Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or any OCCness.
Character age:
Akane, Itachi: 21
Naruto, Sasuke: 15 / 16
Shisui: 24
Kakashi: 29
"How does it feel?" Yugito pursed her lips, red chakra pouring slightly around her.
"Harder to reach, but nothing impossible to fix with some training. Matatabi said it was normal." I nodded.
"Yeah, as you and B-san...well you actually work pretty well with Matatabi and Gyūki so making their chakra harder to reach is nothing you can't handle." She nodded to confirm.
"Indeed, and it will slow them down, be it to extract them or break the reinforcement of our seals. Thank you Uzumaki-san." I waved her off.
"I'm not a fan of honorifics or use of last name." She frowned.
"It's politeness."
"It's annoying. Why would I use honorifics for someone who's not worthy of it? I use them when I have to, but it sucks."
"The point of view depends of the background." I snorted as I dusted myself.
"Guess so. We'll see each other again tomorrow to see if there is anything weird and then, we're done." Behind me, Sasuke was thrown to the ground, the lightning blade in his right hand disappearing as his regular katana was in the dirt next to him. "Sasuke, you're having your ass kicked!"
"Shut up!" he managed to say with a split lip, his teeth red from the blood.
"It's not half bad yo!" I snickered.
He asked B to train with swords. B accepted.
He used four swords. Four instead of eight. The only reason Sasuke had been keeping up so long was because of his sharingans and fucking Mangetsu Hozuki.
Although, my late best friend, rest his soul, was probably wincing at each blow reaching Sasuke, and was jealous of the Uchiha for having a spar with B.
I missed him.
Our stay was almost over though. Sasuke's birthday was next week actually. We had been in the same place for more than three months now, damn I had an actual friendly relationship with Yugito! We weren't the best of friends, but yeah.
Also, Darui and I finally admitted they were dates. Nothing more happened, we never kissed or anything, but dates.
It felt good, so who cared? It wasn't as if it would be anything serious anyway.
Sasuke wasn't happy about it. I mean, he saw I actually liked the guy and said guy wasn't bad.
The next day went well, and I was officially done with the Kumo jinchurikis.
Now it was time to wait for the Raikage to call for us.
"So, I've heard about your newest relationship," the Raikage said in an accusing tone.
"Ah, yes. I guess, sorry Boss. She leaves soon anyway, it's not serious." A scoffed.
"Of course it's not! You're not the kind of man to fall for the foreign charm!" C nodded vigorously behind him. "At least you've learned interesting things from your...hobby?" Darui shrugged.
"She's very careful about what she says, even if she doesn't look like it. I mean...her birthday's in April?" His Kage stared at him, clearly expecting more. "She loves the beef in the Thunder Eatery?" The Raikage thumped in his thigh with his fist.
"Of course she does, it's the best damn restaurant in all Kumo and our beef is excellent! Anything about their jinchurikis? How Kiri is now Yagura is gone? Its relations with Konoha or Suna? Anything interesting Darui! Konoha, Kiri and Suna are working together and we won't stand there waiting for something to happen! I won't let them give the first blow!"
"Hrgh...I mean, she's not a fan of the Tsuchikage but she made that clear to you when you received her and the Uchiha." He liked the girl, don't get him wrong, but he was loyal to his Kage and although he would feel bad if he was the one giving crucial information to kill an important figure for not just Kiri, but Konoha too apparently, ultimately the guilt would go away.
It was how shinobi worked.
However, he couldn't think of anything that could possibly be important.
"She enjoys flirting with C because she finds his reactions hilarious Boss." He felt C tensing behind him. Meh, better C than him.
The Raikage set his eyes on his aide.
"What reactions?"
"No...nothing Raikage-sama! She's...she's..."
"She winks at you and you react as if she had offended you by insulting someone." No, Darui had no remorse taking his fellow jounin down if it was to save his own skin. He went on dates with a girl younger than him by four years. Yes, she was from Kiri, but she had not showed any signs of hostility ever since they arrived.
"What!?" The Raikage yelled, jumping on his feet with bulging eyes. "She winks and you lose your composure!? Is that what it is!?" C stepped back, his hands in front of him.
"Of course not Raikage-sama! But it's obvious there's more!"
"Darui!?"
