She and Itachi had discussed deeply about her hypothesis of the past, her predictions of the future and most importantly, his illness. His inflamed lungs were chronic, and the anti-inflammatory drugs she handed him could only do so much. What she needed, was to transplant new eyes into him.

Unfortunately, Danzo had Shisui's other eye and it wasn't like she could break into Konoha and take that. No, not with Root ANBU lurking around. She'll get mauled.

So she planned.

With Itachi by her side, his input was invaluable. He was smart, polite and if not a little weary of her. She understands, she's just a thirteen-year old playing shinobi, but so was he, back then. In all honesty, she felt bad for the boy.

Following village orders to murder his entire family and extended, torturing the very last thing he loved before indoctrinating himself into an world-class terrorist group. Without hesitation, she handed the boy a photo album.

He gingerly receives it with a cocked eyebrow, "What is this?"

She looks away with a shrug, "I ran a few missions with your brother. We did some sight-seeing with his team."

Itachi opens the book slowly, eyes widening at the pictures. The first picture is at the Chunin Exams, the third round. The picture was taken afar, but clear and close enough to differentiate expressions. His brother is at the pit with the red-headed opponent, a huge smirk on his face.

The next picture was his younger brother and his team all beaten up with the Ichibi Container in the background. Tamako has a stupid grin on her face, holding a peace sign with one hand, the other arm around the shoulders of a pink-haired girl. His brother looks unhappy with his arms crossed but his mouth turned up in the corner. The blond Jinchūriki is next to the red one, equally sprawled on the floor but equally grinning the same.

The last picture is a little different, this time, they're on a boat. There's beautiful glaciers in the background and Team 7 and Kakashi-senpai are posing, the girl in the middle with the two boys to her sides. Sasuke looks content in this one, staring at the camera with his arms crossed, but neither frowning nor smirking. Kakashi is behind them with one hand on each of the boy's shoulders, it's obvious who took this one. Their outfits, he noted, were for the colder climate and if the glaciers in the background indicated anything, this must be the mission to Yuki no Kuni that he was debriefed on.

"Thank you." Itachi says quietly, eyes still trained on each photo.

"I'm still in contact with Sasuke." She says, "He's fine. Orochimaru wont hurt him, for now."

He closes the book and tucks it carefully into his cloak.

"We should continue our discussion." Tamako taps onto the crystal table, "We need to guide Sasuke into growing stronger." Then she points at her eyes, "And I need to figure out what to do with... the eyes."

"With the Uchiha Clan now wiped out, there are not many spare eyes we can obtain."

Tamako nods, "That's true, but you have an eye, don't you?" Then shakes her head, "In order for Sasuke to unlock his Mangekyou Sharingan, he needs to believe that he killed you successfully. Although this will bring great anguish, it's something that must be done." She leans forward, waiting for his input.

And the boy agrees with a nod, "My plan was to let Sasuke redeem the Uchiha Clan by killing me, and letting him return as a hero to Konoha... but I did not perceive Orochimaru to be more cunning." Itachi almost growls at the missing-nin's name, but he doesn't let anger consume his face. "What do you think?"

Tamako slowly sips her tea, clearing her thoughts. "I say, we continue with your original plan, and tweak it. There is no doubt that Sasuke will bring a team to fight you. Kisame will distract them and Sasuke will find you. There, you will fight, and you do your best in eliminating his Cursed Seal. Afterwards, force Sasuke to use all his chakra." She pauses to meet his eyes, "It's alright if you can't knock him out. With him that worn out, it should be no problem for me."

Her fingers tap against the table in rhythm to an unknown song that Itachi can't put a finger to. Then her fingers freeze as if she's received an epiphany, "Zetsu will be watching the fight. I have to set up barriers." Her fingers resume tapping, now at a faster rate. "I'll have to extract your eyes to leave them by Sasuke. It'll look suspicious, but I can hide my presence, and yours as well and we can focus on your recovery." Her fist clenches and the tapping ceases. "We can implant... the eye that you have. I can retrieve the other."

Itachi's grip on his tea hardens and his eyes narrow, "You plan to take down Danzo?"

