Meddling In Fate.
Chapter 7: Of Bonds and Missions.
"You understand that you can't tell Naruto of his father, right?"
Sachi sighed, nodding her head in understanding. She understood now that she knew for sure who his father was, though she didn't have to agree with it.
"I do, but he'll need to know eventually, Hokage-sama," she said. "I request permission to tell him once he has matured enough in my eyes. By the time he is a chūnin if nothing else."
Hiruzen frowned for a split second before nodding. He did want to tell Naruto of his parents, not just his mother but his father, but with all the enemies Minato had. Iwa was just the tip of that ice burg. Naruto needed to mature first, to be able to protect himself better than he could now.
"I will permit this. Once he has become a genin I will also permit you to explain to him about the Kyūbi, until then be careful what you teach him in fūinjutsu, when it comes to the bijū in any case. I already know I can't dissuade you from teaching him fūinjutsu, it is the right of any Uzumaki."
"Thank you Hokage-sama," Sachi said, bowing out of respect.
If there was one thing she respected it was the fact Hiruzen was usually an honest man – unless it was an unrelated S-rank secret, in which case she understood it was not her business to know. He didn't sugar coat the truth, or hide behind manipulations or many half-truths. At least no more than any political leader of a village needed to.
Still, it was nice to know that while there were parallels between Dumbledore and Hiruzen, they were actually very different people.
"One last thing before you go, Sachi-san. I have the adoption papers here for Naruto. Once you've talked to Naruto and signed them bring them back to me. After that anything those who do not wish to see Naruto with a family will have no loopholes or the like to go through."
Sachi nodded, taking the envelope before she left the Hokage's office.
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Present Day;
Sachi yawned, standing behind the counter of her afternoon job. It was part-time, the rest of her time spent training, on missions (she did not take many at the moment, but the nations were having a rather peaceful time at the moment. If one didn't count the civil war in Water Country), or at home with Karin and Naruto.
Thanks to Tenzō the Uzumaki compound had been built and furnished with pluming added last within three months. That was with working for a few hours everyday, with only a few breaks. Thankfully the compound was small, so it didn't take the amount of time a much larger compound would have taken.
She'd become rather good friends with Tenzō in the process though, and she and Shisui were even closer as friends. Living together for so long probably helped. After the compound was finished she'd set about decorating, which she didn't spend a lot of time doing since it could be completed after moving in.
She basically painted what needed painting, put curtains where it was needed, and got the furniture where she wanted it.
With help it wasn't that long of a process, and Shisui and the children of the clan didn't mind lending a hand – well other than Sasuke who still didn't seem to like her much. She got the feeling he was still bottling up his emotions three months after the massacre and part of him blamed her for not saving his parents or other clan members. Sooner or later he'd snap, she knew because she'd been in the same dark hole once before.
The weekend after she, Karin and Naruto all moved into the main family house in the compound. It was moderately large, larger than many of the homes in the compound. Her favorite part was the large garden she'd started in what would be considered the back yard.
She had another garden deeper in the compound for mixtures not considered very safe, in other words herbs she could use for poison making or cures. She wanted them separate from the flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
As a house warming of sorts Shisui had even had a koi fish pond built for them in the back yard, sort of in the center of the garden, two wooden benches a few meters away so one could sit and relax. It was a large area, so even with all of that there was still room to train, not that there wasn't more area to train in the compound because there was plenty of room.
Her job at Yamanaka Flowers had been something she meant to be temporary, but Inoichi and his wife had convinced her to keep the part time job. That her hours could be negotiated around the time she needed to keep in shape as a kunoichi, run missions and spend time with her family. In the end she'd decided to only work Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Usually she worked from ten until three.
In the time since her arrival so much seemed to happen. She'd made acquaintances, friends, and even adopted her second cousin who she hadn't even known existed before she was told. Sometimes she got the feeling Naruto saw her more as his mother than his big sister or cousin.
It was in the way he looked at her when she told him about the adoption just days after meeting him (it had probably been about two weeks to the day). In the way he sometimes stuttered over her name, or stopped himself short of calling her 'Kaa-chan'.
She played it off as if she hadn't noticed to not further embarrass the boy, sooner or later it would come up. She didn't mind if Naruto wanted to call her 'Kaa-chan' instead of Nee-chan.
Naruto's eighth birthday passed, and she'd made him the best birthday cake she could. Though she could cook, baking had always been something she had to focus on very carefully otherwise it turned out like flavorless bricks. It seemed to have gotten worse with rebirth.
