DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.
Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)
Emphasis
Bijuu, etc. speaking
Bijuu, etc. thinking
Hinote crouched in a grove of banyan trees, observing his prey and listening to his summoner. He'd already heard where she wanted them to move out but he had a few other ideas… Before he could say anything, his summoner began talking again. As usual.
"I need to ask you and the others again to One: please don't put yourselves in too much danger. If I'm forced to fight or that monster shows up again, I may be delayed in healing you." Mito didn't appreciate the way the giant lion scoffed - or the way he was drooling as he watched the bloody battles waging in the far distance. "Two: we aren't aiming to kill anyone but Obito."
That little statement did cause him to look up at his summoner in exasperation. The lion once again decided he far preferred her striped hair to whatever she'd done to it. "You're soft."
"Bologne," Mito growled, not realizing that she was pouting at her summons. Once she did, she pulled her lips to the side, to show how much he'd irritated her - not that he'd probably care. Plus she was wearing her mask; sometimes she forgot about that... "Ahem! If I was soft, I wouldn't be your summoner, now would I?"
"Tch." Hinote guessed that was true enough. Mito might think of herself as a healer but to their tribes, she was a warrior. Like them. And now they were finally going to battle a common enemy together. He wouldn't voice it out loud but it WAS somewhat exciting. Intriguing, at least. "The plan's a-go." Mito had taken her summons' advice the last time she'd been in their realm for a few hours, agreeing to many of their ideas. She had been adamant about directing them to the Uchiha or Mizukage's troops. She'd also yacked on and on about who they should avoid or watch out for.
"Can you let everyone know that it's time for this 'training exercise?' PLEASE remind them that we only want to stop those fighting for Yagura or who are marked with his 'brand!' Oh! –Also, please avoid Yagura, the Mizukage: he's hurt but still a monster of a ninja plus it wouldn't be good for a Konoha nin to kill a Kage."
Hear that, Itachi-chan?
"...My hope is that with Yagura hurt, maybe Obito will show up again. …I'm running out of time to get him, otherwise!"
"Two monsters. …We have been waiting for this," Hinote said creepily as he licked his chops before dispelling again. Mito weaved through hand seals, molding her chakra for the camouflage jutsu, and took off running toward Mei's chakra signature again.
.
Mito had seen war before. She grew up in war.
"Safely" passed between the Sannin after rumors of the Yellow Flash having a surviving family - and a spoiled kidnapping of the same girl that was said to be the youngest Sarutobi - Mito had definitely experienced war. She'd fought for her life by the time she was five and had been glad (although initially afraid, though that was too long ago for her to even remember) to help with triaging those who were hurt long before then.
This, however, was so unwarranted. War always is, though. Family members were killing each other, former comrades were fighting to their deaths as she deftly moved toward the front in a camouflaged jutsu. She knew these things because of what the combatants were screaming at each other.
Families ripped apart in a country that's at war with itself.
Those on the Rebellion's side were easy to make out. There had been a lot of discussion regarding it, but all of the Rebellion forces wore their hitai-ates proudly over their right biceps. And of course, in many er- some cases, they were fighting to disable, rather than kill, their countrymen.
At least, Mei had requested they try to spare their former comrades whenever possible.
Speaking of Mei, Mito felt the heat first - then substituted to avoid the lava that had been shot in her direction as it hit the ground. Kami: there's igneous rock all over the place, she thought as she dropped the jutsu. It takes time for lava to cool; is this perhaps Mei's old training grounds? As soon as Mito released the camouflaging jutsu, she heard Mei shouting at Ao.
"Ao, you son of a bitch! You had to know it was her! I will KILL YOU!"
How did he sense me? Ao's SUPPOSEDLY a fair sensor but I was really reigning it in! Mito ran toward the tent the rebel leader had been in, panting and nearly out of breath. She stopped short when she smelled something acidic.
"Do something like that again and I WILL melt you, Ao-san."
"Wow." Terumi Mei really did have an additional Kekkei-Genkai or something that did… something acidic and possibly melty. An airborne, acidic cloud that burned Mito's nose from even a distance. Ao had wet his pants; that was obvious, but again, it's not like Mito hadn't seen that kind of thing before. She was just glad she wasn't on the bad end of Mei's kunai, so to speak. "Mei-sama, I have urgent news. One of my surveillance clones sighted Yagura; he's been hurt." Silence followed her words for a few seconds.
