It was a nice, clear day, and I was walking through the village with Kakashi, who was advising me on an exercise I could do to improve my chakra control when we ran into Asuma and Kurenai outside a dango shop.
"Well, fancy running into you two here. Out on a date?" Kakashi teased, making Kurenai blush and Asuma awkwardly rub his neck.
"I-I was just about to meet Anko-chan for some dango!" the former insisted.
"Really?" I asked with a grin. "Because I talked to Anko-san this morning, and she said she was planning on spending the day training in the Forest of Death." After the… Incident… Outside the Hokage's office, Anko had actually approached me for a spar, interested in seeing how strong Orochimaru's killer was. I'd ended up becoming friends with the snake user over the course of the next few weeks, who I suspect saw me as something like a little sister in her own strange way. Kurenai, apparently unaware of this, floundered for a response.
"What about you?" Asuma interrupted in a very poor deflection. "You hate sweets."
"I was just out for a little walk, providing sagely advice for my recently-promoted student."
Wait, this scene is familiar. I glanced over into the dango shop to see two figures in black cloaks, only for them to quickly vanish. Asuma and Kurenai both disappeared as well. "We going after those guys, too?" Kakashi froze.
"I am," he answered slowly. "But you're staying here."
"...Alright. But you'd better be careful." Kakashi nodded before leaving to follow the others, and I shook my head and made a seal. "Should've been more specific, Kakashi." I conjured a Shadow Clone and tossed her a few bills, and she proceeded to head into the dango shop while I followed the jounin from a distance. "Technically, I'm still right there getting tea and dango."
I elected not to interfere in the battle between the Konoha jounin and the Akatsuki pair, since I already knew everyone would come out of it alive. Instead, I watched on from a nearby rooftop and snagged myself a few new jutsu. Water Shark Bomb and Water Formation Wall would no doubt come in handy, but the real prize was the exploding Shadow Clone I copied from Itachi. That was a nasty little trick. A little fire element chakra mixed into the technique allowed the resulting Clone to superheat its chakra to the point that it burst out of the thin shell with force comparable to a hand grenade. The resulting shockwave would certainly be nothing compared to a similarly-sized Bakuton technique, and all the chakra invested in the clone would be lost, but it was quicker and less wasteful than just slapping the two or three explosive tags it would take on a normal Shadow Clone to achieve similar results. Considering how much money I'd spent on explosive tags during my short career already, anything that would allow me to conserve them was a valuable addition to my arsenal.
After observing the fight by the river, I followed Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy to Kakashi's place, slipping in after them and listening in on their conversation, planning to ensure I'd have an excuse for rushing out of the village. When one of them mentioned Itachi, I made myself known.
"So Itachi did this to him?" They all froze up awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "That's a yes, then. Why was he in the village?" None of them answered. "You know, I could summon a fox to go track him myself if I wanted to."
"He and his partner were after Uzumaki-san," Asuma finally told me. "But he's not in the village right now."
"I see." I turned and started walking away.
"Where are you going?"
"To warn him."
Once I was outside the village gates, I summoned Kuro.
"Makoto-chan! Yo!" the fox greeted cheerfully.
"What, not gonna call me 'kit'?"
"You stopped being a kit to me when you helped bring down Shukaku. So, what's up?"
"Naruto is out of the village with Jiraiya, and there are a couple of S-class missing-nin after them. I need to find them and warn them."
"Sounds serious. Alright, give me a sec to catch their scent." Once he had Naruto's trail, we set off at speed.
It didn't take us too long to catch up with our quarry, arriving at the first town they were to check not long after them. Unfortunately, Jiraiya had just wandered off with the woman Itachi put under a genjutsu, so I didn't have much time. Once we located the hotel and room they were staying at, I thanked Kuro, who wished me luck before returning home, and knocked on the door.
"Makoto-chan? What are you doing here?"
"This is the room." Itachi knocked on the door. "Uzumaki Naruto?" Instead of opening, the door was shattered as a skeletal purple fist smashed through it, which Itachi only barely dodged. From inside the room, a cloaked and hooded figure emerged, two blazing Mangekyou Sharingan shining in their eyes.
"Not quite."
"Sasuke?" Itachi was surprised and saddened, though his voice remained neutral. How had his little brother already acquired the Mangekyou Sharingan?
