Mitsue Uchiha was currently doing her ninja run through the forest and felt like slapping whoever came up with that name in the head. Seriously, a run just for ninjas? Were, the rest of the population unable to do it on their own without being ninjas? It was just running with your arms behind you to avoid smacking them on things, it wasn't like it was special in any way...
She was pondering just the strange things that made up a ninja's life. Like the fact that they all wore sandals, she had to use a jutsu specially designed so that her feet wouldn't become thick and crusty and ugly. Just who wanted a girl with tough and calloused skin on their feet? That and dirty feet, feet that smelled of the mud and the dirt and the random trees they stepped on, if a female ninja smelt that badly then they were going to lose the war (the fashion war, not the actual killy war).
Just what could she do with that? Her sex appeal would go down the drain the way that Madara's reputation had.
So it was that she was doing ninjutsu in order to just keep her sex appeal which was more than she should have had to do in the first place. She had to do that whole tree exercise thing but modified with ejecting Chakra to clear off all the dirt, no dirty feet for her to be looked down on. Seriously, what was it about all of this that female ninjas needed to put in more effort with all their shit?
Like wearing dresses, "keep your femininity" they said, had they tried to fight in a full length skirt? It was ridiculous and she wanted to just slap whoever suggested that upside the head and maybe ram a kunai up the butthole. See how feminine their screams were.
Regardless she was going to be… doing whatever it was she was going to be doing.
Mitsue was just following the Mitsugo ninja… and they weren't talking. Seriously… they weren't talking and it was creeping her out.
Sure there was professional, but then there was just "let's not talk at all since that isn't creepy at all" levels of creepy.
This wasn't how things were meant to go. She could have… done something?
Actually, she had no idea, it wasn't as if she had much experience with this whole seducing a man thing, she was only 18. Old in ninja years, they tended to not live for too long and had children early, she was already at the age that most of the ninja would have died if they hadn't done so of old age.
"You're Mitsue right?" Asked one of the Senju women, a small petite woman. Which meant she was probably a super soldier. The Senju were not known for their weak women… that was for certain.
"Yes, I'm Mitsue, and you?" She asked, feeling polite. It wasn't as if she really cared about the whole Uchiha and Senju thing.
"I'm Fumiyo Senju, nice to meet you." She said, doing a little innocent head cocking thing to the side.
Mitsue could only shake her metaphorical head, this woman had all the moves down. If she needed to seduce her way into something that a ninja needed to seduce her way into, she had it covered. Mitsue would probably punch it a few times and give up. Or Sharingan it, there were few things that couldn't be Sharinganed
"So what's on your mind?" She asked, curious as to why the Senju clan member wanted to talk to her at all.
"Well, when we're inside of the Rice Nation, we need to have each other's backs don't you agree?" Fumiyo asked, sounding a little tentative.
Mitsue on the other hand, could only mentally facepalm herself.
It was rather obvious now what she wanted, a guarantee that they weren't going to initiating hostilities or anything like that. Made perfect sense really, when you were going into a hostile environment, it was best to have friends behind your back, ones you could trust and not ones that were working on other goals.
Even if their clans hated each other, it was still a good idea for them to present a unified face, especially inside of the Rice Nation where they would be isolated from Konoha.
"Don't worry Fumiyo, all those things stay behind. We're Konoha while we're inside the Land of Rice." Mitsue replied, trying to inject as much confidence into her voice as possible.
As for the rest of her clan… well, she could tell that there were a few younger ones that she could work with, the 4 older ones, however… well, they were clearly here for the information gathering aspect. As well as that of the military power. If anything went wrong, they would be the ones that would either pull them out of the Land of Rice, or push in to accomplish their objectives.
She could see that all the clans were roughly arranged in the same way, 4 elders and 6 young ones.
The younger ones were going to have to work together if they wanted to get anything done, if experience had taught them anything, it was that the elders were going to bicker for the entire period and get nothing done.
Mitsue considered their options… or rather would consider their options after Fumiyo finished their conversation, it would be rude not to listen.
