Chapter eight - Flow
In positive psychology, 'flow', also known as 'the zone', is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. The concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields, though has existed for thousands of years under other guises. Achieving flow is often colloquially referred to as 'being in the zone.'
Ashina and the council member Yasu was showing Naruto around Uzu after they'd been discussing her arrangements.
Their presence out and about in the village caused quite a bit of attention, people kept bowing and staring at them when they walked by. And Ashina and his companions nodded in return every minute while they tried to tell her about the village's history.
"We're an old clan Naruto. We've lived on this island for a long time, but it's only in my generation it became a village. We have the Uzuni clan living with us, Yasu here is the head of that family." He explained and gestured towards the old man walking on the other side of Naruto. He was constantly wearing a frown and seemed to like the blonde as much as mud on his sandals.
"The Uzuni was a family we made bonds with long before my time. It seemed the best course of action with all the wars on the mainland. This is a fortress in its own way, our home in another. We still have a few friends on the mainland, incidentally the Senju in fact. And there's the Sarutobi and the Hyūga. But in all we prefer to keep to ourself." Ashina said while nodding and greeting six people in a row.
"We have discussed your situation Naruto, we can't allow you to become a public member of the family I'm afraid. We have no idea who your mother was, and we always thought we had tabs on everyone within our clan. It wasn't difficult seeing as we are on an island. But she must have been taught by someone in our clan for you to have that seal on your stomach. Maybe her father or mother... But as I said, the whole thing is a mystery to us. Keeping her existence so hidden… We don't understand why anyone would." He said thoughtfully.
Naruto didn't answer, she couldn't really say her mother hadn't been born yet, and that Ashina was most likely her great, great grandfather or something along that line.
He shook his head a little and smiled broadly as he changed the subject. "You take after your father I guess. We've never seen a Uzumaki child with anything less then bright red hair. In whole you are quite the surprise for us, Naruto-chan. But your chakra has very strong potency and a lot of the Uzumaki qualities. You heal fast, have a lot of chakra and it has the same flow." He explained while the frown on Yasu's face deepened.
"Flow?" Naruto asked aloud. Not sure she'd ever heard anything about this before.
"Yes, we Uzumaki have very quick flowing chakra. It's what makes us good at sealing. It's also what makes a few of us very hyperactive at times. The amount of chakra, and the speed it flows through our system makes us restless if we don't… How do I say this… Lessen the pressure. Give it somewhere to go but rushing around inside." Ashina chuckled while Naruto's eyebrows raised in confusion.
"Mito was especially hyper when she was a child. Always jumping and doing cart wheels. Never walked over a flat surface without doing some sort of acrobatics. We had to start her on chakra control exercises when she was three you know. Usually we can wait until they're five, but with her amount of chakra it just wasn't an option. What about you? Did you also experience these things? You said your parents died before you could remember them, so maybe you didn't know." Ashina said kindly, looking down at the blonde girl.
Naruto was going through all the pranks she'd done in her youth. Her loudness, lack of attention and disobedience. Never standing still and running like a madmen through the streets of Konoha. She couldn't suppress the grimace as the memory floated up to the surface.
Ashina seemed to read her correctly, since he laughed heartedly. He had a deep laugh that was infectious, and Naruto found herself giggling despite herself.
"I was horrible… No one really taught me that… I hated the chakra exercise too. I found them so boring as a kid since I've always lacked patience. I used to prank the villagers too. I guess I was sort of the village piraya, but that was also because I was a jinchūriki. Everyone seemed to know except me, so they avoided me, and I pulled pranks on them to get attention. I never paid attention in class and was always very loud… Not the classic ninja you know..." She said getting embarrassed.
Ashina seemed to find it entertaining while Yasu got even more bad tempered.
Ignoring him, Naruto and Ashina talked animatedly while the latter showed her the ways around Uzushiogakure. Stopping here and there to point out significant areas of value. Like a good restaurant, the guard house or the town house now that she could see it in daylight.
It was the best day she'd had since the days with Hashirama and Madara by the creek.
Madara watched as Izuna cried while the caskets was being buried. His own eyes was burning him, the fire more intense than ever while he thought of his father.