"I don't go by that name anymore." The figure withdrew their hood, revealing a more feminine version of the brother he remembered. "It's Makoto now." So the rumours were true then? He didn't quite get it, but it didn't change much as far as he was concerned. Man or woman, he would always love his sibling. And she would still kill him and redeem the clan.
"Hey, Itachi-san, you know this girl?" Kisame asked, curiosity in his voice.
"This is my… Sister." That felt strange to say.
"Ha! Looks like you should've finished the job, huh?" He chose not to answer that.
"You have the same eyes as me."
"Yeah. I'd tell you to thank Orochimaru for that, but I already killed him for it. Did you know you could awaken these things through genjutsu?"
"I did not." That was new information to him. If Orochimaru wasn't already dead, he would have killed him for whatever he showed her.
"Well, this is a touching reunion, but we don't have time to chat," Kisame interrupted. "Where's Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Gone. I already told him you were coming, now it's just time to let the Boss know you're here. Enjoy your parting gifts, gentlemen." Makoto disappeared.
"A clone? So she got to him ahead of us, huh?"
"They can't have gotten far. Let's hurry and find them before Jiraiya shows up." They were about to leave when Itachi heard a hissing sound from the wall. Explosive tags! "Kisame, get down!"
That entire floor exploded.
"You blew up the hotel!?" Naruto exclaimed in shock.
"Just that floor, and I had a clone evacuate the place while we were talking. Hopefully that'll buy us some… Time…" My voice died when a visibly drained Itachi and a pissed-off Kisame walked out of the smoke.
"There's not a scratch on them…" Naruto stiffened beside me.
"I'm about to change that. Amaterasu!" Kisame was ignited, but instead of flailing around screaming, he just grabbed his sword and slammed it against the flames, which were absorbed near-instantly. Okay, so Samehada can eat Amaterasu. Good to know. I wiped the blood from my eye. Change of tactics then. "Amaterasu!" This time the flames appeared in the middle of the street. "Kagutsuchi!" The fire became a raging wall between us. Through the centre of the wall came Samehada, and with just a few swings, there was a gap big enough for the two Akatsuki members to walk through. "Oh, come on!"
"Well, looks like someone could use a hand!" In a puff of smoke, Jiraiya appeared between us and them, a toad at his side and an unconscious woman over his shoulder. "Fortunately I, the great Toad Sage, Jiraiya the Gallant, have arrived!" He pointed at Itachi and Kisame. "You just don't get it, do you? The great Jiraiya does not fall for women like some lovestruck brat! When you get to my level, the ladies fall before you like cherry blossoms!"
"Yeah right!" Naruto shouted. "You're the one who ran off just because a woman winked at you!"
Heh, finally. "Hoy, Gama-sennin, you're late."
"Kid, a sage is never late. They arrive precisely when they mean to." He turned back to our attackers. "You two. Putting an innocent woman under genjutsu just to separate me from Naruto-kun… How shameful."
"Heh, seems our little diversion didn't work, Itachi-san," remarked Kisame. "And you wore yourself out protecting us from that explosion. Seems your little sister has better control over her eyes than you do."
"We're leaving, Kisame. We'll just have to take Uzumaki-san another time."
"What? But I never got to have any fun!"
"I'm spent after protecting us from that explosion. Do you really think you can take the legendary Jiraiya by yourself?"
"Hmm… Fair point. Alright, we'll retreat for now!" They dropped smoke bombs, and when the clouds cleared, they were gone. I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding, extinguished Amaterasu, and let my Sharingan fade.
Damn. If I have to keep using it this much, I'll need glasses before the month is out.
"So, what exactly were you doing here, Uchiha-chan?" Jiraiya asked over a meal at a nearby restaurant.
"I came to warn you both about those two. They showed up in Konoha this morning looking for Naruto and… put Kakashi-senpai in a coma." Naruto stopped eating in alarm.
"Kakashi-sensei!? What happened?"
"Physically, he's fine. Itachi used a genjutsu called Tsukuyomi on him that lets him torture people for what feels like days in the space of a second. Without a medic capable of healing him, we've just got to wait and hope he wakes up by himself."
"That's what we're out here looking for," explained Jiraiya. "The legendary medic Senju Tsunade. If anyone can help your sensei, she can."
"I'm coming with you." I projected as much determination as I could. "I can't just sit around while my teacher is in a coma, and more pairs of eyes are always good."
