Chapter Thirteen — Wake of Death

The door slid open with a bang, cutting off the chunin in the middle of his lecture on Konoha's political structure. Obito charged in and pointed at Kyoko. "Found you!"

"We're in the middle of class," Akimitsu snapped out. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Niichan?" Kyoko asked, rising from her chair and frowning. "Is something wrong? What happened?"

"I missed your birthday!" Obito pouted. "I didn't mean to, but our mission ran long and I just got back this morning. So!" He grinned and threw his arms open wide. "I'm here to steal you away to celebrate!"

"Oh. Um." Kyoko glanced towards the diagrams on the board at the front of the room and then the genjutsu textbook open on her desk. "I'm in class."

"Uchiha-san."

Obito and Kyoko both looked towards Akimitsu, but he was watching the latter. She straightened. "Yes, sensei?"

"Gather your things. You did well on your test earlier, so I can make an exception just this once." He put up a hand to stall the wave of protests from her classmates. "I'll send you with a note for your father regarding any make-up work. Understood?"

"I understand, sensei." She scrambled to pack up her things, not even trying to suppress a grin. She made it to the front of the room, bag over her shoulder, just as Obito was taking the note from Akimitsu and tucking it away into his pocket. "Where are we going?"

Obito offered her his arm. Once she'd taken it, he dragged her out into and down the hall. "Well, since you've already had lunch, and I ate when I dragged Shisui out, I figured it was time for dessert. Want to get some candy?"

"I'd love to get some candy."

"Candy it is, then!" He threw open the doors, and they stepped out into fresh air. "Oh!" He shook loose from her and started digging through his pockets. "Hold on, it's here somewhere. It's— Aha!" Obito thrust the object at her. "There you go!"

Kyoko took the gift and tugged at the knot until the fabric came loose. She frowned when she recognized the present as a jar of chakra balm. "What's this for?"

"Ah, well, I talked to Rin-chan, and she said that she got a lot of chakra burns when she started learning iryo-ninjutsu. So I thought this could help you!"

She looked up, curling her right hand closed and feeling the pressure on her few burns there. Far fewer than she'd had when she'd learned the first time around. Her chest felt tight, and she focused in on his left eye. "Thank you."

Kyoko should have known better. If her instructor had wanted her to do extra work to make up for her absence, he would have just handed it straight to her. But she'd been so distracted by the fact that Obito still came back alive after every mission that she hadn't even noticed.

Now, standing in front of the Hokage for the third time in as many months, it felt obvious that this had been coming.

"Move up?" Kagami rasped out. "Again?"

Kyoko looked up at him, studying the tense set to his shoulders and the lines around his eyes that she didn't quite remember him having the last time she was this age. Guilt stirred in her gut, but she needed to do this. She couldn't sacrifice everyone. Not again. Not to spare her father from worry. She squared her shoulders and looked at the Hokage so she wouldn't have to watch her father's reaction as she said, "I'd like to."

The Hokage looked from her to Kagami. "She's clearly already too advanced for her current class."

"She, she's barely been there two months."

"And it's been an impressive two months. The decision is up to you, Kagami. But . . . ."

Kyoko frowned a little. The Hokage was playing at something. She'd seen him pull the same concerned expression before. Many times before. Mostly when he was reminding Kakashi of all the good he was doing in ANBU and why he was grateful that the Hatake hadn't left the division yet. Or when Shisui had received his jonin promotion at the age of ten and the Hokage's mild remark about her trailing behind had driven her to six months of exhaustion before she secured a jonin rank of her own.

Predictably, Kagami straightened beside her. "But?"

Hiruzen smiled gently. "Nothing to be worried about. Your daughter is a genius, Kagami, and it's never good for a genius to stagnate. But as long as she's getting the full attention and stimulation that she needs to thrive and avoid the consequences of a smart mind growing bored, then I see no reason to advance her again."

It took everything Kyoko had not to close her eyes and sigh. It was so easy to see what he was doing if one was looking. But he was the Hokage. People were used to the idea that power gave orders and expected them to be followed. They seemed to forget sometimes that the Hokage was a shinobi, too. And that shinobi lied and manipulated because that's what they were good at.

"Kyoko-chan," Kagami murmured.

She looked up, and that guilt twisted at anxious haze in his eyes. "I'd like to," she said again.

He let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Okay, if that's what you need."

This sensei didn't introduce her to the class. Didn't draw everyone's attention to her age or her advancement. Instead, he greeted her with a sharp nod and then pointed up at one of the empty seats.

And that was just fine with her.

Kyoko sat down and was busy setting out her things for the class when her new table-mate cleared their throat. She looked up into a vaguely familiar face. Whoever it was, it wasn't someone she had known well. "Hi. I'm Uchiha Kyoko. I just moved up."

The older girl considered her for a long moment, rolling her bookmark back and forth between her fingers. Then she stuck the bookmark into her book—a text on the circulatory system—and her hand out. "Kato Shizune. You're small."

Kyoko straightened. Shizune Shizune? As in the Shizune that had vanished from Konoha alongside Tsunade before the war had even started to look like it would be over? She cleared her throat so her voice wouldn't break. "I am," she agreed, shaking Shizune's hand. "I've heard about your uncle. I like his work."

Shizune lit up. "Oh! Are you wanting to be a medic-nin?"

Kyoko smiled. "I want to save people."