"That's a relief to hear, I've talked to a few of the Senju members, and one of the other clans each, can you talk to your clan members for me?" Fumiyo asked, sounding rather happy that it was so easy. No doubt she was saving Mitsue for last, worried that there would be some shouting and whatnot, the other clan members certainly weren't the most rational of peoples when it came down to it.
It was in their blood, what with the whole extremely emotional aspect, it even tied into their Sharingan.
To not be overly emotional was like asking an Uchiha not to breathe.
Just not possible.
Still, she had a mini-mission now, to talk to the other children/younglings of the Uchiha delegation, try to get some conversation going as to what they wanted done, and get the cooperation ball rolling.
It wouldn't be completed today, that was highly unlikely, but she could lay the groundwork for it so that when they were out of the thumbs of the Elders, they would be able to start talking about it seriously. Obstructionist elders were something she had plenty of experience with, that was for sure.
Mitsue dodged to the left, placing herself behind a tree.
Ambush.
The Konoha ninja had been moving along as expected, flanked by the Mitsugo and rushing through the territory to get to the Land of Rice as soon as possible. The possibility that they would be ambushed part of the way through was on the top of their minds and they wanted to get out of here before it became a reality.
The lands were still in flux, the enemy ninja or at least chaotically neutral ninjas were roaming around outside of Konoha's direct influence. While they might not try and hurt the civilians, they were still a danger to society as a whole. There had to be some kind of way to prevent them from doing what they wanted, but right now it just wasn't possible with Konoha still establishing itself.
Those same ninjas had attacked them and for a moment Mitsue had thought that the enemy ninjas were in league with the Mitsugo.
Only for her to throw that thought out of her head when she saw what happened next.
It…
It was beautiful. Each of the teams acted like a single body, one moving in for the distraction, the other moving in from the left and the other from the right, the final one hitting from up on high.
From what she could see each of their teams was composed of the standard 4 ninjas, meaning that there were 9 teams overall. That meant that from the initial attacking force of 58 ninjas, that was 9 already dead.
Before Mitsue could do anything (which was fast, she was fast), the teams then pulled out their own jutsu, sending balls of fire out at the enemy, sending balls of solid ice, sending rock spears from the ground, lightning somehow and more. Each of them just slamming their way through the the enemy ranks, tearing them apart.
She and the rest of the Konoha ninjas could see that the Mitsugo ninja… were in fact not weak at all but actually rather terrifyingly powerful when working together. It was not what she had expected at all. As in she had not thought that a single clash could turn so irrevocably the other way, the way they just moved into the attack without ever stopping to defend, the way they used jutsu with barely any hand signals, the way they were just so brutal in it.
The only handicap she could see was that they had to work as a group, send one out then they were probably not going to do nearly as well. In fact... ah. One just died... and the group cohesion just fell apart. A flaw to work with...
She stared at what was happening and she could barely say anything. This… this was something else.
Her Sharingan had activated the second her mind screamed at her that they were under attack, and she had been recording from the onset of it, all of it etched into her mind.
All of it.
No doubt she would need to sit down and explain all of this out when they reviewed what had happened at a later date.
As for what Mitsue was doing, she was dodging to the left and to the right, making sure that she wasn't going to be hit by any stray Shuriken.
If it was just Uchiha ninjas around, she would have gone on the offensive, but with so many other clans, doing that would be foolish and possibly get her killed. It would be best to coordinate first so that they wouldn't be catching each other in their jutsu. That would just be embarrassing
Glancing over at Fumiyo, she nodded to the diminutive woman and with a little feminine power or whatever it was called, communicated a basic strategy (with hand signs), Mitsue would back up the Senju who had the vitality to get through this without being killed in the first attack.
Fumiyo pushed forward, her her face set into a mou of concentration, her usual expression of cuteness missing as her hands flashed to demonstrate what was very clearly a kunai in her hand.
What ninja would be caught without a kunai?
The Kunai from the skintight dress bit was a little weird but she wasn't going to ask.
Mitsue on the other hand, had foregone using a kunai, rather she was relying on her jutsu for this one.
