A/N: Oh, it has been a minute since I've uploaded anything to this story. For those of you patiently waiting for the next chapter, thank you. For those concerned with my health, I am happy to report that I am alive and well and intend to finish this story as originally planned. I hate getting deep into a story only to have it end without warning so I promise not to do that to the few followers I do have.
Again, thank you for your patience, and my deepest apologies for being away for soo long.
To my Guest reviewer for Chapter 53 that left such a detailed comment, "Thank You!" I was not offended by anything you said and found your observations exactly what I hoped to achieve out of this entire story. It was that "Ah-HA!" moment an amateur writer wants his readers to get when things finally "click." Constructive criticism, constructive being the keyword, and helpful feedback is always welcome.
To Anom776 and Archer957: Thank you and welcome to my small corner of Fanfiction.
To HoneydeCM: No worries.
To Atramilitarium01: Everyone has their preferences so I'm not offended. Odd that you'd get the "Game of Thrones" vibe; I've never read any of George's work so the similarities (beyond an MC death) is purely accidental. To be honest, your comments are more welcome than the unidentified gentleman that blew a stack after reading CH20 claiming my portrayal of Jiraiya was "simple bashing." Talk about completely missing the whole "Underneath the Underneath" aspect or Jiraiya's motivation to intervene beginning in CH6...
Also, "No Chakra Strings on Me," the Kitsune Puppet Master one-shot is up for you to enjoy. I give you, all at one binge-reading time, the final chapters of "No More" beginning with Chapter 54: Old Wounds.
I hope you are all staying safe out there, and, as always:
Enjoy as you will.
~Siva'a-tasi
~III~
Chapter 54: Old Wounds
~III~
Once Upon A Time on 'No More'...
"Like I was trying to say, we'll need to alter your mission. You'll still make monthly reports to me, but you'll meet three times a week with Anko Mitarashi, as it should raise no eyebrows since your family is already familiar with her. Never fear, another is already speaking with her at this very moment and she will become your mission handler moving forward."
The smile turned into an evil grin that Ino decided she hated very much.
"Here's what I'll need you to do specifically…"
20 Minutes Later...
Ino was torn and it could be seen all over her adolescent face as she finally left the clustered nest of vipers commonly known as the Advisor Wing of the Hokage Tower. The old woman's directions were mostly a mumbled haze at this point. Most people leaving that section of the administrative building seldom escaped unscathed and she was beginning to understand why now.
'My heart belongs to Sasuke-kun!' she raged internally.
But the orders came from an elder. Weren't they one step below the Hokage? She wanted to run home to her father and beg his advice but Koharu had warned against breaking mission confidence and the consequences to her loved ones of doing so.
Was that even legal? Could she risk it? Would her father keep her counsel and not go to the Hokage? Could the Hokage keep her family, her clan safe before the ax fell on their necks?
"..."
Indecision plagued her but that pain wouldn't stop over the short break nor in the immediate week to come once they started doing missions as a team.
At first, it was easy.
Pay attention to the class Dobe, give him a smile, mumble a kind word here and there, or maybe let slip a little skin - nothing major just a thigh or a quick peek down her blouse during training. She wasn't as gifted as someone like Hinata but what would he know? He'd probably never been in the same room with a pretty girl's cleavage let alone seen a bare breast before. A pretty face showing the helpless loser a little affection and he'd be eating out of her hand, right? He'd probably never seen so much attention being the social pariah that he was.
Oh, she had no idea how wrong she had it.
Not knowing his background and only knowing the loud outcast, this new Naruto confused her. This Naruto on Team Ten was observant and methodical in everything that he did. He walked with serene confidence the Academy Dobe never possessed and his skill in both unarmed and armed combat was absolutely insane. He was quiet, focused, and everything the Academy Naruto was not.
She had nothing to fear from the class dobe. The silent professional she now shared afternoon lectures with Asuma-sensei unnerved her to an unhealthy degree.
He wasn't necessarily closed off so much as he kept them, his own teammates, at arm's distance playing every interaction as if the very people of his own village were out murdering him in his sleep. Given the previous meeting she'd had with a respected village elder, that idea was becoming less far-fetched every minute.
Never having paid that much attention to the class clown, she found his new "face" harder to understand until she started noticing how their D-Rank mission clients and the merchants of the Market District treated him.
Even in front of the Hokage's son, Asuma of the Twelve Ninja Guardians, people were openly harsh with him making comments that would have had her in their faces with a vengeance if they'd been directed at her or Shikamaru.
A sneer here.
A frown there.
A few very brash ones even spit on the ground near his sandals without the barest hint of remorse.
Then that little voice in the back of her head asked her why it was okay if Naruto, or anyone for that matter, was treated in such a fashion and she had no ready reply. He'd stopped pranking years ago and turned into a semi-serious student so why would they hold a grudge for three or more years?
He couldn't have pranked them all, could he have?
She filed it all away for her weekly reports to Utatane-san and assumed her standing up for him from time to time would make her shows of friendliness easier for him to accept. It should make her job that much easier, shouldn't it?
The first time she smiled at him, he bodily flinched as if she'd slapped him.
After that little disturbance, he wouldn't let her within arm's reach for the rest of the training session vanishing the moment Asuma-sensei cut them loose. To make things worse, he watched her like a hawk for the rest of the week as if she were a venomous snake to be contained. She had to completely back off and give him time to reset just like they taught in those Kunoichi-only-seduction and infiltration classes in the academy.
Dialing back the overt affection the following week, she tried speaking to him without the sugary smile, just a friendly word or two. She even greeted him in passing almost as if she didn't expect a response.
His immediate response was to question her motives by asking "what she wanted from him." When she tried to deny anything under the table, he snorted in her face and outright shouted that "nobody was nice to him unless they wanted something from him" before taking off like a bat out of hell.
She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs by this point.
Could anyone logically be so paranoid? Yelling down her growing frustration, Ino swallowed the emotional hurt of being ghosted by the village outcast and tried to make her second failure into a success.
She tried looking for him to make amends for the rest of the day and wasted four hours running around in circles. Her legs ached phantom pains just thinking about the workout they got that day.
Finally, she flat out used the contrite, broken-hearted angel routine on him and begged his forgiveness for her forwardness.
Oh, boy... that was a hard pill to swallow. It was perhaps the hardest thing she'd ever had to do - swallow her pride as the prettiest kunoichi in her class and grovel before the Dead Last Baka.
He should be begging her, not the other way around.
