AN: So, I want to thank everyone for reviewing. Here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it.
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Meddling In Fate.
Chapter 4: Root Of The Decision.
Ottery St Catchpole;
Year 2006:
A woman no taller than five foot five stood at a table laughing at her best friends story. She had long messy-wavy black hair, pale skin, and beautiful wide emerald green eyes behind thin red framed glasses.
"Seriously?"
"You should have seen his face," Hermione commented, and Ron sighed while rolling his eyes.
"You two shouldn't team up on me, it was an honest reaction," he said. "Vi, you weren't that much better when Teddy was a baby in your care."
"Hm, I didn't adopt Teddy until he was nearly a year old," she said, smirking. "I also knew how to take care of a baby. I did a little babysitting when I still lived with the Dursley's."
"Yeah, but for the first month he was in your care you were completely freaked out," Hermione pointed out, smiling.
"I suppose, but I just pegged Ron as someone who would take the news better, considering how big a family he comes from. I mean he was nearly two when Ginny was born, weren't you?" Violet said, and Ron shrugged.
"Not really, Ginny was born in August, my second birthday wasn't until March of the next year," Ron said. "As for the news, I am exited now. It was just a shock. We've been trying for years... we assumed it just wasn't going to happen for us."
Violet smiled, happy for her friends. A smaller part of her was feeling the opposite. She had Teddy, who she saw as a son, but sometimes she wished she had what Hermione and Ron did. They had each other, and now they were expanding on their family.
After so many failed attempts at love, twenty-six year old Violet was nearly ready to throw in the towel. Hermione noted the sadness hidden beneath Violet's smile and felt for her best friend. Fate had never been kind to the raven haired girl.
Even after the war the only happiness she found was with her friends who were all paired off now, even Ginny was married and expecting a child of her own. Violet only had herself, a few house elves, and Teddy.
"So when are you due?" Violet asked, and Hermione placed a hand on her lightly swollen abdomen.
"They believe around mid-October or early November," she said. "Actually we wanted to ask you something while you were here."
"That's right," Ron began, grinning. "When the baby is born, we want you to be the godmother. If it's a girl we want to name her Rose Lily, after you, if it's a boy we haven't really decided yet."
Violet Lily Potter stared at her friends in surprise, before a wide grin broke out across her face.
"I would be honored."
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Present Day (Year 1233 AC);
September:
She made it back to the safe house, which was actually just a cave close to Tanzaku-gai. There was a river close by for needs such as laundry and water, situated in a small clearing.
It was somewhere no one really wondered into, and Sachi had with the help of Seina placed a genjutsu up. It would work as a ways to confuse anyone who knew of the place.
They'd walk right past it without realizing it, at least a civilian or low ninja would. Someone who was skilled in genjutsu probably wouldn't be fooled for long. The cave was protected by Uzumaki barrier seals, only someone with knowledge of seals or an Uzumaki could get through them.
It may seem almost like she was being too paranoid, but it was how her parents had raised them. To always be aware of their surroundings, that there was no such thing as too prepared.
That it was better to be safe than ambushed or dead, but when they were very little their parents would say ambushed to spare them some gory details on what 'dead' meant. Sachi already knew, but Karin was much more innocent minded than Sachi had ever been.
She had been correct to assume her sister was becoming restless. She'd never been gone for so long before. Two weeks at the longest, anymore than that and Sachi brought Karin with her while she travelled for supplies and new places to hide.
They spent at least four months of the year in what was left of Uzushio, but usually not until the the fall when the storms weren't quite as bad around the island. Karin was only eight (her birthday being in mid-June) and was the surprise child her parents hadn't known they wanted.
Obviously the two looked alike, being sisters. There were differences; Karin's chin was slightly more pointed like their mother. Her nose a bit more upturned, and hair a shade lighter but still just as brilliant as any Uzumaki, much like their mothers.
Karin's hair was somewhat asymmetrical, like Sachi's own, but was also straighter – at least on the right side. Sachi's red hair was a shade darker, and asymmetrical in the way that the left side was somewhat shorter than the right – but that was in part on purpose.
It also had a similar unkempt quality to it, like Karin's and their father... but the longer it got the more tamed it became. Even so Sachi was happy to find it was nowhere near the unruly mess the raven locks she'd possessed in her first life had been.
The resemblance didn't end there, but neither did the differences. Sachi had ivory skin a shade lighter than Karin, and her eyes were more doe-like with thicker black lashes, but still of similar shape to Karin.