"Nah, she really loves annoying him for her own personal enjoyment." The Raikage glared at the sensor.
"It's a woman, just a woman! You're a shinobi! Shinobi don't lose their composure because a woman winks or flirt with them! And don' tell me it's because she's powerful! If anything, you have even less reasons to show she can trouble you that easily!" He turned to his right-hand man. "And? You better have something other than C's weakness!"
"Well...I guess the Uchiha, Sasuke." This got their full attention. "She didn't say it explicitly, but I think it has been a while since they've been working as a pair. As Konoha and Kiri are pretty much allies now, I wouldn't be surprised if they lend Akane to Konoha for a while."
"It's not surprising, she knows the Hiraishin. It's a bitter pill to swallow for Konoha to have their Fourth Hokage's signature move in the hand of another village which was the weakest of the five not so long ago."
"Do you think they might try to abduct her?"
"Why bother doing that when they have Uchihas who can make her defect on her own?" A sat back down. "Who knows if it's not already the case. That Uchiha, Sasuke, is good. His sharingan is not the regular one. For all we know they pretended to be friendly with Kiri when in reality Konoha is slowly stealing a precious element."
"And with Kiri state after their coup, they would not notice a thing," C added, his chin between his fingers. "I heard rumors about how she was friends with Kakashi Hatake, and at least two powerful Uchihas."
"All Sharingan wielder. Humph, she might not be free of her actions right now and everything could be a scheme from Konoha."
"Boss?"
"Tomorrow I'll tell them to leave." A looked at the two. "Don't let them leave this county alive."
"Wait Boss, wouldn't that be us waging war?" Darui asked with wide eyes.
"On villages weaker than us, still rebuilding. Accidents happened. Get the Uchiha's eyes. The girl's body too, let's have some medics examine her Ice Release."
It was extreme.
After all, or she was an excellent actress, and in this case he was a fool, or she was genuine and it would be two innocent people murdered to make sure Kumo was safe, even if there was no danger.
Darui was loyal to his village.
Even if it sometimes left a bad taste in his mouth.
"Do you have an answer to their proposal, Raikage-sama?"
"I do," he replied calmly. "Kumo won't be a part of the alliance between Konoha, Kiri and Suna." I kept a straight face. I would not pretend I was certain he would accept, but I had a little bit of hope.
He knew, it was all that mattered.
I bowed respectfully.
"Thank you for your time. We shall take our leave now." He waved us off.
We left Kumogakure without a word. A's shinobi stopped escorting us once we were out of the village perimeter. The mission was over now.
I sighed softly.
I wanted to go to Konoha, hug Mom and not let go. After a break I'd be good to go, my mind needed a break. It was a good thing we had not received any word from Konoha or Jiraya-san saying Naruto was back in Konoha. We had some time.
"But you need someone to proofread it." I glared playfully at Sasuke, who was keeping an eye on the fishes grilling in the fire. "If it is published one day and people discover I was there the whole time, my reputation will be destroyed."
"You reputation." He nodded and I furrowed my brows. "Of course, how heartless I am for not thinking about your reputation."
"You said it, not me." I rolled my eyes.
"No, I'll ask Jiraya-san if he has the time." He scoffed.
"He'll tell you to add sketchy lines."
"Stop pouting, it was cute eight years ago." He ignored me. Little shit.
Once the fishes were eaten and Sasuke was ready to take the first watch, I jumped on my feet. He shot me a strange look.
"We've got company," I mouthed to him silently. Now, I had not really taught him sensing, my way of doing it would be too dangerous anyway. I taught him the necessary to not get killed in the mist.
I showed him my eye, asking him if he could cast a genjutsu.
"Follow my lead," he mouthed back. Slowly, carefully, we packed our things as I felt a change in the air.
Chakra.
Surprise, Sasuke didn't need his eyes to use genjutsu. Well yes, I showed him mine to give the message but it was because the Sharingan and genjutsu were the best of friends.
As annoying as it could be, unfortunately.
We jumped in a tree and used the foliage to hide. Three shinobi wearing Kumo gear appeared and I sighed as they circled the genjutsu they were seeing.
Kumo huh...Come on Raikage-sama, I worked for free and that was how you thanked me.
"Let's go."
"Just like that?"