He was the leader of the Uchiha clan now.
Sixteen years old and already burdened with the responsibility of their whole clan's grief and fury. Katsu had turned bitter, something that didn't suit the young man at all.
He hadn't come for anyone's funeral and was probably hiding in his room, ignoring his mother and getting immersed in his own anger. Madara had seen the same thing happen to many within his clan, the sudden loss was enough to turn them cold hearted and revenge ridden.
It was happening right now, his younger brothers eyes was turning red, and that was not from crying.
Madara clenched his eyes shut and tried to think of something else, but the only thing that appeared was Hashirama's dark eyes staring at him after killing his father. The anger and remorse as they both just stood there unmoving.
Madara hadn't been able to react for a while. He'd never frozen in battle before that day, but he guessed sometime had to be the first.
Hashirama hadn't said another word, he'd just watched as Madara ran up while the wood technique released the destroyed body of his father.
In the Uchiha clan you were preprogrammed to make sure you acted correctly when going into shock. Preprogrammed was the term used since it took place as soon as you no longer could think properly and acted without understanding what you were doing, the action was preprogrammed to make sure you did things right.
Just acted, no thoughts.
You could pre-program instructions you wanted to do, but they had to be easy, very strict and never altering for them to work when they were needed. Like it had been then.
That's why Madara on autopilot sealed the body inside a storage scroll without throwing up at the sight of the remains while Hashirama turned and walked away. It was a strict rule that no Uchiha corpse was ever to be surrendered to anyone else but their clan. If you couldn't get to the corpse, you where to burn it at all cost. No one was to get their hands on the Sharingan, and especially not Uchiha Tajima's Sharingan.
The idea of burning him was something Madara couldn't deal with, even while he was so in shock he'd gone into pre-program mentality he had known that. He had to get his father home.
The burning in his eyes intensified as he fought the tears. It just hurt so damn much.
"big bro?" Asked Izuna concerned.
Madara couldn't look at him, he was trying to rub away the fire in his eyes, couldn't even open them from the pain.
"Your eyes, big bro… They're bleeding..."
To Naruto, the days seemed to fly by after that.
Even though Ashina had said she couldn't become part of the main family publicly, it didn't seem to stop them from doing it privately. And Naruto learned that the Uzumaki was a big family, in fact it was a huge one.
Kurou and Mito was two siblings out of nine in total…
Their parents was always busy, but friendly whenever they saw Naruto around town. Mito was the only one in the flock of siblings that didn't have a twin, and was seventeen just like Naruto, even though she looked and acted older. She was the fifth child while Kurou was the youngest.
The oldest where twin boys, who Naruto had not met yet. They had already moved out and had started having a family of their own.
They were followed by another set of twin boys that recently had taken over the fifth division squad which was a group of thirty five shinobi who specialized in front line attacks.
Then came Mito, who was a commander part of the third squad which dealt with tracking and capturing.
After that was another set of twins, this time girls, where one had decided to live as a civilians after ending up in a wheelchair. She ran a fuinjutsu store that sold house protecting seals, while her twin sister had recently gotten the rank of commander at the age of fifteen.
Last came Hachirou and Kurou who both where lieutenants. In Uzu there was five ninja ranks in total. At the bottom was officer, then lieutenant followed by commander, then captain and at the top was admiral.
The only three to be admiral in Uzushiogakure was Uzumaki Ashina along with Uzuni Yasu and one other person Naruto didn't know.
She couldn't remember the names of everyone in the Uzumaki family yet, and felt like she was introduced to a new red haired person every day. They hadn't been kidding when they said the red hair gene was dominant.
After three weeks they started discussing the mission she would be doing for them. Free of charge.
Naruto hadn't mentioned to them that she was sleeping on the couch of the apartment Mito shared with her two younger brothers, but she'd be surprised if they didn't know that already.
Naruto hadn't touched money since she lived in Konoha, and had no idea how she was supposed to pay the rent for her own accommodation without doing missions where she got a salary.
The only thing she still had from her own time was two kunais, her old jumpsuit - which she carried at the bottom of the same back pack she found in the ruins of Itanika village - and two forehead protectors. Her own and Sasuke's.
