AN: Umm, whoops?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Warnings: Panicking, and that's basically it, I think?

Guest reviewer replies:

SS: Even if the first 2 chapters are a bit useless in terms of plot, I'm rather attached to them? (cue sheepish laugh), but perhaps sometime I'll find the time to merge them into a single chapter. Thanks for the reviewing!

A/N continued at bottom, now off we go!

Chap 16 State of Mind: Screwed

Perhaps it was the once again foreign environment (third time in a row) that caused the little fiasco, but through some method of irrationality, I woke up very, very abruptly. So abruptly, in fact, that upon the realization that nothing smelled like anything that could indicate safety or home and that everything was all too blindingly bright, resulted in me lunging up, snarling, getting tangled up in somewhat pristine sheets, and falling face-first off a hospital bed.

Sometimes, I hate my life. This probably counts as one of these times.

An amused chuckle floated over lazily from somewhere around the foot of the bed. My line of sight was rather obscured by white sheets and hospital wear at the present, so my judging could've been a bit off. At least my underclothes weren't changed, that would've been embarrassing and a bit too intrusive on my privacy, not to mention the seals. Welp.

The smell of antiseptics wasn't comforting though, neither were the thin bandages that seem to be bound over my hands.

"What are you, a feral cat?"

I growled at the source of the voice now that nothing was moving anymore and the female chakra source could be more easily distinguished from the rather jumbled-feeling chakra surroundings.

Hooooly shit. We're actually in the Land of Fire.

Reaching out with some weird-ass, butchered version of chakra sensing, I snagged at the little pulses of bright familiarity bare meters away. Thankfully the Konohans didn't separate our little family as everyone was within my little sphere of security, even after the genin-team-plus-sensei picked us up like so many sacks of potatoes. As per usual, I had no recollections of the trip back, having fallen asleep either naturally or artificially some minutes into being found.

I also need to build up more resistance to sleep-inducing gengetsu, also damnit.

A somewhat groggy "nee-chan" floated over from the other bed, and I let out a breath knowing that Orochi was awake, and conscious enough of his surroundings to respond to my snagging at his chakra. Unfortunately, the breath that was let out was nearly immediately sucked back in when muffled, angry hissing came out of what probably was a bed stand.

Fighting out of the covers took entirely too much energy, and it felt like my legs were jelly a couple times. By the time that fresh-whoops - stale air could be scented again, Orochi had swept away the white curtains that surrounded his cot. Why they chose to give him privacy and not the both of us, well, that's a bit of a mystery that is not very important. Why they locked our partners into a drawer, ha. That's a mystery that someone had better answer.

"Let them out!" Growling demands might garble them a bit, but we just woke up in the middle of an unknown building, with an unknown woman, and surrounded by unknowns because the chakra-filled world stopped existing past the walls of this room?

Definitely seals designed against sensors, said logical gray matter. Holy metacarpals we're in a space vacuum in a separate dimension where there's no chakra and we're all gonna die – as quoted from my actual panicking consciousness. Somewhere in between dying and now, apparently my body had decided that chakra was a part of me that cannot be removed, lest risking horrible, choking, useless death. The unspoken argument in my brain soon reached a peak where logic and the other side of the coin were screeching at each other about ninja bullshit, future-vision, Yamanakas inside minds, and yams. Despite pretty much being the battlefield of 'wits', I have no damn clue whatsoever how the yams came about.

If anything was to blame, it was probably the hunger.

Swinging his legs over the side of his bed, Orochi blinked his eyes blearily, adjusting to the brightness outside of the curtains. Under some silent, mutual agreement, the two of us staggered over to the angry sounding cabinet thing and poked and prodded everything that seemed loose. The chakra behind us promptly ignored for a greater issue. If the person didn't kill us when we were asleep, the odds of us being murdered while investigating how to free our partners were rather slim.

Of course, my sixth metaphorical sense was kept on their chakra but there's honestly nothing I can do if the person actually wanted to kill us. Orochi didn't need to know that.

