A/N: Re-written as of April 11th 2024
Its like Midnight and I can't sleep, and it's probably a ridiculous time to put this up, but here I am doing it anyway. I just read it back over and updated some things and just decided that I didn't feel like waiting, especially since after this I'll be busy until Monday at least and might miss getting up in the window I figured if I don't post it now (but only by a day).
On another note, to all those Canadian (and anyone else who has thanksgiving this weekend) readers, hope you have great thanksgiving this weekend! Mid October into early November tends to be really busy for me though, so it might take longer to get the next chapter up after this one. I'm shooting to get it up on or before the 22nd.
Hope you all enjoy~
Chapter XIV: Message
"Are you tired, Makiko?" Shikatsu mirrored the question his wife had asked her brother only a minute or two ago.
That hadn't been what she'd expected. At all. When he'd asked Minato to assist in cleaning up after the meal, effectively leaving her alone with the two jōnin, she'd been expecting it was her turn to be interrogated. Aside from that it had always been Inokai who had asked questions about her and her brother's well being among the two men.
However this could be her way to escape from the questions for the time being. Should she though? She'd need to get it over with eventually wouldn't she? Yes. She would. Sooner was better than later.
She puffed out her cheeks and huffed out, "Not tired," doing her best to sound petulant about it.
"Would you like to play a little game with me then?" The Nara inquired evenly, with no real outward reaction to her protest of the notion of being tired.
Again she hadn't been expecting this, and she blinked in confusion. "Game?"
Shikatsu nodded simply. "I heard you have learned how to count a little."
Count? Was he suspecting her of lying on how knowledgeable she was, and trying to catch her?
"Can count to FOUR!" she declared, though she was rather confused about where he was going with this.
"That's impressive," Inokai declared from where he sat across from her. She didn't want to look away from Nara but she knew she needed to acknowledge the praise so she had to. Makiko turned to the other blond and put on a huge smile.
Somehow she managed to keep it in place when Masato's voice rang out in her mind. "What's happening Maki?"
"Can you tell me how many Yamanaka are in this house?" Shikatsu suddenly asked her.
"Shikaku has suggested some sort of game actually, to do with numbers," she thought back to her twin. "Two," Makiko went on to reply without even thinking about it, and then realized she should have made a show of it. Damn it.
"Did you just mess up?"
She didn't grace that with a response yet. Maybe she hadn't really messed up. It was probably fine, right?
"How many Nara?"
"Um," she couldn't really make a show of thinking about it now considering it was along a similar vein and given how quickly she'd answered before it wouldn't make as much sense for her to struggle here. However there was the fact that Kaho-san was in the house, though she'd never been introduced as a Nara. However Shikaku had called her mother. She wasn't sure if she should say two or three… Maybe both. "Two or three?"
"Three," Shikaku supplied, his expression still unchanging. He was giving her nothing.
No, that wasn't true. She could feel that neither man was… tense. They were interested. Very interested. That was about all she could feel though. Nothing to indicate why. There was nothing that felt like it could be a bad thing for her however.
"I think it might be okay. They don't feel… accusing or anything like that." She finally replied to her fellow time traveler.
"Namikaze?" Shikatsu just proceeded to the next question. This one should be seen as just as easy as the other two had been, if not more so.
"Three," she replied without missing a beat, and a big smile on her face.
"Maki" Masato was calling to her insistently.
"How many Namikaze have you met?"
She stared. That was a more complicated question. Masato was trying to get her to respond, but this required her to think about what to say, and she ignored him for the time being. Makiko screwed up her face as she considered how to reply. The answer was three of course, but then she could only actually guess that her mother was a Namikaze. What if she and Masato weren't actually Namikaze because the name came from Minato's father? She had no idea. Haruka could have just given them the name in hopes that they would find their brother, not because she was a Namikaze herself.
But was it that unreasonable for her to think her mother was a Namikaze? If she said three and it was technically wrong she could play that mistake off as her simply not knowing better, couldn't she?
"Three," she finally replied. Makiko kept her gaze on Shikatsu for any sign of how he took her answer and how long it had taken to give. Of course there was nothing. The atmosphere of the room didn't change either.
"Hey, Maki! Earlier you told me to think the questions at you… seriously, I'd like to know what they are asking!"
