Reaching
LilacLilyFlower © 2009
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Unfortunately. Or Bleach.
Beta'ed by the wonderful Sanctuaria!
-O-O-O-O-
Chapter 13
(Eisuke's POV)
I killed two people.
Eisuke's eyes tracked his nine-year old teammate. She was methodically rifling through the clothes of the Kumo nin— the Kumo nin that he killed— and setting aside useful gear. Then, after she stripped them of weapons, she sealed their bodies into a scroll with a flick of her wrist. A spiral.
She lifted her eyes to meet his. They were cool, rational, assessing, with no sign of unease or pain. It was frustrating. It was wrong. Just like how he'd used his medical jutsu to kill, not heal. Just like how she discovered two more abilities to add to her ever-expanding arsenal, the spiral and chakra chains, a clear manifestation of a Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit), in exchange for their sensei's life.
"We need to leave. Kumo might send others, so we have to hurry back to Konoha," she said, an assumption in her voice that she would command and they would follow.
He hated it, he hated how she was so unaffected. But he listened anyways, because he didn't know if he would fall apart, when he would fall apart, if he had to take the lead because he had just taken the lives of two people. He had gone against his oath, he had done something that he had promised he would never do, and it scared him. It scared him because he didn't know if he would be able to stop once he started his descent, he didn't know if he was becoming his brother.
Up to now, he'd been more or less fine. Holding it together. Putting it out of his mind. But at the thought of becoming more like his brother, of losing his sense of humanity, he began to shake.
Oshiro Daisuke. The younger twin, blessed with an uncanny knack for genjutsu and the cruelty to use it effectively as a weapon. Cold, efficient, malicious. Taught by Kabuto, the medic from the hospital.
Oshiro Eisuke. Himself. The older twin, a coward who was too weak to fight with genjutsu and had turned to iryo-ninjutsu instead. Taught by a sensei who was now dead. A killer.
He shivered. He was sure that if he voiced his thoughts, his teammates would reassure him that what he had done was right. That it was expected, that everyone would eventually kill and that this was what they trained for. They were supposed to be desensitized. Prepared.
The entire event had been horrible. They'd been fighting against the Kumo nin and winning, when Shoumaru-sensei had switched tactics and hit the jounin in the chest with an open palm. Eisuke knew that it was a move from the Hyuuga clan, and that it messed up the insides (Kami knows how many cases he'd treated in the hospital from sparring sessions against the Hyuuga), but the jounin had somehow not been affected, catching his sensei off-guard.
Then the jounin had crushed his windpipe and driven a blade into his skull. Shoumaru-sensei had died instantly.
A beat of horror, then Hikari had exploded into a maelstrom of chakra, fury, and pain, chains bursting out of her back as she screamed, a drawn-out note of agony. She had chased the Kumo nin, ignoring his and Takahiro's calls. So they'd run after her.
And when he'd arrived, he'd seen a scene that he never wanted to see again in his entire life. Hikari, strong, prodigious Hikari, helpless and terrified as the jounin loomed over her, hand descending.
His body had reacted automatically. Somehow, one moment he was watching as his teammate faced her death, and the next he was there, plunging a kunai into the back of the jounin. His only thought had been of relief, that she was okay, that he'd made it in time, when the chunin had attacked.
So he'd discarded the kunai, fallen back on his iryo-ninjutsu, and pierced the chunin's body with his hands, pumping his chakra to rip apart his insides and enable his hands to tear through his heart because his chakra knew how to put things together so it couldn't have been that hard to direct it to do the opposite because he couldn't let Hikari die.
He remembered how the heart, torn in two by his hands, had beaten one final time around his wrists.
"Eisuke? You okay?" Takahiro nudged him with his elbow, bringing him out of his reverie. "You're trembling."
He wrapped his arms around himself. "I'm fine. Let's go."
"Are you—"
"Let's go."
They left.
-O-O-O-O-
(Hikari's POV)
"We'll stay here for the night."