He should have been kissing her sandals for her attention but she'd seen how he responded to open hostility in the academy thanks to Forehead and she couldn't afford to push him farther away. So, Ino Yamanaka, smoking hot Genin Kunoichi that she was, swallowed her pride and offered to buy the disgusting glutton... ramen.
The few times Ino had been anywhere near ground zero when he was eating was a world-altering experience. The ramen cup carcasses... If anyone saw her with him, her social plummet would be earthquake-inducing.
However, she kept pushing forward, and, despite her revulsion to be seen in public with "the Uzumaki," she didn't absolutely hate it. He was (for Naruto) well-behaved and only gobbled down seven bowls without making too much of a mess. He was an attentive listener and - so long as it wasn't about Sasuke-kun - an engaging conversationalist. Honestly, she was shocked and that was before she even realized he wasn't decked out in "Stab-Me-Now" orange.
What the hell?!
Where was this version during the academy?
But things didn't start to get really interesting until she was on her way home after a minorly-disgusting eating event (she refused-refused-refused to call it a date) with Naruto when a very strong arm reached out of the early evening shadows of a Market District alleyway to snatch her off the street. The hand attached to said arm then immediately clamped firmly over her mouth to stifle the scream rushing rapidly up from her lungs to form a terrorized shriek.
Her less than stellar immediate reaction as a fresh Genin from the academy was to struggle, but a strong thigh pushed between her legs even as a chest much bustier than her own pressed her flat against the wall. By the time her brain registered a distinct lack of leverage, there was a flash of steel as a blade pricked her neck and she found her hands futilely grabbing at the fleshy obstacle blocking her major airway.
"Ah-ah-ah, Princess. Settle down or my blade might slip on your dainty skin."
Light brown eyes. Purple hair tied in a pineapple shape. The flutter of heavy cloth as the body moved, probably a coat of some sort.
All of the color drained from her face as she realized who her soon-to-be kidnapper was. She knew this woman and that alone terrified her.
Anko!
Screaming for help? Trying to yell out she wasn't a threat? Nothing worked with the vice-like clamp the older kunoichi had on her mouth. Then Ino forgot everything in her head with Anko's next sentence.
"That dusty old bitch found herself an eager one, didn't she, Gaki?"
Ino blinked in shock. Then she blinked again, her eyes shifting as far as possible to her right following the also turning (and smirking) eyes of her captor to the alley's opening.
"The question is..."another distinctly male voice picked up.
'Oh, no!'
Ino cringed as Naruto stepped into the dim light of the uncomfortably dark alleyway shifting through a small pack of... are those photos? Those looked like instant photos shuffling around in his hands.
"...what to do with her?" It was like he was asking the ground for its opinion about the weather.
His voice was almost sedate and Ino's clinically-tuned mind noted his emotional detachment from the whole situation, which was also not good. Every psychoanalysis trigger she had was screaming 'Sociopath' at that moment which meant her life meant less than a handful of rocks to either of them.
She hated this version of Naruto, this detached non-empathic version she could never get a read on. It made her skin crawl sometimes.
At this particular moment, it was also making her miss the lively chatter-box she'd dined with only moments before.
"I have enough supplies. We could ghost her and no one would find where we buried what was left in the doggie bag." Anko's grin went from hostile to positively homicidal and Ino felt the need to clamp down on those inner muscles currently keeping her from wetting herself and the killer's thigh pressing uncomfortably against her mound.
"..."
Okay, he was taking a bit too long to ponder this in her opinion and she was running out of air. Her eyes and lungs were beginning to burn and the light was beginning to dim a bit. It really shouldn't be that hard of a choice to save the innocent...
Then a traitorous part of her brain questioned just how innocent she was before Ino could smash it utterly with her willpower.
"No, I think a clan head's daughter disappearing would be noticed and I'm the last one to spend time with her today so guess where that leaves us?"
'Phew!' Ino's bladder nearly released as her entire body unconsciously relaxed. Only problem remaining was that he still didn't sound too convinced on that theory at least not enough to comfort the Genin kunoichi pinned against the slimy wall ruining her sheik couture.
"We can't let her keep working for that hateful woman either, Gaki. She'll eventually turn on you."
They both ignored her trying to frantically shake her head left-to-right in Anko's iron grasp.
'No! No, I won't! Don't listen to her! Kami, please!'
"True." He nodded his head like they all had a choice in the matter. "That's why we're going to turn her."
The angry snarl bubbling up from beneath Anko's palm made the taller purplette chuckle but Ino was so beyond being everyone's pretty little plaything.
"Don't think she likes that idea, Gaki."
"She's not going to get a say in it unless she wants her 'dear friends' or her 'precious Sasuke-kun' to see copies of these very interesting photos we took during tonight's date."
'What?! NO! Nononononononononono, it wasn't a date, damnit!' Ino was very tempted to bite the hand that was choking her. Unfortunately, the T&I professional could feel her nearly non-existent KI and lightly slapped her cheek with the flat of the kunai to remind her that it was still hanging around.
Ino's stomach plummeted to ground level as the blond she thought was a harmless idiot flipped over the first of several Polaroids so she could see them herself, each more damning than the last. Her arm reflexively shot out to snag one but she couldn't reach with the curvy purple Amazon pinning her in place. Then he flipped up the most painful one of all and her body went limp as the tears began to flow.
None of them were risque in the slightest but taken out of context...
"This is the price you pay if you want in on the spy game, Ino."
Breathing was still hard enough but she couldn't focus on his cold voice anymore. All she could see was that image of her leaning over so that Naruto could wipe a bit of miso broth she'd poorly slurped up leading to it dribbling down her chin. It was an innocent moment in time as she tried to encourage him to trust in her deceitful ways.
She kept telling herself it was innocent especially since she'd never let him touch her any other time. She kept saying that it meant nothing but no one looking at the smiles on both their faces would believe that.
Sasuke-kun would never believe that.
All of her dreams crumbled. Her perfect world with Sasuke-kun shattered. The defeated look on her face said it all as the one shinobi she felt was too stupid to be anything other than perfectly harmless leaned in with a grin fit for a demon.
"Now, here's what you're going to need to do specifically, Ino..."
Ino shot up in bed to discover her new and improved falna-blessed body was covered in sweat, the shiver ravaging her spine only just fading away. Her sheets were soaked and she was suffering a harsh case of cold sweats if the rock-hard nubs trying to poke through her nightgown were any indication.
A quick glance at her nightstand showed the neon blue numbers with far too many zeroes surrounding a "2."
It was the third time this week she'd relived that moment through nightmares and she'd about had enough of it all. She'd also had enough of her mother trying to defend Naruto-ku... Naruto's not treating her as an equal.
