Chapter 1: Enigma
It had been a long day for Jiraiya. His C-Rank mission with his Genin team was rather rough. Though they succeeded with their delivery to the Kusa Daimyo, they had to deal with more bandits than usual and Jiraiya was sure that this wasn't just a coincidence. But finally they could return to Konoha. Currently he was ticked off and tired, so he and his team had stopped to set up camp for the night somewhere half way between Konoha and the capital.
"Jiraiya-sensei, the tents are set up." Minato Namikaze told his teacher before he returned to his teammates in a chipper mood.
"The kid sure is in a good mood today." Jiraiya commented with a chuckle before he took out a notebook and a pencil to write down some new ideas he had for his next book. He chuckled when he reread some of his newest ideas, oh he couldn't get home fast enough to continue writing his masterpiece.
He was leaning against a tree as he watched the last sun-rays disappear when a large explosion shook the ground. A cloud of dusk could be seen near his current position as he watched with a frown. The last thing he wanted this day was another fight, but whatever caused this explosion, he would have to find out. It was his duty as a Konoha shinobi.
"Sensei!" Minato came running with his team, all of them looking eager to find out what caused the sudden commotion.
"Minato, you and the others stay here, while I investigate the explosion." Jiraiya ordered quickly before he took off into the direction of the dust cloud. His students looked disgruntled to be left behind, but they complied with their sensei's orders for the moment.
As Jiraiya reached the site of the explosion he saw utter destruction. The trees around had been blown away, a large crater was all that remained of this part of the forest. He couldn't imagine what could have caused this kind of destruction, but his thoughts changed quickly when he saw someone lying in the center of the crater.
He slowly approached the body, but stopped when he saw the person stand up. He was surprised when he saw that it was a young woman, a kunoichi judging by her attire. But her black clothes were in tatters, her long red hair in disarray, blood dripping from numerous wounds. The young woman was gravely injured and barely able to stand, nearly crumbling several times as she tried to stand tall.
Jiraiya wanted to hurry over to check on her, but stopped when she suddenly gripped her head and screamed loudly. "Kyubi! What have you done... to me..."
Jiraiya's eyes widened when he heard this, knowing full well that the demon was currently safely sealed inside Kushina Uzumaki. There was no way that this woman could have gotten into contact... unless... He knew he had to find out. Whatever this woman knew about the demon, it would be important to keep that knowledge hidden from Konoha's enemies.
He stepped closer to her, but she ignored his presence completely as she still clutched her head. Only when he was merely a few feet away from her was when her head suddenly snapped into his direction.
"NO!" She suddenly yelled... "It can't be you... this has to be another trick..." She started to get frantic at this point... "This is his doing! He revived the dead again... but he should be dead... you should be dead!"
Jiraiya looked worriedly at the woman as he got into a defensive stance just in case. "Miss... calm down, maybe I can help you." He tried to talk to her but it was no use.
"I won't yield to you... this time I will make sure that you never return! So come out of hiding Tobi, face me yourself instead of sending your undead slaves..." She pulled out her katana before she bit her own finger and slammed her hand on the ground to summon her faithful companions. But instead of toads there were suddenly two foxes at her side, both growling dangerously at Jiraiya.
"Listen, I am not your enemy." Jiraiya said again, but the woman wouldn't listen. He could only evade as she send wind blades at him with a swing of her weapon.
At the edge of the crater were Minato and his teammates, all three watching their sensei fight against that strange woman and her fox summons. Minato couldn't help but watch in fascination as the woman attacked in fluid motions, her wind Jutsus and sword attacks interwoven like a deadly dance that his own sensei had trouble to counter. He wondered who she was and why she was fighting his sensei...
Meanwhile Jiraiya was more and more forced into a defensive fighting style as the woman attacked without a single pause in between her attacks. But he knew he only had to wait, as her strength was leaving her quickly. He was astounded that she even lasted this long with her apparent injuries. He was sure that there were even more wounds that he could not even see at the moment.
And just as he had predicted she suddenly dropped to one knee, panting heavily as sweat and blood dripped from her. She glared at him with glassy eyes before she finally lost consciousness. The foxes remained with her for some more moments before they disappeared in puffs of smoke.
Jiraiya let out a relieved sigh when the fight was over. He had no idea who this woman was, but she would have been a very serious threat had she not been wounded before the fight started. Then he let out a groan before he called his students, "Minato, I've told you and the others to wait at the camp..."
As he said that his three students jumped down into the crater and stopped next to their sensei, all of them looking rather sheepish. "Sorry, sensei. We were just curious..."
