AN: YO! How have you guys been?
Decided to revamp this chapter a bit so its a bit less cringy for me. Hope that changes make it a bit better.
Well! Please read and review and thank you for taking the time to look over this opening note.
Now onto the story!
Disclaimer:
Itachi -/_\- Fliscent firetail does not own Naruto, the manga or anime. All rights belong to Kishimoto or whatever his name is. She only owns the plot/plot twists, and original characters.
Fliscent- Thanks Itachi-kuuuun~!
Itachi -/_\-* can I leave now?
Fliscent- Whaaaat?! You're leaving me?! Awww! I thought we had something special 'Tachi-Kuuuuun~!
Itachi */_\* (Mangekyo sharingan activates.) Tsykiyomi! And now you will experience this world for the next seventy two hours... YAOI!
Fliscent- NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Itachi- */u\* kukukuuu
Ch. 4 Part I
Blood Bonds
The next day Samira woke around the same as Naruto, enough for her to be able to make him breakfast before heading off. The boy had warned her that going about the village might not be a good idea but she had reminded him of her disguise and gotten the boy to at least let her walk him to the academy. Now she was dressed in her new cloths that she had bought yesterday, Naruto was chattering away excitedly as he pointed out the sights and told her about the village. She shifted uneasily as she walked along with the boy, noticing the glares and the disgusted stares being thrown their way. What the hell was up with these people? It looked like they were going to attack them any moment. Samira frowned slightly to herself as she nodded distractedly to whatever Naruto had said. What was wrong with these people? Why where they staring at them with such hate and incredulous disgust?
After a moment Samira realized it had been quiet and she looked down to see that Naruto was looking ahead lips slightly pursed, the wary almost resigned look on his face all the answer she needed. They were staring at them like that because of the boy. She frowned slightly to herself, the boy's almost wary and uneasy actions in the past finally starting to making sense to her. What had happened to create such open hostility though? She glanced at him through the corner of her eye to see the flash of bitterness on the boy's face. Did everyone treat him like this? At the thought, Samira found herself swallowing uneasily, a pit of discomfort starting to grow in her stomach. How did he deal with this treatment she found herself wondering? Samira sighed slightly. This tense silence had gone on long enough. She undid the strap on the Erhu case before refastening it around her waist to where the instrument rested against her rear long ways, like some ninja's seemed to carry large scrolls. Naruto frowned with confusion as he watch her work before yelping in surprise as he was suddenly hefted into the air and settled on her back, piggy back style.
"Don't pay them any mind." She murmured as the boy tensed slightly from where he sat. She could feel his unease through the way his grip on her shoulders tightened.
"What do you mean?" he asked, the forced cheer in his voice making the young woman have to hold back a wince. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about this. In fact Samira didn't want to talk about this either, but it would be foolish to pretend that she hadn't noticed. Deciding to be forward with him, she began to speak quietly.
"Naruto, I don't know what happened to make them dislike you, and I'm not going to ask what happened, but just know that I don't think that there's anything wrong with you. You seem like a normal boy to me, so I don't know what crawled up their butts and died." She said quietly to the boy, whose eyes went wide in shock before he sputtered into laugher, a hand shooting out to cover his mouth as he worked to stifle his outburst. Samira shot him a warm grin over her shoulder before bouncing him a little as a grin began to spread across the blonde's mouth, eye becoming fond as he regarded the woman.
"Thanks Samira-chan," he said as he got comfortable, resting his chin against her shoulder as she continued to walk along the road. She chuckled, giving him a playful nudge with her cheek, as she tried to push away the uncertainty that she was feeling while continuing to walk down the road toward the academy.
After seeing that display from the villagers, should she really be leaving him?
Samira flashed the passing people a cheerful grin as she played away on the erhu, the happy tune of The Entertainer chirping brightly in the air. It seemed to amuse the children that passed to no end, smiling parents pausing to drop off coins and bills as their children chapped excitedly and danced along. She came to the end of the song and the people put more bills in her case as she bowed gratefully and flashed them all smiles at their generosity. Putting up the instrument briefly she got herself something to drink as she took to the shade in a quieter area of the village near a park that was only a few blocks from the academy. Patting the sweat from her brow, the young woman couldn't help but frown slightly as her previously squashed worries, for the blond haired ball of sunshine named Naruto, once more came to mind. She grimaced as she thought back to how the people looked at him yesterday.
She assumed that he got that all the time since from the way he had reacted, or hadn't reacted for that matter. In fact, now that she thought of it… he had tensed up when he had let his name slip… and tensed up once more when she had spotted the whisker marks on his face. When she had merely greeted him politely, and called the whiskers cute, each time he had flashed her blinding grin. Where things really that bad for him here? What if it just wasn't nasty looks he was getting? Is that why he lived by himself instead of in an orphanage with a caretaker? Is that why the only thing he ate was cheep noodles?! He was malnourished for god's sake! His cloths where old and threadbare! What if… he was being actively hurt by these people? At the thought, Samira's eyes narrowed when she remembered how the drunk that had attacked her had staggered towards the boy threateningly. The kid had just tensed but stood his ground, as if he had had to deal with stuff like that before. The more Samira thought of it, the more she seemed to notice thing that just hadn't caught her attention before and the angrier she got. What the hell?! How could they just-?! Why where they-?! Ugh!
Snarling to herself she leaped off the bench she had been sitting on to pace agitatedly in the shade of the tree. The biggest question for her though, was why? What the hell had this kid done that could cause such behavior? It seemed he was a prankster but from what she had gleamed from the boy his pranks where more geared towards humiliation than actually harming someone. It just didn't make sense. Why did they hate him?
