Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes.

Character age:

Akane, Itachi: 17

Naruto, Sasuke: 12

Shisui: 21

Kakashi: 26

"Rise and shine!" Akiko yelled, opening the curtain of her nephew's window.

"Five more minutes..." a sleepy Naruto answered, hugging his pillow against him.

"And here I thought you had your first test with Kakashi-sensei? Oh, maybe times have really changed after all, and future Kage don't need to be on time anymore. Or maybe Sasuke will be Ho..."

"NO WAY THAT JERK WILL BE HOKAGE 'TTEBAYO!"

He left in a hurry to go to the bathroom and Akiko sighed when she heard a body crashing into something. To graduate, he had stolen an important scroll, worrying her to death, and apparently the day just before, he ended up kissing Sasuke somehow. He still looked a little bit green when he got back. But that was also due to the expired milk he drank.

That one might have been on her.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"No breakfast aunty!" The newly made genin got out of the bathroom, his hands not leaving his hitai-ate to put it perfectly. "Kakashi-sensei told us to come without eating!"

"I see..." she replied with a finger on her chin. She arched an eyebrow at Naruto's inquiring glance. "What, do I have something on my face?"

"No, but how do you know Kakashi-sensei? He was friend with nee-chan too!"

"Oh well we were his mission when he was your age, that's all. If you don't want to eat then scoot! Don't keep him waiting!" she told him, going downstairs.

He followed her and stopped in front of the wall next to the stairs.

"You better watch me Fubuki-nii-chan! I'm off now!"

"Be careful and have a good day!" she yelled after him, throwing him his survival bag he caught easily.

Her eyes stared at the door and then she raised them.

"Kushina, I know Kakashi-kun is a great shinobi but your son is just too much sometimes, just like you."

Naruto arrived at the training ground where Sakura and Sasuke were already waiting for him. Sakura still had a crush on Sasuke but she was his friend at school. She welcomed him with a sad smile that made him glare at his friend. Said friend ignored him. Sakura was annoying, he had every rights to tell her, and if it hurt her then she should not be a kunoichi.

"Sensei is not here?"

"Not yet," Sakura confirmed and a frightening smile appeared on her face, "by the way Naruto where were you yesterday at lunch?"

"He? Lu-lunch?"

"Yes, see," she continued, her hand on his shoulder and he fought tears from how strong her grip was, "I thought I ate lunch with Sasuke-kun but he just told me he went home. Do you have any idea of who it was?" Sasuke sent a mocking smirk in his direction. "Na-ru-to?"

"I'M SORRY SAKURA-CHAN!"

"Hyōton: Blizzard Breath!" I said with a final hand sign, gathering chakra in my chest. I blew out and I felt the new feeling of my newly mastered technique in my throat and my mouth, cooling everything down without hurting me. Blizzard came out of my mouth, covering Jinpashi from head to toe.

"You...bitch!" He was about to send me explosive tags with Shibuki when Mangetsu appeared from the waterfall above, Hiramekarei's blade filled with chakra and simply just huge. Jinpachi saw it too late and I covered my eyes, my feet glued to the rocky ground, when the two swords clashed together.

I waited a moment for the smoke to disappear. Sometimes I was wondering if Suigetsu didn't rub off on his brother, that was a big explosion. Once I could see, I rolled my eyes at Mangetsu having Jinpachi's beheaded head in his hand.

"Four down, three to go," he informed me and I threw him a scroll. I went to the headless body and sealed it in another dimension. Not a big one, but one created by a mix of chakra and seals. When you think about it, even when sealed in scrolls, things aren't really in them. Fuijutsu relayed a lot on Space jutsu after all. Mangetsu sealed the blade away too. "So you think we should put a bow on the head for Yagura-sama?"

"I don't care what you do for the dwarf, he's still giving me the creeps that Jinpachi," I retorted, getting up. Mangetsu sealed the head in another scroll and joined me. "I think, and I emphasize on the 'think', that I can teleport us to my place."

"Maybe we should take the boat Uzu, it's just two islands away from the village."