"Hmm… You're a fox summoner, aren't you? They could be useful. And maybe having Orochimaru's killer with us will help convince Tsunade-hime to come back to the village. Alright, you can come. But don't think you can score free lessons from me! One student is more than enough."
"Don't worry, I've got my own training to do anyway."
Naruto tossed a water balloon up and down.
"So I have to pop this with just my chakra?" he eagerly asked his second sensei.
"Now you're getting it, gaki! We'll keep going 'till nightfall!" Since it seemed we wouldn't be moving on for at least another day, I decided I probably had some time to get started on something I'd been wanting to do for ages.
"You two look like you've got things going here. I'll try not to disturb you too much," I told them, heading for the nearby forest.
"What kind of training are you doing, Makoto-chan?" I pulled a storage scroll from my pack and released the Kusanagi, resting the flat of the blade on my right shoulder.
"Swordsmanship. Be a shame to waste a blade like this, right?"
"Hey, what's up, Makoto-chan?" Kuro asked upon being summoned.
"Nothing much, wandering around with Naruto and the old perv looking for Senju Tsunade. Hey, can you help find her?"
"Do you have anything with her scent on it?" I shook my head in answer, and he huffed. "Then how do you expect me to find her? I only found Naruto 'cause I met him during the invasion."
"Oh. Right. Well, I was also hoping you had time for some sword training?"
"Finally following up on that, are ya? Let's see what you're- Kami, is that the Kusanagi no Tsurugi!? Where the hell'd you get that!?" He stared at the legendary blade in awe.
"Orochimaru had it," I informed him with a shrug. "Since I'm the one who pulped the fucker, the Hokage gave me the sword."
"Do you know what that thing is!?"
"Legendary sword, indestructible, cuts through almost anything, and can grow in length and be moved telekinetically by the user's will?"
"It's a divine weapon older than the Rikudou Sennin Himself! Legends say it was forged by a goddess for an emperor who ruled the entirety of the Elemental Nations!" I looked at the sword again, suddenly feeling the weight of its age. Whether it was truly the work of a goddess or not, there was no denying its power and magnificence. If it was truly a divine blade, then it certainly deserved a better wielder than Orochimaru.
"So how are you going to teach me kenjutsu?" I asked the awed fox. "Our bodies aren't exactly compatible in terms of technique."
"I may not be suited to teach you, but another one of us is! Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" When the smoke from the Summoning vanished, the one-eyed fox I met when I first used the Summoning Jutsu was stood beside Kuro, a cigar hanging from his mouth.
"What is it, Kitsukuromaru?" He sounded annoyed. "I was just having an important discussion with the Boss."
"Your attempts to convince him that we need to start using silver in our swords in case of a vampire attack really aren't that important, Kitsuhebi."
"...Actually, this one was about a possible werewolf attack…" Kuro sighed.
"Look, our summoner wants to learn swordsmanship. Will you teach her or not?" The newcomer looked me up and down searchingly and, apparently satisfied with what he saw, nodded.
"Alright, I'll do it. Henge no Jutsu!" A moment later, instead of a large fox, there was a brown-haired man with a short beard standing before me, arms crossed. He still had the eyepatch and bandanna, but wore an olive-green kimono in place of the blue vest from before, and his sword was now at his waist. "My name is Kitsuhebi, and from now on, I will be your master in the way of the sword."
Kitsuhebi was a very strict teacher and an obsessive perfectionist. Together, these two traits made him a nightmare to learn from, even if the end result would no doubt be worth the suffering. At least, I was telling myself it would be worth it when I dragged myself back to my hotel room and collapsed. If nothing else, his training would definitely increase my endurance.
Naruto, Jiraiya and I quickly got into a routine. We'd spend our days either walking or searching towns, and our evenings training. Well, Naruto spent his evenings training, I'm pretty sure what I was experiencing would be considered torture by a human rights tribunal.
Then again, the major nations of this world used chemical weapons and child soldiers, so concepts like 'human rights' and 'war crimes' didn't seem to exist here.
Anyway, the routine held until we reached the town of Tanzaku, where the owner of a local gambling den claimed to have seen Tsunade the previous night. Apparently the Legendary Sucker had been in town for a few days and become very popular with the local gamblers. Hearing this, I slipped into a restroom where no one would see me without my Henge and summoned Kuro before walking back out.
"Where was she sat?" The owner pointed to the spot in question, and Kuro went to sniff around. "Was there anyone with her? Anything about her that might leave a noticeable scent?"