Face set in a determined expression, Mitsue leapt forward to secure the high ground, giving her an overview of the battlefield and giving her time to select her targets. Fumiyo was diving into the biggest concentration of the enemy alongside a few other Senju and other clan members. Mitsue decided that she was going to even the odds, it looked like this was a more determined attack than she had previously thought, the enemy ninjas were being reinforced from the rear and the side, something was going to need to be done if they wanted to get out of this one in one piece.
Firing off several fireballs, weak ones designed to burn as opposed to kill, use only a fraction of the chakra, Mitsue was aiming to distract them enough for the Senju to plow into them and tear them apart with that strength they were so famous for.
As for the other Uchiha they had disappeared, just like typical Uchiha, always go for the sure-fire kill instead of the face punching method.
They were going to be flanking and trying to move into the rear, cutting off their reinforcements and forcing the enemy to fight a 2 sided battle. One that they were not going to get out of in one piece, that much was for sure.
Mitsue grinned, she had been in combat before… but never something of this scale and she was very much enjoying herself. It was so much better than what she had thought was possible, the way the blood pumped to her head, the way she could hear her heartbeat, the smell of blood, sweat, all of it was amazing.
Mitsue leapt up again, throwing more fireballs all over the enemy, take scalding burns and distractions!
The battle was over… they were busy counting their dead and it looked like they were going to need to hurry the pace. There had been no deaths on the Konoha side, the Mitsugo had taken the brunt of the attack and had lost 8 of their number.
The mood as the Ninjas made their way to the Rice Nation was a somber one, but Mitsue couldn't help her own sense of accomplishment that she had managed to kill 4 of the enemy.
Four!
Mitsue was… not exactly having a good time.
The journey to the Land of Rice had been rather… eventful, and now she was being led into what looked to be an enormous tree of some kind. As in they were at the city and they were being told that this was the City of Rice.
Unlike in the Land of Fire, with the Daimyos and the Hokage, this was apparently the center for their entire nation. Where both the ninjas and the civilians did their work.
What was amazing about it was the sheer size of it. As in it was at least as big as Konoha, but that was just the ground level… the upper levels were the same size and they just stretched right up into the sky. If she had to guess the entire thing was a hundred meters tall. On hundred meters of tree… one hundred meters of city.
Along the entirety of it there were bands of brown that she assumed were the branches that the next level of plants rested on… which meant that they were just building multiple Konohas. Or rather there were bands of darker brown that peeked out from under the foliage on the outside, the rest being lighter brown. Without all the plants it would probably look like a giant barrel or something she was sure.
12 levels...
It was… ridiculous.
She had seen it before, but it had to be seen in person to give an idea of just how much it was.
The villages that they stayed in as they went towards the City of Rice (interim name) all were designed the same way, but when you were told that the capital was like that, it was possible to get an abstract idea of how it would work, but up close and personal… it was something very different entirely and Mitsui was just the slightest bit worried.
The entire land around the city was just flat land for growing from what she could see rice… and a few golden looking plants that waved in the breeze. She was a ninja not a farmer! Still, being able to see the city as they walked in from kilometers away was rather underwhelming at first. Until you realised that you had been ninja running for the past half an hour and it was still there and it was only getting slightly bigger. All the way up until the last moment when they finally saw the city up close and the growing realisation that something was happening exploded into knowledge that they were in fact miniscule compared to what the Rice Nation had done with their city.
Something that only caused worry for Mitsue as she gazed upward.
The Konoha delegation… was not very big as it was. Under 100 people all things considered, and they were going to be setting up inside of there somewhere? It was dangerous, it was worrying and it was very very possibly a potential ambush.
Sure the Mitsugo wouldn't be attacking them, but that didn't mean that when the other delegations came (and they would… eventually), that they weren't vulnerable. Something designed like that just screamed out about how vulnerable it was.
Mitsue shivered slightly as she gazed up at the monstrosity that was their city, as did the other ninja from Konoha. All clan differences set aside as they huddled together instinctively for safety.
"Please. Follow me." Came a voice. A male voice. The first Rice Nation voice she had heard that was not one of the villagers. Possibly… was this a ninja, were they going to finally hear one of their ninjas speak like a human? More than one sentence at a time?
