Author's Note: Well here's the next chapter where we get to see Noriko make her first noticeable change to the timeline by saving someone who had otherwise died. There's a bit more information about her work as Ryuukoe, but of more note is that we get a look at the inner workings of her mind from which we can see that not everything is sunshine and roses, especially with the growth of her first tail getting closer and closer which means that her demonic side is showing more and more, even if not outwardly.

Also, 94 reviews, 276 favorites, 371 follows, and 13,026 hits. I have to say I'm quite happy with that, so thank you to you my readers, I look forwards to your comments and criticisms of this story in the future.

September came all too soon for my tastes and with it was the next hurdle in my efforts to improve the situation; The Uchiha Massacre.

I had curtailed my bounty hunting just before the start of the month, though I kept a single collected target with me at all times to ensure that I could carry out my plans without issue. This was because I wouldn't be able to simply explain away Ryuukoe's presence so close to Konoha without a bounty that needed to turned in.

Ryuukoe. Dear Kami...if my persona wasn't an open can of worms than nothing was. Since I had created her a few months before, I had personally killed thirty-nine people. Of that number, nine had been C-rank nuke-nin and four had been B-ranks. The rest of their number had been bandits associating with the wanted ninja. That collection rate had garnered me some rather unwelcome observers anytime I was within about a dozen miles of Konoha in the form of ANBU teams. On my most recent trip out I had actually been confronted by ANBU Inu, who I had known full well was Kakashi.

-Flashback Start-

I was instantly expecting a fight when the cloaked ANBU dropped out of the trees ahead of me and brought my travels to a stop, his three fellow ANBU had dropped in around me, one left, one right, and one behind me. As I carefully rested my hands on my twin katanas in preparation for battle, whether I'd win of not, I was surprised to see Inu take out a small black book and toss it to me.

Catching it before checking for traps within the pages, I looked to Inu through my Dragon mask as I asked, "What is this?"

"It's a person of interest book. It's similar to a bingo book, but it also lists suspicious people that Konoha has taken note of, including yourself," he replied

"And you're giving it to me why?" I asked cautiously, though with clear skepticism.

"Your success rate in the time since you began bringing in bounties to Konoha has been...exceptional. Enough so that the Hokage himself as well as other figures have taken note of your presence, Ryuukoe. While you are not a nin of Konoha, Hokage-sama has seen fit to have you given this book. Should you happen across any relevant information about those within these pages, we would be...appreciative to receive it."

I was stunned. A few bounties collected and they wanted me working as some sort of off the records agent?! That...really wasn't reassuring. If what I had done was enough to gain the interest and some measure of respect from the ANBU offices then I was going to have be a hell of a lot more careful, especially entering the village. Though it did give me an idea...but that was for later.

"...I'll consider it," I decided to eventually reply after a few moment's pause, "Though this is not a promise. If possible I would prefer to live without involving myself with any of the villages too much, ANBU-san. It would make my work more...problematic when I start going to other countries for targets."

"That was expected, as such you are not being asked for anything of the sort, merely that you report anything of interest to us. You will of course be paid depending on what you bring in."

I couldn't stop a grimace behind my mask. 'This was exactly what I needed right now,' I drawled sarcastically.

'Quit being a pussy Noriko, this means better information and better information means that we can plan better.' Kurama snorted in reply.

'Hai, hai...'

"Fine, I'll be on the look out, but don't expect anything beyond my usual bounties. I won't be going out of my way for this for now.' I replied with resignation, 'Now shoo, I have miles to go before I make camp and you're slowing me down." I punctuated that reply by making a shooing motion with both hands.

I was certain that Kakashi was raising an eyebrow behind his mask but he settled for nodding and disappearing via shunshin, followed by his brethren.

I waited just long enough to be sure they were gone from my range before I darted forwards, making another three miles of progress before I disappeared in a flash of red.

-Flashback End-

That book had certainly proven to be a gold mine of information, but none of it was immediately useful to my plans unfortunately. It was these plans that lead me to my current situation though. With a Blood Clone holding down the fort in Konoha for the moment, I was camped alongside the Naka river a few miles downstream from the waterfall and I had been there since the first of the month. What I was waiting for was the confrontation between Itachi and Shisui. Out of all my encounters with the Uchiha of the village, there were only four that I held any measure of care or respect for: Itachi, Shisui, Mikoto, and Kagami.

