(Four years ago)

The early morning sunrays tickled her eyes awake, urging her to begin her day yet there was a hint of harshness in the rays as if to warn her that today was not going to be an easy day. Naruto rolled onto her back, gazed blankly at the ceiling, and then turned her body around to stare at the vermillion cot. Light snores filled the air, a reminder that her toddler was still fast asleep in dreamland. Yawning, she kicked the sheets off her bed and dragged her heavy legs to the cot. As she dragged her feet, the floors didn't whimpers or creak. Even after 2 years of not being in active duty, she still hadn't lost her touch.

Her daughter clutched her frog plushie with a large, sunny smile and kicked off her blue blanket. The white hair of her daughter glowed like a halo underneath the gentle ray of the sun. Her pudgy hands wrapped so tightly around the frog plushie like it was her best friend. Naruto smiled wearily, leaning her body against the rail of the cot and brushed her hands against Akari's hair. Soft hair fluttered against her hand. Her daughter barely resembled her; their only resemblance was the shape of her eyes, her nose and maybe even the shape of her face. The colour of her hair resembled her unknown father, hair as white as snow. If her daughter opened her eyes, she would have the same beautiful violet eyes of her mother. Her sweet mother would have adored Akari. Her father? Well, Naruto supposed he would love her but it wouldn't be with the same intensity of Kushina.

Glancing at her watch, she realised she had no choice but to wake up her sleeping daughter. With a deep breath, she gently nudged her daughter awake. Akari wined and buried her face into her plushie, unwilling to wake up from whatever sweet dream that she had. Naruto let out another sigh, lowered her head until she was close to her daughter's ears, and whispered. "Akari," her daughter whined once more and turned her head to the side. Naruto chuckled, tickled her again and continued. "Baby, we've big day ahead of ourselves."

Akira stirred. Her long snow-white hair spread out as snow white eyelashes fluttered open, revealing violent eyes. Naruto smiled and felt the strange little flutter of her heart when her daughter rubbed her eyes with those tiny fists. It took her daughter some time before she realized that she was there but when she did, Akari smiled and waved her little arms at her. Naruto swallowed the lump in her throat, scooped her daughter up into her arms and planted a kiss on her daughter's cheek. "Good morning, my little flower," she whispered as her daughter snuggled closer to her chest. "Did you have a good dream?"

"Ya, Mama!" Her daughter babbled, looking up at her with such beautiful, innocent eyes that Naruto felt the tightness in her chest. It felt like someone sucker punched her in the gut. If she had found out about Akari at the very beginning of her pregnancy, her daughter wouldn't be here. She would have never opened her eyes and revealed the violet eyes of the first woman, who loved her. She let out a shaky breath and forced a smile when her daughter gave her a distinct frown. When her daughter frowned, she looked so much like her that it was mind-blowing.

Smiling widely, she blew kisses into her daughter's belly and listened with a fluttering heart at her innocent giggles before looking straight at the clock. There was going to be enough time for her to take her daughter to daycare. I'll have enough time to do her hair. With an absent mind, she patted her daughter's hair and shuffled closer to the drawers. With one hand holding onto her daughter, she yanked the drawer open. Butterfly pins, flower headbands, lilypad bow hairclip and various other hair accessories that Ino had gifted her child on her last visit. The Yamanaka heiress had promised to keep her mouth zip about her child or rather Sai had managed to convince his girlfriend not to babble to everyone back home that she got herself knocked up by some random man from a bar on her very first week of coming to Japan. Till this day, Ino told her that Akari's father must have either been very handsome or very charming for her to sleep with him when she hadn't been willing to sleep with anyone back in Konoha after her disastrous run of a relationship with Sasuke.

In her defence, she had been incredibly drunk and would have slept with anyone. All she did remember was his snow-white hair and the warmth of his embrace before she climbed out of his hotel room's window. At least, it had been somewhat consensual on both ends. Both of them had been drunk when they slept had been incredibly satisfying too. Except her satisfaction came in the cost of squeezing a baby out of her vagina after 10 months. After that, she swore never to get that drunk or sleep with another man ever again. Shaking her head, Naruto settled her daughter onto the seat and pulled out the orange fox hairbrush from the drawer. "Want Mama to clip your hair?" her daughter beamed and nodded. Naruto gave her a grin. "And you won't pull the clip again?"

There was a vigorous nod and Akari picked up the lilypad clip. Her daughter insisted with a bright, hopeful smile. "This one."

"Hmm, we can build your outfit for the day around that," she agreed, pressing another kiss on her daughter's hair. Akari beamed and clapped her hands together, her violet eyes glowing with absolute joy. Unlike her, her daughter embraced being a girl, always looking forward whenever she did her hair. Akari always sat incredibly still whenever she did her hair, her violet eyes glowed with excitement as she combed her hair. "Wanna look like a beautiful flower today, don't ya?"

Her daughter beamed. "Like Mama!"

The moment Akari uttered those sweet words, Naruto paused in her combing and stared at the mirror. If she wanted her daughter to have a strong body image, she should accept her kind words and smiled at her. From the books she read, daughters tended to copied the words and actions of their parents and role model. She sucked a deep breath, swallowed down the tears, and gently clipped her daughter's hair back. "Yes just like Mama except Akari is even more beautiful than Mama," her daughter smiled but her violet eyes wobbled. She smiled wider and gently turned her daughter around. Teary violet eyes met her own and Naruto bumped their noses together. "Mama doesn't want Akari to cry; Akari is the most beautiful flower in the world. She is Mama's prettiest flower, isn't she?"