After a while Samira managed to calm down. Sitting under the tree with a sigh she took a swig of her drink, dabbing some more sweat from her brow as she regarded the cloud scattered blue sky with mild annoyance, that slowly began to shift to worry. Now that she thought of it, he had taken her into his home fairly easily, without much debate or question. Was he really that lonely? She though back to how the simplest things made him beam like the sun at her, happiness clear in his eyes. She swallowed uneasily past the lump in her throat. Yes, he was, and that posed a serious risk to him, both situational and emotional. If she left, he would probably think that it was because of him, considering how the village treated him and would probably be more hurt by her abandonment than any harsh words she could have said to him. What if he took it to heart and became depressed or volatile? Better yet, what if someone came along and tried to take advantage of him because of his loneliness? What if it was someone who was just going to use him and toss him to the side when they were done, leaving him in broken little pieces? The thought had Samira's blood boiling as her protectiveness of the boy began to skyrocket. He didn't even seem to have a guardian, or a mentor, someone to teach him how to eat healthy or to take care of his home or to… play games with, laugh with, eat meals with, tell jokes to. He was utterly alone. Samira sighed tiredly, knowing that with the way her thoughts were going… she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, at least not without the kid in tow. Her resolve began to grow steadily like seeping magma before cooling and solidifying into a solid determination as unmovable and as unyielding as stone itself. She was going to look after that boy, come hell or high water and she didn't care who tried to get in her way. She would find a way, one way or the other.
Decision finally made Samira gave a long suffered sigh before getting up, her erhu in tow. Well, if she was going to be staying she needed to go out and make some more money, maybe try to find a job somewhere. Despite her initial worries, no one seemed to suspect a thing, despite the believe that she had, that the doctors in charge of experimentation on people like her would try and hunt her down. The village wasn't on lock down and she hadn't even been stopped once by patrolling units of ninja. If this was the case, then it was more likely than not that these doctors hadn't been experimenting with the complete knowledge of the village, and that it was possibly an illegal operation that they had been running. At the thought she couldn't help but feel a bit hopeful. Well, at least there was hope that she might be able to stay hiding in plain sight here, with Naruto. With a grin she departed from the park. After all, she couldn't be a burden. Besides, some more practice with the erhu would calm her mind. All the more reason to go and play, plus she needed to pick up groceries. It was clear that Naruto needed to be fed something other than ramen for a change, and with her doing the shopping, she wouldn't be overcharged. Hopefully she could put some meat on his bones with some of her good southern cooking.
A week seemed to pass quickly for the young woman as she and the boy seemed to settle into a comfortable routine. Samira would make breakfast and walk Naruto to the academy in the mornings, before stopping by the academy to take him to lunch and to pick him up when he was finally out of class for the day. Then they would either go to the house, to a park, or training field to practice taijutsu and Naruto's weapon throwing. Samira was embarrassingly bad at throwing the weapons but after some teasing, Naruto began to show her how to throw them properly, though it was clear he needed to improve the skill as well. Naruto was coming along nicely in the fighting style she was teaching him, Wado ryu as well as wing Chung. This after all wasn't her first time teaching so she knew what common mistakes to look out for and helped him along patiently as she explained the purpose of certain movements and the reasoning behind certain parts of the forms before teaching them to him, always trying to impress on him the important parts so he could either take advantage to the forms when fighting or mineralizing damage when he took a hit. After their practice, the two of them would go home and Samira would make dinner for the two of them as they talked about this, that, or the other while she cooked. She was starting to teach the blond how to cook as well, though he had managed to set water on fire, which Samira would have found amusing if she hadn't been freaking out at the time. Tonight was no different as she made a vegetable stir fry before shutting off the stove and moving the wok to another eye so that it could cool. Naruto was chattering on about something funny that had happened in class as Samira frowned slightly at her hand, which was starting to twitch. What the hell? She thought as the digits continued to spasm. Naruto fell silent as the two of them stared at her hand until the twitching stopped.
"Samira-chan?" Naruto finally asked, his voice hesitant with worry as he snuck a glance at the young woman's face. Her expression was grim and clearly worried. "Are you ok?"
"I don't know Naruto. Hopefully," she muttered before shaking off the unease that was starting to creep up on her. It was another week before the muscle spasms started up again, this time when she had been eating at Ichiraku's ramen stand with Naruto for lunch. It had been her whole arm this time and she had nearly knocked over her blow as the muscles jerked painfully, Naruto helping her hold down the twitching arm before it could continue. Needless to say, the random spasms where starting to concern Naruto who had insisted that she go to the hospital. Samira shook her head firmly later that night as she finished making dinner.
"I can't Naruto. It's not safe. Walking around the village is one thing, but going to the hospital is completely different. There, they take blood and keep information of whose DNA is whose, and the people I'm hiding from will be able to find me easily that way. I wish I could go, since this is pretty scary but I think it would be scarier if they found me here with you. I'm sure they would be able to figure things out and decide to target you. I don't want you to get hurt." She said as she finished putting the food on their plates and sat down at the table along with the boy. Naruto started to scowl.
"Don't worry about me Samira-chan. It would take more than a few thugs to take me down." He said stoutly. Samira sighed, knowing that she would have to use another angle to get Naruto to stop nagging her about her health.
"Naruto, if they capture you, than I would do whatever it took to keep you safe, even letting them take me quietly, ok? It's better this way," she murmured as the boy deflated slightly before reluctantly nodding. She knew she wasn't telling him everything, about how she had been taken to the hospital right off the bat when first entering the village, or how the people in the hospital would quickly realize who she was.
"Samira-chan," began Naruto, his voice a bit hesitant.
"Hmm?"
"Where are you from?" he asked making the young woman pause slightly in her eating to regard him seriously.
"Truthfully?" she asked, a hint of pain in her eyes. The blond regarded her gravely for a moment before nodding. Her shoulders slumped slightly and she sighed tiredly. This was not a conversation she wanted to have, and she had been delaying the boy's questions for a while now. She supposed she might as well tell him now.
"Naruto, you have to understand that I didn't want to come here. I was force to come to the village under a series of… well, crazy circumstances," she said as she shot him a wry grin as Naruto frowned slightly but nodded, clearly listening. Samira's lips pursed slightly. "…I'm not actually sure how to say this but…" she made a face as she barked out a harsh laugh. "Naruto, I'm not from this world." She finally spat out as she leaned back in her chair to regard the boy seriously. He frowned, clearly not understanding.
