AN at bottom

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Warnings: T for swearing and violence, and Time-skips

Reviewer replies:

lizyeh2000: You are correct ;P

Ellie: Yup, he's dead. Orochimaru... well, you'll see.

JigokuShoujosRevenge: It depends on how you look at it. Orochi is still young, and Suijami... well, she sometimes forgets things and is distracted easily.

Thanks for Reviewing! (I think I might choose to respond t review via pm now, as it takes up space at the beginning.)

Chapter 9: Weapons, Music, and Mental Cats

Over the next near dozen months, the only notable event that occurred was Orochimaru being brought over after crawling his first … step? I wasn't present at the time, as I was under the tutelage of Yasu obasan in ninja arts with Hikaru. Due to Orochimaru needing most of kaa-chan during his waking hours and her needing to take more missions to get the money needed for our needs, I didn't get to stay with her as much as I would've liked.

The kiddo survived to his first birthday too, who would've known? It was celebrated in another temple where most of the clan got together to play a disjointed birthday song and eat amazing cake. It was one of the few instances where kaa-chan laughed heartily without all the grief obscuring her, the fact that Orochi gurgled happily with her when Sugiryuu was summoned over made the scene one that'll never be forgotten.

As it was, the past months I spent more time with other members of our clan than my own mother. Even after Orochimaru came over, especially after Orochimaru was summoned over, she had to spend more and more time on missions or short errands. She didn't even see Orochimaru stumble his first steps, kami damnit. When she can't come home for the clan supper and I would end up eating with my aunt and Hikaru, Orochi would settle on my lap and gnaw on my chin-length hair. Oh how the tables have turned.

Orochimaru himself… was a grabby little brat with enough curiosity to kill the Matatabi. Case in point, he saw the kunai that I was sharpening for my aunt and others (to earn pocket money because dammit kaa-chan's tired enough already) and decided that nomming on cold steel was a good idea.

Bad Orochi, nomming on pointy things is not good for anyone's mental health, especially your onee-chan.

A good side of his coming over was that I wasn't lonely anymore in the event where I was home while kaa-chan was elsewhere for short periods of time, a fact that I strongly appreciated when I discovered that three-year olds/three-year-old-to-bes were not supposed to understand death, let alone mourn the gone.

Wasn't that a fine thing to discover after tou-chan's death.

At least Dōsukēru didn't mind too much when I cried into her scales at night or when no one else was around, she only seemed to become mildly annoyed when I start leaking mucus everywhere. Of course Manda seemed suspicious (damn snakes and their sense of smell) but he didn't ever inform my now somewhat insomniac mom.

Sugiryuu, Orochi's partner, is a brilliant shade of violet like Manda. I swear all purple snakes are just mother hens under the disguise of being a complete and utter shits. If I hear him ask one more time whether or not I should be sharpening murder weapons when kaa-chan isn't home, someone is going to be in a bit more trouble than tongue-tied.

On that vein of note, I am going to circle my chubby little fingers around Manda's neck and throttle him the next time I see that fat purple head. Why, oh why, did Manda teach Orochimaru the word why!? That jerk was smirking as he did so too! But I have to admit, Orochi's unending stream of "why"s certainly is a good way of getting my head off of the fact that we were approaching the forest where we were ambushed last year.

The stay in the Takumi village was longer this year, as some of the faster clansmen were sent into the forest to scout out the road. The Kinme will not be caught unawares again.

This however, resulted me in celebrating my fourth birthday (a number associated with death) in the village of Artisans.

By now, I've realized that there are too many traditions in a clan, and many of them revolve around the gaining of an age or the completion of a milestone, I would know.

For the past year and a half, I have watched my cousin Hikaru work his way through a plethora of weaponry, all sharp points or blunt trauma. Some days I watched as he tripped and flailed the morningstar at a sapling and obliterated the poor thing, and other days I would watch as he pulled the bow a bit to taut and release when he shouldn't. Sometimes even with the wrong hand.

I generally find it rather entertaining watching him practice unless it backfires on the spectators. We swore each other into secrecy (with a pinky swear) on the never-to-be-talked-about experimentation with the battle axes. Plural for reasons that will remain unknown.

Of course, he didn't use the entire year and a half to find his preferred weapon, but eventually he settled on a kusarigama, a sickle that had an iron ball attached via very long, very swingable chain.

