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
Mito shouted when she saw it happen: Kabuto quickly dragged a kunai deeply through Hayate while her friend's sword was firmly planted in the Kazekage's children's Jonin-sensei's shoulder. As Hayate fell to the ground, blood pooling out of his body, the Suna nin and Konoha traitor had already spotted her. While Mito ducked and avoided some kind of sharp wind retaliatory attack, spinning to avoid the kunai that followed it, Kabuto and Baki weren't so lucky. They couldn't avoid her chains. Mito sucked up their chakra while desperately trying to save Hayate.
He sounded like he was drowning in his own blood.
"C'mon, Hayate," she gritted out desperately, retracting her chains and putting everything she had into healing him. His torso and neck were so damn torn up!
"I think… we should retreat," Kabuto choked out, surprising his attacker.
Mito glanced up, looking absolutely murderous that he was still alive, as Kabuto's wounds seemed to heal themselves.
He turned to grab the Suna Jonin. Those chains are a real nuisance.
Mito brought her hands away for just a second so that she could make two more clones to help her try to heal her friend - her new next-door neighbor! - and to have extra hands to try to stem the blood loss he was experiencing. "Hayate, please! Hang in there!" She looked up at the traitor and Suna nin and snarled.
"I won't forget this." As soon as she could transport him - not that it was safe to do so at all, Mito flashed Hayate back to the hospital. Tsunade had just come out of surgery and immediately took him into the next room while Mito cleaned up to assist.
.
She was so damn upset that she wasn't allowed into the room!
"This is RIDICULOUS," she said, pacing outside the OR. It wasn't long until her father came to speak with her. "There's no reason I shouldn't be in there," she ranted to no one. "It's not like we're super close!" Not at all! She was friendly with Hayate and liked him a lot but she was better friends with Yugao.
It was then that she noticed how badly her hands were shaking while her head pounded.
"I need your report. What happened?" her father asked. Mito noticed that he looked really worn out, too.
"I was looking for Gekko Hayate for a friend. When I zoned in on his chakra signature, I felt Kabuto's nearby. I flashed to their position and found Hayate immobilized, his sword lodged in Baki of Suna's shoulder. Kabuto took advantage and used a chakra-enhanced kunai to quickly carve right through him. We SERIOUSLY need better flack vests, Tou-san!"
"Right," Minato said, too used to Mito's critiques on Konoha uniforms and more. It was something they were researching and working on. "Did you see anything else? Were you able to apprehend or bring down the enemies you faced?"
Mito shook her head, repeatedly fisting her hands. "I put my chains right through them and sucked their fucking chakra out until I had to move to better heal Hayate! –I should've pierced them again!" Her father didn't know about all of her clones doing investigations and such throughout the village so she didn't want to mention that her fairly enormous chakra reserve was limited at that moment.
A moment that she should've been ready for.
She should've never allowed herself, especially in this time of uncertainty or crisis, to get too strung out and limited because her chakra was split in literally a hundred or more different ways.
She'd wanted to find those missing people, though, but look what it might have cost in the meantime!
Minato might have said something about her language, but Mito really didn't hear him if he did.
"Kabuto's got some kind of incredible regenerative ability: something I haven't seen before in anyone other than a jinchuuriki," she reported before raising her hand. "I have no reason to think he is one. I sucked a LOT of chakra out of him, Hokage-sama. Kabuto was still able to grab Baki out of there, disappearing with him in a fire sunshin. …I'm sorry I failed."
Minato sighed and grasped her shoulder, shaking her just the least bit so that his daughter would meet his eyes, if only for a moment. "You may have saved Gekko Hayate's life."
- And that's when a pale Yugao ran into the corridor. Yugao stopped in her tracks and bowed with her fist over her heart. She wished that she hadn't seen what she knew was Hayate's blood all over Mito. "Hokage-sama!"
"At ease, Uzuki-san. Have a seat." A Chunin first came running up to him.
Yugao, panicked and not knowing what else to do, did as he requested.
Mito plopped down in a chair outside of the waiting room, rubbing her temples and the bridge of her nose. She'd popped dozens of clones when she was both attacking and healing - and had managed to give herself a nasty headache. Yugao sat down next to her, grabbing her outstretched hand for a second or two.