They touched down on the bank of a meandering stream, miles from civilization in every direction. That was okay. That was safe. They knew how to survive in wild with nothing more than the clothes they had.
"Let's set up camp. I'll take the middle watch," she continued. Not "one of the middle watches", but "the middle watch". One less watch. One less person.
No, she reprimanded. Focus on the ones still alive.
"Hikari," Takahiro said. "You're bleeding."
She blinked. Raised a hand to the cut on her neck, then the gouge on her shoulder. Her jacket sleeve was tattered. "Oh."
Eisuke stepped forward, hands glowing a benign green. "Here, let me—"
He cut off, staring at his hands. They were covered in dried blood, dark red and brown up to his wrists. Hikari watched him carefully, waiting for any signs of instability. They couldn't afford any breakdowns. Not right now.
He stared. And stared. And finally, after a solid minute, retreated to the stream to wash his hands. "Hikari-chan, come over here instead."
She sat by him, still observing, while Takahiro set up camp. Eisuke was wetting a washcloth, maybe a little too casually. His eyes were trained on his task, and his posture was open, relaxed. But he was shaking.
Hikari didn't flinch as he pressed the washcloth to her neck. He wiped the blood off lightly and pressed his hand to the cut, healing it swiftly and leaving a thinner scratch where there had been a gash. He repeated the process on her shoulder without saying a word.
Something was wrong. She understood that he was coming to terms with killing— he was the first to kill out of them— but he wouldn't be this silent if something else wasn't the issue.
"Eisuke-kun?"
His hand tightened on her shoulder, causing it to twinge painfully. She pressed her lips firmly into a line. Almost immediately, the pressure eased and he quietly apologized. His chakra flickered erratically, so he gave up on healing and drew back, standing.
"Eisuke-kun."
She opened her mouth to say something to dissipate the atmosphere between them, which was charged with tension, but he beat her to it.
"Don't." His hands clenched into fists. And he whirled on her.
"Don't tell me that it's okay, because it's not. It's not, and I don't know what to do about it!" He was yelling now, causing Takahiro to run over to them.
"Eisuke? What's—" he tried.
"Sensei is DEAD!" That shut everyone up. "Sensei is dead, and I killed two people, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" Eisuke pointed at her.
"How—"
"Look at you, sitting there all calm and natural. Don't you feel anything? Why couldn't you be like this earlier? Instead, you let your control go and almost got yourself killed because of it, and because of that I had to… I had to do what I did! And now I'm not a medic, now you're emotionless, and everything is wrong and Sensei is still dead."
He finished, heaving for breath. Hikari's eyes were narrowed. Takahiro saw and tried to intervene. "Hikari—"
"No," she cut him off. "He needs to hear this."
She stood up, dreading what she was about to say, and walked over to Eisuke until she was standing directly in front of him. "You want to know why I'm like this? Why I'm in control of myself? Why I'm not allowing myself to feel anything at the moment? I'm trying to keep us all alive. And for that to happen, you need to hold yourself together. I don't care if you can't. Right now, I don't care if you're upset that you killed someone. Find a way to pull it together, blame me if you need to, just let your resentment out. But if you keep going like this, you'll get us all killed."
Takahiro made strangled noises, waving his hands, but Hikari folded her arms across her chest and stared challengingly at Eisuke. And Eisuke, gentle, kind Eisuke, punched the tree next to him with a yell and stalked off, disappearing into the trees.
"Eisuke!" Takahiro ran after him, hesitating as he glanced back at Hikari.
Hikari suddenly felt exhausted and dropped to the ground against a tree. "Let him go," she told Takahiro. "I can sense him. He won't go far." She covered her face with her hands, allowing herself a second for her face to show her regret. She didn't want this. She didn't want to take responsibility.
But someone had to do it, even if it was a nine-year old kunoichi.
When she dropped her hands, she was in control again. Centered. Focused. Alert.
