Chapter 8: What is Left Behind

4 am, 28 February 53, Namikaze Apartment

Last year, a family of robins had built a nest outside of Minato and Kushina's bedroom window. They sang every morning and reminded him to wake up. He rolled over and stroked down the side of his wife's bare arm. Goosebumps sprung up against his calloused fingers. In his mind, he imagined the time he had surprised her in the jounin locker room and thrown her legs over his shoulders.

"Mm, Minato...got cuddlebug in bed…"

He replied with a breathy grunt of his own and moved Kushina's hair to the side of her neck. His lips ghosted the soft skin before settling on her pulse.

"I'll take care of it," he whispered against her ear. Kushina squirmed against him. He got up and pulled on a shirt from the floor before walking to the other side of the bed. A snoring six-year-old in pink cartoon frog pajamas lay starfished on the other side of his wife, face down. Ever since the kidnapping, Katya had ended up in their bed almost every night.

The tiny blonde in his arms continued snoring as he carried her to her own room. She would find her way to Kakashi's before the day started. On the rare mornings when she didn't end up in her parents' bed, he could find her there—curled in a ball underneath six dogs and one overbearing elder brother. She startled slightly when Minato laid her down and pulled the fuzzy blankets to her chin. He picked up a hand-knit afghan and tucked it around her for good measure before quietly closing the door.

Minato slipped back into bed with his wife and put his arm around her. She had fallen back to sleep in the time it took for him to tuck in their kid. Back to square one, he thought.

"Kushina," he whispered softly. He moved his palm across her stomach and pulled her securely against his chest.

"Mmph, wha?"

"I love you." He planted a warm kiss on her shoulder before enclosing it lightly with his teeth. The strap from her nightgown fell down her shoulder when she turned around to look at him. Dark circles were stamped underneath her unfocused eyes. His thumb ran a line along her cheek, and he ran his other hand lightly along the curve of her ass. He smiled as her nipples pebbled against him. "Kushina, I love you. When you married me, you made me the happiest man in the world."

When he closed his eyes, he was brought back to a week ago. It had been a quick ceremony. The Sandaime had run through their vows and signed the necessary paperwork. Minato knew that she deserved more, but he felt so close to the grave some days that he couldn't live with the regret of never making her his.

"Minato, I love you too. But it's 4 a.m. Go back to sleep." Her body betrayed her words. Kushina's thigh hitched itself around his lower back, hiking up her nightgown in the process, and she ran her own hands up his bare back. She caressed his face gently and lowered his lips to meet her own. "Relax, go back to sleep."

"Do you really want to go straight to sleep?" He left long lingering kisses that quickly cooled in the morning air as he made his way down her chest.

"Mmm, that's nice...I could spare a few moments."

He smiled against her skin. "Good. I'm about to make you the most satisfied woman in the world."

Three hours later, he had found his morning tasks completed. Every day, he spent at least an hour and a half in an intense workout. There was always a fear in the back of his mind that he would fall to the enemy and leave his family destitute and grief-stricken. Worry and fear were his constant companions these days. He worried about his team, worried that Obito was overly confident with nothing to show for it, worried that little Rin didn't train in taijutsu nearly enough, worried that Kakashi was failing at maintaining personal relationships. He was afraid that his little girl would be a genin soon and possibly be assigned to the genin corps because she refused to fight. He was terrified of the fact that his wife was continually sent to the front lines to reinforce seals. After all, a jinchuriki made for an excellent target.

Sometimes he wondered if that was why he had been craving the comfort of his wife's body so often lately. Normally, it was in stolen moments while Katya was at the Academy and Kakashi was out doing whatever it was he did. The thought felt slightly cynical, but deep down he wondered if it was a primal desire to see her carry their child. If Kushina did become pregnant, then it would be a twelve month reprieve from the battlefield. She would be buried in paperwork behind the village walls and safe. One less thing to worry about. Also, a younger sibling would be good for Katya. She was much too carefree for someone in her position. Yes, worry really was his middle name these days.

