Out of the Ashes

Chapter 17

Alley Oops

After we got to Tsunami's house and she let us in we dumped Kyuketsu and Kinoe in one of the rooms they were giving us for the duration of our stay. Then Bu and I, as the only fully conscious members of the team, got down to business. We sat at the dining table with Tsunami and Tazuna and while Tsunami tried to stuff us with the little food they had, Bu and I brainstormed. The conversation started out pleasant before Bu and I had to break the bad news to Tazuna.

"That's not how hunter-nin work." Bu explained to Tazuna with a grave face as we mentioned Zabuza and Shinju were probably going to come back and fuck us up, "They don't take the bodies. They destroy them."

Tazuna looked between Bu and I and sighed, "We must continue work on the bridge. When your sensei wakes up then I'll discuss things with him."

And I kind of agreed. I looked at the meager feast Tsunami had tried to celebrate our arrival with. Their household was a higher class in Wave so they had more food than some of the poorer people we would surely come to see. Tsunami had a good amount of rice she was rationing and some vegetables and fish they had drying to preserve. These well off people were starting to struggle and that meant people in town were probably dying of starvation.

"Sensei should be fine when he wakes up." I said, kind of brightly, "His bloodline is known for high vitality."

"Really?" Bu asked as he made sure to finish the rice Tsunami had given him as extra, "I thought those chakra chains were his Kekkei-Genkai."

"The Uzumakis were a very talented clan." I shrugged and the conversation ended. After a dinner that was kind of depressing from the lack of basic meats and spices (I had to try my hardest not to gag through the meal. My burned taste buds needed the strong spices!) Bu and I sat outside on the porch. We didn't want to wake up our teammates and the night air felt great. Tsunami's house had a special air about it that made the night feel tranquil. There was the sound of the crickets chirping and the smell of saltwater permeated the air for probably half a kilometer inland. It wasn't a terrible smell. In fact, it smelled fresh and delightful.

As we sat off the edge of the porch, Bu looked up at the sky then at me, "Kind of reminds me of our last C rank mission."

I hummed, "I guess so. We should probably take turns keeping watch tonight."

Bu agreed. But we both stayed up staring at the sky and letting our bodies soak in the cool night air. Eventually Bu stood up and cracked his back. He stretched out his arms and told me he'd take the shittier watch before heading inside to sleep before I woke him up in a couple of hours. The shitty watch was always the middle one. In this case since it was the two of us, the shitty watch would be second watch since that would require waking up beyond early. It was easier to take first watch since you could fall asleep right after it. The real shitty watch would be any watch not first or last since you had to be woken up and then sleep again.

I meditated and let my chakra sense be my watch. If I tasted anything threatening or unusual then I would go wake up Bu and we would try and take care of it. Note the word try.

Fushicho leered at me from the darkness. Only her eyes were visible in my imagination. Both glowed red, "You're pathetic."

I ignored her. She cackled when she realized that I could not only fully hear her, but also see her. She knew I was aware.

"You know I'm right Veronica. You couldn't get a shot in at Shinju. That entire time you just got smacked around." Fushicho giggled, "Want to feel it?"

As if Fushicho had prodded my arms I could feel the soreness in my bones. I blocked Shinju's kicks purely from instinct and trained body memory but my arms took a beating. If I wasn't a clan born child I could have ended up with both my arms broken from her kick. Chakra enhanced blocks against chakra enhanced kicks cancel things out and they just become a blocked kick. If I hadn't been born an Uchiha my chakra control wouldn't be good enough to enhance my body without a thought towards it.

I felt bad for civilians. No wonder Sakura went the medic way, she could heal any damage taken to herself. Her perfect chakra control not only let her enhance her abilities to the point of being able to shatter the earth but also let her body survive that. There were levels of enhancement, you see. Jonin's bodies are almost always in a state of enhancing themselves with chakra. Their chakra jumps, their chakra dashes, their blocks, their accuracy, their punches, their kicks. Jonin can handle fights against each other without immediately being shut down because their bodies can handle being thrown through trees, creating impact craters, and other extreme conditions.