Inventory. She had to take inventory while she had time. She pulled out the scroll she had used to seal the bodies of the Kumo nin and their weapons. Skipping over the seals that held the bodies (which, she noted, had transformed from a spiral into a seal with the kanji for "body"), she placed her hand on the weapons spiral and pushed some chakra into it.
A pile of paraphernalia appeared on top of the scroll with a 'poof'. She sifted through it, sorting the items into smaller piles and taking care to touch only the handles. One could never be too careful for poison.
The kunai went into one pile, the shuriken into another. There were a few senbon that the chunin had had in his possession, and three exploding tags (she snorted internally. She pitied those who couldn't make their own tags because they cost slightly less than an arm and leg on the market) that were pretty much useless because of smears in the ink. She set aside the sword that the chunin had used and came across some daggers that she had taken from the jounin. This raised an eyebrow, because daggers weren't a common shinobi tool. Why use a dagger when a kunai worked just as well?
"Hikari," Takahiro called. She looked up to see him crouching in front of her. "It's okay to rest. You don't have to do everything."
She frowned at him. "Yes, I do. I can't rest too much. I need to keep us alive."
He finally sat down, crossing his legs. "Do you remember when we first became a team?"
Why was he bringing this up now? "Yes...?"
"And Sen-" He took a deep breath and steeled himself. "Sensei threatened to kill us?"
"What about it?"
He placed a hand on her knee. "We promised that we would watch out for each other, and that we'd let each other protect the others. You're smothering us again."
She shook his hand off. "This is different."
He blinked. "How is this different?"
She couldn't explain it. She couldn't put the feeling into words. "It just is. I have to do this."
"No, you don't. We can take care of ourselves too. Trust us."
And then she knew. "I can't."
"What?"
"I can't trust you guys right now. Or at least, I can't trust Eisuke right now. He's unstable."
Takahiro's eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. "How do I know that you're not unstable either? You were almost killed."
"Oh, I'm sure that once I let my emotions go, I'll be completely unstable. But for now, I'm fine. There is nothing more important to me right now than getting us back home alive."
He sighed and stood up. "Just don't... don't overwork yourself. We worry too, even though Eisuke is mad at the moment."
He paused. "And Hikari?"
"Hm?"
"You're not the only one who wants to get everyone back alive."
-O-O-O-O-
When they were halfway back to Konoha (or at least, estimated to be about halfway back), Hikari made a nearly fatal mistake.
She hoped.
She hoped that because there had been no incident for the past two weeks, the remainder would be equally uneventful in terms of enemy shinobi. She thought that they would make it. That they would be fine.
But they weren't.
She should have seen it coming. She should have seen the signs. But she didn't, because everything had been going so well. And that nearly cost them.
It began with a storm. A lightning storm, to be specific. They took cover by digging a little den in the ground, but it was dank, wet, and cold. They huddled together to stay warm, and were resigned to waiting the storm out.
By tacit agreement, the boys had decided to place Hikari in the center, since she was the smallest and had the highest chance of losing the most body heat. She shifted uncomfortably, pressing up against Takahiro so that she was close to Eisuke but not quite touching him either.
She doubted he'd forgiven her yet.
And so they waited, flashes of lightning illuminating the darkness of their little den. Eisuke broke out some ration bars for them to eat while they passed the time humming nonsensical songs to the rhythm of the thunder.
And suddenly, they weren't alone in their den.
One moment, there had been no lithe form of a Kumo nin. The next, revealed by the brilliance of lightning, there she was, crouched with a kunai drawn.
Hikari shoved the boys behind herself, making sure that Takahiro was in front of Eisuke. She grimaced and drew her brush, tense as she waited for the foreign kunoichi to make a move.
"Little leaves, lost in enemy territory," the kunoichi singsonged quietly. "So far from home. Whatever will you do?"
"Get away," Hikari replied tersely. The kunoichi wasn't that much older than Eisuke, perhaps sixteen at the most. She was tan, as most Kumo nin were, with an unruly white mass of curls and a piercing silver stare.
