Dreams about rats, mice, guinea pigs and other kind of rodents that thanks to Shiori's advice he now used in his experiments, rose along with him like air bubbles, when Orochimaru slowly emerged from the black abyss of sleep. Recently, he valued the most a few short moments directly after waking up. It was when solutions were popping up. He suspected that some parts of the brain were awake at night, working on the problems of the previous day to present him the results as soon as his eyes opened in the morning.
Now, however, there was only an inhuman racket coming from the door. He grimaced. Someone clearly decided that either the door would open or they would come inside with them but… it shouldn't be happening! Besides his two moronic teammates no one dared to haunt him in his own home. For the fuck sake, even they would think twice before doing it, knowing his nonexistent morning temper! Ninety-nine percent of the population of those cretins in the Village probably hadn't even thought he had a home; apparently assuming that at most he occasionally hibernated in some cave on the Konoha's outskirts.
And so Orochimaru's brain erased the noise that his ears couldn't possibly hear.
Nevertheless, the persisted sounds bounced off the walls, not giving up.
He swore. The chakra responsible for the absurd uproar was more or less familiar. The snake sannin slipped his feet out of bed and without looking, reached into the nightstand. One yellow eye opened and with undisguised irritation glanced at the clock. He groaned. It was nine. He slept two hours. Two hours more than yesterday or the day before.
He stumbled across the room, plotting the bloodiest murder his brain was capable of at the moment. Crushing his tormentor's head with the clock held in his hand, seemed highly adequate to the situation, if he just could start thinking straight and not fall asleep right away. Accomplishment of unlocking the door was accompanied by an ominous growl that greeted the potential beheaded corpse. However, the anticipated terror proved to be in vain.
"Orochimaru-sama!" Not so much the loud voice backed him from the door thwarting his vengeance, as the body that pushed him inside.
Kushina blinked. The man looked like he just came out of a whirlwind. His usually gelled locks stuck up as if hit by lighting, repeatedly. The Uzumaki woman began to open her mouth, but luckily for her, closed it without comment. Orochimaru's face saggy like wet cement materialized centimeters in front of her, surrounded by a black, thick cloud of doom and gloom.
"Orochimaru-sama?" this time her voice was barely audible.
"What, on earth, do you want, woman?"
"Well…" the kunoichi didn't know what to expect when she marched into the legendary sannin's apartment the first thing in morning, but certainly it wasn't seeing him barefoot in lilac, satin pajamas, embodying the best example of a no-morning-person she had ever seen. It was totally incomprehensible, but she couldn't forget that she was there for a reason. "It's about Shiori-chan."
"Of course it is." the man mumbled, trying to brush away some hair from his eyes. "What did she do this time? Maybe blew someone up, or better herself?"
"She didn't do a thing and that's the problem. Yesterday, after Minato and his team left I was afraid she will start crying or something but she was ok. At least until we returned home. She locked herself in the room and had been staring at the ceiling ever since. She didn't even come out for dinner."
"She haaaaasn't ate anything since yesterday?" He asked yawning. He had to admit the news were slightly disturbing.
"Not at first, but later in the middle of the night a strange noise woke me up. It was Shiori-chan. She sat on the floor devouring everything in the kitchen, even my instant ramen. She hates ramen!"
"Give her some dango" mumbled the sannin and slowly started to move towards the bed. He knew from experience that dango was the best solution to almost all problems associated with the little redhead devil.
"But…"
"Then give her a lot."
"I have already tried, but she doesn't want any!"
Orochimaru halted in half a step before he could toss himself again in the depths of bedsheets.
"She what?"
"Please, Orochimaru-sama, help me. That's unnatural. She's scaring me, dettabane!"
The man blinked, trying to understand the implication of her words. Even in the half-sleep state his brain began to send odd sensations. It was something resembling some of this stupid sentiments, especially akin of concern and worry… his common sense had to be far more gone than he thought. But on the other hand, he knew Kushina wouldn't give up easily, and he really wanted to go back to sleep as soon as possible. The fastest way to do that was submit to her idiocy.
"Ok."
Ω
A lost civilian boy cried for his mother, an Inuzuka girl frantically searched for her missing dog, merchants screamed out deals on the top of their lungs to attract clienteles, who desperately tried to bargain for the lowest prices. Konoha's market was a place that was always flooded by the sea of people. Some could think that in the time of war it would be empty, but it was the opposite.