"You three will be the death of me someday..." Jiraiya said as he shook his head slightly.
"Sensei?" Minato asked. "Who is she?"
"I've got no idea, but she is one hell of a fighter. Not many would even be able to stand with her wounds, let alone fight." Jiraiya said with a somber expression.
But before Jiraiya could stop his student, Minato had already walked over to the wounded woman and brushed the hair out of her face with his hand. "Sensei, she is burning up with fever."
"Hm, that would explain her insane babbling. She must have been in delirium." Jiraiya commented as he joined his student and started searching the woman for something that might give him a clue to her identity. After some moments he finally pulled out a half destroyed dog tag from one of her pockets. Not much was readable except for her name. "Akahana Uzumaki... what the..." Jiraiya mumbled in surprise. When he looked at her he couldn't deny that she did look like the other Uzumaki's he had met so far. The exact same red hair and the seals he could see on her bare arms indicated that she at least had some proficiency in Fuinjutsu.
"Uzumaki? Sensei do you think she might be related to Kushina?" Minato asked with a curious expression.
"Maybe... but the Uzumaki clan has many members in Uzushiogakure. But the question currently is why this woman is here and who has battered her like this..." Jiraiya replied with a frown. This was mysterious and he did not like these kind of mysteries. Why was she here? Does she belong to a village? There was no hitai-ate, but dog tags are only handed out to shinobi in times of war... And why does the dog tag look like it had been molten?
"We must help her, sensei. Otherwise you can only wonder where to bury her." Minato stated with a worried tone. If this woman was somehow connected to Kushina, then he did not want her to die. Even after she attacked his sensei she only did so in her delirium, so there was no reason to hate her.
"We can't do much here. I will send a toad to alert Tsunade, hopefully she can help the girl as soon as we arrive. You guys will break camp. We will hurry back to Konoha as fast as possible." Jiraiya decided quickly. He was too curious now to let this woman die. She would have to answer a lot of questions should she survive the next day.
The guards at Konoha's gate couldn't hide their surprise when they saw Jiraiya, one of their most prominent shinobi, hurry towards them with an unconscious woman in his arms. At first they tried to stop him, to inquire who this woman was, but the man ignored them as he stormed past them with a grim look on his face.
Then the Jiraiya's team appeared shortly after him at the gate and stopped for the formalities. "Say, kids, who was that girl? Has Jiraiya done something perverted again and shocked her so much that she fainted?" One of the guards asked with a grin.
"Nope, not this time." Minato replied quickly. "We found her some hours ago; she was badly hurt and in delirium. She actually attacked sensei before she collapsed from her wounds."
"And he thinks it is safe to bring someone who has attacked him directly to Konoha?" The guard asked with an expression of disbelieve.
"Nah it's okay. She is an Uzumaki and only attacked him because of she was in delirium... everything should be alright. And if not then sensei will be able to stop her." Minato answered confidently.
"If you say so... still I have to report this to the Hokage. You guys can go ahead and follow your wayward sensei." The guard said with a sigh before he set out to find the leader of the village.
Jiraiya looked rather peeved as he waited in the hospital for the doctors to finish the treatment of the strange Uzumaki girl he had found. He wondered what her story would be, but right now the doctors were not even sure that she would survive the next few hours. He wanted to get answers to the questions this girl had raised. What did she know about the Kyubi? Why was she hurt like this? And most importantly, where did she come from in the first place? Was she from Uzushio or someplace else?
But his musing found a quick end when the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, approached him with a stern expression on his face. It was apparent that the village leader was not amused by Jiraiya's latest decisions.
"Sensei..." Jiraiya said somewhat apprehensive.
"Tell me, Jiraiya, why you deemed it fit to bring someone who has attacked you back to the village without even giving me one word of prior warning? I expected better from you, what if she had woken up and caused havoc as soon as you entered the village?" The Hokage scolded his former student sternly.
Jiraiya sighed before he replied worriedly, "I'm sorry, sensei. My mind was elsewhere at that moment..."
The Hokage's expression softened a bit when he saw the repentant look on Jiraiya's face. "Just what was on your mind that you would disregard the most basic rules of safety? Why were you so intent on saving this girl?"
Jiraiya looked around with a suspicious look on his face before he leaned closer to his former teacher. "That girl, she knows something about the demon... though she spoke in delirium I can't shake the feeling that the Kyubi is in some form connected to her plight."
The Hokage's expression darkened when he heard that. He was aware that the other villages knew that Konoha had the demon, but so far he was proud that none of their enemies knew anything more then that.