"Where?"
"Sh- she could be lying!" Ao shouted, getting his act together (but definitely taking his life in his hands again.)
"Honest to God, man," Mito growled, already frustrated. "This is vital information and I ran through - avoiding - God only knows how many battles and utter shit to get it to you. I'm trying NOT to involve myself in your war but a foreign shinobi was responsible for putting the hurt on him. –I don't even know if Yagura's still alive or not! One of his attackers attempted to take out my disguised clone." That was mostly true.
"He was close by… That was almost 30 minutes ago." Reaching out her senses, Mito could tell Yagura was still in the area but his chakra signature was very weak. So he's alive for now. –It was especially weak and erratic for a so-called perfect jinchuuriki.
"It's time for ALL OF US to fight," Mei grimly announced to everyone in her large tent. Everyone rose from the tables where battle strategies, maps, and communication devices were laid out, meeting her ninjas' gazes. "The war ends today! Today we retake our village and homeland!"
Cheers went up.
Mito was grateful that Mei didn't immediately ask who the foreign shinobis were - although she would've lied had she been asked. And, naturally, this is exactly when a bird from Konoha - her FATHER'S very-official-looking, majestic eagle - swooped down and found her. Reluctantly, she unrolled the message it was carrying before sending it on its way with a meaty treat. The Mist shinobis were already moving past her, although Mito noticed several suspicious sets of eyes on her.
By order of Hokage-sama, all shinobis must return to Konoha
Mito burned the note and took off running, hoping to heal an untrained teenager just ahead of her that had been taken down.
Of all the timing…
.
Obito guessed that it was time to see if Itachi had passed his Akatsuki initiation test. Oh, he planned to use and continue molding the teenager anyway but Pein was a control freak. Pein, thinking himself to still be the leader of their little organization (and possibly testing me, as well,) had sent Itachi with Konan and one of Pein's puppets to fight the Mizukage. Konan and Pein's orange-haired "puppet-thing" were ordered by Pein to evaluate the Uchiha heir - No: the HEAD of our Great Clan now, the rogue thought sarcastically - and allow him entrance to the Akatsuki when Itachi proved himself.
Obito had once fought Itachi and (killed) his teammates when Itachi was just a child. Now as an adult, with a mature, evolved Sharingan, Obito was sure that Itachi would come out on top or at least survive Yagura.
And if he didn't, there were other Uchihas he could use. For now, there are other Uchihas.
...
Damn that Yondaime and his ANBU for getting in my way. If only he'd been able to stop his former sensei when he took the fox, his/MADARA'S plan would be achieved much more easily.
And if only that old turd, Danzo, was still around to manipulate…
If only; if only; if only!
…
Maa, if I'm going to sit here thinking about how slow things are going, I might as well speed stuff up!
He teleported to the site he'd suggested in his genjutsu that Yagura proceed to and was surprised to find more ninjas fighting there than he'd anticipated. He jumped but couldn't avoid a huge seal that appeared across the ground. A projectile - a familiar projectile, he later realized - flew by his masked face, on his bad side - I'm going to get my eye back from Bakashi so I can better see! - and as Obito turned to see what it was and easily evade it, a similar one shot to the ground on his other side. It was followed by a crushing force that hit his mask before he could fully activate his Mangekyo, sending him through a tree and breaking it.
Make that a bunch of trees. Slamming through banyan trees was very painful, Obito realized. He tried to move but felt pinned to the ground.
Then another huge tree came flying AT him. Obito was trying to breathe and MOVE: he needed to get out of here or fight back! That attack had definitely broken bones on BOTH sides of his body. Or what had replaced his bones.
Obito also had a terrible feeling that he knew who his attacker was… What is SHE doing here? Again?!
Mito kept her eyes on the traitor: to my village, to my FAMILY, to my MOM, but couldn't help but remind her furry passenger that this was Obito; not Madara even as she threw more jutsus at him, trying to keep him pinned and tear him apart. "Now that his mask's broken, do you believe me, Kurama?"
"Tsk! Let's kill this lying son of a bitch! Madara's still involved: I know it! Find out what he knows!"
