Masked Koi: Chapter 19. "Ghostly"

There was a dead cat in front of the door. The Uchiha man picked it up. He shook his head, not at the cat, but at the plethora of information that a poor Chuunin had been put up to telling him. Shisui had the big picture, and he picked up the cat mainly because it was in the way and because it was the most normal thing that had happened today.

The man ran a hand through his unruly black hair and opened the door to another room of almost equal darkness. But Shisui had been here before, on the same side, on Ibiki's side. He'd interrogated his fair share of people. He was good at it. Sure, Ko could block a chakra point and maybe make someone talk just to stop the pain, but genjutsu was his specialty and his eyes helped get information much faster.

The room seemed to flood with light. Yet, there was no light. Shisui took a seat and someone turned on a red light, bathing everything in red light. Nori's eyes widened in horror.

"You killed him!" Nori screamed. "Murderer!"

"This was your cat?" Shisui asked, raising a brow.

Nori opened her mouth and then closed it. "No." Nori's mouth felt bitter, but this time, she couldn't figure out why. She'd lied hundreds of times, white lies, but this time, she told the truth. She didn't even like cats. Certainly not bloody dead ones with senbon sticking out of it.

Shisui shrugged and placed it on the floor and wiped his stained hands on his pants. Nori wanted to sleep, but the color of the room was throwing her off. It might've been the chakra suppressors. Maybe it was the pills they'd shoved down her throat to make her calmer and more easy-going. An equivalent of alcohol, but without the hangover.

It made her cringe. She was sure she'd wake up with bruises on her chin and lips when they'd held her down. With an indignant huff, she closed her eyes. Black was a better color to see than red and seeing Shisui with a dead cat and simply having him there was throwing her off even more.

"Why am I even here?" Nori muttered. "I didn't do anything."

"We'll see. Look at me," Shisui said, leaning forward on his elbows, crossing his legs on the chair. Nori refused. Shisui rolled his eyes and got up. His chair scraped the floor loudly and it made her ears want to bleed. He leaned down and got real close. A few seconds of silence passed and curiosity won over; she opened her eyes as if to see why everything had gotten so quiet. Then, she was caught.

Naruto had heard the word 'preliminary' loud and clear. That meant that there were the Finals after this. He'd taken a good look at his competitors while Minato went on and on about what the Chuunin Exams truly symbolized. They were strong, very strong. He sensed a strange chakra from the Suna girl with red hair and pale eyes. He suspected she was one of the strongest here, even if she looked stupid and arrogant.

If there was more after this, more fighting, then Naruto figured he'd be fighting the others that passed these preliminaries. Obviously, those who passed the preliminaries would be exceptionally strong, those with their head on straight and their hands deft enough to curl into quick punches and deft enough to conform to any seal and have jutsu flying towards him. Naruto didn't know when the Finals would be. They could be tomorrow for all he knew. Even so, that was a good eight to ten hours for those who passed the preliminaries to think over what the other fights, and more importantly, those who passed, had entailed, how the other victors fought, what their weaknesses are, and how to beat them.

Naruto wanted to become a Chuunin. Badly. It would be an indicator of how strong he was. After all, if he couldn't beat other Genin, how would he beat a Hatake, brother to his beloved Nishiki, and his unspeakably strong sensei? If he became a Chuunin, he'd be closer to becoming a Jounin, and then on the same level as him and hopefully strong enough to kill him.

To increase his chances of success, Naruto had to ensure that his opponent or opponents in the Finals had as little information on him as possible. As a result, he'd have to stick to taijutsu. He can't cast genjutsu very well and his ninjutsu was something that rivaled his taijutsu skills. Most shinobi stuck to taijutsu if they wanted to hide their real skills anyway.

Naruto looked at his competitor. She couldn't win. She wouldn't win. Naruto would make sure of that. No matter what, he was going to the finals. His eyes narrowed at Fuku's green ones. She gave him a grin. "Let's see what you've got, Naruto-sama."

"Start!" Anko said.

Naruto rushed forward, chakra surging through his body. His initial attack came with an open hand aimed for her neck. She caught his wrist, just as he'd hoped she would. He used extra momentum from jumping up to hasten her grab and felt the satisfying feeling of a muscle in her arm about to tear. Her eyes widened but that was a millisecond before Naruto's feet crashed into her back.