"Namikaze-san, er, Yellow Flash-sama, er, sir. Katya Senju has been assigned detention for avoiding taijutsu again." A genin messenger handed him the pink sheet of paper that technically should have been Kakashi's. Enough messengers had seen Kakashi simply hand them over to Minato that they just didn't bother finding the chuunin anymore.

"Thank you." He sighed to himself. At least the jounin on call wouldn't have to worry about sharpening their kunai this afternoon. Not that there were many left in the village. Her counterpart probably would be getting his own pink slip for interrupting a taijutsu bout again. He really ought to change up his standard punishment, because the point wasn't coming across. At least the callouses they earned helped with their aim without straining their arms. He threw the crumpled pink slip into the trash

Minato set the file in his hand down. It was another genin corps mission. In peaceful times, running a message to an ANBU outpost in the farthest reaches of Fire country would be assigned to a jounin or higher. But those days were long gone. This was war and an unfortunate consequence of war was that genin who were ill-prepared for those missions were sent instead. The average life expectancy was just two years, and he contributed to it with his in-village duty of writing and assigning these missions. The Hokage always stamped them without a second thought.

Minato swept a hand down his face. This would be one of the first things changed if he became Hokage. There would be no more frontline genin.

4:30 p.m., 28 February 53, Home of Kagami Uchiha, Konoha

It was an unseasonably warm day, and so Kagami Uchiha opened up the shutters and doors to his home, allowing the fresh breeze to sweep away the stale winter air. A paper heart rustled slightly from the refrigerator magnet's hold before it loosened itself entirely and blew away. There was a knock on the heavy oak wall as Danzo walked onto the engawa. His cane tapped every third step in a carefully contrived act of disability. Kagami shook his head. His teammate was far too committed to the illusion.

"Welcome, old friend," he greeted kindly. It was very unlike Danzo to make house calls, but he welcomed it. He thought, perhaps, that Danzo might've had a change of heart. "Have you thought about what I said at our last team meeting?"

"I have."

"Ah, well come in then. I've just finished making tea. Shisui-kun helped me make some green tea cookies yesterday. They're...mostly edible."

"How is he coming along?" Danzo asked politely. He continued to keep his intentions veiled; careful not to tip his hand too far. Kagami set out the dishes, cookies and tea before settling himself onto a cushion.

"Quite nicely! I'm so proud of him. He's at the top of his class in taijutsu and knows a considerable amount of jutsu already. His class completed their final exams a few days ago. I believe he's going to make a fine shinobi someday," Kagami boasted. "Although, I'm fairly certain that he does not have the personality for ROOT, if that's what you were fishing for. He's much too attached to his girlfriend."

"He's six, is he not?"

"Ah, well. He claims they're only friends."

Danzo hummed noncommittally before taking a sip of his tea.

"How is your… organization?"

"Thriving. They've exceeded my expectations in every manner. The front has shrunk considerably due to their efforts. Not that they've been given due credit, of course."

Kagami leaned back and stroked his chin with his thumb. "I see. Why are you here, Danzo? You haven't asked me a personal question in several years."

"Age is catching up to me, I suppose. But no, I thought about your suggestion. To hold a Kage summit and then use the Sharingan to project this notion of peace. I agree with you in principle. However, in practice, I believe that we'll find a different ending than what we're seeking." Danzo leaned forward on his natural arm and placed a fist under his chin.

"How so?"

"Peace can be easily broken. The only solution, then, is to destroy Iwa from the inside. With the powers that you told us you possess, it should be a simple enough matter."

"Ah. So that's why you've come then. You'd rather a massacre that breeds more hatred and more war. I wish that you weren't so predictable, my old friend."

"Kagami. You must see that this is the answer. There will be peace if everyone else is brought to their knees!" The cane hit the ground in emphasis as Danzo became more impassioned.