"What?" he asked. Samira had to fight back an exasperated sigh.
"Naruto, I'm not from this planet, this universe, this… dimension, or whatever the heck you want to call it. I was in an accident and then all of a sudden I ended up here in this world. By all means I should have drowned to death," she said seriously as she regarded the blond whose eyes had widened in surprise before a confused frown dotted his features.
"Then… where are you from?" he asked, sounding completely perplexed. Samira couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well, I wish I had a map so I could show you what my… world looks like" she said with a helpless shrug before continuing. "Anyways, where I come from is called the planet earth, and I was born in the continent called North America, in the country called the United States of America, in the state called Tennessee." She said as the boy's expression became very confused.
"Say what?" Samira chuckled before refining her explanation. That how the rest of the night went, with Samira talking about the world she was from and Naruto asking tons of questions.
Since there weren't any ninjas, what did people do for work, where did they live, what did they eat? All sorts of things. She had done her best to answer everything he could think of, including the question of language when he remembered that she originally spoke a very odd form of Japanese. Naruto's expression became awed when she started speaking in English to him before she started to teach him the letters of the alphabet and a few words. The evening was overall rather pleasant though she was glad tomorrow was Saturday since they stayed up so late. It was nice to be able to talk about her home without worry that the boy would disbelieve her or mistrust her. Sadly Naruto was a bit too trusting but she couldn't help but feel grateful that he listened so earnestly and would ask her anything he could think of.
It was the next day however that would change everything. It started out pretty normal with the two of them in the kitchen, Naruto half asleep at the table as Samira fried some eggs and bacon. Then she collapsed into uncontrollable spasms.
Samira shrieked at the pain as the boy shot out from his chair to rush to her side.
"Samira-chan!" he cried as he reached her side, the woman whimpering as her jaw locked shut, blood pooling in her mouth since she bite her tongue, thankfully not all the way through, but enough to bleed.
"Samira-chan!" Naruto cried in panic.
"N-Naruto," she gasped out, blood dripping down her chin and out of the corner of her mouth as her panicked eyes locked with his. She didn't want to die. Not so soon.
20 minutes later
"JIJI!" yelled Naruto franticly as he burst into the Hokage's office, the doors slamming open. The blonde was looking worse for wear, still in his pajamas and bare foot as he skidded to a stop in from of the surprised village leader.
"Naruto? What's happened?" he demanded, sharp eyes taking in the blood that dotted the boy's clothing and the frantic look on the child's face.
"Quick Jiji! There isn't a lot of time! I don't know what happened! One moment she was fine, and the next she was shaking on the floor! I told her to go to the hospital, but she said the bad guys would find her that way and she didn't want them to track her back to my place so you've got to make sure no one finds out about her, ok Jiji?" demanded the boy as he grabbed the elder man's hand and all but dragged his along, worry clear on the old man's features.
"Naruto, who are you talking about?" demanded the village elder as they made their way swiftly through the office, the man signaling the secretary to leave them be as they passed, also signaling his Anbu body guards to stay put. If things where as the boy described, discretion would be best. He didn't need the council finding out about a possible incident that could be blamed on the boy. The third Hokage knew that some would try and take advantage of events to make a power play if they had the chance.
"Samira-chan! She's really nice and has been staying with me for a while now. She's really special Jiji! She's not even from… ah, around here. Yeah, from Konoha, I mean. Hahaha," laughed the blonde nervously as the older man shot Naruto a sharp look at the boy's slip. The idea of the boy taking someone into his home without telling him was rather alarming, though the fact that it was a foreigner was even more alarming, however, the Hokage was starting to have a sneaking suspicion who this person was but he would have to wait and see if his suspicions where correct. They burst into the apartment, the boy immediately heading to the living room where a young woman lay on the couch. The Hokage's eye widened in surprise as he took in the pale looking young woman, who was clearly exhausted. His surprised dissolved quickly as he frowned, moving forward to kneel beside her prone form as he looked her over carefully, taking in the short red hair that was only a couple inches long.
"It was so weird jiji! She started shaking and then when it stopped she told me to put something in her mouth so she wouldn't bite off her tongue and then she accidently bit me! Her hair fell off and then started growing all red which is weird since her hair is curly and brown. Um, I'm not really sure what else happened but she passed out and I started freaking out! I kept feeling more and more tired Jiji, and then everything went dark! Then I woke up to find she was still asleep and I went and got you after moving her from the kitchen. Is she going to be ok?" demanded the blonde worriedly after speaking nonstop. The older man froze in place at the description of what had happened. Strange seizures? Her hair had fallen out? Fast hair growth of a different color and hair type that matched Naruto's mother's, after biting the boy?
Could it be…?! Hiruzen the third Hokage thought to himself, disturbed. Naruto had said that the woman, Samira, was not from Konoha. This wouldn't be the first time that someone from the forbidden lake had accidentally bitten someone during their metamorphosis, and changed because of the blood of the host.
He could help but sigh, feeling already a weary even though it was just morning. To think that the day had only just begun… He knew exactly who this was. There was no way all of this could have just been a coincidence, with all the details that Naruto had just described. This sounded just like a patient from the Forbidden Lake and there was one currently missing from the Konoha Hospital, who was also a female with brown curly hair and brown eyes, like the young woman Naruto had described, who they had declared dead over three weeks. Without the proper medical equipment and healers on hand, it was unlikely that she would have been able to receive enough chakra to complete the transformation process that was brought on by her body attempting the metamorphosis.