"FINALLY, Obito," Mito ferally grinned behind her mask while Kurama was still ranting. "What will you do, I wonder."
Itachi was hiding in the trees. Konan and her unknown partner weren't within Mito's immediate sensing range any longer.
Obito was able to finally take a pained breath and do more than phase. He teleported to avoid the sea of senbon-like projectiles Fox spit at him. And it was her, too…
An adult version of the much-too-strong same-masked chibi ("I'm Fox! Nice ta meetcha, Obito-kun! Rin-chan and your sensei have told me a lot about you!") he'd taken the Chunin Exams with was there - too close! - drawing her fist back and phasing through him with a force so heavy that the earth below them buckled, shattered, and went flying high into the air when that small fist, instead, hit the ground.
Mito couldn't believe he'd gotten out of her seal! "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" She felt her chakra significantly dip - but now there were eight big cats that surged into battle. "This is HIM!" Making 20 clones to accompany her partners and evade (and attack) the scumbag, Mito finally let loose.
"INCOMING!"
Mito skidded back and crouched down, grimacing at the insane heat of the lava that Mei had just blown over her shoulder. But it wasn't directed at her: no, it was directed at the huge man who had suddenly moved in to shield Obito.
Hoshigaki Kisame.
Mito had seen him in the Konoha Bingo Book. And that must be the stolen Samehada.
"It eats chakra!"
Obito had disappeared with him but they stupidly came right back seconds later.
She watched the shark-like shinobi's hands weave through seals she was familiar with and matched them. If this idiot thought he could eat HER chakra, he was WRONG! "Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu!" Opposing giant shark heads reached up to the top of the trees, feasting on the chakra the other user put into the jutsu. Mito had quickly lost interest, however, and whistled for her clone to put an end to this as she wanted to take down a possibly wounded Obito.
Her cats were all over him.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu," she and the clone whispered, turning both sharks into enormous spouts of water that flew even higher into the sky. "RUN!" The water descended to earth with incredible force, wiping out her clones. Mito turned the waterfall jutsu into a swirling vortex of death and destruction, sending it after Obito as the cats ran in all directions.
NOW, Obito was angry. And hurt! And wet! "Fox" was kneeling on the ground, pressing her palms flat against it. For a second, he wondered if she was hurt, but considering he was being forced to allow tigers and shit to move through him, she had to still be able to battle. She still had chakra!
That's not surprising, though, is it? -Not with what he knew about her…
Mito scrunched up her nose as she made more clones and threw a vicious wind jutsu at the now unmasked bastard. The cats aren't fast enough to get him unless… But he still hasn't retreated: that's pretty stupid.
Is it because you're still a hothead, Obito? Have I pissed you off the way your entire living existence pisses me off?
Mito grimaced at seeing him somehow sprouting out Mokuton just like her father had mentioned to her, which drove the cats back. Then the shitty idiot avoided more of her partners by popping up here and there like a mole: one Mito was thirsting to whack and exterminate. "Fuin."
The Mokuton attack stopped and after looking at her - shock written all over his half-scarred and bloody face - Obito disappeared again.
Yagura was still and silent far deeper within the trees but Mito couldn't approach him. She wasn't interested in him, anyway. And Mei's forces were headed right for him and his remaining forces.
You can't get away from me, Obito.
Chains flew up through the ground and Mito gasped when she caught both Obito's feet and Kisame's legs. Obito was able to either make them go through him or get out of them after a second or so but she HAD briefly caught him and sucked out some of his chakra! He grabbed Kisame and teleported a few meters away before, seconds later, throwing Kisame back out on the battlefield from another new location. Obito whipped through the seals for a fire jutsu but Mito reared back, sucking in air, channeled the fox's chakra and, let fire fly from her mouth.
Kisame ordered two of his men to retreat but knew they had to have perished in that insane fire.
"An Uzu-Fucking-Maki," Kisame hissed when an angry Uchiha teleported him back again. The purple-haired woman had grabbed him with a chain and began dragging him through the depths of the earth almost as soon as Obito threw him back out of his strange little dimension. The kunoichi was sucking his chakra away with her chains, similar to what Samehada was capable of! "Who the hell are you?"
Mito didn't answer. She shot another chain at him when that stupid sword they loved so much ate her previous chain so that "Buddy" could get his paws on him. The giant pather wasn't partial to seafood in any way, but he loved fighting.