"Yeah," her daughter grinned and added. "Mama is pretty like Akari!"

Naruto chuckled and watched as her daughter wobbled off the stool. If her daughter was born without any chakra like the people of this world, she would have been fretting over the idea of letting her climb down the stool without any assistance. There would have been thoughts of her crashing to the ground. Worry would have gripped her by the heart if her daughter fell down with bruises on her pale legs. But her daughter was her child. With determined violet eyes, Akari stood on her two little legs and dashed straight towards the lower drawers, where her outfits laid.

The drawers rattled when her daughter pulled the handles and it was not long before the drawers groaned to reveal a mixture of pants, shirts, dresses and skirts of various colours. Naruto folded her arms against her chest and observed as Akari furrowed her pale eyebrows together, looking carefully at each outfit. Parents should pick the outfit of their babies but she also wanted her daughter to feel like she had some say on what she could wear. The other mothers think I'm too lenient with her but I don't know half of what I'm doing when I'm with her. She knew what not to do. Knew what values she wanted to install in Akari but half of the time, it felt like she was way over her head.

Books could only give so much advice, and it wasn't like she had her mother to guide her. Only Kurama and even the fox didn't know how to raise a human child. He isn't exactly the maternal type even if legends paints him out to be some kind of beautiful woman. Kurama had not found it funny when she read the folklore to her daughter, had grumbled, and complained about him identifying as a male. She glanced out to her open door, to the little flower plants sitting on the window still.

"This!" Her daughter insisted, holding up the short-sleeved white dress with pink floral patterns.

That would do. "Good job, Akari."

Her little girl beamed and puffed her chest, completely pleased with her choice. Naruto strolled towards her daughter and glanced out at the window. The sun still smiled on them with its soft, motherly glow while the birds now clutched on the tree branch, singing in merriment upon the day. Maybe, she had been wrong about her day. Maybe, today would be just like any other day. Uneventful. She would probably pick up Akari and listen to the sincere praises of the day care worker, who would tell her about how smart her daughter was like she didn't already know that. At the age of 1, Akari showed signs of being more intelligent than her.

Perhaps, she got that from her unknown father or maybe she inherited from her own father. As she knew from the Academy, her father had been a genius. An incredibly smart man known not just for his intelligence but his strategies and looks. As the Fourth Hokage, she respected him but as a father? He sucked. Naruto tucked a strand of her hair behind her ears and drifted her eyes to Akari. If she remembered the name of the man she slept with, she would tell Akari about him. If she ever asked her why she didn't have a father, then she would admit she hadn't told her father because she didn't know how to find him. She didn't even remember his name. Just his beautiful luminous blue eyes and his insincere smiles.

One day, she would have to find him and tell him about Akari for the sake of her daughter. If he didn't want to be involved, it was fine but her daughter deserved to know where her other half of the DNA came. The last thing she ever wanted for Akari was for her to end up in the same position as her when it came to her father.

~X~

It was time for Naruto's lunch; her supposed time to sit on her chair, leaned back, and just relax. Except, her stomach didn't rumble and demanded food. The breakfast she shared with her daughter had been filling: bear-shaped pancakes, eggs, rice, steamed fish and plenty of vegetables. Her colleagues gave her a glance, a subtle look of pity as they shared whispers before walking away from her. She didn't need her sensitive hearing to know that they were discussing how sorry they felt for her beautiful daughter. How reckless she had been to have a child without a father. Just like Konoha, the people of Japan had strong conservative views on family. There was funding for women in her situation but most women in her position, wouldn't advertise that they were a single Mum. Some of her colleagues smiled at her but they wouldn't invite her out. They were ashamed for her while she carried so such shame.

Tightening her smile to her colleagues, Naruto waited for the final teacher to leave before pulling out her phone and notepad. She scrolled down to the bank app, looking at her purchases for the month, and began to note them down. She had enough money. Thankfully, all those S-ranked and A-ranked missions that had been given to her, was enough to allow her to live rather comfortably in this country. Enough for her to put Akari into a good private daycare. She twirled her pen and glanced at the photo of her smiling baby, smiling faintly for a moment before leaning against the hard chair.

The fan circled and spun around like a spinning wheel. Her head ached for a moment, more of a result of a lack of sleep than anything else. It wasn't her daughter who caused the lack of sleep. All she had to do was put Akari on her cot for her to fall asleep. But her dreams were haunted of cruel black eyes and the chirps of the Chidori. There were nights when her bed sheets were soaked with sweat, her heart riding in a wave of never-ending grief, and tears streaming down her eyes. It had caused Akari to wake up bawling at her screams. For the sake that her daughter got some sleep, she made sure to only rest for a few hours. Her head throbbed once more as her eyes darted up to the ceiling, where creatures crawled on their strange limbs and looked down at her with their many eyes.

Her daughter could see them as well, always trembling and clinging to her whenever they went past the school gates. Those creatures with their bug eyes, human-like hands for feet, and their fangs would look at her daughter with hunger. She wanted to murder those creatures for daring to look at her baby like that. If it wasn't for her contract with the school, she would leave and go back to Konoha with Akari. Except she would hear the same fucking annoying whispers about their pity for Akari, about how she made that scene with Sakura over Sasuke of how she loved him, and the parental, disappointed look from both Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei for getting pregnant. If she had been born a man, they wouldn't look down on her and would just praise her for doing the bare minimum.

