Disclaimer: The characters are Masashi Kishimoto's property, I own the OCs.

Characters age:

Akane: 15 1/2 - 18 (48 1/2 - 51)

Itachi: 15 1/2 - 17 1/2 (32 1/2 ( 34 1/2)

Shisui: 18 - 21

Naruto / Sasuke: 10 - 12

Kakashi: 24 - 26

"I smell sparks."

"Sparks?"

"I smell sparks!" I looked up from my onigiri. "Uzu, you've been here for what, a year and a half now? You must see it!" I shrugged at Dai.

"Everything is different for her idiot," Mangetsu retorted before he sighed.

It had officially been ten years since I had woken up in my child body. After I arrived, Yagura gave the me rank of jounin after a brief test and decided to make me his apprentice. I was living under his roof and was well aware of the glares directed at me. I was…living with it. At least they were honest about it here, not like in Konoha.

He had put me on a team with Mangetsu and Dai, often with Mei-sensei as a leader. Apparently, no matter what, Obito thought this team was a good one. As I knew how these two worked unlike the first time, it was easier to befriend them, even Suigetsu who recognized me immediately from the Chuunin Exams. Mangetsu had called me an idiot for coming back, I had shrugged and told him I was from Kiri after all and couldn't shy away from it.

My relationship with them was not exactly the same, and neither were they, but I felt like I had gotten a piece of myself back, nonetheless. They were a part of my identity as a kunoichi, and no matter how good of a team I could be with Yasuo, Kou and Fugaku-sensei, I always felt like something was missing.

I was having some training with Mei-sensei because she had two kekkei genkais, but the rest was Yagura. He was the same as before, but as I knew he wanted me broken to be a weapon, I was giving him what he wanted. Having years of being a kunoichi in Konoha was useful because it was easier to do this, to pretend, unlike as if I had been thrown back in this without preparation.

It was a frantic rhythm to follow. I had news from Shisui, who told me he was in Ame and teaming up with my father. I just replied by saying I was in Kiri. So far, I had not seen anything hinting at Obito being behind Yagura, so I had nothing to send Minato-san personally. I was keeping a close eye on Mei-sensei though as she had been the head of the resistance movement before. If my memories were correct, it had truly started to take shape when Zabuza-san had failed his coup. I didn't really remember when it happened. It led us to our current situation. We were eating lunch after training and Dai had been talking about what people were whispering at the hospital.

I was more interested in how I had progressed since I was frequently fighting against Yagura though. Zabuza-san's rebellion was none of my business.

I was worried about Hoshigaki-san though. He was still here. I was pretty sure by the time Itachi was fifteen, he was partnered with him and yet…the Akatsuki also had Dad and Shisui and replace their duo so…he was a wild card, with close to no loyalty. I had to watch out for him.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow," I told Dai. "Utakata-senpai is coming with me."

Something…odd happened with him. A few times after seeing each other he approached me and asked to talk. Then he told me he knew I was a Yuurei. I kind of froze and tried to deny it, only for him to tell me the Rokubi could feel it and told him what I was. Not only was I shocked, but I also realized that bijuu could feel the Shinigami's imprint on me, meaning maybe Killer B knew as well.

Anyway, he told me that Saiken had told him there was a way to make my seal evolve. I asked him what it was, and he said he wanted to know why I was here. I didn't tell him everything, only that bijuus would be hunted down in a few years and that Yagura was not in control of his actions. It was enough to convince him as, apparently, Yagura now was drastically different from the Yagura before, and some people did suspect he was not in control of his actions.

Ultimately, he told me that the evolvement was in Uzushio. I was immediately brought back to the clan shrine and what I had seen there, how I had seen the Shinigami. In the end, maybe it was a message to tell me there was something…beneath the shrine, hidden from view.

I asked Yagura if I could go. He had narrowed his eyes at me and prompted me to explain. I told him I wanted to get more knowledge about Fuinjutsu and that I was scratching the surface of my potential. He was not really convinced, and I asked if Utakata could come with me. As of now, he was loyal to Kiri to a fault and was its jinchuriki, it convinced him.

A few days later I was in Uzushio with him.

"It's…" I looked at him. "Sad."

"Yep, depressing as fuck if I say so myself," I agreed. It had not changed much since the last time I had been here. "Let's go."

We didn't reach the shrine. I felt a familiar chakra around instead. It was cold…and tainted.

Orochimaru.

The snake was lurking around the ruins of Uzushio, for who knew what.

"So, I have some bad news." I looked at Utakata. "Orochimaru is here." He didn't react for a second.

"From the sannin?" I nodded. "Maybe we should go th…" I summoned my katana and stopped what was coming my way.

I widened my eyes in horror and disgust when I realized it was Orochimaru's head. He bit on my blade and broke it. Some bubbles touched him, and I jumped away before when they blew up. When the smoke vanished, Orochimaru was on all four. I frowned at seeing him apparently struggling to get up.

"What, need a retirement home now?" I asked him coldly. I removed my broken blade, which was stabbing my forearm, and made a step toward him.

He used an Explosive tag. When we could see, he was gone.

"What just happened?"

"Huh, no idea." Orochimaru was straight-up weird, who knew why he was like this or what he had tried to do to me. I quickly bandaged my arm before moving.