She shakes her head, "You and I both know that Sasuke will go after him. I will follow, make sure he doesn't kill himself, and extract the eye. But after I do so, my cover will be blown. The Masked will connect the dots and realize I'm the one meddling with the eyes, and Sasuke won't trust me anymore."

The Uchiha lets out the faintest sigh, "And you're sure you can get away from Madara?"

Tamako blinks, realizing she hasn't even touched the surface of The Masked she's been referring to. "He's not Madara."

His eyes widen, then narrows, "Then who is he?"

The tapping resumes, "Are you aware of the story of how Hatake Kakashi received his Sharingan?" At the sight of Itachi's short nod, she continues, "Uchiha Obito. He survived that mission and was put together limb to limb by the real Uchiha Madara. Madara is dead, and Obito is following the will of your old ancestor. That's why he only shows off one single eye. He's too proud."

Itachi shakes his head, "That's not possible. Obito was said to be crushed by a boulder."

"Anything is possible when utilizing Senju Hashirama's cells. I don't know how he did it but Madara successfully cloned his cells and integrated with others, including himself. That's how he got the Rinnegan. Besides that—" She points at herself and grins, "—I'll be able to escape Obito, don't worry. I've got my own tricks up my sleeves."

She wasn't one-hundred percent confident in running away, but she has the power of saves to try and try and try so surely, she'll figure it out.

"We'll spend the next few months recovering your health and testing out your new eyes. We won't be able to come out of hiding with a disguise for a while, but Sasuke will be able to protect himself just fine. I'll even have a few of my beetles follow him just in case, if that eases your worry." Tamako gestures at the boy with her tea cup, now empty, "At this point, I'll surmise that the Akatsuki would bring a lot of attention to themselves, and their numbers would have dwindled. With you gone, Kisame would be put into solo work... he may die.."

Itachi pours her a cup.

"I could save him. Kisame isn't so bad." She finishes, sipping her tea and cringing at the temperature. "Many of the Akatsuki could be easily turned against Obito. It'll just require some meddling and convincing. Deidara could be a huge asset if Obito goes as far as to wage war."

She knows the Fourth Shinobi War is devastating. With the reanimated soldiers, normal chunin and jounin don't stand a chance. The less members that die, the less that Kabuto has to work with. Plus, this could be some good community service for the members to redeem themselves and maybe have their charges dropped.

Tamako blinks at the memory of Deidara blowing up Suna before cringing.

Well, most of them, at least.

She sees Sasori who assassinates the third Kazekage, and cringes.

It's a work in progress.

. . .

Her base in the Land of the Waves was quaint. Residing on the cliff by the rough edges ensured that no random civilian could just walk up and discover her. Added with the natural defenses, her average barrier seals and chakra-damping seals, it was perfect.

Her clones were hard at work, and since she was in the area, she gave the two a hefty chakra buff that let her sweating. The base itself was a bit dreary, but after adding a new carpet, a couch and an extra room with a bed with a quick doton, it wasn't looking so bad.

She slid a few books and scrolls onto a shelf and added a small watering hole with a simple doton and suiton. She needed to stock up on some herbs she'd read about as well as some ingredients for a salve she'd been working on. Her skill in craftables wasn't too high, but it was better than lazing around and waiting for things to get serious.

She needed to train her skills, get better at fighting and obtain more medical skills to save Itachi's life. She wasn't some Tsunade or Sakura who can just heal just like that. She didn't even know what to start with Itachi's lung condition other than throwing some anti-inflammatory pills and calling it a day. She really honestly hoped his chronic illness was a byproduct of the overuse of Sharingan, but hoping doesn't fix nothing.

Plus, if she was planning to hide Itachi here, she should make the area as secure as possible. Her fūinjutsu was okay, she wasn't some crazy master and there's only so much you could figure out on your own. After making tons of barrier seals, her fūinjutsu level didn't go any higher than fifty-seven.

So she sat on the floor, hunched over a large paper that was infused with material to make it waterproof. Her inkwell was full of ink she naturally procured from some charcoal and infused with her chakra. Her brush rose and dipped into the inkwell, absorbing the liquid before dyeing the pure-white paper.