Mitsue angled her head down to where it was level again and saw a man wearing what looked to be a basic tunic of a purple colour. There was a bit of black and blue mixed in there as well, Mitsue didn't know the exact names, she was a ninja not a stylist.
Still no introduction, no welcome? Just what was this guy?
"I apologize for my rudeness, but we do need to get off the road before the next batch of traffic comes through. A slight indignity now rather than constant indignity later" He said, bowing slightly and motioning for them to get a move on.
Mitsue decided that she might as well and started to walk after him, only for him to sigh and motioned for them to get off the road with his hands with a little sweeping motion.
It was a bit awkward to say the least, the way he was doing the little hand motions but she decided to humour him. As the delegation got off the road, there was a brief moment of expectation as to what would be happening now that they were off. Only to have a literal blur run past. For an entire 10 seconds.
Just… just how many ninjas was that?
Holy Kami, that was… that was a lot of ninjas. Her Sharingan had activated from shock and had recorded the little train of bodies… 56 ninjas, just 56 of them carrying giant storage scrolls.
They had 56 ninjas that they could send out just to deliver things… fully adult ninjas at that.
Mitsue once again reconsidered just what it was she was getting into here since the Land of Rice was very clearly a powerhouse in some form or another. To have that many ninjas was already a feat in and of itself, the Uchiha clan only had 100 active duty ninjas right now, but if there were those, plus the 36 that were still escorting them… and the ones needed to do everything else… this was a massive nation and it was a worry that they hadn't gone and just taken everything already with their overwhelming numbers.
Looking around she could see the worry on the faces of those around her, Fumiyo in particular, looked like she was thinking extremely hard.
Mitsue walked over and poked her in the side, thought you were trying to be an airhead she motioned with her fingertips on the back of Fumiyo's hand.
Fumiyo for her part merely tapped Mitsue's hand and looked away for a moment, no doubt embarrassed by her lapse.
Mitsue only grinned and turned back to the man who in turn motioned for them to follow him.
As she walked through Rice City, she could only stare up at the sky in amazement. This… this was something else entirely.
Rather it was not the sky, but the fact that the ground and the next level were all made from massive trees and their branches. Dozens, hundreds of trees were spread out through the entire area, all of them growing up to the sky and branching out to form the next level. Their branches intertwining to give it strength, more and more of them until she could not actually see the sky anymore.
Instead, there were what looked to be small… bottled starbursts of light that floated in the sky, giving off rays of light that spread out to illuminate anything underneath them. It was… eerily beautiful and just the smallest part creepy. The entirety of the inside was illuminated like this, somehow it worked in such a way that made it all seem as if it were perfectly natural. If it was, she didn't know but it certainly looked as if it belonged just where it was.
The light resembled that of the sun, the sun resembled the light and who knew how much else was going on here.
Mitsue had to take a deep breath. This. This was not how she had thought things would be happening. Not at all.
She was following their guide, the man who had met them outside of the city and was even now leading them through the city. Their guides who had met them in Konoha were still arranged around them, something about keeping them safe or something of the like. Mitsue wasn't sure and she didn't want to tempt fate.
Fumiyo to the side was leading a gaggle of women from what she could see were the rest of the clans, she certainly worked fast that was for sure. Mitsue was clearly lapsing in her duties, but she had never been that good when it came to talking anyway.
She was always more of a doer than a talker and she was certainly feeling the impact of that now. She would need to start talking or chances were that the Uchiha would be isolated here as well as in Konoha.
Mitsue didn't want that to happen to the Uchiha, having more people able to die for you was always better than having to die yourself. It was rather… pragmatic, but when there were more clans, the losses were diluted out which was always a good thing.
And so it was that Mitsue followed the man up 3 levels until they were at what looked like a massive compound, all of it made out of wood… and stone? Just how powerful were the trees down there? Each one was huge that was for certain, as in each one was big enough that if she had to run around them, it would take her probably half a minute. That was huge.