Naruto was inevitably dragged with her when she was thrust forward. He grabbed a kunai and stabbed her arm. She let go and gracefully somersaulted and landed on her feet. She placed a hand on her bloody arm and a green glow came from her hand. Naruto watched in shock as her wound grew smaller and smaller until there was no wound. She stretched a little and Naruto didn't see any pain written on her face or in her stance.

"Come and get me, Naruto-sama," Fuku mocked. "Or I'll get you!"

Fuku ran towards him, lacking the speed Naruto had, but her moves were wide, made to catch anything and everything in her path. Naruto stepped into a defensive stance and when her foot rose to kick his face, he raised both arms and was skidding on the ground, pushing back to resist the momentum she carried.

Naruto's mind raced. I could continue with simple attacks like earlier until she runs out of chakra, but I don't want to waste my time on a woman. If I drag this out, she might pull something out her sleeve and I'll be forced to reveal more of my skills to compensate. I have to end this quickly. I have to use more force and speed.

Naruto jumped back and with deft fingers threaded kunai on wire. Fuku was running towards him and Naruto created a clone hastily to keep her busy for the moment. She didn't stop looking at him, though. The clone threw down a smoke bomb and Naruto raced forward with wire. He ran in a circle to wrap the Genin and tacked one end down with a kunai and then pulled as hard as he could with one hand and threw shuriken and kunai towards her with another.

When the smoke began to dissipate, Naruto saw that she wasn't here. His wire had caught nothing. He gasped and created a few clones and stood on top of them. A few clones ran around to lure her out.

She finally did come out behind Naruto and jumped to grab him. Naruto turned around and took advantage of her exposed stomach, her arms stretched to catch him and everything. It was a stupid form of hand-to-hand combat. With a chakra-enhanced punch, Naruto punched her into the statues' that was behind them arms. She crashed into it and Naruto's clones threw him towards her. His body was nothing but a red blur to those watching.

Naruto's fists crashed into her body. Naruto stuck his feet to the stone statue, grabbed her body, and threw her into the air. Naruto got underneath her and kicked her upwards with each consecutive kick. When she was high enough to stretch her arm up and touch the ceiling, Naruto wrapped his body around hers and gravity and chakra did the rest of the work for him. Her body crashed headfirst into the ground.

"Hey, Kakashi, did you teach him that?" Gai asked, a little panicked.

"No," Kakashi said. He narrowed his visible eye.

"Then who did?" Gai asked. "I didn't teach him the Lotus!"

Naruto jumped back and knelt with his arm resting on his bent knee. He panted hard. That attack had taken a lot out of him. Unlike Lee, though, his body healed faster than his did. Lee had a chakra disease and that affected his healing ability to make his healing rate as fast as a civilian's. Naruto had both his mother's blood coursing through his veins and the Kyuubi's chakra beginning to mix with his own.

Naruto assessed his work. He felt nervous, so he took out a kunai and stood up, breathing out loudly. The dust settled and there was only her limp body left.

"Winner: Namikaze Naruto," Anko said.

Naruto sighed in relief and put his kunai away. Minato took a step towards him to congratulate him, but Naruto jumped up onto the second floor to avoid him. Minato frowned and then turned his attention to the second match.

The electric board flickered and then two names appeared.

"Second preliminary match: Rock Lee vs. Gaara," Anko said.

The two jumped down and Naruto watched the match with interest. Gaara's sand seemed to work as a barrier, the loose sand protecting her. Lee kept pushing her with his speed, something Naruto found astonishing after he'd taken off his weights, and then it was revealed that she had yet another barrier, a sand barrier around her entire body. Next to him, the Suna Genin with paint on his face sucked in air sharply. Naruto glanced at him for a second before turning back to the match. He could see the strength of the sand armor, but it must require a lot of chakra for it to hold up, on top of the chakra he supposed she infused into her sand to have it protect her.

Then, Naruto watched in shock as Lee performed the same move he did. Gaara's head plunged down and an even deeper crater, adding onto the large crater Naruto had created when Fuku's head crashed into it. Lee jumped back and looked extremely weak, fatigued. Naruto saw that Lee had probably just used his last resort to fight Gaara. Naruto could tell that Gaara had much more chakra than Lee did, and that Lee was doomed.