When people from that other world, beyond the lake's waters, managed to pass through the lake their bodies began to deteriorate swiftly. This happened because the body was incompatible with this world. The interesting thing about this though, was that their bodies, instilled with the drive to survive, began to unconsciously attempt to adapt, and by adapt, their bodies tried to generate chakra. This was usually the starting point of the metamorphosis, for those people. Their bodies would begin to generate Chakra at a tremendous rate because the body had nothing in its DNA to properly augment the process, which would quickly drain the life out of the body as it began overproducing chakra, usually leading to a swift and painful death for the patient. The trick that the workers at the Lake hospital and the Konoha researchers had found, had been something that had been discovered by accident many years ago. It had been when one of the foreigners had begun to go through their transformation earlier than expected. The person had gone into seizures and had accidentally bitten a hospital worker, only to transform afterwards. They still hadn't lived long afterwards since the transformation had still taken a great toll on the body despite the body having the DNA needed to create the proper amount of chakra, but it had set the researchers at the hospital and base on the right path. After all the person's appearance had altered greatly, and the staff wanted to know why only to realized what had been taking place in the transformation process itself. It took many years of trial and error, but the staff soon came to the conclusion that the foreigners could survive the transformation IF… and I mean if… they had a compatible DNA type chosen for them, and they had a team of specialized medical ninjas feeding the patient chakra through the transformation process, to keep the body from overproducing. However to the researvher's irritation, they found that even after the metamorphosis was over with, the patient's bodies still overdrew on chakra, which would kill them eventually.
Overproducing and overdrawing chakra was a rare phenomenon with these people, since it was the body breaking itself down into energy faster than the body could handle, leading to a vicious cycle. Their bodies got used to producing more energy because of their overuse of it and thus the person in question couldn't maintain their health as the breakdown process gradually sped up over time, giving these people a few years to live at best, mostly two or three years. Indeed, it was a pity, but despite the DNA samples used to curb the breakdown rate, there was still the problem that their bodies for whatever reason needed more chakra than most to function, even if they where civilians, and their physical bodies could not handle the strain. More chakra seemed to be the key and it had been discovered that these people, if they went through monthly transfusions of chakra, lived longer than those without.
But out of all the people this foreigner had come across, she had come across a tailed beast container (also called a jinjuriki), with huge chakra reserves for his age. Naruto would have had enough chakra to fuel her change, and from the look of it, her having red hair and all, Naruto's Uzumaki blood decided to help her along. It was probably the only reason she was alive despite having the chakra needed to fuel the change.
The Uzumaki bloodline where know for their special chakra and vitality, the oldest most founding member of the Uzumaki family having lived great age, as well as Uzumaki Mito, who had lived well before the time of Konoha's founding and well into the third Hokage's reign, his reign. They had never tried giving the foreigners Uzumaki blood before. There was no telling what would happen now… All Hiruzen could hope for was that Naruto wasn't too attached to this woman. There was a possibility that she would only live a few more years, or that she wasn't a person Hiruzen could allow to live in the village. They had had some low lives come through the lake before, it wouldn't be a first time. Hiruzen would have to have blood tests and chakra readings done on her to gauge how well her body was handling everything that had happened to it so far, and to see the decay rate of her cells. He would also have to call Inoichi to come take a look through her mind to see if she was to be trusted.
"She should be fine for now Naruto. We've actually been looking for her for a while now without any luck for the past few weeks. We thought by now that she was dead," muttered the Hokage distractedly as he turned her head to the side to take in the young woman's features. Compared to the only picture they had of her, which was a bit blurry and out of focus, her features where sharper now after her change, lacking the soft baby fat that her face had had before. Her body had started drawing on the fatty tissues for energy it seemed. Her eyes where more slanted as well, making her appear to have the same eyes as the rest of the people in this world. A shift in her bone structure then? He frowned slightly, since that had never happened before in previous patients at the bases. Was there something different that had happened in this transformation? If so, what had it been?
"What?! What do you mean you thought she was dead by now?! And how do you know about her?!" demanded Naruto anxiously as the Hokage sighed to himself.
"Naruto… she's not from around here-" the blonde quickly cut off the old man.
"I know that Jiji! She's from a completely different world and- ops," muttered the boy as he shot the Hokage a worried look. The Hokage's eyebrows just rose in shock.
"She told you?" he asked, surprised. Naruto's eyes widened in surprised.
"Wait, you know about it too?" Hiruzen, the third Hokage couldn't help but blink in shock again, wishing he had his pipe. He could use a smoke to calm his nerves. Why had she told the boy?! What was she thinking? First things first though…
"We'll talk about this later, Naruto. For now, we need to take her to the hospital for-"
"No! You can't. The bad ninja will find her," cut in Naruto blocking the older man's way. Hiruzen frowned as he took in the boy sanding before him. Despite the fact that Naruto still had a bad case of bed head, with crumpled night cloths and was barefooted, the seriousness in his eyes held weight that they usually didn't carry.
"The bad ninja?" Hiruzen asked, his voice deepening slightly with concern. Naruto nodded swiftly, his face grim as he crossed his arms over his chest posture tense.
"Yeah. She said that there were some bad people after her. She was going to leave the village, but… I made her stay," said the boy quietly, looking a bit shame faced as he pursed his lips. Hiruzen's frown deepened. There where ninja after her? Who would- Hiruzen's eyes widened in realization. Danzo… if anyone would go after her, it would be him. Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to locate her that swiftly, even if he had spies strewn all throughout Konoha. Very few had known of her location in the hospital, because of the kidnapping of the other two people from the Lake.
She had been placed in a special ward reserved for the treatment of Anbu Black Ops. There where sensor seals and alert seals placed over every entrance and exit that should have stopped her if she tried to leave the hospital, so someone must have either deactivated the seals with the key sequence or put a seal on her that would allow her to pass. He was the only one that Hiruzen could think of that would have the means, information and motive to do such a thing. Besides, who would think twice about her disappearing after all? Danzo could turn her into an expendable asset with the right blood mixture, cursed seals, and brainwashing.
The people that came from the lake where know to be rather powerful even if they didn't live long, with their affinity for every element, flexible and growing chakra coils, and their resilience to toxins since the world they came from was full of very potent toxins, most of which in the air from the cars they drove or the plants that released toxic waste into the air. The fact that this foreign race didn't originally have chakra made them physically more durable and toned in muscle mass than most shinobi since they couldn't use chakra in their world to help power their motions when they did exercise.