After a bit of tinkering and viscous tugging, the door opened and two pissed snakes piled out. The volume of the container was barely able to fit the both of them, and any thoughts leading off to what the Konohans would've done if snakes weren't flexible enough to fit, welp. That's something to ponder another day.

To nobody's surprise, the unknown female signature at the foot of the bed belonged to a dirty-blond haired Yamanaka lady holding an open scroll and brush when we finally cared to look at her head on. The pupil-less eyes were a bit startling really, and wondering about all the potential problems that could cause with medical personnel during eye exams or the ninja equivalent might've resulted in a bit too much staring from my side of things...

Orochi, however, was more straightforward and that much more confident now that Sugiryuu was curled around his arm and resting his head on his human's shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss, but why are your eyes all blue?"

The question got the lady out of the potential staring contest she might've had with me, but only potentially because the lack of pupils made discerning where she was looking a bit difficult.

She chuckled at Orochi's question after a little amused silence, during which Orochi thought over the question himself and realized that, ohh, us Kinmes have slitted pupils depending on the light, golden irises, and naturally born eyeshadow. But then again, that might've been a bit hard to think of as different considering up until two weeks ago, nearly everyone we were surrounded by were the same. And whoops, methinks I'll just try to step around this sinkhole of grief for the moment, there are more pressing matters to be paid attention to, such as a pouting Orochi because the lady stepped around his question.

(Actually, it's a bit surprising that the women didn't flinch when Orochi and I stared at her. Or, perhaps the lighting wasn't as bright as I previously thought so our pupils were still more or less rounded? My attention was elsewhere, so even if they weren't, I wouldn't have noticed from Orochi's eyes.)

Dōsukēru must've realized my inner distress through smell or chakra or something, because she flicked her tongue at my nose, and nuzzled my cheek from her perch around my shoulders. Sugiryuu had just coiled himself up around Orochi's waist as per usual, the growing serpent snuggling against Orochi's hospital gown heedless of its chemical scent.

The Yamanaka was utterly fascinated by our interactions, a fact that she didn't even bother to hide. It... wasn't very surprising considering our clan's habits, and the fact that we've sorta became an endangered species.

Pleasant.

However, the lady did deign to answer the question, with a non-answer of: "some people say it's so that it's easier to look into the souls of everyone else without them seeing ours."

Okay then, that's just a bit too creepy. And a bit overly… something. Extra, perhaps?

"What about your's?"

"It's because of us." Dōsukēru flicked her tongue, rising to the question quickly instead of letting any of us humans answer. "The contract with the snakes of our cave goes back long enough, that our chakra systems are attuned to a degree where there are even significant similarities in our blood."

She must've been reading through tou-chan's notes, and some of our more blood-inclined researchers to know something like that. Or maybe I mentioned it somewhere along the line, in English perhaps? Or just random musings?

The Yamanaka nodded, probably having just made a large misconception of what my clan's ancestors' relationship with snakes was like. Perhaps we'll let her keep it, if purely for the amusement factor.

But on the subject of blood, there would be some important things that she needs to understand first.

"Excuse me?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes...?" I think that was the cue to volunteer my name, but I'm a six year old who cares not enough right now.

"Since my partner mentioned that we have different blood, we, umm, can't really do any blood transfusions in the future unless the blood is between the two of us," in which two of us was accompanied by some random swishing hand motions between Orochi and I.

The Yamanaka blinked. Once, twice, gaped a bit, then closed her mouth. Perhaps she was showing more emotion because she was facing homeless children and wanted to seem more human, or maybe she was new at this.

"Blood transfusions?" Or it could be that.

Dōsukēru sniggered quietly by my ear, having hidden her head behind my hair after her previous explanation. "That was quite high pitch, don't you think?"

She nudged her way out from her spot and spoke to the Yamanaka again, "yes, we understand, and can utilize the science of blood transfusions." I'm so proud of her, using such big words and talking like a smug scientist to confuse physics defying ninjas.

The kimono-clad lady blinked quickly, then a little shift in her posture had her regaining the pose that she had at the beginning of the supposedly interrogation-like session. How curious, the first interrogation I went through was barely a few days ago, when our clan leader was questioning the path that I had decided on.