And now that we passed through Takumi again, one of the professional smiths, weapon masters, whatever, will be payed by my aunt to collision for a kusarigama. I am rather sure that due to our both being single families, my kaa-chan shares her income with my aunt, who in turn takes care of Orochi and I.

Hikaru had it even worse than we did, as Yasu obasan's husband died before Hikaru even turned one. According to rumours *coughgossipcough* during supper, her spouse might have either been a bastard Hyuuga (rather unlikely, currently rated at 7%) or a civilian Yamanaka (thought to be 84%). Despite them obviously knowing who Hikaru's father was, apparently the adults want the kids to gather information themselves. Goddammit, I hate talking to humans.

On the topic of Hikaru, he also started learning how to play an instrument of his choosing shortly after he turned 5. For some reason, no one is teaching him how to play it and letting him experiment on the drum/violin crossbreed himself.

Due to being snakes, Dōsukēru, Kuroryuu and Sugiryuu all have somewhat sucky hearing, but phenomenal smelling and heat-sensory? But even they can agree that Hikaru is not all that made for music. Oh kami the horror!

As for Orochi and I, I sorta just grab my little bro and sling on our partners and run like hell. Unfortunately, I'm still human and can't run at the speed of sound so I earn myself a clingy, whiny brother that looks at me in horror whenever a new note is being played, or mauled. Take your pick. Thankfully he realized that humming with his ears plugged can relieve some of the torture, but his having both hands away meant I had to juggle two snakes and a baby human at the same time. Chakra is helpful in that regard, but nope. Even magic ninja bullshit can't help when snake-kids want to accelerate to the speed of sound.

So here I was, jogging lightly while piggybacking a homo sapien and two snakes.

Most of the civilians of Takumi barely even gave me a second look, although some waved cheerily. Unfortunately, there were always the assholes that tried to make life miserable, even if they can be counted on all my digits.

What can I say? Despite our clan's bi-yearly near month-long stays which earn the village a considerable bit of income (and protection), some people just discriminated against our pale skin, multicoloured hair and genetic make-up. Oh, and the snakes.

Honestly, why some people would antagonize one of their homes most important source of income, I'll never know. Maybe it's similar to the leaf's hate of an innocent child? Or the isolation of a motherless sand-wielder? Or–I'm just making myself depressed now, no depressing thoughts around Orochi, it's something he picks up too easily. Only when its our little family though, he never seems to notice when a stranger is letting off social cues. Maybe he's ignoring them all, maybe he just gives no shit. At all.

"Oi! Sui-chan!"

I whipped my head around, searching for the excited voice of the teenager that apparently was going to forge my weapon (when I know whatever I'm gonna use). Orochi sniffled on my back where my stubby ponytail had just whipped him in the face.

"Hiya Susumu-nii!" I answered, the teen bounded over from the front of his dad's smithery to where I was and hefted up a disgruntled Orochimaru before settling the kiddo on his shoulders. My little brother immediately grabbed ahold of Susumu's spiky brown hair and virtually huggd the teen, probably trying to wheedle away as much heat as possible.

I'm seriously doubting the logic of clan genetics now. Only clan kids seem to have weird hair.

Shivering in the cold autumn air (I never had this problem Before), I drew my dark blue yukata a bit tighter, Dōsukēru slithering out of my neckline in response to my actions.

"So," Susumu drawled, "have ya started looking for yer primary weapon yet?"

I swear he's more enthusiastic then I am with my future possible weapon(s). It's traditional for Kinmes to commision our weapons at Takumi village, not even just the plain kunai and shurikens either, everything metal made from katanas to tantos to metal bows and claws. After finding a weapon that suits a child ninja-to-be, the parents (or clan if the child is an orphan) would commission the specified weapon for the kid.

The area around Takumi is a rainforest (River country, duh), and the mines of Katabami supplies a lot more than gold, the rare chakra-conducting metal among them, and so the blacksmiths of Takumi all have an ample supply of materials. Of course, there are always trade secrets passed down through family lines. With their array of usable materials and family secrets, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the blacksmiths have kekkei genkai created for the need of specialized smithing.