And then there was the fact that most of the people that came through the lake where highly educated, fast learners and very sensitive to different chakras since they didn't have any in their world. Some even had the training to condition and strengthen their muscles for sports, or taijutsu disciplines along with everything else in their already large arsenal of information. There had been musicians, warriors, engineers, fast food workers, bums, doctors… you name it, and it was more likely than not that they had traveled through the lake and into this world. So many skills and specializations, Hiruzen's head swam every time he thought about how elite these people where.
Hiruzen shook his head, berating himself for not realizing sooner the potential threat taking the young woman from the lake would pose. If Root had been able to take her then he should have made the security tighter... The question, however, was how she was able to get away from them… the idea made Hiruzen frown. There was something about this situation that just wasn't adding up right… To get away from kidnappers, what had she done? She must be one of those unusually skilled and intelligent individuals if she had been able to accomplish such a feat and stay undetected so long even in the heart of a ninja village itself.
The thought made the older man feel rather uncomfortable considering the young woman had been staying almost three weeks with the boy he considered his grandson and ward in all but name. Naruto had said that she was nice, but what if she had been using the boy? It didn't sound like it, but he was still going to have Inoichi use the mind walking techniques on her to determine how she thought and what kind of person she was. From there they would figure out what to do regarding her future, even if it would be a short-lived one. He would have to have one of his shinobi in the blood labs run a confidential series of test on her cells decay rate to see how long they would be expecting her to live. He would probably have to pull Nara Shikaku, his jonin commander and head of the Nara Clan, his chief strategist into the mess as well, since the man was a brilliant tactician, who was bound to notice what he missed when making his plans. Finally coming to his decision, the man nodded.
"Alright Naruto, we'll make sure to keep this quiet, but we are going to have to take some precautions for her safety," said the aging man as the boy nodded, clearly relieved. His tense shoulder seemed to loosen and Hiruzen couldn't help but notice that the boy seemed to look healthier and more filled out then the last time he had seen him.
"As long as she's safe Jiji." Said the boy as he can to sit beside the sleeping form of the young woman, the boy messing with the blanket until he was satisfied that she was considerably covered and warm. Hiruzen felt his heart clenching at the sight and he found himself dearly praying in his heart that this woman would turn out to be the amazing person the boy seemed to think that she was. It would only be heart retching and infuriating for the older man if she wasn't, and the last thing she wanted to do was infuriate the old man. Hiruzen couldn't help but notice that the boy's clothing seemed new as well to better fit his growing frame but shook off the thought.
Making up his mind the Hokage turned to leave.
"I'll be back in a bit Naruto. There are some things that I need to take care of before I return and I am going to have to hunt down a trustworthy doctor while I'm out. I will be returning with Anbu as well to look after the two of you in case any of the enemy ninja attempt to appear again," said the older man as Naruto shot him a cheerful smile, though Hiruzen could see the glimmer of relief and gratitude in the boy's eyes.
"No sweat! I'll be seeing you around here in no time Jiji," he said as Hiruzen cracked a grin. It faded into something more serious as the door of the apartment closed behind him. He had a lot of work to do, but the first thing that needed to be done was to get Yamanaka Inoichi.
Inoichi frowned slightly as he looked down at the unconscious young woman that was on the couch in the Uzumaki's living room. The room was dark with dusk, the curtains drawn to hide the presence of those in the apartment. The older blond man knelt silently to take in the features of the young woman before him, his gaze lingering on her red hair.
"And you want me to mind read her?" he asked as he shot a questioning look towards his leader. Hiruzen nodded grimly as the Anbu behind him motioned that perimeter was clear before melting into eh shadows.
"Yes. Now would be best. Naruto is currently asleep and we can talk without worries of being overheard. I've already placed silencing seals on the living room," rumbled the older man around his pipe as the blond-haired Yamanaka's lips pursed slightly, in thought.
"How far back do you want me to go into her mind?" he asked as Hiruzen frowned thoughtfully at the man's question.
"My biggest concern is that she is trying to use the boy, and will hurt him or bend his affections towards her for more nefarious matters. I also want to see who these 'enemy ninja' are," he said as the long-haired blond man nodded.
"Very well. I will begin then, Hokage-sama," he said before placing his hand on her damp brow. What Inoichi didn't expect was how swiftly he was pulled into her mind.
Mind walk
RAGE!
PAIN!
HAPPINESS!
LONGING!
LOVE!
HATE!
LONELINESS!
LOATHING!
SHAME!
PLEASURE!
Inoichi screamed under the barrage of information and memories, barely able to form himself in her mind before disappearing leaving the mindscape of a grassy field and the approaching thunderstorm be. A young woman looked up from beneath the tree she had been sitting at before sighing and laying back into the grass, a strong wind shaking the tree limbs above her.
Mind walk Ends
Inoichi flinched as he opened his eyes, before blinking blearily at the living room. The Hokage waited patiently as the man shook his head before groaning slightly to the village leader's growing unease.
"Inoichi what happened," the older man demanded, face grim as the Yamanaka cringed, nursing a headache.
"I lost control of the jutsu and ended up getting rapid flashes of strong memories." He said with another wince, before heaving a wry chuckle. "I think it was her subconscious that caused that. From the little bit I could see past the memories... well, she seemed to have the ingrained instinct to hide information that would be considered 'deep,' or 'personal,'" he said as his headache began to fade rapidly. The Hokage's eyebrows rose in surprise at the news, before furrowing.
"Is that normal for a civilian?" he asked as Inoichi's face began to relax. If anything, that sounded like a ninja tendency.
"I believe it was circumstantial, Hokage-sama." The Hokage hummed in thought before speaking up once more.
"And do you think that you will be able to perform a proper mind walk this time?" he asked as Inoichi nodded.
"Yes. The first time she caught me off guard. This time, however, I will make sure that her mind doesn't pick up on my presence in her consciousness, so that way I won't be hit by a barrage of... emotions this time." The Hokage nodded, satisfied with the blonde man's answer before Inoichi once more closed his eyes and set his hand on her head to take in her memories.