"She had a younger woman and a pet pig with her, and she was drinking heavily."
"I've got her," Kuro soon announced. "Two women and a pig, one scent heavily mixed with sake."
"Good. Lead the way." I tossed the guy some cash as thanks, and we headed out.
We found Tsunade at the old castle with Shizune and Tonton.
"Hey, Tsunade-hime! Fancy meeting you here!" Jiraiya was absolutely not even trying to make it sound like their meeting was an accident.
"Jiraiya you old toad. What is it you want from me?" She was clearly not enthused by his presence.
"Can't a man stop in to see an old friend? Come on, I'll buy you a meal. And a drink." The offer of free alcohol seemed to mellow her a little. "Alright, deal."
Once we were all seated and had our food, Tsunade asked again.
"So what do you want, Jiraiya? You didn't come all the way out here just to catch up on old times."
"Did you hear what happened in Konoha?"
"Some rumours, but nothing concrete. Some kind of attack?"
"Right. It was Orochimaru." Tsunade cursed, and Shizune went pale.
"What happened?"
"He killed and impersonated the Kazekage to trick the Sand into an invasion. Thankfully, we got wind of the plans beforehand. We crushed their forces quickly, the Sand surrendered and paid reparations, and the little Uchiha here," he clasped my shoulder, "took out Orochimaru while he was distracted with Sensei and I. Then these two together," he indicated both Naruto and I, "beat the Ichibi jinchuriki and saved the village." Tsunade stared at me, then laughed.
"This kid killed Orochimaru? Pull the other one, Jiraiya." In response, I unsealed the Kusanagi and laid it on the table.
"That enough proof for you?" She blinked.
"And the Ichibi?"
"I summoned a giant fox, Naruto punched the jinchuriki awake to break the summoning and talked him into hopefully not being a psycho in the future." For a split second, I thought I saw something approaching respect on her face, before she was back to her flippant self.
"Well, congratulations, I guess. Glad someone finally put down that snake."
"Anyway," Jiraiya continued, "Casualties were thankfully limited, but you can imagine that the medics are still a little strained right now. That, and the old man's thinking of retiring again. He wants you to be the Fifth Hokage."
"Absolutely not." She didn't even hesitate. "No way am I taking that damn fool job."
"What!?" Naruto was furious. "This is who's supposed to be the next Hokage!? A drunken gambler who doesn't even respect the position!?"
"Can it, brat!" Tsunade roared back. "What the hell would you know about it!?"
"It's my dream to be Hokage, dattebayo!"
"Then enjoy ending up dead, because that position is cursed." That seemed to break Naruto out of his rage. "Of the four Hokage we've had, three of them died before forty, one before thirty. They threw away their futures, dreams, desires – their entire lives for the village. Damn fools, all of them." And the rage was back. Naruto stood up on his seat, one foot on the table.
"Don't you dare disrespect the Hokage! I'll pummel you!"
"Oh yeah, brat? Then let's take it outside if you're so tough!"
"Hell yeah!" I shook my head and massaged my temples as they headed out front.
"I guess we should go make sure she doesn't murder Naruto," I suggested, following them out.
Tsunade naturally destroyed Naruto with one finger and chastised Jiraiya for trying to teach him the Rasengan, claiming it was a hopeless endeavour. Naruto claimed he'd get it in three days, she bet her necklace he couldn't do it in a week, Jiraiya sent Naruto and I off with Shizune to find a room while he tried to talk to her, the usual.
That night, I told Jiraiya I was going to get some extra training in and left the hotel, then had Kuro track down Tsunade again. She was drinking alone in a different hotel's bar, so I plopped down beside her.
"Hey, bartender. Bottle of the finest whiskey you have, please."
"We don't serve kids here, get out."
"See this?" I pointed to my headband. "It means I'm a shinobi, and therefore legally an adult. And while that's a pretty fucked-up system, it's the one we live in, so I'll take my drink. And a second glass for the miserable drunk to my left, too." He shook his head but complied.
"The hell do you want, brat? A beating?" Tsunade asked pointedly.
"Not particularly. I doubt Hokage-sama would be happy if all we brought back was a pile of ashes."
"You little-" she stopped when I slid her a glass.
"Consider it an apology for my teammate. He's… Well, he doesn't know what it's like to lose people. Granted, he's never really had many people to lose on account of having the Kyuubi in his gut, but that doesn't change that he doesn't know loss."