"How many girls are in the house?"
She had to keep herself from grimacing at Masato's annoyed accusation as Shikaku went right on to his next question. What was the purpose of all this she wondered. Still, she gave her answer easily. "Two."
"Sorry. I'll do that from now on. So far They've asked how many Nara, How many Yamanaka, how many Namikaze and how many girls are in the house. And how many Namikaze I've met." She finally provided to her brother.
Masato's reply was instant.
"Fuck."
And then it occurred to her that Shikatsu was testing her ability to remember features of others. Things that defined them. In other words, her ability to retain information. Shit. Now that she'd shown she could manage these things she couldn't exactly stop doing it flat out.
"Fucking hell I messed up…"
"Too late now. We'll think of something." Masato didn't sound as sure as his words, but what else did they have? At least for the moment it didn't seem like either of the adults were on guard.
"How many blonds?"
Wait. He just asked her something he knew was beyond what she claimed to count. Was he trying to trip her up and prove she could count higher than she claimed? Did he realize she knew a lot more than she let on? How did she get out of it?
"You've got to stick to four."
Well she knew that. It wasn't really an option there. But that didn't really help her either.
She puffed out her cheeks in a pout to try and gain more time, and pulled up her hands to look at them. The two men were watching her so closely. She could feel them analyzing her. At a loss for what to do she counted with her fingers.
And then stared at the fact that for some reason she'd kept her thumb and index finger tucked in on her right hand and raised her middle and ring finger on her left hand rather than the full five fingers of one hand.
"Girl, how many fingers is this?" Haruka held up three fingers on one hand, and two on the other, her hands raised before her so that the palms faced the girl, and there were two hand lengths between them.. The three fingers were raised on the hand to her right, and the two on the hand to her left.
"Three and Two!" the small child chirped.
"Three and Two?" Shikatsu's voice cut through the memory, and the air around her grew heavier. It wasn't menacing or anything… well it wasn't that he was trying to be menacing at least. It was more like he'd only been half focused on her before, but now he had leveled her with his full attention. Inokai on the other hand now felt seriously thoughtful.
"Maki, you can't speak without thinking! We just got out of when I did that!"
And Makiko realized with a sense of dread that she'd said the words she'd spoken in the memory when she'd been caught up in it. But it wasn't her memory exactly, because until just now she couldn't remember this having happened. She didn't remember actually being taught how to count by Haruka. Now there seemed to be a plethora of counting memories in her subconscious that she couldn't quite make sense of.
"Three and Two," she repeated, because she honestly had no choice. "Masato do you remember being taught how to count by Ka-san?" She thought to her brother, because she seriously needed his back up. "Um, Ni-san, Masa-nii and Maki," She counted down the three fingers as she listed off the individuals. This was the only way she could try and play it off after all. "Inoichi-san and Inokai-san."
"I didn't"
She didn't really like that response. The implication that it seemed he now could recall instances of it, while he knew that he hadn't before. Just like she herself. What could that possibly mean?
She didn't have time to try and figure it out right now.
Inokai raised his hands, and her eyes moved to them on their own accord.
Maki wasn't seeing his hands however. Again an image of Haruka's skeletal ones had been conjured, holding up one finger to her right, and three to her left. The hands were almost touching each other.
"One Three."
The world around her seemed to be fading slowly away, everything dark but seemingly her mothers hands before her. Hands moving, fingers going up and down.
One two oh and three two two and four two one and one four three one and four. Stop. Take a breath. Count to four silently in your head. And then continue.
It continued on and on it seemed. A string of sequences, shown with thin fingers and accurately judging the distance between the hands. Sometimes it felt as if the pale digits were moving faster and faster until everything blurred together. And yet always there was the movement of her own lips in response. It just continued. Before, finally, even the hands faded away into the darkness and she knew no more.
Of course things continued to grow more troublesome. What had he honestly expected?
Minato had been sent along with him to clear the dishes and help his mother, until she had decided she didn't want them in the kitchen and sent them off to check on Masato. As in, not to go back to where Makiko was. Minato had not at all been happy with that and he had thought for a moment he'd have to drag the other genin along.
But then he heard Inoichi calling to the toddler he'd taken to the bathroom in concern, and off Minato went.