Mind walk
Her and Naruto, he thought. Inoichi nearly winced under the barrage of information that assailed him when he tried to summon memories of them together. Warmth, love, happiness, fondness, pain, anger. They where gardening in the forest to grow vegetables. Then they were hunting for rabbits using snares and traps. They had followed a deer onto the Nara land only to get chased off by a clan member. Her playing erhu in the streets, people leaving her money, a bit that would cover food and clothing but tips were starting to slow down and she sighed, knowing that they were going to have to start being as self-sufficient as possible and very soon. People were starting to recognize that she spent time with Naruto and were starting to stay away. Only a few braver shinobi or more ignorant civilians left her tips anymore. The garden was growing good and the traps worked well though, the two of them saving what money they could from his allowance and her playing. Maybe she had enough to get Naruto a new shirt. The one he had was starting to look too small with how the boy had started to grow a bit more. She left the shop with an angry glare erhu in tow. The civilian had tried to overcharge her by ten Ryo for that shirt and she knew why, which only made her angrier. She found her way over to a fabric shop instead, leaving with a bundle of fabric and sewing supplies. Wouldn't be the first time she had to sew her own clothing and it wouldn't be the last. She grinned cheekily at the yarn and knitting needles on top. A scarf and some gloves for the winter months wouldn't hurt either and she was having more and more time to do so lately. Inoichi moved over to another memory, this one of her watching Naruto perform his Kata's in the academy style. This is all wrong, Inoichi thought as he watched the boy perform the practiced but awkward movements. Someone taught him the form wrong, Inoichi realized in disbelief and anger. Samira seemed to realize this as well with the way her face darkened and anger seemed to sweep from her to Inoichi. She took a deep breath to calm herself before proceeding to show the boy another form. He learned quickly, starved for attention as well as her approval and soon he could see the katas and forms coming together.
The boy was lonely, he needed her, just like she needed him. She hated herself for being so weak, for needing the emotional support, for letting herself care so quickly, but how could she not. He was such a sweet and brave kid. He was kind and loud and brash and honest, but under that tough cheeky facade, amazingly vulnerable. How could she not love him and want to help him? She hated herself for letting herself feel that way because she couldn't leave and it was putting Naruto in danger, but at the same time knew better than to try and deny it, despite the danger it might pose to them both. He reminded her of the little brother she never had and the older brother that had died before his time. Ingrained protectiveness over him reared its ugly head over the memories and Inoichi found himself swiftly blocked away from her warm happy memories of the two of them. People use the information they know about you against you, protect him, don't let him see, protect Naruto, whispered a voice through the memories that now zipped past. He grabbed onto another random one desperately. He didn't want to be ejected from her mind so soon.
Her looking over scrolls in the living room as Naruto explained their contents and her rapidly absorbing the knowledge of the scrolls. He could see the way she shifted through the information and how she reached her conclusions based on the information available as she learned. Memories began to whip past swiftly and he grabbed another. A bright summer day, a child version of herself running towards the water on a small island in the middle of a lake. A shadowy figure appeared stopping her and he was ejected from the memory, this time focusing hard. More memories. He reached out again.
Her meeting Ibiki and the Director. Her disbelief at the entire thing, her fear, and her gut instincts telling her that something was very very wrong with this situation, that these men didn't care about little things like people's consent to do god knows what with them. About how being even too close to that grey haired boy had sent her stomach in knots as her instincts screamed for her to GETAWAYNOWBADBADBAD! Then Ibiki was flying through the trees, and thunder rumbled. Oh how she hated thunder like this, being out in the open, with no safety no shelter to shield her from the horrible thunder.
Her meeting the doctor at the hospital. Again, there was the obvious lack of regard to the fact that she was a fellow human being, and the maniacal gleam that she had seen in his eyes, the doctor's eyes only served to drive that home. She was already formulating a plan of escape even back then, and Inoichi watched with growing admiration as her memories progress. He watched her realize where she was in the hospital as she slowly began picking up on the differences between the two languages, the two Japanese that where so alike yet so different, and how she realized that she was being drugged at night.
He watched as she chased away a ninja's nightmares, and soothed the silver-haired copy ninja, Hatake Kakashi back to sleep, the night of her escape, making sure to note to himself that he would have to speak with the copy ninja sometime since the man was due for some therapy anyways. He watched her leave without problem from the hospitals, the seals not even reacting as she walked past them obliviously, and he watched how Naruto had raced out of the alleyway to save her from the drunk that had accosted her.
Skimming through a few more memories of how things had progressed from there and her thoughts and feelings regarding the boy's predicament only served to solidify Inoichi's understanding of the extent she was willing to go to protect the boy and make him happy. He watched as she played away long hours with beautiful songs to make the money needed to put some meat on the boy's bones, how she would do her best to provide for herself and the boy despite the fact that she was barely able to make enough for herself. He watched how the boy had weaseled his way into her heart, to begin with, and Inoichi found something in himself growing slightly fonder of the boy.
The two of them on a training field. Her in a Dojo training students. Her as a child learning to fight. Her as an adult running in fear, someone chasing her the slap of large feet on wet concrete filling her ears as her heart pounded wildly, her breathing harsh. Just around the corner and-
BANG!
PAIN! Pain, pain painpainpainbloodmy arm, oh God. No hesitation. No remorse. You kill them before they kill you. That was that. The knife was out and in her hand less than a millisecond later before she skidded to a stop, her body falling into a crouch catching her assailant by surprise as he sprinted at her. He tried to raise the gun again but this time she moved too quickly, stepping into his guard. The knife flashed with deadly speed and there was a spray of blood on the grimy alley wall as she severed his carotid artery. His eyes went wide as a hand pressed against the side of his neck. Seconds later, his form slumped to the ground in unconsciousness leaving her standing there blankly as she tried to process this. He would be dead before the medics could help him but she made no move to stop the bleeding. Huh. Interesting. She didn't feel panic anymore. In fact, she couldn't really feel anything. Just calm. Must be the shock talking. Calmly she raised the phone to call her stepfather before calling the police.
He continued going through memories. Friends, school, training, work, family.