"Your clan." I chuckled, though it was hollow.
"I'm not talking about the clan. Compared to the things I've lost, a clan is nothing. You couldn't fathom the scale of what I've lost."
"The hell are you talking about, kid?" I activated my Sharingan and met her eyes.
"May I show you?" She swallowed before answering.
"Go ahead."
Buying food in a dingy service station. A man with a gun. Shots. Pain. Darkness.
"What the fuck was that?" Tsunade asked, no idea what she'd just seen.
"That was the night I died." I showed her more.
Christmas dinner with my family, with laughter and banter.
Playing Smash Bros. on a Saturday night back in high school.
My first kiss with Katie.
Those memories and more flashed through her mind thanks to my genjutsu, a thousand little moments from a happy life in another world. By the time we were done, she was more confused than ever.
"Those were flashes from my old life," I explained. "I was twenty-five years old when I was killed by some fool robbing a shop and woke up in Konoha. I lost my love, my friends, my family, my city, my nation, my culture… My own body. My entire universe." I gave another hollow chuckle, downed my glass, and poured another one. "Then I woke up in the body of an orphan boy with magic eyeballs in training to be a child soldier, and now I have to live my entire life under a fragile Transformation technique while fighting dudes with swords longer than I am tall, giant demons made of pure spiritual energy, and psychopathic snake fetishists." Tsunade stared at me.
"That's insane. That's absolutely insane, but… I know when I'm being lied to, and you're not doing it." She drank and poured another. "How do you keep going?" I pondered the question, and my answer came after a long silence.
"I figure the best way to honour the people I've lost is to keep struggling on. If I spent my new life moping around like a little bitch – no offence intended-" she glared at me but let me continue. "-they'd all be disappointed in me. So I decided, when I woke up here, that I'd take this second chance and use it to make a difference, to fight for something worthwhile. And it helps that I've found new people to care for as well." I smiled, and this one was genuine. "Naruto's an annoying idiot child, but he's become like the little brother I never had. Same deal with Sakura, my other teammate: she's like a sister to me now. Kakashi's got serious emotional trauma, but still did his best as my sensei, and I have nothing but respect for him. The foxes are great company, even if their conception of 'training' is more like torture. Hell, even the old perv Jiraiya's growing on me, not that that'll stop me from beating his arse if I ever catch him peeping in my presence." That one actually got a smile out of Tsunade. "So I fight for them, and I fight for my ideal, and maybe on the day I die again I can face those I've lost with pride." Tsunade looked like she had a lot to think about, so I had one last drink for the road, let her have the bottle, left my payment on the counter, and clumsily Shunshin'd my way back to the hotel where I promptly vomited into the toilet bowl.
Thirteen year-old bodies are not meant to handle hard booze.
For the next week, Jiraiya left Tsunade alone to focus on Naruto's training while I split my time between practising my ninjutsu and learning from Kitsuhebi. By the week's end, I had actually managed to shave one of the seals for the Chidori away and increase my chakra capacity just enough to use three of them in one day rather than two. I had also managed to drop two of the seals from the Great Fireball, bringing it down to four seals, and I was comfortable enough with the Kusanagi that I would be willing to use it in combat. I still couldn't carry it around, though – when I'd tried to have a scabbard made for it, the blade had just cut right through. I'd just have to keep it sealed in its scroll until I figured out an alternative.
Tsunade looked… Different. Calmer. She actually didn't smell like a brewery for once, which was probably good if she was going to be Hokage.
"Hey, Tsunade-baachan! I've got the Rasengan down now, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted the moment she came into view. He'd figured out the clone trick the night before.
"Show me," Tsunade demanded, arms crossed.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Moments later, Naruto was holding a perfectly spherical mass of swirling chakra. Tsunade seemed to relax a little, and I thought I saw the vaguest hint of a smile.
"Maybe I was wrong about you, kid. You win. Maybe you can be Hokage after all." She took off he First Hokage's necklace and tied it around Naruto's neck. "Just… Try not to die before then, okay?" He looked shocked, but smiled wide.
"Sure thing Baa-chan!"
"Jiraiya!" The man in question went from stunned to attentive in an instant. "Let's go back to Konoha."
"You mean…?"
"Yes. I, Senju Tsunade, will be the Godaime Hokage!"