However, just as she was about to open her mouth to speak again, I cut in a bit too sharply. "What did you see inside our heads?"

The abrupt change in conversation probably threw her off again, but that was honestly all I could try to do. It might not be the best idea considering our supposed ages, but children are known to have leaping logic and other, assorted methods of unconventional thinking. Or rather, just not really thinking at all. Hopefully that would be what she assumes, but considering what she may or may not saw inside my head, that may very well change.

"You'll have to know that strange, orphaned clan children do not ordinarily appear on the outskirts of Konoha territory in the middle of winter, especially two that are accompanied by snakes and have evidence of surviving the attack of a large wild animal. The memory skim is mandatory for all non-natives that chooses to live under Konoha's protection. That said," in a manner that was almost as dry as the desert that my remaining family escaped from, she mimed some finger movements, "would you mind playing me some music?"

"You want my nee-chan to play you music?" Orochi was incredulous to say the best, and confused on the opposite end of the scale.

I shrugged, it wasn't a big deal, music was a large part of my mindscape, with the little trees whistling somewhat pleasant tunes in the non-existent wind. That she mimed finger movements and the implication that she knew I played something like a piano was a bit more disconcerting. However, it did give me a bit more time to think, so I wobbled over to an emptier part of the room, pressed my palms on the ground, and pooled the chakra into one of the seals on my hands. When it was enough, there was a puff of smoke (which I choked on), and out popped an upright piano.

Thankfully there was no sudden change in displaced air, as the room seemed rather tightly sealed, and a sudden change in air pressure would not be fun, nor it would be safe. The Uzumaki really are geniuses, installing double-facets in storage seals that are to contain something large. Meaning, there are two storage components to the seal, one that is the actual seal that seals stuff away, and one that does the reverse and brings in a volume of air, dirt, or whatever corresponding to the volume of the first seal, and "replacing" the contents. The only disadvantage was that it takes twice the amount of needed chakra, because two volumes of tremendous size are to be replace.

Either way, I have my piano, everyone still is in possession of intact eardrums, all is well.

But what the heck should I play?

Something easy to warm up, definitely, and to check if there's any creakiness left over in my joints due to yesterday's freezing trip, so a slow something? Not exactly my prefered piece, but stubbornness is only healthy in small quantities, and demonstrating how quickly my fingers can move right now to an unknown just so I can play something fast would not be the best idea, even if she will be an ally in the hopefully near future.

Settling my fingers through a little E major scale, then B minor because why the hell not, Dōsukēru whispered a soft suggestion in my ear. As per usual, it was a good suggestion except lacking the usual snark, so I followed it.

The piece didn't come as easily as I would've preferred, but after quite a few unnecessary slips and wrong chords, my fingers smoothed themselves into a rough approximation of Pachelbel canon, or whatever it was called. Unfortunately, it was a lot more simplified than the original version, and I'm probably still playing it a couple knots too fast, but I'm the only one in the room that knows anyway.

The Yamanaka's chakra settled down and it felt a bit as if it was humming.

"Wha-syer-name?"

"Pardon?"

Whoops, talking while playing musics never really worked for me, as in the pitches go all screwy, so I shut up until the last notes out of the piano rang themselves into silence.

"I'm sorry, but uh, what's your name?"

Not looking at the mind-lady meant I had no idea what expressions were going through her face, but her chakra just felt amused.

"Shouldn't you kids introduce yourselves first before asking for someone else's name?"

That's... something. Did she actually go into our heads if she doesn't even know our names, or perhaps she's just doing this for us to let down our guard? But we're kids, so…

"I'm Suijami, this is my partner Dōsukēru, my little brother over there is Orochimaru, and his partner is Sugiryuu. We also have another partner Back in the snakes' cave, but we don't have enough chakra to summon him." Giving her a squint, I continued, "we're Kinmes, but you knew that, right?

The Yamanaka smiled at us, flowers probably looming in the background or something, and said brightly "I'm Yamanaka _, and no, not everything can be seen in minds. You have a nice pond, but the root systems of your saplings could take more development."

