Now I will willingly go with you, I will not fight or try to flee unless you provoke me." You will regret provoking me goes unsaid but it is heard in the dimly lit room regardless.
…
Inoichi takes one look at the woman who had appeared in the Uzumaki's girl room and chills run up his arms. She's at least ten years older than he remembers but he knows it's her. The Sandaime has clearly recognized the woman as well, he dismisses the two agents who brought her. The Uzumaki girl stays, she'd tagged along because in reality she'd probably be the only one to know to fix this situation. His hair is standing up at the back of his neck.
An image of her lifeless form flashes before him. He has to bite back the bile that threatens to rise. A smile that haunts him always.
This version of her is not smiling. She looks livid, eyes alert with severe warning. She was not pleased in the slightest by the situation at hand and all her anger was directed towards the Hokage.
She'd always had a soft spot for children.
"You know who I am." She says through gritted teeth.
"Raida Tsuyuko, twelve years older than the one I knew though." Eventually the Sandaime speaks. But it doesn't quell the fire in the woman's eyes in the slightest.
"I assume that I'm dead here then, let me guess I died during the third war after being thrown into a ravine or some stupid bullshit like that. Which means Senju Nawaki probably died during the second war along with Hyuga Himura. Orochimaru-sensei had abandoned the village and is now evil." There is something about the way she says that last word, as if it had burned her. Inoichi is amazed though.
Her assumption is spot on. The Third tells her as much. The woman curses, before turning to the little girl and she actually apologizes to her. It surprises Mitomi as much as it did the rest of them it seemed.
She then turns to look at him. Thus far she had ignored him, but finally she glared his way. "I don't know what happened to you but in what fucking life would you let Minato's child live in this state. I'm sure the other child looks no fucking better. Why haven't you and your clan done anything? The Naras? The Akimichi? Minato was our family and you abandoned his children for what?!" Her words are sharp, they feel like a knife twisting in his gut. She turns her attention back to the Sandaime who was silent.
"How old is she? I can't tell if she's four or six and I need to know right this instant."
"I am six." The woman's expression flatten even more.
"You are the same age as my son then. I hope one day the two of you will be great friends. Now is the Uchiha clan still among the living or have you ordered their massacre old man?"
"Excuse me but I think you have said enough Raida-san." At that she snarls, it's deadly, intense. People always forgot that she was Orochimaru's student first. She could be every bit of a predator as him. Tsuyuko was not afraid to do what was right.
"It's Nara and let me make myself very clear here. You may be the Hokage but I could remove you from that chair without lifting a finger. Your Tsuyuko died and I am not her. I have lived through two wars, I was trained by the sannin all three of them, and right now I am extremely pissed off. You have pissed me off. Now answer my fucking question. Do the Uchiha still have their eyes?" The killer intent radiation off her is shocking, their Tsuyuko had never.
But this was not their Tsuyuko.
It is at that moment a wormhole opens and out peaks a very tired looking Minato. Older than he last was. He becomes tense in an instant. "Tsu.." His voice instantly snaps her out of her rage; she looks at him with such tiredness.
"Mi-nii this is a version of that story." Is all she says but he seems to know what she's talking about and steps out of the wormhole that closes behind him. He looks around the office, scanning until his eyes land on the tiny girl that Tsuyuko is standing protectively in front of.
Mitomi. "Mimi-chan come here." Because he has never seen his daughter look that way before and he doesn't like it at all. She hesitates but compiles after a moment and he scoops her up and holds her very close.
"Whatever she just asked you, you should probably answer." Minato says after a moment, he's tucked Mitomi's head under his chin and is cradling her. She's too light, he is not happy.
"She asked if the Uchiha still had eyes." This world's Mitomi mumbles. Minato turns his head to regard the Sandaime closely.
"I don't know you would have any indication that they wouldn't still have eyes." He finally mutters, words chosen very carefully. Mianto speaks when he can see his sisters beginning to lose her shit.
"Because Hiruzen-sama, if she's asking that question in the first place it means that Shimura Danzo is still among the land of the living and that is terrible news. Considering the Danzo from our world was convicted of treason for starting a third shinobi war and making plans to usurp your seat. Luckily Orochimaru-sama and the other sannin were able to fish out his treachery early on before he had a chance to further corrupt the leaf village." Minato turns to look at Inoichi, his eyes are not nearly as sharp as Tsuyuko's works had been.