They'd found Inoichi and Masato just a few steps outside of the bathroom, Masato standing still and his eyes glazed over. Inoichi had shot him a look that told him there was more to this than the boy just suddenly spacing out.
More meant that there was something wrong with the boy. He didn't look flushed from fever, nor was his breathing labored from sickness or some sort of stress. So what did that leave him with? Something that Inoichi could pick up on when there was no obvious sign as to what was wrong…
A change in Masato's chakra. Problem with that theory was that the most likely cause of that was genjutsu. And how the hell could that be? What did that mean? An intruder in the village?
Maybe it wasn't so bad as that, but if genjutsu was the reason then it certainly wasn't in any way a good thing.
And then Masato had started to rattle off a series of numbers. The string consisted of numbers from one through four, dotted with occasional oh's he figured meant zero, consecutively or separated with 'and's. As the boy stringed these numbers together in a monotone, Shikaku committed them all to memory while continuing to try and puzzle out just what was going on here.
Just like that, this whole little Namikaze twin business got a whole lot more convoluted. Even as he obtained a critical piece to tell him what was really going on. Every piece of intel he'd had before led down paths of possibilities that seemed to continue to divaricate to the point that he couldn't come to even a few firm, but varying theories.
Now however he had a few directions he could focus on, leading him to three feasible suppositions that stood out from the rest. He could be wrong with these theories, but if he wasn't then this changed things.
As soon as Masato stopped speaking and slumped forward, Minato blurring to the toddler to catch him, Shikaku fixed his gaze back on Inoichi.
"There wasn't one," Inoichi spoke softly, answering the question that he'd had before he spoke it. No trigger? No, no immediately obvious trigger, as there had to be a trigger. Not his second option then. He could only hope that it also wasn't the third.
He pursed his lips, and turned away from the trio of other boys to head back to the dining room. If he was right on either count after all then he needed to pass along the sequence to his father. Even if he lacked a key piece of information regarding it.
As he arrived the shōji slid open with a thwack before he could reach out to it. Inokai-san came out, holding an unconscious Makiko. His eyes snapped to the girl to study her features. There was no real sign of some sort of duress there… she appeared asleep honestly.
But given the timing… it couldn't be a coincidence could it? Could the trigger have possibly somehow come from Makiko? Was that possible?
He couldn't say it wasn't plausible, given how Masato had earlier shown some sort of sensitivity to what the girl was feeling. The boy had even realized where Makiko was and had refused to be convinced otherwise.
The smallest sunshine blonde guests in his home were simply not the typical set of young siblings.
"Old man, you need to hear this." He spoke flatly as Inokai stepped around him, leaving him looking at his father sitting at the table in deep thought.
The older Nara's sober countenance remained unchanged. His father didn't so much as open his eyes to look at him, simply gesturing him into the room with the smallest of movements of his left hand. If he hadn't been analyzing Shikatsu's demeanor so carefully he wouldn't even have noticed it.
He hesitated for a moment. But he knew now was not the time to be taciturn or reticent.
Shikaku closed the shōji behind him as he stepped fully into the room.
Minato looked worriedly at his younger brother in his arms. When Makiko had collapsed without warning she'd had a terrible fever. But he'd already felt for a temperature. It seemed that Masato was just sleeping… but a toddler didn't just fall asleep while standing with no warning at all, right?
"Looks like both your little siblings have exhausted themselves." Inokai's kindly voice had drawn his attention, and he turned to see the man. Holding an apparently slumbering Makiko.
Minato wanted to glare balefully at the Yamanaka. That was… a dismissal that something was wrong. Both twins were unconscious, and seemingly it had happened at the same time. He held Masato closer to him subconsciously.
"Let's get them settled into their futon for the night. It's been a very eventful day for them," the man continued in the same tone, with that same smile that he was growing to heavily dislike.
Minato wanted to protest. Because he wanted answers. But it actually was better to get the twins settled in first before he tried to go after them. So he stiffly nodded, and turned from Inokai to head back to the room the twins had slept in earlier.
The futon was still laid out, but atop it were two small jinbei sets he figured was sleeping attire laid out by Kaho-san, and a note he barely glanced at as he gently set Masato down.
You can keep the jinbei. I've gathered some other old clothes from our relatives if you'd like as well.