"No, Danzo. Hatred will yield hatred in response. It would mean the destruction of Konoha. Our children's lives would be on the line. There would be no rest from the constant vigilance we'd have to face from whatever band forms together. We'd be creating a conglomerate the likes of which has never been seen only to see it raise its hand against us and strike us down. That is not the way."

"Tch. You're far too soft hearted."

Kagami smiled sadly to himself. Danzo would never understand. War has never been hell. Hell never suffered innocents. War affected the innocents as much as those involved. It cut down the young and weak, the old and frail. It did not differentiate its casualties. What would the warriors do when they banded together and saw the mass deaths of their children, sweethearts, and parents? If they had nothing left to lose? It would spell the destruction of Konoha and possibly the entire shinobi way of life.

"Will you come walk with me along the river, Danzo? You could use the sunlight."

Danzo grunted but got up all the same. Kagami did not want the ROOT leader fouling up the air of his home any longer-the home where he had spent a lifetime loving his wife, raising his child, and grandchild. He'd like to think that it was filled to the brim with love. Love that he did not want to see tainted by such a hateful man.

Time passed slowly as the river dawdled along the banks. The wind picked up and shook the naked branches of the trees above their heads, loosening drops of water along the way. The brown stalks of flowers that had huddled together to survive the harsh winter began to turn green at their roots with the promise of spring. Kagami could almost see his wife bending over to tend to them with her garden tools by her side, an old leather apron covering her dress. She would hum as she worked, and he could hear the memory of her song echoing in the garden.

A branch broke behind him, he quickly turned, sharingan blazing. Too late. He could feel the blood leave his body as he clutched at his neck. His legs stopped working as he fell across the hibernating flower bed along the river bank. Poison. He could feel the anticoagulant working against him. His heart slowed as he stared at the bloody kunai in his friend's hand.

"Why?" he rasped as the light began to fade from his eyes. A clock chimed in the distance.

"To build a better Konoha. One that you and Hiruzen are too held up in the light to see," Danzo answered coldly. He waited a moment then checked Kagami's pulse before driving the kunai carefully around the edges of his eyes. He took a teaspoon that he had concealed in his sleeve and plucked out his friend's eyes. The corpse. The corpse's eyes, he corrected. He should think of it that way and not what he had just done. They made a sickening sploosh as they entered a small specimen jar.

Danzo heard the pattering pace of little feet running in his direction and left just as quickly as he had arrived.

4:50 p.m., 28 February 53, Uchiha Compound

Shisui was late; he could feel it. The sun was way too far on the horizon for him to be on time. Every Wednesday, his grandfather took it upon himself to teach him about their clan and doujutsu. They were supposed to be studying the tales of Indra Otsutski today-or at least finishing them. But Kat made them get detention… again! He could almost swear she did it on purpose. Refusing to participate in her taijutsu bouts was bad enough. But no! She had to wait until her opponent almost hit her, which made Shisui have to step in and clock the bastard back. It all erupted into a brawl, and their sensei had to step in. And of course they all got an even longer detention when Katya broke Itsuki's nose after Itsuki called him a 'no-good, whipped, toad-licker,' whatever that meant.

Then the Yellow Flash had to get involved too. Now, Shisui's hands had blisters from polishing and sharpening kunai for the rest of the afternoon. Who knew jounin were so rough on their equipment? He swore that some of them had never heard of a whetstone before. Or maybe they just brought in their worst stuff because they found it funny to watch the Academy students suffer. At least he wasn't the only one with blistered hands. ' Misery loves company ,' his grandpa had said the first time Minato had asked permission to punish him alongside Katya.

"I'm here, Ojii-san!" Shisui hollered, panting as he placed his shoes on a shelf. Tea was set on the kitchen table, and half-eaten cookies had been left on plates. Shisui took one from the serving platter and popped it in his mouth. If he was going to get in trouble for being late, then he deserved a small reward for dealing with crazy girls. "Ojii-san!" he yelled again to no answer.