Citizens of the Land of Fire liked their ability to breath and in the sake of maintaining it, they fled from the rural areas near the frontlines to safer places; and aside from the Capital, Konoha no Sato was the safest place in the country. Hokage greeted refugees with open arms, especially considering the fact that those who managed to get there weren't the poor ones but rich merchants and farmers, who had brought with them majority of their possessions. Every ninja that went to the frontlines was replaced by at least three civilians. Such policy only increased the difference in prosperity between the Village and the surrounding lands; but during the war, it was one of hokage's smallest worries.
The ANBU sitting on a roof scanned the market with sharp eyes, disguised with a kingfisher's mask. He couldn't spot a single empty place between the stalls. The morning autumn sun mercilessly shone down upon the bazaar. Beads of sweat glistened on everyone's forehead, turning many faces flush due to the boiling heat. It was the warmest October in years. The salty stench of sweat mingled with the nose tickling scent of spices and the sweet smell of flowers emanating from Yamanaka's flower shop. All of these smells mixed together and gave the place a rather distinctive odor, hanging in the air from dawn to dusk.
Fortunately, he didn't have Inuzuka's sense of smell. Otherwise he would be nearly blind. To this post always was assigned someone with kin eyesight and analytical mind. Kingfisher was a proud owner of both these skills and, therefore, every day for more than three months, he covered the same position. It was monotonous but at least it wasn't boring.
The height of his days were nearly daily visits from two individuals that, however unlikely it seemed, always came here together. The first time Kingfisher spotted Orochimaru with a child, he was sure that the strange sannin finally showed his true colors and kidnapped the girl. The ANBU wanted to call in reinforcements, until he nearly fell from the roof, seeing as the small redhead fed one of the most dangerous people in the world with a stick of dango, laughing and bouncing at the same time. When he reported this to Hokage, the old man dropped the pipe from his mouth with an expression of horror clearly painted on his face, that after a while melted into confusion. Then the Third began to laugh so hard that a river of tears ran down his cheeks. From that day Kingfisher saw the odd pair almost every day.
What was more peculiar, with time he observed more changes. The snake sannin appeared here frequently even alone. Not only coming through, but actually buying things; more often than not - sweets. Shopkeepers weren't glaring at him, but smiling. It was obvious that nobody really terrifying could be seen in the company of someone as cute as the small, toothless girl. Because of the lovely item regularly sitting on Orochimaru's back, Kingfisher nearly spit on himself a few times, seeing women flirting with the sannin.
Nevertheless, none of it was as startling as the sight he was now witnessing. The Nine-Tails jinchuriki flew through the market like a scarlet comet, which tail was, however, not red but violet. After activating his byakugan the man found out that the purple thing was nothing else than drowsy Orochimaru, wavering helplessly like a flag in the wind.
The ANBU would rub his eyes if they weren't covered by the mask. He needed vacations. Very long ones.
Ω
In her previous life the reborn woman would have been pulling out the cork from the bottle of buzz, not caring too much about its content, as long as it could peel off rust from corrode metal.
She knew she shouldn't behave like that. She truly did, but in no way stopped overflowing her waves of terror. Ten tons of helplessness crushed her, squishing her insides like a really extreme ride on a roller-coaster. Her throat tightened so much that she couldn't swallow, not even talking about eating. She was able to only stare at the ceiling, imagining the most horrible atrocities the future could bring towards her. From the nerves and hunger the next misfortune that fell on her was a headache of the size of Pangea.
She wasn't so self-destructing to suffer it passively. The girl dragged her sorry ass to the kitchen to force some food in herself. The only problem was that when she started her stress fueled her hunger and she couldn't stop, until there was nothing else to eat in the whole house.
Shiori covered her face with a plushy toad. She would end mad long before any info from Kanabi reach the Village. And now once more Kushina entered her room, attempting to snatch her from the clutches of despair. The older Uzumaki could try but…
Something was wrong.
It was far too quiet.
A pair of golden pools peered out from under the frog only to bulge with fright. Before her stood the girl from The Ring with the white skin; long, tangled murky hair and air of upcoming death surrounding her. The ghoul moved slowly forward and collapsed like a log on the bed next to the paralyzed child.