"Sensei, she had this with her." Jiraiya said as he took out the half destroyed dog tag and handed it to the Hokage.
Sarutobi looked intently at the half molten piece of metal, especially the name engraved on it. "She is an Uzumaki?" He asked with a suspicious look on his face.
"She sure looks like one." Was Jiraiya's only reply.
"I will have to send our allies a message, maybe they know what to do with her. Uzushio is constantly warring with the surrounding nations, it wouldn't be unusual that they would hand out dog tags to their shinobi before they send them to battle..."
"But why was she in the heart of our country then? Was she on her way to Konoha as a messenger and was attacked?" Jiraiya wondered loudly.
"We will have to wait for her to wake up if we want to find out..." Sarutobi replied with a frown on his face. Something was not right and with the current political situation he had to be careful. War was looming on the horizon once more and he had no intention to involve Konoha in any war when the wounds from the last had not even healed yet.
"Then you will have to be patient, sensei." Someone said from behind Sarutobi. As he turned around he saw another of his former students, Tsunade Senju, the current head medic of the hospital. The woman looked exhausted after treating the girl Jiraiya had found. "Her wounds were grave and countless. I don't even want to imagine what horror she had gone through."
"Will she survive?" The Hokage asked somberly.
"Yes, but I can't say when she will wake up. Her blood loss was nearly critical and with her Chakra exhaustion her self healing was severely limited. Once we replenished some of her Chakra her wounds started to heal immensely fast, but without help she would not have seen the end of this day." Tsunade said in a weary tone.
"This is worrisome. But we can't wait for her to wake up. We need answers soon. If she was fighting someone within the borders of our country then we need to know now and not whenever she is fit enough to wake up." The Hokage replied.
"You've got no other chance. We can't wake her up for some reason. Believe me we tried, but it was in vain. All we can do is wait." Tsunade replied with a miffed expression.
"That won't do. I will send for a member of the Yamanaka Clan, maybe with their mind walking technique we will get our answers sooner." Sarutobi said determinedly. "Konoha might be in danger, but until we know for sure you will tell no one without my express permission, is that clear?" The Hokage asked his former students sternly. Both merely nodded before the Hokage turned around and left Jiraiya and Tsunade alone.
The next day Minato and his teammates were sitting in their favorite restaurant, a BBQ-Diner run by the Akimichi Clan, to celebrate the success of their latest mission. But their mood was not as cheerful as it would usually be, mostly caused by the events of the last day.
"Heard anything from sensei so far?" Minato asked his teammates.
"Nope, as far as I heard he spent all his time since we returned at the hospital." One of his teammates replied with a thoughtful look.
"Pah, he shouldn't have brought her back. She attacked him, so why the fuss. She is an enemy and we all know what to do with those." Replied the only girl on the team.
"Come on, Saki, don't be like that. That girl wasn't really herself..." Minato said.
"Like I care. She is still an enemy and a threat. Don't you agree, Ichiro?" Saki asked her other teammate pointedly.
The boy only looked rather uncomfortable between the other two before he replied, "I'd rather not take sides..." This caused Saki to mutter 'coward' under her breath.
"Well it is sensei's decision, so who are we to question him." Minato pointed out after a short moment of silence.
"The only reason why you are interested in that girl is because she is an Uzumaki. We all know that you would use any chance to get closer to Kushina because of your fascination with the tomato..." Saki said rather scathingly.
"You are misreading things here. Of course I keep in mind that Kushina would be angry if someone of her clan was killed by our sensei, but..." Before he could finish his sentence he heard a loud yell from the entrance of the diner where Kushina had entered with her own team just in the right moment to hear 'our sensei' and 'killing someone from her clan'. Before Minato knew what was going on she had already rushed over to them and grabbed his collar.
"What are you talking about your sensei killing other Uzumakis, Minato-kun." She spoke with a cold voice that promised pain should he lie to her; the honorific at the end of his name more mocking him then anything else.
"There goes the Red hot-blooded Habanero again." Saki muttered as she rolled her eyes at the red-heads actions towards Minato.
"Just calm down, Kushina-chan." Minato said with a placating gesture, but it was no use. "When we returned from our mission yesterday we encountered a heavily wounded girl; she attacked sensei but broke down due to her wounds... apparently she is an Uzumaki..." Minato elaborated quickly.
"And where is this girl now? Don't tell me that you left her to die in the wild." Kushina growled angrily. She rarely met any members of her clan these days, but she still felt a deep connection to all of them and wouldn't allow that one them suffers.
"Hospital..." Was all Minato could say before Kushina rushed off.
