Chapter XII

Team 7 Arc III

The little girl tilted her head and simply let out a tinkling giggle that grated on Naruto's ears. Her obsidian eyes flashed deep red for a fraction of a second before a gentle smile settled on her face again. She pointed happily at Naruto's face and said, "You recognize me! I'm so honored Great Sage Equal to Heaven!"

Naruto's frosty mood didn't dissipate despite the rather friendly greeting. Even the epithet that he had gained from his rather obscure encounters didn't faze him at the moment. The presence of an Akuryo, especially one that had supposedly died more than four decades prior was nagging at his brain as he narrowed his gaze at the little spirit in front of him. "You were exorcised by Kagami Uchiha during the ending days of the First Great Shinobi War. I ask again, Akuryo, what are you doing here again?"

The Akuryo tutted as she shook her head in mock disappointment and continued to play with her stepping stones. Naruto shifted, as he didn't want some paranoid Uchiha to pick a fight with him. Junko continued to giggle as she played with her stones and skipped happily. Naruto eyed the spirit warily as he waited for an answer. After finishing one set of the skipping stones, Junko turned to Naruto and as otherworldly chakra filled the small area they were sitting in, the Akuryo answered him. "I am here because of you, Great Sage."

"I did not summon you here." Naruto shook his head as he maintained his frosty voice. He had encountered the Yokai and Akuryo before. And he was very much justified with his very frosty demeanour regarding these beasts of nature. In the future without humans as a consequence of Kaguya's curse, these abominations of nature had run amuck in the world, doing as they pleased with the empty corpses of so many people. Naruto had made it his personal mission to make sure the desecration of humanity hadn't continued. It had been one of the many reasons why he had sought out the Shinigami itself in the first place. "You are here through means unknown to me, Akuryo."

"When you crossed through the river, you opened up the oldest parts of the Purelands – the realm of Naraka. Places that should have remained closed." Junko murmured slowly to him, her brown hair dancing rhythmically and hypnotically. Her eyes flashed as she addressed Naruto. "You played a dangerous game when you accepted the gamble with Lord Shinigami. You should have stayed in the future. You released us, all of us when you crossed the river that shouldn't be crossed."

Naruto remained impassive outside, but internally those words were causing a frenzy. Ashura roared in anger inside of Naruto and Yin Kurama's imprint growled in frustration. Searching through the dredges of his memory, Naruto frowned fiercely. The Shinigami had mentioned consequences if he pushed through the river, but he had also specified what kind of consequences would be dredged up. The time stream, butterflies, deaths being reversed and births being wiped out. He hadn't mentioned anything regarding Naraka and Niraya, Naruto remembered that part vividly. Was this some kind of unintended consequence? Naruto shook himself out of his reverie and leaned forward, watching Junko closely. "If you did come from the Sixth Hell, then Izanami and Shinigami must be going spare to find you and your compatriots."

"They focus their wrath on you, Great Sage," Junko smirked her expression totally out of place on the face of a normal 12-year-old girl. A smirk that hid a demonic spirit behind the façade of an innocent little girl. "After all, they did beg of you to reconsider. When you fought your way through Yomi, you were told, and begged even by the spirits not to open the gates of the river. But you did. And now, you must bear the consequences of what you did."

"I can do that right now, right here, believe it," Naruto swore quietly as he flared his chakra in warning. "I can undo the mistake of Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu right here, right now."

"Why, you want to kill Madara Uchiha's daughter? Why, just because I'm your enemy's daughter?" Junko pouted as she put an innocent finger on her lips and widened her eyes at Naruto.

"Madara sacrificed his own daughter and wife for the simple sake of revenge." Naruto snarled as bits of dangerous chakra leaked out of him. The familiar rage that had built up inside of him when he had first heard of the tale began to slowly bubble underneath his skin. "He took his newborn daughter, and sacrificed her and his wife to an Akuryo – you - forcing the babe to grow up inside her own mind while her body was inhabited by a spirit of the Sixth Hell. All for the sake of experimenting and making a new kind of Zetsu, a supernatural one. I could destroy you right now, and let the poor babe who has grown singularly inside her own mind out, right now Akuryo. What is stopping me here?"

"Great Sage you may be, but priest you are not." Junko pointed out with innocent maliciousness coursing underneath her words. "And Poor Kagami, he's in a coma since that battle near the Land of Frost. He's not as young and spry as he once was, the poor dear. Only a consecrated priest of one of the 4 can exorcise me, and you are not one of them, Great Sage."