Shiori opened her mouth to scream but a thought popped into her head. This ghost was way too large to be a young girl. Besides it smelled of hydro aldehyde.
The little redhead holding up a fluffy toad like a shield, approached the creature and brushed its hair from the face. The half-dead, pissed look was no less scary but at least it was familiar.
"Orochimaru-sama, are you all right?"
"Don't ask questions you already know the answers to, child. It makes you look far less intelligent than you really are." He mumbled into the mattress. "And now be uncharacteristically kind and go to sleep."
The man immediately began to flow again in the coveted land of dream, when he felt something warm and soft nuzzling into his side. The feeling wasn't unpleasant, but it was at the same time new and odd. He should never let anyone close to him like that, but it was different. He didn't know how but it was.
The next thing he recognized was the lack of warmth. He lifted the eyelid just to see the ends of rosy hair disappearing behind the door and heard slamming of the second one, most likely to the bathroom. Then something poked him in the arm.
"And what? You know what's wrong with her?"
Orochimaru wanted to ask what is wrong with whom, but he remembered where he was and why exactly he was here. He could say anything just to shut up the babbling woman standing over him.
"With Minato we knew she was traumatized after Uzu, she was just hiding it really well. He and Obito are great with her, always making her smile and forget, but I don't know what to do. She is afraid to lose everything again, I know, I was the same. Mito-sama helped me, but I'm not like her, dettabane! I'm not tender, patient nor understanding. Shiori-chan needs someone who she loves and now Minato isn't here and I…"
Kushina was on the verge of tears. Orochimaru could tell her the child loved her, but he really doubted it. He needed them both to disappear at least until Namikaze would come back. The child wasn't essential for his research at the moment, collecting data from implanted cells was an arduous task, that required silence. Something impossible to obtain with a nerve-wracked Kushina in the same Village.
"Take her somewhere."
"Excuse me?"
"Take her away from the Leaf. All her memories of Minato-kun and his team are from this place. The most optimal solution would be taking her somewhere, where she will be able to focus on other things than her worries. "
The woman hummed, drumming one finger on her chin, after which she squealed and locked him in a hug that could bend steel rods.
When the insufferable redhead was gone, the sannin felt a tantalizing desire to hide from the world thus he covered his face. After a minute he realized what he used to do so. Disgusted he looked at the huge pink toad.
A possessive roar echoed inside of him.
Shiori shouldn't had anything like this. It looked stupid, just like Jiraiya's moronic mug, and that was something unacceptable.
Ω
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
The girl puffed her cheeks. In a fit of dumb ideas Kushina decided to take Shiori, accompanied by two more shinobi, on a little vacation to the few old Uzumaki shrines outside the Village near the Capital and to the city itself; where the Festival of Dancing Leafs was just coming to an end. Because of that the reborn woman was now suffering her next voyage filled with hopping from tree to tree a la squirrel on crack, and holding back her earlier breakfast from returning to the world.
In spite of notoriously fucking her fate, the child regressed into one incredibly annoying donkey.
"Are we there yet?"
"NO!"
Kushina clenched her teeth. Shiori was infuriating! The whole way the kid was doing everything to piss her off, moreover, with excellent result.
The two fresh chunins had the fun of their lifetime. Yamashiro Aoba was openly laughing his head off and even Hisako, young kunoichi from Aburame family, was smirking at the older readhead's misfortune under her hood.
Shiori behaved properly only in Dead Mask's Shrine, after the woman scared the girl with a vision of Yori's spirit haunting her from the grave, because her granddaughter didn't give the dead due respect.
The child mumbled something about the old crone don't giving a shit about other dead people, but still she lighted an incense and prayed.
Shiori seriously didn't want to risk an encounter with the dead Uzumaki matron. If Edo Tensei was real so could be ghosts, and old, deceased kunoichi's shrieks weren't something her nervous consciousness looked-for right now. She even pried to whatever gods that had it in for her, so they would kindly stop messing with her life and put all their bias where sun doesn't shine. In other words, with a holy conviction of her anti-authoritarian inclinations she told them to suck it.
The biggest surprise awaited Shiori in the capital. It turned out that according to the Land of Fire custom, every heir of the clan had to be officially registered in the palace's books that were available to the public only twice a year – now guess what brilliant idea Kushina had. Yeap.