"Good work, idiot. We don't even know if we are allowed to tell others about all of this. Should our enemies capture you we are doomed, you can't even protect a secret when she gives you a harmless death glare." Saki said with a condemning look at Minato.
"I believe it was you who started this discussion..."
"Shut up, Ichiro." Saki barked at the other boy.
At the hospital Jiraiya stood in the hospital room of the girl together with Tsunade, the Hokage and a blond teenager that the Yamanaka clan had sent to do the mind walking. All four of them were apprehensive, but at the same time their curiosity was telling them to go on and finally get the answers they were seeking.
"You can begin now, Inoichi. Tsunade will keep an eye on you and the girl, so don't worry about that." The Hokage said with an impassive tone, his eyes still trained on the unconscious girl in the bed before him.
"Of course, Hokage-sama." Inoichi answered dutifully before he walked closer to the bed. He marveled who this girl was. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful, but something was strange. He had only been told some mere basics about this mission for the Hokage. But he was not told why the Hokage and two Sannin were personally present for this 'interrogation'. After a short moment of hesitation he placed his hand on the girl's forehead and used his clan's mind walking Jutsu to sort through her memories.
"Do you really think this will be alright, sensei? The boy is a bit young, I wonder why the Yamanaka's did not send a more experienced member." Jiraiya spoke in a hushed voice towards his mentor.
"Inoichi was the best choice. He has shown great skill with his clan Jutsus, especially a rare aptitude for the mind walking techniques used for interrogation." The Hokage replied evenly as he watched the boy.
Inoichi meanwhile had suddenly started to pale and sweat as he continued his track through the girl's memories. Tsunade watched these changes with a worried frown before she stopped Inoichi to check up on him.
"You better don't overdo it, Inoichi-san. Sit down and take some deep breaths." Tsunade instructed him.
"Tell me what you have seen so far, Inoichi." The Hokage ordered sternly.
"War, pain, death... only short glimpses every time. Pictures of a harsh life..." He couldn't help but pity the girl, she had gone through a lot. He wondered how her past had affected her personality.
"Anything more distinct? Did you see where this has happened? Any indication where she has come from?" Sarutobi asked again.
"Only very short glimpses. I saw the hitai-ate from Amegakure..." Inoichi said.
"Ame? Are you sure?" Jiraiya asked surprised. He was not very fond of that particular hidden village, but he also remembered some good times from the last war; the time he had spent with those orphans before he returned to Konoha.
"Yes, but there was a slash through the symbol. Those people she fought in that memory were missing nin." Inoichi stated. "But there was something else. A memory... a picture burned into her mind. A fight against a man with a black coat and an orange mask that had only one hole for one eye... but it wasn't his overall appearance, but the eye..."
"What about the eye?" Jiraiya asked impatiently.
"It held some form of the Sharingan. But I have never seen a Sharingan that looked quite like that before..." This shocked all other persons in the room. This would mean that whatever had happened involved at least one member of the Uchiha clan; this could only mean trouble in the long run. The Uchiha would deny any connection to the girls past and defend themselves against such allegations vigorously.
"Continue with your Jutsu, Inoichi. We need to know more before we can act." The Hokage ordered sternly. Inoichi just nodded and resumed his place next to the bed once more. But when he reached out to touch the girl's forehead, her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, surprising Inoichi and forcing the other three occupants of the room to assume aggressive stances.
"Don't." She said softly, her voiced sounding weak and strained. She slowly opened her eyes and looked intently at the teen who stood next to her bed. "There are things that you shouldn't burden your mind with. Some things should never be seen again." She let go of Inoichi's wrist and looked around the room, seeing the other occupants. When she saw the other three persons her eyes widened in disbelieve and she paled drastically.
"Ah dammit, don't tell me she is in shock now." Tsunade said as she quickly walked over to her patient to examine her current condition.
"Tell us your name." The Hokage ordered the girl with a dark frown.
"Akahana..." She said after some hesitation, still looking in disbelieve at the persons around her. Jiraiya, Tsunade, the third Hokage... all of them had died... why were they here now; looking much younger then she ever remembered seeing them? Had she died? Was this the afterlife? "Akahana Uzumaki."
"Are you a member of the Uzumaki Clan from Uzushiogakure?" The Hokage continued, his expression remaining a stern mask; his gaze ice cold as he regarded the girl.
"I am from the Uzumaki Clan, but I have never been to that village... neither have I ever met any other living Uzumaki." Akahana replied with great apprehension. She still tried to understand the situation she was in at that moment. But she quickly realized that minimalistic answers would be the best choice at the moment. Maybe this was some form of Genjutsu to extract information from her.