She had small tear troughs inset next to her eyes, but they were hardly noticed much like the ones their mother had possessed, and Karin did not. Karin had once had the need for glasses, which Sachi had found a bit ironic, but she had worked hard to gain control of her ability enough to heal the vision problem her sister had.
Karin had always been self conscious of her glasses, and Sachi knew her parents worried Karin would be caught by enemies without them. She was practically blind without them after all. So when Karin was five, Sachi had used her special chakra ability to heal the damage to her eyesight.
It wasn't as difficult as regenerating missing eyes, but it also took a bit of time and chakra to do. There were exceptions, she couldn't heal someone's eyesight if said person were blind from birth.
It also wouldn't matter if she gouged their blind eyes out and regrew them since they would grow back identical to the ones before – ergo blind (the only exception was if they were blinded in an accident). Despite no longer needing glasses, Karin still wore the black framed glasses, but the glass inside them was just plain glass.
It was simply a way to make opponents underestimate her, and she had a thin blade hidden inside the frames. Like her sister she wore somewhat brighter colors. A lilac kimono top, with black obi, dark red skirt, black shorts underneath, black shinobi sandals, and a dark red and lilac track-like jacket.
Her hair was much shorter than Sachi's thigh length hair, falling to the nap of her neck which made it seem spikier and messier on one side while it fell slightly longer on the opposite and completely straight. Instead of their mother's green eyes or their father's pupil-less dark violet, Karin had inherited the pupil-less red of their paternal grandmother.
Sachi waited a while before bringing up the Hokage's offer to Karin. The smaller redhead was already upset at how long she'd been gone, leaving her to have to cook her own meals which one of Sachi's panther summons would catch.
Without a fire affinity Karin would have to rely on the civilian ways of making a fire to cook any meats (she hadn't gotten that far in training though, so having a fire affinity wouldn't have helped her anyway). Sometimes Sachi swore her sister was bipolar with how her moods changed.
More than wanting to give Karin time to cool down, Sachi had wanted to think it over more herself. She hadn't exactly been in the best of mindsets when the offer was given. She had been low on chakra, seen a massacre, nearly died a few times because of some masked man, and only ended up making a new friend she might never see again.
The thought of having a home again was very appealing.
"I thought you were against settling down in any shinobi village after mama and papa?" Karin asked one night as they sat around a small fire for dinner, adjusting her glasses and brushing a strand of bright red hair out of her face.
Sachi sighed as she pushed the rabbit stew around in her bowl.
Though they did odd jobs around close by villages for a little money, most of their food needs did come from the wild.
The vegetable were bought with what little money they had, and sometimes they'd eat at the cheaper restaurants in villages they passed through, but mostly Sachi cooked everything they ate. Usually any meats came from whatever Seina or another summon caught.
Karin was right though, in part. She'd been more than wary of the other villages, especially Iwa since it was their shinobi who had killed their parents. She'd been told since she was young that ninja could hardly be trusted completely, unless you knew them well enough to give them your trust.
Konoha was the only village her parents had any good words about, and Suna was a place they were uncertain about. Understandably her parents didn't trust shinobi of Iwagakure, Kumogakure or Kirigakure as they'd been part of Uzushiogakure's destruction.
Sachi understood somewhat how these villages were run, so she had been against joining any of them after they were left on their own. Instead insisting the nomadic lifestyle was good enough, it was hardly different than life had been before.
Even Konoha though had its darkness, the Uchiha Massacre was one of the big ones. The fact they had been unable to help their cousin village in its time of need being another. Sachi was wary of Konoha for the fact they had ordered the killing of an entire clan, but she didn't know the full story.
Surely there had been plans to settle it peacefully which had fallen through. Apparently someone had sabotaged the last attempt if Shisui's situation was anything to go by.
Truthfully all she had to go on was what had slipped out, what she was told and had pieced together. From what she did understand she couldn't fault the Hokage for protecting his people, more life would have been lost than what was had a civil war been started by the Uchiha.
She had already decided there was no threat to her and Karin in Konoha, as far as the Uzumaki being massacred (if two people could be called a massacre, she was pretty sure it couldn't). the Uzumaki had always been a peaceful unless pushed clan. They were also unyieldingly loyal and family oriented.
