"You really should have seen this coming." Aimi spoke low, every word barely above a whisper.

"What are you talking about? Why did you—"

"Did you really think it was going to be this easy? That the only thing standing in your way was Yaketsuku?" Her gaze was cold.

Clunkily, I tried to sit up. "What. Aimi just stop. You just killed Ya—"

"You really thought Danzou wouldn't be at least two steps ahead?"

I paused. "What."

She paused too. Slowly, she lowered her hands from a ready stance and opened her mouth. Aimi stuck out her tongue. And I saw—

"It's real." She said.

"There's no fucking way."

"I should have seen him." She said, In English. Impossible, unfathomable, alien English. I fell back down to my butt.

"What—" She speaks…

"The man. Running away from the safehouse with the files. I should have seen that there was a second man. That the one in front of me had to have been a clone. The Byakugan can see everything, but I said I didn't see him."

She's speaking English.

"...You helped him escape." I muttered. That means she knows. About me. How? When? Is she like me? Is she reincarnated?

"You didn't think it was odd that I graduated with you, but I wasn't in any of your classes? Nor at bootcamp?"

"What. I—" Am so stupid! I Didn't think I needed to keep my guard up for—

For a seven-year old girl. "You didn't think right? Just like you took advantage of your age to stay under the radar, you made the same mistake your enemies did."

What. I don't get it. "You don't think it's strange that the first time you hear of a girl with two uncrossable kekkei genkai is just after you meet her? I'm the only one like me since the Sage of Six Paths himself! I should have been the most famous person in my age range! Certainly enough for you to know about me from Before."

"What." Before?

"Are you gonna stop saying that stupid fucking word or are you gonna start helping me?"

All this time, I wasn't alone. She's like me.

She's like me! But she's fighting for Danzou?! Why?

I.. Was she my enemy this whole time? "What could you possibly need from me?"

"I want information. Just like you. You're going to be dead in a few minutes, but I'm not allowed to kill Tsunade. You've undoubtedly told her, but how much? How much do you know about Root?"

"Clearly not enough."

"Please don't play hard ball with me, Arata. I have you dead to rights. You have no chakra, no backup, no angle. The only reason I'm asking you is because Chuugo is too slow and I left him to get here faster." She looked back at where Yaketsuku was still bleeding out. "Clearly, not fast enough."

I crunched my teeth together. She betrayed me. She wasn't my ally. From the start, she played me! "I'm not telling you anything. You already know what I know anyway."

"You're fucking lying, Arata!" She shouted. "You know more than that goddamn manga could ever tell you! Now tell me!" The inflamed veins in her eyes from the Byakugan pulsated and grew in her anger. "Or should I wait for Chuugo to come here and use his Yamanaka bullshit to mind-fuck it out of you?"

I forced my eyes shut. "What would be the point? I'm dead either way."

"The difference is the level of pain you'd be giving yourself. Either choose the easy way out, or the hard one."

My mouth became a thin line. "I've been at this exact point before, you know. My last Root enemy asked me the same thing." And he died. Brutally.

What are my options here? Aimi isn't at full strength. If I had the energy or the chakra, I could run. But she just implied she's faster than a Chuunin, much faster since Chuugo still isn't here. Even if I somehow fetch a chakra pill from my pack, which I don't even know where it is, I still wouldn't be able to get past her.

With the borrowed chakra, I couldn't use any techniques more complicated than the Four Legs, which would mean a taijutsu fight. Against a Hyuuga? With the Shikotsumyaku? I'd lose every time.

The confusion on her face was more offense than bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"

"He didn't tell you? No, of course he wouldn't. I can't imagine working under Danzou lends to a communicative work environment." I almost snorted.

Her face screwed itself together. "You have no idea what it's like to live under Danzou's rule. His tutelage." She said, venom practically vomiting out of her.

"You're right. I don't. Whatever brainwashing he did with you must have been awful."

She scoffed. Crossed her arms. "What are you doing, Arata? Stalling? Waiting for backup? God forbid, sympathizing with me?! HA! You think you can talk-no-jutsu your way out of this shit!? Newsflash! This isn't the fucking show!"