"I shall allow you to continue calling me 'Buddy,'" the great panther said quietly.
"But that's not your real name?" Mito asked as she leaned against him.
"I have lived a very long life. I don't remember having a name before this, Mito. Let's keep that between us."
When Hoshigaki's giant and weird sword seemed to take Buddy out - making him bleed and then disappear altogether - Mito and her clones lost it.
Throwing attack after attack at him and crying out, the chains from her chest finally grabbed Samehada's handle and sent it flying behind her as she hit the Mist nin covering (an again-disappearing) Obito with a Rasengan.
"You fucking bitch!" He half-limped/half-ran off, in pain, moving past her - going for his sword, Mito guessed.
It wasn't him that Mito wanted to kill… She stayed on target.
There was a sudden movement from beside Kisame's retreating form, though, and for a split second, Mito was ten-years-old again and watching her mother die in front of her; the Shinigami and the Kyuubi so, so close to her... Her grandfather was wide-eyed and dead on the ground...
"Genjutsu! Concentrate on the Uchiha!"
Kurama had completely knocked her out of the genjutsu!
"Really? Making me watch my mother die, Obito," she said, stalking forward and parrying a ferocious hit from the gunbai he'd pulled out of a seal with her crossed forearms. She shot chains out of her right hand as she attempted to hit him with a Rasengan with her left. She grabbed the gunbai from him when it smashed her in the side.
It felt SO GOOD when he roared in frustration - and hollered like a little bitch when she began using it on him. She whack-pounded it on top of him over and over again, breaking it into tiny pieces on the (destroyed) ground on a particularly good smash.
Obito gagged and spit blood before stumbling back a couple of meters. Then he teleported away again.
What just happened? Mito wondered for all of a second. She thought she'd been "missing him" since he kept disappearing.
The answer came when a clone popped from INSIDE of him and Mito wasn't sure what to think. Yeah, her clones were dispelling and making new ones left and right but somehow one had passed inside of him. That clone had ended up in a weird gray space and saw parts of his body transferring there. Mito grinned: at least it was an opening or a little more information.
She and her clones pulled out kunais and turned them into hundreds of them - flying at him from all directions.
The traitor may have disappeared again but he didn't leave and thus couldn't evade Mito's senses. He'd grabbed Kisame again; his scarred face looked slightly panicked but absolutely furious. And he was bent over.
He's hurt!
"No more, Kisame."
I didn't know, Obito thought, unsure if he was angry or mournful. I didn't know that Fox-chan was Kushina-nee-chan's daughter. Part of him wanted to hope that she wasn't but the chains and what she'd said were proof enough now even to his unstable mind. And that means that she's probably sensei's daughter.
"WAIT," Kisame roared, wanting his sword.
"Now, Kisame."
Obito disappeared again with the Big Blue Guy and appeared next to Itachi.
Mito shot her chains at him and managed to grab something. She YANKED.
He screamed - Oh, that's the sweetest sound I've ever heard - and sent more chains into where the rest of him was disappearing with her other hand: they phased into him, too. She and her clone's kunais were flying EVERYWHERE, but Mito's chains held on to their "prize" if one could call what they caught that.
"Gross," the kunoichi mumbled as she realized what she'd nabbed. What she'd taken from him had to have really hurt.
Itachi and Obito were both gone. When Mito fully realized it, she was nearly overwhelmed with guilt.
She'd gone after Obito and hadn't protected Itachi-chan from him.
But he's wearing Obito's uniform, Mito! Itachi might not have fought me but he also didn't come to my aid. …Although he might not have realized it was me because of the dye job.
And he roasted the fucking Mizukage, you moron! Something is up! Momentarily, she wondered if the new orders she'd received from Konoha were related to the young man.
"By order of Hokage-sama, all shinobis must return to Konoha"
The formerly masked kunoichi took a couple of shaky breaths, reaching her senses out more, before teleporting toward the med tent. Mito wasn't sure when her mask had been lost or where it was now but the jig was pretty much up anyway. She swiped a seal on her arm to recall the kunais she'd used in battle.
Just in case, Mito threw a henge over her whisker marks after sealing away what she'd taken from Obito.