She'd made the largest pot of homemade Miso Ramen with extra pork that she could, and invited as many children as parents would allow to come to the birthday party of the village pariah.
Most were clan heirs from Naruto's class, which is where she'd gone to invite those Naruto's age and Shisui had helped her set up so all the Uchiha children had been at the party as well. It was a good thing she'd made a large cake.
Sachi hadn't seen Naruto as happy as he was that day, not even when she volunteered to help him with his homework and training. Steadily there was an improvement with his grades, but Naruto was someone who learned by doing better than anything. Written test and book knowledge would never be his strongest point, but she found that despite the way he acted he was far from stupid.
He was a very smart little boy, if he'd only been given the chance by his previous teachers. Iruka didn't have all that much time to give him extra help, and Naruto had never asked for help anyways. So used to his teachers trying to fail him by any means.
Shisui's birthday was eight days after Naruto's, and though it was less eventful she still made cupcakes, which she later presented some of to Shisui. She'd also given him a present, which wasn't much but she'd never been very good at giving presents.
Naruto had received a small photo album with a few pictures she'd found of his mother with the help of Kakashi and the Hokage. It also had a copy of the picture she'd showed him the day they met. There were also pictures recently taken of him, Karin and Sachi. Along with a few others.
For Shisui she'd put together a personal medical pouch with common cures for most poisons used, some common but potent poisons in both liquid and powder form but sectioned off from everything that would heal. The poisons had been added as a second thought.
The rest was extra bandages, tape, creams to promote healing and prevent infection, along with burn salves. Everything of which the common ninja with little to no medic-nin training would know how to use.
Shisui had been surprised she even knew when his birthday was, but it was thanks to Umeko and some of the other Uchiha children she still saw every other day if not daily that she knew when his birthday was. To be fair, she'd never told him when her birthday was either.
That changed after she'd given him his cupcake and present, so reluctantly Sachi had told him her birthday was on July 31st.
"Yo, you awake Sachi?"
Thick black lashes fluttered before opening to see a lazily calm Copy-nin in front of her. Standing up straight, she tried to act as if she'd never been asleep.
"Oh Kakashi, I'm fine just thinking about the past." She brushed her long hair back, annoyed at feeling only the bangs and side-bangs which framed her face asymmetrically.
She had the thigh length locks piled up into a high ponytail which wasn't common – even when on a mission she commonly wore it down or in a braid or bun of some sort, anything else just served to annoy her.
She had the habit of running her hand through her hair, and if it was pulled together than she couldn't do so easily. Pulling a few locks over her shoulder, she combed her fingers through it the calming effect was instant.
"Right," Kakashi said.
"What's up, you here for some flowers? I didn't think you were seeing anyone," Sachi said, and Kakashi coughed.
"No, uh just some flowers for some old friends," he said, and it only took a second for her to realize by old friends he meant dead friends.
"Oh... I see. So what sort of flowers are you looking for?" she asked, coming around the counter and leading him into the greenhouse area with most if not all the flowers. It was about time she watered them anyway.
"i usually just pick up lilies, but I have a few more people to lay flowers down for this year," Kakashi admitted. "The Yamanaka usually pick the flowers for me, I've never been much to care for meanings or type."
Sachi laughed, used to hearing this almost daily. Most who came in the shop just wanted flowers for their sick family, recovering family, or other loved ones. Of course there were those who needed flowers for a funeral or memorial. They tended to want flowers like roses or lilies, few asked for less well known flowers or flowers that would get across a certain meaning for them.
"Lilies are a good choice. May I suggest two others for you though?"
Kakashi shrugged. "Sure, why not."
She stopped at a certain spot and gathered some white lilies, an odd looking white flower that had a lily-like resemblance, and a very light purple color.
"I'm sure you know what a lily is. The other white flower is Asphodel, and the purplish one is Aster tataricus or more known as shion." she said before walking over to a table which was used as a work surface for putting together arrangements.
"What do they mean?" he asked, curious.
"Well, White lilies mean purity, shion means remembrance or I wont forget you. Asphodel is a bit more exotic I guess, maybe a bit more morbid – it basically means my regrets follow you to the grave. The mythology behind it is interesting though. It was said that thousands of years ago in a far off land it was thought to be the flower of the dead and underworld. It was often connected to a goddess, Persephone, who was tricked into marrying the god of the dead, she was said to wear a garland of asphodel..."
Sachi stopped suddenly as she realized she was rambling again. Her face heated up as she glanced from her work with the flowers to see Kakashi did not look annoyed but actually intrigued.