She stepped on my inert legs. Hard. My eyes blared open in pain.

"AH!" Fuck!

She uncrossed her arms, fists forming in her hands. "Don't you dare Arata! Agh! I should have just killed you as soon as I knew for sure you were after us. Just as soon as I knew that you were like me."

Like me….

Really, I should have seen this coming. I had only met one other child prodigy in my age range, and that was Kakashi. But although he was smart, he was still just six years old. He didn't understand anything about life. He didn't see anything but what was straight in front of him.

Whereas Aimi always saw too much. And surely, if I was reincarnated, who's to say there weren't more of me? I always suspected some of the people around me weren't who they said they were, but Aimi?

She may as well have written it on her forehead.

The way she changed Orochimaru, when that wasn't supposed to happen.

The way she responded to both the adults and children around her. With understanding, wisdom and empathy a child simply wouldn't have.

The way she naturally led her own team like an older sister.

The way she'd shrug or sigh, or hold her drink.

The way she could best me in conversation. Not just with her words, but her arguments. Clear, witty, practiced.

When she questioned me on my use of English phrases, when everyone else shrugged it off as just one of my quirks.

The evidence, if you were looking for it, was overwhelming. So, how did I miss this?

"Then why keep me alive? You were Root from the beginning. As soon as we were alone in that house you should have offed me. Made a break for it and called your mission complete. That's what you were here for right? For me."

She shook her head. "Because I let my own thoughts blind me to reality! I thought maybe if I didn't report you I would get to live a shred or a semblance of a normal life in this fucked up world!" Her English was slightly accented, though I couldn't tell if that was because she hadn't used it in years like me, or if it wasn't her native language. "But no! You decided you couldn't leave well enough alone! Thought you could make a mark in this godforsaken world! Change the timeline?! What a fucking joke!"

"It's not a joke. Just our existence is proof enough that it can be done."

"Then what the hell did you change!? Nothing! You didn't stop the Third World War from happening! Didn't stop Sakumo dying! What makes you think you'll even survive the next few years?! That they won't send a field medic to the front lines as soon as they can?!"

"I have plans."

"Sure you fucking do! Nothing can be changed! The shitty people in charge of this world are too strong. There's nothing we can do."

"You don't believe that."

She scoffed. Really, a mock laugh. "The mark on my tongue says all I'd need to say." She stuck it out at me, like a child would, before laughing.

"Aha. Ahaha!" Laughing hysterically. She was keeling over, on the floor now. "So FUCKING funny! Ah I wish I could end it now! But no! This Goddamn seal has an anti-suicide clause too! Isn't that great?!" She just kept laughing. Coughing, when her breath ran out, and then laughing again.

I didn't respond. Didn't know how to.

"What do you two keep yapping about? Say it in a language I can understand for Kami's sake." A voice came from behind Aimi.

A flash of killing intent, and the ground ruptured. In one quick motion, Tsunade had risen from the ground and closed the distance, a firm grip on Aimi's neck. She held her aloft in the air, like a duck she'd shot on her hunting trip.

"Agh—" Aimi moved to put her hands around the chokehold, bones protruding from her arms.

"Move and I'll pop your head off." Aimi instantly stopped. "Talk and I'll pop your head off. In fact, do anything besides blinking and barely breathing, and you're gonna have to figure out whether your healing factor extends to regrowing your entire body." Tsunade was mad. Furious.

"Euughk—" Aimi struggled to draw breath as her arms sank to her sides. There was no getting out of the Sannin's grip, and she knew she'd be a fool to try.

"Brat, what's going on? Explain it to me in a way that makes sense."

"Ummm…" Where do I even start? "How did you get back up?"

"I'm the best fucking medical-nin on the planet! You think I don't have methods to get rid of chakra blocks?" Actually, that's fair. "Now start talking!"