"You were in a sorry condition when we found you. Who hurt you like that? Were you fighting?" Jiraiya asked to sate his own curiosity.
"Yes. I was fighting... a powerful foe..." Akahana replied curtly.
"Who were you fighting against?" Jiraiya was pressing on.
"Akatsuki." Akahana replied almost on instinct, not thinking about what she was saying. She had not meant to say this. It was already too much information she had given away.
Jiraiya's eyes widened when he heard that. He knew what Akatsuki was, hell he was the one who trained the three children that had founded that organization. But now things made a little more sense. This was why Inoichi had seen Ame hitai-ate in the girl's memories.
"Are you an Ame kunoichi? Do you work for Hanzo?" Jiraiya asked.
"No... I do not belong to any village... I have always been nothing more then a weapon. And I have never met this Hanzo person." Akahana replied with a sad voice. Why had she shared that personal fact about herself? In the worst case they would just use her like all other people had done in the past.
"Just where do you belong to? Where did you come from? Which country? Which organization?" Jiraiya asked in frustration, but he got no more answers. Instead of answering Akahana held her head in obvious pain, causing Tsunade to bristle.
"That is enough interrogation for now. She is still weak and needs rest. Out with all of you. You can continue this later when I have assured that her condition is good enough for extensive questioning." Tsunade ordered all three men as she looked at her patient with worry.
"We will continue this later." The Hokage conceded reluctantly. At least what they had found out so far was of some use. They could link her wounds and fights to Ame, but that was worrisome on its own. Sarutobi had no interest in continuing the battles from the Second Shinobi World War, the fighting in Ame had been the bloodiest of the entire war.
"Rest for now. I will come back later for another examination. Right now you need a lot of rest; time will correct most of your physical problems at the moment." Tsunade said with a friendly smile before she left the room to follow the men.
The other three stood outside, talking quietly. "Jiraiya, if you have any means to do it, I want you to contact those children you have trained in Ame. See if they know something about this Akahana Uzumaki."
"Of course, sensei. I'll get right to it." Jiraiya replied before he quickly walked away from the group.
"Good. Now Inoichi, I expect you know that this entire interrogation must remain a secret for now." The teen nodded when he heard this. "I will send for you should we need you again." The Hokage said impassively. At this Inoichi knew that he had been dismissed and left the village leader alone.
Inside the hospital room Akahana sat on her bed, wondering what had happened to her in the time she had been unconscious. The last she remembered was her fight against Tobi... then her conversation with Kyubi after he had escaped... just what had the demon done?
She yelped a bit in surprise when suddenly a small fox kit with golden fur appeared before her in a small puff of smoke. She had not summoned any animal and she remembered clearly that she had never been able to summon foxes... so where had the kit come from? Was there someone else in this room, watching her silently?
Suddenly the fox jumped of the bed and ran into a corner where it attacked something. Moments later another puff of smoke signalized that another summoned animal had disappeared and the fox kit jumped back onto the bed with an almost smug demeanor.
"Now that the pesky little toad spy is gone, we can finally talk." The fox suddenly said to the surprised girl.
"Ah... hi there..." Akahana said slowly, not really sure how to react to the small creature.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Akahana-hime. I am Kurou, your familiar. Kyubi-sama has sent me with you to make sure you do not die." The fox stated happily.
"Why? Why would he care about whether I die or live?" Akahana asked confused.
"He didn't really tell me that... only said to 'keep the idiot kit alive'..." Kurou replied.
"Where are we? Why are the people I saw dieing suddenly alive again?" Akahana asked with a bit more vehemence then before.
"Kyubi-sama has sent us into the past!" The fox said giddily. "Here we can correct our own mistakes in the past... or so he said."
Akahana couldn't believe it? Was that kit telling the truth? The fox had sent her to the past... for whatever reason he did this, he must expect something in return. Did he expect her to free him in the past? The demon never did anything without a reason.
"How far in the past are we, Kurou?" Akahana asked finally, though she somehow dreaded the answer.
"If things worked as intended we should be exactly thirty years in the past from where we have started." The fox replied happily. "Enough time to make a lasting impact on all the things that went wrong in your life."
Kurou waited for a reply from Akahana, but much to the little fur-ball's astonishment the girl had fainted and looked as if she was just sleeping again. Though he was in no mood to sleep yet, the little fox still decided to lie down next to Akahana and wait for her to wake up again. At least he could watch over her like this. Oh those humans will be surprised when they would see him. He would shown them how well he could use his teeth should they try to hurt his master in any way.