"More like extremely wary," she corrected, a ghost of a smile on her face. "The Hokage gave me the offer and then did nothing to stop me, an Uzumaki and valuable asset, from leaving the village. I believe we can trust him at least."
looking up at the stars she continued. "Since mom and dad we've been wondering on our own. If you'll agree I think joining Konoha could really give us a home. Mom and dad would have wanted that I think, but I didn't want to agree without talking to you first, Imouto."
Karin smiled, inspecting her older sister who commonly wore her emotions on her sleeve around her. She'd always looked up to Sachi. She was older and a prodigy... it showed with how wise and capable she was.
For two years they'd taken care of themselves, or more like Sachi had shouldered everything in order to take care of Karin who was only six when their parents were killed.
At times though Karin was a little envious of her sister. Sachi had no need for glasses, though neither did Karin any longer thanks to Sachi. Sachi was better in the shinobi skills taught to them, she had a level of skill with the Adamantine Sealing Chains that Karin didn't.
Karin had an incomplete version called Adamantine Attacking Chains.
Karin did have budding skill as a sensor though, but Sachi was also a skilled sensor, and had a form of special chakra she couldn't hope to match even with her healing bite (which was not an uncommon ability among her mother's side of the Uzumaki clan family tree).
In Karin's mind Sachi was also prettier, she learned quicker, and was smarter.
Sachi wasn't naive to her sister's insecurities, though why she had such self confidence issues at eight was beyond her. She reassured Karin that everyone was different and that she just learned differently than herself.
The two sisters shared a strong bond, even if Karin thought Sachi was overprotective at times. Sachi had her flaws and weaknesses, even Sachi acknowledged this. She was reckless, blunt, temperamental and secretive at times.
She could either trust too easily or not enough. She was also brave, imaginative, kind, bold, protective and sometimes abrasive with a saving-people-thing.
It was almost like she was compelled to help those in need, which was how they commonly got their money by Sachi offering up her healing skills.
She rarely used her special healing ability if the village was close to a hidden village though. She didn't want rumors of a miracle healer running around.
She was once more outgoing, more naive before their parents died though Karin had been young back then. Sachi had kept some of these traits but no longer wore them on her sleeve. She still enjoyed a joke and or good prank and loved to laugh.
Not all were good traits to have but they weren't bad either. They made her who she was, then and now. Karin herself was similar to her sister, but calmer to an extent. She was more thoughtful before she acted, a bit more cunning and ambitious.
She wasn't all that into practical jokes (but what she didn't know was even in this life the Marauder spirit had followed Sachi), but she was temperamental and a little eccentric.
Slowly she began to smile.
"I guess having a home wouldn't be so bad," Karin said.
Sachi smiled cheerfully at her sister and nodded. She had hoped that Karin would warm up to the idea.
"Did you asked about dad's cousin... I mean did you see her or..." Karin trailed off, unsure how to ask about the possible family member still alive.
Sachi frowned, eyes narrowing and she sighed. She had meant to ask, but truth be told she'd been so out of it when she'd been brought before the Hokage asking about a cousin once removed was the last thing on her mind.
Uzumaki Kushina had been the heiress of the clan before a very respected former heiress, who had married Senju Hashirama to further tie Uzushio and the Uzumaki as allies of Konoha and the Senju together, had asked for one with very special chakra to come to Konoha to live.
With great hesitance and discussion amongst the clan, Kushina was sent.
Kushina had been her father's first cousin, Kushina's mother being Uzumaki Jin's aunt – the sister of his father. They had been a few years apart, and Kushina had been more like a younger sister than cousin.
When Kushina was sent to Konoha, as the younger brother of Uzumaki Kotone who was the current clan head with her husband Uzumaki Ryūsei, Uzumaki Kenshin's family took over and Jin became clan heir. He obviously hadn't gotten to be clan head for long.
Uzushio fell when he was barely twenty-two years old, and recently married to his wife who was a few years younger than him at nineteen.
They had survived the genocide, but in the end any survivors were separated in either the panic or by choice. Jin had thought of finding Kushina, but felt she was safer in Konoha and he was positive that was where she was. He never tried to find her.
"I didn't," she said regretfully. "At the time Kushina was the farthest from my mind. She's probably still there though, we can ask the Hokage when we head that way."
"Sure, I hope she's as nice as papa said..."
She grinned, assured her sister she probably was and took her now empty bowl from her.
"I'll go down to the water and wash the bowls," Sachi said.