"Today started out so well," the purple-haired kunoichi whispered in a choked voice.
"Yeah," Mito agreed. Less than an hour ago, Yugao had been showing her around the flat she'd just leased. "Fuck."
"Can you tell me what happened?" Yugao asked in a quiet voice.
Mito looked up at her father who seemed to be waiting for a tracking team while now speaking with Genma. "Since he hasn't ordered me not to, absolutely." She tried to smile reassuringly at her friend but had never been great with that stuff.
From what Yugao had told her, she'd fallen for Hayate when the man was still her kenjutsu instructor, years ago. "When I sensed Hayate, I also sensed Yakushi Kabuto - that Genin that was secretly working for Orochimaru?"
"Orochimaru," Yugao repeated, sitting up straighter. "I'd heard about what happened during the exams but the Sannin's link to the Genin med-nin was unconfirmed!"
"Speaking of," Minato interrupted, getting their attention and holding his hand over his ANBU tattoo. Mito felt the pulse go through hers and jumped to attention just as Yugao did. "We'll debrief as soon as we get more information from Hayate." Mito nodded and bashed her way through the OR doors, making him raise his eyebrows as, for a moment, he heard Tsunade yell at her until the doors were fully closed again, sealing them in. He looked through the small window and saw Mito madly scrubbing her hands and arms as an assistant draped a gown over her clothes.
Yugao swallowed hard, hoping that the Hokage didn't see it. "You believe that Hayate-san will make it, Hokage-sama?"
"Have faith, Uzuki-san."
As soon as Hayate was out of surgery hours later, he was Mind Walked.
.
Mito didn't bother to continue changing to go to the ANBU meeting. The seal in her ANBU "tattoo" had been activated again, summoning her to her father, so she was damn well going. Really, she wasn't sure exactly how her father used that seal. When she flashed to his location, she immediately went to the back of the room, feeling Yugao's chakra in the crowd there. All of the Jonins currently stationed in and close to Konoha seemed to be attending as well as the ANBUs that were available.
Part of her remaining uniform was still covered with Hayate's blood: her top. Mito realized that she should've continued changing after surgery before coming. She was so damn tense and fired up, she'd simply jumped to her father's side when she felt the signal. She'd only strapped on her weapons pouch and came without thinking. Kneeling in little more than her black compression shirt, too-short ANBU shorts, belt, and boots, Mito felt exposed. She took her place near her friends, however, blowing off the eyes that were following her.
"He's in SICU," she whispered to her friend and future next-door-neighbor. Her still-bruised jaw was killing her from when she got into it with Tsunade. On top of her migraine, it was a real bitch. When Tsunade and Shizune came in, Mito gave them a dirty look.
"Thank you, Mito." Mito grasped Yugao's hand for just a second. Yugao flushed, realizing that their gestures were noticed but instead of getting a reprimanding look from some of her seniors for showing emotion in any way, the whispered news seemed to boost confidence in Konoha's position of those around her. Or maybe that was just Yugao's imagination.
"As you know, Orochimaru targeted Uchiha Sasuke in the Forest of Death during the second stage of the Chunin Exams. Genin Team 7 was attacked by not only the Snake Sannin but also by a team of Sound nins attempting to kill him, specifically. Orochimaru attacked and targeted every member of the team," meaning my son and poor Sakura-chan who was probably only in the middle of it, a bystander to that bastard's schemes. "Uchiha Sasuke was marked with Orochimaru's curse seal."
Murmurings broke out around Mito but she kept her eyes on her father.
"Also working for Orochimaru, Yakushi Kabuto attempted to kill or take Uchiha Sasuke while the Genin was being monitored in a secured room at the hospital. Yakushi killed the ANBU squad watching the Genin."
Directly in front of Mito, Asuma's eyes widened and he nearly let his unlit cigarette fall out of his mouth before he grabbed it. He looked to Kakashi, who was next to him for more answers since the silver-haired Jonin had been staying with his student as far as he'd heard. "The kid was that skilled?" Asuma had seen Kabuto at the hospital and of course, seen him check out of the Chunin Exams and hadn't been terribly impressed.