Normally this was done with a big fuss, but because of war and the nearly extinct status of their family, the old monk stared at them for only a second with a facial expression worth of a brick, before closing the book with a bang.
According to the rules - that Kushina hadn't bothered to read - the two last certified Uzumaki weren't a proper clan. They needed a few more things, for first other legitimate redheads. Kushina with blazing eyes was angry like hell. While Shiori just let out a short, resigned huff. The heir of the clan with no political sway, money, lands nor official allies or not, if Minato and Kushina ended dead, she would also be gone in no time. And now they lost half a day struggling with bureaucracy.
In such splendid mood their happy bunch of misfits watched the famous parade. And if something was capable to break two Uzumaki women from their temporary murderous tendencies, it was it. In the end, it was tradition. If one rich man or the other thought that they shouldn't do some things (cackling like a hen for example) just because they seemed ridiculous, ought to immediately go back home and be laughingstock for their less pompous brethren.
A lot of upper class gathered on the streets of the capital, with all their splendors. And there was nothing more stunning and shiny than an aristocrat dressed for an official ceremony (unless someone could find a way to puff a parrot - perhaps with a gaskets package and some gas?). But nobility had strong competition, since among other guests were councils of the oldest and wealthiest ninja clans. Shiori snorted seeing the old Hyuuga lady tense like a bowstring, glaring at an equally puffed Aburame woman.
"That's Shiriko-sama. She is quite nice, normally." Hisako clearly felt need to justify her family, who now looked everything but nice.
"Well…" Shiori swallowed a devoured piece of ikayaki. "I suppose an opportunity like this even in the best wakes a coxcomb."
Ω
"Stop laughing and just take them away!"
"Oh come on, Shiori-chan, they just want to say hi."
"You know where they can stuff th… KUSHINA, FOR A FUCK'S SAKE, STOP THAT!"
This evening situation in an inn in a small city of Nankoku, two days' road from Konoha, was as follows:
The single man in their group rolled on the floor, hyperventilating from cackling like a mad hyena. One woman sat speechlessly, trying to hide in her hood and high collar overpowering her face flush of mortification; while the other female was shoving hands full of bugs into the child's face. Mentioned child hung from the rafters on the ceiling, screaming.
Shiori had no idea how she could forget Aburame's special jutsu from hell, but she did and now she was paying for it. The reborn woman hated bugs. Put her on top of a skyscraper; she would spit on passers-byes below. Shut her in some dark, tight place; she would try to sleep. Give her a rodent, amphibian or a reptile and she would cuddle them to death. Show her an arthropod, especially with some chelicerae's and Pedi palps, and you would never see her again.
"Kushina, I swear if you don't stop, I'll blow off your tits and shove them down your throat! Mini-nii will be crestfallen!"
"This kid is the best!" roared Aoba, wiping tears from under his sunglasses.
"I don't know if children should speak like that, Aoba-kun? Why, because they will be even worse as an adult." Mumbled Hisako. Her clan was always alienated because of their abilities and symbiosis with chakra insects. Kushina's behavior for sure wasn't helping Aburame's reputation.
"It's Kushina-san brat and she is alright with it. Take it easy, Hisako-chan. It's just a harmless fun."
The somber kunoichi couldn't see anything harmless in making a child cry. Even if the child was as grumpy and rude as this one.
Suddenly, all laugh and shrieks stopped. There was an explosion and cries of terror from the outside seconds after a red halo appeared on the horizon.
"What the hell?" muttered Aoba, carefully looking through the window. "An attack so deep into our territory? How did they break through the border and come up here not alarming any patrols?"
Kushina swore. Her eyes immediately focused on the rose haired child, who hanging from the celling seemed to shrink and be even more tiny than she was in reality. The older woman took the girl in her arms. In that moment both Uzumaki were terrified; both for Shiori's sake. The demonic chakra and adrenaline coursing through Kushina's system was shutting down her logical thinking. She wanted nothing but to run and beat the living daylights out of the people responsible for putting so much fear in those golden pools.
"Hisako-chan, scout situation with your insects."