She tittered. "Oh my, how blatant. However will you manage that? As you can see," she said, indicating around her, "I am currently blocking the exit whilst you three are cornered. There is no space for all three of you to rush me at the same time."
Takahiro nudged her in the back; Hikari proceeded. "You assume as if we weren't prepared for possible pursuit."
The den rumbled as Eisuke's Raiton justu cleared a hole to the outside. The ceiling came down to the furious screams of the kunoichi, and they leapt out of the hole. Hikari prayed that the lightning wouldn't hit them or a nearby tree and whirled around to parry the kunai that the kunoichi flung at her.
"What's the matter?" the kunoichi said. "Not going to run like last time, the way your pathetic sensei made you?"
Hikari let the words wash over herself and slip away. Calm. Collected.
"Again, you seem to be under a misconception. Last time, we were at a clear disadvantage. Here, it's three against one. And our sensei was not pathetic."
She narrowed her eyes at the kunoichi. I will not let anything happen to Eisuke and Takahiro. I will not let you win.
I'll kill you.
Her Killing Intent pinpointed the kunoichi, hungry, primal, yet detached. It reared its head, bloodthirsty and restrained, and Hikari allowed the slightest bit of anger to escape her tightly padlocked door of emotions. She was ready. She wasn't afraid.
I'll kill you to protect my team.
The kunoichi's legs shook. "Y-you," she gasped. "How can— can you…"
"It's quite simple," Hikari said, adopting the kunoichi's manner of speaking. "Emitting Killing Intent isn't very hard. One just needs to think of killing another with the objective to take a life. Yes, I am younger than you. Yes, I haven't killed yet. But I very well could."
She stepped over to the kunoichi who was frozen. Taking a kunai, she traced the fluttering vein on her neck. "You would be my first kill," she murmured into her ear. "And I wouldn't even be upset over it."
The kunoichi stumbled back, heaving for breath. Hikari watched with apathy, rejoining her team. She threw the kunai so that it struck the ground in front of the kunoichi, embedding itself.
"You can follow us, if you'd like," she said. "But understand that I won't hesitate to kill you, nor will I regret it. I am not like most people. I would not feel anything towards killing another."
They left as another lightning bolt flashed, striking a nearby tree. It didn't matter anymore. The storm was the least of their concerns.
Takahiro caught her and slung her arm over his shoulder as she lurched and staggered, nearly missing a branch. "Careful," he said. "You're running on next to no sleep."
She didn't allow herself to sag. Pushing away from him, Hikari channeled more chakra into her next jump, face briefly pinching into consternation.
The kunoichi didn't follow. Hikari's face eased.
The scary thing was that Hikari hadn't been lying about feeling nothing towards killing.
-O-O-O-O-
Finally. After weeks of tense silence, awkward attempts at peacemaking by Takahiro between Hikari and Eisuke, and single-minded concentration.
They were home.
Hikari nearly allowed herself to relax at the sight of the front gates of Konoha. But she reminded herself that just because they were home didn't meant that they were done. Reports. News. An update of profiles. Politics.
"IDs out," she told her team. She unsealed hers from the inside of her jacket, preparing herself for the slew of questions that was sure to follow.
The chunin manning the gate were the same ones as when Team One had left. As Hikari neared, she could tell that they were suspicious. They weren't even trying to hide it.
"Team One, returning to Konoha from a mission. Here are our IDs." She handed hers to them. Takahiro and Eisuke followed.
One of the chunin frowned at them. "Where's your fourth member?"
She didn't hesitate to reply. "We ran into trouble on the way back. He fell in the line of duty."
Falling in the line of duty. A standard phrase that every Academy student was taught in order to glorify the shinobi lifestyle.
The other chunin intervened. "You who is delegated with the life of shinobi…"
The three of them caught on and recited the rest of the password. "Wearing a mask of blood and flesh, serving with ten thousand thrown kunai, with fire's flames and a poisoned spinning shuriken, break the enemy into five pieces, carve our village's symbol through a trail of success, and await the shivering leaves to reach the Pure World."