Although…didn't Naruto say he wanted Sasuke's body or something before?

Had he tried to take mine? Was his current body giving up on him?

Urgh, he was gone, I couldn't sense him, it was all that mattered. I left two clones and dragged Utakata behind me.

"Wait!" I shut the door of the shrine behind us.

"What?"

"Shouldn't we worry!?"

"He left!" I put a seal on the door to lock it. "Anyway, now…" I located the tatami and went to it. I put my hand above the two and felt a cool breeze coming from below. I removed the tatami and saw stairs going down.

"Really, why did I accept to come?" I heard him mutter behind me.

"Because you secretly love me."

"No, you're an eyesore." I chuckled. It brought back good memories. "Call if you need help."

"Sure." I lit up a torch with some matches, many actually, and went down. The stairs were steep, misshapen and the ceiling was too close to them. I almost slipped on the last one. I used to wall to not fall but dropped the torch, which rolled away.

I walked to it to pick it up and froze at the door I noticed. It was big, in stone and the face of the Shinigami was painted over it. I moved the flame closer to it and looked closely at the painting. It…was not just paint, it was a locking seal in the shape of the Shinigami.

I put my finger underneath my bandage, winced a little when I pressed on my wound to get blood and put it on the door. The eyes of the Shinigami lit up briefly in purple and the door opened by itself in a loud noise. It sent dust away and I coughed in my elbow.

I looked around the room but it I could barely see in the dark. The second I stepped in it, candles lit up on the floor and torches lit up on the wall. I put my own in an empty holder on my right and gazed at the floor. Once again, there was the face of the Shinigami, a candle on each horn and one down its chin. There were…symbols surrounding it. I put a knee on the floor and graze them.

This was not fuinjutsu. They looked more like…cursed marks. I somehow could understand them though. It was to…communicate with the Shinigami?

I took back everything I had said about the Uchihas being close to a cult; this was a cult worshipping the Shinigami. And I was the high priestess of it.

I touched my stomach. My seal was warming up a little. I scanned the room and stopped on an altar made of gray stone. I walked around the seal on the ground and frowned at the scroll on it. It was old, yellowed in some spots but intact apart from that. I opened it and blinked when I saw the cursed symbols forming the words 'Shinigami Claw'. The ink was still pitch black, not faded with time. It was written in fuin apart from the title and I read through it, my finger following the words.

It was written any Yuurei could attempt to get this Claw, but few had succeeded. Overall, it was supposed to make me the Shinigami's vassal, its tool, its arm and hand in the world of the living. The Claw would be on my hand and arm and the more souls I would…send to the Shinigami's stomach, it would grow and get stronger. It was written than the Claw could go through chakra and once it was strong enough, I could contact the souls strong enough to be awaken in the Shinigami…well, my seal. As long as I had it, I was the vassal so souls would go to my seal.

I kept reading. From what I was understanding, it was a lot like a jinchuriki and its bijuu, but with 'powerful' souls. Going through chakra would be pretty useful, but I would need to literally take souls and play Grim Reaper to make the Claw evolve. There was no note about whether or not I'd keep losing my mind but as being thrown back and having the Shinigame and its energy cursing through were what made my mind cracked and then fractured, my guess was it would probably make it worse or quicker. Most Yuureis had started to lose it after ten years anyway, so…who knew how much time I actually had.

Who knew how long I had until I lost…

I had nothing to lose to get it. It was also written that no reproduction would be successful, that the Shinigami energy made the body unhospitable. It made sense, it reeked death so it would not make for a good environment for a baby to develop in the womb in my case.

It was also written my watching soul would be able to talk and see me if I were to be close to dying as my soul would be sent in Limbo before the Shinigami's stomach. Well, this one didn't matter because Itachi was there.

The side effects didn't seem that bad. I wasn't interested in motherhood and if I were to end up locked up in a psychiatric ward with a straitjacket, I might as well find a way to use the Shinigami for something concrete. I didn't want to weaponize it, hell the Uzumakis were crazy thinking they could just 'harvest' the God of Death but…if it could help prevent people from dying, if it could make it a little bit easier for Naruto and Sasuke, if I could play my part this time around…I would, I should.

I read the names of all the Yuureis at the bottom. Out of dozens, five names were as visible and black as the rest of the scroll. The other names were like…erased almost. Mine was at the bottom, the ink not as pitch black as the five others, but not erased.

I blinked when I saw 'Uzumaki Umiko'. Wasn't she…Mito's friend, the one Aunty had mentioned? So…she had the Claw as well? She lived thought the Warring State Era and alongside Hashirama, the Nidaime, Madara…I didn't know if I wanted to know in what conditions she had used this.

I got some more blood and wrote over my name, putting my fingerprint at the bottom. The candles on the floor burned stronger as my name briefly shined purple. I turned around and looked at the floor.

I removed my flak jacket, leaving me in my skin-tight black shirt. It was waterproof and kept you warm even if you were socked the bone. It was common in Kiri to wear this all year long, the only thing that would change was the length of the sleeves.

Anyway, I rolled it up to my ribcage. I made my seal appear and sat down in the middle of the seal, right in the open mouth of the Shinigami. The candles' flames burned higher, heat caressing my skin. Yet, a shiver ran up my whole body as I could almost feel a cold breath on my neck.