"Already on it, Kushina-san." Said the hooded kunoichi. "At least fifty assailants engaged four leaf teems, six miles on northwest from the city. One enemy squad broke through and is heading here. More chakra's coming from west indicates that the main battle takes place there."
Their forces near Nankoku was meager at best. The city was important because of its numerous, renowned forges, but at the moment the majority of shinobi stationed in the area were delegated to the capital. It would take at least two hours for reinforcement to arrive. They needed to help and protect the people – Kushina knew it, but the child's trembling form in her arms was her main concern. Heck, where was Minato when she needed him? She wasn't good in making decisions like this. Separating her heart's whims from things needed to be done. The worst was the knowledge that she indeed could make a difference. She could safe so many.
Swallowing her grief and fear, Kushina put the small, red bag over Shiori's shoulder and pushed her to the Aburame.
"Stay in the city and help the civilians evacuate. If they manage to get into town, go east to the Sora-ku. Aoba-kun and I'll engage the main forces and wait for support. And you," she grabbed Shiori's chin. "Listen to Hisako, do everything she says and for once in your life time don't be a brat."
After this the two of them were gone.
The reborn woman couldn't tell what exactly happened after that. She was being carried from place to place, surrounded by a lot of hurriedly muttered orders, screams and upcoming explosions. Some locals barricaded themselves in their homes, while others tried to carry as much as possible and leave the town, the rest fled immediately not thinking about anything but surviving.
And then the earth moved. It shot up to the sky, only to crush onto half of the street like a tsunami. Hisako jumped. People all around were crying and dying but the kunoichi as hell wasn't stopping for anything.
The reborn woman's eyes stayed glued to a one particular corpse no much larger than her own body. It was shattered under a boulder next to crying and screaming woman. In all her fears for the future, she hadn't taken into consideration anything like this. She lived already through one battle but it was different then. She knew it was coming. She knew every redhead she was familiar with in her first five years of life would die in one swift attack. She knew there would be fire and blood; lifeless bodies lying everywhere around. Then, she was prepared. Now she was not.
She tried to think of something, anything she could do when the world swirled in a blur of red and yellow lights. Her hiss of pain when she crushed into older woman, was lost under a loud bang of explosion. The next moment unfocused golden eyes met hovering over her kunai. The boy wielding it couldn't be older than thirteen and he was going to kill her. He wanted it.
But he wouldn't.
Insects flowed around his shoes like water at first but in seconds they were already over his knees and heading upwards. They weren't behaving like the harmless ones Kushina scared her with a few minutes ago. They were like some evil genetically engineered weapon. They moved too fast to be stopped. The small Uzumaki couldn't look away even when they reached his face, entering into his nose, ears and lips. Single uncontrolled jerk and muffled scream later and it was all over.
Shiori felt the insects through her cloths while they were coming back into Aburame's body. It was the most grossing feeling she could imagine, at least until a surge of blood covered her hair. Hisako neck was cut open and her body crushed the girl down.
The reborn woman came to terms with one fact. It was the end of her struggle. It was time to die- and then the aggressor disappeared. She didn't know if he missed her or thought she wasn't worth his attention. One way or the other he was gone.
For a moment she wanted just to stay there and don't move. She was tired of this world, of death and pain constantly looming over her head but when the ground began to shake again, her body alone decided and dig out under the still bleeding corpse and ran.
Sprinting she noticed a stranger wearing leaf's uniform, who jumped from roof to roof. He also noticed her but his face grimaced in indecision. The small, terrified girl was completely alone. He should help her, he wanted to do it but she would be nothing more than a burden and he already had his own responsibilities waiting for him in hotel room two streets away.
Shiori was sure he would ignore her but the man changed his mind in the last moment and swerved in her direction. It saved his life. If he had remained on the old course a millisecond longer, a sword would pierce him through. Konoha-nin released from the mouth a fireball as a distraction and threw shuriken precisely into his opponent's eye.
The girl blinked and then her vision was obscured by green vest before they shunshined. As could be expected her hero was awarded by her slightly predigested dinner, when they reappeared. Even if the man noted it, he didn't react. He sat her on a tatami mat next to a second child, who only looked at her blankly. All her previous thoughts vanished in the wind. Heck, and people said she had big eyes. This kid had huge. It was like looking into a set of black mirrors. The only disturbing thing being how calm they were. As if they weren't in the middle of battlefield but in a garden, having tee, chatting about the weather.