Geez: she felt like a revenge-obsessed monster for leaving Itachi like that, no matter what!
Not much later, when cheers and word moved through the rebellion that Ao, interestingly enough, declared that Yagura had been under a genjutsu and had died when released from it, she teleported out of there after saving Mangetsu's watery ass AGAIN.
The kawaii idiot wouldn't let go of that freak, chakra-sucking sword even when he was unconscious.
Flashing over to another island and then Uzushio, Mito tried to pull herself together. First things first: she reverse-summoned herself to the Jungle Cats' home realm. They had done a LOT of damage to the Mizukage's forces. "You guys… rock."
Thank God Buddy had returned to his home: she didn't know how but he was ALIVE at least. He pawed her off when she tried to fully heal him, bitching about how low her chakra was. –Well, for her, it was low.
Okay: for anyone it was pretty damn low.
"I've been recalled to Konoha. If the message I received from my father was sent out en masse, it means an attack has taken place, or something equally as serious." Feeling increasingly guilty and nauseous over that, Mito bowed to the cats and tried to ignore the blood on their paws (and coating their jaws) that they seemed to really enjoy licking off. "Thank you for your help. Call me back whenever you need to. I'll see ya soon - maybe REALLY soon if we're needed at home."
"Home:" what a thought. It was really happening, wasn't it?
Just for a while, Mito.
"Ja!"
From Hi no Kuni's border, Mito flashed to just outside of Konoha - where, thankfully, things seemed stable. Second Things Second, I have to see what this stuff making up Obito's leg is. She flashed into Tsunade's secured lab in the hospital, setting off alarms a-plenty. "Ah, shit!"
Mito thought that she'd still be coded into the seal protecting this floor of the hospital. She sent her chains curling up around the room to form a defensive barrier: other than Tsunade, NO ONE was getting in as far as she was concerned. "Yo," she greeted the first shinobis to arrive as she was washing her hands and picking out bits of fucking Mokuton: I need to analyze this, too. "Just doing a little research. I'm a Konoha Jonin." She ignored those demanding that she "surrender" herself.
She was tired, sore, and PISSED OFF. Didn't they recognize her?! She'd dropped her henge sometime after fighting. And she felt too damn tired to talk.
Her godmother didn't arrive for several minutes: something that seemed almost criminal to Mito.
Although I took my sweet ass time getting back here after receiving that order, didn't I?
"Who dar-," Tsunade began as she tried to storm in. When she ran into a barrier, she could easily guess the owner even before she caught sight of her goddaughter. "Mito-chan? What the hell are you doing here?! You should've reported in!"
A few shinobis around her began arguing the same as they also questioned her identity and loyalty. Tsunade, fortunately, vouched for her and sent all but two away. The alarms had brought quite a crowd.
"Fuck off," Mito whispered toward the retreating men irritably as she transferred a thin piece of whatever it was that made up Obito's leg onto a slide. A few machines (stolen from the West and probably already outdated) were analyzing Obito's - and that strange white material's - DNA. "Baa-chan, you should know this," she began, also addressing the "trusted" Jonin she recognized well enough that remained outside the lab. "Over 11 years ago, Uchiha Obito attacked Konoha. He left an arm behind yet it was somehow stolen from a secured lab like this one that very day. Today? Today I'm not letting his leg… or this thing… out of my sight." Not until I learn the truth of what's sustaining him.
Not until I learn how to defeat him!
She was waiting for results when her father showed up.
"Mito-chan! Thank goodness… Can you release the barrier, honey?"
Mito gave him a disinterested nod while she continued observing her tests. She still felt anxiously sick and really drained from battle. And a little dizzy.
"Is that..?"
"Obito's leg. And testicle," she shrugged. She hadn't meant to snag THAT from him although part of her - a sick part of her - was unhealthily, DISTURBINGLY gleeful that she had. "I'll let you and Tsunade in, only." She put her hands on the stainless steel table she was working on, looking up to calmly wait for his reply. Her father and his shinobis were gaping at her.
Minato finally nodded and Mito retracted her chains. "You fought Obito," he said more than asked.
"And failed to kill him. But yes; he's good at retreating - although I wonder why he didn't do it earlier. Tsunade, can you help me out here?" Surprisingly, it looked like there might be genetic matches for not only Obito's normal cells but those that made up his weird white leg, too. This test - one which she'd initially figured wasn't worth her time - might actually prove useful!