It was unfair that no matter where she went, it was the men who got praised for doing the bare minimum while the women were looked down upon for having a child out of wedlock.

From behind the doors, she heard the old wooden floors whimpered and cry as loud, rambunctious footsteps filled the air. There were only three students willing to see her at this time. The beauty of these teenagers, she decided, were how their eyes and mind hadn't been tainted by societal expectations and norms. It was a hope Akari would inherit the same non-judgmental nature as these kids. A hope her daughter would continue to grow into becoming a warm, empathetic young woman with many friends. The other children in the daycare loved her daughter, especially the older children. They would come up to her when she picked up her daughter, pleading with their teary eyes to let Akari stay longer. In the orphanage, no one wanted to spend time with her.

The doors slammed open. Her three students charged straight towards her. From the only female of the group, she sensed a dark, vile energy rolling off her. The energy, she realized, struck upon every negative emotion inside of her. Rage. That all-consuming rage when Ino told her in the darken lights of the bar about the fetus in Sakura's belly and how the child was Sasuke; her loving boyfriend of 3 years. Grief. The never-ending grief of knowing her boyfriend had cheated on her with Sakura, the knowledge that her own father had a role to play in the destruction of her childhood. Despair. Oh, the despair of knowing that she was going to have a daughter and that it had been too late for her to abort her child. She had been trembling and crying as the doctor kindly told her that yes, she was having a child. That it was too late for her to abort the girl at that late stage of pregnancy. Kurama reassured her of the differences, but she had demanded to know how he didn't tell her about her own pregnancy.

"What do you think I am, Naruto? A pregnancy test?"

She spent two months in Mount Myoboku, numbed and terrified of the potential consequence while Gamakichi and the other toads tried to reassure her, telling her that there were options for her. She expected the world to tremble, expected Kurama to feel suffocated by the chains, but he hadn't moved an inch. He had been relaxed. Her seal hadn't weakened because the fox desired to remain inside of her. In some ways, he showed her that her pregnancy was truly different from her mother and Mito. The pain. She shuddered. Oh, there was no way to describe the pain. Having the Chidori shoved into her chest had been executing pain. But childbirth? A thousand times worse; it felt like every nerve in her body being ripped away. She swore that day that she would never ever be that reckless in getting that drunk ever again.

"Sensei, did we catch you in a bad time?"

Yuuji's voice broke in on her memories and brought her back to reality. She realized she gripped her pen so tightly to the point where the pen whimpered and pleaded for release. She gave her students a smile and lowered her notepad. "No, I was doing some personal work for myself," she swirled the chair towards them and offered them a serene smile. "What's up?"

There was relief on Sasaki's face. The girl gave her a warm smile and pulled out a wooden box from her pocket. "We found this in the thermoshed," The girl slid the box towards her and gave a hopeful, eager smile to her. "And we wonder if you might know anything about this box?"

"You wanna know if I know anything about this box, do ya?" She repeated. They nodded, and Naruto lifted the box up in the air, inspecting it with squinted eyes and a weary heart. That vile energy? It came from this ancient oak box. It pulsed and rippled in the air, growing larger and larger with each passing minute. There were characters on the box, carefully designed and patterned in a way that mimicked seals. From above them, she saw those creatures lurked once more. Their eyes darkened with hunger and bloodlust, their limbs eagerly trying to snatch the box from her hand. Yet the moment her eyes met them, they withdrew from her. When she was pregnant with Akari, those creatures had lurked in the shadows and tried to attack her as if they sensed how special her daughter was. Placing the box back onto the table, she inspected the intrinsic seals on the box. Weak and pitiful. That was how she would describe the shoddy work of the seal.

Closing her eyes, she considered carefully what she could gleam from the box. Seals were used for a variety of reasons. They could be used in combination to form chains like her mother and Karin could do. Unfortunately, she held no understanding of whether she could activate the Kekkei Genkei or not. What she did know was that she held a natural affinity to seals and barriers. These seals, she realized, were meant to contain something in but it was doing a terrible job. Of course, if she uttered the truth to these three rascals, they would try to do something completely dangerous.

Acid bubbled up from her stomach and crawled its way up to her throat, leaving a burning sensation to her throat. Naruto swallowed. She lifted the lid of the box. Inside the box, laid a rod-shaped object with strings of paper coated around it. Dark characters were engraved in the cloth; the dark characters were weaved into a distinct, reoccurring pattern. The paper was ancient and easy to rip. A sign, it would rip and unleash whatever it contained. The metallic scent of blood was subtle, almost negligible for normal humans of this part of the world, but for her? It stank. The acid crashed into her stomach. Her stomach cried and whimpered but not from the acid. No, from fear. This object held the promise of a slow, torturous death.

From inside her mind, she felt Kurama stir. She saw his eyes fluttering open, the tiniest glimpse of interest in his dark eyes. He lifted his large head and gazed at her for a moment before letting out a rather ear-shattering yawn. Her head throbbed for a moment. It was strange how this object, how these vile creatures could stir Kurama. He hadn't been this active since the last months of her pregnancy, always trying to reassure her of how her pregnancy would be different. During her last two months of pregnancy, they had grown even closer to each other.

"Kurama, do you have any idea of what my insane, cute students had found?" she asked with weariness and exhaustion. From her actual eyes, she saw her students exchanging glances of excitement. Why couldn't her students be sane and not like anything to do with ghosts? With monsters? Even her baby was smart enough to understand that monsters were terrifying, and she was only one.