He should thank her later.
For now he concentrated on undressing Masato, who really did seem like he was just sleeping… And yet, it wasn't right.
And what about Makiko?
Concern overtook him, and he looked sharply over at Makiko who was being dressed in a jinbei with an apricot and salmon quatrefoil pattern by Inokai. The man caught his gaze and smiled reassuringly, a look he almost wanted to knock off the Jōnin's face. "There's no fever."
He allowed himself a sigh of relief before he finished undressing Masato by pulling off his pants. That done, he carefully slide the chevron striped, umber and burnt orange jinbei top onto his brother before sliding on the matching shorts.
Inokai pulled the cover of the futon back, and they settled the twins next to each other. As if sensing each other's warmth they instantly turned inward to face one another, snuggling closer together. He would have been able to recognize it as adorable if he wasn't so high strung right now.
He could tell that the Yamanaka was molding chakra. Even though he appeared quite relaxed. The oldest Namikaze grit his teeth for a moment, before breathing in deeply.
"What happened?" He honestly had tried to sound neutral rather than let any of his current frustration and wariness show in his voice. He didn't quite succeed, making him sound annoyed, but just that was better than broadcasting everything else he was feeling at the moment.
"I can't give you all the details," the man stated simply, but just telling him that was more than Minato had expected. He'd thought the man would shrug him off and give him some honestly weak explanation for why whatever happened had happened. "At some point a subtle genjutsu seems to have been placed on the twins which we triggered in conversation with Makiko."
Genjutsu. He hadn't wanted to entertain that thought, even though he had sensed a change in Masato's chakra after catching the exchange of looks between Inokai and Shikaku just before the boy had started spouting off numbers. He just hadn't wanted to believe it… because the chances of that being a bad thing for the future of the twins was just too high.
Minato clenched his fists on his knees, still staring Inokai down. But the man offered no further explanation. He got the impression Inokai had only told him this much because the man was very much aware that Minato could figure it out on his own.
So who could have placed it on them? An enemy? One of those who had been pursuing his mother? But when could they have possibly gotten the chance? Haruka wouldn't have allowed it. It would have had to have been by someone not openly hostile when they were on the run from, supposedly, the father of Masato and Makiko. Or before they'd even gone on the run.
There were too many unknowns.
However there was also the possibility it had been his mother herself. He preferred that option by far, and fervently hoped it was true. She had been rather talented that way, he recalled. But why place toddlers in a genjutsu that would make them rattle off numbers when it was triggered later on?
Information.
If Namikaze Haruka was the caster, then the genjutsu… the numbers, was some sort of message. A message he might only have half of, as he'd missed whatever Makiko had said.
Shikaku had gone to tell his father Masato's portion.
Minato forced his body to relax. "I see. It won't cause them any harm will it?" He made himself ask the question as calmly as he could. What if there were other messages? (He really didn't want to entertain the though that this wasn't what it was). Other things that would trigger them and leave the twins incapacitated afterwards?
"No," the clan head told him with palpable confidence in the answer.
He nodded stiffly.
"There isn't anything else I can tell you," Inokai blocked off any more questions he might have with those words. But there was the way he'd stressed the word I. So maybe someone else could. "Get some rest Minato. You look like you've hardly slept a wink in four days, and you've got a busy day ahead of you."
With those words Inokai got to his feet and quickly left the room, before he could try and ask him anything else. He stared at the shōji that had snapped shut behind the Jonin for several long minutes, pondering over their short conversation.
Was it really just because he knew Minato could have figured out a genjutsu was involved that he'd offered up any information? Or was it because he was told he could offer this information? Inokai had been molding chakra, and the Yamanaka's jutsu had to do with the mind. Could he have been talking to someone else?
Shikatsu? Or maybe the Hokage?
It could easily be either. Or both. Maybe even Jiraiya sensei. But beyond those three options, he didn't figure the man would have been in contact with anyone else. Aside from maybe his wife, because she was more an expert on children than he was… but whatever he could say to her would be limited at this point most likely. Meaning it would be harder for her to give any sort of advice. He was fairly certain that this matter was being treated as a need to know affair, given the anbu that escorted them into town, the orders not to talk to anyone about the twins given to his teammates, the demand for a guard to be placed on them in the hospital, and a plethora of other little signs.