It would explain a lot too, especially since most named weapons are created here, although sometimes possibly with some collaboration with wandering Uzumakis. I remember Uzumaki Kenta constantly getting dragged away from our clan and his Kinme-blooded wife every single time we set foot in this village, it's so scary it's funny.

A ruffle to my already messed up hair "Sui-chan, ya in there?"

I pouted at the brunette and swatted at his hand. Even though it missed, I think he got the point that I was already pissed at Orochi for grabbing at my hair too much.

"I've already started trying out stuff" cuz weaponry is a word four-year-olds shouldn't be using. His less-encouraging, more-annoying pat on the head resulted in me glaring at him with slitted pupils. "Kaa-chan let me use kunai because she let me use wooden kunai 'parrently since I could walk, and shuriken because they are for throwing. She wants me to try the senbon soon."

Susumu's eye twitched and his chakra basically face-faulted, ha. He didn't need to know my skill with normal ninja ware.

"Buuut, she also let me try out a na-gin-a-ta," I barely concealed a flinch, no way in ever frosting Pluto was I going to use the weapon that killed my father, "which I didn't want." Ditched it like it was a piece of burning diarrhea. "Then she let me try out a ka-ta-na and –"

"Did ya like the long blade?" Yeah, he's very enthusiastic.

I shook my head and frowned, inwardly a bit glad that he took my mind off of the naginata that I was presented with.

"Nope, the balance felt wrong. Kaa-chan was sad that I didn't like her ka-ta-na, and the smaller katana–"

"A wakizassshi."

"Thanks," I stroked the blue head that had settled next to my cheek. "The wakizashi felt better, but still unbalanced. So kaa-chan got me to try out a tanto 'cuz it's shorter." I grinned up at Susumu, "and it was awesome! I think using two would be fun though…"

After a pause, I realized that he had stopped when I had implied that I had found a suitable weapon.

If Uzumaki are said to be seal fanatics, then the residents of Takumi can be described as weapon obsessed. I wouldn't be surprised if Tenten? I think that was her name? Was/will be a descendent of a Takumi blacksmith.

He put down Orochimaru (who immediately wobbled over to me and latching onto my waist, that adorable little midget) before giving me a distracted wave, then turned and left, mumbling all the while.

I shrugged, I've been ignored in weirder ways. Watching him accidentally faceplant after being tripped by a stray embedded kunai was mildly entertaining though.

Our clan stayed in Takumi for a couple more days but my little family stayed in the village for a bit longer as Susumu laboured in the forge with directions from his dad and random input from my mom and little ol' me.

When I finally received the weapon a week later (there were lagging from missing materials as the village is always stocked, who knew when there will be a ninja in need?), kaa-chan was very pleased with the result.

Just like I had wanted (for some reason they took four-year-olds very seriously), it was a pair of tanto. Or for me, it was a pair of medieval-esque daggers. I don't understand ninja tanto, why the hell don't they have a guard? The last thing anyone needs is for their hand to slip when stabbing their enemy and cutting open their hands. I'm no expert on weaponry, but they've never made sense to me.

Anyhow, the daggers that I received were amazing. They sheathes were of a sturdy brown wood inlaid with blue-tinged metal, protecting the tips and the place where the dagger is sheathed, aka the locket. The two were nigh on identical except for the faint carvings of a snake on each. They were both curled around the scabbard and while the one for the left hand was depicted with a sun, the other had a moon.

I haven't even seen the blade yet and I already think I'm in love.

Under the gaze of an extremely fatigued Susumu and everyone else present, I unsheathed the one with the moon.

The blade was unadorned, and it was just curved the tiniest bit, with a serrated edge near the guard. Both edges of the blade was sharpened, and the entire thing was just a bit over a foot while the handle was a black leather-wrapped four inches, or about ten centimeters. A squiggle of silver could be seen along the length of the blade, which upon further inquiry was a hollowed out section that could be used to store poison. According to a very proud father, his son had used chakra conducting-conducting metal for almost the entire blade, and a harder metal was used as a skeletal structure/base thingy to prevent snapping.

While I was ogling the blade with everyone else, Orochimaru had climbed up and snagged the twin dagger. When the little brat unsheathed the blade, his look of worshipful admiration will be an image I'll keep as blackmail for years to come.

