Chapter 4: The First Funeral

1 December 49, Hatake Compound, Minato

The gray skyline met the top of the clay tiles of the Hatake compound when Minato arrived. The walkway was littered with the skeletal remains of dead leaves. Frozen water droplets hung from every available surface, remnants of the previous night's rain. He was met with silence when he opened the gate to the genkan and removed his shoes. When he felt the distressed pulsing of Katya's chakra beat against the hiraishin seal, he thought nothing of it. She was an extremely sensitive sensor. He had been teaching the little girl how to block out the excess chakra signals for the past few months.

The jounin was under the impression that it was the wavering chakra signals from the hospital that had upset her. Konoha was at war and recovering from a major battle that had taken place three days ago. Any two-year-old would be distraught upon feeling the flickering signals coming from that building, even though it was unlikely they completely understood what they meant. In the last three hours alone, over one hundred chakra signals had been extinguished. Even at the age of twenty, he was having difficulty tuning it out. It was likely that she had only felt the difference when Orochimaru brought her home from her weekly visit, since the snake sannin's own signature tended to block out everything else. Even though Kakashi should have arrived home by now, Minato wanted to check with them.

"Kakashi-kun? Kit-Kat?" the blond called out. He heard ragged breaths in the adjacent room and swiftly opened the sliding door to the entryway. Kakashi was standing stock-still staring at the blood soaked tatami mats underneath his father's body. White chrysanthemums bloomed between the seams of the mats and along the wooden frames of the walls. Parts of the wooden frames from the paper doors floated towards the ceiling like forlorn vines.

"Kakashi-kun?" Minato placed a gentle hand on the young boy's shoulder after quietly closing the door. Kakashi shook slightly, his mouth opened and closed without sound.

"He's just gone… he left me…"

"Kakashi-kun, I need you to listen. I'm going to remove these flowers and tack the wood back down. Kakashi, go to your room and pack some clothes for yourself and Katya-chan. Can you do that?"

"He's… gone?"

Minato dropped down on one knee and turned the boy to face him. "Kakashi-kun, I need you to focus. Go pack some clothes. I need to take care of everything here." Kakashi shook his head and walked through the hallway towards the bedrooms in a daze.

The jounin turned to face the other child who was currently kneeling in her guardian's blood. Her small hand was on Sakumo's shoulder. He pulled Katya up and held her closely, avoiding her blood-stained knees, and walked towards the bathroom. After running some warm water, he took a washcloth and began to gently remove the mess.

"Ne, Katya-chan, it's going to be okay. You still have Kushina, Kakashi, and me. It's going to be okay, lovely."

"He didn't wake up…" the little girl sniffled. "He's dead."

"Yeah, he is." Minato spoke to the two-year-old in soft tones as he listened to Kakashi's movements on the other side of the wall. "How long have you been able to... control flowers, Kit-Kat?"

"Dunno…"

The jonin gave a slight nod before scooping up the small girl and walking to Kakashi's room. She sat quietly on her brother's bed when Minato left. He picked up flower after flower as they continued to sprout and resorted to using a seal to hide them. It would be best if no one found out there was a mokuton user in the village. After ensuring that both children had packed their things, he led them to his apartment. The smells of Kushina's cooking wafted through the hallway as the small group entered. The two children settled listlessly on the couch as Minato rushed through the village to notify the Hokage.

2 am, 2 December 49, Hokage Office, Orochimaru

The hallway to the Hokage's office was quiet in the early morning hours. The inner chambers, however, were not as four men argued over the future of one child.

"This child has the best potential in ROOT, you must see it, Hiruzen! To not take advantage of the mokuton is foolish," Danzo stated.

"Promise me. Promise me that you will not let Danzo take Dan's child, Orochimaru."

"You don't even know if Katya-chan has the mokuton, Danzo. It is highly possible that this was a one time event," the Sandaime argued.

"Ne, Rochi-oji, why don't they just put them in order?"

"What order would you have them, Katya-chan?"

"Well, by the amount of energy each one has and the amount of weight… no that's not right… mass! Mass, arrange it by energy and mass." Katya was right, and he had not thought of such an arrangement before for the elements. He found it spectacular that the child could come to such conclusions.

'Promise me…'

"Konoha cannot afford to miss such an opportunity," the other man asserted. Kagami Uchiha sighed and rubbed his forehead. Of course his teammate would see the girl as just another pawn on the board. "She has the mokuton and everyone in this room knows it! This hasn't been seen since the Shodaime. She must be trained now."

"Katya-chan will be a kunoichi eventually, Danzo. There is no need to rush her training," Kagami reasoned. "She's but a child."

Danzo's fists clenched as his temper flared. The ANBU guards shifted uneasily on their feet. "Are you daft, or just blind? We are at war now. The future remains unseen. We cannot hide a potential ace up our sleeves."

"Woah, relax, Danzo. I'm not your enemy. It is possible that the Uchiha clan could take over her training. Our library seems to indicate that before Hashirama there was another Senju some three hundred years prior that also had the mokuton."