"Huh, I've never heard that tale before," he said. "Where did you hear it, If I may ask?"
She smiled, and said the first thing that could explain away a legend obviously never heard in the Elemental Nations.
"My mother told me, her mother told her... I don't really know how it began. Asphodel did grow quite well on Whirlpool though. Along with Iris', violets, and lilies."
Sachi had always thought that ironic, since her favorite flowers before and now were said flowers, along with lavender roses and forget-me-nots.
"I know that much at least. Kushina used to talk of Whirlpool often, though she had the same sad look in her eyes as well." Kakashi shook the memories away after a few seconds.
"Thank you for your help, Sachi-san," Kakashi said, having already agreed with her suggestion of flowers.
"It's my job, but your welcome," she said, walking with him back to the front of the shop.
The bell above the door rang. Sounds of feet and children entering let her know she had been too late to head out to pick Karin and Naruto up, and that her shift was over.
"Nee-chan, where were you? We waited for twenty minutes almost... well we went and got ramen after ten but..." Karin coughed as she stopped her little rant, a habit both sisters had when nervous or unsure what to say or do.
Naruto chuckled, grinning widely as he rubbed the back of his head. She sighed, shaking her head.
"You know ramen before dinner will cause you not to be as hungry tonight..." she trailed off, and placed the bundle of flowers on the counter, she went around and quickly got Kakashi the total for his purchase.
"Sorry Sachi-neechan," Naruto said. "I doubt it though, your food is as good as ramen!"
"Better than ramen in my opinion," Karin said, and Naruto's cheeks puffed out for a few seconds as he turned his narrowed gaze onto Karin.
"Take that back, Rin-chan!" he exclaimed, and Karin groaned at the mangling of her name.
It wasn't like she minded too much that Naruto had given her a nickname, but the one he chose was something she hadn't been called in many years. When she was still very young, she barely remembered her parents calling her that.
Kakashi's hand gripped tighter around the bundle of flowers held together by a white ribbon tied in a pretty bow. For a moment he wasn't the one getting flowers. Instead he was a child again, standing with his two teammates as Obito and Rin argued over what to have for lunch while Minato-sensei got flowers for his not-so-secret girlfriend.
It was rare the two argued over anything, but it wasn't unheard of either. They were trivial things though and hardly considered true arguments. He sighed, shaking his head. Usually he could ignore things like this, but Naruto had already reminded him of his teammate when he would be assigned to watch him.
Mostly it was the fact he planned to visit the graves of his former team and leave the flowers for them. He was always a little more emotional on those days. Sachi chuckled, and took the money Kakashi handed her, as if on autopilot.
She had noticed him stiffen for a few seconds before shaking it off. She didn't ask, it wasn't any of her business. They were hardly close friends.
"Inoichi should be in soon to take over. I apologize for not being there on time, I lost track of time." Sachi turned to Kakashi and smiled. "Have a nice day, Kakashi."
"Thanks, I'll see you around," he said, and nodded his acknowledgement to the two curious children.
"Who was he?" Naruto asked once the silver haired jōnin left.
"Hm, oh Kakashi? Just a customer and friend. We met through Shisui."
Naruto frowned at Shisui's name, before nodding. It wasn't like he didn't like Shisui, the two were somewhat similar in personality. His problem was how much time the man spent with Sachi. Karin was always teasing the two about their feelings for each other, and while he didn't understand some of it, he did know about crushes.
He wasn't sure he liked the fact Shisui might like Sachi more than a friend. It never occurred to his eight year old mind that Sachi may like Shisui as more than a friend as well.
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"Uzumaki Sachi, these will be your teammates for the mission," Hiruzen said to the shinobi he'd assembled in his office. "These are Shiranui Genma and Yamashiro Aoba."
"Hello," Sachi greeted with a light bow of her head.
The other two returned the greeting. Both were dressed in a standard Konoha shinobi outfit, complete with flak jacket. Genma had shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes, in his mouth was a senbon. Aoba had spiky black hair. His eyes were hidden behind red-framed sunglasses.
"You'll have to get to know each other another time, I'm afraid. This will be a B-rank mission. You'll be heading into the Land of Water. There has been talk of the civil war there reaching further than Water Country and into Fire Country soon. As you know we do have quite a few bloodline clans, so this news is troubling if the Yondaime Mizukage is truly thinking of expanding his war. I want you to set up in a village close to where the rumors originated. I will leave the specifics to you. You'll be gone for at least two weeks to a month so make arrangements if needed."
Hiruzen turned to Genma.