Kakashi only nodded solemnly. "He got away from me."
Asuma let out a low whistle.
"Gekko Hayate was viciously attacked this morning near Kikyou Castle by Yakushi Kabuto and Baki of Suna." Minato waited until his Jonins fairly quickly silenced themselves again; this time it did take more time.
They knew who Baki was and knew what this could mean for Konoha. Suna was an important ally. "From what the Intelligence reports," meaning the Mind Walk, "Kabuto threatened Baki's Genins' lives if he and Kazekage-sama didn't go along with Orochimaru's plan. What are Orochimaru's true goals and plans? –That, we are unsure of. I've sent a bird to Suna for more information - or to see if Rasa-sama responds."
There was no need to go into Konoha's spies investigating this; it was obvious to anyone of this audience's rank that Jiraiya had sent messages to them through their toads.
"What will we do?" a shinobi on the other side of the room asked quietly.
"We prepare for a major attack," Minato said calmly. "As of now, the village is at Orange-1. While the Chunin Exam Finals may seem the perfect opportunity for a village or rogue with resources to take advantage of us, the attack may come sooner than that - or later."
"Shouldn't we stop the exams?"
"For now, the finals go on. We'll meet again after I receive a reply from Kazekage-sama. Keep this quiet. –Quieter than we have, ne?" Minato asked with some sarcasm. The Jonin community was like a gossip-mongering cult, really. Part of being a ninja, I guess. "Individual orders will be forthcoming. You're dismissed."
"Shit," Shizune hissed in a low voice. "Yugao, I'm so sorry!"
Anko shook her head. WHY did she have to always be or feel responsible for what her bastard of a sensei did?!
Mito nodded in acknowledgment of the large clique of Jonins who'd gathered to support Yugao and Hayate.
"Kabuto threatened Baki's Genins' lives if he and Kazekage-sama didn't go along with Orochimaru's plan."
- Did that mean that Baki was being manipulated and/or was trying to defend himself from Kabuto? When she'd arrived on the scene and spotted Baki and Kabuto fighting - or what looked like fighting - with a Konoha nin, she'd reacted instinctually. What if… What if there was some type of substitution or other accident; something that my actions only made worse?
Oh, Sage: please don't let this mean my attack on Baki has started a war. God knows that her chains were capable of causing horrific damage when she used them that way. Mito seriously doubted that "Baki-sensei" survived.
Someone tapped her shoulder, getting her attention and properly tuning her into those around her. "I'm going back to the hospital. Would you like to accompany me?" she asked Yugao.
"Please!"
Mito nodded and grasped her shoulder, flashing them back to the SICU.
.
Later that evening, Mito folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the wall of her student's hospital room, propping her boot up on the wall behind her. She'd had a clone near or in Hinata's room all of the time. It had dispelled and the original Mito - totally not sulking in her office - flashed down to take her place. "Do I need to be worried about this visit?"
Hizashi's lip twitched upward. For all he was told that Mito inherited her father's personality, she was as blunt as her mother was sometimes, wasn't she? "No. I can assure you; I love and support my niece."
Hinata squeaked but nodded her head, wincing with pain. Mito noticed that her uncle winced even harder, with her.
"I've spoken to Neji," Hizashi continued. "He would like to come by and… formally apologize."
"Absolutely not," Mito refused, making her student squeak again. Really, she thought she'd trained more of that mousiness out of Hinata. "He tried to kill her. And isn't he training for the finals? Are you training him?"
Hizashi smiled grimly and sat down, looking slightly less formal than he had moments ago. "No. His use of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique has garnered the attention of the Honored Elders." Hizashi was being careful not to sneer.
"Is N- Neji-nii-san in trouble?" Hinata asked quietly. "He - he - YOU should be proud of Neji-nii, h-honored uncle! I - I am proud he m-mastered the t-technique without being tr-trained unless…"
"Man, Hinata," Mito commented, shaking her head. "You are too good for this world, girl. –I'm still going to make you kick Neji's ass for what he did or tried to do to you, though, whether you forgive him or not." Surprisingly, Hizashi began chuckling - and not darkly as she would have thought he might have, considering everything.