Karin nodded, and drew her jacket closer to her body. The night was unusually cold for September and being in the Land of Fire. Unlike her sister Karin wasn't any good when it came to cooking. She remembered watching both her mother and sister cooking all the time when she was younger.
Sachi had tried to teach Karin, but the younger girl just had little skill with it. Sachi was practically a natural, but that came not only from her mother teaching her to cook, but from memories of cooking in her first life.
Seina lay next to the log her sister had been sitting on, her head resting on her folded paws. Sachi had begun storing the left over stew and cleaning the large pot she'd cooked in. Two storage scrolls of medium size laid beside her.
All her scrolls were attached to her waist and lower back, or stored in her pouches and sealed inside seals inked onto her arms only to be noticed when she put chakra into said seals. It was convenient and a little less bulky than a backpack.
Karin leaned back where she sat to get a better view of the stars in the rather clear night sky above her. She didn't take note when Seina's head raised up, her red eyes narrowed. Seina surpressed the growls raising in her throat. From the stiffening of her summoners shoulders she thought Sachi had sensed them as well.
"Young one, go join your sister," Seina ordered softly.
Karin looked at the large panther startled, but had long sense learned not to argue with her sister's bonded summon, or any of the Panther clan to be honest. She'd known them her whole life. Before her sister had signed the Panther summoning contract it had belonged to their parents.
'Hime, we have someone watching us... more than one I believe,' Seina thought through the telepathic connection the Panther clan had with their summoners.
Sachi's first instinct was to jump up and react, but to her credit she did little more than glance up from sealing the bowls into a scroll. She placed the scroll back into the hip pouch on her left side (she had another on the right as well, along with a slightly smaller than normal medical pouch at her back).
Discretely placing a hand on Karin's arm she watched as a small seal array spread across it, and Karin's wide eyes looked up into her sister's calmer green eyes.
"If something happens, push chakra into the seal," she muttered and Karin slowly nodded, forcing tears back from her red eyes. Hadn't their mother said something similar? 'If anything happens you take your sister and you run!'
She stood up, turning her back to the stream and feigned some surprise when a cloaked ANBU appeared from the tree-line. Their chakra signatures were so hard to feel even for her she reasoned the strange ninja were highly skilled in hiding it from sensor-types.
It was commonly something taught to those who specialized more in stealth and assassination. Seina growled, crouching low to the ground with her teeth bared.
"Uzumaki Sachi, Danzō-sama demands your presence."
She raised an eyebrow. She didn't know who this Danzō was but she already didn't like him.
"Who are you?" she asked, falling into the basic Uzuken stance (Uzuken, meaning Vortex Fist, was the Uzumaki clan taijutsu).
"That is not something you need to know. You and your sister will be..."
Sachi didn't let the weird ANBU say anything more. She allowed Seina the chew toy she had been begging for. Either the ANBU didn't see Seina, which she found hard to believe since even in the dark Seina's ruby red eyes nearly glowed, or he or she didn't care to see the Panther as a threat.
Maybe they didn't realize she was a summon, she wasn't much bigger than an average panther, still being young within the panther clan, and she had not made any actions common of a summon yet. Other than to talk to Karin, and they may have not noticed that she'd done so so quietly.
It was hard to say the ninja's motivations, but it was the last mistake the ANBU made. While he was able to avoid his throat being ripped out for the moment Sachi had no doubt Seina could handle a ninja. She had been trained very well and was very adapt at the panther clans fighting style which was being taught to Sachi slowly over time.
She pivoted on her right foot, drawing her white handled tantō as she did so. Swinging out with such precision the ANBU behind her barely raised their own to deflect off the slash that would have ended his life. With their blades crossed Sachi took the second to call out to her sister.
"Karin, go now!"
She noticed with some panic the ANBU coming into the clearing. Shaking slightly the younger redhead had no choice but to do as ordered. She pushed chakra into the seal placed around her arm and disappeared before any of the Root ANBU could do anything.
Sachi let out a small sigh of relief as she kicked the one she had locked blades with back into the stream.
"Two down!" Seina called back to her summoner, her large dagger-like canines stained by blood.
"Follow Karin, Seina," she told the summon, and placed her tantō back on her lower back above her medic bag.
Her green eyes darted back and forth between the remaining ANBU surrounding her as Seina disappeared from the clearing with some hesitance. The panther trusted her bonded summoners call though.