Yes, she'd been less than honest at first. It was a mission so what was she supposed to do?
She pointedly ignored that nagging voice in the back of her mind claiming she knew the mission wasn't valid unless it came from the Hokage despite the promised rewards from that old bag of bones.
No, she hadn't had true feelings for him, at least not at the beginning, but that's all changed now. Hadn't it?
That annoying voice was trying to speak again so she viciously smashed down on it until it was a pitiful squeak in the recesses of her mind.
All of that was in the past now!
Her feelings were real this time. Her lo-caring for him was real. If her own mother couldn't see how wrong he was to not treat her as a trusted partner despite all they'd been through, then why was it so wrong for her to want to force the issue? Hadn't she earned her right to be considered an equal?
Hadn't she already paid enough for her bad choices?
He either loved and trusted her or he didn't. To Ino, it was as simple as that.
Giving up the soaked bed to grab a spare blanket from her closet, Ino settled into her bay window and hoped the early morning calm would nurse her back to a fitful sleep. She still had a couple of hours before she needed to get up and work out and she wanted to rest beforehand.
Just because they were temporarily apart didn't mean she could slack off. What if he pulled his head out of his butt sooner rather than later and saw things her way after all?
She didn't want to fall too far behind. She couldn't be his only so she was going to make damned well sure that she was the first among any.
Now if she could only feel more confident in her own defense. Yeah, that's all she needed. She needed the old Ino "Never Back Down" Yamanaka in her corner again.
Too bad sleep would elude her until her alarm dragged her from the bay window and out to the training field she and Naruto used to use together...
~III~
"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens. But it is never gone."
― Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
~III~
Then...
"But what does this have to do with Hatake?" It was no secret among the four that Shikaku despised the man. The Nara Clan Head felt Kakashi was giving lazy bastards everywhere a bad name with his recent behavior.
Hiruzen released a breath laced heavily with tobacco smoke from his pipe before speaking.
"Gentlemen, I believe the Godaime, and everyone in the Chamber of Councils tonight is under a layered Genjutsu based on such a seal. If not an actual Tsuwanomono Seal, it is one spurred by the forbidden technique and anchored to those photos in Kakashi's possession."
He paused as their jaws fell open.
"Furthermore I believe that the seals driving his behavior are using - over time - Kakashi's ambient chakra to reinforce the Genjutsu and we will need to find a way to free them of it without being arrested for treason."
There was a very long silence before Shikaku summed up his position on their entire situation.
"This is straight bullshit too troublesome to even contemplate. Count me out."
Then he stood up to leave as the three men in the room began to sputter in confusion as to his reaction.
Now...
Hiruzen Sarutobi was trying very hard to come to terms with Shikaku Nara's rather abrupt departure. The man simply refused to have anything further to do with the admittedly treasonous topic and marched straight out of his office, right out of the Sarutobi home, and out into Konoha's growing night as if the Kyūbi itself was on his tail.
For a lazy ass Nara, that meant the man was moving just above a shuffle.
A flabbergasted Sandaime just didn't have the words for it.
Hiruzen never felt so old as when he watched the Akimichi and Yamanaka Clan Heads toddle off from his front porch with vague apologies. It almost seemed as if the very last of his youth, his hope, and his energy simply strolled through his front yard with them leaving him to shoulder the impossible on his own. The soul-crushing despair that came along with their departure immediately on the heels of Shikaku's unrepentant refusal to fight for the village Hiruzen loved with all his heart was like a vicious kunai thrust straight to his aged soul.
He felt so very tired all of a sudden. Hiruzen could literally feel the tired seeping into his bones. Perhaps that was why the blatant refusal-why it all hurt so much?
That lasted right up until his temper flared at the selfish laziness he'd been shown. Where was the selfless dedication he'd seen throughout two shinobi world wars?
Where was the Will of Fire?
Hiruzen was feeling far too old to be caring this much. If no one else cared, then why should he? As the lazy ass himself spouted before his flight to plausible deniability, this was beyond troublesome.
If the former Kage thought anyone would side with him it would have to have been the Jounin Commander. Shikaku was lazy, this was true, but he was also a loyal shinobi as well as a concerned father that loved his clan, his family, and his son above all else. This was especially true now that Kakashi was a very real threat to everyone in the village and none of the four previously gathered in his office could brush off a mentally-impaired Kage as anything other than a threat.
Laziness had little to do with protecting his own and, if Hiruzen could have swayed him to the cause, he would have won Chouza without effort. The two of them would have without prompting done the additional work needed to convince Inoichi and, as a unified group, they could have had a real chance to remove the Tsuwamono Seal and set things right.
Damn that paranoid relic of the Shinobi Wars! Curse Danzo to an eternity of deaths inside the worst level of hell he could imagine!
It was at this his lowest point that his angry mental diatribe was cut short by the soft voice of his daughter-in-law.
"You should take it easy, Tou-san or you'll burst a blood vessel or six."
Hiruzen could only stare as he looked down into the soft brown eyes of Konohamaru's mother, the clear shock at her sneaking up on him quite apparent in his rapidly blinking peepers. Yes, she was ANBU, but he was the... a Hokage. It was unlike him to get so lost in emotion to be unaware of his surroundings.
Greater men than he had been murdered horribly for such errors.
Hiruzen glanced down realizing that his hands hurt and slowly unclenched them, his favorite daily pipe crumbling in his right palm before clattering to the fine wooden planks of his porch in tiny pieces. It was as he lifted the cracked and broken pipe stem that he caught Kaneko's wince at his misfortune.
It was only then that he felt his hunched shoulders relax allowing his frail body to unwind the growing coil of tension.
"What has you so wound up, father?"
His sigh answered her as he, the Professor, for the first time in his life didn't know how to articulate what he was feeling and the words to express himself, usually so quick to fly from his lips, failed him. There was no handy plan he could dust off and modify. He had no witty rejoinder or pithy response at the ready. He couldn't even begin to draw on his decades of experience to even begin to cobble together a plan to fix it all by himself and he'd never risk his family against an entire village.
Especially not this village. Not anymore.
Sacrifice himself against his former student? Certainly and at a moment's notice.
Risk the lives of his clan? Of his sons? Of his grandson?
Never.
A soft hand on his shoulder broke his dangerously morbid train of thought and he blinked once again as tired eyes met the bright cheery browns of a young kunoichi that once saved him from his own overwhelming depression when his wife died far too soon for his liking. She became a lifeline of sorts and, despite feeling weak for it, he sorely needed that same thin ray of hope yet again.