Absently he got to his feet so he could lay out the second Futon that had been placed in the room, a grey striped jinbei that was probably one of Shikaku's atop it.
Of course the fact that Shikaku and Inoichi had been involved slightly contradicted the situation being need to know. Only marginally though, as the two boys were, supposedly, under the control of their fathers. One might be able to argue the same for Inokai's wife.
Minato sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose after he finished with the futon.
For being Shinobi, the life of a leaf genin had been pretty straight forward. You didn't have clearance to know anything really. Go on missions, follow orders and protocols. You didn't make decisions but followed the orders of someone else. Of course you had to be alert, and you had to be prepared for the unexpected. As far as that went however, you were prepared to follow the orders of your superior in unexpected situations, and to follow protocols when there was no superior to give you those instructions.
Minato stripped off his track suit in favor of the garment provided him, as it would be a lot more comfortable to sleep in than his shinobi gear. He knew he needed a good rest. The kind one couldn't get on missions.
Some older genin might be a bit of an exception to a life of straightforward duties, but typically that was how it was. And for him, that was how it had been since he'd made genin. In fact, aside from the two times his entrance into the academy had been delayed, his entire life had been rather straightforward.
He had always known he was going to go to the academy to be a Shinobi, even though his parents had assured him if he changed his mind he could go back to the Namikaze roots. That he could be merchant if he wanted to. He never once considered that a real option for himself.
Tiredly he slipped into the futon, turning on his side so he could look at the sleeping figures of his brother and sister. Reassure himself that yes, they were there and they were fine. For the moment.
It was undeniable that the delays of that had had an effect on him, but rather than give up on being a shinobi he'd aimed his sights even higher. Graduate in a year with the top marks to make up for the delay. Then quickest promotion to jōnin since his father, a homage to the man he still missed dearly. And then the goal was Hokage, in the aftermath of his mother's defection.
He'd always had a goal in mind that kept him focused. Sure he had a few minor goals along the way, but most of them were all to further his end goal. Or conditional of reaching a milestone.
Such as confessing to Kushina.
Now however?
In the course of only four days he found himself right smack dab in the middle of a web of complexity surrounding his family that he needed to desperately get a grasp on before it was too late. And he might have to do it without having all the information.
Granted the goal was still pretty straightforward. Keep the Namikazes together.
Accomplishing it could be anything but.
"Sandaime-sama, I have an urgent report."
When Inokai had suddenly made contact with him using one of the Yamanaka techniques, Hiruzen had been in the middle of a conversation with his wife, involving how their infant son was doing.
The boy had been born prematurely after all. Biwako was in the midst of explaining that the med-nin at the hospital had finally rescinded their advice not to name the child in case he didn't make it.
"I'm glad to hear it, Biwako," he said softly, but judging by the slight annoyance on her face he knew she could tell his focus wasn't really properly there anymore. "But I'm afraid something has come up."
The woman sighed heavily, and he braced himself for the chance that she would choose ire over understanding. "Try and get this done before tomorrow, will you?" She did sound slightly irritated, but it was not enough to be alarmed.
He nodded, and smiled apologetically at his wife. "I will strive to do so."
"Just get on with it Hiruzen," the brunette woman shot back with a dismissive wave of her hand.
He stood and left the room to head to his office without another word. Lingering anymore was likely to just annoy Biwako, and in any case he needed to deal with this matter quickly. First however he secluded himself in his private office at home before he made contact. "Report."
"We have reason to believe the twins possess the Namikaze Kekkei genkai alluded to in the restricted clan records."
Hiruzen had allowed himself to sigh as he considered going back to the Hokage tower with this news. He couldn't say it was unexpected that this could be true… but he hadn't expected there to be signs of it now when the twins were still so young. Then again, there wasn't much information recorded on the kekkei genkai of the Namikaze clan.
There wasn't much recorded about the true face of the Namikaze clan to begin with. On the surface they'd been a merchant clan that had somehow managed to keep itself a float during the time of clan wars, through water transportation of all methods. Once the shinobi villages had started forming, they'd been a primarily Uzushio clan, strictly of merchants there, or so it seemed. With members gradually settling in Konoha, where they didn't hesitate to allow their children to be shinobi if they wanted, the clan had seemed to split into the merchant and shinobi only then.