Then, I knew what I had to do; it was as if something had unlocked in my mind. I gathered chakra on the fingertips of my right and put them on my seal before turning it, almost as if I was unlocking it.

I blacked out. I fell back on the floor and felt like I fell through it and then was back on feet. Everything was…black. There was a red tori in the middle, alone. The red was clashing with the black all around me.

"Well, hello again." A man appeared in front of me. He had long, red hair; his eyes were almost golden, and he wore old clothes.

"And you are?"

"Otsutsuki Tensui, later Uzumaki." I tensed. "I'm Ashura's grandson, the Rikudo Sennin's great-grandson, Kagura's great-great-grandson and…the founder of the Uzumaki clan. My cousin went on to make the Senjus." I just…stared in shock. "My father was more inclined to Fuinjutsu."

"I've read about you. You were the one who made a pact with the Shinigami in the first place." He nodded smugly.

"Yup, I contacted Iz… I mean, the Shinigami." He clapped his hands together. "Anyway, welcome to your test!"

"Test?"

"Well yes, not every Yuurei is made to have the Shinigami Claw. I didn't come up with it after all." I widened my eyes. "Come on, did you really think you could start the process and walk away from it? You succeed or you die my dear descendant."

Fuck me.

"I'm surprised the Uchiha isn't with you though."

"Right, him!" Tensui raised a brow. "How come Itachi is here!? And my regret? The Kyuubi attack?"

"Hey, in my defense, I thought it would be when the other Uchiha was about to leave you for Konoha." Shisui? "And he was your watching soul at first until I picked the other one, Itachi right?"

"Then why? It's a first, isn't it?" He nodded.

"Yeah, it surprised me too, trust me. It was the first time we had a lovers spat in front of us as well." I raised a brow. "Itachi did not like your last breath and would not budge."

"…what?" So, he knew about the twins before too. His last memories of before were the war, so what was in the Pure Land…was not for the livings to know.

"He said he wasn't going to let you do that on your own and that if he could do something he would, even if you were telling him he was supposed to rest and all of that." I gulped and looked down.

"He came willingly?" I muttered in confusion.

"Well, you guys said all of this in front of the Shinigami shortly after you passed the test to become a Yuurei. She asked him if he was serious, and he said he was and then…she said we needed to go back further and voila."

"…so this idiot looked at the Shinigami in the eyes and said he wanted to be sent back with me." Tensui nodded.

I didn't know what to do with this piece of information.

"I don't really know why the Shinigami granted him and you this, it has never happened before but well. You guys might have brought something back up after all. It doesn't change the fact that his soul lands here too if you die without breaking your soul." I licked my dry lips.

"So, these tests?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.

"You're a potential vassal for the Shinigami's power, to become its arm. One who works for the Shinigami shall know death." He snapped his fingers and the scenery changed.

Instead of the black I was in a burning village. Everything was frozen and a man was holding a child in front of me, a sword at their throat.

"You have relived your death already. Now, it is time to relive the deaths of the other wielders of the Claw. I hope you'll come out of it and not lose yourself in them." Tensui disappeared and I…

I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to talk about the anguish at seeing the Yuurei's kid being killed and feeling it, how he died a few minutes later. I didn't want to talk about the second one using the Shinigami to prevent her clan's destruction. I didn't want to talk about the third and fourth ones, twins who saved one, lived as long as he could and then the other picking up where he had left things.

I didn't want to talk about Umiko, who had lived through a time where Senju Tobirama died facing Izuna, the Hiraishin not ready. I didn't want to talk about the Uchihas walking all over the Senjus under Madara's leadership, how they forced other clans in servitude almost because Madara never saw his actions as bringing enough peace. I didn't want to talk about the fact she apparently had had a thing for Tobirama, but ended up having a thing with Izuna and on the day Hashirama was supposed to be executed, she took down both brothers down with her to the Shinigami.

I felt cold and hot, sad and desperate, like I wanted to live as much as I wanted to die so I could rest. My whole body was numb, yet I could feel every single muscle in my body. I could feel myself sinking slowly. I opened my eyes. I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I knew the presence down below was the Shinigami waiting for me, their coldness somehow comforting and soothing.

There was a rope next to me. It was blue, like chakra. It was going down but also so high up. It was…mine, it was my chakra. Akane. I was…Uzumaki Akane. Not Umiko, not the others…I was me.

My finger twitched when I tried to move it. It took all of my strength to grab the rope next to me. Flashes of the people I loved, in Konoha and Kiri, went through my mind, filling me with warmth. Itachi seemed stronger than the other and I opened my eyes wider, feeling a surge of energy in me.

I climbed up the rope, putting as much distance as possible between myself and the Shinigami there. I did look down to see them, their demonic yellow eyes never leaving me. I gulped and sped up. Ultimately, I saw the surface getting closer, as if I was swimming to the surface of the water. Then I pulled my head out of it and took a deep breath.

I took a deep breath in the room and sat up in the blink of an eye. My right hand grabbed my left arm. It was sore. I removed the bandage and blinked, stunned at my arm. There were curse marks from my elbow to the tip of my finger, then they went beneath my fingers to my palm and back to my elbow. The cut I had from earlier was now closed, but the tissue was still tender. I ran my finger on it.