"Well, you don't have to tell me whatever it is that's bothering you but I have faith that you'll work things out and lead our clan to safety." Having said her peace, Kaneko Sarutobi turned to enter back into the family home until Hiruzen's voice made her pause.
"How do you know?" he asked, his voice frightfully small.
"I'm sorry?" came the easy response, her gentle smile never faltering.
"How do you know that I'll make the right decision? How do you know that an old, tired man won't make things worse like he's done so many times before?"
Images of the horrible life led by Naruto flickered briefly through Hiruzen's mind.
A vision of Orochimaru fleeing through an underground tunnel followed right after as his mind cataloged his life's mistakes in reverse order.
The almost frantic gleam in his eyes made her pause a half second when normally her glib answer would have already danced from her own lips. He suddenly looked like a very old and vulnerable man to her.
"I know," she began, "because you always do what you raised those good men in the backyard to believe in. You always do what you believe to be right and honorable and that is the lesson Hyou and I are raising Kono-kun to believe."
Her radiant smile as she turned to continue on into the house stuck with him even as her voice carried out to his ears.
"Honorable men always do for others instead of for themselves."
And "just like that" the unbearable burden he'd been slowly setting upon his own shoulders lifted as he realized that he didn't need to do it all himself. He just needed to do enough.
He just needed to point the way for others to follow.
The Will of Fire, that core belief to protect and preserve, would do the rest.
Suddenly, the impossible future seemed just that little bit less insurmountable. He no longer had the crushing urge to "fix it all." The Hidden Leaf survived just fine before him and it would find a way to sort things out long after he was gone. He would have to have faith that the next generation would succeed, that his family would persevere, and that Konohamaru would grow to be the strong Kage he saw when he looked upon the boy with pride.
No, Hiruzen couldn't fix it all but he could fix one thing. Yes, he could do one thing right. Perhaps, in hindsight, his family would forgive him for it later in life.
With the same conviction that led him through two world wars, he vowed to himself that he would correct a long overdue mistake he made under pressure from the Council, Danzo's smug sneer flickering briefly behind his eyes. He would right his greatest shame before the Shinigami came for him and before Kakashi could make an even bigger mess of it.
Slowly, Hiruzen's eyes turned to the dense trees located near the back of his family's estate and he knew what he needed to do.
"Kaneko-chan!" he called out vaguely hearing her chirped response from further inside the house.
"I think I'll stretch my legs a bit before my evening tea."
Hiruzen didn't wait for the inevitable acknowledgment and instead slipped on his comfortable "walking shoes" as he called them. They were a very worn and broken-in pair of sandals Biwako-chan purchased for his fifty-third birthday and one of his simple pleasures from a better time. Unsealing his best pipe, another gift from his dearly departed wife, Hiruzen took a moment to select his favorite blend of Tea Country tobacco then gently packed the hizara, or pipe bowl.
As he performed what was by now a very routine function, the old Kage took the time to study his most cherished memoir from the woman he loved with all his heart and found the equally familiar blossom of warmth in his chest mixed with equal parts longing and loss. His missed that bossy old lady and the dancing monkeys engraved on the finely polished brass parts forming the mouthpiece and gooseneck (known as the Shuikubi and Gankubi respectively) never ceased to remind him of her sharp wit.
She was not from the Sarutobi Clan, as most clans tended to do, so her ongoing humor at the clan's close ties to their summons never failed to tickle his funny bone. Originally intended as a joke gift for the "Old Monkey" of the Sarutobi Clan, it had become one of his most prized possessions.
Having packed the tiny bowl with finely-chopped tobacco leaf scented with vanilla and cinnamon, Hiruzen channeled a thin stream of chakra into the matching seals disguised as twin Snow Monkeys, his eyes closing in pleasure as his favorite Rau-kiseru channeled the flagrant herb along its extended bamboo stem to properly cool the smoke.
For several seconds, Hiruzen stood there enjoying the moment with the soothing smoke filling his lungs. Years of smoking had already taken their toll despite the use of chakra to coat his lungs so he made sure to enjoy the quiet moments like this knowing he'd only have a few more years left anyway. However, this particular moment was filled with symbolism as he used it to shore up his flagging courage.
Heavy exhale followed by a heavier shrug of the shoulders.
'Too late now for second thoughts, Old Man.'
Gently placing the kuchimoto (mouthpiece lip) of his pipe in his mouth, the Sandaime began a leisurely stroll away from the main house, past the dojo his sons were still lounging in front of (a subtle nod to all three figures which raised a few eyebrows), and up the well-maintained path through the trees to a small cabin he, unfortunately, knew all too well.
If things went well enough, he just might be the only one to die tonight and his life could pay for the lives of his clan.
That was fair, wasn't it?
The soft "pat-pat" of his sandaled feet sounded eerie on the heavily forested path. It was always odd to him how the night always seemed to magnify sound. Crickets. Cicada. He could hear the flapping of leathery wings as bats chased insects through the lush greenery. Now just a touch calmer, Hiruzen enjoyed the slight relaxation of his shoulders.
Odd the things you noticed that you didn't before when you were so busy. Odder still how the sounds of night soothed his frazzled nerves. Good.
He would need to be calm and focused on what was to come.
Although the old man could still move with the best of his soldiers, he wanted to announce his arrival long before he reached his destination. It was a necessary precaution from the reports he'd been reading the past few years.
Another soothing puff from his kiseru and he tamped down with his sandaled feet on the rocky path just a bit harder.
His "houseguest" tended to be high-strung on the best of days.
Upwards along the winding, narrow path his trek wended far from Konoha's growing nightlife with only the soft chirping of the night's creatures and blinking fireflies to keep him company. It was a peaceful time with the air cooling a bit from the day's sticky humidity.
Trudging up the snakelike path of uneven stones didn't use to make him so short of breath. He paused to center himself, his chest expanding and contracting as he once again reached for calm.
One deep breath. Exhale. Then another.
When had he let the years slip away so badly? Suddenly his eldest stepping in on his behalf seemed less reckless.
Another wince of regret flickered and then faded like the pulsing light of a firefly.
Turning a small bend, his eyes caught the thatched roof of a small home, a thin tendril of smoke lazing its way skyward from a single stone chimney. What was once the Sarutobi Clan Head's private retreat, a place of peace and solitude for his love of painting, had become something far sinister.
He winced, the shame pricking his conscience. How many lies had he fostered under the guise of protecting his village? His family?
Lies to hide more lies solely to protect an image of honor that died the night the Kyuubi attacked.