It was what she'd had on her when thrown back in time, and something she never expected to be able to part with.
The mission she'd be doing was basically spying. Figuring out what was going on in water country, and report back to the council together with Mito. To do this however, she had to be taught sign language to communicate in silence while on the job, something she'd never done before nor had much patience with.
To Naruto's immense displeasure, she didn't have much choice in the matter.
As soon as she was explained her mission, she was put to do sign courses with Uzuni Yasu of all people. The old geezer had absolutely no patience with her, was constantly insulting her and generally made her lessons even less motivating then she'd originally feared.
It was like having academy classes all over, except now she knew why her sensei didn't like her.
"How can someone be this stupid? I remember clearly showing you the signs for 'next' and 'line' only two days ago. Maybe Ashina have some tolerance for you, but let me assure you Namikaze, that you still have yet to prove your worth to me." He said with a sneer as she failed to sign the sentence 'We will go next in line.'
"Useless you've been so far. Taking advantage of my village, wasting my time on this dreary task of teaching an airhead how to sign things you should have known before you could talk. Clearly you must have grown up under a rock. How can anyone be this dimwitted?" He said under his breath while Naruto tried to sign the sentence correctly this time.
He had a habit of doing that, muttering silently, deteriorating Naruto's spirit while she tried fruitlessly to get everything right.
Kurama had eventually started helping her out, but she had to be careful when letting him be present in such close proximity to Yasu. He was a very gifted tracker, and could notice when the kyūbi chakra started coming out.
Naruto also hated being forced to call him 'master Yasu.'
As one of the leading experts within fuinjutsu and her sign language teacher, he and Ashina insisted she was to refer him with the title.
"If you could take things a little slower master, then maybe I would grasp more you fossil." She muttered annoyed, but silently enough he wouldn't be able to hear.
Naruto didn't know how old the guy was, but she liked to refer him as 'the fossil' when he wasn't around or was far enough away not to catch it. Luckily for her his hearing wasn't very good.
"I can lip-read, Namikaze."
Coming home after yet another lesson with master Yasu while cursing his none existent nose, she was met to the smell of miso ramen at the door of the apartment.
Mito was making dinner while Kurou and Hachirou sat discussing their last mission. The twins had been gone for two weeks where they had done something together with the Sarutobi clan in Fire Country and come back this very morning.
"Wash your hands Naruto, dinner will be ready soon. Was the lesson any good?" Asked Kurou and looked over his shoulder at the grumpy blonde.
"It was a catastrophe waiting to happen, dattebayo." She muttered and moved over to the sink while the others chuckled.
"What happened?" Asked Mito worriedly, smacking Hachirou on the head with a tea towel for snickering.
"The fossil pointed at me with his pensil and said; 'at one end of this there's an idiot.' I just signed back to him 'witch end?' Apparently the geezer doesn't have a sense of humour." She grumbled, turning of the sink and sat down next to Kurou.
Mito smacked both her brothers this time, but had a smile on her lips all the same while her brothers snickered.
"But I heard from grandfather you'll be ready for our mission soon. We'll be going to the Yuki village and try and gather some intel for the grown ups to decipher." Said Mito while serving everyone their portions.
"Yes, not that the fossil will ever admit I'm good enough. He's so grumpy, dattebyo!" Naruto moaned, but got distracted from being handed her own serving from Mito, and felt saliva gather in her mouth as she got a good draft of the food.
Mito frowned while Hachirou nodded discreetly. Kurou had got a hold of himself and looked his normal pompous self again as he said. "Master Yasu is a very great man Naruto. He's done a lot for Uzu in his years. Do you know he's the one who invented the barrier seal around this village? It's a master piece. Truly unique since you don't have to continuously work to keep it, and it's very strong. It only need to be charged every other week and that can be done by most seal experts once the seal is up." He explained while all of them started eating.
"Kurou is right, he taught me how to do the seal recently, the thing could kill you if you don't preform it correctly." Mito explained and picked up her glass of water.
"Why is that? Does it explode or something if you do it wrong?" Asked Naruto with her mouth full of food.