"Yeah, but..." He raised a white eyebrow at me and looked up at the sky when I pointed at it. Threatening clouds were hiding the blue of the sky.

"You got a point. I'd be okay though."

"Think about poor little old me, I don't want to be swollen and blue for my report." I took his hand and raised two fingers. "Hiraishin no jutsu!"

The rocky scenery we were at is replaced by a beach, then a forest and finally the familiar gray walls of my living-room. I slouched on my couch with a hand on my head and a whine of pain because of the distance I just covered.

"You're getting better."

"Getting better has been the only thing I've done for what...a year and a half now? Almost two years? I haven't slept in between training, the S and A-rank missions and hanging out with you because Dai and you can't live without me."

"We've managed before, remember?" he reminded me with a smirk, grabbing my hand to drag me with him.

As usual, I got the cold and scared glances thrown at me. Beware of Yagura's apprentice, she will slice you up! To be honest, I had to do some questionable things to the civilians because of the Chief Dwarf.

The streets were as sad and cold as ever, the thick mist surrounding the village being even thicker today. I could still see the many stone buildings, all in their gray splendor, decorated with a lot of greenery thanks to the dampness of the air. I mean, Kirigakure had the potential to be a beautiful village, I saw it, but for the moment it's downright depressing. We rapidly reached one of the bridges leading to the Mizukage's building and we were in front of Yagura's door before my mind could fully register it.

"Come in!" dear old Mizukage of my heart shouted. We obeyed and bowed in front of him. "Report."

"Jinpachi has been dealt with and Shibuki retrieved Mizukage-sama," I declared automatically.

"One less problem now," Yagura admitted with a nod. "Uzumaki, take care of the sword, Hozuki take care of the body."

"Very well!" we said in unison.

Once all of these were done and I was at my place, not having to go to the rebels today, who were more and more numerous, I fell on my bed. It would not be long until Mei-sensei leave the village, then Dai and so on. That is the plan, once I told sensei Yagura was manipulated. She believed me without the shadow of a doubt, which warmed my heart when I realized she truly believed in me for that.

The plan was to, for me, be the best anbu ever. Send information when I could. Being under cover. Surprisingly enough, it was easier than I thought. I learned, through Kiri's library, interesting facts about the Yuki clan. I kept denying that part of me, but deep down I knew it was useless. So I searched. The Yuki clan, whose kekkai genkai is the Ice release, had always been important in the Land of Water. Funny enough, I quickly understood they were the opposite of the Uchihas. Where the Uchihas were good with fire, we were good with ice, and water too at a certain extent. Where the Uchihas seemed cold whereas they loved so much, us Yuki are apparently friendly but extremely cold when needed, when it came to dealing with our feelings.

For me, it was under stress. I had been killing for Yagura for a while and I didn't feel anything for the moment. 'As pure as snow' it was written, I don't know for who but not for me.

Apart from this, sensei also knew the man manipulating Yagura was the one who attacked Konoha with Kurama, because the Kyubi attack was known in the whole world. At least continent. Because of that, one day I found myself with a double mission. Hard, but not so uncommon for any of her students. Geez, I'm sure even Suigetsu went with Dai at some point.

Anyway, because of that, sensei asked me to...ask help from the Leaf. She is tired of war and death too, and she knows if she can get Konoha's help, the biggest hidden village, it would help Kiri on the economical and political plans. We need considerable resources to clear our reputation, and I was not particularly fond of waiting for a world war.

I told her about that too. She said we still had time and to focus on the current matters. Hmph, I knew why she was Mizukage, which I didn't tell her about. I'm helping her so much now, so when nor me or Mangetsu were there...you bet it took longer.

I had a new found respect for Terumi Mei.

It led me to, during one of my mission, track down a famous pervert and, after getting him to listen to him and convinced him of my identity, to deliver a message to the Hokage. However, Jiraya being Jiraya and oji-chan's sensei nonetheless, figured out something was weird in my chakra, going as far as mentioning the Shinigami. It freaked me out, and he told me the Hokage told him about me.