Tamako wrists moved with purpose, fueling intent into each character and looping them together. This time, she had to create a stasis seal. It would be handy in situations like Itachi, where his body and mind would be nearly irreparable after the Uchiha Brother's fight, and she was definitely no Tsunade or Sakura to stop his pending death. The best she could do is seal him up, take her to the base and maybe kidnap Sakura if things go south.

Otherwise, nursing the older Uchiha back to health before she implants Shisui's eyes shouldn't be too difficult. If he died, she could always restart her save and try mending the problem she missed last time.

Her inkbrush froze and her wrist rose forward, placing the brush down on the ground and inspected her work. Withthe character stasis in the middle which branched out to time, stop, field, suspension among the lower intents, she clapped her hands and nodded. She pulled out a snow white rabbit she had purchased in one of the capitals she passed by.

In a single swipe, she cut off its leg and the animal squirmed and screamed in her hold, but she gently placed it down onto the large paper seal. Perfectly lined up in the middle, she formed the rat sign and slammed both palms on the outer edges of the seal, pouring her chakra and watched as her ink glowed a bright green. The rabbit ahead of her limped to its side before stilling, its eyes glazed back as the wound continued to pour blood onto the seal.

Slowly, she could see the light dimming from the animals eyes, no movement nor sound could be heard. With a chart, she crossed out the diagram, noting that this particular character combination had created a stasis on the body, but not the body as a whole. Theoretically, she made a seal that forced the body to relax and forgo breathing, which could be deadly but any shinobi worth their salt could easily disrupt the chakra flow of the seal.

Perhaps she should try the characters time and stop together, and pair up suspension and animation.

Her eyes gleamed, Fūinjutsu was like a never-ending puzzle.

. . .

She spent months on that particular project, and it took her longer than she'd like, often reloading her save from months prior when she realized she was stuck on the same problem and nearly a year has passed. That was the nice thing about save files, it just gave her an infinite amount of time to work on things that she should probably find a teacher for.

By dividing her time into four states; Fūinjutsu to be completed first, then increase her Medical Ninjutsu to around level ninety (which she still didn't know if that was any good or bad because, well, it wasn't like she had anyone to compare to) before practicing her Kenjutsu in the ID World and thinking of creative ways to enhance her Kekkei Genkai.

Don't get Tamako wrong, she's thankful she at least has a cheat-sheet Kekkei Genkai, and it was incredibly versatile, but lacked a "strong" factor. She didn't have some crazy one-punch finishing move like chidori or rasengan, and it wasn't like she was gonna pull a Sakura and just punch things to death because, let's be honest, her punches will never be that good.

There's a reason why there's only one Tsunade and her apprentice, that level of Chakra Control is just something you're born with, and no matter how many tree leaf exercises she does, or how many times she practices above the lake, her Chakra Control has met its limit.

She'll need a breakthrough, and that might take longer than she'd like and her control was fine. Not amazing, not just passable, but fine.

Her crystal followed the rhythm of her chakra, as long as she thinks, it appears to her bidding. Seals helped her conceptualize, move and bend her chakra in more specific or accurate ways which helped reduce the time it takes to form, as well as decrease her chakra spent.

As long as the crystal-chakra form existed, she could move its form with minimal effort, which makes her crystal platforms sometimes game changing. With the higher ground, shinobi who rely on close-combat can only just throw stuff at her and hope for the best, and it definitely decreased the options of her enemies.

She stood at the center of the ocean, her ears peeled at the sound of the waves hitting shore and breathed in deeply. It was salty, but not so fishy, the clouds blocked the sun from hitting her face. It was the perfect time to practice.

Slowly, crystal erupted from her back and grew to her sides. She'd always admired the co-leader of the Akatsuki. Konan was a beautifully skilled kunoichi, and her wings were something Tamako had admired before she was conceptualized into this world.