Bu, Kyuketsu and I were ahead of civilians because our bodies were born knowing what to expect. My body was ahead of both of the boys from me being the child of the head of the Uchiha clan. Before I even knew what chakra was and how to control it, it could protect me. Momma could have tossed me onto the floor as a baby and I would only be bruised instead of dead. Kyuketsu was next in terms of his ability to tank. He had the automatic defense like me, but his chakra was slower. He had to actually realize a kick was coming and mentally prepare for it. Bu was only a third generation shinobi, assuming his father was a civilian. His mother and his mother's parents were shinobi. Bu had to train, and no doubt this was the first thing Onna ever trained him in, to learn how to protect himself. But compared to a first generation shinobi, Bu had easy training.

Long story short, there's a reason the fights in Naruto are drawn out. Our bodies can naturally defend themselves if you're an equal strength opponent. That's why there's genjutsu and ninjutsu. That's why there's weapons. Without that shit it would be impossible to fight an older and larger opponent. It's also why speed is very important. Sometimes you can be faster than someone's chakra. If you catch them off guard then you can score an awesome hit on them. So, Lee pretty much could beat my ass into the ground without his weights.

That's why the sharingan is awesome. It picks up on threats and directs my defensive chakra as if it had a mind of its own. That's why in the beginning Sasuke is a great match for Naruto. Both of them can shrug off hits because Naruto has Kurama and Sasuke, when he gets his sharingan, will have an easier defense. The two can go at it and shrug off power hits from each other.

"More bullshit for you." giggled Fushicho, "Won't you use your natural strength?"

I glowered at her within my mind's eye, "I am. But not in the way you want me to."

"I want you to burn the plot to the ground." Fushicho cackled quite gleefully.

I rolled my eyes and focused on sweeping the area with my senses. Fushicho finished cackling and whispered, "Although, looking at where you are now... the plot is already starting to go up in smoke."

I pulled myself back to reality as I felt Kinoe's chakra approach from inside. He slid open the door and stepped out quietly. He took a seat next to me and let his legs hang over the side of the porch. When we got to Tsunami's we ended up taking Kinoe's jonin vest off and his lab coat, leaving him in a tshirt that I was willing to bet he wore as pajamas.

"Hey there, Hime." Kinoe greeted me quietly but lowly.

I nodded to him, "Yo."

"What's our battle plan?" Kinoe wondered without mentioning how he felt after falling unconscious, "Do you want to do that meeting in the woods?"

"I'm not exactly friendly." I retorted, knowing he was talking about Haku. Kinoe chuckled and agreed. I was most certainly not friendly.

"I'm going to leave Bu here to guard when it comes time. He can take the thugs easily and hopefully spark fighting spirit." Kinoe said. We both looked up at the sky and Kinoe reached over and ruffled my hair. He grinned when I gave him an irritated look.

"We're going to try and keep them alive." Kinoe told me brightly.

I nodded, "What effects could that have?"

Kinoe shrugged, "Whatever they are, we're going to suffer from the unknown regardless. The future we are sure of is changing and we'll be just ordinary people again."

"We'll never be ordinary. Not when we know who the villain is." I huffed. I looked off into the woods and swept the area again with my chakra.

Kinoe agreed somberly, "We'll never be completely normal."

Kinoe offered to take watch for me and I shook my head, "Go rest. You passed out earlier."

"Who's the doctor here, Hime?" Kinoe asked me playfully. I rolled my eyes but he did end up going back inside to sleep after bidding me a goodnight. When my eyes started to close on their own and my chakra was starting to drag from scanning the area I decided it was time to switch with Bu. I didn't count the hours but I had spent quite a few on watch. I crept through the house quietly and opened the room Bu and I were sharing for now. We left Kyuketsu and Kinoe in another room so they could rest without us disturbing them.

When I entered the room I blinked in surprise to find Kyuketsu resting easily against the window. I hadn't seen him in pajamas before so it was odd when Kyuketsu turned from peering out the window and faced me head on. Kyuketsu was actually growing up to be rather handsome. His eyes were narrow with a very soft shape to them. They were different from Bu's almond shaped eyes with thick eyelashes that, in certain light, looked like a very deep magenta. Kyuketsu's eyes were almost pure black in the darkness but the warm tones that always looked brown through his tinted goggles were still the red I saw that day in Bu's house. Kyuketsu had a beauty mark by his right eye and without his goggles and hood his curly hair seemed to levitate just above his eyes.

Kyuketsu wore a onesie, by the way.

I stifled a giggle and Kyuketsu, seemingly knowing what I was laughing at, rolled his eyes and quietly, so to not disturb Bu, murmured, "This is a battle suit."