"My honored brother has asked to train Neji for the finals. I shall also help where I can." It was puzzling to Hizashi why his twin brother offered to do this - and why Hiashi had assured him that he and Neji would not be questioned (tortured) about the technique that his son had worked out for himself. Or for trying to kill his cousin. If he didn't know better, he would've thought that his brother felt guilty.
"Well, you know the main branch technique, too, right?" Mito asked.
Hizashi's eyebrows rose behind his hitai-ate but only for a moment. He was not used to people being so hostile or open about their feelings regarding the Hyuuga system. His Genin teammate, Kushina, was the last person to openly - and literally - spit on the mere idea of the clan's branches. Hizashi always assumed that was because Kushina had been one of the few Uzumakis that lived to see past the destruction of her native home. Family was vitally important to her. She couldn't imagine purposely causing a member of her suddenly infinitely smaller family pain.
Kushina also found the seal the Hyuugas used to be vulgar and meritless - finding, especially, its use of causing pain and servitude to be barbaric.
"During the war, everyone was taught the technique. It became more protected by the main branch when we achieved peace. Again."
"We're in a constant cold war. It's not right to withhold something from a child or anyone else that they could protect themselves with. –I just don't get it." Mito shook her head.
Hizashi relaxed a bit and smiled at his niece's sensei. "You remind me of your mother, my Genin teammate and old friend, Mito-sensei."
Mito smiled at him. "Thank you. That… means an awful lot to me."
He bobbed his head and handed Hinata a charm from the bouquet he'd brought her which she seemed thrilled to receive. "Neji is not being punished for mastering the technique on his own. Hiashi-sama has seen to that."
"Otou- Otou-sama?" Hinata gasped in surprise.
"I'll let you two have some privacy." Now that I know it's safe, Mito thought. "Press your nurse's button if you need me or anyone - or anything, Hinata-chan!"
Soon after his visit, Mito left the well-sealed confines of the hospital's grounds and gaped at what she felt.
Someone's chakra… was so much like her own when she was really young. Before Kurama. It's just smaller than mine used to be. She took off running toward the main gate. "Wait!" Her heart thundered in her chest as she tried to drink in the appearance of a Kusa Genin that was leaving with her team. At night?! Her father stepped in front of her.
"Jonin Mito," he greeted her somewhat professionally - not giving their relationship away - and really hoping that she wouldn't say anything. Mito's eyes were huge and twitching when they finally looked away from the Kusa Genin kunoichi to him. He silently pleaded with her to keep it together.
Mito didn't know what his game was! "Good evening. I'm Uzumaki-Namikaze Mito," she said more to the girl than anyone else. Her lips curled into a smirk which quickly grew into a knowing but gentle smile as her father clicked his tongue at her. "I hope your stay in Konoha was pleasant?"
The kunoichi's face paled even further if that was possible - and that's when the little kunoichi shifted away from the shadows and into the light. Mito saw that there were teeth marks all over the girl's skin! "What the… fuck! I think someone needs medical attention, Hokage-sama." Not realizing that she'd snarled all of that, the girl and her older teammates took a few very frightened steps back.
"Jonin Namikaze, it's a pleasure to meet The Reaper," the Kusa Jonin-sensei began saying cockily as he moved in front of his youngest charge.
"Oh, you're gonna meet The Reaper, alright!"
"IWASHI, IF YOU'LL TAKE OVER FOR ME! Once again, goodnight, and may you have the safest of travels," Minato tried to say pleasantly, sidestepping in front of his daughter before flashing Mito back to his office. Mito was having a conniption fit so - having experienced this kind of thing when she was much younger (not to mention having gone through it with her mother many times) Minato knew not to let go of her. "Calm down, Mito."
"THAT GIRL IS CLEARLY AN UZUMAKI!"
Minato bobbed his head. "I am aware…" Mito's eyes began turning red.
"She is being ABUSED for our bloodline!"
"I know…"
"You KNOW?!
"I offered her protection in Konoha," Minato quickly stated, letting out the large breath he'd been holding when Mito returned to herself, taking a step away from him. Good God, her KI might need to be outlawed!