At her command, the crystal lifted her into the air with just one flap and she hovered in the air with her chakra tugging into the air. Her wings were long, the wingspan of several meters. She experimentally moved the added appendages watching as they wiggled before smiling. With one fell swoop of her right wing, thousands of senbon separated from that wing causing it to shrink in size dramatically.

The senbon soured into the air, swerving left and right before rejoining back into the smaller wing, growing it to its original size. She huffed, feeling the chakra drain. Maybe she should save this move and optimize it later.

Separating from the wings, she fell onto the water into a crouch, the wings combining into a large cone with a sharp end. With a single hand movement, it flew into the air, slamming into the water and effectively dousing the periwinkle haired girl. With an upright motion, it breached the waves before hovering just a few meters above sea. Water dripping across the smooth crystal surface.

This time, she noticed that solid geometric shapes like this took less out of her, almost none. While this attack could be powerful, it was a little slow and needed more chakra to attain more speed, but she figured that chunin would have trouble figuring this one out, let alone escaping.

The cone separated into two spheres, dancing around each other almost as if they were in orbit. They spun lazily and halted when she fisted the air in front of her, with a calm one-handed rat sign, they combusted, sending thousands of crystal bullets into the air.

Because of their shape, they had a 360 range attack, hitting everything in its vicinity. With a weave of chakra, the bullets aimed at her swerved around her, hitting harmlessly through the ocean floor. After a few moments, the water stilled.

She hummed, she'll call this one Bullet Bomb.

With a single serpent handsign, all the small circular bullets rose into the air and combined into a large sphere. Sweat dripped down her cheek and she grinned at the window.

[Crystal Release (Passive) LV UP!]

Crystal Release (Passive) Level: 186 EXP: 0%

She'll need this number to be at least three-hundred before Shippuden starts. Judging by the calendar, she has two more years.

She sent the sphere to hover behind her, now eyeing the sea below her. Then, with both hands, she signed, "Ushi, Saru, Ju, Ne, I, Tori, Ushi, Uma, Tori, Ne, Tora, Inu—" She signed forty-four times before finishing off at tori. At the last syllable, the water in front of her erupted, a water dragon pierced the sea and flew into the sky. She focused her chakra in her core, watching the dragon follow each pulse and swirled around the skyline before pounding into a nearby cliffside.

She let out a sigh, nearly collapsing onto her back. That took a lot of chakra. Suiton: Water Dragon Jutsu was an extremely powerful B-Rank jutsu, the only problem was that it had forty-four signs which took her nearly ten seconds to form. She was very confident in how fast she was able to make seals, but this was just ridiculous.

Tamako recalled that Tobirama, the pinnacle of Suiton Users, only needed three signs. Could she remember them? Nope.

So she'll have to reverse engineer and increase her chakra levels, plus who wants to sign forty-four times? That's, double unlucky.

From the forty-four handsigns, bird, dragon, and dog were the most important, appearing more than four times each. Dragon was easy, dragon symbolized power, strength and most importantly energy. Bird could indicate the effectiveness of the flying water dragon, how it's able to be smoothly controlled, if one was skilled enough. Bird was freedom in movement, and are usually associated with fuuton. Lastly, dog. Dog was even more obvious, its used in all nature transformation jutsus, more specifically, suiton.

If she could sign these at least twice, then mix in the rest of the twelve hand-signs, she could, theoretically, have the same intent and create that same dragon. Well, only practice and experimentation would tell.

She signed, "Ushi, tatsu, tori, inu, tatsu, uma, mi, inu, tora, tori!" She felt her chakra swerve at the final sign, bubbling across her body in a way that was unfamiliar, different from her last dragon. Panic swarmed her body, but she let her chakra bubble to her feet, visualizing the dragon and hoping that it did something instead of a waste chakra.

The sea erupted once more, this time right below her feet and almost knocking her unconscious. With quick reflexes, she swerves her body but is still sent flying high in the air. The air is misty from whatever jutsu she just did, water raining down and hitting against her cheek. Her wet bangs clung to her forehead messily and she grabbed onto the solid cold object in front of her.

Then she sees it.

A dragon, piercing azure eyes with long horns. Its body is the same color as her crystal.