"Ok. Thank you for your patience. This here is the Konoha compound, please make yourselves at home. The elders will be along after you've had time to settle to explain how things… work in our little corner of the world and what to avoid doing if possible. Please do not be afraid of making yourselves at home. We are happy to welcome you into the Rice Nation. There is a banquet tonight that you are cordially invited to, we hope that you will make an appearance, an invitation is waiting for you in each of your rooms." He said before bowing and disappearing.
Mitsue smiled a little, his shunshin or rather Body Flicker Technique was a little rough, but he was trained at least. Probably around the level of a child. Perhaps these ninjas were not the full time ninjas like their escorts but something else? Obviously not his communications skills, maybe all Mitsugo were the same way?
The compound was waiting and it wasn't going anywhere… but it also demanded that she enter it and claim her room as her own. There wasn't going to be anyone who would be stealing her stuff, that was for certain.
Mitsue walked in and decided… perhaps… maybe they didn't need to do the clan thing?
The younger Uchiha were milling about while the elders forged their way ahead and she walked over.
"Guys. What do you say about getting away from the Elders for a bit… like our whole time here a bit?" She asked, flashing a grin at them.
They did the typical Uchiha eyebrow thing, the one that said, they would very much like to get away from the Elders… for a bit.
She grinned widely, "just follow me." She said, leading the way.
Meeting up with Fumiyo, Mitsue interjected herself into the conversation that was being carried out between the Uzumaki, the Senju, and the one with the veiny eyes, she was going to remember their names at some point she was sure. Especially when they were going to be living so close together.
"Hey Fumiyo, what say you that us… younglings go grab some rooms away from the Elders? Little corner of the compound just for us?" She asked, inserting herself into the little group physically.
The flash of happiness on Fumiyo's expression told her just how much the smaller ninja was happy with this suggestion. Whether it was because she had suggested it in the first place, or it was because she had been moving according to Fumiyo's plan all along?
Dun dun Duh!
"I'm glad that you said something. We were having a discussion about doing just that!" Fumiyo said, whispering furiously, trying to keep her voice from alerting the Elders who were probably going to be very weird about it all if they heard what the younger ones were suggesting.
"Good to hear, let's go and get ourselves some rooms!" Mitsue said, leading the little gaggle of younger ninjas along as they breached the compound and made a careful note of where the elders currently were and heading right over to the opposite side.
"Remember! If the elders ask what we are doing, we are currently trying to increase our familiarity with each other for the sake of cooperation in hostile territory!" Fumiyo said, grinning at them.
The younger ones all grinned back, this was certainly interesting.
With the introductions out of the way, Mitsue decided that she wanted to explore.
She wanted to have fun and see what it was about the Land of Rice that made them so special.
That and she wanted to get outside before the elders started lecturing her on what she should and should not be doing while here.
Nope, definitely did not need the worry and effort that came with doing that. She was too damned old for that stuff.
And so Mitsue skipped out of it entirely, humming to herself as she walked along the center of the city. It was a ways away from the compound which should at the very least allow her to escape detection for a while longer. She did not relish the idea of having to go back in there. Dammit, she didn't want to have to deal with all of that mess.
Damned elders. Grrrr.
Mitsue grinned to herself as she imagined herself being like one of those wolf clan people and growling at the Elders. Now that would be funny.
As for Mitsue, she was having a hard time trying to wrestle her thoughts back to what she was meant to be doing in the first place. Her mind had decided to just give up from the sheer amount of stuff that she was looking at that shouldn't even bloody exist in the first place.
First was the fact that the ground was made of wood, yes, but it was also wood that had somehow been made to grow to look like roads, because… again it was really fucking weird.
They just used ropes of fibre in Konoha when they wanted a way for people to traverse the city above the ground, but up here there were literal roads. No skimping out on building up their city for the Mitsugo that was for sure. There was no way this could have been built, it had to have been done with jutsu, the Mitsugo had a lot more than everyone else thought they did.
As she wandered off the beaten path, Mitsue could see the various little holes that looked like wells at first, the little ropes that hung down them for grabbing water perhaps?