As a matter of fact, I think I now know where he got his blade, the kusanagi. It would suit a child too wouldn't it? Considering the elongating properties of the jian, it would be a convenient weapon for anyone.

Actually…

"What else does this blade do?" I questioned, not prepared to be disappointed because it would be impossible to be disappointed in something like this, but just open with curiosity.

Susumu pouted, the look not meshing well with the bags under his eyes. "Why Sui-chan, ya still doubt me?" I shook my head aggressively, "well, they both have a seal inside the guard that allows it to be summoned back to ya," kamis above I can nearly hear myself cackling while running away from the afterlife. No Siree, this little snake ain't gonna kick the bucket by losing her weapon. "They're both already paired with storage seals too, once linked to ya, they won't respond to anyone else unless granted permission." Me likey, me likey very much.

Gently prying the naked blade from my year-old otouto, I sheathed both of the daggers.

"Well? Arncha gonna name them?"

I looked at my mom, who chuckled as she shook her head.

When I looked back at the blades, I honestly couldn't think of any names unless…

I lifted the blade of the sun "Tensei." Reincarnation. Then the moon one, where I smiled with too many teeth-

Kaguya.

Nothing much happened on the trip back to the clan, except for us leaving rather early in the morning to get through the damned forest as quickly as possible. Orochimaru clung onto kaa-chan's back like a stubborn baby koala and Manda gave me a ride. The younger snakes either dozed on one of us, or tried to keep up through the branches of the forest. If not for Manda being able to circulate chakra in a way that attracted mine, I would've fallen off too many times to count.

Falling off twenty feet branches in a rainforest is not a wise idea, no matter how cushioning the foliage could be.

Tree jumping was what kaa-chan did, Manda zipped. Due to the bulk needed for him to be able to support a child and one to two other snakes, he let a bit of chakra off of the solid henge apparently only summons could do and would coil himself around a tree before launching himself at the next tree, a task that was much, much faster than it sounds like. I don't think he minded much when I was shrieking and whooping next to his non-existent ears, but he did threaten to eat me when I nearly fell off during a longer jump. Orochi just gurgled on sheer amazed… something (I think my otouto may be an adrenaline junkie), and giggled when he heard Manda cussing at me. Kaa-chan was somewhat amused, but Manda didn't even pause with his sailor mouth.

Ah well, he cares somewhere in his deep scaly heart. Probably.

Life wasn't that different after I turned four, except having an additional slot in my day where I was taught how to handle weapons correctly. As of yet, none of my clan-mates have actively started teaching me how to handle chakra, but hints were dropped everywhere like scattered scales. Hikaru however, did start learning handsigns. Apparently our clan wants us to be able to play an instrument first before being able to use chakra, maybe it was so we would have a better rhythm or not fumble as often?

Meh, clan's are weird.

They are also weird in that somehow I now have a seal tattooed in the back of my throat, and only a warning a couple days prior told me of the fact. Thankfully it was just a storage seal, otherwise I would be pissed. According to the adults who I snagged information off of, all of the either have a storage seal at the root of their tongue or in the back of the throat. "It's good security", they said, "it catches enemies unawares", they said, "it makes for good convoy missions", a particularly weird adult cackled. I think I'll love having this storage seal in the back of my throat, once I stop my gagging reflexes.

That happened when I was about five months away from turning five, and therefore wandering around in Uzushio.

Oh kami, the Uzumaki are crazy. Everything in their city is covered with seals, and everything was so bright.

Not to mention the shades of red, I suppose it's the only time of year that Kenta could not stand out like a literal underground bonfire, but that does not excuse him chucking the rest of the clan to the seal fanatics and running off cackling. Admittedly, most of our clan did go off willingly…

All in all, Uzushio is amazing.

Turning five meant that I was going to learn an instrument. Perhaps the more accurate term would be that I am to invent my own instrument. Suddenly, the complete jumble of instruments that had been played during the first birthday of everyone in our clan made a lot more sense. So was the horrible sound of strangled elephants that was occasionally emitted from Hikaru and Yasu obasan's bunk, accompanied by frenzied crashing on Ume's behalf when she was trying to escape.

The construction of the instrument was much easier than I had imagined. Despite not being able to use chakra outside my body with any control, a small smear of my blood on a seal connected my chakra to it. For a random factoid, the seal seemed to be on a clothe, easier to wash the blood off, they say. The smudges argue that wrong in their own smudgy way.