Naruto clenched his fists as he watched the girl. He didn't know what game she was playing, but an Akuryo always meant trouble was coming. Yokai were more reasonable than an Akuryo. Yokai were normally stuck in the Fourth or the Fifth Hell. As such they were more reasonable. The ones in the Sixth and below were just beyond human reasonability. Naruto was stronger than anyone else in the world, too, but that didn't mean it gave him the right to tear away the flesh of the one the Akuryo was possessing. Especially in the case of Junko, the poor girl had been possessed since birth. Naruto narrowed his eyes and stood up stiffly. He turned around towards Apartment 23A. "If I hear you hurting anyone. Anyone, Akuryo, you are going to wish you were in King Enma-o's torture chambers. Believe it."

Rin launched another punch at Naruto, pumping chakra through her fingers to create scalpels. Much to her frustration, Naruto weaved through them fluidly, focusing on the scalpels easily as he dodged them. Rin narrowed her eyes and crouched low and swept at Naruto's feet. Naruto jumped nimbly as he rolled midair, landing softly beside Rin and placed his outstretched palm on her neck, signalling the end of the taijutsu spar. It was the first spar that Rin had with Naruto since Naruto had taken her in as his apprentice. A day after having taken Naruto as her mentor, Rin understood that Naruto was largely playing around with Rin to gauge her taijutsu properly so that he could teach and instruct her properly, but the disparity between herself and how Kakashi and Obito held themselves up against Naruto did nothing but upset her. Sighing, Rin turned to Naruto. Naruto smiled at her gently. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Rin. Don't expect results so quickly. And more importantly, don't compare yourself. It isn't healthy."

Rin nodded as she tried to discard her rather dark thoughts and she looked up at her new mentor. "For Ninjutsu, I know the Academy Three, the Mystical Palm Technique, Chakra scalpels, and the Shadow Shuriken and Shadow Kunai techniques, Naruto-sensei."

Naruto struck a thinking pose as he mulled over the words. As Naruto continued to think, Rin blinked as she saw Obito and Kushina walking in the distance, followed by a reluctant Kakashi who was following after the duo into the training ground. Obito grinned and waved at Rin happily whilst Kushina shot her a reassuring look. Rin felt some of her tension leave her as some reassurance flooded her. Obito and Kushina had been nothing but supportive when she broke the news of her new apprenticeship with Naruto the last evening. Kakashi hadn't said anything, but Rin knew that he didn't approve. Still, he had followed Kushina and Obito to visit her, and that touched her. Kakashi liked to keep the image that he didn't particularly care for his teammates but both Obito and Rin knew that there was more to the mask than that stupid façade.

"Rin!" Obito shouted enthusiastically as he barreled towards her and Naruto. Naruto sighed as he sidestepped the raven-haired train steamrolled towards them. Rin wasn't so lucky and found herself being twirled around by her enthusiastic teammate. "How's your first day as an apprentice going on? I'm sure Naruto-sensei is awesome! He's going to make you into the world's first Healing-Sealing Duo Mistress! Hey, Naruto-sensei, does such a classification even exist? Bah, if it doesn't when I become Hokage, I'll make sure such a classification is made!"

"You're hyper today." Naruto murmured from beside Rin. Rin had to agree. Obito was always enthusiastic even at the worst of times, but he was overly hyper today. As realization flooded her, Rin turned to eye Kakashi and Kushina, who had slowly caught up to them. Kushina winked at Rin conspiratorially and confirmed her suspicions. Rin turned to Kakashi with a disapproving face.

"Who gave Obito coffee?" Rin asked slowly. "You know caffeine and Obito don't get along!"

"I gave it to him to make him shut up," Kakashi answered back, just as slowly. "The idiot was snapping at me for not wanting to come. Gave him some coffee to distract him."

"That's rude Kakashi!" Rin admonished lightly as she finally managed to get Obito to calm down slightly. Kakashi ignored Rin's admonishing voice and put his hands inside his pockets. He looked up curiously at Naruto and narrowed his eyes subtly as he watched the redhead whisper something into Kushina's ears. Kushina listened closely and whispered something back as Naruto hummed and nodded. Naruto tapped Rin slowly on the shoulder and motioned her to follow him a few meters away from the group. "What's going on sensei?"

Naruto smiled at her gently and shook his head slightly, letting his locks of red hair fall to the wayside a bit as he answered Rin's question. "Ah, it's nothing that serious Rin. Before lunch, I just wanted to give you a new task to study and learn. I asked my cousin what your elemental affinity was and I understand that it is water?"