"Do you have no manners Naruto?" Asked Kurou exasperated and rolled his eyes.
Mito ignored it and glared at her brother scornfully. "No, it doesn't blow up, it's more to do with your own energy. Fuinjutsu is dangerous when you use high level jutsu. The barrier seal could take all your chakra and basically drain you of life force if done without working up your endurance." She explained to Naruto who was more confused then ever.
"Look at it as a stamina race. If you just managed to run five miles in… let's say five minutes to let you understand how intense normal high level fuinjutsu can feel like. Then if you use a seal like… the gravity seal for example. There you use the same amount of chakra stamina that equals five miles in five minutes. The barrier seal master Yasu made requires you to run twenty miles in the same amount of time. You basically just implode if you're not skilled enough." She said and sat back in her chair.
"That doesn't explain why you could die though. Do you snuff it if you use… six minutes for example?" Asked Naruto curiously.
"Yes, because of the relapse in the seal. I'll try to say this as easily as possible..." She said and put down her chopsticks to focus on her explanation instead.
"Think of fuinjutsu as a dish. The end results is your dinner, the ingredients is the composure of the seal, and how you cook it is your own chakra. Do you get it?" She said with one eyebrow raised in the direction of Naruto who nodded.
"When using fuinjutsu you make the seal have all the ingredients with everything that's needed for the end results. You have the five elements, yin, yang and balance of light and heavy which makes up the base ingredients.
Different combinations does different things. Like a little lightning and earth put together with yang results in explosion tags. The skill is something that works outside in, unlike ninjutsu which is inside out. You make the outside, and put your inside chakra into it to create new possibilities. How you use your chakra will also alter how the seal reacts. That's why the barrier seal is so risky, most can't get their chakra to act the right way for it to activate. The barrier uses your chakra and latches onto it until it has it's supposed amount of fill in the right order. If you're not fast enough, not only will the barrier be weaker, but it will drain you until there's nothing left." She rambled off without a pause.
"Oh… I didn't know that… So if you use space-time ninjutsu in right balance you could potentially transport yourself through a seal connected to your own chakra?" Asked Naruto thinking of her fathers harishin no jutsu. "Eh… well… I'm not sure how that would work, but maybe... yes..?" Said Mito scratching her jaw while thinking.
"That sounds very complicated." Muttered Hachirou while shaking his head.
"Theoretically you can do just about everything with fuinjutsu. You just have to figure out the right combinations, pace and power for it to work." Kurou explained before taking a big mouthful of ramen and chewing while the rest got lost in thoughts.
Even though Naruto completed her first mission with flying colours, it still didn't warm master Yasu up to her.
As a matter of fact he seemed offended that she had the decency to prove him wrong, and never missed a moment to word his dislike for the blonde.
Naruto had always been able to see the bright side of situations though, and focused on them instead.
She soon found herself being tutored in fuinjutsu by Mito, Kurou and Hachirou every day they didn't have missions. Naruto was glad to find something she was talented in from the beginning, it was just something she could do without having to understand the fundamentals. It was truly more like a puzzle, a puzzle where you used your instincts more then your thought proses. She never understood exactly what Mito was explaining, but eventually always managed to achieve the end result.
It annoyed Kurou that she was progressing in fuinjutsu at such a rapid pace, and after only a year she was as good as he was. Doing everything from home made storing scrolls to wind attack seals. An offensive seal where you could summon a previously stored technique during battle. It was difficult, since while it was being stored it had to be frozen, something that was bordering on space-time ninjutsu.
Another thing she was working on was her elemental ninjutsu. Naruto would never understand why she progressed so rapidly when in company of other people. She'd been alone for years, and while she had gotten stronger after a while, it was nothing like now.
Wind elemental ninjutsu she'd already mastered before in Konoha, and it took her eight years to understand and do earth and water ninjutsu to a fighting standard while wandering in the wild. But in only the last year she'd started doing a descent head start on lightning ninjutsu.
Fire was a no go. She could barely lit a match no matter how much she struggled. Which had always been a sour point for her all the freezing winters sitting cold in caves. Fantasising about doing the great fireball technique on the whole damned forest to get some warmth back in her body.