Gaara emerged from another pile of sand seemingly unscathed besides her cracked sand armor, but thoroughly pissed. Rage was written all over her face and a wave of sand came up and towards Lee. Naruto almost felt bad for him. The sand wrapped around his limbs and then his hands broke. He screamed in agony and Gai's mouth dropped. The sand drew away and Gaara panted hard and just barely remained standing.

"Winner: Gaara," Anko said.

Gaara returned next to her team and sent Naruto a glare. Naruto gave her a disinterested look and leaned against the railing, watching the board flicker again with names flashing by.

"Third preliminary match: Haru vs. Akimichi Chouji," Anko said.

Haru and Chouji stepped down. Chouji made a confused face and tilted his head.

"Haru…you look like a guy. What happened?" Chouji asked.

Haru heard Aki snicker and sent him a venomous glare. Haru turned to Chouji and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm a guy. I always have been. You saw me in class when the girls had kunoichi lessons, didn't you?"
"I didn't think that was you…" Chouji deflated a little.

"Start, maggots!" Anko said, irritated they'd decided to chitchat.

Haru raced towards the Akimichi with kunai in hand. He didn't activate his sharingan, not until things got difficult, if they did. He didn't have a feeling they would, though. Chouji was fat and—

"I'm not fat!" Chouji yelled. Haru cringed. Did I say that out loud?

Chouji expanded and rolled in a ball towards him and Haru jumped out of the way. When Chouji slammed into a wall, he changed back into his normal, fat form and Haru was on him in the blink of an eye. Haru was so close that he could choke Chouji right then and there, but instead he stared into Chouji's eyes and Chouji fell over, unconscious. Haru's eyes turned back to black and Anko still looked angry with them, but announced his win as usual.

"Winner: Haru," Anko said. The board flickered. "Fourth preliminary match: Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino."

Naruto sighed. It was a quick draw and both girls were unconscious.

"Fifth preliminary match: Hyuuga Neji vs. Matsuda Jun," Anko said.

Naruto yawned. It was the Kumogakure team's Genin vs. Neji.

"Sixth preliminary match: Tenten vs. Hyuuga Hinata."

"Seventh preliminary match: Inuzuka Kiba vs. Kankuro."

"Eighth preliminary match: Aki vs. Aburame Shino."

"Ninth preliminary match: Nara Shikamaru vs. Shitashii Enoki."

Naruto rubbed his eyes. The matches are already over? I must've drifted off to sleep… Naruto lifted his stiff neck from leaning on the railing and heard Anko call up the winners to randomly determine who'd fight whom in the Finals. Naruto felt a lump in his throat as he looked around at those who stood on the uneven ground. Around him stood Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, Aki, Haru, Hinata, and Kiba.

Naruto took his slip of paper. "Three."

The other person with three was Gaara, who gave a sickly sweet smile at him. Haru was fighting Aki, Kiba was fighting Neji and Shikamaru was fighting Hinata. Hinata felt a little proud she was the only girl from Konoha who'd made it to the Finals.

"Now, the Finals are in one month, starting at 10am. Don't be late, or you'll be disqualified. There will be daimyo and other important people there, so train hard. You've got strong opponents. Good luck to you all," Minato said.

The room dispersed and Minato laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto flinched away and gave a distrusting glare. Minato looked like a kicked puppy. The Hokage held out a letter. An opened letter. Naruto took it and unfolded it. His eyes widened and he looked at Minato with anger.

"You're so stupid you've got to have a ghost tell you why you can't even be considered a father," Naruto snarled. "She wasn't just an ANBU. She was my mother, my father, my mentor, and my protector! She was everything you weren't because you were busy stuck sulking over my mother. And, what's worse, you did nothing but sulk. You don't think of ways to solve the problem. That's what makes a Hokage. They're willing to face problems head on no matter the difficulty. My mother and my mentor would've made much better Hokage than you."
"Naruto, I understand that I've hurt you in ways I can't even begin to imagine. I wasn't there for you, not even when Koi died on a mission. I wasn't there to give you presents on your birthday and I wasn't there to train you," Minato said, tears forming in his eyes as he dropped to his knees, bowing his head down. "So, Naruto, what can I do to make it up to you?"

"What…did you just say? Koi…didn't die on a mission. She was murdered!" Naruto yelled. His vision was beginning to become bathed in a red sea. He shook with rage. So that's the story?! Neji said something like that but I thought he was just trying to get me to tell him! So that's what they officially said to account for one less ANBU in their ranks?! She was more loyal than any of them, using herself to protect a Jounin who wasn't even strong enough to protect himself!