It was hot. Whatever…happened to my arm, it had escaped from my wound.

"So, it's a cult." I looked up at senpai. He was at the entrance of the room, his serious eyes scanning it. He would not step inside it.

"…yeah…" Slowly, I put my jacket back on and stood up. The candles were off now, the scroll behind me was closed. I made a few steps and then stumbled out of the room, falling face first on the cold and dusty floor.

"Need a hand maybe?" I nodded against the floor.

He picked me up easily and I leaned my head against him.

"It drained you," he noted, carefully walking back in the shrine.

"…yup…" Just talking was asking a lot of strength.

"Were you successful?"

"…think so…didn't die…"

"It's good enough for me." He put the tatami back, the sound of the door closing on its own reaching my ears. "Let's go home." I nodded.

I kicked the shinobi from Iwa, sending him straight to a tree with an explosion.

"Uzu?" Mangetsu called me, his distraught eyes trying to focus on me. I knelt next to him and slipped his arm on my shoulders.

"I got you."

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Kiri had been having tensions with Iwa for…a long time, neither of our Nidaimes liked each other and they died fighting each other. The Tragedy of the Yosuga Pass just ignited it. It had happened when I was twelve, so four years ago. I had traded Konoha and Kumo for Kiri and Iwa.

Anyway, it was supposed to be a simple spying mission because from our spies, Iwa was doing weird things in the Land of Tea. We went, Mangetsu split up from us and I had sensed many people going this way.

I didn't know how he had died before, but I knew he was sixteen. I told Dai I was going and used the Hiraishin to teleport to the marker I had put in his forehead protector, only to find him on all four, unable to fight.

My blood ran cold, and I got rid of the five enemy shinobi.

"Don't…use the Hiraishin…" I raised a brow at him. "I don't think…I can handle it."

"Crap." I made a clone to have someone stay with Mangetsu and she left with him.

I jumped in a tree branch and made my chakra as powerful as possible, so I'd be a bait. Ever since I had mastered the Hiraishin, I had never been more thankful for Itachi and Shisui training me in shurikenjutsu.

Once they were all around me, I threw markers around. I didn't waste any second to use the Claw on them. I leaned against the tree once I was done, feeling the marks getting to my shoulder and leaving a burning sensation behind. I had taken a few diaries with me, including Umiko's. To…have the full potential of the mark, it needed to reach the seal on my stomach, which in turn would make it permanently visible.

"You're as scarily efficient as usual Konoha." I glared weakly at Ao-san.

"I left that cursed place; I'd appreciate it if you stopped calling me this."

"We'll see about that later." I glared at him behind my anbu mask and followed him.

Mangetsu was not as pale as earlier once Dai had taken care of him. He jumped when I removed my mask, and I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry, you were just better with hair." I ran a hand in my very short hair. I had shaven it because I was going on many infiltration missions with Dai and Mangetsu across all the nations, so I had shaven it to make it easier for me to wear wigs.

"She said she was going to bleach it," Mangetsu commented quietly.

"Oh, can I do it?" I rolled my eyes.

"Sure."

"Why though?"

"I'm on the continent more and more, Konoha would not think a girl with short, bleached hair is me." Naoto was the one to suggest I should do something to my hair. It was the one thing visible when I was dressed as an anbu.

Okay, he wasn't expecting me to shave my hair in front of him. It had reached the middle of my back after all.

"Hair grows back anyway."

"Are you quite done talking?" We looked at Ao-san. "Houzuki, can you move?"

"…not yet."

"We need to find a place to rest for tonight Ao-san," Dai told him more seriously. "I don't know how, but they seem to have found a way to poison him." If there was one thing that could get a Houzuki clan member down, it was poison. It would travel four times faster in their metabolism than a regular human being.

We found a spot near a river. I took the second turn to keep watch while the other slept. Mangetsu couldn't anyway.

I was polishing my new katana, the one Kakashi had gifted me still broken in my room, when I heard something coming out of the water. I glanced at my sleeping companions and went to the river, my katana in hands.

I almost sighed in relief when a familiar toad popped out of the water. I nodded at him, accepted the scroll he handed me, and he went back in the water. I quietly went back to camp and read the letter with the light of the fire.

I clenched my hands on the paper when I read Itachi was sick. It was Minato-san's handwriting. Itachi was sick and had come clean to Aunty, telling her he knew they knew he was like me and that he had Fubuki's sickness. They wanted me to get my brother's medical file, or at least the information in it.

I leaned my forehead against my knees, feeling my throat tightening. How…why did he have to have it again? Had he gotten the Mangekyou? Was it the reason?

Fuck, he…

I made a ball out of the letter and threw it in the fire. It turned into ash in a few seconds. I ruffled my hair, and I leaned my head against the tree. I knew how bad his attacks could be, I knew…

I wanted to go there and take care of him myself because I knew how it was but…I couldn't. I couldn't go help him. The only thing I could do was giving them information.

A couple of days later, we finished the mission and went back to Kiri. On the boat, I asked Dai if I could get my brother's medical file. He just raised a brow and asked me why. I told him he had been sick, and I wanted to know if it was a family thing; I told him I wanted to know if as his sister I could get access to it. He said that I could, but it could take a while because he was dead, and my family had fled the village, so maybe it had been destroyed.