If there was ever a split person inside of me, it would be screaming while repeatedly faceplanting into conveniently placed desks right about now.

The lady popped us a few more nonchalant questions before deeming us more or less safe and not harbouring any malicious intent towards Konoha, and I returned the favour with a question on why our partner's were imprisoned in little cabinets that could barely fit their combined bulk. The answer was something along the lines of "the medical personnel was a civilian, so they needed to not see the potentially poisonous, phobia-inducing creatures."

It sounded too much like an excuse, but with Dōsukēru's comfortable weight around my shoulders, I didn't care much about it anymore. If they were going to accept that there's going to be two Kinme's living here, snake's are not going to be a rare occurrence.

Then she proceeded to lead us to the door equally drab door, my piano having been sealed back into its proper place during the questioning. The second before she turned the knob and let in a gust of underground air though, Yamanaka suddenly clapped her hands once in a seemingly innocent gesture.

Then suddenly the world outside the room existed again.

As the tension flowed out, I realized that my previous breathing rhythm had veered onto the side of panicking. As in, stopped breathing altogether. I really need to get out of that habit.

The chakra signatures out of this room was like the muted, pleasant, cacophony of a jungle, wild untamed nature and all the unique inhabitants it housed. Actually, the background chakra seemed rather spirited, and a lot less resistive to the energies held by us, the living and breathing. So because some forms of chakra bs usage is basically willpower made real… the Will of Fire literally burns in pretty much everyone here, doesn't it?

Certainly makes a bit more sense of how there's so many fire-natured users in a goddamn forest now, the latent atmospheric chakra contains warmth, and is so rich and vibrant that it's… it's… tantalizing and impossible to ignore. And considering the fact that there was this change just by stepping out of the cave on the goddamn borders of Fire Country in the smack damn middle of winter, holy shit. Generations of people breathing this air, living off this land, drinking its waters, and well. No wonder Konoha didn't break despite being the country pretty much in the center of the map during three Shinobi wars. Just by being living inside this nature chakra filled environment, all the natives probably get a boost in strength.

Coming here was the right choice. However, there was still a corner of myself that despairs over the separation from the rest of the clan, despite our lack of numbers.

"Nee-chan, keep walking," whispered my little brother from beside me. He still wasn't very good at whispering, so the lady gave us a look over her shoulder. I responded with a grin that may have had a bit too many teeth, but like the person she probably is, she didn't even bat an eyelash. Her eyebrow did go up though, maybe even both of them.

The mind-walker led us through narrow-ish hallways that were a bit cold, floors of cement and walls of wood encasing us on all the sides that really prevented escape. The ceiling existed, and for it, that was all that mattered, not like any of us cold find our way back to our holding room. Or actually, Dōsukēru and Sugiryuu probably could, but Orochi was evidently thinking about something else, and it was more likely for me to starve than to find my way around.

Despite my absolutely uncanny ability to get lost, I could still tell that we were going gradually, sloping up. The ambient chakra also changed from rather muted to only somewhat, while little flickers of moving sources shifted in and out of my range, generally with us moving away from them as soon as we were close. Our surroundings also gradually changed to something more befitting of an above-ground structure. But after we turned one last corner in this kami-damned maze, there suddenly existed a little muted flare of chakra that seemed to be a condensed supernova.

Like, legit, even with how tightly it was compressed into itself, there was that constant, nagging, anticipation for the moment that the user didn't care to restrain the chakra anymore and allowed it to obliterate little lifeforms like Orochi and I. And of course, because they were so bright and resolution of chakra sensing can also be as bad as those of one's eyes, the nearer we got, the more I was convinced that there were two.

One was an inferno given life and hidden in a candle, a suppressed hint of wild malice leaking just around the edges, and the other was like a languid cat, one of those that could cut through water and was hiding a dragon under their pelt. Their chakra control must be borderline insane.

A step into the room after Yamanaka hustled us in before her, and the thought was revised to holy shitzles we're screwed.