'That's enough hiding behind your fear, Old Man,' he chided to himself.
Onward he doggedly pressed with a bit more resolve to his step. 'Almost done. Too late to turn back now.'
Catching the rush of air through cloth and the hidden guards from his clan flying through the lower branches, Hiruzen pulsed his chakra in the only pattern that would allow him to reach the porch of the small cabin ahead of him alive and unaccosted. When he received the correct two-one-two response, he knew that it was his guards maintaining the perimeter and not the Hokage's.
It was a small victory that brought a smile to his mouth.
Those loyal to the Hokage wouldn't have responded with anything other than cold steel; him being here now that he no longer wore the hat would be seen as treason of the highest order as he could be here for no other reason than to untangle one of Konoha's oldest remaining web of lies.
A betrayal of a life-long friend to the village. A betrayal of the worst sort and an affront to the very heart of the Will of Fire.
Now assured, he continued on until he could see the soft single light of the front window, a light that terrified the God of Shinobi to no end, and a shadowy figure moving just past the billowy veil the cloth provided.
'The village needs assurances, Hiruzen. We need a backup in case the child cannot handle the pressure.'
The very memory twisted his face into a snarl, Danzo's voice scraping at the back of his mind.
How long did he stand at the bottom of the three steps leading to the cabin's well-maintained porch reliving Konoha's shame? How long did he try to steady his breathing as his eyes stared at the closed door?
It felt like forever honestly and it was the same routine no matter how many times he came to this small cottage in the forest. It was at least long enough that he failed to notice the spark gone from the bowl of his pipe until the mouthpiece was clenched in his teeth and no amount of sucking could bring forth the needed succor of his favorite tobacco smoke.
His palms were also incredibly sweaty, something more difficult to correct given his current situation.
With a heavy sigh, he sealed the pipe away for later then trudged bravely up to the closed door (making sure to make enough noise to alert the cabin's inhabitant of his unplanned arrival.
Three quick raps on the door frame and he was immediately met with a blast of the most horrible Killing Intent he'd ever faced. His vision blurred. His knuckles trembled. His teeth clenched hard enough to crack. Even as his heart threatened to beat out of his frail chest, the old man dug deep and pushed back with his own not-inconsiderable presence.
It was not a surprise, really. The cabin's inhabitant has been living sequestered here for almost three decades with their chakra partially-mostly sealed. They couldn't express chakra to use jutsu or empower seals, at least they weren't supposed to be able to. Konoha had even gone further and limited their internal chakra manipulation to Chuunin levels, a drastic measure only ever required with a handful of clans that Hiruzen could remember.
Too bad it was a lesson learned only after the rightfully furious cabin dweller beheaded a young shinobi of the village with a butter knife. An impressive feat, nonetheless, although tragic for the young veteran of the Second Shinobi War.
Still, nearly three decades to relearn how to use their limited access to chakra had resulted in incredibly potent chakra control. Hiruzen still didn't know how they'd found a way to express KI with their chakra pathways so strangled and the lone occupant certainly wasn't about to share the revelation. Everyone that knew anything about the Sealing done believed it to be impossible yet here he was trying to keep his heart from exploding while standing safely on the far side of a still-closed and heavily-reinforced door.
As far as he was concerned, at least in this case, her chakra suppression was an absolute necessity now more than ever. Dear Kami, the lies upon lies they'd told to keep her reasonably passive...
And now he was the one that would have to tell her the truth. He would have to tell her the sole reason for staying locked up without just cause, that the continued well-being of her clan's royal heiress, was all for naught. That her former heiress died over a decade and a half ago.
He huffed once. Her strength would have to be a mystery for another time as he straightened his spine and said a quick prayer to Kami that he'd survive this final encounter. Old teeth gnashed together as he pulsed his entire chakra network forcing the magical energy elixir into his arm and ultimately the hand attached to it.
It wasn't enough to completely erase the terrible chattering of his knees but it did allow him to breathe and stay conscious. Knowing that he wasn't going to receive an invitation to enter, Hiruzen gripped the handle and pushed the door open anyway to be met by a dulcet voice filled with venom and hatred.
"I never invited you in, you old lecher."
~III~
.
.
Otogakure, Somewhere Near 2030 Hours
Never let it be said that Orochimaru took poor care of his host bodies. One had only to look over his nightly ritual to see the truth of it, not that the people forced to surrender their souls ever appreciated it.
At six p.m., the Snake Sannin prepared one of seven carefully arranged dinner plans mapping out a sensible four-course meal, each balanced with the right carbohydrates, proteins, and balancing nutrients. Each meal ended with the appropriate amount of dessert ranging anywhere from dark chocolate and matching red wines to light sorbets or palate cleansers if he wasn't feeling the heavy sweet tooth.
At seven, the always energetic mass murderer spent thirty minutes taking a leisurely stroll around his underground stronghold. An evening constitutional was perfect to help digest such excellently balanced sustenance and "get the creative juices flowing" for the next day's work.
At eight, he was promptly soaking away his daily troubles in a luxurious bubble bath filled with herbals formulated to neutralize that annoyingly persistent odor as a byproduct of his body swapping jutsu. He'd soak for at least an hour before retiring to bed enjoying a nice dessert wine and his favorite mental relaxation technique: the latest Sudoku import from the Land of Hot Springs.
Even mad geniuses need to relax and Orochimaru was a man of creature comforts. This brain-teasing exercise helped to pass the time when you're sequestered in an underground labyrinth with poor entertainment options. Horrific experiments could only do so much to alleviate the boredom.
Besides, it's good to be the boss since you usually get what you want (or people tend to die) and can afford the standing B-Rank to insure you never miss a delivery.
With Amachi's discovery, despite it costing his life and the need to switch bodies more frequently, the Snake found a way to recover most of his normal routine. Having just switched bodies in the last four days, he could even bathe without all the special precautions needed to keep his blistering skin from sloughing off in great gouts.
Eventually, the rapid body switching would kill him but he was alive for now and that was all that mattered. Hopefully and with enough time he'd unlock the rest of the seal before too much damage could be done to his soul. For now, he could do little more than continue on as before. Speaking of which, where was he again?
Ah, yes! The finer pleasures in life!
Enough day-dreaming. It was time to wrap up his latest triumph! Then perhaps he could submit his name to the official registry of Sudoku Grand Master...
Double-Master level difficulty on the puzzle.
One corner completed.
A yellow orb glanced over at the small timer clock resting on his imported Jacuzzi tub.
Ten minutes left. Damn!
Thin eyebrows knotted up to wrinkle the skin above his nose, his pen tapping gently at the corner of his lips.