I didn't wait to find out and infiltrated the hospital in the middle of the night. There was a special section I had known about before about people with kekkei genkai. I broke in it easily, the seal being old. I went through the files and found my brother. I opened it and gulped at the picture of him at age four. Apparently, it had been updated once his disease was disc…

What?

Infection? A 'chakra parasitic infection'? What the hell was that? What was 'BCW00957'? Why did it say my brother was infected by it?

I hid when I heard the door open and footsteps.

"Uzu? We know you're here." I froze at Mangetsu's voice. I sensed their chakra to check if they were indeed Dai and Mangetsu.

"Uzu come on." I sighed and left my hiding spot.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Dai retorted and crossed his arms. "You could be accused of treason."

"I'm aware."

"It's because of the letter you burned." I narrowed my eyes at Mangetsu. "I wasn't sleeping, and I saw you. You were upset after that." I averted my eyes. "Look you have to talk."

I didn't want to involve them in this. I had involved them in my escape attempts long ago and always resented myself for it. However, they would not let me go.

"Not here," I whispered after a few seconds. They exchanged a look, and I followed them outside once I had copied my brother's file with a seal. Dai shot me a scolding look and I shrugged.

I did leave the original there.

We went to Mangetsu's place and locked ourselves in his room. Then, I was sitting in front of two stern-looking shinobi.

"Nice weather we have tonight, isn't it?"

"Uzu," Mangetsu said in a threatening tone.

"Look, I'm not…I'm not an enemy, okay?"

"We didn't say anything about this."

"Please, I know you better than that."

"Did you leave Konoha willingly?" Mangetsu asked me.

"Yes. Well, yes and no, I was planning on leaving to come here because the Mizukage threatened the Hokage and some stuff happened that led me to be kicked out."

"With Shisui of the Body Flicker," Dai added. I nodded. "Why have you really decided to come to Kiri?"

"Unless you do have something in mind, it was a dumb move." I licked my lips.

"Did you know when the Third started to turn Kiri into a bloody dictatorship, my grandfather was the first one to call him out on his bullshit?"

"I just knew it was someone from the Yuki clan," Dai said with a small frown.

"Well, he was my grandfather. He was executed on the public place and my grandmother was as well because she tried to help him. Then, my father left and his potential job because it meant turning me into a jinchuriki. I'm…trying to fix it, or at least help fix it." I glanced at Mangetsu. "You said so yourself during the Chuunin Exams. I'm not Konoha and I was sick of having it thrown into my face every day."

"Because being Yagura's apprentice and be known as a traitor is better?" I shrugged at the Terumi.

"At least I can tell them I was born here."

"Then the message? You're still in contact with Konoha, that's clear."

"I do have family there." I pursed my lips and bit on the top one. "I'm not giving them information about the village, and what I've received was…personal."

"Someone has what your brother had?" I nodded at the medic. "Is it your Uchiha boyfriend who wanted to kill us at the Exams?"

"I wouldn't say he wanted to 'kill you'." Dai deadpanned at me and nodded. "And yes. Konoha doesn't know what it is or what to do so…"

"It's normal." I raised a brow at Dai, like Mangetsu. Dai cleared his throat. "Look, last year when I was promoted at the hospital, I had to learn about conditions specific to Kiri and our country. Long story short, it's not a natural disease what your brother had, or now the Uchiha. A lot of kids have had between the moment the Third started to turn weird and like six years ago. It's…it's a chemical weapon the village created." I widened my eyes and Mangetsu leaned a little bit forward to look at Dai's face better. "We still have some cases in a hidden part of the hospital, in the basement. I don't know the details, but by the end of the civil wars, the Third ordered a biochemical weapon to be created to destroy the 'evil' at its roots."

"But…how?"

"It's in the air we breathe." I looked down in horror. "There are some particles that infiltrate someone's chakra system via inhalation. Then it is stimulated by the use of chakra until it creates a parasite that attaches itself to the heart and then…kills the host."

"But..but…"

"You and I have nothing," Mangetsu said for me.

"I said the end of the civil wars, we all know who was targeted in the Purges." I gritted my teeth.

"The chakra pathway is finished between the age of 10 and the start of puberty and if you have a kekkei genkai it will be more fragile until adulthood," I said through my teeth. "It's a weapon targeting children."

"From what I know, your brother awakened his kekkei genkai very early when the air was still heavily contaminated so…" Dai didn't finish.

Fubuki had been killed by Kiri in the end.

"Uchiha spent a month in the country," Mangetsu said. "Uzu has nothing."

"I wouldn't say she has nothing; I'd say her body dealt with it because she was older and only briefly exposed. I don't know the details of Uchiha's health, but it can be because he was young, because his sharingans had not been there for a long time, or too powerful when they came so it disrupted his chakra pathway, because he overdid it and became momentarily fragile or just bad luck."

"…he checks at least three cases I think," I admitted under my breath.

Did it mean he had been to the Land of Water before then? Wait, he did tell me he had fought the Mizukage when he was fourteen and he had killed Juzo.

"The more powerful a kekkei genkai is, the more pressure it puts on your chakra pathway. If it is not done developing or hasn't been for a long time, you can get it."