She freezes.

Her hands pats the structure, it's her crystal!

The crystal dragon almost seemed to roar against the gloomy sky, heading straight up as her chakra hadn't guided to its target. Instantly, her feet latch onto the moving structure, gluing herself to the dragon before signing rat with both hands. It was her favorite sign, it helped her guide her chakra the best and she guided.

With no particular destination, she flew straight towards the unending sea, her damp hair flying behind her as the cold crawled up her spine. She ignored the unsettling cold and grinned.

Of course this is what happens. For all of her intent and the one too many tora (tiger) and mi (snake) which are the precursors for doton jutsu, combined with the inu (dog) that are important for suiton, it only makes sense that her intent creates a different type of dragon.

Then with one last smirk, a happy accident for once.

Too many memories of blowing herself up with untested seals and hypotheses.

It was nice to finally get something right for once.

. . .

The months quickly go by, each second spent painstakingly increasing her skill levels. She was on a timer.

She didn't have the luxury to just sit around and wait for canon to start up again, she had to move. Splitting her focus on skill-leveling, occasionally meeting up with Pein who called her presence every once in a while to get hands-on idea of what the Jinchūriki were up to.

Tamako knew full well that the Akatsuki couldn't move just yet, they were still waiting for the Sanbi to reincarnate since Yagura died a little after the Chunin Exams. She still hasn't seen Zabuza since her last meeting, but if rumors were true, then he should be serving back in Kirigakure now that the Kiri Resistance has won against the council.

So, giving updates on each Jinchūriki didn't threaten to change when they'll attack, these things needed to be in order and consecutively. There's no point in capturing all the Bijuu and waiting for three years for the Sanbi to revive, the Akatsuki may risk everything if they took too long.

Once they start robbing one village, the others will be on high-alert, and giving them too much time to counter their small numbers could be fatal.

At least, that's what Tamako surmised and reassured herself after letting Pein know that Gaara was soon to take the mantle as Fifth Kazekage.

Other than her meetings with Pein, she's bumped into Deidara and Sasori at the base by Tanigakure. The blonde was incredibly interested in why such a young girl was associating herself with such a dangerous group, but at the reminder of his own age, he hmed her off.

"Deidara-senpai," She began, internally smirking when his ears twitched, "I'm just associating myself with the winning side, don't worry too much." With a gentle smile, she added, "The Akatsuki holds a high-degree into what shinobi they recruit. It's always nice to see such skilled shinobi active at times. I'm learning a lot."

Deidara crossed his hands and nodded sagely, "Hmm, that's right! As long as you watch my art, you'll learn more than at a silly village." He nodded at the crossed out at hiatiate Tamako had wrapped around her neck, "Suna? Say Sasori no Danna, you know her?"

The hunched figure next to him scoffed, "Brat, did you forget? I left Suna decades ago."

Tamako placed a hand to her chest and bowed a little, "It's an honor to meet you, Akasuna no Sasori."

The puppet eyed her carefully, and if Tamako concentrated more, she could feel the thin chakra strings that were wrapped intricately around the puppet. The only reason why she could spot them was because she was aware and knew what she was looking for. It sucked being so weak, but this is how life worked.

"Hmf. Just because you came from Suna doesn't mean I'll play with you." He turns away, walking towards the exit, "Hurry, Deidara. We have things to do."

Deidara opens his mouth to say something before closing it, nodding at the girl before rushing to follow his danna.

Well, at least one of the art duo didn't hate her, that was a start. In her mind, Tamako was terribly offended at Sasori's treatment of her. She vowed she would make him respect her.

After that encounter, she hadn't bumped into any of the Akatsuki for the next six months. She kept regular tabs on them of course, but it wasn't like she could just walk up to them outside. They'll probably slaughter her, she's pretty sure they're ordered to slaughter any shinobi they come across. It'll be suspicious too.