I. Was. HAPPY.

Note the irony here.

But as far as I knew, sensei had taken the matter of Jiraya in her own hands. Kept me updated enough.

Recently told me Naruto and Sasuke had graduated along Sakura.

I took my pouch off and grabbed a kunai in it to inspect the seal graved in it. I mastered Hiraishi and was working on choosing the priority next.

Or I could work on a slight variation to be able to also teleport people when I don't touch them.

Or I could use my kunai, beautiful Kirigakure-styled kunai where the blade curved inward on one side, to potentially put my elemental storage seals or any seals where the kunai goes.

So many possibilities!

"Oji-chan, what should I do?" I asked in the air.

I frowned when nobody answered. No, no I know I'm not crazy.

"Come on oji-chan, I'm sorry! Don't pout!"

"I'm not pouting," came the answer in my head.

I closed my eyes and gathered chakra in my seal, feeling it warming up. When I opened my eyes, oji-chan was in front of me with a stern look on his face.

To put it simply I had a trip to Uzushio. Weirdly enough, on Yagura's orders. In the submersed library of the clan, protected by beautiful seals, I found so much on my seal. Including that with work and a lot of chakra and chakra control, you could potentially communicate with the souls already trapped by the Shinigami.

Kurama was useful, it was like his chakra was a thread I needed to follow. Thus why I was met with the stern blue eyes of my godfather.

"Don't pout oji-chan, you know you're my Kurama to my Naruto! My Kurama to my Kushina! My Isobu to my Yagura! My Shukaku to my Gaara!"

"Are you done?" I shot him a sheepish and innocent look.

"My Saiken to my Utakata-senpai?" He sighed. "If you're not pouting then what?"

"I'm worried. Not that...I don't agree with Mei-san's rebellion because I've seen it was needed but...what does Yagura want to achieve by asking you to train with Nuibari?"

"Don't know, once he's out I stop. I'm fine with my good old katana." I frowned at the glint in his eyes. Worry and wonder. He's thinking about something. "Please, you made me agree to the 'no sex' rule as long as you're sealed in me, so what is it now?"

"Sometimes, when you're with Yagura, I almost...hear something," Minato told me. "Maybe it's just me but...I don't know. Kyubi's chakra had a reaction after being close so much so maybe the Sanbi can feel me?"

"Hum...the Shinigami seal is a representation of Death itself, a proof I bought my way into a second life, maybe it sees straight through a jinchuriki's seal? In Kiri they're a lot more loose than yours too," I though out loud, holding my chin. "Yagura's been acting weird too ever since I came back from Konoha. Sometimes it's almost as if..."

"He was trying to tell you something through Obito's genjutsu," he finished for me seriously. "It is a possibility, if he's busy with the Akatsuki, that he stopped watching the events in Kiri as much as before and his genjutsu starts weakening. Yagura is powerful and a jinchuriki, so he might see through the cracks and tries to send you a message?" I opened my mouth but nothing came out. The Uchihas are alive, no Itachi in the Akatsuki, he must be busy then and...Fuck, Minato may be right.

"If that's the case, it could mean Yagura is trapped in his own mind. That we could, I could reach him, maybe thanks to the seal."

"If possible, you should go back to Uzushio, look into the relation between jinchuriki and your seal."

"Thinking about it," I continued, memories of Gaara flashing in my mind, "Shukaku felt me. He didn't like it, said I was thinking I was God or something. Even Utakata-senpai told me I was different when I came back."

"Akane..."

"I know. I need to verify our theory. Fuck, why are the Uzumakis so insane?"

"I have an important mission for you."

"What's new in here?"

Yagura glared at me and Naoto-senpai coughed next to me. "Since Orochimaru tried to take a genin of the village for his own benefits, I've been keeping tracks of his whereabouts." You or the Akatsuki because he betrayed them? Did he betray them here too although? "He has founded a hidden village in the Land of Sound, before called the Land of Rice Fields."

"So he still keeps a close eye on Konoha then?" his son deduced, to which Yagura nodded. If there was one thing good with him, manipulated or not, was that he was good at giving us missions with the most details possible, making them quicker for us.