"Yeah. Okay." I snorted. I approached Kyuketsu and did a sweep with my chakra to make sure nothing was trying to creep up while I switched with Bu.

Speaking of Bu, he was hugging his pillow tightly and wrapping his legs around it. Bu was clearly a cuddler and he was still a very deep sleeper.

I woke up Bu by lightly pushing him with the ball of my foot. Bu's eyes opened quickly and he scanned the room before relaxing and sitting up. He saw it was me. Bu pulled on his gear and told me to sleep tight and not to worry while he was on watch. Kyuketsu scared the life out of him by telling him, with a completely straight face, that he would worry while Bu was on watch.

"When did he get in here?" Bu gasped with a high pitch in his voice as he jumped out of the door. I had to give him credit, he landed completely silently despite his surprised jump.

Kyuketsu shrugged. Bu left for watch and I took my bedroll out of my pack before rolling it out at the end of Bu's. As I tossed my gear next to my spot Kyuketsu watched me from the corner of his eye. It wasn't until after I was snuggling into my bedroll did Kyuketsu speak again.

"Thank you for carrying me."

I smirked, "I could have dragged you. You're welcome though that I didn't."

I fell asleep watching Kyuketsu stare out the window with moonlight illuminating his deep crimson eyes.

.

The morning came faster than I wanted. I woke up in cold sweat as a pair of red eyes chased me through my dreams and Fushicho sat to the side, watching with a sinister amusement. I had outran my shadows that night and woke up tired. Kyuketsu eyed me when I entered the kitchen where he was helping Tsunami prepare for breakfast. I was pretty sore but the more I moved the more my muscles loosened up.

"Wash your hands." Kyuketsu demanded of me when I went to steal some of the minced vegetables.

I frowned, "Health nut."

"Alive." Kyuketsu corrected for me, "You didn't sleep well."

I shrugged, "To be expected."

Kyuketsu tsked and mumbled something about him bringing the book he had been reading to find a solution to my nightmares. I washed my hands and then stole some of the vegetables I had been aiming for when I walked in. Bu straggled in after awhile and we all sat down for breakfast when Kinoe ambled in from outside. According to Bu, he fucked off somewhere earlier this morning.

During breakfast Kinoe and I tried to have a conversation of our own with our eyes, but that didn't work. So after breakfast Kinoe and I met up while Kyuketsu and Bu were getting ready to head to the bridge with Tazuna.

"So, try and keep them alive." murmured Kinoe, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah." I nodded.

Kinoe sighed, "I have a plan but first I need to know if you can use your sharingan for advanced genjutsu."

Yeaaaaah, no.

The look I gave him said everything. Kinoe shrugged, "I expected that response. Okay so that part isn't going to work since no one on our team is going to be able to genjutsu the hell out of Gato's men while also convincing Zabuza and Haku, at their stronghold, to give it up. Also, that woman. Shinju you said her name was? Yeah, she's going to be a problem."

"What's the next part then?" I demanded, bewildered that Kinoe even thought that plan could partially work.

Kinoe grinned, "We give parts to people. You can be Sasuke. Bu is Naruto. Kyuketsu is Sakura, but better. Clearly I'm Kakashi."

"I dunno, you're missing a sharingan." I said dryly. Kinoe thumped my head lightly.

The door swung open and Kinoe started to mess up my hair as Bu trooped out with a disgruntled Kyuketsu behind him. Kyuketsu forced something into my hands and I blinked at it in confusion. The thing he gave me was about the size of my hand with wrinkled orange-ish skin. It didn't look very appealing in all honestly. It kind of resembled some kind of fruit.

I nodded slowly, "Okay, I'll bite. What kind of fruit? And why?"

Kinoe was actually able to answer this, "Ah, you've been reading up on home remedies for nightmares, Kyu-Kyu?"

I looked at Kyuketsu in surprise and he turned his back to me, "It's daidai."

"Daidai?" I repeated, staring at it. Living in the elemental nations was kind of weird because everything was an Asian variant. In regards to the fruit that I had seen, we had strawberries, apricots, apples, peaches, pears, cherries and grapes. Then we have a fuck ton of things I had never heard of in my first life but Kinoe, who was apparently a seasoned traveler in the old world, explained they were Japanese. Daidai were apparently a Japanese fruit. There were also a lot of spices missing but the mixed Asian culture seemed to have a lot to make up for what I was deeply yearning for. Side note, I would probably murder someone for a pizza. Also they don't eat pork often which was making me want to kill for a nice pork chop with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and applesauce.