Mito rapidly blinked several times. "She didn't want it? –Maybe she has family in Kusa or something? KUSA'S SIDED WITH OROCHIMARU!" She bit her lip.
"I don't think so - and not fully," Minato said, searching for the girl's file, which was toward the back of the file box sitting next to his desk. It contained information on all of the examinees that hadn't progressed to the finals. He handed the girl's file to his daughter. "Kusa Genin Karin, no last name listed. Her file says that she's an orphan. And the Kusa situation - like just about everything else right now is… delicate. Orochimaru may have taken some of their Genins but the Kusa shinobi and surrounding civilian governments still remain intact."
"You were able to approach her then?" Mito asked, hoping that the girl might change her mind or that she'd come back as she opened her file. "I THINK when I told her Mom's last name, she recognized it. She definitely swallowed hard enough that I could see it."
"You shouldn't tell ANYONE that you're an Uzumaki, Mito." Mito rolled her eyes: she still had it in her to be such a brat, Minato thought. "Anyway, I didn't approach her but I had someone else…"
"Naruto?" Mito asked excitedly. She knew her brother would love to have more Uzumaki family, too.
"No." He was training. "Sora-kun approached her, actually. Naruto can be a little hyper so I thought Sora might be a safer option. The girl was very skittish but…" Here, he let out a chuckle. "You'd be impressed: our little ninja monk went up to her team as if he had a crush on the girl, asking her to go to lunch with him."
"Really?" Boy, Sora sure wasn't smooth with his obvious crush, Hinata. Mito narrowed her eyes at her father. "Why are the Kusa nins leaving so late at night?" she asked. "It's not safe."
"As soon as her teammates were FULLY healed and we knew they wouldn't be requiring Karin-san to heal them with what were clearly her unique abilities, they wanted to venture back home. –I don't know if Karin-san said something to them or if they simply had a bad feeling that we were interested in their Uzumaki but they sure made a bee-line to get out of here. You might want to ask Tsunade for more information: I made sure she evaluated her. …I had no authority to hold them here, Mito; they hadn't committed a crime on Konoha soil."
Mito scoffed. Those bite marks were evidence of a horrific crime as far as she was concerned. The fact that her father had gone out of his way like that - potentially getting into it with Kusa just as all of this shit was going on with Orochimaru and Suna - was really more than she could currently ask for, however. "What did you offer her? And how much was Sora-kun able to speak with her?"
"What I could and not much," Minato admitted sadly. "He told her she would have clan protection within the walls of Konoha - that kind of thing but no details were discussed. One of her teammates pulled her away from Sora almost immediately."
"Oh my gosh. I'll talk to Tsunade but I'm going to…"
"You are not allowed to kidnap her. I am ordering you not to."
Mito wondered how he knew she was about to say and do that. "Oh, c'mon, man. That poor girl! She's BLOOD, Tou-san!"
"If she returns to Konoha, Mito, she will be under your care." Mito was the Uzumaki Clan Head.
Mito smiled sadly and held her hands to her heart, hoping beyond hope that the Genin would find a way to get back to Konoha. How much of her life force have they taken already from her?!
...And how much trouble would I be in for kidnapping her against orders?
She found it too difficult to leave her father's office without knowing how badly she'd screwed up today, however. "Did I uhh- start a war this morning?"
Minato sank into his chair. "No," he sighed, "or at least I hope not. What you reported matches with what Hayate-san's Mind Walk revealed. You definitely saved Hayate-san's life, Mito."
Mito bobbed her head, incredibly glad for that. "But what about that Baki guy?"
"As of now, Baki's motivations are unknown. From Hayate's observations, Kazekage-sama and Orochimaru have at least talked, which is alarming enough. There was an argument between Kabuto and Baki before you arrived but when Kabuto moved to attack Hayate - and Hayate retaliated, Baki moved as well. It's undetermined whether or not he was trying to protect himself, Kabuto, or both of them. And Baki is a foreign shinobi that used force against a Konoha nin within Hi no Kuni. Baki risked being put to death by such an action alone."