It was morbid, especially after Shoumaru's death, but it got the chunin to accept them. As one, they moved towards Hokage Tower.
While they were on their way, Hikari sensed chakra. Familiar chakra. Chakra that made her, for the first time since she assumed command, falter.
Naruto. Sasuke.
They were comforting. They were home.
And she couldn't see them until everything was dealt with.
Gritting her teeth, she marched up to the civilian secretary of the Hokage. "Team One requesting an emergency debriefing of a mission."
The secretary glanced up once and returned to filing her nails. "You kids are overreacting. Just take your little problems to the missions desk."
"Ma'am," Hikari said coldly, grabbing her attention. She tilted her neck so that she could see the cut that Eisuke had been unable to fully heal, the gash on her shoulder, the tatters in her clothing, the grime in her hair and face. "Our sensei died. I don't believe that we're overreacting."
The secretary paled. "G-go on up."
They did. Each step on the staircase felt like a step closer to comfort. To Naruto and Sasuke. To Kakashi. To Ino and Sakura. To a bed. To a hot shower and good food.
The Third Hokage looked up, surprised. "Team One?"
Hikari stood at attention. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Team One, emergency debriefing."
-O-O-O-O-
(The Third Hokage's POV)
Hiruzen sat back in shock as Hikari recounted the aftermath of her team's mission. She was standing perfectly at attention, reciting everything with a level voice. Her face was relaxed, her eyes were clear, and she looked as if she were discussing the weather.
She shouldn't have that look in her eyes.
"…in engaging the chunin, I discovered a new method of sealing. I used it to restrain him and returned to where the others were fighting. Then…"
He understood. She hadn't seen it actually happen.
The oldest, the medic, took over. "Shoumaru-sensei attempted to attack the jounin with Hyuuga-style Taijutsu. I think it's called Gentle Fist. The jounin was somehow unharmed and used the momentary surprise to crush Sensei's windpipe and stab him in the skull. Then, they attempted to escape with his body, but…"
Hiruzen didn't let his suspicion show on his face. There was something they weren't telling him.
Hikari took over again. "I pursued them, unlocking a Kekkei Genkai in the process. Chakra chains, which I have not attempted to form since. I attacked with the chains and my new spiral sealing method, but I was outmatched. Eisuke managed to catch the jounin off-guard and killed him, then killed the chunin when he attempted to kill us. This is the scroll that holds their bodies and weapons." She stepped forward and placed a scroll on his table. He suppressed a groan. Politics.
Takahiro continued. "The genin fled, but not before they were given a warning about pressing political upheavals. Then, Hikari assumed command of the team and we returned to Konoha with no further incident."
Eisuke gave the slightest flinch. Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. No further incident, huh?
He sighed. "Since the mission itself was completed properly, I can't raise the rank. It will have to remain a C-Rank. Please check in at the hospital. I will call you back, because no matter what warning you gave, there are bound to be political repercussions, with you three in the center of it all. And Hikari, please give Shoumaru's body to his wife."
They blinked. "He had a wife?" Hikari asked, voice finally uneven and funny.
He nodded. They shuffled out of his office, looking very taken aback. He watched them go, narrowing his eyes again.
Hiruzen massaged his temples. They were far too young to be involved in a fiasco like this. Eisuke had his first kill, Takahiro experienced the death of a close person for the first time, and Hikari…
No matter how prodigious, how good she may be, it wasn't natural for her to be able to enter that state of mind. But somehow, she had. She'd achieved "hitamukina kaiho-sei". Single-minded openness.
He prepared to send a notice to Hyuuga Hiashi, the Head of the Hyuuga clan. But first.
He needed a smoke.