Kurama flicked his tail at her and gave her the typical response that she knew he would always give. "Do you believe because I'm so old that I know everything?"

"Don't you?"

The fox yawned. "It isn't something they should play with," he replied, lowering his head once more before he closed his eyes. A signal that he would soon return to his long-anticipated nap. Lucky fox. She couldn't even have the luxury of a nap. He let out another yawn. "That seal," he paused, turned his head away from her, and continued. "Isn't made by someone like you or any member of your mother's clan; they wouldn't have made it so shoddy," he snorted. "If they open that seal, then those creatures that follows you and your daughter will kill everyone to get that object."

Death. That single word yanked her by the throat. Naruto let out a shaky breath, lifted the object once more to the window and then glanced to the photo of her baby. Akari was a brave child but even she feared those vile creatures lurking in the shadow. If this was to be unleashed, then her daughter would be endangered. "Then do you know how I can destroy it?" Her throat tightened. "For the sake of Akari and all the other kids?"

Kurama opened his eyes and stared at her with subtle pity. "If I knew how to destroy it, I would tell you."

With those words, Kurama closed his eyes and let out another loud, exaggerated yawn; a signal that this conversation was over and he could not provide her the resources that she needed. Shaking her head, Naruto twisted and turned the rod once more. The seal was shoddy work. She would have to redo the whole thing and hide the object if she wanted to ensure those vile creatures never laid a finger on it. But how can I undo the seal and not have them attack? She would have to get a babysitter for Akari. Her chest tightened. Before she held her in her hands, she imagined it would be easy not to spend any time with Akari. To be indifferent to her and give her up to a more loving, stable couple. To an orphanage in this country, even. But now? If she wasn't working, she wanted to spend every waking moment with her. Her little flower.

"Sensei?" Yuuji's voice drew her back to reality. Her students were now leaning closer to her, their eyes glowing with so much excitement that she had to question their sanity. Akari was saner than them. Why did she always attract the crazy students? She chuckled. They were her mentally-deranged students, especially Yuuji. Oh, she adored the youngest member of the group. His hair might be the same shade of pink as that insane woman, but there was warmth in him. A warmth that soothed her daughter. If she trusted anyone to watch Akari, it would be Yuuji. She blinked and her student repeated his question. "What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't even use this for your activities," she ignored their chest-fallen looks and glanced at the smiling photo of her baby. Kill everyone. The words rang in her head and she placed the rod object once more into the box. "This isn't one of those toys that my daughter plays with," she swallowed down the lump in her throat and pulled open her drawer with a bang. "This object feels…cursed." That was the right word to describe it.

It should have deter her students but Sasaki and Iguchi bounced in their seats like the deranged, utterly naïve children that they were. "You mean it's actually cursed?" The tone in Sasaki's voice was filled with so much excitement that Naruto felt the urge to shake it out of her. Why? Oh why did she agree to their request of being their supervisor? Oh right, they didn't always need her, and she would have more time with her daughter. Her student reached out for the drawer, only to withdraw her hand when she shot a warning glare at her. "C'mon, Uzumaki-sensei, you don't actually believe in ghosts, do you?" Naruto raised her eyebrows and her student insisted. "It isn't real."

To them, they weren't real but to her? They had always been a frightening possibility. As a child, she heard the subtle whispers of people calling her Kurama. A fox in human form as one mother had dared to whisper right in front of her face. The next day, the woman disappeared and rumor had it that the Hokage dealt with it. Looking back, she knew it wasn't just the Hokage but Danzo as well. She leaned back in her seat and stared down at her burning sun locket. For a young child like her, she would imagine the ghosts of the men and women, who had died against Kurama's hand, and then she would cling onto her blankets with whimpers on her lips. If those vile creatures could exist, then who was to say that ghosts weren't real?

Her stomach remained crumbling. It was easy to see her warnings were going to go to deaf ears, but she still had to warn them. "Whether I believe in ghosts or not isn't the point. I don't want anyone of you to be playing with this when I'm not there to supervise," they opened their mouths and she knew what Iguchi was going to suggest. So she was going to put an end to it. "I cannot hire a babysitter in the last minute just so that you can use this object tonight; my current babysitter is busy."

From the corner of her eye, she saw Yuuji flinch. No doubt, he blamed himself for her inability to find someone to babysit her daughter. She closed her eyes, leaned against her chair, and looked at her drawer once more. She knew what would happen next. Those mentally-deranged students of hers were predictable. They would try to unlock her drawer, steal the box, and wait till nighttime to try and break the seal. I can't take this home with me. She wasn't going to put her baby at risk. Rubbing her chin, she opened the drawer and glanced at Yuuji.

"I'm putting Itadori in charge of this box," Naruto declared. Sasaki and Iguchi were chest-fallen while Yuuji offered her a frown, clearly confused on how the youngest person in the club had been left in charge. She flipped open her notepad and looked straight at the windows, where those creatures lurked by the rails. Their eyes fixated on the box in Yuuji's hand. They wouldn't dare attack him in board daylight. She closed her eyes. "I trust you won't undo the paper on that box," her two older students pouted and she gave them a pointed look. "Trust me, you don't want to undo those papers unless I'm there."

