Author's Note: Changes have occurred. The character who was last referred as Sayuri Nara in the last chapter has been safely changed to Shikamai Nara. You have been informed.

Forgetting Tomorrow
Chapter 1

They found them by the riverside—soaked—and barely alive.

Tsunade doesn't know what to make of it. Nobody knew where they come from, who they are, and their chakras level had been too low for anybody to be correctly identifed. Either that, or somehow these kids—these children—have mastered the art of concealing their chakras even when they're perfectly unconscious. Tsunade doesn't know—and frankly—she doesn't care.

All that she knows are that when these kids were found, the oldest one were wearing the customary tunic with the Leaf band stitched to its fabric, and the girl had hers tied around her waist. Leaf bands. Shinobis. Impostors.

Could this truly be happening?

Dammit. And here she thought she was handling the Hokage title so very well.

"Have they found any evidence that the little one's a shinobi, himself?" She makes sure her agitation is known, while she listens to the taller man besides him fall into steps with her. Albeit quietly. Nearly even, dare she say it, deadly.

"The four year old kid?" Kakashi replies without a hitch to his voice; for someone who's just been dragged into the situation right after returning from a difficult mission, Tsunade has to give it to him. He sounds oddly cool. She means, their whole fucking should-be secured organisation might be compromised, and yet he's discussing the matter with a tone of no more importance than ordering a ramen with Naruto. How freaking—swell. "No, not yet. I don't think he is one."

"It could be a ploy."

Kakashi hums. "That's what they say."

Tsunade, as any wise Hokage would do, huffs. No, admittedly, that's not the response she'd wanted to hear, but before she could retort anything more on the matter, Shizune has appeared out of nowhere with a clipboard of Impostor #1's in her hand, handing it obediently towards the Fifth while Tsunade practically snatches it, scanning her eyes quickly over the board. "Alright," she says to the two of them, "Let's see what these bastards want."

They go to Impostor #1's ward.

Well, it's a quarantined area. But—same difference.

"Should we bring any more people into this investigation?" Kakashi asks patiently while they walk down the near-empty halls, and Tsunade pretends he isn't trying to peer into the clipboard in her hands.

"No." She's thought of bringing the Yamanakas in, in case they fail to bring out anything out of these assholes, or even the Naras, but—better to keep it to a small number. And it has only been a few hours. If they should be more of these impostors posing as her ninjas under her nose, the best way she should approach this alarming situation is to not alert any of them that they've succeeded in catching their beloved peers. Glancing at Impostor #3's file—the estimated to be four-year-old one—Tsunade cringes her nose, wondering if the world has come to such a desperate point to risk the life of someone who predictably can't even properly form a whole speech of sentences just so they could infiltrate a village.

Or maybe she's gotten all of these wrong? But the medical results have shown that the child of the body is perfectly a child. No alteration, no visible marks, no some kind of magic technique or a fancy illusion to suggest the kid's secretly an adult whatsoever. Or could she be facing someone who's, like, God forbid, Kakashi himself? A protege at birth.

Tsunade glances at him, then answers with a clipped tone. "Not yet."

They walk into Impostor #1's ward, and Tsunade sniffs a bit at the chakra that has slowly waved off from the girl's body. Slowly stabilising herself, but—for some reason—still unrecognisable. She turns to the silver-haired man who never halts in his step, a crease appearing in between her brows: "Tell me if you've seen her anywhere."

And then they pull away the curtains.

"Funny," Kakashi remarks when Tsunade doesn't. "Pink hair."

The girl looks like—

"Have they checked her blood test?"

Tsunade swallows, but otherwise tries to keep her cool. Now, why does this feel so—strange, all of a sudden. Like, creepy kind of strange. "They should be running it." Her tongue clicks, "I think I told Shizune to put Sakura's in charge of it."

"Sakura." Kakashi echoes, flicking on the nearly lifeless girl's hair, and Tsunade doesn't know but she's found relief when she realises that the nameless girl's hair has been a shade darker than Sakura's. Or otherwise, she would have looked exactly like—Kakashi interrupts her thoughts. "Could you tell me more about the other impostors?"

"It's assumed they're closely related biologically. Siblings, perhaps." Tsunade goes over the board, flipping the papers one by one without really looking at it. "If they are, this must be the middle child out of the three. The older male is the eldest. The four-year-old, the youngest."

"And I assume the older boy and the four-year-old is in separate chambers?"

"Hm," she snorts. "What do you think?"

"Pardon, my lady."

"Alright, come on." Tsunade sniffs again, looking away quickly. "Let's go to the second one."

And that's when things start to go sour. Tsunade immediately stiffens once she enters the room, and based on the look Shizune pass along, she knows it's the appropriate respond. "He's waking up, isn't he?" Tsunade bites without expecting a reply, knowing she's right, and mentally wrecks her mind in why that she's felt as though she's recognised this chakra before, yet nothing comes to mind.

The boy is pale. Baby fat still sticking to his sharp face, suggesting he's no more an adult than Naruto is, just probably younger in age. His physique suggests that he's not one to lack in exercises—tall, a bit muscular than your average teenager should be. His strength, Tsunade predicts, must contribute well to his duty as a shinobi. The faded bruises and marks only support more on the fact. His hair is dark. Shoulder-length. Spiky, somewhat.

Kakashi probes the boy.

"He's big," Tsunade comments, confirming now, as she inspects the boy's features further, that Impostor #1 and Impostor #2 might truly be siblings.

"Could it..." Kakashi voices out, pauses, then continues again, like he's contemplating a bit on his theory, wondering well if he should go on and share it with her. Well, now that he's started, he should damn well finish off that sentences. "Is it possible they're related to the Haruno's bloodline?"

"Just because one of them has a red hair?" Tsunade merely raises an eyebrow.

"Two, actually." Shizune announces from behind, and when Tsunade and Kakashi turns around, the other woman looks on steadily, explaining, "The other boy—the younger one—harbours the red hair trait too. But, uh, darker, of course. Darker than the girl's."

"That still doesn't proof anything."

"Of course," Kakashi retaliates calmly, his hand—now Tsunade's half-confirmed that the other man might've just been molesting the boy—stops at the area around the boy's neck, before his hand travels to dig something and pulling out a pendant. There's a circle-like object that's weighing the string of the pendant down, and Tsunade frowns from where she is, watches the silver-haired man. "Ah," he says. "Now it makes sense. Why the chakras been so familiar."

"What?" In her voice, there's a sneer. Impatient.

Kakashi turns the circle-like shape around, revealing the pattern.

The Nara clan symbol.