It didn't take her long to become awfully comfortable in Uzu, feeling at home amongst the many red heads and doing missions while sleeping on the couch in the Uzumaki siblings home.
The only thoughts that kept her from moving in and swearing eternal loyalty to the island village was the thoughts of her friends. Both future and past.
Her restrictions by being an overextended visitor of Uzushiogakure had made the process of finding black Zetsu coming to a full halt.
She used much of her time instead in the library of all places. Combing through the pages in a desperate attempt to find something strong and permanent enough to seal the creature away forever. It was the reason she'd come to Uzu in the first place. Hoping to find something strong enough to seal the damned ink blotch.
But nothing compared to the powers of yin and yang together. Naruto still had the power of the sage of the six path's yang powers, the mark still hidden beneath her constantly bandaged hands - which was done mainly to hide the thing.
She grew so frustrated she'd thrown Sasuke's forehead protector out the window of the library window one day.
Hoping he'd feel her wrath for not getting sent here himself, all the way from the realms beyond.
It had taken her five minutes to pelt out after it in full haste and search frantically for the thing on the rocky shore of the island. Eventually finding it between two rocks, the metal having gotten loose from the fabric in one of the corners from the five story fall.
That evening she'd locked herself within the apartment, staring at Sasuke's forehead protector for hours on end. Glad that no one was at home and she had peace to herself. Her mind whirling with options for how to get rid of Black Zetsu.
She could attempt to kill him again. The last try had gone badly when he disappeared into the earth. She could try to use some of her remaining chakra from the Ichibi. But it wasn't much of that left in her, and she didn't think it would be enough to seal him away for good.
Someone could open it, or maybe eventually he'd find a way to weaken it. Just like Kurama once had tried to do to the seal binding him to Naruto.
Naruto had found some good sealing techniques in the library, but they all had weaknesses. Not being permanent enough for forever was usually the biggest problem.
They could seal him for a hundred years, and then the next generation would have to reseal him again. Naruto couldn't allow the possibility of him ever getting out again.
Instead she'd started thinking of using the death ripper seal.
Kurama hated the idea. Of course he would have to be released while she was doing the sealing, so it wasn't his own death he feared. He would never admit to it but Naruto knew he cared a lot about her.
The seal was strong enough to bind even a bijū. But then she would have to sacrifice herself, and at the same time doom some poor soul into dealing with that thing for the rest of their life.
The death ripper seal would probably be the best option for getting rid of black Zetsu as far as she could see. Since once the container died the person would take black Zetsu with him or her, and as far as Naruto knew, unlike a bijū who'd just reform itself a while after the container died, that was something beyond Black Zetsu's power.
There was now another option too… It was the reason she found herself alone at home freaking out after the long day at the library.
But that… That... was something Naruto had never imagined she would consider before now... It was black…
And so very painful it hurt to even consider it.
It was after two years of staying in Uzu that Naruto went with Mito to the Land of Water in an attempt to steal a stolen scroll.
It had originated from the Uzumaki archive right next to the library which contained a very powerful bijū sealing technique. The situation with the Yuki clan was tense, but so far no one had attacked each other.
Ashina was in constant dialogue with them these days, trying to ease the pressure and attempt to come to an agreement which would avoid a war. This thievery was not at all appreciated, and also something the leader of the Yuki clan had denied being part of.
Instead it seemed like a small group of rebels within the clan had acted on their own. At least that was Ashina's guess.
Naruto didn't like the situations, mostly because she knew she soon had to leave Uzu. The idea of leaving the village when they soon might end up in war left a nasty after taste in her mouth.
But she was needed in Fire Country, and had held off going back long enough as it was. Even if she hadn't made progress in finding Black Zetsu she had grown stronger, and her aid was probably needed if the rumours she heard about their war were true.
First however; she had this mission to complete. And while she hated herself for it, she had become very attached to the members of her clan and was delaying her departure. Another unmotivateing factor was that it would suck to go back to living in caves and on grass after so long in comfortable living arrangements.
When they started their mission it took Naruto and Mito three days to get to the Yuki village, and another day finding the location of the rebels hideout.