In all honesty, she doubted they would listen to her but she would find out. Out of all her students, Yuuji was the one who would come forward to her and admit the truth. He was a sincere boy. A good trait in this part of the world. In her part of the world? He would be dead. There was only so much sincerity that was allowed in her part of the world, but she would change it. So that her daughter and her generation would be allowed to be sincere, to display their emotions without being mocked.

But first, she needed to figure out what was in that vile box.


The rustic scent of old and new books filled the air as her fingers brushed against the hard spines of the various books. One book. There had to be a book about the object that her students had found. Yet as her eyes took in the various books inside of the library, nothing really stood out to her. Nothing in here screamed ancient. Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line. Scrolls. There has to be one scroll. There should be some ancient scrolls in here, ancient papers that radiated with knowledge and power. Yet standing in front of the rows of the book, nothing really drew her attention.

She scowled. Why did she even bother doing this? Nothing vile lurked here. If she went outside, she would see those creatures that clung to the power. She would taste their hunger but here in this empty library, there was nothing that stirred her. Frustration crept inside of her, probing and needling her skin. She balled her hands into a fist and willed herself not to toss an object to the window. The object was dangerous. There was something being sealed in that object, but what? You can't expect me to believe that they'll be stupid enough to have a sealed object and not have its history? God, she wanted to scream at the librarian.

For a moment, silence settled in the air. It tickled her ears, luring her heart to calm down and soothing her heated skin. She let out another sigh and made her way to one of the empty tables, pulling out the chair. The screeches of her chair pierced through the silence, overwhelming the faint cheers of the students in the school field. Oh how, she wished she could just watch the kids have fun. To hear their laughter and just allow herself to envision her future. Her daughter's future.

Kids that could be allowed to be kids, where they wouldn't be sent on missions that damaged their mental health. Where their eyes would not be haunted of corpses of their loved ones, of their fellow shinobi, of their friends. Where they would have the freedom to choose whether or not they wanted to be shinobi. She stared at the books, lingering on the newer books. I'll change the system. That was her goal. Coming here just reminded her of what she wanted to accomplish. Having her daughter reminded her of what she wanted for the future.

The next generation should never witness what they witnessed; they should grow up being able to cope with the grief that came from being a shinobi.

A door slid opened. The floors creaked, a hint that someone had decided to join her, and the odour of bacteria-filled sweat mingled with the rustic scent. Naruto just inspected the flickering lights, where little figures clung to the light, and ignored the burning sensation of her nose. Their eyes fixated on her; they licked their lips to reveal their fang. She thinned her lips. If it wasn't day time, I would just kill them. But there was no telling if the students could see the rasengan. It wasn't a risk that she wanted to take.

The footsteps grew louder, rumbling the floor. Those creatures scattered away from her, their mouse-like steps mixed and stirred alongside the elephant-like footsteps.

"This was the last place I thought I would find you, Uzumaki-sensei." Naruto looked up and met the dark eyes of Takagi. Her fellow teacher pulled a seat in front of her, wiping his sweaty forehead.

She hummed and allowed a fake cheer to crawl out of her voice box. "Come here to convince me again to try and convince Itadori to join your team again? Cuz I told you that I ain't giving that boy up for your selfish needs, I'll always put my student's needs over any teacher's needs."

The man scowled, clearly unpleased with the reminder that she wasn't going to budge into talking to Itadori. Why would she? The boy was always leaving the club to visit his dying grandfather. He's a good child. From the rumours in the city, it was known that his grandfather threw scatty remarks to everyone, glared at anyone who dared to visit him, and threw objects. She hadn't seen it. Then again, she visited the old man a few times to give him a personal update about his grandson.

All she saw was the lingering cloud of grief and despair around him, saw the subtle love and adoration that he had for his only living relative.

"We got a phone call from the hospital," Takagi informed her. A small grimace was splayed across his face, his voice was gruff and tight as if this was an uncomfortable conversation that he did not want to have with her. Maybe, it wasn't one they wanted to have but it was necessary. "Itadori's grandfather wants to see you since you are the boy's…homeroom teacher."

"Substitute homeroom teacher," she corrected, waving him off. "I'll be back to being the substitute teacher once his teacher gets back from her maternal break."

Takagi just stared at her and let out a heavy sigh.

"It doesn't matter to him Uzumaki, he clearly wants to meet with you." He looked out at the window. "Called you the overly-cheerful blond that doesn't stop sending him updates about his grandson. The one with the cute child."

Overly cheerful? That was a new one. And yes, Akari was adorable. She allowed herself to stretch her lips, a thin smile that broke her cheek muscles, and just gazed at the dull blue skies that looked back at her from the window. Such a dull day. A sign of things to come. There were a lot of things to come if those creatures were of any indication. God, their numbers seemed to be increasing by the year. However, it had been greater nearly two years ago when she had been pregnant with Akari.

"How is the grumpy old man?" she asked, shaking her head. "Did the nurses tell you anything?"

Takagi's eyes became darker. Sullener. Sadder.

"Uzumaki, you must not have seen a lot of death for you to ask that question: we all know that the man is dying and there is nothing that can fix it."

Naruto kept silent—heart heavy and throat tightening just a little bit. She did know. There was a scent of death that clung to Itadori's grandfather. For each visit that she made, she witnessed those full cheeks become even hollower. Observed the portion of food that kept growing, an indicator that he wasn't eating. The common signs of dying. Yet, she wanted the old man to live. To witness his grandson graduate high school.