-O-O-O-O-
(Hikari's POV)
A hospital visit later, and she was clean, healed, and slightly sleep-deprived. It was nice, she mused, to be able to relax. To have someone else lift the responsibility from her shoulders. Her teammates were alive and healthy, physically. She'd succeeded.
But not everything was finished. There was still Kumo. Still the Hyuuga.
Still Shoumaru's wife.
She rolled over on the hospital bed, facing Eisuke, who was asleep. The nurses had tried to assign the three of them separate rooms, but she had argued ferociously, because there was no way in hell that her boys were leaving her sight until they were back in their houses, so the medics had thrown up their hands and pushed three beds into one room.
It was slightly cramped, but they were still together.
"Takahiro," she whispered, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her knees.
"Yeah?" He came over and sat next to her.
She hesitated, resting her head on her knees and showing a moment of vulnerability. But that was okay. It was Takahiro.
"Do you think Eisuke-kun will ever forgive me?"
He bumped her shoulder with his. "Of course he will; he's Eisuke. Besides, I think he's blaming you because he doesn't want to blame himself. And he did it to protect you anyways, so it should sort itself out."
She smiled, relieved.
"But, uh, it is kinda awkward with you guys all stiff and silent around each other."
Her lips quirked slightly as she remembered his attempts to get them to reconcile. "Sorry."
"No, it's all good."
They sat in silence, listening to Eisuke's steady breathing as he slept. His face was smooth and stress-free.
She wished it could stay that way.
"You know it's okay to relax now, right?" Takahiro suddenly asked.
She blinked. "But I am."
"No," he said. "What I meant was that you can let go. We can worry about everything tomorrow, after we all get some sleep. We're home. We're safe."
She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. He was right, as always.
"You're like a voice of reason," she quipped. She took a deep breath. She relaxed. She cried.
And she let go.
-O-O-O-O-
The next day began with a visit from Kakashi.
Hikari woke up with a start. She panicked until she realized that it was just Kakashi. Standing over her bed. And smiling down at her with that eye smile.
"Sensei," she stated, ignoring how her mind, no longer in that focus, whispered only one sensei now, "that's kind of creepy."
He sat down on a chair, dropping all pretenses. "Are you feeling up to moving?"
She glanced at Takahiro and Eisuke. They were still asleep. "Yes. Only me?"
He nodded. "The Hokage wants to see you."
She rose, stretching the kinks out of her muscles. Before she left the room, she paused, then made her way over to the boys.
"Takahiro," she said, shaking him. He groaned and muttered something into his pillow. "Takahiro, the Hokage wants to see me, so don't panic if I'm still gone when you wake up." He made a noise that she took as affirmation, so she repeated the process with Eisuke, who whimpered, whining for sleep.
Kakashi eyed her from the side of his eye. "Shut up," she snapped.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it."
"Can't deny that. Here, I'll get us there faster. Can't be late to this one." He held out his hand.
Memories of another person holding out his hand to her flooded her mind. Here, Strawberry. The Shunshin.
Shisui.
She shook her head, avoiding Kakashi's inquisitive stare, and took it. They reappeared in front of the office door.
Kakashi opened the door without asking. Angry voices suddenly sounded.
"— the seal!"
Hikari shrunk against Kakashi as she saw the people in the office. There was a man with the same eyes as Shoumaru (so a Hyuuga, she deduced. Most likely the Head, because this was an international matter), a younger woman with blonde hair, tan skin, and green eyes, and strangely enough, Ino's dad.
In short, she was the only one under eighteen.
Kakashi nudged her forward. Unsure of what to do, she stood at attention in front of the Hokage.
"Hikari," the Third sighed, "would you please hand me the scroll containing Kitagawa Shoumaru's body?"
She did, feeling strangely empty as the scroll left her hands. The last bit of her sensei was out of her hands now.
The Third handed it to the pretty woman, whose face collapsed into thanks and relief as she took it. The Hyuuga glared at the Hokage.
"I still don't see how that woman is given custody of the body," he protested, voice firm yet agitated.