They were in fact, ways for ninja to quickly move up and down the different layers she guessed after she saw one pop out like a Suna nin in the desert. That in combination with the criss crossing lines above her head were likely there to facilitate the quick movement of ninja throughout the entire city.
Mitsue was enjoying her little walk through the "back roads" of the city. Or at least what she assumed were the backroads, these ones didn't have the settled main roads, but rather little paths made out from flattened branches, or at least branches that had been melded together somehow.
As for Mitsue as she was walking she spotted a few of the locals going about the place barefoot, clearly that was how you were meant to travel here and Mitsue took the chance to pull of her own sandals.
Yay for stinky feet.
As she took a step Mitsue had to stifle a moan. The ground… it… it was amazing. The branches all had little nubs on them that when she walked massaged her feet just right. It was like she was getting the works on her feet every time she took a step.
She had to very seriously stifle a moan as she walked, something that was no doubt going to be a recurring problem when walking around this city she was sure.
Dammit, they really did have the best roads around. Cobblestone could never hope to compete with this.
As Mitsue took the chance to indulge in her carnal side, she noticed what looked to be a farm… a farm up here. A farm inside of a tree.
Just… just what the hell was going on here?
Just how obsessed with farming were these guys?
Making her way over to the little plot of… wood? Land? Just what the hell was she meant to call this?
Land. Call it land because wood just sounds stupid. Or maybe just plot.
Walking over she looked at the way it was arranged. It certainly looked like a normal rice paddy, only it was in a tree. But.
But if she ignored the fact that the ground was in fact wood, and that it was in a tree, it would indeed look like a normal rice field.
Wow. This was certainly not something she had expected at all.
"Hello there, are you from the Konoha delegation?" Came a voice from behind her.
Whirling around Mitsue's Sharingan activated on instinct and she stared at the man that was standing in behind (now in front) of her. He was ridiculously handsome and coming from someone who was from the Uchiha clan that was saying something.
His jaw was just… a block, a kind of block that looked like you could crush faces in with it, those eyebrows, those eyes… wow.
This was a prime specimen and she wanted a bit.
Screw waiting for a mission, she would volunteer to do it now.
"Yes, I'm Mitsue. And you?" Mitsue tried to be sultry, it wasn't working but never let it be said that she hadn't tried.
"I'm Leo, this is my 9th farm on the rotation today." He said, walking past her and raising his hands up, a mist of what looked like green energy and Mitsue could have sworn the rice grew taller. Just… just what the hell was that?
She was momentarily startled but she wasn't going to quit. She would at the very least get his address or at least a way for her to send letters to him or maybe even a rendezvous later.
"Wow. That was cool. What was that?" She asked, anything to get the conversation rolling.
"A little arcane, a little life, a little water." He said, shrugging at her. He grinned in an open way, the kind of way a really big doggo would, the kind that made you want to run your fingers through his hair.
"Wow. Can you show me?" She asked, sounding as cutesy as possible.
"Nope. Our chakra isn't compatible, anything I show you is useless anyway." He said, straight out shooting her down.
Before Mitsue could make a dejected face he stepped in to save the day.
"I got a few more fields to do, want to join me? I've never really had a chance to talk to someone that isn't either a Mitsugo or a citizen." He said, smiling at her.
For her part Mitsue could only nod, he was too damned good at this charm game.
Either that or she was in typical Uchiha fashion reading far too much into this.
It was likely the latter but dammit, she was enjoying the idea that there would be someone that enjoyed her presence.
Still… long walks on the beach… wood, talking about strange things? Having fun? Yes, please. So very much yes, please.
As they walked through the city, Mitsue couldn't get over the feeling that he was… the one. Dammit Uchiha, this wasn't how things were supposed to go.
The way that her Uchiha sensibilities had overpowered her common sense was just far too damned dangerous. She was just stuck here, unable to do anything when it came down to it. Her emotions were out of whack and she was very much feeling the beginnings of an infatuation with Leo.
He was a Mitsugo and she didn't want to have to deal with the problems that came with intra-clan relationships… even if that was what the elders wanted them to be here to do in the first place.
Once the first blush had worn off, Mitsue realised just how far gone she had been and she had decided, rather against her own will that she was going to see this through. Even if it was a supremely terrible idea.