Kaa-chan was the one to gently poke a hole in my right thumb, and it was also her as she stood behind me in our living room, completely ignored as I realized that the seal had projected an illusion.

The illusion, or genjutsu as the ninjas call it, was just a light red haze, the chakra that had taken control of my brain however was anything but light, despite it not being malicious. Kinda like a cat purring while resting on your naked brain, I suppose? However, the second my hand was guided back to the seal, blood and all, facets of the haze cleared or deepened and literally created out of thin air my thought process was formed into being. The mental cat stretched.

In other words, my kaa-chan saw in perfect clarity the moment the haze reformed itself into glowing red letters of 'WTF', cat style. It was not the proudest moment of my life.

She probably didn't realize it was anything other than squiggles (and cats) because she left me to my own devices and went to check on Orochimaru. A crash telling me that Orochi was in the kitchen, Sugiryuu had helped him get onto the counter, and he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. You just gotta love two year-olds.

I poked around with the seal and the mental cat rolled around a bit. It wasn't that uncomfortable, but the headache I can feel coming will be. Thankfully it wasn't that hard to figure it out.

If I channeled chakra to my fingertips and just kept them there, I can draw in the haze. Depending on the amounts of chakra, the lines could be thin or thick, and the intent (wasn't that a dozy to figure out) would change whether or not the lines were solid or transparent. Large alterations could be created by picturing an image (all 3D style) and pressing a hand against the seal, while small ones could be made by focusing on a particular spot while my hand hovered above the seal. The level of focus would be determined via the distance between the seal and my hand. After the experimentation was done, a conclusion can be made that the creator's of the seal are damn scary. Actually, looking back at the seal, the conclusion would have to be changed to the Uzumaki are damn scary, the spiral at the center speaks its story.

After all, they created a manipulative 3D projection with nothing but cloth and ink, a seal perfect for construction and mapping out ideas. (Not to mention the possible military applications).

Yanking my mind away from the possible thoughts of Uzushio's destruction, I started working on my future instrument in earnest. I understand the fact that showing off too much in a clan of mad scientists isn't all that productive to my continued mental health, but kami dammit I would like an artefact from Before.

A red case gradually solidified itself, and strings connected the top to the bottom. Two little footrest-like objects protrude from the bottom (I rarely used the third) and hammers of solid red laid themselves across approximately ninety strings, some in triples, most in doubles, and a few singles. Then the keys flowed out like the placement of wooden blocks, most a light shade of solid red and some so dark it could be said to be black.

The process sounds easy but it took hours of tweaking, of remembering, and trying to recreate the inside of my instrument that I rarely saw, the only times being when the inspector comes for a tune-up.

But it worked! I could feel tears dripping down my face as I took in the sight of an upright piano, a fragment of Before created by the Hazelton Bros. Now me. Now an instrument that was tweaked and improved upon for centuries was brought to a world of ninjas.

Having seen the entire construction process and bearing witness to my silent tears, the only one that understood my pain nudged my cheek and flicjed out her tongue, catching a couple drops of the salty liquid.

"You did it," Dōsukēru hissed, I can see her proud smile without even having to look.

"Yup, I–I did it, didn't I?"

Then the mental cat threw a tantrum and clawed my brain. Darkness claimed me.

AN: Holy shits this was a monster of a chapter. On google dos, it told me it was 4200 words. This is ONE TIME, ya hear me, one time. I have no more regrets.

On another note, more Worldbuilding! Sorry 'bout all the ocs but the concept of a weapon making village is too hard to give up, along with the thoughts of Uzumaki sealing. Besides, headcanons. I'm still slightly disappointed in this chapter though, most of it felt rushed. I just want to get to somewhere where the world isn't made up of OCs, dammit ...

I'm 11 views away from 10000 views! Go me!

Anyhow, I'm Doomed. School is annoying and procrastination ain't helpful. Essays also suck and so does the fact that the registration for so much stuff needs essays. I'll to try to be as on time as possible, but RL will probably get in the way.

If any errors are spotted, or improvements needed, please pm or review!

Come talk with me/ask questions on tumblr, I'm

~Cadriona Morningwing

Updated: October 15, 2016