Behind a desk pretty much made of neatly sorted book casings, in a large room where scrolls lined every conceivable nook, niche, and cranny, sat a person that radiated power, chakra, and insomnia – Senju Tobirama– the second Hokage, recently appointed, and calmly printing characters onto the length of a scroll with a carved brush. And within arms reach of him at the corner of the desk, sat a red-haired women, hair done up in two immaculate buns, clad in a pale green kimono, and daintily sipping what appeared to be near-boiling tea.

Oh gods, Uzumaki Mito's here as well?

The two of them had presences large enough to fill the room by even just one of them with their power all tightly coiled, let alone both in the same room.

Judging from how nobody else was as affected, as in legs jellifying and chakra seeping out uncontrollably like so much cold sweat that had already coated my palms, well. Being such a detailed sensor is decidedly not fun when so many people are basically chakra monsters in disguise.

Of course, those two and probably some others are exceptions. But then again, with how much chakra they have, I could probably know where they are from the other side of the village, puny range be damned.

To make matters somewhat worse, our only escort had decided to vanish into thin air. Her chakra was actually lingering somewhere above us, so some alcove in the ceiling probably, but there goes the meat shield against human interactions.

A somewhat familiar clipboard on the hokage's desk also seemed suspicious, what with it being on the top of the pile and probably the same one that the Yamanaka had jotted stuff down on when she was interrogating us. How it got the desk I'll just categorize as ninja bullshit.

And then it was a long-ass time of nerve-frying waiting.

Orochi's hand was clenched tightly in my own. If our skin tone was anything near the normal of humans, it would probably be stark white now anyways. Even Dōsukēru wasn't shifting much, her head just barely poking out from over my shoulder, chakra a mess of predator-alert-caution-careful no matter how careful she tried to conceal it.

Meanwhile, the brush glided over the scroll in calming swishes, soft dots, and the occasional strong stroke, all leaving a definite mark on the page. From what was visible at my angle, I think he was addressing Uzushio in something regarding sealing. Considering Uzumaki Mito's near visible amusement, it might be some sort of debate between the two of them.

The seconds danced by, exiting along with the previous confidence that I had barely mustered.

Finally, the Hokage set down the brush, and after using a little scalpel to open a cut on the side of his thumb, dripped the blood into a little flat saucer at the side on his desk. Then he pressed a beautifully carved white jade stamp into the blood, and pressed his signature into the document.

It took a few more seconds for the albino ninja to roll the paper up, bind it, and place it among the stack of pre-bound scrolls, but after he did, he laced his fingers together and looked at us.

Mito put down her cup, the contents gone.

Just saying, but red eyes in real life set in the face of someone who can crush me without moving a pinkie are scary as all hell.

Is it any wonder at all that I blinked first, and averted my gaze to somewhere on the patch of ground in front of me?

"Good morning Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-sama–" I squeaked.

The red-haired lady chuckled into the sleeve of her kimono, movement graceful and languid and completely at odds with the panicking in my head. "It's nearly evening, little Kinme."

Dōsukēru snorted softly into my neck, before raising her head and replying "it's always morning somewhere."

"Should we continue to think of ourselves as Kinme though, nee-chan?" The sudden, soft question out of nowhere from Orochi suddenly jerked my thoughts in another direction.

Are Kinme's still a clan when there are only a handful of children and even less "adults" left?

"Even if most of us are gone, I'm still here with you, right?" I murmured back.

There was a cutting surge of chakra from the two adults in the room. Muffled to not induce panic in non-chakra-sensitive children, but unfortunately (or fortunately) I was neither. Even after suppressing the urge to flinch and hide in a corner, the residue panic-fear-hide-hide instincts was still strong enough to cause the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end.

"Explain, if you would please." Mito's soft question was a statement, or perhaps even something else. Considering her clan's allied status with that of mine, however, at least she was the one asking and not Senju Tobirama. Our relations with the Senju was… complicated to say the least.

This time it was Sugiryuu who spoke up, a bit more than slightly unamused by the digging into fresh wounds, and the fact that the snakes present were ignored. It was widely acknowledged within the circle that know of the Kinme that our serpent partners are just as smart as we were, which made them a lot smarter than a lot of random people out there.

