I stood rubbing my sore wrists, still in the Hokage's office. There were light indentations from the harsh wire on bare skin, but nothing too damaging. "So, I see you're both back." Tsunade said to the two men stood in front of her. The first was the one called Jiraiya, and the second wore a disturbing amount of orange and had bright blonde hair. "I take it your training had positive results?" she inquired happily.
I recollected on how I had at first tried to leave the room to give the two newcomers their privacy in their meeting, but the look I was given quickly denied that thought so I tucked myself away in the corner and tried to make myself invisible. There was a third newcomer as well, with shocking pink hair, a red shirt and medic's skirt. She stood by Shizune beside Tsunade's desk. Fortunately, due to my choice of normal shinobi attire, dark colors I was able to mostly blend in with the shadows of the office corner and did think that the unnamed two had noticed me yet.
The blonde and Jiraiya confirmed that their endeavors were successful before requesting that his talents be demonstrated. A knock on the door was heard before it opened beside me and in walked two individuals, both of a tall stature and silver hair, one wearing a mask and having his left eye covered. "Well Naruto, you have gotten big, haven't you?" said the one with his face covered.
"My opponent is Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade-baachan?" the blonde, Naruto asked. The woman nodded in response. "And who are you?" he said showing a face of confusion to the other silver haired male.
"That is Hatake Tsukune, Kakashi's cousin. Come here Kitsuya." beckoned Tsunade. I grimaced inwardly but stepped forward from the shadows and stood next to Kakashi and Tsukune. "Tsukune is to be Kitsuya's escourt around the village until such a time as she is familiar with the surroundings."
Shizune cleared her throat and Tsunade seemed to remember something, "Right, Kitsuya, you'll need this. You can keep the others, but I would prefer if you only displayed the Konoha Hitai-ate." she said before reaching into her desk and tossing me a Hitai-ate in the same navy blue as my sash and underskirt. I smiled gratefully and bowed.
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama."
The Naruto person seemed plenty confused and perturbed now at all that was going on. "What?! Who is she now?!" he demanded in an exasperated voice. Now that I stood closer I could tell that he was in need of brushing his teeth, and smelled like the forest. Tsunade motioned to me, inquiring as to if I'd like to introduce myself to the group of strangers.
"Of course Tsunade-sama. My name is Uzumaki Kitsuya, I hail from the Mist and Sand villages." I introduced with a small smile, proud of my lineage and background.
Seeing that this clearly caused an uprise in the present ninja Tsunade stood and clapped her hands together, "Let's get this show on the road, why don't we?" and so the group migrated to the training fields, as I was told by Tsukune. Not wanting to get lost, I stayed with the group despite knowing that a confrontation was clearly awaiting me once this match was over. Once we arrived at Training Ground 3 and Naruto and Kakashi were in stance to fight Tsunade cleared her throat. "I've changed my mind. I also want Sakura to fight Kakashi too. So now the demonstration will be Naruto and Sakura vs. Kakashi." she explained.
The pinkette nodded curtly and rushed onto the field taking a stance near Naruto. Kakashi took out two small bells and tied them to his belt before the fight commenced. For a moment they talked quietly, solemnly and no one from the sidelines could hear them. Kakashi lifted his Hitai-ate and revealed an implanted sharingan and the fight began.
For the first few moments I couldn't be bothered to pay attention, until an earthquake seemed to manifest out of nowhere. I could hear praise to Sakura and to Tsunade's teachings, but I was now intently analyzing the battle. From here there was a 16% chance that neither bell would be retrieved, 47% chance of one bell being won, and the final 37% dictated that both of the bells would eventually be taken from Kakashi. Now, to see how it plays out, and how the odds favor them.
In the end a bell was acquired by each Naruto and Sakura, and while they didn't follow my strategies step for step, I now had critical information on all three of the ninja.
As the worn and elated ninja started to make their way towards our group I pulled Tsukune towards Tsunade. "If it's alright with you, Tsunade-sama I will take my leave for the night now." I said and excused myself with Tsukune at my side.
Once we'd made our way out of the training grounds and were walking through the village streets Tsukune turned to me and spoke, "so was there a particular reason you wanted to leave so soon?"
"I didn't particularly feel like an interrogation from either Naruto or Sakura at the moment. I'd just like to settle down for the night and figure out where exactly I'm going to go from here." I explained as we walked past the vendors which were closing for the night.
"Well, I hate to crush your hopes but all of the inns are closed for the night and," Tsukune stopped walking in front of a food stand that was still open and lively despite its neighbours being dark and obviously done for the night's business, "this is the only food stand thats still open this late." he finished before going and taking a seat at the bar.
The owner of the stand greeted us and took our order for ramen, which was the only food the stand served. A few moments later and right after we'd been served our ramen, mine being a spicy beef ramen and Tsukune's being a miso pork ramen. As we were just about to set into eating the paper curtains were pulled aside and two people sat on the side of me opposite of Tsukune. "So this is where you've been hiding out, right underneath my nose huh?" the male said in a quiet but gruff voice. As he spoke to me the female ordered their bowls.
"I'm not sure what you mean, I haven't been hiding from you." I replied in a flat tone, hoping against hope that he would've forgotten or just dropped what he wanted to question me about in the first place. "I just wanted to come for a bowl of ramen before retiring for the night."
He chose to ignore both of my statements clearly when he trumped on with his inquisition. "You said that you're an Uzumaki. Where have you been, and why are you here now." Naruto asked in a demanding tone. I could tell that he was fighting an inner battle, but as of yet I wasn't sure what could be causing it. I might be a prodigy, but I'm not a mind reader.
"To be truthful, I didn't want this confrontation tonight. It's been a long day but I can see that I can't avoid this now." I started before taking a few bites. Tsukune just sat by my side slurping his noodles and watching the drama unfold between myself and the loud blonde. "As is common knowledge, when Uzushiogakure was destroyed the living clan members scattered. My mother was the granddaughter of the clan leader at the time, so the clan secrets run deep through our blood.
"We couldn't just go to a big village because we would be hunted for the clan secrets, so we hid out in a small, former ninja village. We stayed there until we couldn't hide anymore, and my mother and I moved to the Mist village. Unfortunately their intentions were unsavory, I only made my escape after they had killed my mother in the pursuit of our secrets. I travelled to the Sand village, and after years of living there I learned that they too wanted my clans secrets at any cost, and before they could make the attempt I escaped. That was three years ago, and just recently I came here, not by choice but by force." I said concluding my short history of who I am and how I came to be.
"I want you to teach me everything you know about the Uzumaki clan." Naruto started, I was about to completely turn him down in repulsion. I would never willing give away my clan's secrets to a stranger. "From one Uzumaki to another." the blonde said before slurping the rest of his bowl and grabbing the pinkette's forearm. The two walked away while I sat in my seat gobsmacked and surprised. In all honesty, this was the first time in my life that I had met someone who shared my clan name, and had a genuine interest in our family.