Before, Itachi had awakened his sharingans when he was a kid, so it made his pathway more vulnerable. Then the Mangekyou, and he would use it so…if it was still relatively present in the air…

"How about kids now?"

"It targeted kekkei genkais users mainly, most kids like me are not touched by it. Kekkei genkais are rare nowadays, there's no case in Kiri but who knows in the rest of the country."

"I want to puke," I mumbled under my breath. "How can I get my hand on that file?"

"You live in the Mizukage Tower," Mangetsu reminded me. "I wouldn't trust anyone there but…who knows."

"I think I would," I replied in a whisper.

Naoto was surprised to see me. I entered his room without asking.

"Are you okay?" Like before, Naoto was keeping an eye on me and making sure I wasn't leaving wounds unattended when I was coming back.

"Yup. I just have a question." He raised a brow and shut the door. "How can I get a file about the biochemical weapon that killed my brother?" He stared at me without any reaction for a few seconds. Then, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why would I…stay out of this Akane." Naoto was one of the few, with Mei-sensei, to use my first name in Kiri.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because someone I know has it."

"They can go to the hospital then." I pursed my lips. He frowned. I looked away. "That someone is from Kiri, right?"

"…well…"

"It's the kid who was with you during the Chuunin Exams, isn't it?" I nodded. "You're still in contact with him!?"

"What? No."

"Well with Konoha in general?" I shrugged. "Akane!"

"How was your father before?" He was taken back. "Has he aways been tyrannic?"

"That's not the poi…"

"It is Naoto, I wouldn't be in that position if…I want to end the Bloody Mist." He frowned.

"Are you telling me you want to kill my father?"

"No, but I want the end of that pathetic, blood-thirsty regime. So please, tell me if he was like this before?" He gulped and crossed his arms, magenta eyes staring at me warily.

"No. When your father left, he was appointed as the Fourth Mizukage and started the job at the end of the war. He had gotten the Sanbi back and had to master it quickly in the meantime but then a year after…he started to change." Rin had died when I was what, three or almost four?

We fled when I was one. Team Minato found us when I was around two. Obito died when I was three and a half and Rin a few months later. Yagura got the Sanbi. Then I was four and a half when I went to Konoha. The war ended. Minato and Yagura both became Kage. So, I was around five and half when Obito sunk his teeth in Kiri.

Basically, Yagura had been controlled for eleven years by now.

"He really…wasn't like this before. He wanted to change the village and then…he started to…"

"Act like someone else, like someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes." He nodded.

"Wait, pulling the strings? Are you insinuating someone might be controlling my father?" I nodded. "It's not…what do you even have to back your theory up?"

"The Kyuubi attack?" Naoto moved closer to me. "My mom died that night. There is no way the Kyuubi would be extracted from his host with both her and the Hokage around."

"So, the Kyuubi was controlled?" I nodded slowly.

"If someone can control the Kyuubi, they could control any Bijuu, even within their host." Naoto paled drastically.

"Wait so…but…but why Kiri?" I shrugged. I had an idea why, but I would not tell him. I was taking a big risk already. "Is it the reason why you're here?" I nodded again. "You're on a mission for the Hokage."

"Kind of, but I also wanted to leave Konoha. I was starting to get killing urges toward people there." Naoto sat down on his bed. "Look, it's a lot, and you could send me to rot for treason if you wanted but…no matter how much I hate Yagura for the shit he feels entitled to put me through since I came here, I don't want to kill him. He might be the biggest victim of this whole thi…" Naoto put his hands over his face and a strangled sob came out of his throat.

I looked down as he was crying as silently as possible. Quietly, I sat down next to him and ran my hand in his back.

I didn't know how he had reacted before or if anyone had been here for him or anything. I hoped someone was. Naoto was a great man with a good heart despite what people said about him because of Yagura.

"Damn it, it's…" he mumbled before he took a big deep breath. He wiped away his last tears with the sleeve of his kimono top. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." I licked my dry lips. "Look, the only way anyone could check if Yagura is indeed manipulated would be Ao-san." He nodded numbly.

"Yeah it…it makes sense." He glanced at me. "You came here just wanting to help?"

"Well…let's say I feel like my family never had closure so if I can give them that…I should instead of hiding abroad." I sniffed. "A lot of people didn't like me there anyway."

He accepted to help me, and I gave him a seal to make a copy of the file I wanted. Naoto did say he would not give it to me until Ao had a look at Yagura.

He did a week later, when we were picking up the mess Zabuza-san had left behind him after his coup. I had been interrogated because an Ice user had been helping him, but I had no idea of what they were talking about. They released me after a day and Naoto came to pick me up.

He gave me the file; he told me Ao had seen Yagura's chakra was deeply disturbed and that the 'right persons' would know about it. I hurried to send it to Jiraya-san.

A few days later, Mangetsu told me he would officially train me in using Nuibari so I could become one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.

"You look…astonishing 'Hana'." I rolled my eyes at Dai.

"I see nothing but pain in your future," I replied. I put the orange wig on. "Come on, go in the back. I don't want you to scare customers."

"So, look after the real chick, got it." Mangetsu was quiet in all of this.