"Suna–" he hissed, visceral anger audible, "is a lair of back-stabbing scorpions, who abandon and kill their allies when it suits them." In the world of now, that filled with individual villages instead of smaller clans as units, being accused of being a backstabber is virtually the same as being outed as a traitor, an oathbreaker, or something worse. It also carries the implications that everyone else will be very, very cautious when dealing with the group and will likely never try to regard the group without suspicion.

The Hokage exchanged a glance with the Uzumaki that tied their alliances with Konoha, unspoken words flying between the two in so many flickers of chakra.

"Would any of you perchance have an idea of why Suna decided to take the actions that they did?" He probably has more of an idea than the four of us midgets combined, because politics, but more perspectives from the near-victims are almost always beneficial.

"It's been around half a decade since the Shinobi War right?" I mumbled, "then perhaps Suna was getting restless? Like, tensions are always sort of there, and Senju Hashirama had just… you know." Better for a kid from a neutral clan not to voice that the First Hokage was dead, especially considering that those present are his brother and wife, even moreso when he died during peace times and not during a war or some other large scaled conflict.

If the chakra in the room previous was like a blade sheathed in glass, the threat visible but just protected from harm with a thin coating of politeness and common courtesy, it wouldn't be wrong to say that now the blade was out of its sheath, the world no longer protected by the edge. In fact, it felt like there was cold, naked, despairing steel hanging over my neck at the very instant, waiting for gravity to do its job and kick out one randomly lost soul.

"And how would you know of the death of my brother?"

"That is a question that I would like to hear the answer to as well, little snake. How exactly did you receive news of my late husband's demise?" Mito's eyes were narrowed.

I felt the pulse point in Dōsukēru's throat stutter from where it was laid over the hollow by my collarbone, and I gulped likewise.

"I, uhh, hear rumours in Suna? And, umm, you're the one wearing the Hokage's hat?"

The Hokage looked at us, then sighed, rubbing his fingers over the ridge of his nose in what appeared to be the action of preventing an oncoming headache. "Come in," he intoned. What?

Blasted seals, screwing with my senses I thought as the door to the room flew open and three somewhat young shinobi piled through the door. Two males and one female, if my eyes are correct, and each somewhere in the vicinity of being in their mid teens. With chakra pretty much messing with the usual aging program, physical guesses are no longer all that reliable.

"Sensei – er, Hokage-sama! The patrol that was sent to investigate the area where the Kinme kids appeared –" cue significant look at my little bro and I, "found a missing-nin sniffing around, he's in T&I right now." Nice to know that the bounty posters from then are still going around, if that missing-nin was looking for easy money by tracking two kids.

Tobirama nodded slowly, "write up the report. I expect it to be here–" he tapped a less-cluttered corner of his desk "in three hours."

Among wails of "I have a date later with Biwako-chan!" and other assorted noises generated by scrambling shinobi (which was next to none), the team of three left the room with a slammed door in their wake.

"A lively bunch, aren't they?" mused the lone Uzumaki.

"An utter handful, sometimes." Grimaced a likewise exasperated Senju. Then his attention turned back to us, and asked "would you happen to know why a missing-nin would be looking around in Fire country, and where you appeared?"

My partner lifted her head off of where it was resting, and wobbled it in a back-and-forth motion like that of a shrugging human. "We sort of do? After we escaped from Suna, we found a clue in our kaa-chan's bingo book, apparently there's quite a bounty on all the Kinmes, the reward is especially high if we're children and captured alive."

I gave the hokage a slow blink, and tilted my head. Being in a person's presence long enough was apparently good enough to stem off a bit of social awkwardness, especially when they do something that seems more… human, such as being annoyed by students. "Suna doesn't want anyone else to know that they committed clan genocide, and they also want children that can be molded into their own research teams. Or perhaps they want our library? Or even the snake summons?" The snake contract was tethered to our clan with blood, and only those with Kinme blood may be permitted to write their names on. Of course, that doesn't exclude the possibility that someone not of our blood used it as ink to snag a spot on the scroll, however slim that possibility may be.