Rin nodded. To be fair to Team 7, their team was varied in their elemental affinities. Obito commanded the fire affinity, Minato-sensei commanded the wind affinity and Kakashi commanded the lightning and earth affinities. Rin herself was more disposed towards the water affinity. Minato-sensei had taught them about affinities after passing the Chunin exams, but much to Rin's shame, she didn't have a water release jutsu under her belt still. The afternoon sun was piercing hot, and Rin fidgeted as she tried to wait patiently for whatever it was that Naruto wanted to give to her. Naruto took out a small sealing scroll and then unsealed another scroll. Reading through some of the lines of the scroll that he had unsealed, Naruto smiled in triumph and rolled the scroll up before handing it to Rin, who looked at the scroll with a mix of curiosity and also a little bit of trepidation.

"This is the scroll for Water Release: Wild Water Wave." Naruto declared as he handed over the scroll to Rin softly. "While I train you in using your elemental affinity, this is going to be the first technique you will learn. Now, for the moment, today evening I just want you to go over the theory written on the scroll. Don't try to use the technique. I don't wanna hear complaints from your parents regarding you flooding your room by accident."

Rin eyed the scroll before looking back at Naruto. She voiced the question that was now nagging in her brain. "So what will I be training in then?"

Naruto knelt down and picked up a leaf. It was an ordinary leaf. Any leaf that could be found on trees or shrubs had probably been swept down onto the ground during the torrential summer monsoon. Naruto smiled at her calmly. "Normally, like the Uchiha Clan, who just brute force their way through into their fire elemental affinity, it is better to have chakra control over your affinity. It makes for slower learning, but the end results are better." 'I still remember Sasuke being surprised as heck when he found out his primary affinity was lightning. Brute forcing your way through affinities has always been counterproductive.'

"Okay." Rin nodded slowly. Now that she thought about it, Obito hadn't told her how he knew that his affinity was fire. It was just that he assumed it readily when Minato-sensei had asked them months before. She hadn't thought much about it before, after all, Uchiha's were renowned for their affinity to fire. "So what will I be doing with the leaf."

Deciding that a demonstration was better than simply explaining it, Naruto poured some of his chakra onto the leaf that he was holding in his hand. The leaf swayed in the afternoon wind for a second before it got damp and fell limp to the side, with water droplets falling to the ground. Naruto handed the wet leaf to Rin. "That's what I want you to do. If you can do that, then you will have sufficient chakra control over your affinity. Pick up a leaf and try."

Rin observed the wet leaf that she had just received from Naruto for a good ten seconds before acquiescing to her new mentor's instruction. Rin knelt down and picked up a stray leaf. Focusing on herself and her chakra, she forced her chakra onto the leaf. Closing her eyes as she channelled her chakra onto the leaf, she pulled at her water-release chakra and forced it onto the leaf. She opened her eyes as she slowly stopped the flow of chakra being transferred to the leaf from her hand and looked at it. While the leaf was definitely sleeker, it seemed to be the same as before. She looked at Naruto with confusion and askance. Without needing a verbal question, Naruto answered her gently. "Don't just tug at your elemental affinity. You will need to mold the chakra and imagine the water chakra itself. Wind is all about cutting, fire is all about burning, earth is all about shaking and breaking, and lightning is all about exploding and destroying. You must imagine what water chakra is all about for you when you mold your water release with the leaf."

Rin absorbed the information like a sponge to – ahem – water. She nodded and looked after her leaf fiercely. But before she could channel her chakra into it again, she felt a light bop on her head as Kushina placed the basket she had on her head.

"That's enough training for today Rin!" Kushina smiled boisterously. "Come on! Time to eat, you know!"

"Kushina is right," Naruto confessed as he gently swatted the basket away from Rin's head. "Practice at home after you've rested up for today Rin. Our morning taijutsu spar took a lot out of you. It's only the first day. I don't want you to keel over from chakra exhaustion."

Sighing and recognizing the wisdom of the words spoken to her, Rin knelt down and pocketed some leaves to practice on later at home and followed Kushina to where Obito and Kakashi were lazing about, getting ready for the homemade food that Kushina was famous for. Naruto followed them serenely as well. Though, perhaps it was just Rin's imagination, but Naruto seemed a little agitated by something. He seemed to be eying the shadows in the woods very deeply and his smile hid a small scowl whenever he turned to the shadows of the woods. 'Maybe someone he doesn't like is watching our training?'