The problem was that Baki was obviously close to the Kazekage's family.
"I don't know how he'll survive me plowing my chains through him," Mito said softly, shaking her head because she didn't feel ANYTHING about it now other than anger. Man, have I changed over the last several years. "How could Kabuto survive and begin recuperating from something like that so easily, I wonder." She needed to spend some time in the hospital library researching that. "If there's nothing else right now, I'm off."
She spent the rest of the night reading about bloodlines, eventually retreating to scan and study her clan's history and medical journals, searching for an answer.
Kurenai and her stinker of an Uchiha-looking Genin approached her at around 1000 hours, making Mito realize that she'd been at it all night again. "Yo!"
"Mito-sensei," Kurenai greeted her pleasantly (and way too formally as far as Mito was concerned.) "I wondered if you might have time to train Sai-kun for the finals."
"YES," Mito cheered. She had been feeling left out. "I mean, I'll do it if you buy me breakfast, Kurenai!"
Kurenai agreed, regretting what this would mean for her wallet.
"Are you up for it, Sai? I'm super tired today but we can go over some stuff if you'd like?" Sai scratched his face and nodded; he was a pretty quiet, observant kid when he wasn't acting like a smartass. "I'm not the best with a tanto, I feel compelled to tell you from the beginning but I might be able to bring in additional help with that. –Someone that uses a tanto or sword much more often than I do."
That wasn't saying much. Other than spars that were more messing around being silly and stabby with Asuma, Mito hadn't used a tanto since before she was banished to the Fire Temple.
"Thank you, sensei." Sai bowed but he was not looking forward to going up against his teammate. He also wasn't that into genjutsu, (no one on his team was,) so he'd be glad for more personalized instruction from Mito-sensei rather than Kurenai-sensei - as competent as Kurenai-sensei probably was. Mito-sensei was also a medic, which is what Sora was training to eventually be.
Maybe a med-nin could show him tricks to defeat a future med-nin! Sai was also getting tips on that from his big brother who had made Chunin last year.
On the other hand, Tuesdays were the days his team usually trained with Mito-sensei rather than Kurenai-sensei. On those days (or sometimes early the following mornings by the time Mito-sensei was through with them,) he was always the most completely exhausted, even more than on "rookie squad training" Fridays. She does always heal our injuries, though. –Well, except for Torune-kun, whom she goes a little easier on since their chakras are incompatible for some reason.
Surely I can survive for a month. He'd once survived Mito-sensei when she'd sprung a double backflip to wrap her legs partially around a tree. She used her momentum and beastly strength to pull it up, out of the ground, and cartwheeled to kick it at them. She was terrifying but the way she finger-gunned the hole in the ground afterward and yelled "suck it, tree" had let him breathe easier somehow.
It had also allowed him to pound her with an ink golem.
Mito was pulling a face, considering her schedule. "The thing is, I promised that I'd be on standby to train Sora-kun but we can work that out. I won't give away either of your secrets or battle plans to each other, ne? –No favorites here, I promise!" She really liked Sai and Sora. It sucked that they were up against each other in the first round. "I also have to work at the hospital but I'm sure Kurenai can watch your back then, right?"
Kurenai nodded. "Of course. However, that means I'll only pay for half of your breakfast!"
"Ohh," Mito whined. "What a drag. Alright. –Let's do it!"
.
After training Sai as much as she could that day (which was really more of Sai avoiding and then picking up after her various "surprise attacks" while Mito did her hospital rounds) Mito found Yugao and Anko in an unusually sealed reception room. She knocked on the door and mouthed "Can I come in?"
Yugao got up quickly and let her in. As soon as the door was shut, she sealed the room again. "Anko's suicidal."
Anko's puffy eyes went wide. "I am absolutely not!"
"You don't care if you live or die," Yugao said - there was a hint of outrage in her tone as she set her hands on her hips.
Mito looked back and forth between them. Both women looked haggard. "What's happening?"
"Yugao's been waiting for Hayate to wake up; I came to support Yuges," Anko began snarkily but Yugao interrupted her.
"And you looked terrible: like you haven't been sleeping or eating properly. And when I questioned you about it, you basically admitted that you were working on a suicide jutsu for Orochimaru!"