"I am assuming that by the way you keep looking at us we're both ghosts here, which would explain why my daughter looks the way she does. Shikaku would have never forgiven me if something had happened to Tsuyuko on my watch. Yamanaka-san please go get the Nara clan head and the Uchiha clan head. I wish to speak to both of them." Minato then sent one last look to the Sandiame who had not yet moved from his chair.. As if he could, Tsuyuko wouldn't let him go anywhere.
Her high levels of spiritual chakra had meant she was able to learn the Nara clan's famous shadow technique. Missing spleen or not. She was effectively one of the most powerful shinobi he knew.
"I don't have to listen to you. You are not the Hokage here." Minato turns back to give Inoichi what he hopes is a very disappointed look.
"I am now. Kakashi I can feel you lingering, be a good apprentice and bring my son here." Minato fucking eye smiles at the ceiling. Tsuyuko snorts from her position.
"How did you change everything?" Mitomi has peered out from under Minato's chin and her godmother gives her a kind smile.
"I told the truth."
"I hadn't considered that." Tsuyuko nods at her, Mianto is not entirely sure what that means but he trusts Tsuyuko to.
"Why would you have? They never made it seem like you could. Mitomi-chan in order for the truth to be told there must first have been trust. You have no reason to trust them, I had no reason not to trust my sensei." She tells the girl very seriously.
"Do you still trust him?" The Sandaime actually asks. Tsuyuko frowns at him.
"With my life. I'm half tempted to hunt him down here." Minato offers her a forlorn look. He knew how much she missed him.
But no one here would understand that sentiment.
…
Shikaku is gritting his teeth so hard his jaw hurts. You would too if you were looking at a ghost of a woman you loved and the ghost of a friend you had lost holding the current Hokage hostage in his own office while cuddling two children. It was unnerving.
"I want Shimura's blood." The imposter with Tsuyuko's face hisses as she glares at the Sandaime over the head of the Yondaime's son. The imposter Minato rolls his eyes at her but it seems less friendly than it should have been
"Tsu…"
"Everything that sensei did in this timeline was sanctioned by that monster and yet sensei is the villain here. That is not fair. Sensei deserves fucking better than that, these children deserve better than that, we both know who the real fucking villian is here. Look what he was about to get away with doing to the Uchiha!" She's seething. She also pointedly doesn't look at him at all.
Minato pins her with a look. "Is it vengeance or justice."
"I don't fucking care Minato." And that is a very Tsuyuko thing to say.
"Tsuyuko, we need to help them fix their mistakes so we can go back knowing that they will have a better chance for a peaceful future." She scowls at him but relents.
"Fine. Everyone is here now." Minato finally looks at the small party of people that he requested.
No one looks entirely happy to see him, but he's not surprised. This is not a version of him they know. Unfortunately for them they were just going to have to listen anyway.
"Why can she use my clans technique?" Because it's been bothering him this whole time and Inoichi had done very little elaboration on the situation when he went to fetch him. All the blonde had managed was that Uzumaki Mitomi accidentally opened a gateway from another timeline and out came Tsuyuko. Minato had followed on his own accord later, he guessed looking for his sister.
"Because my husband taught it to me." She bites back, a mixed expression on her face.
Either she met another Nara or.. They were married in her timeline.
Which just proved to unnerve Shikaku even further. This was so many shades of wrong. Especially since she kept looking at him like he was the bad guy here.
"So how long are the two of you going to hold us hostage here?" The Sandaime draws them all back to the present. Minato had put up a barrier as soon as everyone he wanted arrived. No one was technically going anywhere.
Tsuyuko shrugged.
"I sent messages via summons to both of the Sannin who still have allegiance to the village in your timeline once they arrive we will discuss what is going to be happening to Konaha from here on out. Exactly how my children are going to be treated. And what needs to be done to prepare for the dark horizon in front of you." Minato says all of this with a shrug.
"I thought you wanted there to be a peaceful future Minato-kun."
"I do, but unfortunately for the lot of you there is an ocean of shit you're going to have to swim through first. Mimi-chan could tell you what your future has in store, but that depends on if you trust her or not." Mitomi who was enjoying snuggling with her father far more than she should have looked up at him.
"Like Tsu-baa-san did for your timeline?" He nods. She sinks back into his chest, she was going to have to think about it.
XOXOX
Just a fun little AU because I am having writer's block over the last 500 words I need to write for the next chapter of BDYD? This popped into my head so I went with it. May continue… May not..
Thanks for reading!
~LaRae