Gaara watched out the open window. The Uzumaki was being escorted by the Uchiha to the Uchiha District.
Something was off. His wrist with the marks marking him as Naruto's mate remained a steady red after their initial black upon her death. Normally, the mark itself was green; Gaara kept a genjutsu applied to it.
His teal eyes stared at the man guiding her.
Kyuubi!
The Uzumaki stiffened, and his wrist gave a particularly nasty jolt as her head turned.
And just like that, he saw through the illusion covering her.
White hair. A plain robe.
Spots danced in front of his vision. Even Shukaku was stunned.
Both Shukaku and Gaara fainted.
~:~
"Can I tell you a story?"
"What?"
"It's about a girl. She has no breath in her body, yet she lived. She died as a hero, yet someone brought her back to life to take revenge on her lover, who loved a village more than he loved her."
"No, I don't want to hear a story like that, Saki-chan."
"You're no fun! Nii-san told me that story."
"Your nii-san has a weird way of telling stories."
"Eh, I'm sure nii-san made it up, anyway, Naruto."
Naruto jolted out of memory lane. She'd immersed herself in her previous memories of this village, and remembered a tale Saki had offered to tell her.
She was led up stairs, and into the remade Uchiha district.
Kurama dropped his hand, releasing the genjutsu.
A contingent of Uchiha stood there.
Naruto's eyes went wide as she saw him.
He smirked at her. "Hey, kiddo."
She was hugging him fiercely moments later. Shunshin no Shisui hugged her back; Naruto was careful to check her strength.
"Hey, niisan," she smiled, ignoring the alertness from the living ninja. "It's been a while."
She drew back - and Shisui punched her.
She flew back, falling on the ground.
Since feeling was pretty dull, she only blinked stupidly.
Then she noticed her face was reforming. That punch had been laced with chakra.
"Hey, kiddo."
She scowled at him as she stood, but then dropped her eyes to the ground.
"Hey, are you pouting?"
She scowled. "All of you assholes are older than me!"
Everyone blinked and looked at each other. Naruto smirked to herself.
"But I suppose you have to be older than I. Tell me, Saki-chan, how good is Itachi?"
Saki caught on and leered at Itachi, hugging Naruto close to her.
"Good enough for me to be adding lil' Uchihas soon enough."
Itachi looked faint, while Shisui passed out.
Sasuke looked disgusted.
"You said you used the contraceptive jutsu," Itachi said, sounding stricken.
Saki flipped her hair. "I forgot," she huffed. "Honestly."
Naruto smiled, melancholic.
"Congrats." She looked around. "Where shall I be staying?"
"With me," Shisui said with a grin. "I live with Madara and Sasuke. It's a real bachelor pad."
"Good," Naruto said with a teasing grin. "There's only so much... Saki I can take."
"At least your sense of humor isn't dead," Saki muttered with a sigh.
Naruto smiled. "No, just me."
~:~
Shisui decided to talk, for his part of the shift. Naruto looked ill at ease.
"You ever going to take off that robe?"
Naruto stared at him. "If you want to see me naked, you're going to have to go back in time."
He frowned... Then blushed.
"Madara! Throw me some of my clothes! Naruto needs to change!"
Madara threw some clothes out, hitting Naruto in the face.
"Thank you!" Naruto called. Shisui coughed.
"I'm not allowed to turn around. Watching you, and all that."
Naruto smiled a self-depreciating smile. "I know how to change under the robe." Quickly, she did so.
She looked good in his clothes, which was just a black Uchiha shinobi shirt that was large on her tiny frame, and the shinobi pants were extremely loose. Her cracked skin was shown.
"Is that how I looked as an Edo -"
"I don't know, Shisui." She shook her head. "I don't remember ten years ago - it takes me a while to remember such things."
He blinked - and immediately understood.
The pain of being ripped out from that paradise he'd been in hit him once more before it slipped away. For an Edo Tensei, he'd barely even tried to best Saki, as eager as he was to get back there. And he hadn't been away from it that long in his form.
With Naruto, she had been away for years. And even the most fleeting of glimpses made one spiral into an almost physical ache of let me go back.
As a living person, Shisui did not truly recall that paradise.
But Naruto recalled it with painful clarity.
"Naruto -"
"Tell me a story." He stared at her. "Saki once... I recall you told Saki a story similar to the situation I am in."
He nodded almost dumbly - it was actually an Uchiha story.
"Fine."
He began to tell the story of Uchiha Rimi.
~:~
Neji walked into the Uchiha district, mission orders in hand. It was the dead of night, too. What he wouldn't give for some good sleep.
Neji paused outside.
"...Amaterasu took her soul and reshaped her body, correcting the imperfections, and with Susano'o and Tsukuyomi, breathed life back into her. Thus, Rimi made the journey from life, to death, to life again."
He knocked.
"That's probably your next guard."
"Thank you," Naruto's voice said, and Neji's breathing faltered for a moment.
He opened the door, and Naruto sat there. Her white hair fell to her shoulders, her aqua eyes in the middle of a sea of black.
For a moment, Neji wanted to speak, to say how sorry he was that this happened.
Instead, her eyes dropped, and she looked away. She hated pity in life, she hates pity in death.
Some things never changed.
Shisui stood.
"I'll leave you two alone."