As such I was now poised to save at least one of those people if at all possible, and it seemed like the time had finally come.

Above the waterfall where I waited, I could feel Shisui's pitifully weak and quiet chakra signature alongside Itachi's tumultuous, regretful, and saddened signature. It honestly made my chest ache to feel someone I had come to care about and respect so much in such emotional distress, but I waited, continuing to watch and listen for my chance, and there it was.

I watched as a figure tipped over the edge, his signature pitifully weak as he fell. When he was close enough, I leapt from my spot and caught him, carefully suppressing and hiding both of our signatures the instant I made contact before bolting towards my camp where a fully rested blood clone and the proper supplies awaited Shisui and I.

The first five minutes after I arrived back at camp were frantic. As quickly, and carefully as possible, my clone and I put tight bandages and tourniquets to stop the bleeding from Shisui's wounds before we set about repairs the damage with the Mystical Palm jutsu and several other iryojutsus. The quick treatment was enough that we slowed the fading of Shisui's chakra signature and eventually stabilized it

From there it was a matter of closing the injuries and then releasing the tourniquets and pressure bandages to restore blood flow to his body. That left the injured Uchiha suffering from nothing but his missing eyes, to deal with that I would need more than just the aid of my clone.

'Are you ready for this? I'm not doubting you, but I want everything to be as close to perfect as possible Kurama.'

'I'm ready Kit, and with the training you got from the dragons, this should be enough to do what you're asking.'

'Alright...' I replied, taking a big breath as I called on my collected natural energy before I shouted, "Here we go!"

Flying through a dozen hand seals, I placed my hands over the unconscious Shisui's eyes as I announced my jutsu.

"Senpou: Iryojutsu: Sou Fukugen!" (Sage Art: Medical Art: Total Restoration)

Instantly a sunny, golden glow surrounded my hands and funneled down into Shisui's empty eye sockets. As he began to stir, my clone quickly pulled a syringe from a med pack and injected it into the teen's arm, settling him back down as the sedative took effect.

I wasn't sure how long as was there, maintaining my jutsu, but night fell and the moon rose into the clear night air. The only thing that ever interrupted my constant work was the occasional clone popping to restore my levels of natural energy. I purposefully hadn't gathered to much as I didn't have anything approaching mastery of the art after only two months of training under the dragons, but I could wield it skillfully enough that I could use the golden, purified chakra of the ninetails sage mode.

It did prove to be enough, thankfully. For as the sun began to creep over the horizon, I fell backwards to sprawl out on the clear ground of my camp with a sigh. With Kurama tending to restoring my body, I was able to sit up and inspect my work.

Shisui's eyes were fully restored beneath his closed eyelids and all of his other wounds were long since healed. So he was back into perfect condition, pending his ability to use his eyes...though I had a feeling I was going to get a bit of a yelling at for what else I had done to Shisui.

His formerly black hair was now now a light gray, matching my own in my guise of Ryuukoe, and more significantly, his once black eyes were now yellow gold with draconic slit pupils like my own. I had done this to both help Shisui, and for a selfish reason, but those were for later when he was awake enough to speak with me.

Satisfied, I headed over to the fire where my clone had kindly prepared a very large and hearty breakfast which I devoured enthusiastically before unrolling a bed roll and quickly going to sleep.

"Boss, he's waking up, time for you to get to work."

Grumbling, I peeled open my eyes to rapidly blink as bright sunlight streamed against my pupils and made me hiss in pain before replying, "Yeah, yeah...now go ahead and pop you ass."

For some reason my clone grinned impishly before vanishing in a burst of smoke, leaving just enough time for me to blink in surprise before groaning as two weeks of memories and a massive headache slammed into me.

"Fucking cheeky ass clones," I muttered as I sat up, taking note of a covered pot of food resting over the coals of the fire along with a stirring Uchiha Shisui.