That and… he had been so… bad with words but she somehow thought that was really amazing? Just what was she thinking? Oh my Kami… was she… going to turn into one of them? No no. She wanted to go back to Konoha. Now!
"So, what are you planning to do in the Rice Nation?" He asked her, a perfectly normal question that a perfectly normal person might ask of a new visitor. For her heightened emotions however, it felt like he was trying to draw information from her, as if he was working as a spy… She was fluctuating between going crazy and just… just whatever it was she was doing.
Right now was the fear he was trying to pull information from her...
Only… she was the one that had approached him and dammit she didn't want this, not at all.
Mitsue was feeling confused and she wasn't sure what one was meant to say in this kind of situation. This wasn't her at all.
But dammit it felt good being near him.
Making her way back to the compound following her escape, Mitsue was greeted by Fumiyo that was looking rather… cheerful.
"So… how was it with Leo?" Fumiyo asked, her face split in a smile.
"It was… nice." Mitsue said, looking a little annoyed at the reminder, it was all she thought about on the way over and she didn't want a dissection of it. She knew what the expression was on her face and she knew that she was acting in an uncharacteristically different manner but dammit her Uchiha instincts had taken over. Or were they sensibilities? Her nature perhaps?
Mitsue was confused, and it was showing on her face.
"Are you alright?" Fumiyo asked, taking her hand and leading her into her room… a room that was already looking as if she had made herself right at home.
Well, she was getting used to it all, it was a bit more girly than Mitsue would have liked, but it wasn't her room so that was a plus.
"You know about how we Uchiha are predisposed to feeling strong emotions don't you?" Mitsue asked, a bit redundantly. The Senju had been fighting them for decades, of course, they knew about that, it was one of their biggest vulnerabilities.
"Yes… oh. You… Him?" Fumiyo asked, her hands fluttering.
"Yes." Was all Mitsue could say.
"Oooooh… That's… that's unfortunate honey." She said, clearly trying to be supportive.
Mitsue could only nod in commiseration. Damn her nature, it was taking her control away from her.
She frowned at the floor from her position on the bed.
Sighing softly, she allowed herself to be pulled onto Fumiyo's shoulder, it was a little uncomfortable but she would work with what she had. The girl was just too damned nice… or she was faking it and preparing herself to stab Mitsue in the back!
Melodrama apparently was also part of the Uchiha line, an utterly useless bloodline trait that she could do without. In fact, she would prefer to do without. It was annoying, and kind of stupid.
Mitsue glared at the floor as Fumiyo kept patting her on the back.
She wanted to say something like "this isn't helping you know" but that would seem kind of churlish.
"So. What are you going to wear to the party?" Fumiyo asked, grinning at her.
What? There was a party? Seriously?
Oh right. That party… the one that they were slated to go to for some reason.
Mitsue considered skipping it but that would be incredibly rude, no she needed to get out there and start killing people… no, wait. It was a normal party, the kind without the people killing.
Right.
For a rather… fresh Shinobi, this was far too complicated for her. She was a combat shinobi, what was all this stuff about espionage that she was meant to pay attention to? It was annoying, it was supremely annoying and she wanted it to end already.
If she had known they would be doing annoying stuff like this? Well, she would have escaped as fast as possible.
Maybe have even become a missing-nin because she did not do dress-up. She wasn't as cute as the other girls, she was too tall, she was too loud, she was too everything.
Dammit, this wasn't her gig, why were they trying to force her into it. Mitsue groaned slightly as Fumiyo came back with what looked like a kimono. Traditional dress… not even allowed to wear ninja equipment… well, duh it was a party, but she could have like pretended to be a guard or something.
In fact… that was an idea.
"No."
What?
"No. You aren't going to do something that is going to get you out of wearing this." Fumiyo said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Mitsue pleased with her eyes but Fumiyo, evil incarnate merely stared at her harder.
Mutely Mitsue nodded her head and plodded her way over to her rooms where she could have a shower… and then ESCAPE!
Only for Fumiyo to follow her… foiled again.