Sitting down on the picnic blanket that Kushina had placed on the training ground's floor, Team 7 dug into the food that Kushina laid out in front of them hungrily. Rin's eyes twitched with a little irritation as she watched Obito and Kakashi grab some of the foodstuffs she wanted to try. The two hadn't even trained the whole day whilst Rin had been run ragged by Naruto during their taijutsu spar. Grumbling mentally, Rin bit into the scrumptious rice cake cooked by Kushina with relish. Obito reached out to have some of the cup ramen that Kushina had laid out but found his hand swatted away by Naruto. Naruto growled at Obito. "No touchy the ramen."

Obito gulped and withdrew his hand as Kushina chuckled and Rin giggled into her rice cake. Rin had always thought that Kushina's addiction to ramen was rather unsettling in many ways, but Naruto's addiction to the stuff made Kushina look like a healthy ramen consumer. Perhaps it was a clan trait to simply like ramen? Rin wondered if food habits could be passed down in clans. It was something worth having a study over. Maybe she could recommend that as a topic the next time the Konoha Military Hospital had a teaching class. Naruto slurped over the ramen greedily and hungrily before the comfortable silence was broken by Naruto's question.

"Obito?" Naruto asked as he finished with his cup of ramen and placed it down. Obito glanced at Naruto with a questioning gaze as he bit into the udon he was having. "I was wondering if I could speak with one of your cousins?"

"Cousin Naori?" Obito asked as he swallowed some of the Udon stuck in his throat. "Think she's the only other Uchiha you know after me. She was complaining about you a few weeks ago. Something about you being annoying to be with."

Naruto's face coloured red with embarrassment for a bit as he muttered some light curses under his breath before he recomposed himself. "No, I meant Mikoto Uchiha."

"Mikoto?" Kushina asked, a little surprised as she leaned forward. "Why do you want to meet her?"

"I need to speak with her grandfather," Naruto answered the question quickly as he took another slurp from his ramen. "I need his expertise regarding something he did during the First Great Shinobi War and need his advice."

"Mikoto's grandfather, oh you mean Old Man Kagami?" Kushina clarified as she drummed her fingers a bit. "Well, I could help you speak with Mikoto. I'm friendly with her. She was Minato's teammate in the old Team 7 after all."

"Hey no fair, he asked me that question!" Obito pouted at Kushina. Kushina raised a sleek red eyebrow at Obito and Obito grumbled back. "Hey, Naruto-sensei. I can help you speak with Mikoto if you want. Though these days she's always with that bastard Fugaku. I swear I don't know what she sees in him. But little Itachi is adorable."

Naruto seemed surprised at hearing Mikoto's son's name, Rin observed. His face seemed pinched just for a second before he laughed along with Obito. "Thanks, Obito. How about after our lunch here? Kushina, you can come too. It would be all the better for another recognizable face to come."

"Sure!" Kushina beamed as Team 7 bit into their food once again. After finishing their food, Rin and Kakashi bid their goodbyes to Naruto, Kushina and Obito who veered towards the Uchiha Clan Compound on the other side of the village. Rin kept up with Kakashi, who was his usual dour and silent self. Rin prodded Kakashi.

"What's wrong?" Rin questioned as she walked alongside the masked genius.

"Nothing," Kakashi grunted as he stuffed his hands in his pocket. His dark blue shinobi attire fluttered in the afternoon wind as they continued to walk towards their homes in silence. Kakashi seemed wary and wanted to speak about something. Rin observed some movement where his mouth was supposed to be, underneath that horrid mask, but Kakashi shut his mouth again. Finally, after some seconds, Kakashi spoke up again. "Are you sure you want to take Mr. Uzumaki as your mentor Rin? You heard what Minato-sensei told us about him."

"Sensei and the rest of the village higher-ups are being paranoid." Rin huffed at Kakashi as she answered the question slowly. "You heard him. Minato-sensei said that Naruto-sensei wasn't a traitor. He said that to our face. Besides, no one can overcome Yamanaka-sensei's mindwalking technique. If Naruto-sensei does have a secret, then that is his right to keep it. I don't understand why everyone is so interested."

"He defeated Hanzo. Of course, everyone is interested in him." Kakashi snapped back lightly before sighing as he pushed his sleek silver hair back with his right hand. "But, sensei also gave us an order, to get close to him and find that secret. Our orders are paramount, Rin. You can't just ignore that!"

"He gave us no such order." Rin pointed out calmly as they exited the training grounds and onto Tobirama Avenue. "He just told us to keep an eye out and that if anything went south, Kushina would be right next to us to help and aid us."

"The order was implied." Kakashi retorted, agitated as he eyed Rin with his beady eyes.