Knowing I couldn't stop the inevitable, I got up and walked over Shisui before sitting beside him and taking out a canteen as I waited for him to wake. True to my clone's predictions, it was only a few minutes later that Shisui's eyes shot wide open, actually surprising me with just how bright and vivid they were.

When his breathing and heart rate rapidly skyrocketed, I quickly set a hand on his shoulder and did my best to calm him as I said, "Please calm down Shisui-san. I have healed you, but I do not know if there are any other lingering effects."

Is eyes bolted to my uncovered face, making my mentally slap myself for not having out on my mask. On second thought this really was better given what I was planning to ask him to do.

"W-Who..." He began only to grimace and swallow before I pushed a canteen gently against his lips, lifting his back with my other hand to make it a bit easier. He drank gratefully for several moments before he sighed and I lowered him to his back again.

"Thank you, now please tell me who you are," he said softly.

Nodding, I gave a slim smile as I answered, "You likely know my already, but not without my mask. My name is Ryuukoe. Before we go any further though, I would like you to try activating your Sharingan."

"My Sharingan..." He muttered before he suddenly started with surprise, quickly attempting to sit up only for me to push him back down as he looked at me with the same wide eyes from when he woke to ask, "I can see...but, but how? Did you transplant new eyes into me?"

I shook my head firmly and responded as patiently as I could, "No, I regrew your eyes with a special jutsu that makes use of my unique chakra. While I did so, and tended to your other injuries, I need to tell you that I changed your appearance a bit because there are things that are going to be happening that I'll need your help to stop."

Shisui watched me warily for several second, his new slit pupils giving him a rather intimidating glare as he watched me before closing his eyes with a small smile and shaking his head.

"Well you saved my life, so I suppose listening to you is the least I can do."

I quirked my own lips just a little before I began to speak.

"While I was able to save you, I unfortunately am not able to stop the massacre of your clan for the coup they are planning."

He made to interrupt but I raised my hand to stop him before I continued, "I will save those that I can, but unfortunately too many coming events rely on your clan being killed for me to prevent it, and that is to say nothing of the perpetrators being too powerful for me or even the Hokage to stop at the current time. Now please try to activate your eyes, I would like to know if my efforts were in vain or not.

That information caught Shisui's attention for absolutely certain. A for to strong for the Hokage? Yeah he was obviously concerned now. Thankfully he did do as I asked and activated his eyes, only for my breath to catch as a red and black design spun into existence in his eyes.

"So they work I take it?" He asked with an slightly amused grin.

"Yes, though it seems I did better than just regrowing them," I replied, taking in the changes to the previously shuriken patterned eyes, "It seems that getting new eyes, even if they were your own and just regrown was enough to move you on to the next stage of the Sharingan."

"The next stage?"

I nodded numbly before I began to explain this unexpected development. "Normally the Sharingan develops up to having three tomoe in each eye. However if certain circumstances are met, usually extreme guilt for an action or a failure, a Sharingan can evolve into the next stage, the Mangekyou Sharingan which you had already possessed when your eyes were removed."

"I get that now keep going."

Inarrowed my eyes slightly and frowned at that reply before sighing and shaking my head as I said, "Use of the abilities possessed by a Mangekyou Sharingan causes one's vision to degrade with each use until the user goes blind, permanently sealing their eyes. The only cure for this, before now, was to take the Sharingan eyes of a close relative and have them transplanted. This would advance the eyes to the next stage, the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan."

Now he was really paying attention I noted as I paused for a breath.

"In this stage, the vision of the user is permanently restored and even drastically improved. Beyond that restoration of sight, the owner of the eyes also gains dramatically increased and potentially new Sharingan abilities. You already possessed Susanoo and Kotoamatsuki with the regular Mangekyou Sharingan. Now those abilities will be drastically improved but there is also the chance that you will awaken other abilities now as well but I don't know to be honest."

I sighed and ran a hand through my transformed hair as Shisui gave me an expectant look before I continued.