He shrugged to himself. His grandfather was probably in the cellar. Best finish off the cookies, so they didn't go to waste.

The clock in the living room chimed for five o'clock. It was unlike his grandfather to take this long. Undoubtedly, he had already heard what had happened at school. Shisui could only feel grateful that his father was still on the frontline. In his worst moments, he hoped he stayed there forever. He got up from his seat and began to look through the house. It wasn't long before he found himself at the front door and slipped his shoes on again.

Shisui walked around the side of the house and paused to take a swig of his water bottle. Next time they would have to improve the cookie recipe so it wasn't so dry. Maybe they could even make them with chocolate! Or hazelnuts!

"Ojii-san!" Shisui was becoming frustrated. He kicked a pebble up into the air and roundhoused it towards the riverbed. There was no splash. His eyebrow quirked and he walked to the edge of the garden to investigate.

There in the riverbed lay the still warm body of his grandfather. His robes were soaked and stained from the clay silt. In place of his eyes, were a pair of gaping orifices with thin trails of blood. The curly hair that Shisui shared with him was matted against the icy water. A small pebble rested on his abdomen.

The six-year-old boy screamed as his entire world turned red. He couldn't stop screaming. He couldn't unsee what he had just seen-his grandfather murdered inside Konoha's walls.

His voice had left him by the time the clan-heir had run to find out what had happened. Fugaku, recently back from his own war horrors, didn't have the patience to deal with a child. His own best friend had been murdered not even three days beforehand, leaving him with an even more powerful gift that he could not return-no matter how much he wanted to.

"Stop screaming, boy," he commanded, shaking the young boy hard. Small red eyes blinked into his own, too stunned to speak. "You have the sharingan now. Do you understand what that means?"

Shisui wiped his nose and nodded.

"Trace the chakra back to its source from your eyes. If you don't, you'll follow Kagami-sama into the grave from sheer exhaustion. He wouldn't want that, would he?"

"No, sir." Shisui closed his eyes and focused on pulling the chakra from his eyes back towards his heart. The moment that it left, the world came back to him. In washed out colors. An Uchiha genin assigned to the KMPH ran up and asked Fugaku for further instructions. He told them to quickly shut down the compound. No one in or out until they found who was responsible.

"You are not able to chase her. She is gone." A young teenager with long dark hair held a young man's shoulders as he fell apart with wretched sobs. It was the same man Shisui had been seeing in his visions. This time, he was several years younger. He had dark curly hair and his grandfather's eyes. Dried blood trailed in thin lines from the teenager's eyes down the sides of his cheeks.

"Why? Why did she do it?" The young man's eyes squeezed shut from over his younger friend's shoulder.

"I suppose it's because she loved you."

4:50 p.m., 28 February 53, Namikaze Apartment

Katya was sitting upside down on the couch with her legs in the air. It had been two days since she and Shisui had taken the final Academy tests. Results would be posted soon, until then there wasn't much else to study. She tilted her head backwards and read a manga that was propped against the coffee table. She had to read it quickly so that Shisui could borrow it. Mangas were becoming more expensive as the war went on, and his parents didn't have that kind of money. The household income with two jounins, one chuunin (almost jounin) was much higher than that of a single chuunin. Especially when one of those jounins was fourth in command in Konoha.

The warm smell of peppered curry and 'tou-chan's-super-secret-recipe chocolate cake' (the secret was hazelnuts) washed through the air and made her stomach rumble. It was rare when both of her parents were home at the same time nowadays. She could hear them singing together in the kitchen and imagined that they were being gross again. They probably had their arms around each other and their lips locked. The six-year-old's nose scrunched up in disgust.

She raised her hands above her face and surveyed the damage. Two small blisters were forming on the pad of her left thumb, and one large one between her thumb and pointer finger on her right hand. Her father's kunai were the worst to sharpen. Three-pronged, six already sharp edges, and a handle that had to be polished with a special wax to keep the seal active. Her thumbs throbbed in protest at the very idea of sharpening another one.