'You can do this old man!'
Six there... a two-no, a four... 'Yes!'
His snake-like orbs danced across the page feeling victory was finally within his-.
KNOCK-KNOCK. A heavy-handed knuckle sounded across his peaceful retreat.
Did he mishear? Someone wouldn't be knocking on his personal bathroom door unless the village were under attack. Surely he was mistaken.
Another glance at the clock, this time more annoyed seeing that he only had eight minutes left.
'Oh, well. I'll ignore them and they'll go away. Would be a shame to violently murder whoever that is for interrupting my personal time.' His eyes flicked briefly to the door for a handful of seconds only to return to his open puzzle once again.
Taking a deep breath, he reset his mind on one particularly tricky cluster of numbers. There was always one group that was just imposs-.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
The sound was undeniable. Someone did in fact have a death wish!
With one last look at the unfinished brain teaser, Orochimaru paused the timer and rose to don his fluffy white robe and matching slippers with goofy eyes and floppy snake tongues.
He would just delay restarting the timer for the appropriate amount of time he was losing for having to kill this fool!
Perhaps he'd reward himself by letting them live and taking this person's offending hand in repayment.
So it was to great fanfare that Orochimaru, his normally unbound hair wrapped turban style in an equally soft-looking towel, flung the door open with his treasured Grass Cutter sword in hand to a very surprised Sasuke Uchiha.
The two stood there gawping at each other with only Orochimaru's eyebrow twitching uncontrollably. The Uchiha was too busy trying to make heads or tails of what his new mentor was wearing.
"...Yesssss?!" Orochimaru prompted.
The Sannin, speaking through clenched teeth (plus the imminent threat of impalement), snapped the lad out of his semi-embarrassed stupor.
"What's left of the retrieval team has returned."
There was a prolonged pause as the Snake took time to comprehend that short blurb, then...
"...Huh?"
~III~
.
.
Konohagakure, East Gate, The Following Morning
"Keep playing with that and you're going to either lose or damage it. Then where will you be?"
Kotetsu Hagane paused for a moment. He'd been holding open his ratty flak jacket to finger the brand new scroll holding his brand new Special Jounin vest in it. Now he stood frozen in place, his brows wrinkled up in displeasure at his partner's ribbing.
Izumo's spiky-haired partner released his jacket, his hands slapping his thighs in irritation before slipping lazily into his trouser pockets. "Tch, and you've probably never enjoyed a moment like this before in your life."
"Of course I have!"
"Ha! Not likely," Kotetsu countered.
"Shows what you know!"
"Prove it then!"
Izumo Kamizuki, the more responsible of the Eternal Gate Guards, gnashed his teeth hoping to dredge up a memory equally worthy of them being inducted officially into the elite Special Jounin rankings of the Barrier Division. Fortunately, he was saved the trouble as a high-priority band of hooded shinobi carrying matching Zanbatou chose that exact moment in the early hours of the morning to saunter through the gate without bothering to sign in.
Why should they? If he had their diplomatic immunity on hand, Izumo knew his partner Kotetsu wouldn't do half the crap he was supposed to.
They were immediately followed by a smaller band of Konoha ANBU carrying the sleeping Haruno Genin but fewer people noticed the second group. With the bloody Uzumaki troupe preceding them, who would waste time looking at the slumped pink head snoring softly over the shoulder of one of the "faceless" ones.
Lucky for Izumo this particular band of blood-covered individuals took priority over defending his dignity against his watch partner.
He nodded in their direction to shift Kotetsu's focus, which wasn't terribly difficult to manage given the one figure flushed with dried blood all over their large-breasted front. Despite his more boisterous partner's expressed interest in the redhead in the Uzumaki entourage, she'd never given him the time of day but it was enough to stop the verbal debate.
Once the figures of interest cleared the precipice, he snapped his gaze up to the top of the gate and signaled a pair of shadows lurking near the parapets. A moment later and those same two high-speed shadows were streaking across Konoha towards the Hokage Tower.
"Hey! Don't think you've gotten out of our conversation!" Kotetsu carped.
"Kuso!" Figures he wouldn't let that go.
~III~
.
.
Despite the relative peace and quiet of the main gate, the Hokage's office was already abuzz with angry voices.
"You are making a grave error," Hiruzen countered as if he'd already said as much a dozen times in as many minutes.
To be honest, he was fighting a losing battle with the new Kage and was two seconds away from not caring himself. He'd already been up past dawn answering questions from a very angry and highly dangerous kunoichi in the hopes that she wouldn't burn down the village as she fled his clan estate thereby exacting her well-earned revenge. He most definitely didn't want to be dealing with the Godaime right now.
"It doesn't seem that way from where I'm sitting," the brand new Godaime snarked lazily.
The former Sandaime locked eyes-to-eye noting the usual lazy glare in his one-eyed relief was long gone. Leather gloves creaked in the nearest two corners but Hiruzen didn't fear this encounter.
Old though he was, Hiruzen was still the strongest Shinobi in the room. He had nothing to fear from Kakashi or his guards and they both knew it.
"In fact," the Godaime postured, "I think I have more dark corners I need to root around in for more potential traitors and turncoats if a little raven is in fact believable." Kakashi's dark eye seemed even more flint-like as he glared at his predecessor.
Hiruzen tried hard to steady his face and body language. He absolutely could not let slip to any truth in the Godaime's insinuation. Though his heart felt like it stopped for a moment, he forced his body to settle, forced his muscles to unlock even as his mind toyed with the fact that they may have been sold out by the Nara.
'Please, Kami, if you bear us any goodwill then keep this judgment from our necks.'
Instead, he deflected with a chuckling, "Seeing conspiracies in every corner now are we, Kakashi?"
"That depends," The Cyclops began as he waved a stack of papers holding the Sarutobi seal at the bottom, "On how long you've been stealing from village funds, old man."
There was no respect in the Godaime's voice and the way he held the small clutch of papers forced Hiruzen to channel chakra into his eyes to be able to read the forms from two body lengths away.
Kakashi was waving around reimbursement slips for his guest's care and feeding. It was a very good thing that her name appeared nowhere on those submissions meaning there was nothing to incriminate him unless he slipped up. It was also a very good thing that he'd set her free just the night before.
A sly grin pulled at the corner of the Sandaime's lips as he straightened up and smirked at his relief. "That account was paid in full last night. You won't be seeing more requisitions from the Sarutobi Clan if that's what you're worried about."
Kakashi blinked and his single eye narrowed in annoyance. "I want to know-."