There was a bit more of a curious spark in Tobirama's eyes now, and he asked, "and what would be in your library?"

There was a grin on Orochi's face that I could feel as well, nothing makes us Kinme's happier than talking about knowing and knowledge and understanding bits of the world that no one else does. It's a bit like knowing a secret that only us Kinmes know, but it might have resulted in us being a bit snobbish when associating with people who don't use the heads that they're born with.

"Anything you can think of that people have asked about, or we can experi- ri- ment with," Orochi chirped, purple-rimmed eyes curved like two half-moons.

Our grins didn't falter as Uzumaki Mito leaned over to pick up the clipboard dropped off by our interrogator, her eyes widening just slightly before sliding a finger down a line and passing the clipboard to Senju Tobirama, whose eyebrows hiked up a tad.

"Konoha is the most accepting of all the villages," he began conversationally, "but what you bring to and contribute to the village can allow your assimilation into our ranks easier. Would you four happen to have anything in particular that you alone can contribute to my village?"

Methinks there was a lot of wordplay to assert some sort of authority in that sentence, me also does not care because he opened the door to our salvation for us with a minimum ticket price.

I gave a little grin at the Hokage and the Uzumaki by his side, at hopefully who me and mine can soon consider our leaders. "Everything that Yamanaka-san wrote down, and more, depending on how free we are to pursue our academic interests."

"Otherwise the Librarian-sama won't even let us borrow stuff anymore," Dōsukēru cough-mumbled, Orochi choked on a little snort because honest to friggin' kamis, that snake can be terrifying.

"Is that the old python that argues with the elders back on Uzushio?" Mito inquired.

"Probably, does she have weird looking scales around her eyes? Like, uhh, glasses perhaps?"

Mito blinked, "yes, if I recall correctly."

Tobirama's chakra felt the tiniest bit confused, which was quickly amended when Mito leaned over and whispered something very quickly into his ear. If the glint in his eyes reminded me anything of some of my deceased clansmen, well, it's a bond as well as a telltale sign to get the hell away, isn't it?

A tick of the imaginary clock later, Tobirama nodded, and from somewhere withdrew an empty scroll. "What do you kids want for Konoha to become your home?"

I was already thinking of some terms that could potentially lead us to a better stay here, but Dōsukēru beat me to the punch.

"Respect, a place to live, education, the tools to become a ninja, access to research materials, freedom associated with being a citizen of Konoha, and being able to keep our identities and defend it when necessary."

"Anything else?"

I shrugged, "that's basically it? If there's more, we'll just ask."

"Those can all be arranged, although some of your conditions will be temporarily put on hold until we can discern your loyalty." That's understandable. "In return, you will be loyal to Konoha, assist in research attempts whenever possible, and become ninjas to fight for the village. If possible, it would also be preferred if your contract can also be passed down in our village in case of your deaths." So either make a clan, or pass it to outsiders? Inwardly I laughed. Considering Orochi later on becomes functionally immortal, that shouldn't be a problem. Probably. Unless I screw with the timeline so much that he doesn't care to become immortal, or if death decides to just take a break and hand the mantle to some idiot that forgot which souls to harvest. Case in point, the Second Hokage sitting in front of me. Shouldn't he have died during the shinobi war or something? It's good that he's alive, but, well, I don't think I did anything that could've given the universe an excuse to allow him to survive?

There must've been some weird expression on my face because Mito chuckled sadly. "Death in line of duty is unfortunately a very real consequence, as you should know as a clan child."

Without processing what my brain was telling me to not say, I snarked back, "we've realized." Then proceeded to slap my hands over my mouth because ohshit. That might've been a bad idea, but considering that there was only the few of us in this room of the Hokage tower, it wasn't surprising that it was let slide.

Negotiations went on a bit more, with each of us adding or revising some point that didn't fit. In the end, Orochi and I signed a scroll that Tobirama wrote up with bloodied thumbs (the Senju lending us a tiny scalpel), and it was official, we were Konohans.

"–staying for the duration before you two can support yourselves. Just give the papers to the matron and she'll have you situated."