I was pretty sure he was scheming on how to kill Orochimaru. We had to get Suigetsu out of his grasp not so long ago after all.

The mission was simple. We had received news many missing-nins from the Mist would go to Ruibosu and by digging a little bit, and knowing where the tunnel leading to the cove was, we found that a fake fortune teller was sending many people to the Isle of the Lost. Yagura had told us he had heard about a movement of missing-nins abroad and told us to get close, discover what was happening but if we couldn't stop it without exposing ourselves, we had to come back.

Dai was a medic, but as we were specialized in infiltrations, he also became good for human prosthesis to change your facial features. I looked nothing like me, and I was using my clothes and jewelry to hide my exposed marks. They were down to my left breast now.

Anyway, we entered her 'shop', knocked her out and it was agreed I would impersonate her while the guys…made her talk. If I was the woman being interrogated by two guys I'd be scared, but they were not like that.

They were more of a 'an enemy is an enemy regardless of their gender and bleeding made people talk' kind of guys. She would miss nails for sure but there would be nothing sexual. I would kill them myself otherwise.

We had a room at the inn under my fake name of 'Sasaki'. No one knew me here anyway.

I sent less people to the island while I was pretending to be 'Hana'. It was going pretty well until I felt a familiar chakra in the inn one night. I gulped and focused on it, but I felt the same thing.

It was Itachi's chakra only a few rooms away from mine. I struggled to breathe correctly for a few minutes, of course. Why would he be here? Had Konoha noticed something about this place too?

In any case, I took precautions, told the guys we were leaving, and I paid for the room the next day once Itachi was out. I was keeping an eye on his location as I was doing my thing. At night, the guys had finally gotten something out of the woman, who looked like a bloody mess. They killed her and got rid of the body.

"So, she was sending people to this island but to prepare something." I shook my head.

"It doesn't make sense, it's shinobi-free there but there were too many of them with shinobi skills from what you gathered."

"You know the place." I pursed my lips.

"It's where I was after I left Konoha and before I joined Kiri."

"You couldn't have said that before?" Dai asked me with a frown.

"This whole fortune-teller thing is weird; it wasn't here before and there were not as many people. Even if the city had developed…"

"Maybe the shinobi-free place turned into an against-shinobi place and is getting missing-nins as cannon fodder?" Mangetsu suggested.

"It is a possibility, the guy leading the place didn't seem violent, but he hated shinobi," I admitted.

"Well, we have to go there," Dai stated. "Your boyfriend's in town and even with the short bleached hair, it's better he doesn't see you." I rolled my eyes but couldn't deny he was right. "We leave tomorrow. Uzu, you wrap this up and join us at the boat tomorrow." I nodded.

"I'm the leader of the team," Mangetsu reminded him.

"If you could get your head in the mission sure." Dai cracked his shoulders and back. Mangetsu glanced at me, looking for some support and I shrugged. He rolled his eyes at the both of us. "She knows I'm right, and it's called birthday solidarity."

"I get it, you were born an hour earlier at the same hospital," Mangetsu muttered.

The next day as I was hurrying tidying everything up, I heard the door opening.

"Hello," the man said, and I dropped the makeup wipe I had in my hand. Shit, it was Itachi.

That fucking receptionist had to have sent him here.

My hands were sweating, and I wiped them off on my dress, readjusted my wig and with a big breath, I went back to the shop.

Itachi was unimpressed when he saw me, the perfect picture of a stone-cold shinobi even if he was not dressed as one. My heart started to beat wildly in my chest. He…was still handsome, even more now he was close to adulthood. I felt myself blush behind the heavy foundation I had on because he was…attractive. Yeah, I had reached the age where I would check Itachi, find him attractive and…do things with my fingers thinking of him but let's not get on that subject.

"What can I do for you young man?" I asked him, forcing on my voice to be hoarse.

We talked, I pretended to read his future. He didn't seem sick or anything right now.

I tried to tell him that he should date Izumi or something, hoping he couldn't feel the slight shaking of my hands as his were in them. They were warm, the back of them were smooth and bigger than mine now.

He started to be more interested when I mentioned Izumi without saying her name. I recoiled when he asked me if her name started with an 'A' and he recoiled when I said no. Ultimately, I told him he did not qualify to go the Isle of the Lost, giving the name of the place willingly.

Minato-san had to have sent him here to look for it. It was starting to make noise.

Once he was gone, I removed my wig and dropped it, hurrying to change, removed the jewelry and remove the makeup. I was just done rinsing my face that I sensed Itachi coming back, or more like running back here.

Oh.

I bet he had figured out it was me. There was something weird in his eyes as he'd look at me, and if he had a doubt maybe he had asked the receptionist…

I thought I was so smart using the name 'Sasaki'.

I went to the door leading to the tunnel when I heard the door opening. I could have rushed there directly but…

Might as well give him a push in the right direction, right?

I watched him enter the room and look at the wig and the trashcan. There was more emotion on his face now, so clearly, he knew I was here. I ran off when he turned his head in my direction, and I heard him following me. I was running as quickly as possible.

When I neared the exit, I turned right to the dead-end. Just before Itachi could turn there as well, I teleported to the Hiraishin marker outside.

"COME ON HURRY!" I was between the rocks in the coves, directly in front of the quay. I checked my marker, making sure it would not budge and gulped when I felt Itachi's chakra exit the tunnel. He remained there.