In hindsight however that was perhaps the one sign of them being abnormal for a merchant clan in the past. By the time he'd become Hokage however, the Namikaze in Uzushio had suffered sickness and most had died, most of the remaining members leaving the village not long after. It was around that time that Haruka's Grandfather had re-registered the Namikaze in Konoha as a shinobi clan when the last of his children had become Genin.
Many of the Namikaze were killed in action in the years that followed, leaving only Haruka's father, and an Aunt who was incapable of carrying a child due to injuries. To most it would appear as though they'd hastened themselves to destruction by trying to be shinobi when they had historically been merchants.
He knew that wasn't the case. The Namikaze clan had always had shinobi among them, that being the very reason they'd managed to stay afloat in the midst of warring clans. They were masters at gathering intelligence, as well as infiltration.
"Haruka-san also seems to have followed protocol for preserving a report on a deep cover assignment in the event of the individual being incapable of making a direct report, using genjutsu to facilitate a progeny method of delivery."
Well now, no wonder the pair of Jounin had seen fit to contact him immediately. "Witnesses?" Of course he was un-surprised. He'd long known that Haruka may have only committed treason because she was left no choice in order to not sacrifice her future cover for a deep cover mission he'd set before her.
"Shikaku, Inoichi and Minato all witnessed a portion of the delivery."
The Sarutobi stood still in his office for a bit, feeling out the world around him for any sign of an unwelcome presence. When he found none he finally took a seat at his desk and pulled out a scroll. Given what he'd just been told he couldn't go back to the office and risk drawing unwanted attention.
There was also the matter of how to deal with three genin having witnessed something that wasn't for them. Although he was certain that the two patriarchs could instill in their sons a need to not disclose anything that they'd seen to others. Minato however? There was a good chance he was in a delicate emotional state. A talented shinobi who had previously shown to be swayed by his emotions was no small risk, even at Minato's young age.
"Shikatsu, I want to see Minato in my office first thing in the morning. I expect you both can handle your sons." He didn't need to question if Shikatsu was part of this connection, knowing that Inokai would certainly have brought the Nara into the conversation from the beginning. He pulled out an ink stone as well as a stick of ink to begin preparing the black substance he would be needing.
"No issue." Shikaku's rougher voice replied to his instructions. "However Inokai will need to tell Minato something to settle his nerves enough to wait until tomorrow."
That was true. "I'll leave it up to your discretion." Shikatsu and Inokai would have a better understanding of what Minato was feeling right now then he himself, being that they were present to observe him. In this instance it was better to delegate the decision to someone with more information. "However make do with the least amount of information possible."
"Understood," Inokai confirmed, though his voice sounded a bit more distant, telling him he was probably already talking to the boy. He'd confirm with him how much he'd had to give after they got through more important matters.
"What was the scale?" He inquired as he returned the ink stick to the drawer he'd gotten it, now satisfied with the amount of ink he had.
"Zero to four, sir."
Zero to four? That range fell short. Still he grabbed a brush. There could be something more to this.
"It's possible the scale could be One through eight." This tidbit came from Shikatsu. And that scale also made more sense. Yet it still was wrong. And why was it that they were unsure as to what the scale was? "Masato and Makiko gave a different sequence once the delivery was triggered."
A different sequence? Well now… that was one way to prevent a progeny method from going awry. Either each was half of the report, or the sequences were meant to be added together in order to obtain the true sequence.
"Give me their primary sets."
That would be the quickest way to discover which was the case. The jōnin complied and gave him the numbers he requested.
Only he immediately noted that there were too many digits for the primary. Still he allowed them to continue into the other sequence given by the other twin. As the first sequence didn't make any sense the Hokage simultaneously recorded a sum of the sequences as he wrote down the second one.
26 432 436 2776 8
Sarutobi Hiruzen stared down at the added number that was before him. The message, mostly, was clear.
Key Two-six, mission Four-three-two initiated during mission Four-three-six, given to shinobi Two-seven-seven-six. Which left him with an Eight. A number outside of the seven digit scale that should have been used. So then, what was it supposed to signify? The missions and shinobi registration numbers were correct. The chance that she'd messed up her scale was slim. This hadn't been her first deep cover assignment after all. She'd gone dark once with her sister for three years when she'd first made jōnin, and then again for two years after her sister had died just before she was supposed to go on another assignment. Someone who'd done this twice before would not mess up something so critical as the scale of her code. The Eight had a purpose.