"Okay! Alright! Just.." I looked over to Aimi. It was hard concentrating, with so much whiplash from everything that's going on. "Aimi is secretly a Root agent, sent here to identify whether I'm a threat, and kill me if I am. She wants to know how much I told you regarding them, to know if they've been compromised."

"Okay, and why do you know how to communicate together like that? Some secret code you learned at your Root base?"

She thinks I'm— "No I'm not one of them! It's just a different language."

She leered at me. "Then explain how both of you know it then."

"H—Huurghkk—haa.." Aimi struggled. I could hear the pace of her heart increasing.

"She's going to die like that." I said, more like mumbled.

"No she won't. I know exactly how much pressure to put on her neck." She sent a burst of killing intent my way, sending a shockwave down my spine. I felt small, and helpless. And.. deeply sad. "And why do you care anyway?"

My fists clenched. "I…"

"Doesn't matter. Answer the question."

"It's hard to explain. It's not a language from here, so I didn't expect her to be able to speak it."

"But she knew that you could?"

"..Yes."

"Alright, whatever. Anything else you can give me before I break her neck?" Aimi, upon hearing that, started thrashing for her life.

Eyes wide as saucers, her body tried its hardest to push Tsunade away, all jutsu and techniques forgotten as the fear consumed her.

"Aeuuh—Aahhh!—"

"Zip it." Tsunade's grip tightened, really suffocating her now.

Shit. Shit. "Tsunade wait!"

"What am I waiting on, brat?"

"You can't kill her!" Tsunade looked at me like I was crazy.

"And why not? She just killed Yaketsuku, attacked me, and was about to kill you. Give me one reason."

"She.. She's a ninja of the Leaf. We don't turn our back on comrades right?" Please don't kill her! She's—What do I even say? She's my enemy but…

"You're pleading on her behalf?" She asked, confused.

"Yes."

"Why?" She scoffed, halfway between a laugh. "What, you got attached? To the spy? She tried to get close to you right? Fiddled all your little secrets away, pretended to confide in you. You let your walls down, and the whole time she was just waiting for the right moment to strike. Alone, isolated, unsuspecting. You want to keep a traitor like that alive?"

She's not a traitor! But. She is… But she had no choice! "She was born into Root. She didn't have a choice! Please just… let me take care of her." I stood up, shakily. My legs hurt from when Aimi stomped on them, and selfishly, my mind reconsidered helping her. "If anything, we can try to get more information about Root out of her."

"She has that seal on her tongue, remember? She's not gonna tell us shit." Right. Umm. What else? Think brain, think! How do I help her out of this?

But why do I even want to help her? She betrayed me. She became my friend, my closest friend aside from Shiro, and then she threw it in my face. She had betrayed me. Yet her words kept echoing in my mind.

"You have no idea what it's like to live under Danzou's rule. His tutelage."

This was forced upon her. She came into a new world, like me, but she didn't have a family that loved her. Just Danzou, wearing her down mentally and physically, for years. I could see myself in her, in some way, but she was stronger than I was. I was almost ready to give up after five years in the kennels. How could I possibly blame her?

For choosing Danzou over me. I could, very easily. But I couldn't.

"If you try to kill her, I'll fight you." I drew shuriken from my pack, my arms barely had strength to throw them, but it would force Tsunade to dodge, or break her grip on Aimi's arm. It would force her to, I don't know, do something.

Better than just standing here!

"...You're serious." Tsunade looked at me. Really looked at me, something in her face changing, like she was seeing me for who I really was for the first time. I didn't waver. I knew what I signed up for.

I was threatening her, putting my lot in with traitors. In a Ninja village, the only sentence for that was death.

Aimi was barely conscious at this point, the only indication that she was alive was that her belly was moving, if slightly.

I needed to get her out of here. Only one way to do that.

I roughly stirred up the little amount of chakra I had left. No control. The leaves next to my feet stirred. It felt like grasping at air.