"Hiashi, please calm yourself. Yukiko is the spouse of Shoumaru, and is thus given legal ownership of everything of his past his death, as stated in his will. This includes his body."
"He had the seal, which marks him as Hyuuga property."
Hikari wanted to throw up. How could he refer to her sensei as property?
But then again, these were clan matters, and it was a shinobi's world.
"His mother declared legal emancipation from the clan, and as such, he is not a Hyuuga as well, even if he has the eyes and the seal. I will not change my decision. Yukiko, you may go."
Yukiko, Shoumaru's wife— widow— bowed once and left. Hikari watched her leave, wanting to say something but not sure of what she wanted to say.
The Third continued. "We examined the bodies of the Kumo nin. The jounin, the one who wasn't affected by the Gentle Fist, was discovered to have a Kekkei Genkai that enabled him to turn parts of his body into metal. His reproductive cells have been recovered. We infer that his ability is what had him chosen for his mission, since the Hyuuga style is widely known for being internally destructive. As for why there was even a mission, our best guess is that the outpost in the Land of Iron was instructed to send news if a Hyuuga showed up."
"We tried mindwalking him, but his brain was too dead," Ino's dad, Yamanaka Inoichi and prominent member of the Torture and Interrogations division, as well as Head of the Yamanaka clan, added.
"That is all for you, Hiashi," the Hokage said in clear dismissal. Hiashi left as well.
The Hokage turned to Hikari, face stony. "A missive came from Kumogakure. In exchange for the death of one of their clan shinobi and the death of a skilled swordsman, they're demanding, and I quote, 'the Uzumaki girl'."
Her blood ran cold.
"Your status as an Uzumaki is out. You may tell anyone you wish. However, back to the matter at hand: your chains gave you away, coupled with your sealing and your red hair. And we just recently found this out." He slid a book, open on a particular page, towards her.
She stared at the picture of a drawing of herself. Next to it, the text read, Uzumaki Hikari, rank B. Under that was listed an estimation of her basic stats and abilities, along with an approximation of her age, weight, and height. There was a special note specifying her chains and sealing.
She looked up, dazed. "I'm in a bingo book?" she asked faintly. When the Hokage nodded, she added, "Why is my rank so overshot?"
"Because they want you, and they're not taking any risks. The Uzumaki were a feared clan, which was the reason why they were destroyed. Your teammates are mentioned as well."
Below her section, which didn't take even half of a page, were pictures of drawings of Takahiro and Eisuke, with similar information. They were all B-ranked, and Eisuke's profile had a note that detailed his kill count: one jounin, one chunin.
She stumbled back slightly in shock. Kakashi steadied her.
"So what happens now?" she asked, still feeling faint with a sinking sensation in her stomach.
Her team. On an international radar.
We're just genin, she thought. We're going to die.
Then: Why is this happening to us? Why us?
"Altogether, you're being called Konoha's Three-Man Army. Very apt, and very coincidental considering your habit of calling each other by military ranks," Kakashi said.
"Which brings me to my point. It's a three-man army. We're not giving a single one of you up. We have leverage, so there will be no loss or war due to this; don't worry about the international affairs. However, because of the target on your heads, you're being assigned a new teacher," the Hokage said.
Hikari glanced up at Kakashi, who shook his head. "Sorry, Hikari-chan, but it's not me. It's him." He pointed at Inoichi.
Her mouth dropped open in shock. Inoichi smiled at her. "We decided to continue with your team's specialization, and since I work with intelligence and my clan is heavily mind-based, I was chosen to work with you."
He bowed. "Please take care of me. I will be training your team until you are all chunin."
She returned the bow awkwardly. He was an elite jounin. The freaking head of a clan. And he was bowing to her? What was up with his politeness?
"Likewise," she returned. Then, she paused, realizing how strange that was as a response.
"Well, I meant likewise as to taking care of us."
-O-O-O-O-
"Hikari!" Naruto tackled her into the ground, his usual greeting.