Of course, she exchanged notes with Itachi, updating him on his brother, any piece of important news she heard down the grapevine and sometimes met up with Sasuke to gauge his skill. The past year has considerably improved the boy's speed. He was much faster than he was during the third round of the chunin exams and judging by his smirk, he knew it too

Along with his new speed, he has gotten considerably colder, and "only" kept her around due to her connection with the Akatsuki, at least that's what he reasoned. Tamako would go on many tangents when the two meet, far from Orochimaru's gaze. The older shinobi definitely knew of her monthly visits, the two often sparred and afterwards discussed about training, recent world news that she acquired and updates about Itachi.

She heaved onto the ground, knees and elbows supporting her weight as sweat dripped off her chin and onto the floor. In front of her, Sasuke was equally drained, his chidori fading away and the noisy chirping dying out. She summoned one of her water bottles, chugging it before offering another to the boy.

"You're getting fast. Almost as fast as me." Tamako almost pouted, what sort of drugs is Orochimaru pumping into him? She trained nearly twenty-hours a day, leaving one hour of rest and the other hours just eating food, traveling and replenishing stamina throughout the day.

"Of course, it's only natural." He replied, throwing the empty bottle to the side. "Let's go again. I've been trying out infusing chidori onto my chokutō." She eyed the sword, it was the same length as a katana but had a straight edge rather than curved. It was much longer than her tanto but Tamako didn't really want to learn how to wield another blade. She was mainly a ninjutsu shinobi first who learned kenjutsu to defend and fight back.

Maybe she should try infusing elemental chakra into her blade.

Tamako nodded, picking herself up and wiping sweat onto her oversized sleeves. "Alright. But you won't maim me, right?"

Sasuke smirks, unsheathing his blade before placing it close to the ground, "No promises."

Tamako's palm rises and faces the ground, a tanto forming from the dirt below her before she gripped the crystal blade. The two glanced at each other and lunged.

The two exchanged harsh clashes that caused ripples of wind to whip back at every hit, each clang created sparks that glowed against the dimming sun. With one more final clash, the two skid back into the dirt, eyeing each other. The backdrop of the warm sunset contrasted harshly against the glowing chokutō, raiton beaming up the blade and promised a shocking death.

Tamako's mind quickly runs through thoughts at a rapid pace, I can't use suiton or I'll just shock myself to death. The only counter to raiton is doton. It wasn't like she could just coat her sword in rocks, it'll make her slashes do blunt damage and she could just give up her sword and create a fist instead. She sighed, well, at least crystal isn't an electricity conductor.

Sasuke lunges forward, blade sharp and ready. At the first slash, Tamako ducks low, her palm digging into the ground as she spins her legs into a low kick. With his Sharingan out, Sasuke jumps into the air and twists his body, using the momentum to send a leg into Tamako's torso and sends her skidding back. Without missing a beat, his chokutō stabs forward and the periwinkle haired girl is just a little too slow, a little too tired and maybe out of chakra.

Unable to make her last minute crystal shield, the chokutō pierces through her stomach and through the other side. It was so fast, fueled with raiton, even if the chirping birds signaled it was getting closer, she couldn't move her body in time, not even mold enough chakra.

With wide eyes, she looks down at the blade, lightning chakra running through her body as it numbs the pain. Blood is dripping down the blade onto the handle, staining Sasuke's hands. The floor is red with her blood and she coughs out more that splatter onto the boy's white shirt.

"I've n-never been stabbed before." She groans out, her hands reaching to grab Sasuke's wrist, "Don't pull out or I'll bleed out." Her words and her touch seem to shake the boy, his eyes are wide and he freezes, his breath slowly increasing in pace at each drop of blood.

She watches as her HP slowly drains at a rate that makes her uncomfortable. She's never died in combat, always died before she could even make a move against kage-leveled enemies.

Tamako doesn't see the expression Sasuke makes, nor does she have the time to spare. She really didn't want to restart the day, she's just finally got a hand of her crystal dragon earlier this morning and she really doesn't want to try leveling thrice again. "Sasuke." She says again, calmly.

"Shit." Sasuke's hands clenches the blade before letting go in a rush, "Wait here. I-i need to find someone."

Before she could yell back, the boy dashes away, red footsteps.