A sudden bout of furious knocking at the door interrupted any possible response as all conversation stilled. For what seemed like hours, the younger leader locked gazes with his older counterpart, and neither moved a muscle.
Then the door rattled once more.
"One can never be too careful, Hiruzen-san."
The elder nodded once. "No, one can't." He refused to honor the younger man seated in his former chair in any way, shape, or form.
Kakashi turned his head slightly to the door without taking his eyes from the man standing before his desk and shouted out, "ENTER!"
Both men turned enough to see in their periphery an ANBU stride purposefully into the room to kneel just to Hiruzen's side, his head pointed towards the desk and his right fist and knee pressed to the wooden floor.
"Report."
"Hokage-sama, they've returned through the main gate."
Kakashi's eyebrow raised with interest. "Alone or with the Haruno girl and the medic?"
"Subject Alpha's team entered unaccompanied moments before the retrieval squad could with the girl. There was no sign of Kato-san. Your orders, Hokage-sama?"
'Ah, the retrieval squad is back.' Kakashi's eye flickered briefly to the Sandaime and caught the same recognition in the old man's eyes. 'Well, I'll need to scrap the plan to kill her off, for now. Too many witnesses.'
There was a pregnant pause as the Godaime considered his options. During that pregnant pause, every person in that office, hidden or otherwise, could hear their own heartbeat as they dreaded the worst possible answer.
Then Kakashi deliberately turned to face the kneeling agent.
"Return to your post."
Hiruzen tried to not let his chest noticeably deflate with relief at the new Kage's delay. That should have been a fairly simple report. What could require such contemplation?
With a deft bow from a kneeling position, the agent of silent death vanished into a swirling mass of leaves. By the time Kakashi glanced up from the spot where his gate monitor once knelt, he could only just catch the swirling robes of the former Third Hokage as the man swept quietly from the room.
"This conversation is not over, old man. Not by a long shot," he hissed through clenched teeth. Without taking his eyes from the now closed door to his office, Kakashi changed gears and shot a question over his shoulder to the far corner of the room.
"What did you find out?"
Not two seconds later, a spiky-haired man wearing a high-collared trench coat and wide-lens shades stepped out of the shadows to stand near the right side of the Hokage's desk.
"It would seem that the Sandaime has been keeping an unregistered guest on his property. That address," he offered the smallest of nods to the papers still gripped in the Godaime's hands, "is to a single-dwelling cabin deep in the forest back lot of the Sarutobi Clan's estate."
Kakashi's single eye closed as he weighed this new information. Seconds ticked by as the wall clock kept time nearby.
"Do you know who was in the cabin?"
"My allies were not able to enter the cabin proper, however, they were able to monitor parts of the Hokage's conversation through sound vibrations transmitted through the windows."
This time Kakashi did turn from the door to lock gazes with the Aburame Clan Head. "And just what did they hear?"
~III~
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.
Naruto stifled yet another yawn threatening to crack his jaw wide open. While long missions were the norm for Shinobi, he didn't enjoy staying awake through the night and having to burn additional chakra to keep his metabolism artificially spiked.
It wasn't healthy to burn the chakra candle at both ends even with his enormous battery to power him along. Even worse if you were days away from home and couldn't power down to recharge.
"I am not your personal power source, runt."
'I'm not a runt! I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet!'
Ignoring his inner monologue, the cranky shinobi returned to his last train of thought. Now, where was he..?
That's right! Repeated or prolonged effort often led to burnout or worse.
Naruto glanced about repeatedly to observe his guard on the way home and determined that the Komodos would probably go several days before showing the strain. The Sirens were not so hardy and were showing severe signs of fatigue. Not good considering the trip they would all be undertaking as soon as they got back.
He'd ask Keina for a relaxed pace on the first day. They could push to make up the difference on day two.
Having made up his mind, none of them bothered to cover up on the way in, bloody-chested Kaen and all. While this garnered the entire group some rather interesting looks from the average Konohan, no one challenged them on their appearance allowing them to make good time back to the estate.
As could be expected, they didn't make it three steps into the house before the entire lot was shunted off to get scrubbed clean. With the two remaining Sirens taking charge, Naruto's bath held none of the normal sensuality he'd grown accustomed to, a point poor Kira-chan groused about as she bore through the thorough scrubbing to remove what felt like layers of blood from skin still oversensitive after ratcheting down from her fight.
The fact that she hungrily stared down her Walker's body throughout the entire rushed bath only pushed Soyo-chan to chide him over his neglected responsibilities as their master. It was a point Naruto realized he would not be able to avoid much longer no matter how often he chose to deflect the subject.
It was a good thing (for him) that they were in a hurry at the moment.
Firm hands, flashing limbs, and furious soaps assaulted him until he was air jutsu'd dry then thrown promptly into a very comfy set of robes fit for a Daimyo.
Of which, he had to remind himself that he was.
Then he was slingshot down the stairs to the kitchen table where he fought to deliver his mission summary between bites of shoveled food and guzzled orange juice.
Before he knew it, he was being force-fed a gallon of water, face wiped clean, then kissed, groped, and shuffled out the door with his still functional Sirens carrying his belongings in a backpack filled with storage scrolls.
The nearly catatonic ones trailed obediently behind him hanging onto his robes like baby ducks.
"Wha-why the rush?!" he squawked out while being shoved into the largest palanquin he'd ever seen. He barely caught sight of the eight massive Earth Sect Hatchlings manning the poles, each one standing head and shoulders above Umi and wearing a tabard bearing the House Colors of Clan Uzumaki - a blazing red whirlpool on both the front and the back of the royal blue standard.
"Get in. We'll talk on the way to Tetsu," Keina shot back her own hands shoving the two exhausted Sirens in with him issuing a terse order to "snuggle up and get comfy."
They blushed but obeyed without question since it wasn't an order they minded while sleep desperately called to them.
"You know we could make the trip in two days using standard shinobi travel," Naruto snarked back.
Keina snorted nonplussed. "Of course, we could but then I'd miss the chance to educate you on some of our clan's history with Tetsu."
Naruto could only blink back in surprise at the chance to learn more about his family, a history he'd been cheated out of the first two times he'd rushed through life focusing only on stopping the war and saving said clan from extinction. He hadn't even noticed the women shifting him about as they bookended him on one side of the ridiculously large transport.
It was large enough for two full-sized adults to lie down end-to-end and sleep while traveling. The laboriously polished wooden frame, gleaming in its antiquity and luster, would have taken a team of elephants to move but eight oversized half-sea serpents could apparently manage just fine.