Itsuki had it coming anyway. He had been calling Shisui and her names for weeks, ever since the teachers decided to advance them to the graduating class. Katya hoped his nose was still broken, but she doubted it. He was the teachers' favorite, and they had probably healed it as soon as he left detention. Normally, she detested the very idea of violence. In Itsuki's case, she gladly made an exception because Shisui wouldn't fight outside of a ring. For her best friend, she would face down anyone.

The Uzushio seal in the living room beeped five times. Five o'clock, time to set the table. Katya straightened the kitchen chairs and folded four napkins into their own animal designs. Kakashi occasionally deigned to join them, and she hoped that he would that evening. After all, he was the one who had taught her how to reinforce her fist with chakra. Kushina ran a hand through the girl's hair as she leaned in for a slight hug. She handed her a bowl before walking towards the table with her own.

As soon as the six-year-old turned around, her heart seized. The bowl crashed to the floor, flinging curry and rice onto the kitchen cabinets. Kushina put her warm hands on Katya's cheeks and tried to get the girl to look at her.

"What's wrong?" She could hear vaguely over the blood rushing to her ears. Her hands clenched the front of her short-alls as she began to hyperventilate.

"Katya, look at me! Look at me!" Kushina yelled.

"Is she having a panic attack?" Minato asked as he watched helplessly.

"I don't know. It doesn't look like one." Kushina dug deep into herself and called forth the kyuubi's chakra. She locked eyes with her daughter again, her pupils vertical slips. "Look at me," she commanded in a deep voice. Katya looked, overwhelmed by the familiar chakra that had drowned out everything else.

"What's wrong?" Kushina asked again, keeping the girl in her protection.

"Shisui's in trouble… Kagami-sama… I can't. I can't feel him! He's just gone!" Minato nodded and instantly vanished out of the room.

"He's gone! Why is he gone?"

"Okay, shh. Shh. We'll find out."

"He's just gone!" Kushina helplessly held onto Katya as the little girl's heart raced uncontrollably in her chest.

7 p.m., 28 February 53; ANBU Headquarters, R&D Department; Orochimaru

Orochimaru smirked as he opened the test report that had just been printed for Katya Senju.

Katya Senju; Age 6; Promote to Genin

DOB: 10 January 47

Testing Date: 28 February 53

Ninjutsu: 2.5

Taijutsu: 1

Genjutsu: 2

Intelligence: 5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 4

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 3

Total: 22

Comprehension Test Score: 100/100

Taijutsu Test Score: 30/100

Mastered Academy Three : Yes/No

Proctor's Notes: Katya Senju displays a remarkable lack of initiative in taijutsu bouts. She focuses too much on defensive maneuvers. Her speed is her main attribute and is the only reason she was able to pass at all. She has the highest final test score that the Academy has ever seen, topping that of Minato Namikaze. Katya Senju is reported as shy and soft-spoken (except around those she knows well) with very few friends. Katya is immune to most common poisons, as attested to by the sannin, Orochimaru. Her instructor strongly recommends that she be placed on a tracking and defense team with her good friend and fellow graduate, Shisui Uchiha.

Orochimaru's smirk quickly turned into a frown as he tapped the taijutsu score repeatedly. "Katya, Katya, tsk tsk." The door to the laboratory opened and Orochimaru lifted his head as he heard the tapping of a cane cross the floor.

"Thought I might find you here," Danzo said. "I have a task for you. In return for its completion, I will see to it that your lab is fully funded through the next year."

"I see. And if I should refuse?" Orochimaru rasped.

"I will tell the whole village about your little experiments ."

"What is the task?" The corners of the snake sannin's mouth tightened. It was far too soon for him to end his relationship with the ROOT leader. He had only begun to collect hard evidence against the man.

"I need you to implant these." Danzo threw a sample jar towards Orochimaru.

"I see."

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!

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