Sachi couldn't say for sure what village they were from, but these ANBU looked eerily similar to the ones who had been with her and Shisui to the storage temple. She doubted this had anything to do with the Hokage, since they had mentioned someone by the name of Danzō. There was also the fact there was differences between these ANBU and the ones who she'd met.
Starting with the glimpse of red under their cloak. She'd seen the ANBU armor of Konoha and there was nothing red about it. The masks also seemed a bit plainer.
"Six to go," she muttered, and attacked the Root ANBU closest to her.
She kicked out, intending to take the ANBU's head off with her fire chakra imbued kick, but her foot sailed over their head in a fiery trail.
As her foot touched the ground she had already raised her left arm to block a second attacker. Apparently they were not willing to let her fight them one on one. Ducking and weaving through the rather synchronized attacks from the six remaining shinobi, she cursed when some of them proved faster than her.
They were skilled, definitely worthy of their rank.
Sachi made only a little progress as the seconds turned to minutes. She was given hardly any room to form a plan of attack other than hand-to-hand combat. Some had blades, which made it more difficult for her, and she regretted putting her tantō away.
The only reason she had was because she wasn't very skilled in kenjutsu, she was better with taijutsu.
She knocked one off their feet by severing the Achilles heal with wind chakra, and knocking another back a few feet with a flame covered fist. She still had four on her, and she was only able to avoid two before one sunk their fist into her gut seconds later. An elbow from another of them rammed into her back.
She slammed into the ground face first and gasped at the heavy foot that crashed onto her spine.
"Hurry, place the seal..."
Sachi groaned, the bruises forming over her body and the cuts which were no more than annoying flesh wounds. It would all heal by the next day, leaving her without a scratch, but now she had to get out of this. She couldn't allow whatever this seal was to be placed on her. She refused to have her freedom taken from her.
As one of the ninja got closer to her in order to place the seal she released her chakra chains. The one practically on top of her got the worst of it, ending up nearly shredded by the silvery-gold chains.
They were usually like any other of the clan. She'd become so adapt at them since she awakened them that she could change them subtly.
In battle the chains could change from the normal variety, to a more deadly version. These had thorns running along the length of the chains, like the stem of a Rose. The kunai tips were also more crescent moon shaped than straight.
The one keeping her down was nearly ripped apart as a result, while those too close were seriously injured. She pushed herself to her feet more sluggishly than she meant to. Only one remained almost unharmed by her chains, having reacted in time to avoid them.
The others were either wrapped up in her chains or impaled on them. Sachi wiped blood from her brow, grimacing subtly at the pain when she brushed against a rather deep cut on her forehead.
"I don't know who Danzō is, but I wont allow you to report back to him," she muttered, having already gone through the hand seals needed for her jutsu. "Kuchiyose: Kage no Totsugeki (Summoning: Shadow Assault).
Her chains faded from the dead ANBU, dropping their bodies to the ground as the one still standing readied for an attack, yet it took him a second to realize his mistake. He turned in time to see two panthers a little bigger than a pony lunging at him from the darkness (and though the technique used the word for shadow, technically they were summoned through the darkness of night).
One latched onto his throat, the other onto his shoulder. It was bloody to watch, and she had to force some bile down. She'd been forced to kill before, bandits mostly, and of course there were a few occasions from her first life, but she wasn't quite so used to it as she let on.
She had cursed death and any other deity she could think of for not letting her rest in peace, but it was hard to stay mad when she'd been given this second chance to have a family in a way she never got to in her first life. She had grown to accept it, and was actually rather thankful for her new life.
She just prayed that this was an once in a lifetime opportunity, she didn't want another lifetime after this one ended (which would hopefully not be for a long time, she didn't have a death wish). Once it was over, and Sachi was sure she was alone she sunk to her knees and sighed deeply.
She had cuts, a few deeper gashes and bruises which were already steadily healing. She could go about healing it herself soon enough, but she barely felt these wounds in her adrenaline. Her chakra wasn't greatly spent and was quickly climbing back up to where it always was.
The two panthers came to sit before her. Both were a beautiful dark blood red, almost like the Uzumaki hair. One had golden eyes while the other had silver – the sun and the moon – yet both had silver diamonds on their forehead like all those in the panther clan did.
Hikage had been her father's bonded panther and the one with the golden eyes (Hikage being a bit of a pun on his golden eyes, since Hikage could translate to 'shade of the sun').