Hell, the poles used to heft the carrier were thicker than one of Anko's sexy thighs, a thought that produced a blush as the purplette sporting sexy skin-tight hip-huggers slid inside the carrier next to his adopted mother.
Naruto ripped his eyes from her ebony-clad legs and snapped off a happy smile to the Snake Queen before turning back to face Keina. "What does our family have to do with Tetsu?"
The older woman tried not to smile at his cutely puzzled face. She could see his eyelids drooping even now and knew he'd be asleep before she could get an hour into the lesson but it would be worth it to wet his appetite. They needed him at his best for this trip and the intentionally slower pace was needed to discuss everything that needed to happen.
She had a long checklist of things to get done before they came back.
Besides, he couldn't arrive sweaty and dusty like common shinobi. That would never do and he was exhausted enough as it was, jinchuuriki or no. His body just hadn't realized it yet.
She most certainly regretted the need for him to push through the night during the rescue but it couldn't be helped. Not that the House of Uzumaki would ever get credit for the save, but they needed Tsunade in their debt. Clan Uzumaki needed everyone in the family on the same page if this was to work.
The Haruno girl getting taken hadn't mattered to Keina at all, allies or not, but Shizune was a different story and, if they were going to get Tsunade's help with a certain stasis scroll then they'd need to help her in return, selfish git that she was. The all-nighter cut things very close, unfortunately, so she was expecting the return group to be brain dead the first day on the road.
She'd have to cover what they could and then stuff his head full when he recovered enough to focus. They'd only get three days at this pace before they hit the border and would need to travel under escort the rest of the way north. Opportunities to talk and plan would be scarce then.
Not even the Uzumaki got away from protocol in the Land of Iron.
Keina turned and signaled her lieutenants to take over, the two of them snapping crisp salutes before barking out a series of coordinated orders. The hatchling escort of fifty warriors jumped with military precision knowing full well that the safety of their new Walker was on the line once the procession passed through Konoha's gates.
Through the gates and beyond the eyes of possible witnesses.
With one quick glance at the second story of their home, its newest resident brought a quick smile to Keina's face. She was looking forward to catching up more with her cousin when they got back. It was always good to discover new family but, for now, they needed to focus on one trial at a time.
They would deal with Konoha's treachery another time. Now she needed to be calm in order to think rationally.
Ducking into the covers she saw where her personal guard, a still pouting and slightly jealous Anko Mitarashi, was frowning at the two women gently wrestling over whose chest Naruto would use as a pillow first. This forced the Uzukage to smile liking how the modified litter seals were holding up.
As she settled into the palanquin, the curtains in the sturdy wooden doors closed to block them off from the street once they left the estate and silence enveloped the human carriage like a warm glove.
"You'll get your chance," she offered enjoying the woman's childish mood for the moment.
Anko hummed softly, her gaze resting on the heavily lidded eyes of her Gaki, but Keina could almost read her thoughts and those thoughts would have to wait for a few more months until his sixteenth.
"Patience, Anko."
Instead, she turned to take in her hurriedly bathed and fed adopted son and smiled. Given all he'd been through, he'd held up well. Naruto made her proud and she couldn't be any prouder if she'd pushed him out of her own body.
"Sochi," she softly called and his tired eyes slowly drifted from the soft chest his nose had been pushed into looking to find her smiling face.
"I know you're tired right now and trust me when I say that you and your team have earned a good night's rest. Before you pass out though, I wanted to let you know that we'll be going over the history of the Uzumaki and their relation to the Samurai of Tetsu no Kuni over the next few days. There is a lot to cover."
She paused to watch him nod but the chasm of a yawn that followed and a pair of barely open eyes told her she probably sounded very far away to the boy right now.
"We should be able to cover most of the material you need to know tomorrow, but, for now, I want you to sleep knowing that you're safe and we'll discuss it over the next two days before we hit the border station."
She paused as the carriage lifted smoothly from the ground before beginning its gentle swaying motion once the carriers shuffled off in perfect time with one another. Here she smiled at another Uzumaki tradition, one of utilizing the Dōji[1] - or Children of the Umihebi - to carry the royal litter.
The reference was only partly due to their age. Hatchlings normally didn't take up the sword before the age of one-hundred and fifty. Until then, they usually worked their fair share of jobs in the village that supported the large serpents, jobs that doubled as physical and mental training as they grew up until it was time to choose either a life of service or a life of violence.
The Dōji were different.
From birth they were fed a special diet, given the most strenuous tasks to help build their bodies as soon as they could walk, and groomed for only one purpose: they would become Royal Litter Carriers and Caretakers. The males grew bigger and stronger, and everything they were taught centered around their profession of transporting and keeping the Uzushio Royalty safe through endurance, strength, and speed. The females were groomed for nurturing and all of the other tasks needed to care for royal families.
All of them were sworn to a life of non-violence as soon as they could read and write.
Where the soldiers learned Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu, the Dōji learned geography and politics. Where the soldiers learned tactics and chakra control, the Dōji learned etiquette, history, music, cooking, medicine, and Kinesiology to better serve their master.
Given the Uzumaki tendency to avoid violence it made perfect sense; blood feuds were once started over right-of-way pissing contests between traveling Daimyo.
Clumsy in general due to their size (the males stood head and shoulders above Sānda), male Dōji were flawless under the yoke of a palanquin able to use Doton Release in a weird hybrid form of earth-bound water walking to glide across the soil. The best Dōji team could even submerge the entire group underground to escape detection if given enough warning.
Her right hand rose to push chakra into the seals providing light from the roof of the litter and the nice glow dimmed to a subtle rose-tinted hue. Keina eased backwards to rest her lower back against the pillows supporting her weary body after a long night of worrying about her Sochi.
Violet eyes flicked back to her lightly snoring son, still an odd thought for her, one last time before she joined him in blissful slumber.
~III~
~III~
[Points of Interest]
[1] - Courtesy of Wikipedia: Yase Dōji (八瀬童子, Yase Dōji, Yaseno Dōji, or Hase Dōji) is the term used for the people of Yase, in Sakyō district, Kyoto, Japan who by tradition bore the sōkaren or portable bier upon which the imperial coffin was placed. The guild of palanquin bearers was started in 1092, the earliest guild in Japan.
~III~
Final Comments: A bit sluggish to start but there is plenty of action and violence to come. I will try to update more regularly as we count down to the end but things have been very busy lately. Also, updates should be in smaller more manageable chunks like this one as we tie up all the loose ends.
We are building to a nice conclusion at this point so strap in avid readers and I'll see you next update.
~Siva'a