"How could you do that, Mito?" her father asked quietly.
"I'm sorry?" Mito asked seriously.
"Taking… part of a man like that," Minato said, grimacing at the idea of losing a testicle: having it ripped off by the looks of what remained of it; if that's what it was. "You'll have made an enemy for LIFE."
Mito's heterochromatic eyes widened in shock. "He already IS my enemy for life!"
"Mito-chan, you have made a deadly… error. See me in my office as soon as you're finished here." He turned away; his guard following him and his billowing Hokage cloak.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Hokage-sama." Mito swallowed thickly and looked up at Tsunade who was beginning to steam as she read the results of the first tests.
"This… I came back as a match for that son-of-a-bitch's Whatever-This-Is! And Jiraiya, Sora, and… And Tenzo?" Tsunade let out a bark of pained laughter. "My grandfather's cells. These HAVE to be my grandfather's cells," the Slug Sannin whispered, absolutely furious. How many people have had access to what was in my clan's crypts?! Tenzo - and probably Danzo, from what Minato said - had been proof enough but now another person had access to her family's genetic material, as well?!
Mito crossed her arms over her chest plate. "That makes sense. Tou-san said that Obito briefly used Mokuton when he fought him after… after he grabbed Naru-chan and Kaa-chan, 'ttebane. He didn't use it much with me; maybe he can't use it for long. It shouldn't work with an Uchiha's DNA. …Chicken-shit mother-fucker." The kunoichi put a tiny splinter that she'd gotten out of her hand and put it on a slide, too. "What the hell do I know about wood?" Mito asked herself as she looked into the microscope. Jack shit: that's what I know about wood.
Yeah, she knew that wood had fibers, parenchyma, and... vessels but there was more going on here than that. She also noted that instead of being built into something of a vertical formation, the "wood" she'd sampled was more complex and helictical. And flawed or maybe just… "old?"
It's also a little different from his leg.
I need a proper cross-section and some kind of plant expert.
Tsunade observed the emotional and exhausted younger woman for a minute, really looking at her. Mito was in something similar to Konoha's ANBU uniform although the armor was light blue and slightly bulkier. Some of it - on the back - looked like it had half-melted! She had what looked like a black skin or wetsuit under the armor along with her normal combat boots. Her goddaughter's hair was still purple and pulled into a high, wide braid - with most of the length tucked into the armor on her back. Considering the dirt and cuts that were healing on the skin she could see, the blood on her uniform, and how messy her braid was, Tsunade could tell that she'd recently been fighting.
It had been a long time since she'd seen her goddaughter's hands shake. "Are you hurt? When was the last time you rested?"
"My pride's hurt," Mito replied truthfully, ignoring her aches and pains. "And I slept last night, or the one before it," she added with a shrug. Tsunade handed her the second printout and Mito grinned without realizing it. There it was: at last Mito had proof that Uchiha Obito was alive. She'd seen his scarred face and sensed his chakra but now no one could doubt her. "I… I should go back. I need to make sure he doesn't go back there. I've got friends there -well, kinda! I don't want them to get hurt! And, and... I haven't succeeded in killing him yet! What am I even doing here?! – I HAVE to go back!"
"Absolutely not," Tsunade barked before threatening her and ranting more about her grandfather's cells.
Mito stared at her, considering a little of what she was saying along with what these cells had done for Obito. She adjusted her stance, trying not to sway. "Forgive me for saying so, but if that dickhead was healed and 'rebuilt' with your family's cells, we could do the same for those with grievous injuries that are on our side." Or anyone: shouldn't that be what you're suggesting, Mito? "If we can recreate the general process but seal away the potentiality of wielding Mokuton actively…"
Tsunade felt like screaming at her but held her tongue. She'd seen Mito turn calculative before; just like her father. "I'll run some tests on residual chakra and anything else I can think of. We've got to keep that son-of-a-bitch out of Konoha," she said, interrupting her goddaughter before she blew out a hiss of hot air.
"Mito, Obito was recently here and the village is in a State of Emergency. The Uchiha clan was plotting to overthrow your father. You cannot leave."
"WHAT?!"
.