She drew spirals in the air, the cool air coating her skin for a moment. It danced along her fingers as her mind wandered back to a different time. The library replaced with crumbled buildings. The clean air now smelt of blood, the iron scent bleeding through her nose. Screams. Oh, she could still hear the never-ending screams. Glassless eyes. So many of them. How could she not have witness death? Many of her fellow shinobi dead.

So many orphans created.

"That boy is going to be so lonely when his grandfather passes away," she cleared her throat. "It isn't easy to be an orphan."

Innocent laugher stumbled through the cracks of the library door. Mocking. Not to her. To Itadori. One day he would come through these halls without that bright smile, instead dullness might creak in his lips. In a way, it had. Oh, she witnessed the radiant glow of his smiles fading as each day passed. A growing knowledge that his grandfather, his only guardian, would not live before the end of the school year.

She brushed her finger against her locket, the one gift that she hadn't been willing to throw away. Sentimental reasons. Maybe even bitter reasons. One day, she would find a better replacement. She had to find a new one. This locket should never be gifted to Akari. To be cursed with a locket that used to symbolize love, but now symbolized resentment and bitter irony. A gift belonging to a man, who lied to her. A coward. Her daughter deserved to have a necklace that represented new beginnings.

"It's apart of life," Takagi reminded her. "Death comes for everyone."

Naruto remained silent.

She knew death was the one thing that every human shared. The finishing mark in the race called life. Some people would die a quick death. Others would die an honourable death. Some would die with regrets in their heart and in their mouth. Some people would have a slow, painful death where they begged for the Shinigami to give them release.

For her sake? She wanted to die with her friends around her, with Akari being proud of having her as her mother, and without any regret for the life that she lived.

"It doesn't mean the living doesn't grieve for those who passed. You should pity the living, Takagi."


Akari smiled so brightly and innocently when they entered the hospital room of Yuuji's grandfather. Naruto smiled faintly, watching her daughter, who dashed straight towards the vase filled with flowers of red, yellow, and white with her white teddy bear in her hand. The sight of her hyperactive toddler climbing up the chair, chubby fingers caressing the flowers, allowed her for a brief moment to forget about the overwhelming odor of ammonia. To forget the memories of her laying on the hospital bed, her nose poisoned with the horrible odor of ammonia. It was everywhere and thankfully; it never ruined her nose. But there was also a second scent in the room. A scent so familiar to her: death. Such a subtle scent known to man. Known to shinobi like her. It would be years before her daughter could become familiar with this rotten scent.

Closing the door behind her with a soft click, Naruto stared at the old man that laid on the hospital bed. The golden sunrays gave him grace, a subtle warning of what would come to him. Even from where she stood, she saw the hollow cheeks. The dull eyes. In his bedstand, there was a tray of food. Plain white rice with grilled fish. Nourishing food that had barely been eaten. Not even a single spoon. It could be a matter of days, maybe even hours before the man would close his eyes for the final time. The thought brought a grimace. Her stomach churned and she looked at her sweet daughter. In one part of the room, life was about to end, while another part of the room, held a toddler who barely started her young life.

She strolled to the lone seat near the bed and settled on the hard, wooden chair. "You called for me, Old Man?" she said the last two words with a chirp. "I didn't think you would be so happy to see me again from yesterday," he only twisted his body away from her, his eyes stared dully at the windows, at her daughter still playing with the flowers while her white teddy bear dangled on the ground. "But I think you wanted to see Akari, didn't you?"

Her daughter looked away and focused her attention on them. "Mama?"

"Everything is fine, sweetie," she reassured her daughter with a gentle, soothing voice. Akari stared at them for a moment, her violet eyes focused on the dying man in the bed. Her face twisted into sadness, and it was not long before her child went back to staring at the flowers, babbling whatever nonsense that 1-year-olds would babble. She looked away from her daughter and devoted her attention to the old man looking at her daughter. There was emptiness, regret, and resignation in his eyes. Regret? She supposed he missed the days when his child had been like Akari, so beautifully innocent and so beautifully small.

The old man continued to stare and said in a grouchy tone. "You shouldn't have brought your daughter to see a dying old man."

There was some truth behind his words but she knew Akari would not recall witnessing an old man with hollow cheeks, dull eyes and the growing scent of death. To her daughter, these would be distant memories for her just like her own memories were. She offered him an easy-going smile. "Maybe but I thought you would like seeing her," she confessed with her eyes devoted on the beautiful flowers sitting on the vase; the ones Yuuji must have picked. "I know it isn't obvious right now but my daughter likes you."

"She likes everyone just like her mother," the old man grumbled with a scowl. He wasn't truly upset with her, just grumpy about the situation that he was in. His tone softened when his eyes focused on the toddler. "You should enjoy her like this," his tone softened into grief. "It won't be long before you find yourself in my position with a grandchild and a child, who would never take your advice."

Naruto maintained a smile and swallowed the lump in her throat. "I find it hard to believe she's 1," her eyes became just a little bit misty, her vision a little bit blurred. "It felt like yesterday when I held her in my arms, marveling just how tiny she was," she chuckled and wiped her eyes. "Now she just wants to explore the world," she laughed. "She might actually do that when she becomes an adult."

The old man surveyed her daughter, an odd grief and regret lit his eyes. "Where's the father?" she remained silent and the old man pressed on, almost knowingly. "Does he know about your daughter? Or have you kept him in the dark?"