"Nothing was implied." Rin sighed into the air in front of her. Whenever Kakashi got into one of his 'rules are the highest authority' rants, it was nearly impossible to reason with the silver-haired prodigy. "Just what do you want me to do anyway, Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked a little uncomfortable for a second. As they passed through a street, he finally answered Rin's lingering question. "You're his apprentice now. Get close to him and weasel that secret that the higher-ups are after from him."

Rin didn't know whether she should have felt outraged or disgusted by the comment that Kakashi threw her way. Shaking his head, she narrowed her eyes at her old friend and teammate. "That's disturbing, Kakashi. Seriously. If Lord Hokage asked you to spy on Minato-sensei, would you?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered resolutely and quickly, without hesitation. With an almost bland sort of voice conveying his answer, Rin's normally hidden temper was starting to flare. "The Hokage is the highest authority in the village. I would gladly spy on Minato-sensei for him. If the Fire Daimyo asked me to spy on Lord Hokage, I would gladly do that as well, however unlikely that would be."

"I don't want to talk about it." Rin retorted back silently. She didn't need her anger getting the best of her. It had been years since the last time it did and she didn't need a repeat of that incident.

Mikoto Uchiha had heard a great deal over the past few months regarding Kushina's newfound cousin. She had also seen him fight against Minato during his early days in Konoha and she had been suitably impressed. Not many could claim a draw against her former teammate, even if it was obvious that both Minato and the newcomer Uzumaki weren't fighting to the best of their abilities. Plus, whilst the shape of his face and his body build, and especially the tilt of his ears reminded Mikoto of Kushina, his eyes and the slight curvature of his nose reminded Mikoto intimately of Minato himself. If Naruto Uzumaki hadn't been classified as an Uzushio refugee, then Mikoto would have sworn that Naruto Uzumaki was the weird child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki who didn't fit into the timeline, considering both Minato and Kushina would have been only 2 or 3 when they had Kushina if Naruto was actually their child. Needless to say, she was surprised to see the man on her door.

Helping Itachi with his studies inside the main room of their house, Mikoto had been broken out of her thoughts by the doorbell ringing. And right in front of her stood Kushina, Naruto and her little cousin Obito. Naruto's normally bright blue eyes seemed razor focused and he bowed his head slightly at Mikoto, acknowledging her position as the Heiress of the Uchiha Clan, by the right of marriage to her husband, Fugaku. "Mrs. Uchiha. I haven't had the honour of meeting you yet, till now."

Mikoto was vaguely amused. Kushina and even her cousin, Naori, had told her that Naruto Uzumaki seemed to be a person who liked to disregard authority easily, but here he was, acknowledging and following it to the letter. Mikoto shot an amused look to Kushina, who mirrored her expression with a small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. Mikoto curtsied, acknowledging Naruto's greeting and asked, "Kushina, Obito, Mr. Uzumaki, what can I help you with?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but before he could reply, Mikoto's adorable little cousin, Obito, interrupted first. "He wants to meet your old grandpa, Mikoto. Something about the first war that this old man wants to learn about."

Naruto bopped a playful fist on Obito's head and looked down at him with a smiling face. Naruto was smiling, but he was also giving off a patented 'Kushina' look as Minato had called it whenever he gossiped about his and Kushina's dating life with Mikoto. Though Mikoto was close enough with Kushina, she was always closer to Minato by virtue of having been his teammate first. And whenever Kushina got angry, her first intention was always to smile, but very dangerously. And in yet another similarity between Kushina and Naruto, Naruto was mirroring the same look. With a playful smile, Naruto motioned Obito. "Obito, if you don't stop interrupting, tomorrow's shuriken practice will have you as our sitting duck, believe me."

Obito eyed the waving fist that Naruto had placed on his head with some trepidation and nodded quickly. "Uh, yeah! Anyway, I've got to go meet with Rin anyway! See ya later Kushina! Naruto-sensei! Mikoto! Say high to little Itachi for me Mikoto!"

With that, Obito dashed off into the distance. Mikoto watched her little cousin go with faint amusement. She was always 'Heiress Uchiha' or 'Lady Uchiha', among the clan members but only Obito had the temerity to ignore her titles completely. It was refreshing in a way. Patting down her apron, she turned to Kushina and Naruto.

"Well, if you wish to speak with me, why don't you come in?"

Obito rubbed the sore spot on his forehead where Naruto had bopped him with a mixture of amusement and feigned irritation. Obito had quickly learned that Naruto was fond of ruffling their hair during training, much to the eternal irritation of Kakashi, who despite his feigned ignorance of the matter, liked to spend hours in the morning getting his hair look good and well, it irritated Rin as well. Much as Rin didn't care for her looks like other girls, she did care about her hair being sent haywire whenever Naruto ruffled it. Obito found it playful and didn't mind. His hair was a mess anyway and his grandmother had given up trying to get his hair to look presentable. As he turned north to exit via the north entrance, Obito noticed a familiar face playing skipping stones. Grinning, Obito moved forward and greeted her.