"Murdered? Naruto, where are you hearing this?" Minato looked up, fear in his eyes. He can't know the truth. Only a small group of people knows the truth. It's impossible. Is he just angry?

"Get away from me, filth! She was more loyal than you and yet you refuse to allow her peace in her grave by lying about how she'd died! Injustice!" Naruto yelled. His eyes turned into a red color with black slits cutting them in half and his teeth grew to resemble fangs and his nails grew out and a burst of red chakra flared out. Minato's eyes widened as he held up his arms to block his face against the hot and almost corrosive feeling chakra. Suddenly, his stomach burned and he collapsed, unconscious.

Minato gasped, scooped his son in his arms, and used the Hiraishin to get to the hospital. The boy was quickly admitted and IV were injected into his arm and monitors beeped at an unsteady pace and sweat rolled down his forehead and Minato sat in his chair, watching Kushina's son with anxiety.

"Naruto."

Naruto sat up. He looked around and got to his feet. Where was that voice coming from? He started down the long hallway with corridors that were on either side and seemed to go on forever in the darkness.

Then, Naruto saw all this disappear to reveal a purely white space. Memories floated by and there was a woman sitting with her back towards him, holding a memory. She sighed in discontentment and let it float away. It was a memory of Nishiki-sensei's death.

"Naruto, come over here," she said.

Naruto went over. She turned to look at him and before Naruto could cry, she socked him in the face. "You idiot! I die and you're still the same thick idiot! Honestly, if I'd known this would've happened, I wouldn't have died. Maybe you wouldn't be so stupid."

"N-nishiki-sensei," Naruto whispered, tears running down his face and his face turning into some strange and deformed looking thing and he wiped away his tears. Koi sighed with a nerve popping out of her head and she embraced the boy in a hug.

"I'm…not good with mushy stuff," Koi admitted in halting words. Naruto looked up and saw his sensei wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "See? I can't cry properly. I guess I've just gotten so tired of it. You don't get to be a Jounin without your hands stained. I told Kakashi that. He realized this later than I'd hoped. Anyway, if it helps, your father is more of an idiot than you are. I took you under my wing because even after long and heated and sometimes drunken conversations with that man, an irritating and retarded genius, he wouldn't realize that he was neglecting you and that, no, paperwork was not an excuse. The man says Kushina meant so much to him. You should've seen the two of them, so mushy when they thought me, Shisui, Ko, Kakashi, Rin, and Obito weren't watching or looking. It was disgusting, but I guess cute in a way. The only good thing that came out of it was you. Here's what I say: if my sensei meant so much to him, then why did he get married to some busty airhead? She's just…plain and boring."

"My mom was your sensei?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I rigged it. I knew Kakashi was going to get Minato as a sensei and everyone knew about their relationship, so I broke into the Hokage tower and rewrote Kushina's name for my team. I even rearranged my team. Everything was perfect," Koi grinned.

"You…broke into the tower? Isn't that, like, illegal?" Naruto asked as she let go.

"Ugh, you and everyone else! Look, it's not illegal if no one catches you! They had no proof! They just accused me but the Hokage let me go. He was used to me and my necessary changes to the interior parts of Konohagakure no Sato," Koi said.

"They have cameras," Naruto pointed out, smiling. "They didn't 'accuse' you. They knew it was you."

"Shut up!" Koi yelled. Naruto stepped back a little. She regained her composure and looked serious.

"How are you even here? Where are we? I'm not dead, am I?" Naruto asked.

"No, you're not dead. You're in your subconscious. I brought you here," Koi said.

"Why didn't you do that earlier? I wanted to see you!" Naruto said. "You're going to stay here, right?"

Koi seemed uncertain. "Well, once I heard that Kushina-sensei died and that you were alive, I figured Minato couldn't handle being a single parent and the Hokage. I came back not because of that reason, but because I was worried for you. From the time you were only a few months old, I'd been putting my chakra into your seal. Over the years, it accumulated to become quite a bit. Don't worry about that. You met me when I was living flesh, so that's enough."

"Seal?" Naruto repeated.

Koi frowned. "You…don't know, do you?" her words were careful, as if treading over a bed of molten nails.