"Of course you would want to take her into your clan," Danzo snarled. Kagami shook his head. It did not matter how long they had been teammates, Danzo would never get over Izumo choosing him and their clan.

'Promise me…'

"Have you been practicing the proper forms we discussed?"

"Ah, Roshi-oji, I made a friend! We played wid da shurigens togeder."

"Katya-tan, I created those so you could practice proper form," Orochimaru chastised her.

"He was weally nice too…" Katya gave a small smile as she twirled around his laboratory in a music-less dance.

Orochimaru was shaken from his memories when he began to imagine a different young girl. One with the same blonde hair but dead green eyes. A blank face for a perfect soldier, and any trace of 'Kit-Kat' lost into the mask. The thought did not sit well. Her budding brilliance would be quashed. The spark in her eyes as she observed the world around them, extinguished. All of the research that she could conduct suddenly began to vanish into an alternate future where she served as a mindless member of ROOT.

"This conversation is pointless. The Hatake Clan still holds custody of Katya Senju under the original charter for this village," Orochimaru finally rasped.

"You can't possibly deny this potential!" Danzo spat. The leader of ROOT was outraged that Orochimaru was going against his wishes for the first time since their partnership began.

"Katya Senju finds the idea of killing abhorrent -"

"That does not matter! She is going to be a kunoichi!"

Orochimaru raised his hand to silence the old man, "I was not finished. She will be an excellent kunoichi for the defense of this village. However, her psyche would not withstand the lifestyle of a ROOT shinobi. You would be wasting a potential resource. Her talent and potential comes from her scientific mind. She will do best in Research and Development or on the barrier team when she comes of age. Katya will do best on a regular genin team when the time comes."

"That is ridi-"

"Enough, Danzo. Katya-chan will stay under the guardianship of chuunin Hatake until such a time that the council deems it necessary to remove her from his care," Hiruzen said finally.

5 December 49, Konoha Cemetery

It was a crisp, clear day when they laid Sakumo to rest. Kakashi stood angrily in the front row. His hands clenched into fists every so often as the priest spoke about the life of a 'great man.' Katya held onto Kushina's hand and burrowed her face into the young woman's hip.

A new yet familiar chakra signature appeared at the periphery of the girl's senses. Katya lifted her head and cocked it to the side as another woman wandered into the small gathering. She had blonde hair and honey-colored eyes. Katya's green eyes met hers. The woman immediately started to tremble and turn white. She backed away as though Katya were the shinigami himself.

"Who was that?" the young girl asked Kushina, tugging on the side of her skirt. The twenty-one-year-old gave her a sympathetic look before patting her head. The crowd began to disperse from the graveside when the priest was finished.

"That was Tsunade Senju. Your… kaa-chan," Kushina said carefully, gauging Katya's reaction. Truth be told, the redhead missed her surrogate sister terribly, but she understood the other woman's reasons for leaving. If she were to lose Minato, she would probably request to do the same.

"Oh. She's not my kaa-chan, though."

"Well, technically-"

"You're my kaa-chan. You act like my kaa-chan… I wish you were…"

Kushina knelt down on one knee and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "You can keep calling me kaa-chan, love-bug. I'd be honored." She placed a soft kiss on Katya's forehead before lifting her on her hip and walking away.

"Ojii-chan, what does it mean to die?" Shisui asked Kagami as they walked away from the Konoha cemetery.

"It means that a person's body has had enough and their spirit wants to move on from this world," Kagami answered gently. They did not attend Sakumo's funeral, even though he had wanted to. His kouhai should not have taken his own life. Kagami did not understand why the man would leave behind his son and ward.

Nevertheless, he brought Shisui to pay their respects after the other visitors had left. If it hadn't been for his estranged son laying hands on his wife, they would have made it in time for the funeral. The older man was grateful he had made it in time before any permanent damage could be done to the young woman. This was not the way he had raised his son, but when he had been rescued from a prisoner of war camp three years ago, he had changed and not for the better.

"Well, what's gonna happen to Kat? Can she live with us?"

"No. She's going to live with Uzumaki-san. They are old allies of her clan."

"The Senju Clan?"

"Yes, Shisui-chan."

"Woah. Weren't they our enemies for a long time?"

"Before Konoha was founded. They are our allies now… or were…Where'd you hear that from, anyway?"

"What'd you mean 'were'?"

"Aren't you precocious today. There are only two surviving Senju. Katya-chan is the Shodaime's great-granddaughter."

"Oh. So she's like famous?"

"I hope not… I really hope not…" Kagami whispered to himself.

"Ojii-chan… will obaa-chan also… die?"

"...yes. It's the way we all go, Shisui-kun."

AN: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review. :) If you liked this fic be sure to hit follow/subscribe to have update alerts!

Beta'ed by: The incredible, prodigious cherryberry12-sama herself. ; who might I just say is absolutely amazing to stick with this project! Her skills blow me out of the water and I am flabbergasted every day she works on this with me. :)

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