Naruto was in full sensor mode without tapping into Kurama's power, since Mito still had no idea of what she was.
They moved quietly over the rocky shore as they got closer to their target. It was an uncomfortably open area without any vegetation or good hiding places. The only areas suitable for cover was when lying low between some of the taller rocks.
There was a large gathering of seagulls not far away, blabbering loudly and drawing attention to themselves. It was early in the morning and the sun had only been out for an hour when Naruto finally felt their chakra signature.
Wherever they were hiding it had to be underneath the ground.
"I think the entrance has to be hidden between the rocks around here." Signed Mito and Naruto nodded after a few seconds deciphering of the hand signs. She still wasn't fluent in signing and always had to think before she understood what was being said. Naruto had also noticed the difference in speed Mito signed when talking to her in contrast to how she signed with her brothers.
They immediately started searching the shore for any irregularities. Some metal sticking out from beneath the rocks, a seal inscribed on a boulder, anything at all really.
It was a dreary job that could get incredibly boring in other situations. This one however was more risky. They didn't want to get discovered. These rebels was the main reason the Yuki village still hadn't agreed to the peace treaty, constantly firing up arguments for going to war and rallying anyone who'd listen.
They would not get a warm welcome if they were caught.
After four hours Mito finally found a small wooden trap door in the ground that looked like an entrance to a wine storage. It had been camouflaged with a thin layer of sand and dirt. Naruto could feel three people underneath them, all a little distance away. Their chakra was relaxed and pleasant.
"We should lure them out." Signed Naruto slowly.
"How?" Mito signed back at the same pace.
"Explosion tag?"
"Maybe something less obvious." Mito signed and rolled her eyes. "We are not to be discovered."
"Maybe fell a tree? Make it look like an accident?" Naruto signed back.
Mito looked around with an exasperated look and signed quickly. "There's no trees."
'Oh, right.'
"Throw some boulders around?"
Mito stopped and thought for a moment, after a few moments she nodded. "I can't think of anything better, lets go for it."
They used a reversed gravity seal for the distraction. It was a technique which had some of the same qualities as dust release had, it could make things lighter, but only for short periods of time.
They found the biggest loose boulder within hearing distance, and Naruto who still was practising this seal watched as Mito preformed it. It wouldn't be good to blow up the stone instead of lifting it after all.
While Mito concentrated on keeping the seal activated, Naruto lifted it up.
It would only stay light for a second after Mito removed her hand, but it was the time frame they needed for it to be heavy enough when it landed again. It was usually used to throw heavy things at enemies which then turned heavy enough to cause damage when it hit.
The boulder crashed to the ground with an earth trembling roar of sound.
Naruto then threw herself in the ocean, swam closer to the entrance, and hid behind the rocks amongst the shore as she waited for them to come check out the commotion. Mito ran behind some rocks and lied down in the opposite direction.
The water was icy cold, and Naruto hoped they wouldn't take too long getting up here.
She felt as their signature jump in surprise at the sound, and then how they rushed towards the entrance.
Before they came out they halted, probably talking to each other before coming out. Eventually all three emerged looking around for what had caused the small earthquake. After a few words was exchanged, they moved away from the entrance to scout around.
With a mischievous smile on her face, Naruto took her chance to break entrance. Mito was to stay upstairs and keep distracting the rebels while the blond went inside.
She jumped into the whole as Mito made another stone crash to the ground a little away. This time from the another direction then the last. Landing in a tight fitted tunnel Naruto analysed her surroundings while she walked further into the dark without hesitation.
It was a stuffy place. The air was so filled with the smell of salt she wrinkled her nose in displeasure. The corridor looked like it had been blasted out with explosive tags since the walls was made of raw rocks that stuck out irregularly, and the width changed length at random.
Whatever ceiling there was had cracks in it, making sunlight from above stream through where the ceiling was tallest and in other areas make Naruto having to crouch down.
After about a hundred metres she reached the light of another room.
Whatever lack of maintenance the corridor had, this looked ten times better. The walls were even and the room perfectly square. The floor was tiled and a small window had been placed in the corner that looked out on the ocean through a gap Naruto would have problems sticking her head through. It looked like the chamber was even with the shore, so far out it was almost in the ocean for them to have that view through the window.