"I want you to go there undercover and collect information. I have a bad feeling about him having his own village. You will leave tomorrow, the length of the mission will depends on what you learn, but won't exceed a month. You will be close to the Land of Fire, so try to avoid contact with Leaf shinobi. I don't want them to see Uzumaki right now." The last bit was directed at Naoto. It would not surprise me if they knew I was alive, but well. I don't want to fight anyone either, especially not an Uchiha. No sharingan for me, no thank you.

"Shall I take my dispositions to hide my chakra signature?" I asked in my professional voice. Cold and as detached as possible.

"I'll let you be the judge of that," he replied, giving me a...thoughtful side glance. I raised an eyebrow at him. "Take Nuibari with you, get some real experience." My eyebrow twitched. Did he want me to kill people in Oto or what? I barely knew how to finally reach my target in shuriken jutsu and...throwing a sword with a thread...

"Understood."

Once we were outside of his office, I raised my hands to form the tiger seal.

"Akane," Naoto stopped me and I glanced at him, his pink eyes focused on the wall in front of him, "we need to speak."

"Hand on my shoulder." He obeyed and I teleported us at my place. I activated the soundproof seals around my apartment to be sure to be in peace. Naoto, even if he was Yagura's only son, was with the rebellion. He never understood his dad's rule and wanted it to stop. "You found something?"

He nodded and gulped loudly, his Adam's apple following. Naoto handed me a small notebook, used and probably filled already. The cover was a dark navy blue with written 'Yondaime Mizukage: Karatachi Yagura' on it. However, the name seemed to have been crossed multiple time and written over, and it appeared it happened many times.

"When he became the Mizukage, Sanbi was already sealed in him and he wanted to write his journey as a Mizukage and a jinchuriki. He...he wanted to right the wrongs of the Third. You see in there the changes in...him," he explained to me quietly.

I started reading it. Everything was...normal, and so not like Yagura. It was...I mean, Yagura seemed to care about the village. He wanted to show them a jinchuriki could lead a village too. I felt a cold anger washed over me, I wished to have Obito's neck in my hands and just snap it.

It was like that for a few pages, which were years for Yagura where he could not do anything on the surface for the Bloody Mist, and then nothing for a couple of pages.

I bite my bottom lip when I saw the date when the writing started again. It was around the time I was in Konoha, maybe my second year. It was complicated to make sense of anything he wrote. It was words, 'Uchiha' was scribbled multiple times. The more I read, the more I could make sense of what was written, and the more the dates were close to the present time.

Uchiha.

Trapped.

Madara.

Kyubi.

Konoha.

Akatsuki. Akatsuki. Akatsuki.

Rin.

How did Rin die exactly anyway?

"Shortly after the war. She was abducted by Kiri and made into the jinchuriki of Sanbi. Kakashi rescued her but she threw herself on his Chidori. They wanted to use her to destroy Konoha," Minato-oji-chan filled me in. I wonder if Naruto always felt this weird when Kurama would speak to him. But did I know that before? Did I forget it?

I frowned at the last things written. It was not long ago. However, what bugged me was the fuin symbols. I taught them to Mei-sensei so that she could communicate with Jiraya without troubles, but I did not know Yagura knew them. Or could it be Isobu told him if they were trying to talk to us?

"What does it say? Is dad..."

"Right..." I went to my table and took a paper and pen to translate. It wasn't even recent fuin but old one. The kind there was at Uzushio. Once I was done, after half an hour, my eyes re-read what I wrote.

"So?"

"Ya...he's under a powerful genjutsu. He is trying to break through on his side with Sanbi because it started to have cracks in it. He...he said..."

"What!?" he snapped at me, pink eyes filled with impatience.

"He's asking us to save the village from him," I said quietly. "He's asking us to get rid of him for the village. That the only thing he can do now as the Mizukage is trusting us in stopping him, that...that it's the last S-rank mission he will give us."