"...Yeah don't bother." She dropped Aimi, who fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I hurried my way over to her, but Tsunade stopped me, putting a hand over her head.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm draining her chakra." Aimi was fully unconscious now, her eyes still open, but vacant. There were blue finger marks on her neck where Tsunade had gripped her. Luckily, she was still alive. "It'll make it harder for her to run. Hopefully it doesn't activate her seal, but I frankly don't care if it does." After about a minute or so, she took her hand off and gestured for me. "You'll have to carry her."

Huh? "I.. can't. I don't have enough strength."

She scoffed. "Well, we have to move. I suspect Cloud will be sniffing around here soon to see what's happened."

She went through a few hand seals, nicking her thumb and pointedly looking away. Katsuyu appeared, about a foot tall and five feet in length. She healed the small wound on Tsunade's hand without being told. "Carry her, but don't heal her. She's our captive for today."

"Alright. And what of Yaketsuku? ..Ah. He's dead."

Tsunade walked over to the body, and fished a black scroll out from… somewhere. "We gotta go."

I just. Stood there. Just like that? She acquiesced? Just like that?

"What?"

"That explosion make you deaf? Let's go already!" She had already sealed up Yaketsuku's body, putting the scroll in her vest.

"Alright.."

What?

Two hours of slow walking later, we had arrived at a small town's inn, eating dinner in the main building. It was homely, if small. A wooden building, with few customers, its owners shrieked themselves a new one upon the sight of Katsuyu. It made me laugh, but it just annoyed Tsunade, who put up some extra money for a bigger room.

Katsuyu and an unconscious Aimi were currently in said room as we were eating. The meal was basic. Rice and some greens, but it was food. And I needed it to recoup enough strength to travel.

"Alright. You ready to talk?" Tsunade asked, putting her chopsticks down.

I kept eating for a bit. "What do you want to know?"

"What's your connection to Root?"

"I don't have one. I told you about my involvement already."

"That your clan got involved, yes. But you didn't mention how you know what you know. Yaketsuku was particularly interested in that." He was?

"I…" Was my secret safe with Tsunade? Could I trust her? But leaving her with only this much information was dangerous too.. There's a big chance that she'd think I was crazy or bipolar or a sleeper agent or anything else. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. "This is going to sound crazy.."

And so I told her. About my reincarnation. About my knowledge of the series. Not the whole thing, but enough for her to understand what my goals and aims were. "And how many people know about this?" Her expression was pensive.

"Four, if you include Shiromaru. My caretaker, and my sister and her ninken." It got easier, the more times I revealed my true nature to people. "And I guess Aimi does too."

"She's one too? A reincarnation?"

"That's the only explanation."

"I see…"

"You believe me?"

She folded her hands together. "If you had told me this yesterday? No chance in hell. Today? I'm feeling more inclined."

"Alright. Will you help me? To change the timeline, avert what's coming?" I felt awkward asking, but I knew it had to be done.

"...In your story, what happens to me? What do I do?"

I frowned, and chose to eat a little more before answering. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Just tell me, Arata." That… was the first time she's said my name.

"Alright. I'm not sure on the exact timeline of events, but at some point after losing Dan, you leave the village and take Shizune with you. Two decades later (give or take a few years), Jiraiya comes to you, asking you to come back to Konoha, and become its Hokage."

Tsunade started chuckling. "And then I punched him and continued drinking, right?"

"Close. But a few days later you become Hokage anyway."

She stood up, roughly. "Why?"

"A lot of reasons. But it all comes down to Naruto."

She gave me a look of disgust. "The protagonist, you said? Minato's kid?"

"Yes. He convinced you that becoming Hokage would be the best way to honor Nawaki and Dan's memories."

"That's…" She sat back down, contemplating.

I continued eating my food. After finishing my food, she was still thinking, tapping her foot on the ground incessantly.

"Why did they ask me to become Hokage anyway? I'm sure there were better options."

I grimaced. "There weren't."

"What do you mean there weren't? The Leaf diminishes in strength that much?"

"...A lot of nasty shit happens after you leave."

She raised up her hand as if to say 'Get on with it!' "Like?"