She instantly started searching through the scrolls littering the only furniture in the room. A table.
Nothing seemed to fit the description. While she looked she started fretting they might have taken it with her.
Scroll after scroll she peaked through. An order form for a special kunai from wind country, a picture of a young girl that reminded Naruto of the missing ninja Haku, a list of top ten most hated Uzumaki's but still no fuinjutsu seals at all.
She realised after five minutes that the scroll wasn't there, and started touching the walls for secret hiding places. She roamed every surface and corner in growing frustration.
It wasn't here. Where on earth could it be? They must have taken it with them. Or hid it somewhere else.
A loud noise broke her concentration. A thumping sound that seemed to ring loudly in contrast to the earlier silence of the room and made her jump in fright. In shock she felt the presence she'd till now somehow missed. But it was coming from underneath her.
Eyes wide she realised there had to be another room. Something underneath the flat tiling, and down there was a fourth person.
Another thump.
It didn't sound like footsteps, more like someone was knocking against a hard surface with their fist.
Bending down and crawling on all four she looked underneath the table. There was a small unevenness in the heights here, and the grout was missing from between some of the tiles, forming a square large enough for a person to fit in.
Slowly she started fondling with the gaps, it felt like another trap door, it had to be an opening. And someone was stuck down there. She could now feel it.
Whoever was underneath must have felt her pacing and started knocking. Maybe it was a civilians since she hadn't noticed their chakra before now. It was so weak she barely sensed it while she knew perfectly well the poor person was only centimetres away knocking on the door.
Finally she managed to pry it open enough for her to get a grip around the edge. Hiving it open and looking down.
It was a woman. She had dark brown, unkempt hair with a red tinge to it and black eyes as she stared up at her. The woman was so pale and ragged looking Naruto wondered how long she'd been down there.
"Come on miss. Let's get you out of here." Naruto whispered and tried to come off as warm as possible. Attempting very hard not to imagine why three men had this woman locked up in a whole in their hideout.
Reaching down her arm for her to grasp the woman hesitated before taking it.
It took a few tries to get her up, and Naruto quickly realised why once she was getting to her feet on her level. She was very obviously pregnant.
The woman was studying her closely with furrowed brows as they walked towards the exit. Naruto having completely forgotten about her mission before they were almost by the trap door. The silence between them were awkward, but neither seemed to dare talk before they were a safe distance away from here.
Naruto could feel Mito far to the south and the closest person had to be about two hundred metres away. Hopefully he wouldn't spot them coming out.
By the entrance there was a ladder she hadn't taken notice off earlier, and turned to look at the woman before going up.
"I'll go first. They're still out there, and it's better if I check out the situation first." She whispered and the woman who was still scrutinising her nodded slowly.
The coast was clear enough. The man was distracted as he walked away from them while Naruto helped the woman up after her. They ran as quietly and quickly as they dared for cover towards the higher terrain where there was better places to hide.
Behind the first growing bushes from the ocean, they crouched low while Naruto searched for Mito's location. She was barely within reach of her sensory abilities without using sage chakra or Kurama. Now having moved about half a kilometre south-east.
The woman still hadn't spoken, only followed mutely after Naruto in her dirty dress and torn sandals.
"My comrade is southwards, I'll move you higher up. I need to get to her before leaving. Is it alright if we hide you while I can get her?" Asked Naruto through a barely moving mouth. She only nodded again, seemingly happy to follow whatever Naruto suggested as long as it didn't involve going back.
After getting her between two boulders which was overgrown with bushes, Naruto felt secure enough that the woman was well hidden before going to get Mito.
It took her ten minutes to move around the men without being noticed and get a very confused Mito to come back with her, while signing what had occurred down in the hideout. Mito was surprised and understanding of the situations, and looked disgustingly over her shoulder while Naruto explained in detailed sign language exactly what she felt the men deserved.
Only to find the woman no longer where she'd left her.
"She was here. I hid her myself." Signed Naruto wide eyed and gesturing to the now abandoned bushes.