"The abilities that you could develop include the genjutsu Tsukiyomi, the katon Amaterasu, the jikuukan Kamui. You already have access to the ability Izanagi, which will let you permanently sacrifice an eye in order to survive a killing blow. I don't know if the ten year restriction of the Kotoamatsuki still applies or if you gained any of those techniques I named so once I send you on your way I suggest you experiment a bit, though be extremely discreet."

"How...just how do you know all of that? How do you know any of that?!" Shisui demanded suddenly as he got to his feet, fists balled in anger.

I sighed mentally before raising my hands in a scathing gesture as I said, "Please turn off your eyes Shisui, rashness will not help anyone right now expect our enemies."

His eyes narrowed as he watched me for several moments before he sighed in either defeat of acceptance and so I reluctantly breathed a sigh of my own, only of relief when I saw his eyes change back to slotted yellow.

"Alright, first thing is that right now, I can't tell you how I know these things. I honestly can't. Far too much depends on you not charging off to challenge opponents their are currently far beyond our reach and have plans of their own in place right now to deal with any interruptions we could make. Do you understand that?" I asked.

There was hesitation but Shisui nodded and replied, "I will accept that you can't tell me everything now, but at least tell me who this enemy is."

I gave a full on grimace and bit my lower lip before I sullenly answered in a low voice, "Uchiha Madara."

Instantly Shisui's eyes widened to an impossible degree -which seemed to be starting to become a regular occurrence much to my amusement- and he let out a single whisper.

"...Impossible..."

"Unfortunately not. Uchiha Madara is alive and well and plotting against not just Konoha, but the entire world, Shisui-san. That is why we must be extremely careful with our actions right now."

He seemed to play over my words before giving a sullen nod as he rested his face in his hands at which point I mentally thanked Kami for his cooperation as he gave me his next question.

"You said you can't tell me now, so when can you tell me everything?"

"That is something I can answer fortunately. In about five years, the year that Sasuke will graduate from the Academy, the Chunin Exams will be held in Konoha. I'll remind you before hand so you won't forget and I'll also ask you to be there for at least the final round. Once they're over, I will tell you everything about what's going on, a few others well most likely."

"Fine. Now, from what you just said, you expect me not to be in Konoha, why?"

"I expect you not to be in Konoha much if at all until then because if Uchiha Shisui returns alive, Danzo will either attempt to kill you to keep his secret or Madara will come looking to kill you and potentially claim your eyes. What you'll be doing in the mean time is playing the role of a bounty hunter and becoming as strong as absolutely powerful in every possible field, because you will absolutely be needed come those exams."

"So a bounty hunter...anything else?" He replied, a touch of amusement returning to his voice.

"A few things yes. One you'll be posing as my younger brother. Because you don't have the reserves to use much less maintain a physical transformation, I had to make the changes genetic while I was healing you."

"Changes? What changes?" He asked, now more worried than anything.

An amused, mischievous smile crossed my lips before I withdrew a small hand mirror from a pocket and tossed it to him. It was with a great deal of humor and satisfaction that I watched his face morph into an expression of complete and utter shock before he finally began taking a closer look at himself. He made various expressions to see how they looked before he sighed heavily and hung his head in defeat before tossing the mirror back at me as he looked up to mock eyes with me.

"Dear Kami-sama...if you were gonna mess with my face you could have at least made me more handsome, Nee-chan."

I paused and actually failed to catch the mirror which bounced off the armor on my chest before I closed my eyes and snorted as I started to laugh. "Everything that's happening, and that's what you choose to complain about?" I asked between laughs.

"Ha ha ha," Shisui drawled sarcastically, "But given I can't do anything about the rest of it right now, it is what I'll complain about. Now if I'm your otouto, I'll expect you to have a name picked out for me to use."

My laughter faded to little bouts of giggles as I hid my grin behind my hands as I replied, "Yeah I was thinking something rather impressive and sorta indicative like Ryuugen (Dragon's Illusion)."

"Ryuugen...I suppose that's not too bad. Now is there anything else I should know before I head out to start my new life?" He asked.