"The fruit of longevity. Typically they're not eaten, but some old wive's tales suggest they keep nightmares away if you eat them dried." Kinoe suggested, "Try it, Hime."

I made a fatal mistake and took a large chomp out of the dried daidai. I immediately started to choke as the overwhelming bitter taste took over even my burned sense of taste.

"What the fuck?" I spat through it as I forced it down.

Kinoe chuckled, "Daidai are very bitter but are used in medicine for the digestive system and as an expectorant." In other words, Kyuketsu gave me herbal medicine against my will. The little bugger tricked me.

I glared at Kyuketsu who wasn't bothered in the least by my genuine anger that he would give me such a thing. Kyuketsu stated, "The book states the bitter taste will wash away the bad spirits causing your nightmares."

"It washed away my goddamn taste buds! Where did you get this anyway?" I demanded as I shoved the rest of the daidai at Kinoe. Kinoe wrapped it in a cloth and stuffed it into my pack, much to my displeasure.

Kyuketsu pointed at Bu who sputtered, "I asked what he found in the book for your nightmares and well... there was that. I asked Tsunami-san and she had a bunch since these things don't go bad!"

I rolled my eyes at Bu and turned to Kinoe, "Enough of this. I appreciate that you guys care... I guess, but don't feed me bitter shit without, you know, warning me?"

Bu agreed and was very apologetic. Kyuketsu gave a short apology but was rather apathetic to the situation. I bet in his head he was already planning his next idea to get my nightmares to go away. As for Kinoe... he laughed all the way to the bridge about how my face was still puckered up.

.

The first day was absolutely boring at the bridge. I sat guard and got to watch Bu and Kyuketsu be enlisted by the workers to carry things. Kinoe went to the village to provide better medical care for sick peasants than the town's actual doctor could. The second day Kinoe brought us outside Tsunami's house and looked at our tree walking, then our water walking. He stuck us back on chakra running in which we still weren't perfect yet.

The third day is when things were set in motion. Kyuketsu woke me up at an ungodly hour and decided I absolutely had to come with him on a hell mission through the forest because he read about herbs that could potentially create a sleeping drug. Despite my protests Kyuketsu dragged me outside and this woke up Bu, who followed us after dragging his gear on. That was why we found ourselves stomping through the forest with the sun barely up one morning. There was a light fog that was starting to disperse because on especially damp mornings in Wave, it got really creepy from the fog that rolled in off the water. I imagine it's probably similar in Kiri, except Kiri probably literally always has mist and fog.

"We're looking for this." Kyuketsu suddenly announced as he shoved a book into my face. My only response was to passive-aggressively yawn at it while Bu muffled his snickers. Kyuketsu wasn't bothered by our clear lack of interest in his mission. I did look at the page though and we were looking for long, thin plants that looked kind of like green wheat. As we trooped through the forest the sun started to come up and eventually we came across the clearing Kyuketsu was apparently looking for.

Bu shrieked when several large spiders emerged from the trees and climbed into Kyuketsu's cloak, "Spiders!?"

"Don't you remember he's an Aburame?" was my response while Kyuketsu gave not a single fuck. Instead Kyuketsu knelt and started to lay herbs in a basket. Bu swiped Kyuketsu's book and started to look through it for other useful herbs, as Bu's feminine side was taking over and he was pretty interested in what herbs could do, and he started grabbing other plants.

"That's poisonous." Kyuketsu hardly even looked at him.

Bu yelped, "Gah!"

I looked over the herbs with distaste as I remembered the few kunoichi classes I attended in the academy. I was mostly excused for a lot of them as I made a deal with Kakashi I would be less of a little shit if he got me out of them. He warned me I would probably need to take remedial ones when I got older and had to learn seduction. I'll get out of that too when I make it there, don't you worry.

"Beautiful, aren't they?"

I jumped at the feminine voice next to me and I tasted the chakra to find it was Haku who had appeared. I mentally prepared myself to Naruto the fuck out of this. I casually observed the plants in front of us. They were... green. Some of them were colorful. Some of them had flowers, too.

I shrugged, "I guess? Not much of a plant person."

Haku nodded and knelt down to begin picking at the same herb Kyuketsu was gathering for his obsession with my nightmares.

"So what are these?" I inquired, picking up one of the herbs and twirling it in my finger. Haku watched through his eyelashes.