Hikage's sister was the silver eyed panther; Amatsuki (which could be translated as 'heavenly moon'). She was her mother's bonded summon. They had continued to watch over Sachi and Karin and work with Sachi to honor their fallen summoners. They were also rather fond of both girls, having known them since birth.
"Ya called for us, brat," Hikage said, grinning in the only way a panther could. Blood still stained the panthers teeth and she grimaced slightly at the sight.
"Don't be so uncouth, brother," Amatsuki said, shaking her head. As if she hadn't just helped tare a man to pieces.
Hikage snorted, and Sachi chuckled at the siblings antics.
"Drag the bodies into a pile, I need to rest for a moment before we head towards the Uzumaki Clan Storage Temple. Seina and Karin will be waiting there."
I hope, Sachi thought as she took the seconds she had to rest and heal herself. Her back was killing her when she moved or breathed and she was pretty sure that ANBU had broken something when he'd stepped on her, or sprang, either way it was a hindrance.
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Karin stared at the darkness of the storage temple, and then at the demonic looking mask on the wall and shivered. Her eyes filled with tears and she took off her glasses in order to rub them in an attempt to stop any from falling.
She didn't know what to do. Her first thought was to go back and help her sister, but she had no chance of ever defeating a trained ninja, yet at least. Sachi trained her after their parents but Karin didn't learn as quickly as Sachi could.
Next she decided she could either stay where she was and wait, or she could get help. Konoha was close by, but it was already getting late. She didn't even know exactly where Konoha was! She supposed she could use her sensory to find the closest gathering of ninja.
"Cub, are you alright!" Seina's frantic voice interrupted her thoughts and Karin was extremely relieved to see the panther.
"I'm fine," she said. "We've got to do something though, Seina! We have to help Aneki!"
Seina looked at Karin with thoughtful eyes. She understood Karin's worry, she too was worried. She'd seen just how many ninja Sachi was against. Her only advantage was that they seemed to underestimate her.
They didn't appear to know much about her abilities, but other than the ability to heal, use the Uzumaki Adamantine Sealing Chains and sensory skill, even Konoha didn't know what to expect as far as ninjutsu, taijutsu, or any other skill went. The same could be said about the ninja attacking them though, Sachi had no idea their skill-set either.
Seina had a feeling whatever was going on had to do with Konoha, maybe not the Hokage himself, but Konoha was the only place they'd revealed themselves to. Seina decided then, that she needed to get Sachi help. Even if it meant taking the chance of trusting Konoha despite her suspicions.
"Fine, but when Sachi-hime finds out don't blame me if she gets upset," Seina said, sniffing proudly before lowering herself to the ground. "Get on my back, I'll get us to Konoha in no time."
Karin grinned, and scurried onto the panthers back. In seconds the two were flying through the forest headed towards Konohagakure, the moon high in the sky. Karin couldn't get a good look at anything, and her hair though short at only shoulder length flew around wildly, hitting her in the face obscuring her view even more.
Seina was one of the fastest panthers in her clan, it was her claim to fame she supposed. Seina was very proud of her speed as well. What would usually take longer, only took five minutes before the gates of Konoha came into view.
At the gate were two chūnin – at least she assumed they were. They wore flak jackets that reminded Karin a little of the light blue one her parents kept in their possession even after Uzushio's fall. One appeared to be asleep, but was quickly woken up by his partner.
Said boy – he hardly looked much older than her sister – came to stand in their way and Seina was forced to slow down and come to a stop just outside the village.
"State your name and business here," the chūnin said.
"You've gotta let me in! My sister needs help! I have to see your Hokage!" Karin was practically yelling, her eyes wide and pleading, and speaking so quickly she wasn't even sure exactly what she said.
"Wow, hold up kid. We can't just let you into the village..." the second chūnin, a boy with dark hair and eyes, same the the first.
Seina growled, eyes narrowed dangerously. They told both chūnin one thing, the two were entering the village and they would see the Hokage.
"My ward here is Uzumaki Karin, my summoner is Uzumaki Sachi. The Hokage will know who I speak of, as will Uchiha Shisui. I do not care which we see, but you will bring us to either your Hokage or Uchiha Shisui." The 'or else' was left unspoken but both chūnin got the hint.
With a sigh the first nodded and waved them inside the village. He told the others to stand guard while he took them to the Hokage.