"Yeah, a few things. First, go where you want for the most part but be careful in rice as that's where I understand Orochimaru is hanging around and potentially setting up shop. Besides that, never, ever, ever go to Rain. The rain that's always falling there is actually a sensor jutsu that manipulates the natural weather there so that they know the instant someone passes their borders. Besides that charming knowledge, Rain is also where Madara is headquartered, hiding out as part of the group known as Akatsuki. If you absolutely have to have action beyond bounty hunting, head to Kiri and join the rebels. The Mizukage, a man maned Yagura, is attempting to purge the bloodline users there. To make the situation even more dangerous though, the Mizukage is also the Jinchurriki of the Sanbi and under Madara's control to boot. So keep a low profile there if you can. We do not want Akatsuki's attention in the least."

Shisui nodded thoughtfully, closing his eyes before he asked, "Do we have a backstory?"

I nodded with a grin before I began to explain the backstory for our impromptu family. Explaining our origin, how we were trained and by whom, everything he would need to explain himself away.

Once I was done I unsealed a large package and set it before him.

"Ryuugen, in here are about two weeks of basic supplies in sealing scrolls along with several jutsu scrolls that you should be able to make use of. In addition to that is several sets if clothes and two sets of armor like my own along with a good variety of weapons," I told him, watching as he began to open it up and explore the contents, I sighed and did the last part that I needed to. Reaching out before he could react, I placed my right hand palm down on his sternum before I created the necessary seal, making sure to settle it in and attack to his system.

As soon as that was done, he grabbed my hand and pushed it to the side, knocking me backwards as he crouched over me and placed a kunai from his supplies against my neck.

"What the fuck was that?" He demanded in a hiss.

Outwardly keeping myself calm I opened my mouth slowly and uttered the one word answer.

"Hiraishin."

With that I vanished from beneath him in a flash of red to reappear, standing beside Shisui as he whirled into a crouch facing me.

"How the hell did you do that?! The last person to use the Hiraishin was the Yondaime!" he demanded.

"I'm a seal master, and a damn good one at that," I replied carefully, looking down to meet Shisui's active Sharingan. "With enough examples of the Yondaime's work, namely the remaining copies of his kunai, I was able to recreate the technique. Now it's time for me to get a move on, I need to prepare to act as soon as Itachi and Madara leave Konoha. I've put a set of seals around this camp to keep you hidden for the next week. By then you'll either need to get a move on or deal with ANBU finding you. If you are ever in mortal danger, channel chakra to the Hiraishin seal on your chest and I'll either come to you or summon you to me, alright, Ryuugen?"

Shisui stared hard at me for several seconds before nodding and closing his eyes to deactivate the Sharingan. "I'll see you when I see you then I suppose."

I flashed the former Uchiha a small grin before I replied, "You'll see me often enough. After all I need to be sure that my little otouto is alright."

"Right, now get out of here," Shisui shot back with a rueful grin.

"Hai, hai..." I replied before packing up what I was taking with me, leaving the rest there for Shisui before I disappeared in a flash of red and reappeared back in the main underground chamber of my hideout.

After exchanging my exterior persona to become Uzumaki Noriko, I sighed and settled myself in to begin going over what all I had left to do. I truly couldn't move on the compound until Itachi and Obito had truly left the village after the massacre, which meant my chances of saving Mikoto and Kagami were extremely slim, especially the former of the two.

Even if Mikoto was once of the last to be attacked, the fact of the matter was that thanks to Itachi hanging around to fuck with Sasuke's mind I couldn't deliver immediate aid to her much like I wouldn't be able to help Kagami either. For that reason I had put together yet another seal which had almost taken too much time, having been finished up just after I had returned from saving Shisui.

What I had put together was a stasis seal in essence. It would freeze the object it was applied to in time which would keep it from degrading, or in this case dying. What had made it so difficult was that I had gotten the inspiration from long-service storage scrolls that could preserve their contents for decades. This was an issue because the target in question was stored inside a pocket space, and that tended to do bad things to living creatures.

I should know. After all I attempted such an endeavor.

Those poor squirrels...

From the basis of that scroll though, I had been forced to parse the original seal in order to separate the space element of it so that I could still interact with those it was applied to and in this case heal them.

Was it petty that I was only looking only to save a few people out of that entire clan?

Extremely so, but after several hours sorting through my thoughts and speaking with Kurama I had accepted that and from there reached a conclusion about myself.