Naruto's tongue became heavy. Her tongue glued to the roof of her tongue. The father, she realized numbly. The unknown man, who had been her attempt to feel better about herself. To forget for one wild moment of the never-ending grief that Sasuke had betrayed her in the worst possible way. For that night, she did forget about Sasuke. About Sakura. About the child growing in Sakura's womb; the reminder of her partner's betrayal. From her hazy memories, she recalled him telling her that neither of each other would call each other. That this was not a relationship, and if she was okay with it. She remembered smiling and telling him that was what she needed. To ensure it became true, she left in the middle of the night while he slept. One good memory for her. Except her reckless behavior ended up with her getting pregnant. She closed her eyes and rubbed her aching temple. The father deserved to know but she didn't want a scenario like her former teammates, where there was one-sided love. Except hers would have been worse. It would have been a marriage lacking any form of love.

"He was some pretty man I met in a bar, a rebound from my ex-boyfriend cheating on me," she confessed with a bitter smile. It was better, she decided, to confess the truth about Akari's father to a dying man with no friends than to a living man with friends. The living tended to gossip while the dying was focused more on enjoying every precious second, they had. "I didn't take his number and he didn't take mine," she grimaced. "I obviously didn't think I would ever need to see him again since I wasn't planning to get knocked up."

The old man stared distantly at the window. No, she realized, at her daughter. "You should tell him about his child," his voice became dull and worn. "And if he chooses not to be involved, you can tell your daughter the truth without any regret," he sighed and turned to focus his dark dull eyes on her. "Every child deserves to know their origins, to know something about their parents, even if they claimed to not want to know the truth."

There was only silence as the heavy words echoed in the room. Naruto fiddled with her locket and closed her eyes. Oh, he spoke blunt words that she already knew from experience. Like her daughter, she didn't have a father. She had been unaware of whom she resembled while growing up. There had been subtle clues on the Hokage Monument, on the photos of the previous Hokage, but to a hated child like her, it felt like something from a story. Unbelievable and cruel. She remembered the days, where she sat on the swing and wondered if her parents had loved her. She recalled laying on her cold wooden floors, drawing images of parents that she never knew. Her mother, she recalled drawing, would have her golden hair while her eyes would have come from her father. It would then switched every time. Her daughter would have the pleasure of knowing what one parent looked like, would have the pleasure of knowing what her maternal grandparents looked like, but her father? It would be an unfair mystery to her. She sighed.

"I've been in that situation," she admitted with a tired voice. He stared at her with blank eyes, and she admitted. "My parents died on the day I was born," there was sympathy in Itadori's grandfather eyes and she looked away. "I didn't know their names until I was 16 and the people who should've told me kept me in the dark," she exhaled and leaned against the chair. "In some ways, I understood but like you said, every child deserves to know their origins because it gives a clue to the bigger picture; it gives them a sense of identity as well." She looked at her smiling, oblivious daughter. "I'll look for him and I'll tell him about Akari, for both their sake." She chuckled. "That's going to be fun, don't you think? Yo, remember that one night we had? Well congratulations, you're a Dad." Naruto snorted. "The guy is going to freak out and run."

For the first time in months, the old man laughed. "Men tend to have these reactions," his voice became bitter. "I wish my son had that reaction when his partner announced her pregnancy," she blinked and the old man released a heavy sigh. "Yuuji is a blessing but his mother, that vile snake," he coughed and clutched his blanket as his eyes radiated with anger, "was not someone fit to be a mother. At first, she was so kind but then she got into that accident, we thought she died," he looked at the ceiling, "and then she popped out of nowhere, behaving different; evil and manipulative. It was like she was possessed," Naruto stiffened and watched as the old man scoffed. "It wasn't long before she became pregnant with Yuuji, my dimwit of a son was overjoyed and unaware that his kind wife was no longer there; the car crash changed her in the worst way," he exhaled and looked at the window. "I knew it was his life but I knew Kaori would be the one to kill him," his voice became bitter. "I was right. That snake disappeared, and Yuuji was left to be raised by me."

Naruto kept silent. "Why are you telling me this?" she looked at her daughter, who was now staring at them with steady, brave eyes. Any other child would have whimpered and wept at the cruel tone but not her daughter. She pressed on. "This is something Yuuji should hear from you," she steadied her voice. "He deserves to know this, not me."

He looked straight at her. "I know my grandson and I know he'll refuse to hear the truth," he let out a shaky breath and admitted with a grief-stricken voice. "My time in this world is running out, Uzumaki." His voice became choked up. "I fear leaving this world and that my grandson will never know the truth because he's being a stubborn mule," they shared a snort and his eyes levelled with her. "I'm going to die tonight," his voice became bitter. "I can feel it in my bones. I can see my wife waving her hand at me, beckoning me to join her," Naruto's eyes became misty as his voice hardened. "Last night, I had a dream about Jin, telling me that I was right. That the woman who gave birth to Yuuji only resembled Kaori because the real Kaori? She died that night," his voice became grief-stricken. "I want him to know the truth no matter what, even if he refuses to listen because this is a part of his identity."

There were no words she could say to sooth this distressed man. What could she say? What did a person say in this situation? It sounded surreal. It was like a horror story. But in her world, it was a reality. Fear gripped her by the heart, pushing it to race, as her eyes focused on Akari. Her child clung to the teddy, violet eyes entirely fearful, and Naruto went straight towards her. She cradled her trembling daughter and stared at the misty-eyed sounded like Orochimaru's technique but nothing like it at all. When Orochimaru did it, he wanted to gain the techniques of people. But Yuuji? Why have a child and abandon him? What would be a plan for that? She couldn't think of one.