"Then find her. Use your sensor skill, already. You are better at that then me." Mito signed back frustrated. "I can't. She barely has chakra. I wont find her." Naruto signed, becoming panicked at the idea that she'd been recaptured.
Mito rolled her eyes and started looking around. "Then we'll do it the old fashioned way" Signed Mito as she bent down towards the ground. After a minute of confusion Naruto realised she was looking for tracks.
"She moved further up, away from the shore. Alone. She probably got nervous." Signed Mito and started moving in the explained direction.
She kept her eyes on the ground as they trailed the tracks, there was soft earth here which made even Naruto able to see the soft footprints.
They themselves was moving from rock to rock whenever possible to avoid leaving a trail, since there was no trees to jump through. Eventually they were a good distance away, and the men so far behind them that they started increasing their tempo. Jogging while they scouted for her.
But the woman was gone. After three hours they realised she had to have some skills after all. Her tracks suddenly evaporated completely in the middle of a field. No trace of anyone coming, only hers arriving.
"Great, not only a failed mission, but also a failed tracking and rescue." Muttered Naruto and stared annoyed down at the last footprint.
"Come on. They must have realised someone was inside by now. We'll have to return to Uzu as soon as possible if we don't want the whole Yuki rebellion tailing our exit from water country." Said Mito and patted Naruto on the head as if she was a child throwing a tantrum.
"Fine, but I still think we should have taken a more direct approach dealing with those bastards." Naruto replied and followed Mito as they headed for the ocean once again. She was not looking forwards to the satisfaction Yasu would get from hearing her first uncompleted mission.
He'd be nastily satisfied in her failure.
As an allied of Uzu and unofficial honorary member of the Uzumaki clan, Naruto was expected to show up on time for things like this.
Ashina had summoned her the night before to meet up at six in the Village hall for a mission briefing. It was now half past seven, and Naruto was forcing her left hand through the sleeve of her haori while she pelted through the streets of Uzushigakure.
Opening the doors of the main entrance with a bang she vaguely heard Sakura - the receptionist with the same name of her old team mate - sing a high; "Good morning Naruto-chan!" when she was already half way up the stairs.
She came to an abrupt halt in front of master Yasu who turned to look at her. He was leaving meeting room three and his frown got even deeper than before at the sight of Naruto. "You are late." he snapped, and without a second glance marched down the corridor.
Naruto wondered why he hadn't taken the opportunity to insult her for a little longer while she dried her forehead for sweat, and looked down at her clothes to check she looked somewhat presentable.
Then hurriedly took of her haori again after she realised it was inside out, before replacing it back the correct way around.
Naruto gripped the handle carefully and walked through the doors.
"It has to be decided today. I can't wai-" Said a male voice from the table where the council usually sat.
Naruto didn't recognise the voice, but she sure recognised the person behind it. His hair was longer and much darker then her own. He was taller then Ashina and sat with his hands folded in front of him on the table as they turned to see who had entered.
It was Hashirama.
Author not: Thank you so much for taking the time reading this chapter!
I was unsure how to divide the last two chapters, if the Uchiha-Senju battle should have been mixed together with what was occurring in Uzu or not. Because of the time progression in Uzu I gave each chapter a main focus so there would be less confusion about time. By the way: All the fuinjutsu things explained in this chapter is just wild guessing in my part, but that's how it works in this story.
A few have mentioned that I update quickly, which I have so far. I'm a very impatient reader myself. Give me a book that catches my attention and I have to struggle not to read the last pages right away. Now that I've tested out writing a story for myself I realised I'm exactly the same here. I'm really impatient to get this finished…
I can't promise I'll keep such a rapid update pace all the way until Second Wind is finished, but it'll last for a little longer at least. I had already written the start, the middle and the end before I even posted this story. Which makes updating so far a matter of rereading, editing and trying to find grammar mistakes. What haven't been written is everything that happens in between, so that's what I'm mainly doing at the moment.
The holidays are unfortunately over, and while I can promise this story will see it's end chapter, it might be I'll have to change to once a week updates if I get too busy with work and daily life.
Probably I'll get impatient again, and start writing despite having too much else to do…