"This is valerian root. The variant that grows in wave is especially potent and do not grow flowers." Haku answered peacefully. I eyed the stalk and Haku yanked one out with the roots and showed it to me. I shrugged. Not really a plant person.

Haku suddenly laughed, "I appreciate you trying to show interest in the flora despite not being a, 'plant person'. Is it for your friends, over there?"

I looked over to where Bu was studying a reddish plant very intently. Kyuketsu leaned over to say something to him and Bu threw it on the floor, muttering something angrily. I chuckled and looked over to Haku. Haku looked at me with a distant look in his eyes.

"Fu! Can we leave? Stick-Up-My-Ass-san over here is making fun of me because I keep picking bad herbs!" Bu yelled. He jogged over and stopped in his tracks when he saw Haku sitting beside me. His jaw actually dropped and I swore I could see hearts in his eyes. But he shook himself out of it and rubbed the back of his head.

"Who's this?" he asked me while trying to brush off how uncool he had been.

I shrugged and Haku laughed, "My name is Haku. A pleasure to meet you."

"Fushicho. And this moron is Bu." I replied politely. Bu whined at being called a moron. Haku and I stared at each other for a moment and his eyes flickered from me to Bu for a second. The look in his eyes suddenly changed entirely.

"Fushicho-san, I would advise leaving Wave as soon as possible." Haku warned very lowly and very sweetly so that only I could hear, "Those with precious people may lose them here."

I gave a small smile and Bu stepped back warily when he saw it. He couldn't hear what Haku was saying but I leaned over as if I were picking a herb from the other side of Haku so he couldn't hear what I was going to say back.

I whispered, "The same threat stands for you, Hunter-nin-san."

Haku froze and his eyes darted to mine dangerously. I flashed my sharingan and Haku seemed to know not to start an immediate fight with me. Of course, that was just a neat decoy I had. I lifted the root I was grabbing for and held it in front of us easily, "Please try and leave. I understand those two are precious to you, Zabuza-san and Shinju-san, but sensei is a force to be reckoned with. Especially now that he knows who he's up against. If we fight again, I guarantee that someone will lose those precious to them."

I stood up and turned my back to Haku, hoping I had done enough and he wasn't about to stab me through my back. I held up the plant I ripped out and showed it to Bu, "This any good? Looks kinda nice..."

Bu snorted while eyeing Haku curiously, "That's poisonous. I did the same thing earlier."

I didn't discard the plant, instead I huffed, "Still pretty useful."

"Not for what I want it for." Bu retorted.

I heard Haku stand up behind me and I forced my body not to flinch when Haku put a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Then we will see whose precious people are lost, Fu-shi-cho-san." his breath tickled my ear like the wind. Then he gave a cheerful goodbye and bowed. I didn't turn to watch him go. Instead I felt the cold feeling of anxiety wash over me as my heart dropped to my feet. Something told me I just got a rival in Haku instead of an ally. I done fucked up, yes sir I did. How did I manage to make nice, calm Haku act like that? Man, I should have brought Naruto.

When Haku was gone, Bu immediately turned to me.

"That wasn't a woman." he stated first, as if it were the most important part of the entire exchange.

I shook my head, amused. Bu really should have been the Naruto in that situation. He even mistook Haku's gender.

"Not only that, but that was the hunter-nin, wasn't it?" Kyuketsu casually remarked as he strode up to us with his basket of herbs.

Bu made a scandalized noise, "What? I was going to say Fu looked like she was flirting with him but-but, that was the hunter-nin?!"

Bu and Kyuketsu both looked at me and I nodded.

"Same exact chakra. That was the hunter-nin."

Kyuketsu sighed, "We should inform sensei of this development."

And inform sensei we did. I gave Kinoe my super secret report and he sighed when I told him I probably made things worse. "Well, we'll just have to be super prepared." was Kinoe's tired response.

And prepare we fucking did.

AN:

Fushicho is not the most eloquent person ever. If you check my deviantart I put up a portrait of Fushicho! Kyuketsu is next (:

I'm not too happy with this chapter but it's not the worst chapter I could have done. I wanted to add some world and character development.

Oh and Happy New Year! Yay!

Fun Fact: Bu gets super hype over a lot of things and likes learning. Fushicho also likes learning but tends to get pretty frustrated and bored quickly. Kyuketsu is Kyuketsu.

Thanks to the following for reviewing (:

Moonacre BunBun
Thomas Drovin
RimK10