"If we don't hit, we're innocent." Sasuke shot one last look at them, probably jounins, grunted and we started moving.
"We can't stay on the same road."
"Yeah, you remember the way to the sea?"
"Yes, but why?"
"We're going to Uzushio." This got his attention. "I want to do some more research, and I have a marker there. They won't notice a thing and the Raikage will be pissed we escape without a fight, serves him right."
Usually, in those kind of plans, something goes horribly wrong and there's a big fight. Well, not necessarily big, but a fight.
Not here.
I was an expert at running away from shinobi. Foreign shinobi I mean, Kiri-nin knew all of my tricks after the first attempt.
Anyway, we reached the sea. Behind us, a group of shinobi, C and Darui in them. I grinned at them and waved.
I barely heard someone saying I was going to teleport that I grabbed Sasuke and did.
I was pretty sure Sasuke gave them the finger.
"I did," he confirmed once we were in the Land of Eddie. "Those fuckers from the Cloud thought they could kill us just like that. We didn't attack them or even hurt them, they can't do shit." I blinked at him. "What?"
"Nothing, just wondering if you were that vulgar before or if it's my fault."
"Both. I'm a ninja, cursing is normal." He wasn't wrong there. "And you all curse all the time in Kiri."
"It's called expressing yourself. Did you know people who curse are actually more honest in life?" He snorted with disdain.
"I'm not even surprised." I rolled my eyes. "So, how long do we stay here? It's not as if we will find a lot of food here."
"We'll see, we'll see."
"Did I have to come down as well?" Sasuke grumbled as I was already looking around in the Shinigami room. "You can make clones to help you."
"Yeah, but you never know what or who is lurking around so I don't want you out of my sight." I was pretty sure he rolled his eyes in exasperation, but I didn't care. I wasn't physically keeping him here anyway.
"You don't feel the heavy atmosphere of the room?" I turned my head to look at him. "I wanted to die back then and even if it's less strong today, it's still...lingering in the air."
"Well...the Shinigami likes dead people." I noticed a door under, behind the altar. "I mean, from the effects there are during my meditation sessions, the sooner he gets souls for good the better."
"Let's say you break your seal though, would it settle for just one? You said the other ones would be freed." I shrugged.
"I mean...he'd get a soul that would replace mine, so...it would be good enough to make up for the rest." I opened the door and couched at the dust. I waved my hand in front of my face to clear up the air and grunted in frustration at the single note inside.
I took it.
"For...I hate my ancestors!"
"What?"
"They moved some information to the temple near Konoha. For safety they wrote." I put the note back and close the door. "I'm not leaving this island without knowing something new!"
"Great," Sasuke muttered under his breath. "Can we go back to the surface?"
"Yeah."
I squinted at the beaming July sun. Hopefully, no one had touched these information.
We walked around for the rest of the day, just searching through ruins. I felt bad about going into still standing homes, but no one would come and tell me I was stealing. Now, the Uzumaki compound was not explored in its entirety, but it was not the only place where there could be information.
The Academy and the Kage building had to have some too.
The Uzukage huh…
"Let's go to the Academy. Then the Kage building."
"Hn." He didn't need to say anything for me to know he was as uncomfortable as I was to go in Okinu-san's old office.
There was no water in the Academy. One of the classroom had two walls and a part of the roof destroyed. The desks and chairs were on the floor, books and sheets of paper spread on the floor. Plants had been taking over, but nothing washed off the splatters of blood on the wall.
Konoha had taken care of the bodies but...some stains were indelible.
Nothing would hide the massacre that happened in this now ghost town.
I looked through the books in the crumbling bookshelf. Some were in a too poor condition to be opened, so I let them.
Shinobi History, there was one about chakra and the network in the body, some basic chakra control exercises…
The History of the Uzumakis and the Fundation of Uzushiogakure.
I sealed this one away.
I went to the desk of the teacher. An old photo was on it, dusty and the glass was broken, but I could see around fifteen children and a woman next to them.
I looked around the classroom. This had been a school, children...I knew they must have been evacuated and the blood here might be some of a shinobi who fought but…
Children.
I put the frame down, the photo facing the desk, and left to go in the hallway. I made two clones to examine the rest of the first floor before going up the stairs.