"Just before Jiraiya comes to ask for you, the Third Hokage dies in battle in what comes to be known as the Konoha Crush. Sand and Sound team up together to invade Konoha, but they were rebuffed. But, the cost was heavy."

"Sound? Never heard of that village."

"It's a village that Orochimaru founded, after he defected from Konoha. He's… actually the one that kills the Hokage."

"Huh. Orochimaru? But—" She seemed utterly confused. "Defection? Orochimaru? Sure he and Sensei have their differences, but leaving?"

It felt like I was slandering people, by telling her this. Sure, the way things were that seemed impossible.

"Orochimaru got caught doing.. Some interesting experiments, and the Hokage found out. As soon as he was confronted, he left."

"...That's a weird future you've imagined for yourself kid."

"You don't believe me anymore?"

"Kinda hard to, now." She put a hand on her chin, staring at the hearthfire. "Tell me something only I would know. From the future, the past, whatever." Okay. Fine.

"That necklace you wear." She startled. "You gave it to Nawaki first. Then when he dies, you think it'll find a home with Dan. But almost like a curse, just after you give it to him, he dies too."

Tsunade trembled in her seat. "...You could have picked any other detail, kid. Why'd you go and choose that one?"

I considered that. "I want you to know that all these events that are going to happen? Will become reality. Just like the past was very real, this potential future could also be."

"Alright." She took a moment to collect herself. In that time, I put my chopsticks down and pushed my plate away. The inn's owner came by and took the plate from me, oblivious to our conversation. "What happens to me after I become Hokage?"

"Well. You almost die twice. Which sucks. But in the end, you get to live to see your happily ever after. A few years after assuming office, you retire and go back to your drinking and gambling ways."

"And everyone else? Orochimaru? Jiraiya? Shizune?"

"Orochimaru… gets a new lease on life. He's still an outcast from society, but at least he's not dead. For long, anyway." She shook her head at me, aware that I was skipping a lot of details. "Shizune sticks with you, after you become Hokage and also after you retire. We're not given much detail on her, honestly. Jiraiya.."

"Well?"

"Dies."

"...How does he die?"

"Long story short, he goes on an intelligence gathering mission that you sent him on, and doesn't return."

She tapped her finger on the table, mulling that over. "Who kills him?"

"The Akatsuki. Or more accurately, Nagato does."

"The resistance in Rain? That Akatsuki?"

That surprised me. "You know about it?"

"I was stationed in Rain for years. I had contacts there, so I get updates sometimes."

"I thought you didn't do ninja work anymore?"

"I don't. I pushed it onto someone else a while ago." She sighed. "I need a drink."

"I'm sorry I can't give you one."

"It's fine." She muttered something about small inns and supply lines to mountains. "Who's Nagato?"

It felt.. Freeing? In a way, to talk to someone about all of this. Like I could share the burden of the future somehow. "The leader of the Akatsuki. Jiraiya's former student."

"One of those kids from Rain he stuck with?" I nodded. "Knew that was gonna bite him in the ass one day." She shook her head. "Alright! Fine. I'll help you change the future! You happy brat?" Back to brat huh.

I smiled. "I am. Your help would be invaluable towards really changing something."

"Right. And what are our objectives even?"

I thought back to the plan I laid out with Shizuka. "Well there, three's right now and they'll expand later. First, survive the Third Shinobi War."

She grimaced at that. "This conflict will turn out to be that big?"

"Yes. It's going to suck. It will be the worst conflict Konoha has ever been in."

She sighed. "And the second?"

"Prevent the Kannabi Bridge incident." I explained to her what happens with Obito.

"Fantastic. I hope you know this sounds like a crock-pot full of horseshit right?"

"Yup. Third objective? Get rid of Root."

Now I really had her attention.

A/N. I am sooo sorry it took this long! Going through a lot of things, but just know I'm never going to give up on this story, no matter what this thing is getting finished! Believe it! lol.

The next update shouldn't take as long. Probably.

Also! I have a new fic released for the Mushoku Tensei fandom, so if you're versed in it, go ahead and read ittt. THat's it. Thank you for reading and supporting for this long!