The first place Mito was smuggled/hiraishined to was her father's office by his Guard Platoon. Which seemed like overkill: she could teleport herself just fine.
Reporting in, Mito freely admitted that she had not been going for Obito's junk. No, she had been aiming for his neck - something that didn't seem to make her Hokage much happier - when she had tried to pull the rogue Uchiha out of that strange place he was able to repeatedly phase/teleport into with her chains.
Really, she had given her father and leader a new way to fight or damage Obito, at least. And he was the one who called her home and away from the hunt and fight! You best chill out, Tou-san. You're really pissing me off!
Minato had many questions about Itachi's presence in the Mist (as many as Mito did) –and of course, he just had to go freaking out about her fighting Obito and Hoshigaki Kisame, even though there had been plenty of Rebellion shinobi around to back her up.
Backup that was smart enough to stay back.
She internally groaned, however, when Yamanaka Inoichi was welcomed into his office. Mito pushed her back into the seat she was in, tilted her head, and glared at her father. "You already ordered a MindWalk on me?" The grin her father rewarded her with - ha - was grim.
"'Ichi, I hate to ask this of you but… This is my daughter, Mito. She's been away a long time and recently encountered Obito."
"Like, an hour ago," Mito mumbled under her breath. Some homecoming this is - although it's not like I expected much.
Inoichi nodded as he took a good look at the girl - no: the beautiful young woman he had only heard about in recent years. "Welcome home, hime-sama."
Mito didn't bother uncrossing her arms. "Thank you, Yamanaka-san. I do not care for honorifics and am very tired." She could still fight if she had to but sure as heck wasn't going to reveal her low chakra levels to someone she didn't know well: especially not the scariest of all the Creepy Yamanakas. "Just 'Mito' is fine and preferable."
Inoichi smiled and then looked at his leader, wondering how intimately Minato wanted him to go into this.
Mito was surprised that their little mental journey together began only seconds later: as soon as his hand touched her head.
Minato approached his unconscious - and for the moment, helpless - daughter as Inoichi used his clan's jutsu. This was really asking a lot of his friend.
Before Mito was escorted to his office, Minato had called the Intelligence Division and Yamanaka Clan Head away from doing this with the Uchihas. Inoichi had to be exhausted. Whatever his friend found in his daughter's memories, Minato wasn't sure that he wanted to go on the Intelligence Reports, so this missive was only half-official.
Inoichi abruptly stopped his jutsu after several minutes, shrinking back and grasping the hand that had been on Mito's head.
"Something wrong?" Minato couldn't help but look down and smile when his daughter let out a soft snore. She was actually asleep! And so beautiful... Our Little Ocean.
"I'm not sure, but she or the fox may be hiding something," Inoichi said. "Kyuubi tossed me out of there. It was at a point you mentioned to me before - when she was kidnapped years ago?" Minato nodded grimly as they discussed what he had witnessed in the young woman's mind using his clan's technique.
The Kyuubi, Kurama, in the meantime, shouted to wake Mito-2 up.
"You scared me," she complained as she clutched her chest, feeling nauseous again.
Kurama shrugged. "You did fairly well today," he freely admitted - something that felt strange but right. "And we have gathered intelligence that will allow us to be successful in dragging that son-of-a-bitch to hell in the future."
Mito rubbed her arms and sat up more in her mindscape. The last thing she saw in that weird Yamanaka jutsu was being promoted by the Daimyo and then... "You stopped him! –You didn't let him see what... 'happened' to those Elders."
Kurama shrugged. "What we did to them," he corrected. "They had it coming."
Mito sighed, silently disagreeing with him for the umpteenth time. "Thank you, Kurama-sama." Her hair was blown back by his annoyed huff. "It seems that when things get tough, I can always count on you." She felt her mindscape spin again and was suddenly in front of Isobu, too. Sort of.
"Right you are, Uzumaki. Kurama can always be counted on!"
Mito would've expected Kurama to begin shouting at his sibling who, thankfully, was no longer being controlled by a Sharingan but instead he only looked pained. Then Isobu began to fade even more.
"Wait," she cried out as she ran toward him. It felt like Mito was falling instead.
Isobu smiled at his oldest sibling. "See you later, Aniki."
If Mito didn't know better, she'd think the one-eyed turtle had winked at her as he disappeared.