"Ahh!" I screamed as my foot went through the wood of a step.
"Right, the wood is rotten, be careful!" Sasuke's voice told me above my head. I raised mine and glared at his smirk.
"Thanks for nothing!" I reached the second floor eventually. Sasuke was looking both sides. "Let me guess, the wood is rotten."
"Hn." I started to make a step but he grabbed me by my collar. "Wait a second." He pulled a shuriken from his back pouch and tossed it on the floor I was about to step on. It landed smoothly on the wood.
Wood that cracked at the new weight.
"Okayyy thanks for this one." He let go of me. "Let's be car...oh, the teacher's lounge."
I followed the wall closely and reached said room, Sasuke joining me a second after.
It was a mess. Cupboards opened wide on the floor, a sign above an empty cabinet saying 'First Aid Kits – Emergency only', a weapon cabinet empty. The glass was tainted in a disgusting brown.
Old, very old blood.
We dug around in silence.
It was strange. They had been massacred, my clan had been massacred but I just...felt so detached from it. It was a part of me, I knew that, but it was just...so foreign at the same time.
"Hey, take a look at this." I went to Sasuke, who had an old file in his hands. I widened my eyes and stole it from him when I recognized Mom's name.
"Uzumaki Akiko. Father: Uzumaki Fujio. Mother: Uzumaki Chitose. I know that...oh, difficulties in taijutsu and genjutsu, strong in fuinjutsu, barriers and ninjutsu. Average in shuriken jutsu. Heh, we know why I'm not great at genjutsu now."
"I think I saw the name 'Uzumaki Fujio' earlier." I raised a brow at him.
I gazed one more time at the file. Actually, I sealed it away too.
Sasuke left the room and I kept looking around. They were just old files of students.
"Nee-san!" I jumped on my feet and ran. I slid in the room Sasuke was in.
"What!?"
"Ah, calm down." I deadpanned at him. He was the one who screamed the… "Anyway, Fujio, the guy was the Headmaster."
"Seriously? Damn. I've got a teacher in my family." I walked around the desk as Sasuke started looking around and I froze at the picture on the desk.
I took it in my trembling hands.
I recognized Aunty right away, grinning at the camera and hugging an older girl's waist, who was also smiling. I grazed the face with a finger.
Mom.
Behind her was a couple, behind Aunty was a couple.
My grandparents and Naruto's grandparents.
"They reinforced the defenses around the village not long before they were attacked," Sasuke suddenly told me. I put the photograph in a sealing tag.
"Yeah?"
"Maybe they noticed weird movements in other villages."
"Yeah...yeah maybe. Huh...let's go to the Kage building, 'kay?"
"You're alright?"
"Yes, just...nothing." He clearly knew I was lying, but let it go nonetheless.
We left the Academy. To my surprise, the sky was already filling itself with stars.
"Change of plan, we sleep," he said, walking before me. "And eat." We did.
"Oh right!" I yelled later after diner. I rummaged and took a paper tag. I gave it to Sasuke, who accepted it. "Happy birthday!"
He blinked at me in confusion.
"It was the twenty-third. Today is the twenty-ninth."
"Yeah I know, I'm late, but I gave you a present."
He unsealed the items. Two pairs of fingerless gloves.
"Gloves," he stated blankly. "One pair is too small."
"Come one, you're supposed to have good eyes." He raised a brow and looked more closely.
"Seals?" I nodded.
"Before I could make seals from my bare hands, I worked on a pair of gloves which had the seals written on them. These ones were used during my Chuunin Exams and until the day before I left on the mission Shisui met me. It's pretty useful as fuinjutsu users have to always prepare a lot before a fight or a mission." His eyes were not detaching from the gloves and I laughed. "You see the point now? You're far from using seal spontaneously in fights like I do, but it will do the job just fine.
"Thank you," he whispered with sincerity. Heh, Naruto was an Uzumaki but Sasuke was so much more into fuinjutsu than him, always has been.
Even before it was like that.
The new gloves I got him were in a thick fabric, a deep navy blue and went up to the middle of his forearm. There were small metal plates on the back of the hand.
"The fabric is chakra resistant, but to a certain point only. Getting the right seal on the glove is hard, I remember having Harusame-san to help me on some points."