He dropped on his knees, his eyes wide open staring at me. That, Naoto, was the guy who took me to the Academy test, who would try to patch me up after thos harsh training sessions and helped to shape me into the kunoichi I was today.

Now I had a child who was realizing his dad had been used. Whose dad was trying to help us. It explained why I felt like something was off since I came back.

Yagura was trying to free himself. Yagura was sowing hints.

And those words he wrote above...was what he learned about the one who put him in this genjutsu.

A wry smile found its way onto my lips. Even trapped inside a genjutsu, even under the sharingan, Yagura ended up finding a way to gather information, to help us.

He was the Yondaime Mizukage. Somehow, I had a feeling this notebook had never been found in my first life, hence the opinion the random people, including Kagura, on Yagura. With this...we can, maybe, clear his name a little bit.

I squeezed the notebook in my hand.

"Where did you find it?"

"He came to my place the other day, didn't get why. He...left it."

"It must have been one of his 'lucid' moments," I declared. "We need to get this to sensei when we're out of the village."

"I will never eat rice ever again," I muttered under my breath, eyeing my rice balls with disgust, "seriously."

"Pinch your nose and swallow i,." Naoto whispered to me, trying to pry a bug out of his shoulder-length grayish hair.

I groaned like a kid and moved my mask to eat. We were on our way from Oto. Annoying, seedy, I could have lived a day without going. I mean, you could see the inhabitants had been under Orochimaru's hands at some point. We didn't find anything really, except a Suna nin leaving around the same time as us.

I had hope there would be no attacks, but I guess not. However, we got confirmations Orochimaru was no longer in the Akatsuki, which from how Yagura seemed to dislike him was kind of obvious. But once again, Yagura did not like a lot of people. He liked money and taking it from people, but not said people.

Once we were done eating, we went back in the trees, jumping from branches to branches with chakra infused speed. So far, we had not seen any Leaf shinobi and I was perfectly fine with it.

"Four chakra at two o'clock, put on your seal, their chakra reek warmth and ember for three of them, blaze for the fourth one," he informed me, his sensors senses in action. He once told me every sensors senses chakra differently. For him, it was through smells and by said smell he could deduce the village and chakra nature even. Let's just say you might be a wind type in Konoha, it is still the Land of Fire so your chakra will always have a faint tint in it.

"A genin squad then," I said, taking a tag from my back pouch. I slid it under my black thermal waterproof long-sleeved shirt, itself under my gray flak jacket. I then proceeded to do the ram seal and I felt the warmth of the seal wrapping itself around my chakra system to conceal it.

But the question was which one. One of Naruto's promotion? Gai's team? How awkward it would be if I saw one of my old student.

"Stop."

I obeyed and stayed hidden in the leaves of the tree. I could spot blond hair, but lighter than Naruto's.

Great, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. And their team leader...who was it again? I know Shikamaru told me before...Mirai's dad...Sarutobi something...Sarutobi...

"Asuma-sensei, is there something wrong?" the Akimichi asked when his sensei stopped.

Asuma! Sarutobi Asuma! Killed in action and left Kurenai-san pregnant!

Oh shit, is he looking at us?

Shikamaru followed his gaze with a confused expression on his face whereas the two others were oblivious to the presence of two foreign anbu a few meters from them.

"Nothing important," he finally told them as we did not make a move.

They started moving, and so did we in a different direction as we were heading for the coast, and the tension in Asuma's shoulders evaporated when he realized us crossing paths was a coincidence.

The trip took a week, us waiting for different boats to reach the main island. However, due to the weather, we could not take the boat from the Land of Fire to go directly to Kiri. We had to go through the Land of Waves, very poor country because of some drug dealer. On the way, we stopped by the hideout, where Mei-sensei jumped on me and told me we had to have Konoha's help.

Well, maybe that after our report, Yagura will send us at the chūnin exam?

That would be fun! Okay, more interesting than fun but...but Gaara still had my blocking seal I hoped. It could avoid destruction, right?

Crap, my post-mission state was always deplorable. My thoughts just keep going everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Hey! Thanks for reading! Please review so that I know you liked it :)

Bye!