"Hi, Naruto," she said. She looked at the circle of friends that she'd called together. They (meaning Ino, Sakura, Sasuke, and her team) were subdued. Her team had told them about the mission earlier, during another gathering by the Academy. This one was on the training grounds.
"So, Ino, your dad is going to teach us," she said, casually putting on airs. Ino scowled at her.
"Just get to the point of this meeting. It's not like you to call everyone together."
Hikari grimaced. She gently pushed Naruto away. "Okay."
Taking a deep breath, she met everyone's eyes. "So. I was given permission to tell this to people now, but I didn't say earlier because I didn't know how to say it, so I'm just going to go for it."
They were confused. That was okay. It would be clear soon.
"Let me introduce myself to you guys again. My name is Uzumaki Hikari, twin sister of Uzumaki Naruto."
Complete, utter silence. She could hear the sparring from the next training field over.
Hikari met Naruto's eyes, relief and love flooding her entire body. She could say it. He knew. Family. Sibling. Precious.
Naruto was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before. His mouth opened and closed several times, no sounds coming out. Her heart began to drop.
"Wha— wait, what…" Naruto whispered.
She knew it. He was going to hate her for not telling him when she knew.
"Naruto," she said, reaching a hand out. He didn't flinch, but tears came to his eyes. Her heart plummeted, and her face fell.
But Naruto, sweet, sweet Naruto, lunged at her and pulled her into the tightest hug ever, shaking with sobs.
"I have a sister," he gasped between tears. "I have a twin sister."
She hugged him back just as tightly, eyes tearing up as well. Hikari blinked furiously, but the tears still slid down her face. "Stop crying," she told Naruto. "You're making me cry too."
"These are happy tears," he laughed, burying his face into her shoulder and hiccupping.
"Wait." All eyes turned to Sasuke. Hikari and Naruto scowled at him simultaneously for interrupting.
"So the entire time Naruto called you his nee-chan was actually true?"
Everyone else looked gobsmacked. "Well, sort of?" Hikari said. "I don't know who's actually older."
Sasuke stared. "Huh."
Sakura finally spoke. "It does explain some things, like your eyes."
"And your inclination towards evil," Ino added.
"And why you were always different towards him," Takahiro said.
Eisuke remained silent.
"I found a place that we can both move in to," Hikari offered shyly. "That is, if you want to!"
Naruto beamed. "Of course I do!"
When they were all individually peeling off, Sasuke approached her. "You never said why you couldn't tell us until now."
She smiled weakly at him.
"That's something I can't say at the moment."
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari strode towards the boy who was moving fluidly from one stance to the next, hands whirling.
"Neji-san."
He paused and straightened up, back facing her. Then, he turned with a sneer.
"What can I do for you, Hikari-san?"
"It's Uzumaki-san, actually," she said, enjoying the way his eyes widened. "But that's not the point. I need to know a few things from you."
"Oh?" He quirked a brow.
She took a deep breath, ready for confrontation and opposition.
"I need you to tell me about the Caged Bird Seal."
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: Hehe. Hehehe. MwahahahaHAHAHA!
I used Bleach kidos as a basis for the password that Team One had to recite, because there really was nothing else to use and I have no creative output for passwords. I thought about using Japanese proverbs, but I figured that they sounded too much like, well, proverbs to work.
I also used Google Translate this chapter, so if it's wrong, I'm sorry!
But man, this chapter was somehow more fun to write than the previous one. I have no idea why (well, Uzumaki twins!).
Thanks for the reviews, everyone! Due to the feedback about the flow of the story, I've decided to hold off on posting oneshots here (which I only posted because of the Author's Notes at the bottom, but oh well). However, the omake specials themselves are very much a part of the story (not the storyline!), but I don't really see myself writing many of them in the future, only for landmark events (like 500 reviews, maybe, or 50 chapters).
Anyways, once again, thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and/or following! I appreciate each of you so, so much! Love for everyone!
See you next time!