He wasn't moving.

How was I supposed to go to the boats if he was not moving? He had seen the stuff so…

Akane, calm down. You had short blond hair. Just…I changed quickly, trading my kunoichi outfit for a more casual one, a blue kimono that reached my knees, tight black shorts underneath and black sandals. I put sunglasses on my nose and discreetly, I joined the crowd of people waiting to board.

Thank gods I was always sealing too much to go on infiltrations. I was nervous, feeling Itachi's eyes on us all but I did not look or even glance at him.

I found the guys only once we were on the Isle of the Lost. They looked at me weirdly.

"You changed?"

"Itachi almost saw me, I boarded with the others," I explained quickly. "Anyway, hide the fact you're shinobis and come with me."

We avoided the control office, and I went to the apartment Shisui had gotten three years ago. The guys were great at pretending they were from here.

I entered the place and shut the door behind them.

"Let's check for…mic or stuff like that," I whispered to them. Mangetsu when to the kitchen, I went to the living-room and Dai went to the bedrooms.

He came back quickly, a kunai at his throat and a wary Shisui keeping him hostage against him.

"So, we're not alone," Dai stated, keeping his head high because of the kunai. I grabbed Mangetsu's shoulder and shook my head at him. Shisui frowned and tilted his head on the side. He narrowed his eye at me.

"Akane?" he called me, uncertain it was me.

"It's the hair, I know, I'm blond and have a pixie cut now!" Shisui's hold on Dai relaxed and Dai got out of his hold. "Please tell me he's not with you."

"I'm…alone…" I sighed. "Enemies or…?"

"I'm glad to see you," I sighed, going to him to embrace him. He hugged me back.

"Really, blond? Pixie cut?"

"You should have seen her when she shaved it all off," Dai muttered. Shisui looked up at him and I let go of him.

"Right so, the guy you almost killed is Terumi Dai. The other is Houzuki Mangetsu. Guys, Uchiha Shisui."

"We know who he is Uzu," Mangetsu stated coldly, calculating eyes not leaving Shisui. "When you said you were in contact with Konoha, I didn't think it meant a missing-nin from Konoha as well."

"They left together, we knew that," Dai reminded him, rubbing his throat.

"Sorry about that," Shisui told him. He glanced at me. "You told people? Seriously?"

"There were some…circumstances." He frowned. "Itachi got sick; they caught me stealing my brother's file."

"Oh." He looked at us three. "Why are you guys here then?"

"Mission, the Mizukage is wary of the many missing-nins disappearing from the continent."

"Huh, you don't say." I raised a brow. "I'm here for the same thing." I frowned. Why would the Akatsuki be interested? "I don't think it's safe for you to be here."

"We know what we're doing," Dai said with a frown. Shisui glanced at him quickly.

"I don't doubt it." Sadly, I knew these two would get along.

"It's the number, isn't it?" Shisui nodded and Mangetsu. "I've seen some anti-shinobi flyers on the way here."

"You've gotten the gist of it then."

"Maybe Kaiji…"

"I don't know where he is." I blinked at Shisui. "I've been here for a week, but he left his place a few months back and apparently he has not left the island."

"Do you think he's dead?"

"I don't know." Mangetsu walked closer to us.

"Does he have a kekkei genkai?" I nodded at him. "Then maybe he is at the same place the other missing-nins go to. Many fled Kiri because of this, I have recognized some names and faces."

"Well, if they are gathering people with kekkei genkai in secret it's not good news," Dai added, now on my other side. "Do you think they're making another Coliseum?"

"A what?" Shisui asked him.

"An underground arena for shinobi. They have…owners," I explained briefly. "I don't think so, the Coliseum is run by En Oyashiro, the guy collects them pretty much. Gathering them in secret doesn't make sense."

"Then an attack," Mangetsu stated. "Like the Mizukage thinks, maybe they're getting ready for an attack."

"If it's the case it's a big one, I've been keeping an eye on who was arriving here and it's a lot." I pursed my lips. "I don't think you guys should linger around though."

"I agree. We're leaving." I raised a brow at Mangetsu. "Something big is going on here Uzu, we all know it."

"…you're right." I looked up at Shisui, who smiled at me.

"I'll keep you updated as much as possible." The guys went back to the front door.

I hugged Shisui tightly, who returned it. However, it seemed even tighter. He… did look tired and stressed after all.

"How are you handling it?" I whispered in his ear. He sighed in my hair and moved back.

"I'm handling it," he replied. "It's…not easy every day, but I am handling it."

"Anyone doubts you?" He shrugged.

"I'm doing everything I can but…who knows. Your father could know, I wouldn't be surprised. The Leader could know too, I don't…I adjust my escape plan by the day." I nodded.

"It's good. It's…" I caught a glimpse of red clouds over black in the bedroom. "It's all we can do."

"And you?" I shrugged.

"I'm handling it," I said with a faint smile, using his own words.

"Well, we're both handling it I guess." I nodded. "I'll see you later."

"Take care Shisui."

"You too."

We went back to Kiri in silence, not mentioning Shisui in our report.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have liked it, please do let me know in reviews! Thanks to the Guest(s) the reviews!

Bye!