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Sachi stood to her feet a few minutes later, Hikage and Amatsuki having finished piling the bodies together several seconds prior.
As she tried to figure out her best course of action, her first thought being to burn the bodies, she sensed a very familiar set of chakra signatures. Two felt like ANBU who she'd met after the Uchiha Massacre, and the last was more recognizable as Shisui. Her eyes widened and she turned in time to see them bursting into the clearing.
The three of them came to a stop. The two ANBU were Dog and another with longish brown hair – she didn't exactly know which mask his was, the masks the ANBU wore was sometimes hard to distinguish with an animal. The ANBU was male though.
Dog made some hand-signs and the other went to inspect the bodies, Hikage and Amatsuki had already returned to the home of the panthers prior to their arrival.
"Sachi, are you alright?" Shisui asked, scanning her for any injuries and Sachi smiled.
"I'm fine. I already healed myself," she said. "Why are you here... how..."
"Your summon and sister arrived in the village and told us what had happened," Dog said, turning his attention to the redhead. "Hokage-sama sent us out soon after. You're sister has a very good memory to be able to direct us here without actually leading us here. Your summon, Seina, she decided to stay back with your sister."
"Karin came to Konoha?" she asked, surprised by the revelations and then snorted. "I should have known she wouldn't stay at the temple until I got there."
"What happened?" Shisui asked, looking around at the area. There weren't much evidence of ninjutsu having been used, but there were signs of a battle. The bodies looked to have been through a lot, and he was impressed Sachi had handled at least six ninja on her own.
"Karin and I have been staying in a cave not far from here. We come here to have dinner, we'd just finished when Seina let me know we were being watched. Usually I have a genjutsu around the area, but they were able to see through it..."
"It's easy to see why," the brown haired ANBU said, coming up to them. "One of the bodies is a Hyūga. Captain, it's definitely Root. Danzō must have gotten word of Sachi-san somehow."
"Danzō," Sachi echoed, a look of recognition on her face. "They mentioned him, I assume they worked for him."
Shisui's eyes flashed, not liking that the old war-hawk had gone after his friend, and he did consider Sachi his friend. Despite how little time they'd spent together, and how little they knew about each other. It had only been a week and a half, and he knew letting Danzō believe he'd won anything was a bad idea.
He'd told the Hokage they should strike fast, before Danzō got to arrogant believing he got away with anything, but Sarutobi believed they needed more time to put a case together. The one thing Shisui couldn't completely get behind with the Hokage was his lack of action when it was most needed. His belief that the village was a democracy when it was actually meant to be a dictatorship.
Though he agreed that a kind leader was what was needed, there was a time for second chances and a time for taking care of threats to the village.
Even without a complete case against Danzō the fact Shisui had told him everything he knew of Danzō's activities, especially how the man had taken his eye and placed the village in danger by not allowing him to finish his mission, should have been enough for him to be executed for treason.
"I take it he isn't good news," Sachi said, seeing the fleeting anger pass through Shisui.
"No, he's not," Shisui said. "Dog take care of the bodies, bring a few back for further evidence against Danzō. Whatever that warmonger is trying to do, it ends now."
Dog nodded, the silver-gray haired man having not seen Shisui like this before. Determined, angry, the emotions were rather fleeting and he didn't bother trying to read them all. He simply knew there was no point in arguing.
Being protective of his friends was just apart of Shisui's personality, and he knew enough to know that even if they didn't know each other well, Sachi had saved Shisui's life and the lives of many children in his clan.
"Is Karin alright?" Sachi asked as they headed for the Leaf Village.
She was a bit concerned with Karin in Konoha, now that she knew for sure the ninja who attacked them were Konoha ninja. She was smart enough to realize they didn't answer to the Hokage, just as this Danzō person seemed not to. She doubted the Hokage had anything to do with this if the fact he sent backup was any indicator.
In the end her decision was made; She'd put her trust in Shisui not to lead her or Karin into danger. She would give Konoha the benefit of the doubt until she got the full story.
"She's fine. I had Seina take her to my place and set her up in a room," Shisui said. "You can stay the night and figure out what to do tomorrow."
Sachi smiled. "Thank you. That offer the Hokage gave me, it's still open right?"
"Of course," he answered, feeling a bit hopeful which surprised him. He didn't normally form bonds so quickly.
"Good."
That was the end of the conversation, and the two quickly caught up with the two ANBU running ahead of them.