There were three possibilities, two of which could mean trouble. The monkey summoner pursed his lips, and allowed himself a moment to rest his eyes. He messaged the bridge of his nose against the coming headache, letting silence stretch for a bare minute. He couldn't afford any more time than that.
"Proceed with the rest."
As the numbers started coming in the Hokage sighed, and resigned himself to the fact that it was unlikely he'd be able to keep that not quite a promise with Biwako.
He was back on the dark waters, with the endless expanse of grey skies. Only it wasn't endless. There was a sort of dark wall running through it, that was semi transparent. Enough for him to see that it seemed to be the same expanse on the other side. It was almost like looking into a mirror while it was dark, without his reflection being there.
He'd looked around for Makiko, but she was nowhere to be seen. He tried calling her but she didn't answer. He kept trying and trying until he was forced to admit he wasn't going to be able to make contact with her.
Which left him wondering about what had happened before he'd wound up here. That memory of his mother's hands, displaying fingers and stringing together some sort of number.
Some sort of code.
It tugged at something in his other memory. From a time before he was here, near the beginning of his tenure as Hokage. Records he'd come across that were only for the Hokage. At least the ones that he could get access to. Given that the old man hadn't named another successor, and his father hadn't either, both dying out of the blue, the personal Hokage records were lost. Those had to be properly passed on to someone… The only time that had happened before Kakashi took office was when his father had taken the hat.
That left them with only the general records, and a series of three Hokage who had tried, and failed, to gain access to the other archives. No one could get past his father's seals. The only man to have probably seen them all up until his own was probably Minato himself.
However the general Hokage archives had been filled with secrets on its own. Reports from missions shinobi had gone undercover for. Even a very tiny hint at the truth of the Uchiha massacre had been there.
Among these dusty scrolls there had been protocols for special circumstances in SSS ranked missions. S ranked secrets, he remembered, were for the eyes of the higher ups, including the council, but also any head of a pertinent body, such as the Jōnin or Anbu Commanders. SS ranked secrets did not go beyond the council. Which left him to assume that SSS was for the Hokage's eyes only.
He'd never once classified something to that extreme level. It was almost more than he could bear holding on to most of the SSS secrets he had come across there.
There had been one protocol there that he'd vowed never to facilitate the necessity of himself, though he'd memorized every detail of it, just in case.
The reporting of a deep cover mission via Progeny method.
Numbers. Haruka had taught them in a very deliberate way he remembered now. The fact that he also couldn't remember before might not be because it had been taught to his shell. Before becoming Masato he'd been someone who couldn't be caught in most genjutsu anymore… but he wasn't that man anymore, and he'd never been very good when it came to genjutsu. His talent at escaping them had really come from Kurama once they connected, and the sixth paths chakra he had.
He had neither of those things now. And he'd just started using chakra. It wasn't so strange to think that Haruka had managed to put him and Makkiko under a genjutsu that would be triggered by particular hand positioning.
It wasn't the most secure way, as it was possible to trigger it by chance.
But then, he was sure there was more to it. As recalling key 13 gave him something that made absolutely no sense with the numbers he could vaguely recall saying.
He'd not had a connection to Makiko at the time either. He had no idea if that had been something Haruka had done on purpose, meaning she had to know they'd have a connection, or if it was just because their connection couldn't break through genjutsu.
Was that what that wall thing was?
Ugh this was convoluted. He wished Shikamaru was here. The Nara would have been able to puzzle all this out quickly. Instead he was going to have to pick away at the information to try and figure out what in the world all of this meant.
He didn't even have his sister to try and bounce ideas off of. Though probably she was puzzling through the same things herself right now. Whenever they regained contact they could put their heads together.
If they regained contact.
Uneasily he glanced at the strange wall again. Was that permanent? Had he been cut off from Makiko?
Had this world finally managed to toss one of them out?
Word Count: 6445
To the Reviewers:
KaixDecayx: I'm happy to bring this back, and super touched that one of my favourite reviewers is still around to enjoy this!
Thanks for reading~