"Know what?" Naruto asked, getting suspicious.

"Naruto, tell me what you know of your mother's death," Koi said, her black eyes dead serious. Naruto licked his lips, a little parched.

"She and the Sandaime Hokage killed the Kyuubi," Naruto said. "Everyone knows that."

Koi closed her eyes. "I didn't think I'd be the one to tell you," she opened her eyes. "Naruto, you are the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Your mother was the jinchuuriki before you. On your birthday, the Kyuubi's seal broke and it was released. Your mother and the Sandaime gave up their lives to seal it away," Koi said. "You can't kill a bijuu, you know."

Naruto grew silent. "So…everyone looks at me funny because…I'm the Kyuubi."

"Idiot!" Koi whacked him on the head and a bump appeared. "You're not! You're my student! And you always will be at this rate because you're so stupid! I understand what it feels like to be hated, so you have no right to sulk in front of me!"

"What?" Naruto looked up at her, rubbing his head.

"I'm not important; I'm already dead," Koi said, sighing in anger. "Kami…what am I going to do with you?"

"Ne, Nishiki-sensei…how come you know that?" Naruto asked.

"Know what?" Koi asked.

"That a bijuu has to be sealed," Naruto said.

Koi's eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter. She bit her lip. 'I've got nothing to lose. I'm dead, after all.' She looked at him with a strange light in her eyes. "I was the jinchuuriki of the Nibi. When my mask broke, a seal on the inside was also broken. That seal suppressed its chakra from ever touching mine. Before I got that mask…well, before that is old history. I dealt with it. To be honest, I didn't know until the day I died that I was the jinchuuriki to the Nibi. That day was pretty interesting," Koi laughed a little.

"You died. That wasn't interesting," Naruto said flatly. "It was horrifying."

Koi rolled her eyes. "It's okay. I don't have to worry anymore, about myself. But, I worry about you. I think that if I were alive still, I'd have a heart attack, worrying so much. I don't think I even worried this much when Kakashi was little."

Naruto smiled a little. Koi grinned and pointed. "There's that smile! You never smile these days! I always smiled. Everyone got scared though. You should smile more often. You like ramen and bottled tea so you should eat it and drink it every day. Maybe you'll surpass my record or even Kushina-sensei's at Ichiraku's."

"Nishiki-sensei, why did Seiseki kill you? He was your brother, wasn't he?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Minato is waiting for you to wake up. You should wake up. Forget about my death and me. My wish is for you to become the strongest shinobi you can be and to make the right decisions in the future. Just don't be so stupid," Koi warned.

"I can't forget! You were everything to me!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Naruto, what's the point?" Koi asked, rubbing the back of her neck. "I'm dead already. Move on. Focus on the Chuunin Exams. Go on, wake up. I'll be right here." Koi poked his forehead. He rubbed it to get rid of the pain from her rather strong poke. Her form began to fade and Naruto began to panic.

"Nishiki-sensei, will I be able to see you again?!" Naruto yelled.

"If you're stupid," Koi said and disappeared completely.

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up, looking at his hands. Nishiki-sensei… A nurse walked in and smiled at the two Namikaze males and looked down at her clipboard and checked the beeping monitors and wrote something down.

"You look fine. You're ready to be discharged, but maybe you should stay the night just to make sure," the nurse said.

"He's fine. Where's the paperwork to discharge him?" Minato asked. She handed it to him a little uncertainly, but handed it to him nonetheless. Naruto hopped off the bed and grabbed his clothes from the chair next to his bed and gripped the handle to the door.

"Hey, Naruto, wait," Minato said, handing the papers to the nurse, who click-clicked her way out. Naruto didn't turn around, but he waited for Minato to say something useless. "About Koi…"

"I don't want to talk to you," Naruto stated and opened the door. "Thank you for taking me here. That's it," Naruto took a step out before Minato grabbed Naruto's shoulder. Naruto's red hair covered his eyes and Naruto's arm whipped back to strike the blonde man. Minato let it come.

A bright red mark on Minato's face stung, but not as much as Naruto's attempts to avoid him. Naruto turned around angrily. "What!? You keep trying to talk to me and uselessly fake-apologize! Tell me or don't say anything to me at all!"

"I regret not being there for you, but you have to listen to me. If not as my son, then as a Genin of Konoha to the Hokage. Listen," Minato said, staring into Kushina's eyes. "Where did you hear what you heard about how Koi died?"