She sits on the ground, trying not to flex in any way possible. In her inventory, she curses at her low stock of HP potions, those were getting rarer and rarer in the ID Dungeons, and only had a blood tablet.

There wasn't any point in taking that while bleeding out. With a slow sigh, her fingers grow green, hovering over her back as she slowly pushed the blade out. The squishing sounds of sliced flesh combined with her own groans and the pain that coursed through now that Sasuke wasn't pumping raiton gives her more nausea than she'd like.

Slowly, the wound on her back closes, but she still has this stupid chokutō piercing her. Any organs this thing cut through, she is not able to heal, she just isn't that good enough.

Her musing ends with Sasuke arrives with a red-headed girl, Tamako could tell his grip on her is tight just by the way how white his hand is from exertion. The girl is barely holding on, nearly tripping at his speed and gapes at Tamako.

The girl, Karin, her minds speaks, falls to the ground and holds up an arm with bite scars littered about. It's an ugly sight for such a young girl. "Bite!" She yells, her voice cracking in the middle with tears pooling in her eyes. Tamako bites the girl softly, clutching the chokutō and feeling chakra enter her reserves.

Slowly, she drags the chokutō out of her body, leaving it clattering against the ground. With her teeth still around Karin's flesh, the wound sizzles. She can feel the cut in her internal organs close quickly, before the outer skin closing into a slight pink scar. She lets go of the girl, swallowing the blood pill in her other hand and wipes her mouth from any blood before finally glancing up.

Sasuke has this indescribable look on his face. She's never seen it before and her wound burns. She holds one palm over the scar, "Not bad Sasuke. Your Chidori chokutō might be one of your deadliest ones." She laughs a bit, cringing at the slight pain before her palm full of healing chakra coats the area.

"I almost killed you."

Her eyebrows rise at his statement, and chuckles. "Indeed you did." Using Karin as a support, she rises to her feet and waves off the two. "I'm fine, aren't I?"

Karin's tears run down her cheeks.

Tamako's never met the girl before, only hearing a story about her from her old teammates back at the chunin exams, and she was a sorry sight. She wore this greenish-tan coat that cut at her upper shoulder, revealing all of those unsavory bite-marks. Tamako bets that Tsunade could erase these scars.

Her finger scrapes across Karin's cheeks, wiping the wetness, "Why are you crying?"

The girl sniffs.

Tamako almost forgot she was only thirteen. Just fresh from a massacre and in the clutches of Orochimaru and Kabuto's experiments. Then, with a small grin, "I remember you from the Chunin Exams. Kusa, right?"

Her eyes widened. "Y-you saw me?"

Tamako nods, patting her head, "You have that iconic Uzumaki Red, it's hard to forget someone as bright as you." This seems to calm the girl down, almost leaning into her touch.

Then, Tamako turns to Uchiha. "Sasuke." His eyes meet hers, and her own eyes soften. She always forgets that they were just kids. More than before, she feels a lot older than her physical body. Just all of this is reminding her why she's doing all of this. "You did good."

She doesn't mention how he nearly killed her, how, despite all his barriers and the what not, nearly had a panic attack over her. It must've reminded him how Itachi murdered his parents. How Itachi pierced through his father's stomach and how the blood trailed through the blade and damped the older brother's fingers as he disemboweled both mother and father. Organs spilling out. Sasuke experienced this first hand through the genjutsu from that night, and again just months prior to his defection.

"Don't worry." She says with a smile, "Everything will be okay."

Character Status

Name: Tamako

Class: The Gamer

Age: 13 Years Old

Title: Momma's Little Gem

Status: Warm

Level: 170

HP: 5,600- HP Regen: 3.5 per 5 seconds

CP: 5,995- CP Regen: 3.5 per 5 seconds

Strength: 187

Vitality: 188

Wisdom: 183

Intelligence: 191

Dexterity: 191

Agility: 189

Luck: 171

Fame/Infamy: -2600

Sunagakure no Sato acknowledges you and hunts you

Konohagakure Genin acknowledges you and hunts you

Yukigakure no Sato Appreciates you

Money: 9,673,290 ryo

Unspent Points: 156