"Hello," said the child. Shiori thought it was a girl but she wasn't sure.
She tried to response but she couldn't. Her voice seemed to do what the rest of her body wanted and ran away. The pretty kid seeing this smiled reassuringly and took her hand.
"What now, uncle?"
The man glanced at them before going back to setting traps in the windows – whoever would want to enter that way would meet with bunch of deadly, sharp and nearly invisible ninja wire.
"I'll put genjutsu and a barrier seal around this room so it should be safe. You two will stay here no matter what while I'll go and draw away their attention. You will not go out, understood?"
Ok, that was one scary look. How could they possibly be related? The kid looked like a porcelain doll (he was even a little creepy like one), while the man not only had more brown than black hair, and completely different cheekbones, even his presence was everything but comforting. He looked just pissed. Well, the reincarnated soul was able to understood him. If she had on her head two imps while being in a warzone, she also would be livid.
After the absurdly calm kid nodded the man walked out and ostentatiously loud closed the door.
They sat unmoving, listening to the noise outside and a clock steadily ticking on the wall. Shiori's brain turned off. She could only wait for help and be comforted by a child. The kid probably was younger than she even without her previous lifetime. The reborn woman was pathetic.
Then the hell broke loose.
The building trembled but stood defiantly in face of elements raging outside. They had to be losing, if so many enemy's shinobi was able to reach the city. Shiori had seen it before. In time the enemy would see through the illusion, brake the barrier and come here. They would… The door burst open.
The small hand let go of her when the kid moved forward, kunai in hand. The first thing that crossed the threshold was smoke. The second one was the leaf ninja. He was limping and profusely bleeding.
"We must go! Now!"
Shiori couldn't move. The man seeing this picked her up and slowly started walking into fire. The black smoke flowed across the corridor, filling her lungs. The coughing was immediate just like tears that filled her eyes. Fire licked around as if meaning to play when something overhead crashed. The celling was falling.
Shiori didn't know is she was unconscious a moment earlier but now, when the golden pools looked at the word, they saw that the man was trapped under the wooden beams while the kid tried to pull him out.
'Don't be stupid, run!" The brown haired shinobi meant it to be a yell but his words were barely audible.
"I won't leave you."
"It's an order!"
They arguing was pointless. Fire was everywhere. They would all choke to death before they would burn; not even talking about running away. She would die here, once again… Oh, damn fuck this! It was a total bullshit! She hadn't died, was reincarnated in this freaking world, plotted against upcoming doom, was sealed for years and plotted all over again just to die here now!
The girl pulled out of the bag a scroll and unsealed her notebook.
"Hold your breath." She ordered, tearing out one page. It was just a prototype but they hadn't other options.
Shiori nearly activated the seal before noticing her companions were gawking at her with opened mouth. The girl forcibly shut the youngest's lips and glared at him with the best Orochimaru's impression she could muster. "Hold your breath, damn it! And you too!"
They both did it this time.
She just had to correctly calculate reach and… The seal shined with blue light before pressure dropped and the air disappeared. Lacking the fuel, fire went out in second. Deactivating the seal, air came back, filling the vacuum.
The girl examined the wooden debris. She couldn't use exploding tags without the risk of harming the man or dropping the rest of the building on their heads. She grabbed the kid and started tugging him to the exit.
"What are you doing? We need to help him." She/he protested.
"We cannot help him or sit here like some ducks!"
"She's right, Itachi-chan. You need to go."
All the reborn woman's being halted when her brain registered what heard her ears. She was in a fucking warzone with tiny Itachi Uchiha - the most tragic character in Naruto, over whose death she actually cried, reading this stupid manga!
The small Uchiha heir analyzed her arguments and decided that the odd girl was right. He grabbed her hand and dragged her still speechless form outside. Well, at least now Shiori knew that this doll-face belonged to a boy.
I know, I'm awful human being (plz don't kill me, at least not in some boring way). A lot of you wanted to see what's going to happen with Obito but I'm afraid you need to wait a little longer – the almighty plot requires it, you'll see.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks' for all yours comments, favs and alerts. It helps me immensely.
And as always HUGE thank you to the brilliant and wonderful angel that is mrsmiawallace88 :D
To the next time