"Hey, Junko wasn't it?" Obito asked, fishing in his brain slightly to make sure that he had remembered the correct name. "How are you?"

Junko's swaying brown hair stopped as she turned to face him with the typical Uchiha's obsidian-colored eyes. Her eyes brightened as she looked at Obito. "Hey, you remembered me!"

"Of course I did," Obito mumbled out playfully. It was nice to have a Uchiha cousin within their generation who seemed to like Obito. Having no Sharingan and being considered the deadlast of his batch in the academy, and having failed his first Chunin exams, Obito was considered an outcast within their generation among the clan, where shinobi prestige was everything. The elders were more understanding, having experienced a long shinobi career, and understanding that failure was piece and morsel of a shinobi, but children were always fickle creatures, even among the clan. It was heartening when Junko strode forward and pulled him towards the small chalk-written marks on the ground for the skipping stones game. "You want me to play with you?"

"Yup!" Junko answered enthusiastically. Her brown hair swayed in the afternoon wind that was bellowing into the valley on which Konoha was built upon. It was almost hypnotic in a way. "Let's play. Come on! You know how to play skipping stones right cousin Obito?"

"I sure do," Obito said out loud, even though internally he was panicking. 'I don't know hide nor hair about skipping stones. Oh man, what I wouldn't give to have Rin here! She would surely know!'

"You don't know anything about it, do you?" Junko questioned rhetorically with a deadpan stare at Obito who was fidgeting nervously when she had stepped aside to let Obito to play. Obito chuckled out loud and rubbed the back of his head as a visible sweat formed on the back of Junko's head. Shaking her head amusedly, Junko walked to the side of the small pond next to the shack where she lived and picked up some flat stones. "You find flat stones like this, put the stones between your index finger and thumb. Then you take your position in the place marked by the chalk. And then you throw the stone onto the pond. That's all there is to it, silly cousin Obito!"

"Ah alright." Obito nodded vigorously as he searched the shore of the pond for a flat stone. Finding one, he bent over and picked it up. Admiring the flat sleekness of the stone that he had picked up, Obito went back to the marked area. Pushing the stone between his right index finger and ring thumb, he threw the stone flat on its side onto the pond. The stone bounced two times before sinking into the pond. Junko clapped happily.

"That's two! Not bad for a starter cousin Obito!"

"Oh yeah, what's your highest score squirt?" Obito teased as he looked at the place in the pond where his stone had sunk in.

"16!" Junko replied happily as Obito gaped at her. 16 seemed impossible, especially considering the length of the small pond. Seeing Obito's face, Junko elaborated. "You've got to make it bounce. It's all about the technique!"

"If you say so." Obito shrugged slightly. He didn't know anything about this casual sport, so he was going to take Junko's word for it. Obito knew that Tobiishi or Skipping Stones was popular in the village, but he for one had never been one for casual sports since he was a small baby. Kicking the can and messing around with other kids his age had been his favourite pastime. Glancing at one of the Uchiha clocks, Obito smiled bashfully, looking back at Junko. "Hey, sorry squirt. I gotta go. How about I play a full game with you next time?"

"Promise?" Junko pouted at Obito with big eyes that emphasized their baby-doll-like features. Obito sweated a bit at the emotional assault sent to him as he rubbed the back of his head and nodded vigorously. "Ok, thank you, cousin Obito!"

Obito chuckled and with a wave of his hand, bid goodbye to Junko, making his way to Rin's neighbourhood. 'It's nice to have a Uchiha my age who gets along with me. Huh, is this what that grumpy bastard Fugaku meant by clan solidarity among all generations? It…it feels nice.'

'Bastard, either your dad is an asshole and you took after him, but your personality is a total of 180 of your mother, Sasuke.' Naruto grumbled mentally as he entered the Konoha Military Hospital. Naruto had known from the letters that he read during his free time in the future that Sasuke's mother had been somewhat close to his own parents and had even petitioned the Third Hokage to adopt Naruto but had the request denied by the village elders. Mikoto had been nothing but warm and welcoming and had answered Naruto's queries and questions without fail. Sadly, Kagami Uchiha was in the hospital after a failed ambush in the Land of Frost some months prior and was still recovering in an on-and-off coma. Naruto didn't like what he was going to do, but for the sake of investigating the presence of an evil spirit in the village, he would have to do what he needed to. Spying at the hospital register he quickly made two clones in an empty alleyway and made the clones go in different directions before Naruto turned towards the room where Kagami Uchiha was being treated. Naori was still tailing a clone of his that was training in one of the training grounds, so he was good to go, so to speak.