"I can imagine, explosive tags disappear with the explosion. This...the seal needs to be pushed forward and stay separate of the glove."
"Challenging, isn't it?"
"Please tell me it's the last one," I mumbled as I threw a deactivated seal on the ground. Sasuke's sharingans scanned the area one last time and he nodded, but his eyes remained red.
We stayed wary of our surroundings, who knew what kind of traps Uzumakis could have lay down here, and made our way to the Uzukage's office. It was dusty, but surprisingly like carved in stone.
Nothing seemed to have changed since the village was attacked.
Everything was locked with a seal. It took some time, but an important looking metal cabinet was finally unlocked.
"Damn," Sasuke said once he had a file, "I thought you were paranoid, but I barely can understand it."
Old fuin, everything was in old fuin.
"Put the ones you don't understand aside, I'll give them a look later." We dug through more files for some time.
"'Dear Hiruzen, I have noticed some unusual movements in the eastern sea. I think the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Cloud might be up to something. As I know Konoha is currently busy with keeping Iwa at bay during this war, I thought I could send some of my men and women to verify my worries. If you could send me Sakumo-san for a little a while, I would appreciate. He's a great leader. With all my respect. Uzumaki Okuni, Second Uzukage.'" He made a long pause. "It was back during the Second Great Ninja War."
"You mean when the Sandaime could still lead a village?" I sounded bitter, but did not care. Sure, he had been a nice man, respected and all but…
I couldn't forget how he covered Danzo before, how he made us think Naruto died with his parents or how we couldn't tell him anything about them.
Wait, did Sasuke mention a 'Sakumo'? Like Hatake Sakumo? Like Kakashi's dad, like the White Fang?
Damn.
"Do you think his suspicion about Kumo and Kiri was what led to Uzushio destruction?"
"Probably. Kumo and Iwa were a part of the coalition, nobody clearly stated in front of me Kiri was involved but...it wouldn't surprise me. Konoha was their ally and there's no way Suna would have come here, an island would mean death for them." I frowned, thinking. "Well for Iwa too I guess, and the distance is about the same. But Suna always had the reputation to be the weakest village." I sighed. "It's in the past anyway, there's prescription. The Second War is way behind us."
Uzushio would remain a memory.
I picked up a file Sasuke put next to me as he was reading another one and started studying him. My eyes were irritated from all of the letters they had seen since we arrived on this island.
My own patience was running thin. I liked digging around Uzushio, as morbid it could sound, so much had been lost I wanted tor recover as much as possible. But there had almost been nothing so…
I blinked several times at the words under my eyes. Old fuin, it was written in old fuin but…
"'Dear Umiko, I understand why you wanted to separate the knowledge about the Shinigami..." I perked up at that and started listening attentively. "...however, I still fear another Yurei might appear one day. I do not wish for one of our descendants to accidentally succeed this kinjutsu and not understand what happened. It wrecked you mentally, the longer you stay alive with the seal, the more the Shinigami influences you, we both know it." Huh… "I have taken the liberty to keep some basic knowledge around, it is safe in the village. The rest, as you know, is hidden in the Uzumaki temple near the Leaf. Also, about the letter you sent me, I think you should come back home. Uchiha Madara is dangerous, and if Hashirama-sama warned you he knew about you, then Konoha is no longer safe. Mito also shared her concerns to me not long ago. Please come back to your family. It has been twenty years since you've changed, and Yureis do not usually live that long after they 'arrived' My warmest affections. Your little brother, Okuni.'"
"Wait, brother?" I repeated, dumbfounded. "He was her younger brother?"
"He knew a lot about Yureis."
"Yeah but...I thought it was because he was the Uzukage."
"Anyway, the longer you have the seal, the harder it will be to remain yourself so to speak. It has taken decades for her but..."
"It's almost been a decade for me." I took a shaky breath. "Anyway, what I found is troubling. We need to follow its directions, there's a map. And I mean 'we' as Uzumaki and Uchiha." Sasuke raised a brow. "I...think the Uzumakis knew about that stone you keep in your clan?" He opened his eyes wide.
"It's impossible, we keep it hidden."
"Yeah but...you can't know the entire story, never." I got up and stretched out my legs before sealing the rest away. I had to put the seals back up anyway.