"AGAIN?" Mito asked. Yugao gasped loudly and asked what she meant but Anko was already bullshitting!
"NO - Oh alright, YES," Anko admitted. "How am I supposed to protect my home, protect myself when he's got control of me with this goddamn seal?!"
The women were silent while Mito tried to reign in her temper: she THOUGHT they'd agreed to do these things together to the best of their abilities. "There's more than just protecting home and yourself, though."
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE CONTROLLED," Anko raged.
"Oh, DON'T I?" Mito yelled right back. "You don't think Kyuubi-sama would like to take control of me and wipe out the entirety of the Elemental Nations?!"
"Oh, I do - and could. I really do want to!"
"C'mon, Kurama: give me a break here." Why was he even awake? Mito's eyes wandered to Yugao's face and God, did she now look uncomfortable. "Uhm. He doesn't give me much constant shit about that anymore so it's not like I'll bring down the walls, destroying our apartments, 'ttebane. HEY," Mito said, suddenly shifting focus. "Move in with me, Anko! There's plenty of room!"
"No, thanks. I like my place, privacy - and weird neighbors, actually. Plus it's close to work."
Yugao slumped into a chair. "Anko's also grieving Tou. DON'T DENY IT!"
"Oh, Anko," Mito sighed, unsurprised really. Anko might have taken the news of Tou's death well enough but what did that really mean? "I'm sorry. You should talk about how you feel!"
"Nothin' to be sorry about," Anko muttered and tried to grin. She rubbed her dry eyes. "I just thought that maybe - given different circumstances - that she was the one, is all."
Mito nodded. She could see that - which was why she'd introduced Anko to Tou after Mei-chan's death. Tou stayed at the Fire Temple mainly to take care of Seito and she'd joked once that she'd move to Konoha one day. Mito figured that was because of Anko. "Maybe… I could experiment with your seal." She FELT Anko's mood jump but couldn't look at her, eye-to-eye. "It would be exceedingly painful. I could knock you out… We can do it at the hospital and I'd have to really see what I'm getting into and can't guarantee anything. I could also seal it down kinda like Kakashi did Sasuke-kun's seal."
Anko nodded eagerly. "I NEVER use the power it gives me. I didn't have Hokage-sama seal it because I wanted to prove a point, but if my old sensei-bastard can use the 'tracker hickey' he put on me to slow or take me down, I want it gone. Or sealed away!"
"Okay. But I need to get some sleep first. AND I've gotta look at my schedule," Mito added. And I need to go through all that Gato shit, still… "Seriously, if I'm going to do this, I need to prepare - and that means that you might have to train Sai or Sora before the exams once or twice. At least!
"I'll do it," Anko agreed easily. She was determined to make this work!
Yugao nodded, too. "Count me in, too, to help with training - as soon as Hayate wakes up."
Damn. It was going to be a busy month!
.
After bathing and going through her routines, Uchiha Mikoto looked at herself in the mirror as she put on her moisturizer. Kakashi-kun was doing a good job guarding and training her son and Minato had posted an ANBU squad headed up by Tenzo, the young man with Mokuton abilities to guard the area they were training in, too.
They had been doing a superb job guarding not only her Sasuke but allowing her more than a few blessed moments in which to train herself, outside of the village. Where no one will know.
Oh, yes. Mikoto was training her eyes, learning to use them both theoretically and practically. She… Well, she wasn't quite sure of exactly what HER eyes did, specifically, but no matter what Madara, Tobi, or Obito - play all you want: I know it's you, Obito. Stop lying! - wanted, Mikoto would protect what was hers!
"You can hide nothing from me, Uchiha Mikoto."
Mikoto's lip curled up. "I'm sure. Shall we return to our lesson, sensei? Time is limited is it not?"
"So hostile," Obito chuckled to himself. "Don't forget that your grandson and sons' lives depend on your actions, Mikoto-sama! Really, I thought you would wish for a world in which you could be with your beloved husband again. –That your love for him would be enough."
"I'd do anything to be with him," she lied.
Mikoto refused to betray her village.
You've got another thing coming, Obito!