But she did know Yuuji was in danger.

"I'll tell him," She agreed with a heavy tongue. Combing her daughter's silky hair, Naruto focused her attention on the old man. "But why did you trust me? Is it just because Yuuji will listen to me?" When she felt her daughter tugging on her sleeve, she looked down to meet the determined eyes of her daughter. With a chuckle, she put Akari down and pressed on with a steady voice. "Old man, why me?"

Turning away from her, the old man confessed. "Because I want you to take my place in guiding that boy," he looked to the vase, "I know you're similar to Jin and my wife, caring so much about strangers even when they don't deserve it," he closed his eyes and inhaled. "You gave him back the family dinners that I could no longer give him," his voice became softer. "You teach him the meaning of flowers and discuss different cuisines with him," she remained silent as teary eyes met her own. "You visited me with that beautiful child of yours even when I didn't deserve it," his voice hardened once more and he rubbed his eyes. "I would die with ease, knowing that my grandson is being guided by a woman like you. A kind woman," her heart stopped and he looked at her with dull eyes. "He's so much like his father but I fear he would lose sight on what life should be about: being around people, helping them like his father had, but I also don't want him to think his life is meant for one person," he let out a shaky breath. "I still want him to think his life means something because when Kaori left, my son lost all reason to live."

In another world, she would have protested if she hadn't known this reasoning, but now? Her heart ached for this elderly man while her mind raced with concern for Yuuji. The idea of his mother not being his mother rang alarm bells inside her brain. It tempted her to contact Karin. To contact Orochimaru. She gazed at her daughter, her sweet daughter who was crying for the old man. The old man winced and turned, a scowl on his lips. It was embarrassment and guilt, she knew. Shaking her head, Naruto scooped her daughter into her arms, patting her on the back and hummed the vague lullabies she recalled her mother singing to her in her memories. The final one she allowed her to do before she had been ripped away from her. Letting out a shaky breath, she looked at the birds on the tree branch.

"If you haven't told me that whole story, I would have said no," she admitted with a quiet voice. Her eyes flickered to the cursed locket on her neck and then to the still man before her. "But I love Yuuji and I know loneliness," her eyes looked down at her toddler, who slowly stopped sobbing. "And I know he shouldn't be alone because no child should be alone, should not know the truth but I can't tell him the truth until I know the whole story," she admitted. "I think there's more to what happened to his mother."

The man remained silent.

"Do as you wish but I don't want him to be alone," he exhaled and looked her in the eye. His final plea to her, she realized. "He shouldn't be the one to raise himself; I don't want him to have the burden of burying me with my wife and son."

She smiled dimly. "I know." He would not be the first body she would bury, and she doubted he would be the last.

For the first time in months, the old man smiled and closed his eyes. Her daughter wiggled in her hold, a plea for her to let her go. Naruto smiled and placed her daughter on the ground, watching with a heavy heart as Akari dashed straight to the old man. With a bright smile on her lips, the toddler climbed onto the bed and hugged him. It earned another laugh. For a brief moment, her mind wandered back to her own childhood when she attempted to hug the matron. The old woman had smacked her hard on the cheek for daring to touch her. But this old man for all his bitterness and rage, smiled and hugged her daughter back.

The beauty of the moment was ruined by the ringtone of her phone. Just the two of us. That was the normal ringtone she put on her phone, an unfamiliar song that her daughter seemed to enjoy dancing to. She allowed the phone to ring for a moment or two, watching with a chuckle on her lips as her daughter squirmed her little body to the tune. Chuckling, she stared at them for another moment before pressing on the answer aspect of her phone.

"What's up, Yuuji?" She asked, keeping her eyes focused on the old man who kept smiling at her adorable daughter. There was soft whispers between them, her daughter babbling about Snuggles to the man. There was a light of acceptance in his eyes, a relief that his grandson would now be in the right hands. Warmth grew in her belly. That was her doing. She smiled and repeated herself. "C'mon Yuuji, what's up?"

The boy remained silent for another moment and then cleared his throat. "I just wanna let you know that Setsuko-senpai and Iguchi-senpai are going to try to do the thing that you told them not to do."

Naruto kept silent and reigned in her temper. Deep breaths. That was what she had to do. Except, her blood boiled up and her stomach crumbled when she thought of Kurama's words. Those beasts. They would try to kill her daughter if they took whatever was in that box. Another deep breath and she studied the old man. The strength in his face was rapidly fading away. His eyelids were dropping. The scent of death grew stronger. It seemed like it wouldn't be long before he took his final breath.

"I'll deal with those two," she reassured him as her eyes rested on her smiling daughter. "But I need you to watch my daughter for me." She held the quick intake of breath, a sign of protest. "And don't worry about seeing your grandfather; Akari and me are here…so you can spend time with him while you watched her for me."

Yuuji let out a shaky breath. "Why did you go see Gramps?"

"Hmm, I'll tell you when you go back to my apartment," Naruto looked at the sleeping old man and added. "And tonight, you won't return to your gramps' place," she paused and considered her next choice of words. "I don't know when I'll be back but it'll be late enough that you won't be able to go back home."

There was a cruelty of her telling her student about the potential of his grandfather dying tonight. It was a conversation meant to be seen face-to-face, not over the phone.

She just hoped she would return before the old man shut his eyes for the final time.


A/N: Please do let me know of your thoughts about this chapter.