"Genma you'll be in charge of this mission from here. You will need to blend in as much as possible, we don't want the Mizukage knowing you're there."
"Of course, Hokage-sama," Genma said, before turning to his new teammates temporary or otherwise. They were all three Tokubetsu jōnin. "Meet on the roof for briefing in an hour."
Aoba and Sachi nodded, and bowing in respect to the Hokage the three ninja were dismissed.
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"Naruto, Karin I'm home," Sachi said, entering the front door of the rather traditionally built house.
It was still in need of some decoration, being rather sparsely done since it had only been a short time since they moved in, but otherwise already had a homey feel to it.
"Hmm, oh Hime you're home," Seina said as she lazed in the living room, her head barely raised off her paws as she opened her eyes. "The cubs are outside, Karin said she'd show Naruto how to make an explosive tag..." The pawn yawned, and closed her eyes again while Sachi paled.
The idea of Naruto knowing how to make his own explosions, the level of damage depending on how he wrote the tag, was a scary thought. Especially considering she hadn't even finished showing him how to make storage scrolls yet. It wasn't like they were that hard, they were rather basic fūinjutsu, but there was a reason giving an Uzumaki something that could explode usually ended in a large explosion.
Sachi herself had a very strong fire element, rare for an Uzumaki, and as such had no shame in admitting to being a little bit of a pyromaniac. She didn't know if it was an Uzumaki trait but Karin was the same, just like their parents had been. Chances were Naruto...
Sachi winced at the sound of a small explosion in their back yard reaching her ears. Exiting through the back she was met by the sight of a smoke cloud from the explosion and the younger two Uzumaki coughing in the middle of it.
"You let him set it off here?" she deadpanned once the smoke cleared, hands on her hips.
Naruto's eyes widened when he saw her, and he laughed nervously rubbing the back of his head. Karin just smiled, a spark in her eyes that said she'd enjoyed teaching the other boy how to make things explode and the end result of it.
Sachi bit her own lip to stop from chuckling in amusement herself, and simply shook her head.
"If I leave on a mission I wont return to find you've turned our home into a mess of rubble will I?" she asked.
"Wait, what?" Naruto asked, his face suddenly shocked and somewhat afraid.
"You've got a mission?" Karin asked.
"Don't sound so surprised. I've had missions before this, albeit this is the longest I'll be gone," she said, a slight frown on her face. "If you want you can stay with Shisui..."
"Uhhg, and have to be around that bastard Sasuke?" Naruto asked, a look of disgust on his face. Karin didn't seem to like the idea either.
She ran a hand through her hair, and shrugged. "It's up to you, I trust you two are mature enough to handle looking after yourself until I return. Seina will stay here as well just in case you need to get a hold of me for emergencies."
"Where are you going?" Karin asked.
"Nowhere important," Sachi said with a smile. She didn't want to worry Karin or Naruto more than they already would be, and she knew at least Karin was aware of the civil war in Mizu no Kuni. "Why don't we go inside now. I have to get ready for my mission and you two should rest after that display of fūinjutsu. Oh and before I get back I expect the backyard to be in one piece again."
Naruto groaned as the three entered the house.
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An Hour and a half later, Sachi left the village with a backpack – hidden seals in multiple areas of the pack – and looking like nothing more than a civilian.
She wore a silky burnt orange kimono with white and pale yellow blossoms decorating the bottom edge of the kimono and sleeves. The obi was black and white. On her feet were simple black sandals. She had decided on very light make-up, which she commonly did not bother with. Her ears held their usual multiple piercings.
Her long red hair was hidden by chakra dye, which was a special hair-dye ninja used when a henge was too unreliable. It could only be returned to its natural red when placing chakra into ones hair, essentially burning the chakra-dye out, and it didn't have the harmful qualities civilian hair-dyes did.
She hated the idea of dying her hair, she'd always been rather proud of the Uzumaki red hair. It kept her connected to her parents and other ancestors. Unfortunately it was just too recognizable for such a delicate mission. When Genma suggested it she grudgingly agreed. It was now a deep black, and she already missed her red hair.
Genma and Aoba were also dressed like civilians. They had decided that while on the mission Genma and Aoba would play the role of her brothers. It was simple and not that outlandish, with her hair now black they could pass for siblings. It would make showing up in their target village somewhat easier.
This was her first long-term B-rank mission since joining Konoha. Though she knew how unpredictable her luck could be, she hoped the mission went well.
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AN: So... the ending sort of gave me trouble. I wasn't sure how I wanted to end the chapter but this was what it turned out as. The next few chapters may deal with their mission. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.