Inoichi tried to get into memories of her childhood but found himself swiftly brought to a large field. There were trees to the left and right leaving a long tree line before him, the gloom managing to look bright and dark at the same time as the wind went sweeping harshly over the grass causing tree limbs to creak under the strain, clouds promising rain and maybe a bit of lightning overhead. To the left of the field was a large stone that protruded from the earth, steady and unmoving in the face of the wind. Inoichi frowned as he started towards the stone, seeing something on it's cracked surface. When he drew close enough he found it to be carved with the symbol of a spiral.
That's when she stepped out from behind the stone.
Inoichi started in shock and took a step back from the young woman who was standing before him with her arms crossed, eyes dark and dangerous, face unreadable. Without another thought he broke the jutsu.
Mind walk ends
With that, Inoichi pulled himself from her memories before finding himself back in his body. Blinking blearily he looked to the Hokage before sighing.
"Well? How did it go? What did you find?" asked the hokage as Inoichi eased himself further back into his seat to get comfortable.
"A lot Hokage-sama. I don't even know where to start, sir," he admitted easily as the older men frowned, fearing the worst.
"Very well. Then tell me, what are her intentions towards the boy, who where these enemy ninja, and how did she get away from these enemies?" asked the older man. Inoichi sighed as he tugged on a strand of his long dark blonde hair before his teal gaze met the Hokage's, his face grim.
"She has every intention of protecting that boy. She's very fond of him." He said as the Hokage gave a sigh of relief as the Hokage's smile grew to match his own before he decided to continue.
"The boy is very fond of her as well. As for the enemy ninja," Inoichi paused his gaze becoming grim as the Hokage regarded him with intense eyes, "The enemy was us." Hiruzen blinked in surprise.
"I'm sorry?" he ask, confused before Inoichi decided to elaborate.
"She picked up on how inhuman she was being treated by everyone that knew where she was from, such as her doctors, the medic that treated her when she first got out of the lake, the Lake Director, and the doctor at the hospital that would be in charge of all the tests run on her. The idiots here didn't even tell her what the tests would be for, just said it was for research and she promptly came to the conclusion that we were going to start experimenting on her since she was from another world, and decided to escape before things got bad. How ironic, is it not?" asked Inoichi with a wry smile though it was tight, and hard.
How ironic that she was viewed them as if they where the mad experimenting scientists, like they were Orochimaru.
"The thing though, was that she was right to an extent Hokage-sama. She figured out that they where drugging the night food at the hospital sir. It's not her fault for coming to that conclusion. I would have probably done the same myself if I had been in her shoes sir. The doctors weren't even telling her a damn thing, just barging into her room to take blood or do some minor tests before hurrying off. She has good sense and a smart head on her shoulders sir, and would probably make an exceptional ninja sir." He said as Hiruzen's eyebrows rose in surprise before s frown dotted his brow in confusion.
"If she was the one to let herself out, then how did she get out without setting off the seals?" he asked as Inoichi grimaced and shook his head.
"I don't know sir. The seals didn't even react when she went past them. Though I would like to mention sir that it seemed there was a small hiccup in her escape. I believe jonin Hatake Kakashi is still suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome sir and it's showing its self in nightmares sir. She had to stop by and calm him until she was certain that he wouldn't wake and cause enough of a fuss to wake the hospital staff," at this Hiruzen's eye brows furrowed in thought before the man sighed deeply.
He knew that Kakashi still had left over pains lingering after all these years but he hadn't thought that the man had nightmares anymore. After Kakashi's teammate Obito died saving Kakashi, it had taken a toll on the young teen's mental health and when Rin had jumped in front of one of Kakashi's lethal attacks, causing him to kill her, he began exhibiting signs of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
Then Kakashi's sensei, the fourth Hokage died to save Konoha during the Kyubi attack. After that event Kakashi had withdrawn from everyone as he sank into the depths of Anbu, taking mission after mission for the darker side of the ninja forces. But it had been years, and Kakashi had been doing just fine in his psyche evaluations. To think that he was exhibiting signs of PTSD again… It seemed he was going to have to pay the man a visit, wherever Kakashi had run off to this time. He had hoped that he would take a ninja team... maybe this year he would give the jonin an extra push and insist that he take a team. it would do him a world of good.
"Hmm," hummed the Hokage in thought as Inoichi quietly watched the gears turn in his commander's head.
"What are your thoughts on this Inoichi?" the older man finally intoned before returning his level gaze to the Yamanaka Clan head, who was currently deep in thought. Everything he had seen so far seemed to be pointing him in one specific direction. The fact that she had already made her first kill and had made peace with that only seemed to help confirm his thoughts.
"I think that she would be an integral part of this village sir, and that we should accept her into our ninja ranks," he said slowly as Hiruzen's eyebrows rose in surprise as he drew the pipe from his mouth to let out a haze of smoke.
"Oh? Is that so?" he asked, mildly thrown for a loop as Inoichi nodded.
"Yes sir. She is strong resourceful and sly in both mind and body. She can learn what she needs to fast enough and I have no doubt that with her natural talent's of observation along with her past experiences teaching herself an instrument and how to draw, that she will be able to become a formidable ninja with the right training in a fraction of the time it might take one of the others that has come out of the lake before." He said as Hiruzen's eyebrows rose in surprise once more. That was not what he expect to hear from Inoichi. What did those skills have to do with anything?
"How to draw? I do not see how this could be an integral part of becoming a ninja Inoichi," the Hokage said in a light joking tone as Inoichi blink in surprise after realizing his choice of words before grimacing, a slight blush dotting his cheeks. that must have sounded silly to one such as the Hokage.
"Well, you see Hokage-sama, to improve a skill like art or playing an instrument that from ground zero, one must constantly be adjusting their observations and refining their techniques. This has taught her the finer points of observation and understanding that she would need to produce accurate and precise genjutsu or the skill needed to improve her Ninjutsu. Maybe even the finesse needed for seal work. Her hand is very steady and she has worked with writing kanji with brush and water before." Said the blond man a bit huffily as the Hokage's teasing face slowly morphed into something more serious.