It took an hour, but after we went to the beach at the north of the island. Sasuke summoned Garuda.
"I mean it seems like it's isolated but not hard to find," I told him, my eyes on the map. A few minutes went by for him to speak.
"I think we're here." I tilted my head. The small dot in the vast blue sea was getting bigger and bigger. Good, soon we would know what the fu…
"Stop!" Garuda stopped abruptly.
"What?" Sasuke asked me. I made the tiger sign and closed my eyes, expanding my sensing range as much as I could.
Sasuke's was warm, as any chakra, but had this colder touch to ts ever since he awakened his Mangekyou. Garuda's was similar to any summon creatured. But on the island…
I felt a drop of sweat roll down my forehead.
Hoshikagi-san. This huge ferocious chakra, with this hungry one...Hoshigaki-san and Samehada, I felt them too many times in both lifetime to mistake them for anything else. However, if he was here, it was not his choice.
Dad was here too. He was faint, but here. He was probably inside.
"Dad and Hoshigaki-san are here, we've gotta to go." He frowned and I grabbed some of the hawk's feathers to stay on it. He turned back very fast.
"We run too much into the Akatsuki," Sasuke hissed and I chuckled nervously.
"Agree. A hundred percent agree."
"What's that?" Kisame wondered out loud, the dot in the sky becoming smaller and smaller. Samehada made a noise next to him, as if she was answering. "You felt weird chakra you say?"
"Okay, sorry for the wait, I'm done!" Ushio exclaimed to him as he exited the cave. He took a deep breath. "I miss the sea sometimes."
"You sure act carefree Ushio-san."
"Why wouldn't I? By the way, what did Samehada say?"
"She felt a weird chakra." The sword made more noise. "A deadly one apparently."
"Deadly huh..." the Uzumaki repeated slowly, his eyes set on the sand beneath his sandals.
"Ushio-san? Should we investigate?"
"No, no need. If it's gone now, it's useless to waste energy for that." Their rings glowed. "It seems like Pain-sama wants to see us."
The rings granted them the ability to reach their leader at any time the latter wished. As the duo thought, when they found themselves on top of giant rock fingers, the rest of the Akatsuki was gathered.
Ushio ignored Hidan's mad look on him. He lost to Akane, and ever since he couldn't talk as he lost his tongue. Funny enough, he heard many of them thanking his daughter for this.
It was funny.
"What's the reason for gathering us, yeah?" Deidara asked, rather impatient.
"I gathered you here today to make an announcement. From now on, the priority of the Akatsuki is the capture of the bijuus. Every other missions to gather money is secondary until you each have collected your bijuu."
"Finally," Sasori drawled.
"Sasori, Deidara, you will go first. Capture the Kazekage. As for the others, start looking for yours."
"The jinchuriki from Taki is in Konoha though, right?" Kisame asked his leader. "Maybe Ushio-san and I should take care of it with the Kyuubi, Hidan already lost a lot to Ushio-san's kid." This got him most probably insults from Hidan, who could not say a word.
"Seriously, how did you not know she was my daughter? You must be the only one who didn't know Hidan," Ushio added with a smirk. Before Hidan could do anything more, Kakuzu sighed.
"We'll leave now." He disappeared.
"I gotta say she seems fun, yeah." Deidara narrowed his eyes. "The Uchiha with her no. He's like his brother with black flames and all."
"Deidara, we have somewhere to go now." Sasori disappeared.
"Sure my man." The blond disappeared too.
"Ushio."
"Leader-sama."
"Your daughter and her apprentice have been trouble ever since they left Kiri. They took a jinchuriki from us.
"They traveled around to find jinchuriksi to warn them about us," White Zetsu said before Black Zetsu added. "They met all of them and she did something to the seals."
"You better make sure to undo what she did if it's blocking the extraction of the bijuu. Kisame, you know more than any of us how she fights. She's being more trouble than she's worth, kill her when you have the chance. Now leave." They did, now out of the dark cave and back on the sunny beach.
"You won't mind me fighting Akane Ushio-san? I have to say I am curious of what she can do now."
"You've got orders Kisame," Ushio responded, getting up. "Anyway, let's go back to the continent. Be it Naruto or your target, they're far from here."
Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter! Thanks to realfan16 for the review!
Bye!