I peered at the looming orphanage because I'm still short, and the building/cluster of houses were rather tall. The wood of all the buildings that we've passed so far thrummed with a latent energy like the spirit of a tree god had passed by and left his life energy in everything he made. It wasn't hard to picture because apparently out of ecstatic glee of his dreams becoming reality, Hashirama had grown close to the entire village out of the ground. In fact, he even overdid the job and there were extra buildings on the outskirts outside a large wall that pretty much just serve as safe-houses for rent or red herrings for anyone hostile.

And that was nearly where the orphanage was located, on the inside of the walls yes, but close enough that I could tell the facial features of the guards at the gate booth-thingy.

"Thank you Yamanaka-san!" Oro and I chorused, the snakes too busy scenting out the place from the depths of our coats to give the blond-haired lady another glance. The lady shrugged, her light green kimono shimmering just a bit in the winter wind.

Thank kamis for winter clothing, if Mito hadn't reminded us to change back when we were leaving the Hokage's office, the four of us would've been twenty klicks north of screwed, or just victims of hypothermia. Not fun, especially when one remembers that the cold just nearly killed two of the last remaining Kinme humans a bit back.

Getting settled into the orphanage was a really simple thing, the matron of the orphanage, an apathetic looking old-Inuzaka and her partner, an aged black wolf-dog that was curled up in front of a fire, greeted us from a little sectioned off section of what seemed to be the main lobby. After we gave her the documentations, she barely looked at the papers, but instead squinted at our clan markings, and huffed, "follow ol' lazy ass over there, he'll take you to your home for the next while."

Then the wolf-dog was beside us and nudged us, the glare he shot the lady was all but ignored as she seemed lost in thought. "The fifth room of the second-floor's west wing should be empty, as long as the one from the fourth room doesn't bother them… take them there, wouldn't you?" The wolf-dog huffed, flipped the women off with a front paw and beckoned for us to follow him.

The layout of the orphanage was simple, it's pretty much a small street in itself, as all the houses are connected either with corridors of some form. If I had an aerial view, I would say it looked like a string of house-shaped blocks on two parallel dango sticks. After a flight of stairs up in the main lobby, we went through two more houses in its aboveground connecting corridors, and was motioned to stop in front of a somewhat pristine door.

The lab bunched up a bit and then pawed at the door, which turned the door-handle and released the stench of something having died. If whatever that died in there doesn't get cremated soon, I have a feeling that the four of us will be cremated as well.

It nearly feels like I'm in a hotel, wtf. Peering inside with pinched noses, the room can be summed up as ok-ish, it was basically a blocky P from our viewpoint, allowing the existence of a sad window on the far wall and a bathroom right next to the entrance. Thankfully water-pressure has been discovered so flushing toilet prototypes were made, but with no one living in this room, there was no water supplied to do the ever-so-critical job of flushing.

The smell came from a dying puddle of shit which the matron's dog removed with a run downstairs.

"New neigh-bo-bors? I hope yous don't mind me making a dump in your toilet, mine died last week."

I was tempted to ask our soon-to-be neighbor if it was his toilet that died, or his brain. But when I looked over, all my brain matter frizzled and ceased to communicate.

There was a white-haired boy standing there, eyes going all shifty, and picking his nose. Oh, and he had matching red lines bleeding out from beneath his eyes.

Bloody Fu––––

AN: Um, I started uni? and uhh, writer's block and I've fallen into a couple other fandoms?

(Recs: The King's Avatar, Gintama, bit of Fire Emblem, and yeah...)

So, apparently I'm a university student now and that means responsibilities (*shudders*)? On that happy thought, happy belated Halloween to those that celebrate it!

(Most of this chapter was crammed out over the course of a few days in the last few months, so it might seem a bit choppy, and a bit unedited, so any constructive criticism is appreciated!)

(I'm blanking out on what to sayyyyyyyy–––, oh, I'm gonna be trying out NaNoWriMo this month with an originalnovel? I dun know what's even gonna happen (*cries*))

Me needs sleep now, thanks for all the reviews, favs and follows! Please leave a review on the way out!

~Cadriona Morningwing

Uploaded: November 1, 2017