"Inoichi, do you know what you ask?" questioned the older man quietly, "We would have to come up with a soundproof cover for her for her to become a part of this village, and even then, it would be difficult for this to work! She is from an entirely different world. She would have to learn a language, a culture, our writing and even then, years and years worth of skills in a brief amount of time."
"But she already knows the language, Sir," Inoichi said excitedly as he sat forward in his chair, teal eyes sparkling with excitement, "It's the main reason why she passed undetected through the village. No one was expecting her to be able to speak out language, much less play an instrument from our world. Because of these any observations passed over her and moved on to more promising individuals that could have been the person we were hunting for. She already knows a lot about our culture, and she even knows enough taijutsu for that to be pulled off as her specialization if it came to that. As for our writing system, I could probably instill that in her mind using a skill transfer jutsu sir." Hiruzen's eyebrows climbed even higher. So this was how she had remained undetected in the village? By hiding in plain sight? Brilliant as it was simple, he noted as he mulled over the fact that she could speak their language and had so many skills already. Well, that certainly changed everything.
"As for her cover?" Hiruzen questioned as he puffed away on his pipe.
"Nara Shikaku. You know how brilliant he is with coming up with plans and creating tactics. I suspect that you where thinking about calling him into this long before I even began the mind walk, if she proved useful, isn't that true, Sir?" said the blonde with a sly grin as the older man huffed in annoyance before starting to puff on his pipe irritably. Inoichi's chuckle filled the apartment as the Hokage shot him an annoyed look.
"Hmph! Very well then. We'll be pulling Shikaku into the loop." Said the older man as Inoichi sent him an apologetic grin to which the Hokage merely shook his head at irritably. His jonin could be so irritating sometimes.
Omake
"Mother trucker" grumbled the young woman in English as she tore angrily at the piece of paper she had been writing on. Kakashi looked up, his expression clearly stating him puzzlement at the young woman's actions. Fliscent merely yanked on a lock of hair furiously, an occasional habit of hers when she got frustrated.
"Everything ok?" asked the silver haired man, his tone questioning. Fliscent just sighed as she crossed her arms, looking at the floor with petulant distant eyes.
"No. I can't get this stupid chapter done. Ugh! Why does writing have to be so bloody complicated!" she growled out before laying back to sprawl across the bed so she could glare sulkily at a random spot on the wall, a pillow crushed to her chest.
Hmm, I'm getting the odd feeling that I should be running away right now, Kakashi mused silently as he regarded his temporary charge warily. It wasn't often Fliscent was in a bad mood around him but when she was… he had to fight back a shudder as he shook his head and squared his shoulders slightly.
No, he used to be an Anbu Captain, the famed Kakashi no Sharingan who had copied over a thousand techniques with his gifted eye, a top rated assassin and last of the legendary Hatake Family legacy. He was sure that he could handle Fliscent's mood swings, or at the very least distract her from whatever was making her mad.
"Well, have you tried talking to other authors about the problems you are having?" he asked as he twisted in his seat to regard the sulking woman carefully. She looked at him sidelong, her irritable expression still in place.
"Yes, Kakashi. I talked to Jiraiya," She grit out tightly. Ah. Then she should be able to handle this from here then. She doesn't need my help, thought the silver haired man.
"Hmm. Ok then. How did it go?" he questioned as his attention began to drift back to his book. He was sure that she would get over this mood of hers in a moment now that he had distracted her. His precious book however needed his attention more.
"Unhelpful. All Jiraiya could give me points on was writing smut, and that wasn't what I'm going to be working on," she said irritably.
"Mmm, that's nice." Kakashi muttered, clearly not listening. Fliscent could feel a tick starting to throb in her temple as her blood pressure and anger began to rise.
"If you don't even care then why give me stupid suggestions that are a waste of time?!" Fliscent snapped angrily as she sat up sharply, eyes deadly as they locked in the famous copy cat who was sitting in the chair at the table where she had left the rest of her finished writing. He blinked as he looked away from his book, eyes blank.
"Hmm? Did you say something?" he asked distractedly. A shudder ran up his spine at the resulting growl that came from the bed and his eyes widened as they registered the furious red head sitting crouched on the mattress ready to spring. Oh shit! He thought to himself as he took in the eyes that where slowly turning red and the floating red strand of hair that surrounded her as angry energy seemed to crackle in the air around her.
"Kakashi?" she growled out as the man began to sweat bullets and attempted to slowly ease away from the angry female.
"Y-yes Fliscent-chan?" he asked with fake cheer, his voice strained. A feral grin lit her face that had his heart in his throat in terror in the next second.
"Run," she hissed out as the sadistic smile curved her lips into something dark and feral. Without hesitation the man took off running, the furious female hot on his heels.
NOTE: the story 'Unlikely Love,' is set almost a year or so before Naruto graduates from the academy, take about three months or so. Samira is going to be integral and you can't just expect a character to sudden get super powerful without some really intensive training which she will have to go through to bring her up to par for the standards that are set by the story. Still trying to decide what kind of character she will be.
Will she be a ninja?
If so what will she be? Will she be: A brawler? Mass destruction? Healer? Seals Master? Trapper? Seduction specialist? Poison master? Genjutsu master? Ninjutsu specialist? Taijutsu user? Weapons master? Sabotage? Reconnaissance? Spy? Hermit? Sage? Bijuu container? Good? Bad?
Or will she be a civilian?
What would she do? Be a: Musician? Artist? Administrative worker? Writer? Editor? Chef? Retail worker? Waitress? Doctor? Nurse? Architect? Physicist? Engineer? Mathematician? Movie producer? Screen writer? Actress? A rock star? A drummer? Merchant? What?
Pft! Who are we kidding?! Of course she's going to be a freaking ninja! Though she might actually try juggling several jobs, both civilian and ninja work. After all, she's starting from ground zero and needs da money honey! Hahaha. ^_o
No, serious. Ninja. Now go review! Remember! Late birthday gift! :D