Naruto felt as if he'd been sucker punched. His ears rang and everything seemed painful and old memories resurfaced. He didn't breathe for a few seconds. "I didn't hear it. I saw it."

"What?" Minato said in a hushed tone. "Saw? What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say and I say what I mean," Naruto said and walked away. "Hokage-sama, you've got more important things to do than worry about a mere Genin. You have a growing family. People are saying that Yori is pregnant again, you know. And, Mikiko and Kayo need to see that you're stable," Naruto glanced back. "Uzumaki Kushina and her legacy are things you have forgotten and given up on. Go on, Hokage-sama. You have paperwork to do. Don't let me keep you waiting."

Naruto turned a corner and was gone.

Minato gritted his teeth. There was a chair leaning against the wall next to him. He kicked it and it became a spray of wood pieces. He turned and saw curtain and ripped it to shreds and punched the glass out of the window.

"Hey, Minato-kun. Calm down or people will get nervous," a slippery voice warned.

Minato sat on the roof and looked around to the source. "Orochimaru. Why are you here?"

"Kushina was my student. Naruto is her son. Naruto is interesting. That is why I am here," Orochimaru stated. "He seems to be the rebellious type, doesn't he?"

"Orochimaru, I appreciate your concern, but don't get involved. It's between him and I," Minato said, irritation slipping into his voice.

"Hokage-sama. Shisui-san is requesting your presence at T&I," an ANBU appeared and then vanished once the message was relayed.

Minato groaned with his face in his hands. Finally he grunted and looked at the other man. "Come with me. I don't want you rummaging through more medical textbooks and stealing them again. But, you can't talk about what you see or hear or taste or touch or smell or think or infer with anyone. Take my hand," Minato held his hand out, which Orochimaru took.

At the T&I department in the basement in the one of the high security rooms, Minato opened the door with Orochimaru in tow. Bathed in red light was Shisui, who sat looking bored and a woman bound to the chair with her neck, wrists, thighs, and ankles bound with metal chains and chakra suppressing seals decorating her black shirt and black pants, had her eyes covered with cloth and another chakra seal and her ears had sound-blocking seals on them.

"So this is…" Orochimaru trailed off.

"Nori of Sunagakure. She was found attempting to steal a multitude of Unclassified scrolls. Her eyes are covered because she possesses something that belongs to Konoha," Shisui said. "Nice to see you again, Orochimaru-sama." The Uchiha man shifted in his seat a little. I haven't seen him since he attended Kushina-sensei's funeral.

"Nori is the one who Suna praises as their taijutsu master, so I hear. She's got the same potential that Koi-chan did. Possibly. What are you getting at, something that belongs to Konoha?" Orochimaru asked.

"The sharingan. It's in the first stage, though. I had looked through every Uchiha birth certificate and no one that looks like her or has the same name or is around the same age exists. She's not an Uchiha, not by blood. So that led me to believe that she stole the eyes. It's probable given that at least five or six Uchiha that had left with Itachi had awakened the sharingan, but it doesn't explain why it is one tomoe. The Uchiha that had left had awakened it to three tomoe with Itachi being the sole exception; he had the mangekyo," Shisui said.

Orochimaru smiled slyly and didn't comment. Minato and Shisui eyed him warily before letting it go; Orochimaru always made that face. Shisui tapped his fingers on the table. "I wanted to ask you something. What should we do with her? Ibiki had already tried to interrogate her with torture and mental stress and bullying, but none of it worked. She didn't budge. Strictly speaking, she is a foreign ninja that tried to steal a valuable village secret. In Konoha's laws, stealing those scrolls, more dangerous and valuable than S-Rank ones, is the same as killing a child or civilian. It's peacetime unless we decide to declare war on Suna. It's justified, after all. However, war won't break out; we're not in any position for war. But, she broke the peace treaty and the punishment for that ranges from death to public torture."

"If we kill her, she'll just be a martyr for Suna to wage war. Public torture," Minato decided. "I'm still confused, though. How can she have a sharingan with one if the only eyes she could've gotten are ones with three? The sharingan doesn't devolve, does it?"

"I've never heard of the sharingan devolving. It just progresses," Shisui said, frowning slightly.

Orochimaru was still smiling. "What about the Uchiha children that were slaughtered?"