Simply put, I was not a good person.

I made and effort to be kind. I made an effort to be nice. I made even a small effort to look beyond the surface of the villagers' douche-baggery. But I was petty. I was cruel. I was willing to stand aside in regards to nearly an entire clan and let them be slaughtered because I hated them for what a few members had done to me and and what their police force had let happen to me all through my new life.

I wasn't sure why though.

It was from that line of thought I had concluded I was not a good person. Even my efforts to save Shisui and others were selfish. I wanted Shisui because he would be an extremely powerful ally. Mikoto would help temper Sasuke's shitty personality, at least I hoped she would. Kagami was an excellent man and was one of the few to be kind to me and even helped me. I would repay that debt.

The majority of their clan over age ten or so were assholes though, so I was just...okay with letting them die. Everyone younger I suppose I was willing to give a chance. That was why I had set up nearly two hundred clones in the Uchiha compound over the last week to watch them and prepare.

They were to utilize their own judgement to determine if someone was worth saving. And if they were, then my clones would apply a stasis seal to them. If they weren't then they wouldn't and would instead assist in going through the Uchiha's hidden library in the meantime.

After they were gone though, Ryuukoe would swoop in having been on her way to deliver a bounty and then miraculously save the designated Uchiha with her sage arts, meager though they were. It would be a boon to her relationship with Konoha, and better still, the ones that didn't survive would simply be said to have not been viable to work on due to needing to triage the wounded or because they just would have died before she could get to them.

As such I would come out ahead on all fronts.

It was sickening to rationalize what I was going to do and it left me feeling terrible, at first. The knowledge that they, as a clan, were planning a coup provided some moral reinforcement behind my own reasons but it was still selfish and I eventually accepted that fact.

For the changes in my thought pattern I could only guess that becoming a Hanyou was having more of an effect on me than I had initially realized beyond the physical changes. That was certainly concerning, and I made a mental note to speak to Kurama-tousan when I had the chance after this.

It doesn't change the fact that I'm not a good person though.

Because in truth I'm a terrible person. May Kami-sama forgive me because I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for what I'm doing to ensure my own survival.

Author's Note: So yeah...Noriko's mindset, extreme pragmatism with the end goal of survival, is starting to get a bit twisted by how she's changing from becoming a hanyou and the life she's been stuck living in Konohagakure. There's a touch of evidence in this chapter that shows how deeply the rape affected her psyche. Now, let me go ahead and answer some questions people have asked.

AiraFox: Semtex is the chosen explosive because it is extremely stable and capable of functioning at a wider range of temperatures tahn most other plastic explosives.

idea getthe: The reason for Ryuukoe over a different name is because For all intents and purposes, Noriko is the dragon's voice in the human world. As their realm is separate from the other summon realms, the only way for them to pass on messages is through her. hence Dragon's Voice.

Ilat-2: She already is.

Reishin Amara: Oh definitely, should Zabuzua not survive the wave mission she will be taking Kubikiribouchou. Along with the Kiba blades when they deal with Ringo and Raijin from Aoi if she hadn't already taken it before then while fighting as Ryuukoe.

xbox432: Emberstoke is from the MLP fanfic "Sharing the Night" on fimfiction.

denis.d2505: You may but unfortunately, you won't get an answer right now. I'm revealing them little by little as the story goes on. The bulk of them will show up when she gets her first tail in two or three chapters, but they'll come up soon enough. As for dragons hoarding things, according to myth they enjoy word games and hoard three things: gold/precious things, knowledge, and power. So Noriko's offer, a whole realm of advanced knowledge from another world is quite the tempting offer.

Azaira: Don't worry, Guns will not be showing up mainly due to the fact that the means to make any weapons that would be useful against shinobi simply aren't available. What we will see is things like grenades, claymore mines, and explosive charges. The reason for those over exploding tags is that tags tend to have a few second delay before activation along with a distinct hissing sound. Mines just have a click before they explode, can't be stopped by stepping on them, contain shrapnel, and also can't be stopped by something like Samehada.

Now, that's all for now, so…

Ja ne!