Naruto entered the room wearing a genjutsu and greeted the two nurses who were tending to the old Uchiha. "Ms. Tanako and Ms. Sato, Doctor Kimura would like to speak with you in Section A of the First Floor Ward."

The nurses looked up surprised and thanked Naruto before leaving, the genjutsu having misled them into thinking Naruto was just another doctor in the facility. Naruto didn't like deceiving people like that, but it was necessary. One of his clones had already popped signaling that a genjutsu had settled down on Doctor Kimura. The doctor and the two nurses would chat about the benefits of the new blood-checking technologies for at least two hours before returning to their posts. His other clone would look after the patient that Kimura was looking after. This was the best way to infiltrate a hospital. Shinobi who infiltrated hospitals, especially in hostile villages often neglected the patients and the patients became the bystanders who were hurt during the process. Naruto would have absolutely none of that.

Kagami Uchiha was sleeping soundly in the bed, his chest rising and falling. Most of his hair had already greyed out, making him look like an odd Uchiha, who were known for their raven or dark brown hair. Naruto eyed the chart next to Kagami's bed, reading that Kagami had briefly awakened yesterday before falling back asleep. Naruto raised his hand and pushed Yang chakra into it, his hand began to glow bright green. Naruto placed his glowing hand on Kagami's forehead and pushed the Yang Chakra into Kagami. It was only a temporary fix. Kagami would awaken and Naruto would find out about the Akuryo Junko. When Naruto's pumped Yang chakra ran out, Kagami would fall back into a coma and recover organically. Treating a patient by permanently pumping diluted Yang chakra on a permanent basis was horrible, according to medical theory and Naruto was not going to experiment.

Kagami took in a deep breath of hair and slowly began to rise, his eyes bleary. Naruto withdrew his hand, thanking Ashura mentally for aiding him in pushing the Yang Chakra deep into Kagami to heal up.

"W-Wha?" Kagami asked, disoriented as the veteran of more than two wars sat up on his hospital bed. He shook and turned to Naruto with a suspicious gaze. "Who're you kid?"

Naruto eyed the fair-skinned man. His shaggy hair and half-lidded eyes distinctly reminded him of the pictures he had seen of Shisui the Teleporter. 'Then again, Shisui was Mikoto's nephew and Kagami's grandson too…..'

"That doesn't matter," Naruto spoke softly so that he didn't attract attention from the hallway. "What I need to ask of you is urgent, Kagami Uchiha. That is why I made you wake from your coma."

"Where are the doctors and the nurses?" Kagami asked, this time his lips were set into a thin line and his voice was sharp. "I don't know who you are kid, but infiltrating a hospital room of a Senior Jonin just seems like a bad idea."

Naruto silently raised the silencing seals that he had implanted on the door so that Kagami's high-pitched voice couldn't be heard. Turning to look at Mikoto and Shisui Uchiha's grandfather fully, Naruto shook his head again. "Senior Jonin Uchiha, I must ask you to calm yourself. I have nothing but the best of intentions for you. All I want is to ask you a question."

"And what is that young man?" Kagami questioned sternly as his Sharingan began to form in his eyes, swirling and keeping true to the Sharingan's nickname as the pinwheel eye.

"I have a question regarding the Akuryo that you exorcised four decades ago, during the First Great Shinobi War." Naruto broached the topic bluntly. He didn't know how exactly to break the topic softly because, well, the matter was an urgent one. "Her name was Junko if I am not mistaken."

Kagami's wide eyes conveyed the gravity of the situation. His hands twitched for a second and his face had gone abnormally pale for a second. His Sharingan glowed bright red eerily as he leaned forward and grabbed the scruff of Naruto's shirt. "How do you know that? How do you know that name?"

Naruto looked at Kagami who was grabbing his shirt quite fiercely. Eying it slowly, Naruto answered the question. "She has resurfaced. I met her yesterday night, but couldn't exorcise or even banish her because I am not consecrated as a priest of the One of the Four."

"There is no way she could have resurfaced." Kagami denied, a hitch in his voice. He let go of Naruto and pushed back on the bed. "I made sure that she could never come back. That she would be stuck in the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Hells forever. I made sure of it."

'It's my fault that she resurfaced.' Naruto thought guiltily before he shook his head mentally and forged ahead. "I don't know how she escaped." 'A lie. Sorry old man.' "But I do know that she is here. She was rather upfront about it."

Kagami slumped against the bed and had his head on his hands. He rubbed his forehead in consternation and Naruto remained silent. It was his fault that an Akuryo had resurfaced, and it would be bad form to interrupt. Kagami eyed Naruto and asked, "What do you know about the Akuryo young man? What do you know about Junko in particular?"

"I know they're evil spirits. I've dealt with a few in the past." Naruto murmured as he sat down on a chair next to the bed that Kagami was sitting on. "I also know that Junko was the daughter of Madara Uchiha. Only a babe when returned to the village briefly to challenge the First Hokage before the famous battle at the Valley of the End. That Madara did something to his daughter that made her possessed by an Akuryo. I know that her teammates in the First War died mysteriously and that she was known as the 'Laughing Uchiha' during the First War. She massacred many enemy shinobi with a smile and laugh on her face. She was eventually found out and put down by you."

"In essentiality…correct." Kagami nodded silently as he rubbed his forehead before stapling his fingers together. Kagami looked decades older than he actually was when he continued on. "But that's just the beginning of it. Madara used his wife in an obscure ritual to sacrifice her. He called an Akuryo and stitched it with poor little Junko who was only a few days old at the time before leaving. She stopped ageing at the age of 12, but the clan let her stay when Lady Mito diagnosed her and declared that she had a chakra mutation that made her look only 12. She would start to age normally as she grew older, Lady Mito theorized at the time. But the problem, more than just her savagery in the war was the fact that me and Torifu found her…committing unspeakable acts of violence on members of our clan and village using the fog of war to her advantage. In the first war between organized Shinobi villages, everything was in chaos. A handful of missing clansmen and villagers were not noticed. Seeing what we did, Torifu and I decided to investigate her. When we found what she truly was, we exorcised her."

"Why did Madara do it?" Naruto pondered silently. "If I remember correctly, then he came back to the village under the deception that he was returning to the village for good before he challenged Hashirama publically by summoning the Nine Tails. He wanted his revenge on Hashirama for not becoming the First Hokage. What good did an obscure ritual that sacrificed his daughter and wife achieve for him?"

"Ritualistic chakra has always been a fascination for the more fanatically religiously inclined shinobi," Kagami answered back quietly. "But nothing much has ever been achieved of it. The only thing that has been achieved till date is the so-called cursed mark in Fuinjutsu. But that is a powered-down nature chakra being merged into some remnants of ritualistic chakra. What goal could it have? Well, an Akuryo only brings destruction. Considering what Madara wanted for this village, it shouldn't be a surprise what exactly he wanted. If me and Torifu hadn't intervened, I shudder to think what she could have done in the end, right underneath our noses."

"How do I banish the Akuryo without killing the girl trapped underneath it?" Naruto asked fiercely, a dangerous idea forming in his head.

"That is impossible." Kagami shook his head derisively. "You think I wouldn't have done that if I could have? I studied under the priest of Amaterasu to find a way to save the poor girl. It was impossible. As more and more disappearances started to happen, I had to take action and I did what I had to do. An exorcism will only banish her back into the Sixth Hell of Naraka and Niraya."

"I refuse to accept that." Naruto snapped back folding his arms. "There should always be a way. Besides, disappearances haven't been reported yet, and I have threatened the Akuryo to stay in line. We still have plenty of time to search for a way that protects the girl within while banishing this akuryo that has been unleashed."

"The Akuryo is doing what it always does." Kagami snorted derisively. "It is making friends. It is making connections among society. It will then turn on them at the most opportune moment and take their souls. Do you know why? It is because the negative energy that an Akuryo feeds off is greatest at the point of betrayal. The pain and despair that comes out of it is basically impossible to resist for these foul destructive beasts of nature."

"Connections?" Naruto asked idly into the air in the hospital room as he thought about the entire situation slowly. Remembering his own interaction with the Akuryo, Naruto tried to remember any incriminating phrase or sentence. Then suddenly, Naruto stood up rigidly.

"Of course I know Obito! He lives in house number 23A mister!"

"Obito," Naruto murmured decisively. "She's after Obito."

Author's Note: And the plot thickens! It will be elaborated in the future, I promise! And of course, Naruto's travel through time has had consequences. Thoughts? Junko, the Akuryo, Kagami, Torifu, Team 7, etc will all be elaborated in the coming last 2 chapters of this arc as well. I love delving in the spiritual things that were teased to us in canon Naruto and I'm delving headfirst into it!